To say that J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek is the coolest Trek film since Undiscovered Country ain’t saying much, but there it is. Spoilers.
3/5 stars
Star Trek XI is an “origin” story (see any number of post-9-11 blockbusters ending in “[-]man” or “[-]men”) built around a sweeping preemptive rebuttal to foul-calling continuity geeks: universe-hopping, yo! Using a Rambaldi ballred matter to open a one-way stargate, revenge-mad Romulan (Romulus having been destroyed by a supernova Spock tried and failed to stop, in the future) Nero and Old Spock/Leonard Nimoy travel back to our alternate pre-TOS worldline and proceed to perplex, manipulate, enable the rise to power of – and give the filmmakers an excuse to (re)introduce us to – the original Enterprise crew Kirk and Spock. True to form for this type of story, we first meet the dynamic duo as kids (Kirk being all rebellious [Nero killed his dad, he's troubled], getting pulled over by a flying motorcycle cop [actually a pretty rad scene], Spock getting razzed by Vulcan brats for being a half-breed freak) and have it spelled out how childhood trauma has shaped them before their adult versions work through their respective hangups and beat the Bad Guy, becoming pals in the process. Abrams’ most successful tale (and my personal favorite), Lost,also revolves around retrocausality/retroactive magick and synchronicity, but for this particular Trek story it’s a bit of an awkward fit. As Abrams described a deleted scene to Wired,
“In the scene, Spock explains that (the encounter of Kirk and Spock Prime) is a result of the universe trying to restore balance after the time line is changed,” Abrams said. “They acknowledged the coincidence as a function of the universe to heal itself.”
That’s nice and all, but that this scene wound up on the cutting room floor shows how far actually engaging with these concepts was from the filmmakers’ Prime Directive (for a time-travel movie that gets the job done, dig Primer).
For the positive, as my pal Jason told me when handing me the DVD, “It’s no Cloverfield, but the guy knows how to build tension,” and it’s indeed remarkable how much tension is built within individual scenes, despite the audience knowing (It’s-another-worldline-so-all-bets-are-off reminders notwithstanding) that it’s all gon’ be okay – a feat for which, perhaps, as much credit should go to the actors as to the scenarists or director. Aside from all that, stuff generally looks neat (Nero’s ship the Narada is gorgeous [though we don't get to see nearly enough of the interior], the Federation ships are, at least externally, fashionably old-school [interiors resemble Apple stores/SD-6 HQ from Alias; the super-advanced Federation building the Enterprise planetside is also hard to forgive], and, yes, the costumes are pretty spiffy) and there are enough killer set-pieces (opening scene w/ the Narada, space-drop to the drilling platform, planets destroyed from within [see David Brin's Earth/the Jackson-Ryan Tunguska hypothesis]) to make this thing, for all its faults, a rewarding watch.
In the end, we are treated to the grotesque spectacle of everybody standing around clapping at Kirk’s promotion (’cause, not despite but due to his disobedience and independent thinkin’, the day was saved [see Alias]), which, perhaps in and of itself, caused me to look less kindly on this thing than I otherwise would have and to dock it a star. I mean, yeah, though I dig Trek (TNG in particular) the Federation has always creeped me out, and what did I expect? But seriously, this A New Hope shit again?
From that Wired piece, “Abrams said the planned Star Trek sequel will offer more freedom to him and his writers.” I doubt they’ll take advantage of it by having the Federation pull some horrific, covert shit, Kirk & co. swashbuckle while trying to expose the conspiracy, fail, finally question that galactic Leviathan’s legitimacy, and then go all outlaw with the Enterprise, but that’s okay. I just watched this film in my mind, for free, and I tell you it rules.
That first signal faded to nothing – until one fine April evening all our communications went bust and the full moon rose with this big alien hull parked on the Lunar Alps.
James Tiptree, Jr., “Mama Come Home”
Thanks to Tait for reminding me Monday of all the Tiptree stories I haven’t read, prompting me to read this one this evening. Beautiful.
The dating of the Pyramid UFO sighting by Pravda appears to be a deliberate fabrication. This is revealed by a number of Western media reports dating the sighting to December 9, and Russia Today news story that was posted on Youtube on December 11. In the absence of any official report on the UFO pyramid, Pravda’s report appears to be a disinformation effort by mixing a fabricated date of the pyramid UFO sighting with more compelling evidence that it was widely seen and filmed in Moscow. The disinformation effort appears intended disassociate the Moscow pyramid UFO sighting with the Norway light spiral on December 9 apparently caused by a failed Russian missile.
