Here's what an honest, to goodness, Midwesterner has seen transpire since 2008:
Hatred towards the conservative program with multiple wars and exponential national debt heading into the 2008 Presidential Election
A literal no name liberal, minority president elected to presidency of the USA
I recall thinking "who is this guy, and what has he done?"
Ex girlfriend says "Get on board, don't doubt him, you are an ahole"
I thought, "What?"
2008 - 2012 Presidency
New alternative energy or "new deal" programs do not come to fruition
I don't pretend to know what exactly the president has done, all in, but I do know that alternative energies never materialized to the extent promised
In fairness, my sister in law has stated that multiple progressions have been made in organic and sustained farming
I only see bailed out banks, frak mining millionaires, and other run of the mill stuff
2012 Election
A Republican candidate is rolled out with a perchance for Joseph Smith
Never in doubt, the existing president rolls through the elections
Tough to expect a fringe religious candidate to win out, but whatever...republicans know what they are doing, right?
Current
Republicans do know what they are doing (or at least the money behind the scenes knows)
Sweep of the midterms to the Republicans
Current president at all time low ratings
Still a Muslim, a non US citizen, a communist, and possible a Satanist (that makes sense, right?)
Democrats are rolling out a woman with ties to president that was relevant over 20 years go
What does this all say? I say a "Conservative land slide in 2016".
What I do know is that money runs the world; with the masses having "spent on their liberal load" over the course of the past 8 years, I predict a conservative landslide in 2016. That much is a given. You see it on TV, in elections, and the populace opinion.
What is unknown is what will the elite do from 2016-2020? They have now laid waste to the alleged "liberals", so popular opinion will be tied to the need to have the conservative party run the country. That, friends, is really, really scary. 2016 -2020 is planned out, and I really have no idea of where it is going.
My plan is to come back to this post at election time, and every year thereafter. Good luck kids...I fear we are in for a roller coaster ride.
I recently attended a performance of a Beatle tribute band, Rain, and most thoroughly appreciated the performance. Heavy on Lennon songs, great Lennon vocals, and the occasional Macca input kept the performance highly enjoyable. Plus the ability to have a couple of Minneapolis local beers while listening to the show made the concert highly fantastic. Sure, you can't get around the Macca standards "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be", but when you pull out "In My Life" in Abbey Road outfits, who cares?
That left me to think; how cool would it be if I created and performed in a Monkee's tribute band? One could say : why would you want to be in a Monkees tribute band? They were fake, they were made for TV, they were Beatle clones, they were made to make cash, etc etc etc. I do not doubt all of this is very true; however, at the same time, their music is absolutely fantastic, and parallels anything that the 1960's produced. If one were to ask me : "hey you, would you rather hang out with Mickey Dolenz or Michael Nesmith in the mid 60's over Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan?", I would like say "hell yeah, I would." I don't doubt Sir Paul and Robert are on the forward list of 20th century artistic geniuses, but that doesn't mean they don't come off stuffy, pretentious, and boring. I would think the insight of the Monkee boys of that time period would be much more enlightening.
So with that in mind, let's go back to my fantasy. The idea of this post is to create a "live" play list:
List the song title
Have a corresponding YouTube video of the song (sorry for the commercial breaks ahead of the video)
Discuss some of my ideas of the song, and what I would do to spice it up a bit (if needed)
Here we go. Imagine sitting in my local coffee shop, sipping on a couple of Toppling Goliath brews, and waiting for myself and three other musicians to come on stage and begin the performance of a life time. So it begins!
First up, She, from the album "More of the Monkees" :
A great, early classic 60's girl styled song to get the show going. Lots of good harmonies, a solid baseline, and great Dolenz vocals. There isn't much I'd do to change this one outside of perhaps jangling the guitar part a bit more. I'd let this one ring out with style. I'd then merge into...
