Asterix Against the Ancient Astronautix

How did I miss this? I used to be a huge Asterix fan- it kept me interested in the comics form during the hideous early 90s. Granted, I stuck mostly to the classics but had a volume or two of the post-Goscinny material. If nothing else, I dug on the art.

 

Astronaut Theology: Thetans or Titans?

...Zeus or Xenu? Does the evil trapped within these meat-prisons come from the auras of ancient Thetans or the ashes of ancient Titans? Depends on who you ask....  

Week in 17 Mini-Marathon (UPDATED)

Well, it's that time again- time to wrap up random news stories with significant mentions of 17s and try to discern any meaningful patterns within. Pretty quiet week overall, but then again my attention's been focused elsewhere.

Remembering Mac Tonnies

 

UFO/Fortean researcher Mac Tonnies passes on, apparently of natural causes. He seemed very young, this is tragic. He was an extremely impressive thinker. Mike C! had long been planning a podcast with Mac and I and I'm sorry now that will never come to pass.

Legion (2010): Prophecy and Stolen Property

Hollywood's idea of originality is knocking off a well-known older film (or in this case, a series of films) and throwing a lot of CGI on top of it, giving it a new name and reselling it. This is the trailer for the original Christopher Walken film, The Prophecy. Not a masterpiece by any means, but a fun little romp.

 

Wham-Bam, Thank You, Elam

Having recently discussed Hercules and shamanism and voyages to the underworld, I was flipping through one of my Essential Thor's, where I can upon this splash-page from one of the crucial comics of my early days. 

I was quite chuffed to see 'The coming of Hercules' plastered on a picture of Thor wrestling a 'witch-doctor' who found Thor's 'Norn-stone' and developed the powers of a 'demon'. I figure Kirby was plotting these stories by this time and Stan was scripting them. The connections then make perfect sense, given whatever Jack had tapped into. 

Then there was the Eleusinian bit with Thor descending into the underworld to rescue Hercules, who'd unwittingly signed on as king of Hell. Interesting spin, there.

 

Journey to the Underworld- Cover dated July 1966

Which brings us to this story, that still boggles my mind: Falcons’ Elam has a ‘frustrating day’

Jason Elam left it in the bullpen on Sunday. After what he said was his best practice week of the preseason and a good pre-game warm-up, the Falcons kicker had one of the worst days of his 17-year career. Seven points went missing.

Falcons? Elam? This is a joke, right? The great Egyptologist Flinders-Petrie wrote that the Falcon tribe - who brought Horus into Egypt - came from the land of Elam:

The distinctive character of the 1st dynasty, which separates it from all that went before, is the conquest and union of the whole land of Egypt. It became thus subject to the falcon-bearing tribe of Horus, which was the natural enemy of the Aunu, the Set-bearing tribe. This falcon tribe had certainly originated in Elam (modern -day Iran), as indicated by the hero and lions on the "Araq knife handle". They went down the Persian Gulf and settled in the "horn of Africa."

Iran, the Persian Gulf, the Horn of Africa? Why, this Horus tribe seems to have hit all of the hotspots circulating in the news these days, no? Finally, speaking of Horus, there's this story:

Nev. man accused of DUI for 3rd time in 17 days RENO, Nev. – A 50-year-old Reno man has been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving for the third time in less than three weeks. Reno Police Sgt. Tom Robinson said the man was stopped Monday afternoon on a U.S. Highway 395 off-ramp...

Oh Synchronicity, such a saucy maiden... 

 UPDATE: This just in from Dubai... 

 UPDATE: Actually, this just in from Dubai. Seven stars for synch-searching SoapFan. 

 UPDATE: I'm sorry, this is f***ed.

The 43-year-old told the AP in a series of interviews this week that by the time the sweat lodge ceremony began, the participants had undergone days of physically and mentally strenuous events that included fasting. In one game, guru James Arthur Ray even played God.

At one point, someone lifted up the back of the tent, shining light in the otherwise pitch-black enclosure. Ray demanded to know who was letting the light in and committing a "sacrilegious act," Bunn said.

The account marks a significant revelation in the investigation because it portrays Ray as driving participants to stay in the lodge despite signs all around him that the situation had gone horribly awry. Until now, few details had surfaced about Ray's actions inside in the sweat lodge.

Interesting timing, given that Elizabeth Clare Prophet just passed away. Prophet's apocalyptic, authoritarian, neo-Theosophist, Christo-Buddhist cult was big in the late 80s but her predicted Apocalypse never came, as is so often the case with those stubborn ol' Armageddons. 

