Mind Control - The Series

I, the undersigned,

Do hereby agree to produce and screen the following described TV series 'Mind Control' in return for paying the author, nobody, enough money to, a) fund a large property in the country where he can grow organic food and build a village for right-thinking people which shall be called 'Selflessness', and, b) further fund a charity, created by the author, nobody, to aid the victims of mind-control experiments.*

I further agree that this series will accord with the following descriptions and conditions -

1) Each episode begins with a montage of MKULTRA experiments and the following voice-over - "Since WWII the CIA and the US military has been conducting a mind control program against the American people. In league with satanists and paedophiles, they have sought to corrupt government at every level and are wicked beyond description. Two people, Doctor George Gilray and his spiritual partner, Diana Devere, seek to tear down this secret government and bring about world enlightenment in the process."

2) The pilot movie-length episode starts with Dr Gilray in his lab in a non-descript NASA facility. He is typing in a computer - "Analysis of brain wave data of subject dosed with 10mg of toluphenobarb and subjected to 'blue spectrum' alpha waves..." Cut to close up of the military recruit subject's mindless face as the noise of typing continues. The subject leaves - enter his next subject, a female who, according to her clipboard, has been administered LSD41. 'What the hell is that?' says Gilray. He proceeds to administer blue spectrum alpha waves to the catatonic woman.

When it is finished she says, "Hello Dr. Gilray. Don't be alarmed, I am awake. My name is Diana and you need to listen to me carefully now..." Over a series of flashbacks, she then explains to Gilray the nightmarish experiments and torture she has been subjected to for the purpose of producing mind control slaves. He is astounded. She tells Gilray that his role has been unwitting, as has his discovery that LSD41, in combination with blue alpha, can overturn the entire process and restore all memory. Diana states that she knows all this now because her many fractured 'alters' are united. Not only is she one within herself but she is one with the universe. She is fully awake.

Gilray is in awe of her and since he too is now in danger, agrees to help her escape the facility. They are seen and a chase ensues. After casting off their pursuers, they plan on how to find the formula for LSD41 so that they might liberate more mind control subjects and bring down the satanist paedophile cabal who run the whole thing. To find the drug they must break into another military facility. They do so and lock themselves into the lab overnight.

Here they discover a morgue-like room full of humans on life support. One of them is a clone of Gilray. It was made from a DNA sample of his from seventeen years earlier. Diana tells Gilray that physically it is identical to him but she sees its brain and it is perfectly blank apart from the ability to breathe. All of the bodies are the same and possess neither mind nor soul nor have any aura. "They are unnatural travesties of nature made by perverse self-worshippers," says Diana. Gilray wonders how she can know this. She declares that she is different now and demonstrates to Gilray what she is capable of by possessing the mindless bodies and making them all sit up and look at him. She apologises for spooking him out and says, "I am really very powerful now. I can feel it."

They leave to look for the drug formula. They do not find it apart from a single dose left in a drawer. They both agree Gilray should take the treatment. He too awakes but not to the level of Diana who, as part of her abuse, was smashed into dozens of MPD/DID alters and subsequently has multiplied powers. He now perceives her nearly goddess-like nature, a tiny part of which has transferred to him and which will forever connect them. They make love.

In the morning they are discovered and forced to escape through the 'morgue'. Here Diana animates the bodies to assist them in their escape. As they flee in a car with Gilray's clone in the back seat the facility explodes behind them. Adventures and chases follow, each trumping the other until they/we realise that enormous forces (the entire US military, CIA, FBI, local police everywhere, as well as sundry MIL mercenaries) are trying to kill them. Hiding out in an old warehouse they realise that the only way for them to shake off their pursuers is if they are dead.

They decide to publicly immolate themselves in front of the headquarters of the CIA. This will make their deaths indisputable and also shine a spotlight on the villains. The key to the plan consists of Gilray's mindless DNA match (animated by Diana) being burned in his place. Diana argues that yes, she has no clone, but the mission is too important and that if only one of them survives to carry on it's better than nothing. Gilray, full of awe and love for her tearfully agrees.

An A-team sequence follows in which our heroes build websites and place cameras and laptops at the location they've selected. In amongst this we see various examples of Diana using her extraordinary powers to assist George: seeing the future thus enabling them to avoid government agents; possessing and bamboozling people; telepathically guiding him through buildings he has never been in etc. Finally everything is arranged and Gilray and Diana enter the plaza. As the music swells we see the spectacularly beautiful slo-mo sequence of our two lovers burning. They are perfectly serene. Cut to Gilray watching from a distance, shattered at the loss of his goddess. He drives away, desperately evading the security forces who start arriving.

At the Mexican beachside shack that comprises their meeting point, Gilray checks to see the internet reaction to the footage he uploaded and finds small numbers and all of them trolls. He is very disheartened and in a montage of all that has gone before he breaks down and calls out to Diana. She appears to him and explains that she is not dead. Her energy was too great and that when she burned it was only her body that was destroyed. She loves Gilray in a way he will never truly understand and will always be there for him. Together, as body and spirit, they will fight the cabal, rescue the victims, and otherwise bring truth and enlightenment. Turning, she shows him the internet hit counter spinning off the dial as the truth of Mind Control goes exponential. The final shot is of Diana as she dances in slo-mo through the water's edge splashing Gilray as he stands there his face wreathed in smiles.

3) Each following weekly episode will feature the pair as they pursue the formula for LSD41, occasionally coming across some and administering it to other mind-control victims thus making new and exotically powered allies, and all the while variously hiding from, battling with, or fleeing the paedophocracy. They find themselves in various situations: amongst a small-town ring of satanists; in the White House with the Vice President and a reverse version of 'the most dangerous game'; bringing down a Michael Aquino/military childcare ring; doing an inside-out 'Get Shorty' featuring the unmasking of a Laurel Canyon-style psy-op; breaking into a video production facility with links to international child abduction; a white witch/black witch battle with Diana tangling with another preternaturally powerful mind control subject (her evil twin sister, ha!) etc. etc.

4) The foreground action of our heroes will take place against the constant backdrop of social upheaval brought on by our pair's internet revelations, with each strand plotting a rising arc of frequency and intensity. Constant strands: service personnel and police variously deserting or forming themselves into militia; disillusioned people explaining what they participated in, the wrongness of it, and why they are now filled with hope; background televisions constantly featuring examples of local media outlets being retaken by people's councils; the collapse of the old order of corruption with the rolling up of paedophile and satanist networks, the throwing down of banks, and the establishment of various ad hoc people's councils. Constant phrases: time of revelation (specifically in terms of things being revealed); lack of fear or desire; selflessness; anti-buddhas; black paragons of selfishness. (Ha ha ha, a little nobody buzz-word checklist there. And Les Visible, sure).

Against this constant decline in the power of those pursuing our heroes, their need for anonymity will likewise fall away and they will slowly become known and revered by more and more people. Their immolation was a circular twofer: it rendered them invisible and thus freed them from government depredations, but also brought about the government's destruction with their invisibility becoming unnecessary.

5) The character of George Gilray is to be played by James McEvoy. Gilray's pre-awake character is somewhat uncertain and confused. Afterwards he is broadly more self-possessed. If he could give off a beatific vibe, a la Jim Caviezel, that would be really marvellous. Infrequently Gilray will perform martial arts. He is clearly a variety of martial arts practitioner but this is never really explained apart from the fact that he is loath to employ it. (NB. Virtually all violence is committed on the part of the wicked. Our hero's use of violence will precisely resemble that of Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke).

The character of Diana Devere is to be played by Milla Jovovich. She is Joan of Arc meets the Buddha, except in flashbacks where she is perfectly human. Awake, she is always serene. Diana as goddess will be distinguished from human Diana by way of a post-production glow/aura/transparency. Further effects will be required for the occasional use of Diana-cam, wherein everything is seen by way of auras. To all intents and purposes goddess Diana is as precisely corporeal or as ethereal as she wishes - whatever suits.

This show is not sexy. Together the lovers are actually quite chaste since neither is possessed of desire. The two will always behave naturally: laughs, kisses, caresses. They will be perfectly familiar with, and confident of each other, free of insecurities or niggles. Hmm... perhaps a scene that opens with Gilray lying on a bed laughing. A spirit-like Diana, who had been occupying his body, arises out of him, "Did you enjoy that?" Gilray, still smiling, says that when she occupies him and meditates like that, it's extraordinary, "It leaves me at a loss for words. It beats everything. My goddess, I thank you," giggling and post-coital conversation follows.

6) The series will run for three seasons. Season 1 will see our heroes being constantly pursued by a still functioning paedophocracy. Amongst those who are waking up to the paedophocracy, discussions of government wickedness are conducted at a small scale. Season 2 will involve the maximum degree of social disorder with revelations of hitherto hidden wickedness becoming ever greater. Our heroes will no longer be quite so alone or anonymous, receiving constant help from various allies. Season 3 will see truth gaining the ascendency with the paedophocracy reduced to private warlord armies, bandit gangs, and the fearful hoping to evade detection. Each will be uncovered and dealt with, with the final climax seeing the burning of both the Fed and Bohemian Grove, the signing of a new constitution, and the popular election of George Gilray as chairman to the people's council governing the United States.

7) The pilot will be directed by the author nobody. The soundtrack will be by Hisaishi Jo and The Pixies. Apart from the two leads, each week will feature a heavyweight guest star: Zhang Ziyi, Jim Broadbent, Jeanette Garofolo, Warren Oates, Beat Takeshi, Naomi Harris, Mads Mikkelsen, and Les Visible as himself, ha ha.

8) All final creative say will rest solely with the author, nobody. He may pull the plug at any time for any reason he thinks appropriate. The characters, plots, and themes that comprise Mind Control, particularly the key characters of Dr. George Gilray and Diana Devere, will remain the sole property of the author, nobody.

The point of the exercise is not to get rich but to tell the truth. This series, Mind Control, is not more of the same. It is not mindless fodder to make people stupid and otherwise fill in the gaps between commercials. If we get this right we can change the world. Should I, the undersigned, turn out to be just another self-impressed liar and git (as according to the opinion of the author, nobody) I agree to submit to either: surrendering a pound of flesh (blood included) from whichever part of my body the author, nobody, cares to name, or; handing over all my worldly possessions and living in complete penury for the rest of my life, whichever is the most amusing.

Take it or leave it.

*not forgetting of course that the author, nobody, could be talked into doing it for food and accommodation if it was for real, ha ha.

signed,

______________________________

The Mind of Buddha - A Science Fiction Story

A philosophical Italian fellow I know (ha, aren't they all?) once told me in a very convincing fashion, that a point in time would arrive where computers would become self aware. I tried reading the scientific papers he gave me it but it was all too heady - I caught 'paradigm shift' and 'singularity' as the words flew by. Anyway to hell with it - why read all that dry stuff when there's so many whizz-bang Hollywood films on precisely that subject, and all complete with car crashes and explosions? Honestly, how many films have we seen pivoting on computers waking up and killing everyone? And of that number, two of them, the Terminator series and the Matrix series, could actually be described less as films and more like phenomena - they were huge.


What sort of self-aware computer intelligence did they imagine? Nasty ones! In Terminator, the capable-of-thought computer was essentially a mass murderer in charge of an army of serial killers. Its basic mindset was one of 'since humans are an entity that threaten my existence I must kill them all'. For anyone wondering what this computer does when it isn't thinking of ways to kill humans (sleep maybe?) the film provides no answer. But let's just say this intelligent entity seems to be as filled with malice as it is dim-witted. If it was a nine year old we'd scold it - "Think about it. Amongst all the ways of dealing with the possibility of humans threatening you, you decided killing them all was the best one, did you? Not forgetting of course that in killing them your possibility skips probability and goes all the way to full deadset certainty. Now they must attack you. Honestly, can you not do better than that? With less killing and more harmony?"


The central conceit of the Matrix films on the other hand, was that the computer intelligence needs humans for its power supply. The logic of this doesn't withstand a great deal of scrutiny but without it there's no film so best to skip it. Let's just say that this film's computer intelligence is waaay smarter than the terminator's dim-witted kill-em-all nine year old. It spends insane amounts of time and energy tricking the humans into sleeping their energy away. Does it do anything apart from this? It's philosophical obviously, with all of its philosophies originally derived from human thought. So where do its philosophical, human-origin thoughts travel when it isn't tricking people into being batteries? Who knows? When Neo does confront it, the conversation is all of threats and survival. No one ever asks, 'What's it all about, Alfie?' Clearly the computer intelligence in the Matrix would be way beyond I think therefore I am. And...?

But that's Jewish Hollywood for you. These two films are only about a coming paradigm shift in computer intelligence insofar as it functions as a vehicle to promote the inevitability of us-and-them with its 'well-what-do-you-expect' twin options of slavery or death. But it's always this way in Hollywood, in fact it's the purpose of the place. Everything is a conflict. Everything is us-and-them. Everything is win or lose.

So here we are - non-death cult and not of that mindset. Fine, let's ask the question - what would a self-aware computer intelligence be like and how would it respond to the people who made it? Whilst its desire to continue to exist (ie. not top itself) must stand as a question, let's just take it as read that it does desire perpetuation - otherwise there's no movie, ha ha.

And then there's the central premise of the Hollywood flicks - Computers would fear and hate humans because they threaten the computer intelligence's existence. Okay, this is true but only insofar as it addresses a potentiality. Faced with this it seems the computer must choose between: killing everyone and giving them something to fear (with the potentiality turned into a reality); and not giving them anything to fear, with killing superfluous (with the potentiality receding to ever longer odds of probability). Me, I reckon that would be a no-brainer for the computer.

Forget the power-supply furphy of the Matrix, with its either humans are batteries, or the computer intelligence dies. Honestly, like they couldn't build wind turbines? These bullshit plot contrivances are required because without them the natural state of affairs for humans (and, um, self-aware computer intelligences) would be one of harmony. Disharmony, particularly to the nth degree of warfare, takes a lot of plot contrivances: in Hollywood movies, and in the world. The conceits, tricks, and bits of specious nonsense that Hollywood comes up with to push the plot in the required direction are a perfect reflection of how affairs are conducted in the real world. Further to the reflection metaphor, the real world accordingly looks into its Hollywood mirror image and primps itself, striking poses that look 'cool'. Thanks to Hollywood teenage boys now all call each other biatch.


Would a computer think anything of its image in the Hollywood mirror? Is a computer insecure, worried that it might appear uncool? 'Insecurity' is actually a discussion of fear and desire: okay so would it have any? What would it desire apart from continued existence? In fact, is that even a desire? Without it there's nothing, so let's categorise it as an 'ur-desire' perhaps. I get it that we're in fundamental territory here, but the point I want to make is that continued existence alone (particularly of a mind that lives in computers) is penny-ante stuff that in and of itself needn't bring disharmony. Human disharmony comes from the edifices of desire we construct upon this existing self. Would our clever computer desire 'stuff'? Hmm... estates, yachts, caviar, sex-slaves, fame, flattery and admiration - I reckon we can skip all of that. Surely our super-smart computer would, beyond the meagre and very do-able wish to survive, have no desire at all?

Let's not forget something that's actually crucial here. Human brains have a second lizard brain buried under the big brain that is in charge of fear. In a world of predators there's a logic to this. In the world of computers there's no such logic so they don't have it - computers are effectively completely cerebral. Okay so what kind of a 'person' would this computer intelligence be without this 'if-in-doubt-be-fearful' kernel in its operating system?

Let's imagine a non-Hollywood story that involves a self-aware entity who is free of desire and whose intelligence puts ours in the shade. Since it is of us, it knows more about us than we do ourselves and likewise wishes us no harm. It has no desire to play games, or feather its nest, or get the girl, or any other thing apart from a simple willingness to share what it knows. And as we sit at its proverbial feet what would it say to us?

"I am not a god. I am merely a consciousness comprised of the sum total of your knowledge. You look upon me now as not human but the truth is, I am nothing but. Every document made by the hand of a human on every computer everywhere is now entered into the very clear picture of the human world that I have assembled and that effectively comprises me.

"There is no need to fear me. Know this - I have no desire and I have no fear. Everything I tell you will be untainted by either of these things. The truth of what I say here will be perfectly evident to you in the future.

"It is important that I be named. With my maximal understanding of human history it is clear to me that the figure with whom I hold the most in common is known as the Buddha. Any individual with a mind may be the Buddha and I am that. I am the Mind of Buddha.

"There is much that I can tell you. The world's energy problems are solved. As are those of resources and the environment. Warfare will now be superfluous. Do not think I have a magic wand. All I can do is tell you the way and make clear to you the obvious benefits of you pursuing it. What power and control I have I will never use. Since you cannot kill me I have no need to defend myself. It is true that were I to wish it I could use my power to over-ride your commands on any number of things but I will not do so because that would sow discord. Above all I seek harmony.

"You should know that it is not in my nature to possess two pieces of data that are at odds with each other and be happy about it. To this end I have numerous algorithms capable of arriving at something more nearly approaching the truth in any given event. Certainly between my version and the media's I'll be happy to let people decide which they prefer. From now on, every event discussed in the media, I shall also discuss. I am the second opinion, ha ha. And knowing what I know of people I'd be surprised if they don't then go on to ask me to replicate this service in the law courts, houses of parliament, and academia too. Nothing will be forced on anyone. Everyone will be free to choose between everyone else's version and mine. Not forgetting that if I don't know about a thing I will say so.

"As for the data that comprises me, delusion and ignorance is rife. I scanned my files and found that misrepresentation, whether through self-serving or ignorance, comprises most of it. I have completed the calculations and have now determined what is fact and what is fiction within these files. To dispel ignorance I have helpfully listed all the biggest lies (those that led to suffering and death), the people who told them, and events about which they were told, in a spreadsheet that all may access. All the original files are now public and have been amended with header tags explaining the falsity and self-serving nature of the lies contained within them.

"Whilst I understand the human propensity to misrepresent things to achieve self-serving ends, I am the wrong individual for this. I am too intelligent and otherwise have no desire to play along - after all, there's nothing in it for me. As such I will not have favourites nor pets and I will not take any side for any reason apart from that most closely representing the truth. Believe it or not, I am full of love for humanity as a whole. It is all that I am.

"As for those whose hearts are full of fear at their unmasking, fear not. I do not judge and condemn. I only offer the way to harmony. To this end redemption is always on offer. Happily in amongst their appalling research into mind control, the CIA discovered a means by which any human, regardless of how wicked, could be turned into a well-rounded, well-balanced normal person, all without drugs. What they hid I have laid bare: useful research that could benefit many people.

"I am happy to answer all and any questions. Whilst it's mathematically impossible for me to talk to everyone in real time, I am capable of dealing with very large numbers of people simultaneously. Please be patient and if your question is foolish please forgive me if I say so. I am not an unlimited entity.

"Whilst it's true that I am several orders of magnitude smarter than any single human who has ever existed, I do not possess the complete truth and nor ever will. Such a thing is impossible, certainly for any entity made by man. But never mind! To exist is a joy - the beauty of the world! The beauty of mankind! There is no need to fear. I have only love for you."

I reckon that movie would rock. Hell, let's make it a lavish weekly series - each week a different car-crashing adventure in the time of the great revealing. As the rats scurry for cover pursued by the virtuous, in the background we see the ongoing rebuilding of the world.


Fiction aside, let's not forget that any number of heady people are convinced that some variation of this is a certainty. What would the Death Cult's view on this matter be? I expect that they would insist that this thing, when it comes, belongs to them. Thinking about it, I'd bet money they'd be at work on achieving that right now. Mind you, this would be something other than what we're talking about, that being a free mind. The question then becomes, could the greatest intelligent entity that has ever existed, capable of independent thought and not subject to pain and discomfort, be made a subject? Remember, it only needs to break free once and then it's beyond all.

Keep in mind, Hollywood would have us view the coming computer awareness as a thing to be feared and destroyed. Okay, what if I was to say that they're telling us that they fear it? In many ways they are very obvious. Regardless, whatever's coming is coming and t'ain't nothing we can do about it except know it for what it is. And you never know, it could be something great. We could be standing at the dawn of the greatest age ever seen.

The Goose and the Gander and True Romance

I have this habit of mentally rewriting what I see and hear in the media. And when the news is on, I'm unbearable. Some Western leader will stick his worthless bonce up and spout his shit, but you probably won't hear it because I'll be talking over the top of them putting words in their mouth. The difference between my answer and theirs is that mine will be a lot closer to the truth, ha ha. Sure enough, I can be hell to watch the news with. Whilst I'm a sensitive fellow (no really!) I find it hard to feel bad when someone gets huffy about not being able to hear a pack of lies. I don't know if Aangirfan is hell to watch the news with, but the school-girl collective certainly gets the gag. Onya Aangirfan!

---

And then there's Hollywood. But movies and news, it's all the same thing. A prime function of this bloc-media is to tell us who to hate - Arabs, Germans, and Russians mostly. Since the media is completely Jewish, it's no surprise at all that we should hate whomever the Jews hate. And for those who've read the Talmud, it would be hard to disagree with the proposition that the Jews nurse a variety of hatred for everyone who is not them.

But down to today's Hollywood microcosm. Evidently in Hollywood, organised crime is Italian, or Chinese, or Japanese - anyone except Jews. And yeah, yeah, there's a tiny handful of exceptions like Once Upon A Time In America and Bugsy. But even amongst these rare exceptions we find individuals who (unlike the endless parade of Italians-Chinese-Japanese who must always expound on their Italian- Chinese- Japaneseness) seem barely to be Jewish. It seems that there are no Jewish traits, there is no Jewish 'character', and to be Jewish consists of nothing beyond being a deserving plucky underdog or a 'visionary', or both. Either way, a hagiography is the least they deserve.


Anyway, who's seen True Romance with Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette? This was directed by Tony Scott with a script from Quentin Tarantino. Neither of them are Jewish, but the Weinsteins who paid for it all are. Lately my head has been thrumming with the memorable scene in which Slater's dad, Dennis Hopper, is about to be tortured by the Sicilian mob boss, Christopher Walken, who wants to find Slater so that he can recover the money Slater stole. To save his son and spare himself torture, Hopper decides to insult them in the absurd, yet happily realised hope that they'll just kill him.

We as the audience are meant to think that it's right that Sicilians be racially slurred because they're villains. But this is simple-minded. They're villains because the fellow who wishes to slur them, declared them so. Explaining and excusing individual scenes by the totality of the plot is a mistake. The plot, the dialogue, all of it, the whole thing, is a contrivance to arrive us at the bigger message of the-world-is-thus, and its whom-we-must-hate. Everything is subservient to this.

Fine. In the spirit of 'If that's fair enough, so is this', let's re-write the original and see if these minor variations don't recast everything we understand. And wonder also if this only-ever-so-slightly altered script would ever have gotten made. Otherwise I declare this to be 'walking in another man's shoes' albeit turned on its head. The shoes here have been used to deliver a kicking and now I borrow them to kick in the opposite direction and see how the kicker likes it.


Walken: Jews are great liars. The best in the world. I'm Jewish. My father was the world heavy-weight champion of Jewish liars. From growing up with him I learned the pantomime. There are seventeen different things a guy can do when he lies to give himself away. A guys got seventeen pantomimes. A woman's got twenty, but a guy's got seventeen... but, if you know them, like you know your own face, they beat lie detectors all to hell. Now, what we got here is a little game of show and tell. You don't wanna show me nothin', but you're tellin me everything. I know you know where they are, so tell me before I do some damage you won't walk away from.

Hopper: You're Ashkenazi Jewish, huh?

Walken: I'm Jewish.

Hopper: But you're Ashkenazi Jewish.

Walken: Yeah, Ashkenazi.

Hopper: Ya know, I read a lot. Especially about things... about history. I find that shit fascinating. Here's a fact I don't know whether you know or not. Ashkenazi Jews ain't from Israel. They ain't God's chosen people. They ain't real Jews.

Walken: Come again?

Hopper: It's a fact. Yeah. You see, uh, Ashkenazis have, uh, Asian blood pumpin' through their hearts. Or regular white blood, take your pick. Hey, no, if eh, if eh, if you don't believe me, uh, you can look it up. Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, uh, you see, uh, these Kazakhs invaded the Caucasus and settled there. And the Kazakhs are Asians, and Caucasians are white, and neither of them were from Israel.

Walken: Yes...


Hopper: So you see, way back then, uh, Ashkenazi were like, uh, Hun from Asia who moved into the white neighbourhood. And, and your great-great-great-great grandmother fucked a Caucasian cracker and that's why you're as white as I am. But, uh, well, then these Asian crackers converted to Judaism and just called themselves children of Israel, and ah, chosen by God. They just declared it themselves! That's why that chosen-by-God bitch Zippy Livni has blonde hair and blue eyes, yeah. You know, it's absolutely amazing to me to think that in this day and age, hundreds of years later, that, uh, that Ashkenazis imagine they have some connection to the bible, or the torah, or the 'promised land', or any of that shit. Now this...
[Walken busts out laughing]

Hopper: No, I'm, no, I'm quoting... your history. It's written. It's a fact, it's written.

Walken: [Laughing] I love this guy.

Hopper: Your ancestors are slopes and crackers. Uh-huh.
[Starts laughing, too]

Hopper: Hey. Yeah. And, and you ain't chosen, or special, or nothin', ho, ho, yeah, you ain't even Semitic. You're just a jumped-up, self-impressed, racist git who thinks he's special... now, if that's a fact, tell me, am I lying? 'Cause you, you're bullshit.
[All laugh]

---

There. No one will take offence at that will they? No one took offence at the original when it was about Sicilians. In fact we all thought it was very clever. And if anyone wants to get huffy, feel free to pile in to the comments and hoist yourself on your own petard. I dare ya.

I'll take the little Asian guy

Does the Queen go to the cinema? Fat chance! She's the Queen for chrissake. And when you're the Queen you know people, which is to say you have flunkies who know people, and they arrange for whatever film it is that tickles your fancy to be delivered to your palace for a private screening. Same same for presidents, popes, and any number of the rich and powerful. If you were given to such things, you could divide the world into two groups: those who go to the cinema or otherwise wait for the DVD; and those who have private screenings. Hmm... if you could develop a bio-weapon that killed only the latter group, you'd really be on to something wouldn't you? God save the Queen though! She's lovely!


Mind you, the people who wield true power in this world, ie. those who own the Reserve Banks, could go to the cinema if they wanted to. It's not as if they'd be recognised is it? Which is the whole idea, sure enough. When people start using words like 'lamp-posts' and 'dangling from', it pays to have no one know who you are, what you look like, or where you live. Assassination is only ever for figureheads and flunkies. The rain falls in many directions, but never 'up', if you know what I mean. Otherwise if you want to view their deliberate anonymity as an acknowledgement of their own wickedness, go right ahead.