Saturday's Child, from the album "The Monkees" :
Classic guitar riff to start the song; a bit of a garage band/proto punk intro leading into more fantastic Dolenz vocals. Quickly the songs leads into the recurring chorus of "Saturday's Child'. Echoing counter points that, again, ring out early 60's harmonies (first heard @ :28). The instrumental break starting at 1:28 brings the entire song to a Kink like freakout. The only thing I would possibly do is bring the guitar background at the chorus to the front. Let that Rickenbacker sound jangle, I say...then to
This Just Doesn't Seem to be My Day, from the album "The Monkees" :
The Monkees go Far East on this one. The first one on the set list that is a Jones vocal, this one seems to have attempted to replicate the mid 60's zen style of the Stones, Kinks and Beatles. A great change of pace for the set list; again, the only thing I'd do is bring that awesome guitar sound that is so often buried in the choruses of their songs. Now, it's be time to go Diamond...
Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow, "More of the Monkees" :
An instant Monkee/Neil Diamond classic. Lots of great harmonies again, with Davy taking the lead on a great lyric. The chorus erupts into quite a bit of intensity very quickly starting at @:32, and only gets better and better. I love this song, and I feel even the hipster kids at the coffee shop get into this one. No doubt, it is time for another Toppling Goliath after this one. There isn't much I'd take out of this one, outside of perhaps removing/reducing the keyboard part. As far as 60's pop music, this one is an absolute classic. Now on to the wool hatted one, Michael Nesmith...
Tapioca Tundra, The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees :
Michael Nesmith = Damon Albarn, anyone? The muted vocals, minor chord progressions and surrealist lyrics scream of pyschedelic 60's; yet the vocal cycles starting @ 1:54 and the outtro beginning @ 2:25 reminds me more of Blur's 13 than Sgt Pepper. A true Nesmith classic, and no modification needed as far as I'm concerned. Act one is almost up, time to close with an oft forgotten and somber classic...
Sometime in the Morning, More of the Monkees :
Another top notch Dolenz vocal track. I've always found the guitar part comforting and the chords at the chorus spine tingling. I've been listening on/off to the Monkees since 4th grade, and this song is one that I never tire of. The chord progression @ 2:06 and on takes the song to another level. Again, in my honest opinion, not much is needed for change. And the perfect way to end the first act. Time for a Zeelander!
One of my favorite past times on Amazon's Kindle shop is to browse the bargain bin eBook section relating to topics that include occultism, conspiracies, and the paranormal. You can always count on interesting radical thinking, zero editor oversight, and plenty of grammatical errors to provide for hours of reading entertainment. One only needs a kindle or a kindle app to open the doorway to a bizarre literary universe for typically $l or less per read.
Not all eBooks, however, are created equally. I recently discovered a copy of David Barker's "Scenarios of Alien Visitation", and was instantly hooked by the author's concise style of writing and management of the topics at hand. Baker doesn't pretend to generate any new theories regarding the origin of UFOs, but states the ideas in his book "have been absorbed from the UFO literature." The book is definitely an underground gem in the world in ufological studies and I recommend it to everyone interested in the field and who would enjoy a high level summary of ufo origin theories. So without further ado, I'd like to highlight my top five favorite personal summaries of the book, that, in my opinion, are the most probabilistic solutions to the question : what are UFOS and where do they come from?
Tourists - UFO visitations include a host of varied aliens, ranging from the benign through the malevolent in nature. The aliens may know that we will/did die a mass suicide as a race and have an interest in our planet as only a sight seeing experience. Barker summarizes two types of alien tourists:
Sane/moral "tourists": these tourists hold to a code of no interference with our planet and adhere to a "look don't touch" principle. Sane/moral aliens impart marginal intervention with our fellow humankind.
Amoral/mad "tourists": these tourists look at humans as game. Earth is more or less an amusement zone to these tourists, wherein anything goes. This type of tourist enjoys toying with our collective minds, manipulating our societies, inflicting pain and torture on individuals and groups, and taking sadistic delight in our pain, fright and confusion. In this sense, aliens are not far removed from us. I would only include to this train of thought the idea that amoral/mad tourists may profit from humanity's suffering and torture. As Charles Fort famously stated, "The Earth is a farm. We are someone else's property."
Mimics/thespians : alien visitation is a form of alien theatre. Absurd encounters in desolate parts of the globe, random lights that play in the night sky, etc are a form of distraction. The UFO event is designed to conceal some unknown true purpose, nature and origin, which could include (but not be limited to) the military/industrial complex, fraudulent occult forces, and biological or spiritual enterprises.
