Christmas

Innocent as a dove?

Matthew 10:16:

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

This post below is from Camera Lucida posted on November 22, 2008. I just saw the film again and was struck by its superior cinematography.


Detective McPherson in front of Laura's portrait

Otto Preminger's Film Noir Laura is shot in muted high contrast black and white film, with very few of the edgy angular shots and harsh shadows characteristic of the genre. But its protagonist, a beautiful, kind and sophisticated young woman, is also not your typical femme fatale.

Laura, who says things like "I never have been and I never will be bound by anything I don't do with my own free will", and who's made a highly successful career in an advertising firm, cannot get it right when it comes to the men she would marry (or frequent).

Everybody loves Laura, from her house help, to her homosexual writer friend and mentor, and finally the detective who first falls in love with her "dead" persona. Each person finds his own reasons for loving her: for the writer Waldo Lydecker, she is someone with whom he can share his sophisticated lifestyle; for the maid, she is a kind and empathetic employer; for her fiancé-to-be Shelby, she is the generous heiress; and even Detective McPherson falls under her spell - albeit apparently dead - since she is someone whom he can rescue (or fantasize about?).

Yet Laura's innocence (purity) is what causes all the mayhem. Her choice of men - the possessive Lydecker and her cheating fiancé Shelby, and even the painter of her portrait (which causes the Det. McPherson to fall in love with her) - are not pleasant characters. Except perhaps for the Det. McPherson. It is her association with these shady men that results in murder.

It is rare that a film portrays a good, kind woman in this manner. Usually, femme fatales are arrogant, conniving women, who deliberately manipulate all those around them.

And this is testament to the sophistication of these earlier films, which were able to tap into the paradox of real characters. Laura never sets out to be destructive, yet she had her own subtle narcissism - "I never have been and I never will be bound by anything I don't do with my own free will" - which set the stage for the disaster that was to follow.

It is like the quote from Matthew 10:16:
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
It is never enough to be a harmless dove, but also a wise serpent. Laura, in her innocence, and her self-centeredness, never felt it necessary to develop her wisdom. Her intelligence and goodwill (and her beauty) only took her thus far.

Basics

Via James Perloff

A New Dawn

Dawn, New Year 2018

[Photo By: KPA
January 1, 2018]

Happy Climate Change: Oops: New Year!!!!

Dawn, January 1, 2018
[Photo: KPA]

A frozen Lake Ontario is in the horizon

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Lake Effect Clouds:

What happens is that the cold dry air is coming in from the west and picks up moisture, as I described above. The air over the warmer lakes is rising, though. The cold air is blowing above it, acting like a lid to the rising warm, moist air. The rising air is stopped, and flows around to either side (imagine a plume of, say, cigarette smoke hitting the ceiling; at the top it splits and flows away from the plume with circular vortices). It cools and sinks, forming two circular patterns that rotate horizontally in opposite directions. The wind stretches them out, blowing them downwind, forming long streamers. This happens all up and down the coast, so you get a big series of cylindrical clouds, each one rotating in the opposite sense of the one next to it.

For Auld Lang Syne

Auld Lang Syne
Sang by: Ronnie Browne
Poem by: Robert Burns
Melody: Sixteenth Century Schotland, attributed to David Rizzio,
an Italian courtier who became the private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots.

English translation here

------------------------------------------------------------------

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

Chorus:
For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne.

And surely you'll be your pint stoup,
And surely I'll be mine,
And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne!

Chorus

We twa hae ran about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine,
But we've wander'd monie a weary fit
Sin' auld lang syne.

Chorus

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn
Frae morning sun til dine,
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin' auld lang syne.

Chorus

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o' thine,
And we'll tak a right gude willie waught
For auld lang syne!

Chorus

A Happy New Year

Merry Christmas

Christmas Dawn
[Photo By: KPA, December 25, 2017]

O Come O Come Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times did'st give the Law,
In cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

#SQ1Slay The Holidays

Image on Square One's website and Facebook page

Clever Christmas Promoters came up with this Facebook handle. It is clearly a play on "sleigh," but it fits with the non-Christian (anti-Christian) celebration of the holiday: All glitter and sparkle with urban slang added to the mix. Slay's literal translation is of course kill - Let's kill Christmas.

So Many Trees, So Little Christmas Square One Celebrates the "Holidays"

Below are photos I took of Square One Mall in Mississauga this morning. People were happy and festive. Christmas has become the perfect holiday for everyone: to be in good cheer; to give each other gifts; and to merrily wish everyone "HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!"

And the tree! I found three versions in my quick walk around the mall. (I went looking for "holiday decorations").

Nowhere, nowhere, is there any mention of Jesus and Mary. And even the angels are absent.