Fox’s Television Show called Fringe, shown on the same day as Flash Forward, complements both Flash Forward and V. This was done through the character William Bell on Fringe who is played by Leonard Nimoy who is perhaps best known as playing the character Spock on Star Trek. The character William Bell has been featured as communicating in front of the World Trade Towers still in tact from a Parallel Universe with a parallel Earth. In this same episode “shapeshifting” aliens with the ability to take on a human appearance had already been presented as infiltrating our own Earth in a post 9/11 world, in the aftermath of the World Trade Center’s destruction.
Fringe alludes to a prevailing interdimensional war and efforts by Manipulative Extraterrestrials to compromise human free wills through creating time-space breaches. Such shapeshifting entities have been documented by David Icke, who in turn got his information of African elders like Zulu leader Credo Mutwa, who documented eyewitness accounts among African elders of Manipulative Extraterrestrial “shapeshifters”.
In light of a global context that is governed by insiders that may have been further comprised by regressive aliens with a human appearance, Flash Forward, Fringe and V may provide critical insights into an extraterrestrial context to what many people perceived as a wormhole. The Norway spiral indeed had an appearance consistent with a wormhole.
Six episodes into Abrams’ series Alias (recommended by my pal Mike because “It reveals stuff”) at the moment; it’s rad, and I’ll write up my thoughts on it so far soon. Also watched the first episode of the V remake a month ago and thought it likewise rad (they do the Blue Beam thing real nice), though for shizzle not as rad the original miniseries. Moving on, something I missed in my last post on the Spiral:
Whatever the case, it is hard to escape the impression that the Norway Spiral is a kind of thought-form that took tangible form and inscribed itself in the atmosphere.
***
I have spent a good deal of time trying to fathom the archetypal signature of Barack Obama, who seems to me, generally, not like a normal human but more like some kind of eerie interpellation into our reality. Personally, I could not bring myself to vote for him, and when I hear him speak, I am put off by his capacity to dissimulate ingeniously, to fake compassion that he does not feel, and to twist rhetoric in service of the status quo of earth-destroying Empire. This is the second significant example of “signs and wonders” seemingly associated with him: the first was the “Miracle on the Hudson,” the crash-landing of a jumbo jet in the Hudson River where all passengers and crew survived, a few days before the inauguration.
Or interpolation. And, dude, it’s way more than the second example of seeming “signs and wonders” linked to our deeply creepy Pharaoh. For what it’s worth, here’s the EISCAT data for the 9th and CERN’s Sergio Bertolucci discussing unknown unknowns like a “door” to a “compactified dimension” of which “could come out something” or to which “we could put in something”.
Look up and cuídate.
UPDATE, 2-10-10
Told my pal Oliver about the spiral and he told me about St. Sunniva,
St. Sunniva is Norway’s only female saint. According to legend, she was an Irish princess who fled from Ireland in the 10th century along with her brother, Alban, and small party of Christians. They were probably fleeing from the Vikings. They set out in three small skin boats without oars or sails, and let God decide where they would reach land.
The voyage took them to the island of Selja, of the northwestern coast of Norway. Earl Håkon heard that strangers had landed on the island and went to see who they were. In fear, Sunniva and her party hid in a cave in the cliffs. They prayed to God to hide them so that no man should kill them. Suddenly, part of the cliff collapsed, closing the entrance to the cave. When the earl and his men reached the island, there was no one to be found.
Later, in 966, a wondrous column of light appeared over the site and bodies of Sunniva and her party were found intact. King Olaf Trygvasson built a church near the cave in memory of Sunniva, and Selja became a place of pilgrimage. Around 1100, Benedictine monks moved to the island and founded Selje Monastery, dedicated to Sunniva’s brother Alban. Her shrine was later moved to Christ Church in Bergen.
The sagas tell us that Olav Tryggvason built a wooden church by the cave where St. Sunniva was found. What happened? There are several versions, but they don’t differ radically.
Sunniva was a king’s daughter from Ireland, where Christianity had made early inroads. To escape betrothal to a heathen chieftain, she fled eastward in a boat lacking sails and oars. She landed on the island of Selja, but an attempt to kill her, or at least expel her, was made by heathens lead by the Viking Håkon Jarl. He was opposed to newcomers. She and her men were forced to hide in a cave on the island. The refugees prayed to God to send angels to break down the mountain and bury them, and the rocks tumbled down. Their souls soared to heaven in a spire of light which all on the mainland could see, and a sweet fragrance permeated the air.