Scanners : an interesting theory that assumes that the visitors exist outside of our time space continuum and are scanning earth's long term history much like a dvr playback. The observers are fast forwarding through our long term progression, and occasionally slowing the dvd playback down or place it on pause when some event or situation has peaked the observer's curiosity. The alien visitors have no interest in our present period, except to how it fits the overall progression of earth. They could be very well looking for some person, place or event that is a mystery to them.
Tulpas : as Barker states, tulpas are "living, temporal thought forms with independent existence and will, created by human minds." Dipping into the world of Jung and the collective unconsciousness, UFOs are a product of permanent thought forms generated by science fiction writing of the late 19th/early 20th century and the unintentional result of tens of thousands of readers intensely concentrating on the idea of alien visitation over many decades of times. More radical yet, UFOs could be attributed to a super genius who dreams or daydreams, or even has nightmares about alien visitation.
Control Mechanism : the UFO phenomenon is a manifestation of a single alien intelligence. The intelligence can materialize energy and matter into UFO crews and objects in the sky as some form of an operating control system on humanity. Perhaps a PKD Vallis type system, this intelligence is purporting alien visitation to the masses to fit some unknown end game.
BONUS REASON : REALITY WARPS
The last theory Barker touches on and that I think is absolutely correct involves reality warps. Barker theorizes the work of the US military in the 20th century regarding teleportation, atomic weaponry, and invisibility has opened our reality to multiple realities, and UFOs are a byproduct of an unstable reality. I think this hypothesis touches on more than the teleportation of US Naval warships and suddenly points into the direction of Gnostic thought, Archons, and a constructed, fabricated reality that is designed to keep us away from light and gnosis. I'd love to write about this more, but i'll save that for another day, dear reader.
At the end of the day, the UFO phenomenon is still as obscure as it was thousands of years ago. A combination of many different theories likely points to a solution, but when or if that ever happens, I would not garner a guess. I believe that the question of UFO visitation will never be solved; I do believe UFOs will, however, continue to be seen, their crews encountered, and that UFOs will continue to be dismissed by mainstream academia and media. Perhaps all of these given facts are by design.
Ah, the story of Don Draper...the middle aged, insecure, brilliant, infidel ad executive living in 1960's Manhattan; the ultimate existential anti hero inserted into pop culture's collective consciousness courtesy of the equally brilliant writers and directors of the television classic 'Mad Men'. He has seen violent death in war, found new life by becoming an impostor, slept with movies stars, models, and coworkers, and developed some of the sharpest minds machining the materialist demand forces of Western economics. A true character for the ages; you can go from absolute disgust / disbelief to total admiration of the man in a matter of minutes.
I began watching the series about four years ago and like most people, struggled a bit through season one and then hit pay dirt beginning with the season two opener. It felt as though the writing on the show went from a solid historical based television series to an instant, refreshing, timeless, and vibrant dramatic classic. The writers presented to modern television viewer's that time of the 20th century and its respective social structures, stresses, and social hegemonies for entertainment; yet safely tucked below the show's entertainment value is the fact that the group on Madison Avenue 50 some years ago represents exactly who all of us are today.
Now this could be purely coincidental, and I could be very well matrixing some of the things I've been reading and learning about over the past few years, but I have caught at least three "occult references" to date while watching Draper's life unfold over the past six seasons. What better parallel peripheral to a man who is completely and utterly alone in the universe; a man who's life and successes are built on a fabricated reality.
The meaning of the word occult, as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is a such :
to shut off from view or exposure
So in no particular order, three occult references that have been mentioned in Mad Men that I have picked up on as of date.
Season 2 : Harry makes mention of JPL on a forthcoming Draper trip to California
JPL is the acronym for the California based Jet Propulsion Laboratory. JPL is the founding brain think tank that pioneered early rocketry and NASA propulsion engineering. No doubt JPL was the symbol of cutting edge lunar and space progress at that period of time and the very name would have extolled a sense of excitement in air. On a more curious note, JPL is known in certain circles as Jack Parsons Laboratory.