And who sits with Santa on Christmas Eve, when all the gifts have been delivered! Well the photo-op brngs n good money:


Santa surrounded by shrubs


Prices for a photo packages with Santa


Swarovski crystal tree next to horns


Bare winter branches all a-glitter


At least Santa is Jolly

More Holiday Cheer

James Perloff with "Hell's Mirror: Global Empire of the Illuminati Builders"

James Perloff writes at Amazon.com about a recently released book: Hell's Mirror: Global Empire of the Illuminati Builders by Texe Marrs:

With his usual outstanding research skills, Texe Marrs makes the case that the architecture for a future satanic kingdom has long been under construction here on Earth. Many of the pagan idols that were torn down as Christianity advanced are now being restored. Although the book discusses some structures I was familiar with, such as the Georgia Guidestones and the Masonic layout of Washington, DC, it includes information about them that I had not heard before, such as the blood, possibly sacrificial, that is on top of the Guidestones. The book includes many rare photographs of Masonic, Kabbalistic and satanic buildings and monuments I had previously been unaware of. The hidden meanings of various occult symbols are explained in this book. A welcome addition to any truth-seeker’s library.

Texe Marrs has this brief biography on the Amazon.com page:

Texe Marrs is author of over 50 books, including the Conspiracy of the Six-Pointed Star: Eye-Opening Revelations and Forbidden Knowledge About Israel, the Jews, Zionism, and the Rothschilds, #1 bestseller Dark Secrets of the New Age and Codex Magica: Secret Signs, Mysterious Symbols, and Hidden Codes of the Illuminati. A retired career U.S. Air Force officer, he has taught at the University of Texas at Austin and has appeared on radio and TV talk shows across America.

Here is Texe Marrs' website.

And James Perloff's website and twitter page.

Blowing Up Christmas: Part Dvah

I talked of an alt-right global movement half in jest.

Is it going Russian?

Spencer's (ex) wife is a bona fide Ruski. It is not even clear where she lives anymore.



The lakes and mountains of Montana can easily stand for the Russian Caucasus.

Blowing Up Christmas

Satan is ever present. He lurks where we are happiest and thus least vigilant. That is a fault and a great error.

Christmas is a celebration, but like Mary and her family, we have to travel cautiously.

Here we have the great answer to America's ills, the "alt-right" movement (who ever started a movement with abreviations?) blowing up a Christmas tree. OK, it is not a nativity, but they're treading water carefully. Next year...

I tried to read the discussion posted under the image titled:

The crew of Alt-Politics discuss Christmas, Paganism, childhood, and their experiences of the holiday.

Yep they said it: the "P" word.

I wasn't allowed in unless I signed up, when they would clearly block me.

Here's more:

Richard Spencer is American Editor of AltRight.com; he’s President of The National Policy Institute and founder of RadixJournal.com.

appears at the bottom of the image. "American" editor? So much for localism, so much for America. Here we have a global movement growing its horns.

They just want us to have a general idea of what they're up to. So that we're not completely surprised.

HO! HO! HO!

The Art Gallery of Mississauga: Unmasked

The Art Gallery of Mississauga is a small gallery hidden within the City Centre's City Hall.

It has been persistently following an agenda, which is now out in the open.

Read below (also at the AGM's website here) the extraordinary statement, made publicly on the AGM's website, on the exhibition Unmasked now on display (which is a "satellite" exhibition coordinated with the Mississauga Central Library, across the City Centre grounds, a short five minute walk from the AGM). Below that, I will quote from Tau Lewis' writing, one of the artists presenting in this exhibition, and how she has assimilated the AGM's very language which was designed to lure her into projects such as "Unmasked," a language that the AGM has become an expert in constructing, with words and phrases such as "European colonialism" and "appropriated" (and of course many other similar words and phrases.) The European "colonizers," according to the AGM, continue their nefarious behavior of appropriating the works of their (former) colonies, "bringing great wealth and status to [white] artists and institutions who did so." By exhibiting works by Tau Lewis and other non-white artists, the AGM's mostly white managers and administrators are on a mission of re-appropriating those stolen goods and ideas back to their owners.

Here is the full statement on the AGM's webste on Unmasked :

The contemporary artists presented within this exhibition have responded to selected works held within the AGM’s Permanent Collection, and work to reclaim agency over their representations. They aim to expand upon and subvert a dialogue that was so rigidly enforced and perpetuated by problematic historical images, aesthetics and politics.

For over a century people of colour, and the cultural objects they have created, have been positioned as a tool by western artists to convey a more “simple” and “pure” culture. These peoples and their aesthetics have been romanticized and even fetishized in an attempt to indicate an idealized independence from the problems that plagued “civilized societies” — while their own cultures were being annihilated under European colonialism.

The aesthetic of art produced within colonized nations has been and continues to be appropriated and misrepresented to further these ideas — o, while the works of Black artists have historically been plundered and relegated to the vitrines of natural history museums. Even in Canada, the history of collections and collecting practices is fraught with violence and erasure.