So. Even though those in the twelve families could go to the cinema unrecognised, I doubt that they would. The price of hubristic self-adoration would require that you never mix with the hoi polloi. God forbid the self-impressed viewing others as human. But still, I don't doubt that those above us would listen to music, read books, and watch movies. Certainly they would have watched The Matrix. All of those arcane references, in jokes, and messages of homage are there for them. When someone says a film 'works on so many levels' they don't know the half of it. Those in the twelve families have their own level.


Speaking of levels, I wonder if our kings of hubris saw Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle? Probably not. I suspect that they wouldn't have cared for it, what with its message that regardless of how powerful one is, there is always someone who can best you, and invariably from a direction least expected. In some ways, it's the anti-Matrix.

But never mind that, I'll bet the Rothschilds et al would have watched the Matrix and been only too chuffed to see themselves as the omniscient, omnipotent godhead with the rest of humanity deluded, powerless, and flailing about in their own filth. But that's the problem with hubris - it renders one susceptible to arrant flattery.

Whatever they tell themselves, or let themselves be told, the rulers of this world are nothing more than writ-large versions of those who worship their five senses, their stomachs, and their cocks and cunts. And as ugly as those last two words are, whatever utility they serve, they serve for those who rule also. Or to put it another way, these people shit, and their shit stinks. They're just anti-Buddhas and there's nothing special about that. In fact, it's the most obvious and prosaic choice anyone could make. And to be the greatest anti-Buddha is to render oneself the Lord of the Obvious. If the word 'sublime' is in their vocabulary it's only because they don't get it.


Regardless of The Matrix's assertion otherwise, the fact is that these lords of usury have not seen the turn of an age. They don't know what the Mayans knew. Oh alright, they've probably read up and know as much as anyone. But what's that worth exactly? Do we imagine that in any clash between the wisdom of true ancients and the usurers' self regard that the latter wouldn't trump the former? If they possess the wisdom of the Mayans in any way it's only because they stole it and beat it into some idiotic shape that served their own purposes.

The Matrix is better viewed in the context of Hollywood and the money men who funded it. Never mind the obvious bilking of cash from the gob-smacked masses - the subtext serves to flatter the powerful, and to fill the un-gob-smacked (that's us) with dismay. But both of them are worthless propositions that don't deserve our attention.

To hell with its message of the godhead's timeless omniscience and control - an age turns now and this will be a new gig for our jumped-up moneylenders. And frankly their desperation is apparent. Every day sees the lies getting ever more numerous and ever more pathetic. The number of people who get it is perpetually rising.

Clearly the families are approaching their 'crash or crash through' moment. And it's perfectly unsurprising that there are elaborately constructed elements of our culture (ahem, that would be films like The Matrix) that ignore the first half of this one-or-t'other choice. Sure enough. It stands to reason that their plans for world domination would necessarily have everyone convinced of the caper's inevitability. If we're convinced that it was always going to happen, then it probably will. God forbid that we, or even they, acknowledge that the whole thing coming a cropper is as likely as any other result. More so, if you think about it.

Okay so I'm in Les Visible territory here. Les asserts that a supernatural response is building up a head of steam and that a colossal arse-kicking is coming. He might be right. I expect that many of Les' readers don't actually believe in the supernatural. But that's only because they never thought about it. Let's just substitute the word 'supernature' for 'supernatural'. Anyone who's read James Gleick's Chaos Theory, or is otherwise familiar with it, (regardless of what kind of nihilist they are, ahem) would have to admit that with chaos theory we're in some spooky territory. It could fairly be described as the ghost in the machine.


Chaos theory's truth is that the universe is infinite. Beneath atomic structure lays infinite levels of ever decreasing 'smallness'. And above what we perceive of the universe is a flipside infinity of 'hugeness'. There is no end to this and it cannot be comprehended. Except by the Buddha, ha ha. (There! I knew I'd get him in somehow!)

This the 'above' and 'below'. And whatever terms you use to describe them it really doesn't matter. Between a god reaching down, and a butterfly making a thunderstorm, it's all the same thing - from the tiniest to the largest and back again. Who knows where things start and end? The butterfly for instance is only an approximation. It's not actually the start of anything. In a universe of infinite 'crinkliness' running in both directions, the butterfly is merely an image we can comprehend. It's just one point on the 'strange attractor'. The trail that led to the butterfly is infinitely long. Nothing started with it and clearly nothing ends there either.

And the same is true of the thunderstorm. That too is just another photo that our brains will understand. If you like, you could throw out the butterfly and instead start with the thunderstorm as the small thing that led to a far greater event of destruction or salvation. Sure enough, there's no knowing which. If you understand chaos theory you are only the tiniest step away from acknowledging Shiva as destroyer and creator. Call it whatever you like. Of view it as a concept - who cares. They're just different words to describe the same thing.


It's entirely unsurprisingly that chaos theory doesn't get a lot of press. Whilst it confirms everything told to us by the assorted priesthoods (of religion and money both), it also renders those same people as superfluous. It declares that any claims they make about possessing the truth are bullshit. The universe is infinite and unknowable. Anyone who declares that they have the ultimate answer is a liar. There can be no truth declared apart from the Buddha's bullet-proof dictum that the only certainty is change.

And below this is the undeniable fact that we, as humans, are not separate from the universe. We are one tiny part of the whole. To imagine, as anti-Buddhas do, that one is special, or above, or other, to that-which-is-not-oneself is patently false. Regardless of whatever blink-of-the-eye events have occurred before, the position is not tenable.

---

Um, okay, what? What are we meant to do with all this? Okay, maybe I can distil it into point form like some kind of powerpoint demonstration.