Marvel Whiteside Parsons aka Jack Parsons, pictured above, was a bona fide chemistry genius and founder of Anaheim's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. No doubt, research into his work and life would yield a blog that would go on forever. His work and theories in respect to solid fuel rocket boosters dominated the 20th century's space exploration landscape. Parsons was not only a highly respected scientist within the military and industrial complex, he was also an admitted occultist. His life included (but is most certainly is not limited to) :
Ritualistic workings prior to each rocket test attempting to invoke the protection and guidance of the Greek god Pan
Correspondence with Aleister Crowley and Crowley's anointment of Parsons to lead the Agape Lodge of the Thelemic Ordo Templi Orientis of California
A scryer/channeler relationship with L Ron Hubbard. Mr Hubbard and Parsons spent many an hour together, performing rituals and rites in various forms of communication with "some higher intelligence"
Alleged completion of the famous "Babalon Working", wherein with the assistance of a Marjorie Cameron and Hubbard, the threesome would attempt to summon from the ether a "moonchild" that would in turn destroy Christianity
A short, intense list, no doubt, but there is much more to the story. Many in the government felt that Parson's 1947 completion of the Babalon Working opened a portal to another world, which in turn provided explanation for the infamous1947 UFO wave. Crazy stuff indeed. Parsons ended his life in a violent explosion, wherein it was rumoured he was in the midst of creating a homoculus. As I said, crazy stuff indeed. And likely included in Mad Men for a very serious, indirect reference.
Season 2 : Draper's Flight to CA
On the tail end of episode featuring Draper's and Pete Campbell's flight to California, Draper is seen gazing afar from a window seat on the plane. Over top of the scene is none other than Joe Meek's "Telstar". Meek, as discussed in a previous entry on this blog, was also a noted occultist and likely an "experiencer" of high strangeness.
I was fortunate enough to discover the work of Joe Meek last year; listening to some of his music today is like listening to music from another plane of existence. "Telstar" today sounds as if it had been created by something in the presence of Tesla or even the Mothman; I can only imagine what people thought when the song first aired over 50 years ago. Even famed occultist/Crowley devotee Jimmy Page of Zeppelin fame has admitted that Meek's brilliance is more or less an undiscovered treasure of the 20th century. Quite a correlation!
Season 4 Don Draper conversation with Anna Draper regarding UFOs
Fans of the show know that the relationship between Anna and Don was something very special and powerful. For a woman to learn that her husband had been missing in wartime action, yet find her husband alive and well years after the war, then realize that another man has taken her deceased husband's name, and yet still find love and to be able to create a special relationship with this imposter is quite a complex process of "being". In season 3/4 (I think), Don learns of Anna's diagnosis with cancer, and that her time on earth is quickly coming to an end. One of the last exchanges between the two involved the discussion of UFOs; as Don is painting the living room one morning in Anna's California bungalow, Anna mentions that she swears she saw a UFO one time that nearly knocked her over, and continues :
Anna Draper : I started thinking of everything I was sure was true, and how flimsy it all might be.
Don Draper :You don’t have to see a UFO to know that. But it’s not a great way to think about things
Anna Draper :I know everything about you and I still love you.
No doubt, the exchange is one of the better moments of the show; the conversation completely embraced the point of being of what is Mad Men. Many in the world of Fortean research have postulated that UFOs do indeed have an occult origin. I am inclined to agree with those researchers.
So where does that leave this post? I no doubt could very well be putting together interesting individuals in history, personal leanings, and random scenes in a TV show to impose a greater meaning or symbolic gesture onto the television show that is 'Mad Men'. Yet I also believe that one of writer's is aware of ideas that have been touched on above, and have included the ideas into the show with intention. I've likely missed many more references; once the show is completed, I plan to go back and binge watch the series from beginning to end. I am certain that more interesting references exist that I have missed on first pass through the show.
Heading into the series' final episodes, I do wonder if this "occult" link becomes more significant to the plot, or if it fades away. Only the writers know, but I do think that an end to Draper's artificially constructed existence happens, one way or another.
So dear readers, what do others think? Have I missed the boat on this one? Have I missed anything that makes sense in the context of Draper and the occult? If anyone reads this post and has more ideas or references in respect to this theme, drop a note and let me know!