Scandinavian form of the Old English name Sunngifu, which meant “sun gift” from the Old English elements sunne “sun” and giefu “gift”. This was the name of a legendary English saint who was shipwrecked in Norway and killed by the inhabitants.
***
During the fires in Bergen in 1170/71 and in 1198 the remains of Sunniva were taken from the Christchurch and sat down by Sandbru. This reportedly halted the advance of the fire and was hailed as a miracle
Around 1170 the story of Sunniva was written down in a Latin hagiographic work titled Acta sanctorum in Selio.
***
After some time, two farmers from the Firdafylke, Tord Eigileivsson and Tord Jorunsson were traveling to Trondheim. Then, one night when they had anchored up at the island Selje, they discovered a strange light over the island. It came down from the sky and assembled on one place on the beach so the glow shined in the ocean. They made it to the shore and found a scull on the beach, snow white and with a sweet smell. They did not understand this, but would like to take it with them to the Earl Hakon – Hakon Jarl. He had been killed in the meantime till they arrived in Trondheim, but in their continued travel they arrived to the king Olav Tryggvason, who now ruled in Norway. The new king and the bishop Sigurd understood that the skull was a relique. They made sure the two farmers where baptized and taught in the Christian faith, and asked people about this island Selja.
From approx. 935 CE heathen Viking Norway was introduced to a form of Christianity peculiar to a certain branch of the Gnostic Celtic Church of the British Isles, where the serpent had a ‘leading role’ and which, according to historians and archaeologists, has a pronounced Syrian and Egyptian character.
Comparing old legends and historical facts the author has unravelled a fascinating story and found a holy geometry constructed by the Celts that the famous co-author of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Henry Lincoln has deemed “the Norwegian extension of this extraordinary business.” The clandestine plan of the Celtic Church erecting cities and monasteries as markers in such a fashion that one with the use of The Golden Section was able to construct a gigantic pentagram across Southern Norway is also revealed. The geometry is illustrated by the author in easy to follow step-by-step diagrams.
“About the book [The Viking Serpent]” by Harald S. Boehlke
Take a short boat trip to SELJA Island and its ancient monastic ruins in afternoon visit. Positioned close to the Northwest tip of the pentagram, this holy island is associated with a legendary Irish princess St. Sunniva, Norway’s first female saint. Shortly after Sunniva died on the island in the tenth century, reports came of sailors sighting a human skull, suspended in a pillar of bright heavenward light! Stay once more at Nordfjord Hotel.
PENTAGRAM, the band led by the “Godfather of U.S. doom,” Brooklyn-born Bobby Liebling, performed the Hole in the Sky festival (a.k.a. Bergen Metal Fest X) on August 29, 2009 in Bergen, Norway.
Also, regarding not even the latest snowiness, but December-January’s,
Russian scientists are reporting to Prime Minister Putin today that the high-energy beam [photo top left] fired into the upper heavens from the United States High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HHARP) radar facility in Ramfjordmoen, Norway this past month has resulted in a “catastrophic puncturing” of our Plant’s thermosphere thus allowing into the troposphere an “unimpeded thermal inversion” of the exosphere, which is the outermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere.
To how catastrophic for our Planet this massive thermal inversion has been Anthony Nunan, an assistant general manager for risk management at Mitsubishi Corporation in Tokyo, is reporting today that the entire Northern Hemisphere is in winter chaos, with the greatest danger from this unprecedented Global event being the destruction of billions of dollars worth of crops in a World already nearing the end of its ability to feed its self.
Sorcha’s shit is always entertaining – and I admit it’s hard to keep one’s ionospheric heaters straight at times – but, Christ, it’s EISCAT, yo, not HAARP, and certainly not HHARP (though I guess in a pinch the extra ‘H’ could stand for Haiti).
Checked Jake Kotze’s Blob today for the first time in a goodly while.
Stellar as ever.
“Superstition” is a popular song written, produced, arranged, and performed by Stevie Wonder for Motown Records in 1972, when Wonder was twenty-two years old. It was included on Wonder’s Talking Book album,[1] and released as a single in many countries. It reached number one in the USA,[2] and number one on the soul singles chart. [3]. Overseas, it peaked number eleven in the UK, in February 1973.
163 Now when the Lady of the Gods came nigh,
164. She lifted up the priceless jewels which Anu had made according to her desire, [saying]
165. O ye gods here present, as I shall never forget the sapphire jewels of my neck
166. So shall I ever think about these days, and shall forget them nevermore!
167. Let the gods come to the offering,
168. But let not Enlil come to the offering,
16q. Because he took not thought and made the cyclone,
170. And delivered my people over to destruction.”
Tablet X, Column III