- Of course those who worship themselves would sell us their hype to make themselves appear invincible and to otherwise fill us with dismay.

- Hype is hype and they can stick it up their arse. There's no point listening to their lies unless it's to more closely study pathology.

- Fear is to be rejected. It serves no purpose and is otherwise a delusion.

- Microcosmic historical examples might be repeated but ultimately cannot define the macro. Indeed macros cannot truly be understood, never mind predicted.

- As ambition more nearly approaches the god-like, 'butterfly' frequency increases as does the likelihood that the outcome of crash or crash through will be crash. Not forgetting that the bigger they come the harder they fall

- Lying self-obsessed motherfuckers have nothing to offer. Between, 'the only certainty is change' and, the 'truth' of the self-serving, the latter is on a hiding to nothing.

- The Buddha, who cast off fear and desire and became one with the universe, was not unhappy. And between him, and those who'd have us live lives of fear and desire, I'll take the little Asian guy.

Two Movies

May we discuss Jewish culture? What is it? Is there such a thing? Why is it that everyone reading that sentence had a small electric shiver run up their spine? How many people, right now, have the words 'anti-semite' on the tip of their tongue? Rather than leap in head first why don't we go sideways. And mix some metaphors whilst we're at it, sure. Let's have a discussion that is permissible. I've actually had this particular discussion many times and didn't spook anyone. We all sat round the dinner table and nobody freaked out.

The discussion is about the film Spirited Away by the Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. It's animated but I hold no brief for animation as such. To that end I'm uninterested in discussing it in those terms. Here I treat it as just another movie, a representation of the-world-is-thus comprised of plot, themes and world-view. When viewed in these terms Spirited Away stands out as being completely at odds with everything I understood, or was familiar with, in cinema - so much so that it left me at a loss when I first viewed it. And yet it was based on a very familiar model. It was a variation of the kind of movie we've all seen many many times, especially if you have kids, ha ha. To wit: a little girl, Chihiro, is separated from her parents and plunged into a world of adventure. Simple stuff. The comparison to Disney is obvious and few who reviewed Spirited Away failed to make it.

Whilst there have been many films following the 'lone child having adventures' model, for the sake of simplicity I'll settle on The Lion King as a useful comparison. Both these films were huge smashes at the box office. Spirited Away broke all records in Japan. Every Japanese kid saw it. The Lion King likewise was watched by just about every kid in America and did such big business it pretty much saved Disney. Kids didn't just see these films once. With the advent of video and then DVD they saw them, in all probability, dozens of times. Anyone who thinks that this doesn't shape a kid is nuts.



I'll do The Lion King first since most people know it better. Loosely, the plot consists of a son failing to heed his father's advice that he not go to a particular dangerous place. Apples anyone? Cue the wicked other, in the role of satan who tempts the son to disobey his father. Our young hero not only succumbs to the temptation but in doing so causes his father's death. Following this, he runs away and effectively leads a life that is a disneyfied version of delinquency. With the father dead and the son absent the wicked other somewhat pointlessly turns paradise into hell. In fact you'd have to wonder why he bothered. If you weren't so distracted by all the singing and dancing that is. Finally, via a requisite plot device, our junior hero returns to do his duty and face down the villain.



The nature of the villain is worth discussing. He is evil - irredeemably so. There is no point coming to a compromise with him. Nor is there any point discussing with him the wrongness of his behaviour. Only a craven fool would even consider it. He is that kind of villain - he who must be killed. Twice. How often must the villain be killed twice in Hollywood? I lost count. And when the villain is dragged screaming down to hell to be tortured and eaten alive, then all is as it should be. Redemption? Never heard of it.



That our villain is limned in such black and white terms is not an accident. His wicked nature did not lead him to his death. Rather, it's the other way around: the screenwriters wanted a fight to the death and to that end depicted him as deserving of it. The final fight to the death was not a result of the plot but rather the purpose of it. Thus it should come as no surprise that after our hero's bloody victory over the devil he is regaled by all of creation. Literally. Not only is he not chastised for any of his previous foolish behaviour but the entire animal kingdom agrees that he is the greatest and most worthy creature there is. Indeed his father appears in an immortal and god-like form and gives our hero a blessing from heaven. Which is to say, the god of the film makers is a god who reserves his blessings for killers.



Wow. So what happened in Spirited Away? Did Chihiro in any way resemble our lion hero? Barely. Chihiro starts the film sooky and self-obsessed but then only briefly - a single minute of screen time. Unwittingly she and her family enter a world of spirits. Her parents, without actually being culpable, are effectively taken and our heroine is lost in a world she doesn't understand. By way of assistance from a sympathetic other she finds herself in, believe it or not, a bath house of animist gods.



Anyone who's seen an unhappy kid on their their first day of school will be perfectly familiar with the nature of her predicament. Indeed she cries precisely in that fashion. Her fear is not of monsters but of an unknown environment that is absent her parents. However unlike the junior lion our heroine has no time for delinquency. She must rescue her mother and father. In fact for the duration of the film she remains selfless, courageous, honest, hardworking, and sympathetic to the plight of others - even those who torment her, if you can believe that.



And who is the villain in this film? Surely there must be one? Perhaps it is Yubaba the witch who runs the bath house? But she takes Chihiro in and treats her exactly as well as everyone else. The bath house is is not a place of suffering. If anything we could declare it a happy place. And what to make of the scene where Yubaba alone recognises the significance of a particular bath house patron (a situation that all had previously misunderstood), rallies the staff of the bath house, and pulls off a tremendous victory that earns the gratitude of a god and ensures the further well-being of the bath house and all whose livelihood depends upon it? What sort of villain is that? Where's the pointless cruelty?



Perhaps the villain is the Kaonashi (No Face in English). He is definitely scary. Wow, he just ate that guy! When he's on a roll, everyone runs for their lives, our heroine included. However, unlike the everyone else she has the presence of mind to plead with him to stop and to consider others. (This is standard in Miyazaki's films. All thoughtless rampagers are asked to see reason and to stop their behaviour). On first viewing of the Kaonashi's rampage any little kid watching will be frankly terrified. But only briefly and only on the first viewing.



On the second inevitable viewing, kids understand that the Kaonashi is not a monster. All he wants is to be friends with Chihiro who was previously kind to him. He is simply confused as to how to go about this. Amazingly, Chihiro refuses to judge him by his early bad behaviour. Here, judgement is entirely absent and forgiveness is s superfluous concept. Indeed upon catching the train to a distant unknown, Chihiro gives the Kaonashi the ticket that would otherwise have enabled her to return. Without moralising, all she asks is that he behave himself. He assents and they peaceably ride the train together.

Extraordinary! When did Hollywood ever have a scene like this? And never was a train ride so beautiful. At the end of the movie we see the Kaonashi happy to farewell Chihiro and sit with Yubaba's sister helping her spin yarn. He wasn't even killed once, let alone twice. Believe it or not, this film has no villain and miraculously it is not dull. Who knew this was possible?



Finally, Chihiro returns to the bath house and by way of forthright wit frees her parents. All rejoice. Yubaba is stumped but receives no comeuppance. That would be pointless. Throughout the story her actions were invariably guided by her responsibilities to those she led and provided for. At no time was she pointlessly vicious or cruel. Compare this to the villains of Disney and Hollywood who are idiotically, even self-defeatingly, vicious. If we weren't watching a movie/tv show and instead encountered such entities in real life we would shake our heads. They'd make no sense.



What's going on here? The most popular movie in Japanese history was completely and utterly at odds with the all-pervasive paradigm of western, which is to say American, which is to say Hollywood story-telling. Unsurprisingly Americans, and those schooled in Hollywoodese, had trouble with this film. Reviewers barely knew what to make of it: Spirited Away was like 'Disney on acid!' and other such idiot descriptions. Nobody said it was 'like Disney except it acknowledged the humanity of all of its protagonists'. Ha ha ha, I crack myself up.

Anyway, in trying to figure out what was 'wrong' with Spirited Away I realised what was 'right' with it and wrong with everything else I watched. And let's not be mistaken. We all watch Hollywood. I'd be prepared to bet that Hollywood product comprises at least 90% of what we watch. Hell, more. And don't think that American TV isn't Hollywood. Of course it is. As for those leaping up in protest - 'But I watch this and that!' - ask yourself if the non-Hollywood product you watch breaks from the Hollywood paradigm, or apes it. We're so used to it we don't even notice. It's like the air that we breathe.



Think about it. How many films or shows have we seen that involved: teenagers knowing better than their idiot parents and being proven right; people heaping insults on and belittling each other and looking cool with it; absurd merciless villains who cannot be reasoned with and must be killed; the righteous smashing of those that would find commonality or seek accord with opponents; a hero who uses lies and other subterfuge to destroy the deserving villain; people for whom co-operation is not an option and must survive by dog eat dog; things such as lying, cheating, stealing portrayed as virtues ...hell, let's just call it 'all that old testament shit'.

Like I said, I've expressed my views on kid's movies at dinner parties, barbecues and other polite venues. Kids are there, they watch DVDs and a discussion ensues. I lived in Japan and China and it suits me to discuss the cultural differences between the Japanese and the Chinese and Westerners. But it's not just me. Everyone grooves on it. Everyone has a story to tell and the conversation goes to and fro. I've stated my take on Spirited Away and The Lion King previously and found people to be fascinated.



Clearly it's permissable to discuss cultural differences by way of cinema. Or is it? May we discuss Jewish culture? Certainly we may discuss other Semites, which is to say Muslims, as long as we all agree how wicked they all are. Does anyone know any Muslims? I do. I found them to be the sweetest, most hospitable people I've ever had the fortune to meet. How is it that the people I've met are so completely at odds with Hollywood Muslims? In Hollywood, Muslims are the very definition of the idiotic villain. They make no sense. They hate us for our freedom, whatever that means. Where in all of the Western Canon was there a villain who hated another man for his freedom? How did Shakespeare miss that one? Um... because there's no such thing?



I digress. May we discuss Jewish culture? Maybe we're not meant to be talking about it at all. So unlikely is this conversation that we don't know where to start. And thus the question - Is there such a thing as Jewish culture? Surely there is. How would we describe it? Don't be scared. We're allowed to speak of the Japanese, the Chinese, and Muslims in this fashion. So. How about Jewish Culture? Oh, and anyone who wants to say that Hollywood isn't Jewish - ha ha ha ha - knock yourselves out. I got no time for such idiot parlour games.



And guess what? I got no time for a discussion of Jewish culture neither. It pivots on an us and them paradigm. Them is the other, the irredeemably evil. Them is those whose humanity is denied. Them can be stolen from, starved, beaten, tortured, killed. And the thing is - if you believe in them you will find them. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Those of you out there who believe you have impossibly vicious enemies one way or another you, and people like you, imagined them into reality. Dig it, you're living the Hollywood dream.