I recently read Jacques Vallee's "UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union" and would have to say it easily one of his most engaging works. Vallee is considered by many to the world's premiere ufologist (if such a field truly exists). A trained mathematician, astrophysicist, and computer scientist, Vallee's pedigree and analytic background stands higher than most in the fringe field of ufo studies.
The background of the book is set amongst Russian Glasnot in 1989. With the great social strain placed upon the Russian people moving from Communism to a more "open and transparent" society and government, an unparalleled UFO wave was unleashed upon the country. Hundreds of sightings, witnesses to occupants, and even attempted alien abductions were realized by the Russian people.
There are two things that I find absolutely fascinating in Vallee's work regarding the UFO wave of 1989. First, Vallee makes note of, if indirectly, the relationship between social structure change and UFO sightings. Is there a correlation between a social structure stress upon a population and the frequency of UFO encounters? Second, Vallee is quick to point out his interest in understanding why a Soviet UFO investigative group made of scientists and scholars use biolocation techniques in investigating UFO landing areas.
Biolocation, as defined in the book and through Soviet literature, is "dowsing, or radiethesa, the detection of hidden mineral, water, or living entities by paranormal means". In other words, the Soviets employed paranormal investigative techniques in response to UFO incidents. I've read many books on the subject of the paranormal, and I honestly don't recall mention of parapsychological techniques used in Western UFO investigations.
Unfortunately, Vallee doesn't quite get to the bottom of the Soviet's dependence or justification on the use of biolocation methods. The means and tools have been employed by the Soviet researchers for some time, but the rationale for the use of biolocation is lost in translation. My sense is that there may be some inference between energy radiated by polymorphic craft and their occupants and the ability to detect the energy's presence through dowsing rods, but I can only guess on that assumption.
Besides the inquiry into Soviet research methods, Vallee hits on many other interesting phenomenon findings in post Communist Russia. Spending time with many researchers, the book includes fascinating revelations regarding :
The Perm Region or M-Zone : similar to our own Skinwalker Ranch Basin, Europe's Hoia-Baciu Forest, and other anomalous areas around globe, the Perm region features UFOs, occupants, poltergeist activity, electrical disturbances, and other paranormal activity. The chapter highlighting some of the cases received by one Russian researcher in that area is one of the better chapters of the book
Magonian Correlations : on more than one occasion, Russian researchers point out that parallels made between Vallee's work in the West and Soviet work completed over the past decades. References made to "fairy folk" behavior, sightings, and encounters are noted in the Soviet Union in respect to UFO activity. One case documented went so far to state that a tall occupant dressed in silver boots and overalls approached a homeowner, asked the homeowner for food, and then later stole the balance of the homeowner's food when the owner went to work. As with many similar situations, the homeowner and his wife had serious relationship issues after the incident and the two nearly divorced.
Data collection bias : unlike so many Western researchers, Vallee highly commends Soviet researcher ability to collect and analyze ALL data points. So often, the past Western researcher ignores cases/incidents that don't fit the researcher's theory. Occupant encounters that don't resemble large black eyed, diminutive grey beings are not ignored but instead are included in the Soviet data sets. Perhaps with no motive to sell books or movies, the Soviets have no agenda to slice and dice the data as they see fit. To the West's credit, many investigators are now moving in this Vallee/Keel direction of modern research.
The book isn't to say the state of Soviet ufology is perfect. Vallee's points out his concern with the Soviet's use of hypnotic regression as a research tool. I do not pretend to be an expert in hypnosis, but my understanding is that hypnotic regression outcomes are easily influenced by the person conducting the hypnosis. This was a big "to do" of late on the Web and podcasts in respect to the Dr Jacob's work, but it is obvious that legitimate UFO research has pointed out the inherent flaws of regression over the past forty years.
All that said, please check out the book. The book does a great job of cataloging the initial impact of "social openness" in post Communist Russian. Examples given of the mood (and gloom) of the population, the paranoia of Vallee and his companions towards Russian security, and the heated debates between Vallee and the Soviety UFO community and Soviet academia are fascinating in and of themselves. And, as a followup to the book, one will be left to ask "has any further research been made in respect to biolocation methods?" One follow up for me is to further research the question.