The problem was is that her followers quit their jobs and holed up in Montana with guns and such for the occasion. Speaking of the Gyre, Prophet's Church Universal and Triumphant was most likely a model for the 'Church of the Red Museum' from The X-Files. Prophet was stricken with Alzheimer's for the last decade or so. 

 Here's an MP3 of Prophet's 'Invocation for the judgement against and destruction of rock music'. Enjoy! 

 UPDATE: Can some explain to me what this woman is saying? Does she think the sweatlodge deaths were a blessing? 

 UPDATE: From luxury to heartache:

VALHALLA, N.Y. — Former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik is now just another number in the county jail. Westchester County jail spokesman Justin Pruyne says Kerik was given the number 210717 and a single-bed cell when he arrived Tuesday afternoon.

And of course Valhalla ties back to the Thorniverse, doesn't it?

"Balloon Boy" Dad: The New Wilhelm Reich?

History repeats itself, first as tragedy,

 second as farce.- Karl Marx

By now, we've all heard that the Flight of the Falcon in the mushroom-shaped UFO is believed to be a hoax, all part of a bid for a reality series by the somewhat intense Richard Heene and his family.

 

Hercules. Ancient Astronauts. Human Sacrifice. This is Happening.

 

Here's the pitch, cobbled together from a couple IMDB reviews...

An alien race from the moon lands in ancient Greece, terrorizing the nearby city of Samar, and taking the population’s children as human sacrifices.

Trailer Trash: Tommyknockers and Night Tides

 

Here's a movie that I saw and kinda wish I didn't: the TV adaptation of Stephen King's Quatermass and the Pit ripoff tribute, The Tommyknockers.

The Week in 17: Bend it like Obama

Et tu, Beckham? And what's all this about you being the Barackobamun of Footie?

 

Astronaut Theology: The Queen of Heaven

As many of you know, Jacques Vallee believes that the events at Fatima- where the Queen of Heaven appeared to three young girls and set off a chain of events culminating in the so-called "Miracle of the Sun"- were a mass-scale UFO sighting. 

Fringe: The True Eye, Continued

 

Fringe is trying desperately to become my new favorite show. It lifts mercilessly from The X-Files, takes place in my old stomping grounds (Harvard Square was a particular favorite after-school hangout for me, what with The Million Year Picnic and all) and just to twist the knife, it moved production to Vancouver, as all sci-fi shows should be required by law to. 

The True Eye

Truer words...

I've been neck-deep in the Mystery religions, which are pretty well-documented by ancient sources.

Yahooccultism: Obamoon 17, or LCROSS bust?

So on this very strange day, this strange story makes the Yahoo! headlines. But first, did the LCROSS mission even happen, or was there a last-minute malfunction?

Yahooccultism: Ledger-domain

The movie that Terry Gilliam literally had to beg in the streets to finish gets front page treatment on Yahoo!, here on 10/7. 

Synchronistically for me, since I was earlier writing a piece on how Dark Knight has vanished down the memory hole.

Horus Schwarzenegger

This one's going out to Jake: note the "falcons at your wrist" bit, and then read this...

Osiris came to Horus from the other world and exercised and trained him for the battle. After a time Osiris asked Horus what he held to be the most noble of all things. When Horus replied, "To avenge one's father and mother for evil done to them."

 

Yahooccultism: Shroud it out Loud

Not that this will settle anything, but Italian researchers claim that the Shroud of Turin is a medieval fake:

Scientists have reproduced the shroud using materials and methods that were available in the 14th century, the Italian Committee for Checking Claims on the Paranormal said.

The group said in a statement this is further evidence the shroud is a medieval forgery. In 1988, scientists used radiocarbon dating to determine it was made in the 13th or 14th century.

 

Sync Log: Empire State Obelisk

 

Things have been particularly sync-o-licious around the Secret Sun home office lately. Here's an example: after two different posts namedropping the Empire State Building* last week, the missus and I sit down to watch the Wolverine movie† on Saturday night and this trailer pops up as soon as we put the disk in.

TVOD: (Battle)Stargate Universe

 

 "A Stargate for the rest of us," the headline reads, and so far that seems to be the case. The Stargate movie was a good old-fashioned guilty pleasure, but the two series- SG-1 and Atlantis- strike me as nothing more than elaborate fan fiction or LARP.

Flash Forward: Take Me to the Pilot

A lot of you recommended Flash Forward to me and pointed out it played into the 17 meme. I watched the pilot and enjoyed it, but wondered if you could sustain an entire series on the premise. 

Harryhausen the Magus

 

I've talked a lot about Jack Kirby on this blog, but haven't done much on Ray Harryhausen, who wasn't quite as ubiquitous in my life but had almost as much impact, if not more.