This exhibition aims to bring to light the fact that not only do these attitudes still persist, they are maintained literally and symbolically within galleries and museums. The AGM commits to unmasking these harmful and persistent ideologies, and to highlighting alternative voices in order to actively decolonize the Permanent Art Collection.

And here is a one line quote from the exhibition's notes which succinctly presents the AGM's worldview:

For over a century people of colour, and the cultural objects they have created, have been positioned as a tool by western artists to convey a more “simple” and “pure” culture.

The figure above is a mask from Tau Lewis' collections. Lewis is presenting her works at the exhibition Unmasked.

The mask is not carved or sculpted, but a profile of the artist's face through a simple and common (but unpleasant) method used by sculptors usually for mock-up masks, or for entertainment such and masked balls. Similar structures can be constructed of the whole body or parts of the body such as a hand.

Below are images from Lewis' videos showing her technique.





And from this, a mask is formed which the artist then decorates according to her designs:



A photograph of the mask sells for $800 at this site!

The irony (or hypocrisy) here of course is that the exhibition is opening up a "safe place" where "non-western art" will not be "exploited" by western artists, and can resume its "authentic" primitive voice, which according to the AGM's notes is

...to convey a more “simple” and “pure” culture.

Since when, in our contemporary art world, have non-whites ever made to feel threatened or exploited? The bigger, nefarious, purpose is to dislocate and disband white and Western artists through attack words like "appropriation" and "colonization" in order that they are intimidated and made to feel guilty, and spend their precious energy, time and talent giving credence to mediocre Third World artists like Lewis.

The other irony (hypocrisy) of course is that Lewis would never be making such "art," nor would she have such a profile at institutions like the AGM, if white artists, white cultural leaders, and the white AGM troupe didn't give her such a "space" to present her work, but as long as she channels back to her heredity and race, and manages to instill some guilt inducing material into her works to pulling at the strings of her white Canadians with her primitive,“simple” and “pure” tribal art.

But who wants sophistication if one gets something "pure?"

Looking at Lewis' work, it is clear that she has fallen into the trap of the contemporary artist (no matter who the artist is - black/white/Asian/male/female/gay/transgender) and she explains this lucidly and "proudly." (I've added my own notes as commentary):

A self-taught [Note: almost all artists now loudly declare that they are self-taught. This isn't some grandiose declaration, but a rejection of centuries of western art and western methods] sculptor, Lewis combines natural and synthetic materials to create simulations of living things. She considers the history and symbolism of each material, exploring the political [Note: political now s a loaded word to mean discrimination and even in some cases racism as experienced by the artist from the "white" culture under which he (she) works) There s never any valid or substantial demonstration of that accusation by the artists] boundaries of nature, identity [Note: "identity" means racial identity, and can be expressed only by non-whites. Whites have been expressing their "identity" for centuries, and more recently at at the "discriminated" expense of blacks and other non-whites.] and authenticity. Her work is bodily and organic, with an explicit strangeness and subtle morbidity [Note: This is not specific to black/non-western artists, but a new and disturbing trend (more disturbing than false accusation of racism) is the appearance of alien forces - alien god-heads - in contemporary art. This is a serous rejection of God and a willing introduction of Satanic/Evil forces. These artists have NO idea what they're delving into]. Her current practice relies heavily on her surrounding environment; she constructs sculptural portraits using found objects, repurposed materials and live plants sourced from urban and rural landscapes [Note: I.e. she works with material she never "created."]. She connects these acts of repurposing and collecting with diasporic experience and black bodies. Her portraits are recuperative gestures that counter persistent tendencies to erase or peripheralize black artists and narratives within Canadian art and history.

Lewis has exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Spring Break Art Fair in New York and New Museum, New York. She has received support from Toronto Arts Council and Ontario Arts Council [Note: The various Canadian governmental bodes distribute huge sums of money to mediocre and even talentless non-white artists who are bold enough to present their art through a "racialized" commentary. The purpose of these funds is to support non-white and non-Western (and non-Christian) artists and bring then out into the mainstream society. This way, Canadian art will be inundated by such art (which would otherwise remain n obscure corners of ethnic organizations) and the (white) public can be pushed into thinking of art as something which is/was hijacked by white society to the detriment of non-whites.]. Recent and forthcoming exhibition sites include: Night Gallery, Los Angeles, USA; COOPER COLE, Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, Oakville Galleries, Toronto, and Plug In ICA, Winnipeg.

These irresponsible and callous "cultural representatives" are short-changing young people like Lewis, who may have some talent as a plaster mask creator for theaters and entertainment projects (e.g. masked balls), and dug her into a hole where posterity will not be kind towards her.

One day, it will be "racialized" communities which will rise in mutiny against the AGM and its coven of artist "representatives."

But there is an underlying spiritual theme to all art. Lewis, who has rejected Western art, which still has at its historical base Christianity (however much modernists have rejected that), is delving into her own spiritual base and core. This piece below, on her Instagram page, shows the horned head of Lucifer. And an astute commentor tells her so approvingly: