They are a semi quick read and have the 10^th Doctor's character as played by David Tennant down pat. I've bought nine within three visits. So far I have read FOREVER AUTUM, WETWORLD, STING OF THE ZYGONS, THE PRICE OF PARADISE, NIGHTMARE OF BLACK ISLAND, and PEACEMAKER. I have not been disappointed yet. They have been great little reads and I discovered them right after the season finale so that was perfect timing for me. I still have WISHING WELL, WOODEN HEART, and THE DEVIANT STRAIN to read. The books go back and forth using the companions Rose and Martha. The DEVIANT STRAIN features the 9^th Doctor as portrayed by Christopher Eccleston. I bought up the David Tennant books up first because I really like the way his Doctor is. I like Christopher Eccleston too, but some of the books got bought in between my visits so I'm glad I got as many David Tennant ones as I did. The last three I got were the last ones in the store and I don't know if he will be getting any more. I can''t wait to read the others but I need to get some comics read in between the books. I actually got the new IDW trade paper back graphic novel of the first few Doctor Who Comic that they do. I've already read the stories in the monthly titles but couldn't pass up having the graphic novel version. I've also been getting the collection of strips that appeared in the Doctor Who Magazines. My main comic book store has been finding them for me. I will have to look into getting the rest of the books. Maybe one or the other comic book stores I use will get them for me. I'd rather get them that way than off the internet.

If you're a Doctor Who fan then you need to check out one of the comic strips that I do. It's CAPN' GEEZER of the Time Space Patrol. It's at BUBBAWORLDCOMIX.NET . I have six titles that I do there but on Thursdays I update CAPN' GEEZER. I have a full archive that you can check out too and catch up on the title. He was inspired by all of the cheesy SciFi that I grew up on. His arch nemesis, Major Evil, might remind you of the Master. Of course, Major Evil built his time machine out of a ... wait for it....a PORT-O-POTTIE! It's more than a little cramp but it gets the job done. Check it out if you have time. If you don't have time....make some time. You'll enjoy it.

If you like vulgar humor that pokes fun at the movie industry and relationships, this is your movie. One does not have to dig deep for a cheap laugh.

Disc 3 of Dr. Who Season 1 came, and I am enjoying the series. I'm confused. Christopehr Eccleston is listed as the actor playing Dr. Who, but one IMDB David Tennant is listed as Dr. Who. Oh oh, I just read that he quit after one season and was replaced by David Tennant! There ought to be a law! David Tennant is Scottish. I will have to prepare for the switchover. At least I've been warned. I am enjoying this series...tongue in cheek humor, geek gadgets, zany monsters and time travel.

Red Cliffs is based on a book that can be downloaded at http://dw3k.com/newrotkebook/. It tells the story of 3 kingdoms and a battle at Red Cliffs. Cao Cao wants to rule all three kingdoms and has the largest army. His only motive is greed. He has put Liu Bei on the run and Liu Bei and Sun Quan for a truce to beat Cao Cao. They are still outnumbered, but have the love of their people, two very astute military strategists, and very loyal champion fighter generals on their side. When Cao Cao decides to attack from the sea, he is lured into fighting a land battle where he is defeated. Apparently there will be a sequel, because he doesn't die, but comes back from the sea to fight the battle of Red Cliffs. John Woo directs an excellent cast. It is an interesting historical drama with good acting and great action shots. I will rate this one 3/5 acorns. Having very cute actors doesn't hurt one bit (Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro)

1) olafur eliasson
2) boxes of light
3) telephone booths
4) anything flattering
5) time travel
6) the booth as agent of change/travel

As the new TV season starts on most networks this September, one of the most exciting news that I have heard is that production has started on one of my favorite shows, Torchwood.   Torchwood is a BBC show and I watch it on BBC America.  It is now going on its 3^rd season.

Torchwood is a science fiction show which is so character driven that it really goes beyond the typical genre. The stories tap into the human psyche and explore many very human questions.

The basic premise of the show is following the many adventures of Captain Jack Harkness, relishly played by John Barrowman, as a time traveler and a former con man of sorts from the 51^st century. Apparently he was commissioned by a secret society, with ties to such personalities as Queen Victoria herself to protect the timelines against extraterrestrials whose interference in earth’s past (our time) will cause cataclysmic events of the future.

He has a cohort of misfit geniuses, polices officers, and others from the 21st century who assist him from a secret underground headquarters in the middle of London. There they house not only alien technology, but imprisoned aliens. Captain Jack is much older than he looks and he has had different teams during the years.  We find this out through many flash backs and flash forwards in some of the shows.

The show has a lot of humor but also has riveting drama. Last year’s season finale was heart wrenching when two show regulars died in the line of duty.

Torchwood’s writing is intelligent and entertaining, a rare commodity in the small screen today. It also pushes the envelope in areas like sexuality.  Captain Jack likes women and men.  Let’s say he is a more open minded Captain Kirk!

New cast members have been announced and I have included an article below from AfterElton.com that tells us all about it!  You should get the DVD of the first two seasons and watch them. I am sure you will love the gang from Torchwood.

I had comment on one of his photo about some Doctor Who Pasta Shapes on his Flickr page. I told him that I was moving to England because they have all the cool Doctor Who stuff. Here in the states is hard to find any cool Doctor Who stuff especially not over price.

Sure you can find some Action Figure on line but same thing there are over price. Good luck for find something as random as Pasta Shapes.

So just imagine how I was just like a kid jumping up and down when I saw that Mat had send me this pasta shapes that are shape like Daleks, Cybermen, K-9, Tardis,Slitheen and those creepy looking kids from the first season in the episode The Empty Child.

I am going to send him a package some time next week with some cool stuff from the states. I was just touch and thankful that I have such great friends. The funniest part of this story is that we have never really talk just that one time on facebook and through emails and comments. I think we going to have to sit down and find a day that we can talk on Skype. 

Now I am sure you wanted to know what this Doctor Who Pasta Shapes taste like. Well guess what ???

I am not going to open the can I am going to put it some where in the kitchen like that every time I saw it I am going to smile and think how there some great people out there in the world. After all I think is what the Doctor would want me to do.

Thanks Mat also if anyone is looking for a great site to buy Dr Who stuff here in the sates for a  reasonable price check out drwhomerch.com

If you like Dr. Who, you can download some classic Dr. Who books courtesy of the BBC. Only two are PDFs, but the rest are in easily convertible HTML format for viewing offline.

Needless to say, I'm as happy as a pig in slop. Thanks Ann ...

[audio http://media.libsyn.com/media/freyburg/rfs97.mp3]

The Conference Centre in Edinburgh, a sort of METROPOLIS building only a bit smaller, pays host to the TV Festival every year. Unlike the Film Festival, it's not a public event so I can't go, but this year I got a day pass through the auspices, if auspices is the word I want, of T.V. sitcom messiah Graham Linehan(Father Ted, The I.T. Crowd), so was not only able to hear Graham dispensing invaluable wisdom on the craft of situation comedy, but I then took in a masterclass/chat with Stephen Moffat, incoming script editor of Dr. Who.

Apparently Whovians were clamouring to gain access to this event, but as they're not big media people with production companies, they couldn't, so there were empty seats instead. The people who COULD have attended were presumably off hearing some exec talking about the Future of Television in an Interactive Age or some bollocks. You know you've inadvertently crashed a seriously elitist event when you're in a partially vacant auditorium listening to a fascinating and hugely successful writer with an incredibly important job who could probably sell out the Albert Hall. I felt vaguely indecent being there, although in fact I'm a longterm Whovian myself, so in a way I was striking a mute, useless and limp-knuckled blow for fandom.

Further evidence that I was in a part of Soho that had drifted off and landed in Scotland came when I crossed the road to get a sandwich, and was asked if I wanted a receipt. I should stress: this has never happened to me before in my life. You don't get OFFERED a receipt with your sandwich. So obviously the poor deli had been serving people all weekend who were on expense accounts.

In the conference centre I felt like the only Scot in the world, but that wasn't strictly true because Stephen Moffat is a Scot, and I saw Robin McPherson from Screen Academy Scotland and Carole Sheridan from Scottish Screen. I also saw a nail bar in there, which was fascinating and kind of surreal. "We're hosting television execs -- what do they want? Coffee, fruit, little sandwich things, and somewhere to do their nails. Right."

If this sounds alienating and fish-out-of-watery, it was a bit, but everybody was actually pefectly nice so I resolved to dismiss my prejudice and just enjoy myself. Graham being such a fun person to talk to helped that enormously -- there's nothing elitist about most of the people actually doing T.V. What with Graham being a stranger more or less to Edinburgh, I could show him a very long and actually incorrect way to get to Starbucks after his talk.

His lecture is going online so I don't want to write down my garbled memories of it here, but a few spectacularly useful tips for writers emerged which I could, perhaps, summarise and elaborate on:

Censorship is Good: working within parameters, including the kind laid down by TV censors, is actually great discipline and can make things better. When I (me, not Graham) wrote for kids' TV I likened it to juggling in a straitjacket. There were so many things you couldn't do, and sometimes you felt people were saying "No" just out of fear, rather than out of any genuine risk of upsetting anyone, but very often the funniest stuff came out of being unable to do things the most direct and obvious way. Looking at classic Hollywood comedies kind of confirms this. MY GOD the tight strictures they worked under, and MY GOD the quality of the end product!

Taboo Subjects Are Good, But: you have to find the right way to do it. The examples Graham gave, from DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, Seinfeld, and Malcolm in the Middle, beautifully illustrated how dark and sensitive material can be presented in a way that, as he puts it, "doesn't force Dad to leave the room to make a cup of tea." Abusing the disabled, child abduction, and sexual violence were all suggested by the scenes cited, but in such a way that it was safe to laugh. You get the slightly forbidden quality of laughing when you shouldn't -- remember how that felt at school? -- but you don't feel horrible afterwards because there's a contradictory innocence to the presentation in all three cases. You're actually NOT laughing at the horror, you're laughing at something relatively O.K. that bizarrely RELATES to the horror.

It's kind of dark, but not actually.

(I think a lot of writers and directors like the IDEA of pushing the audience into uncomfortable places and making them feel bad, or awkward, or whatever. But why? As Maurice Chevalier says in LE SILENCE EST D'OR, "Some people think the artist's job is to give the audience a hard time." That's fine, IF THERE'S A REASON. But maybe some of us just like the idea of doing "dark" as a status thing? I think there should always be a little malaise with the pleasure, as a kind of seasoning, but some modern T.V. is JUST UNPLEASANT.)

Traps are Useful: sitcoms depend on traps, both physical and emotional, so that characters are forced to clash together consistently throughout the series. Farce depends on trapping characters in awkward situations. When it doesn't work is when the audience can see a way out. (Personal taste means some people have problems with this where others don't: my friend Simon would get frustrated by Laurel & Hardy because it's so obvious what they're doing wrong.)

There was more, much more, and in fact when I overheard Linehan and Moffat chatting together between shows, the insights were flying so thick and fast I wished I could decelerate time so I could jot down all the great stuff being flung out.

The Count.

In the evening Fiona and I swung by Count Arthur Strong's show at the Assembly Rooms. Count Arthur is a comedy act based on the concept of a raddled old music hall comedian in the final stages of senility, still carrying on his hopeless career and remembering glory days that never were. There have been a few comics patterned on the old-style music hall comedian, from Tommy Cockles to Arthur Atkinson of T.V.'s The Fast Show, but Count Arthur takes things to a new level of grotesquerie, with his hunched back, flushed face and irascible disorientation (wandering aimlessly around the stage, he spots his own image: "Oh, so that's who that is," he remarks, senselessly). A favourite moment among many: Arthur strains furiously to recall the name of Cliff Richard's most famous film, then finally yells in triumph, "SUMMER HOLOCAUST! That's it!"

A good example, I think, of taboo material done in an acceptable way.

What's a TARDIS?

It's what Mr Who goes around in.

Who's Mr Who?

Dr Who's under-qualified brother.

[audio http://media.libsyn.com/media/freyburg/rfs96.mp3]

brilliant and I don't know why.

But by far, the coolest TV show I remember is the one that would come on late Saturday night after Creature Feature, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. Bands such as Black Sabbath and KISS would come raucously rocking into our kitchen (another good location for TV reception) late at night while our parents slept. Ah, what fun! Remember, these were the days when you couldn't access your favorite bands through MTV or the internet. The only way you even knew about these bands was through radio, the rare TV performance, and the local record store. So seeing these bands perform live on this program (no lipsyncing) was a rare treat. In the late 70's Saturday Night Live would perform the same function. And when Elvis Costello had his infamous hissy fit on SNL you really felt the music world's seismic shift from what would be defined now as classic rock to New Wave. I remember seeing Patti Smith on SNL and then seeing Gilda Radner's hysterical Candy Slice parody on her. I actually found a clip online. Watch it HERE! Check out Bill Murray. Priceless! And here's another ONE. Check out Paul Shaffer! Wow! I had forgotten how good Gilda Radner was. It sucks that SNL won't show any of its old clips on You Tube. Watch it fast before they take it down.

I know that everything does look better through the purple haze of my memory, but I sure wish there was a show like Don Kirshner's Rock Concert coming through my TV right now. I'd start watching again.

The BBC is the UK's Public Service Broadcaster and it makes alot of quality television. In the 1970s it made a series called Dr Who which it revivied in 2005. By this stage, technology had advanced profusely. The most notable advancement was the development of the internet. These days the internet is a staple of any 'connected' media consumer's diet. The BBC has of course, nobley reacted to this new technological platform and has invested a great deal of money in developing its website. Part of this website is an extensive cult media section, including an impressive page on Dr Who. Now, this is a pretty fun webpage that includes games, webisodes, character information, forums and so forth. But there's more. The producers of Dr Who decided to step into the shoes of fans to create what are known as meta-textual websites which were not publicised, that is, they were effectively left for the fans to find. One such website is U.N.I.T.org. U.N.I.T was a secret US government  agency for whom the Doctor did some work in several episodes. When you navigate the site, you find references to the Doctor and to other known characters. Another site is leamingtonspalifeboatmuseum.co.uk where similar referances to characters can be found.

So, my questions are:

1) What is a public service broadcaster doing funding meta-textual websites? This looks alot like the type of corporate branding that occurs with commercial television programmes such as Lost or Heroes. How is this not ratings driven merchandising?

2) Do fans have a right to produce this type of content themselves? Dr Who producers have bought up a whole host of domain names that fan users may wish to use to create websites, such as torchwood.net, a derivitive of the website for the spin off show Torchwood.

3)Is it about control? Does the BBC want to control what types of interactions Dr Who fans have with its texts?

Something to think about.

A.

"To be, or not to be, that is the question. Weeelll.... More of A question really. Not THE question. Because, well, I mean, there are billions and billions of questions out there, and well, when I say billions, I mean, when you add in the answers, not just the questions, weeelll, you're looking at numbers that are positively astronomical and... for that matter the other question is what you lot are doing on this planet in the first place, and er, did anyone try just pushing this little red button?"

It’s spot on for Tennant’s Doctor character and he does deserve a little teasing because he’s going from Doctor Who to playing Hamlet with Patrick Stewart.

For one, it is reaffirming to know the universe speaks to us continuously, whether it be through Tesla's aether, or what Bohm referred to as nonlocal connections. How and why, in my opinion, is immaterial. What is important, is learning how to listen. Two, certain recent [towering] events (notably the potentially WWIII instigating situation in the KauKasus mountains, and the kickoff of the dehumanist [mount] Olympics, threatened conspiring to redirect my focus back to the realm of fear, but have taught me there is a pathway (a circular one, I'd suspect) one could follow to elevate one's self to a higher realm, by first deflecting the neural pathways into the lower regions.

When looking outwards and upwards, trying to move one's self from a mind of ignorance to one of awareness, you will inevitably face the great beast. That beast, is the conspiratorial octopus, whose multiple tentacles, have penetrated almost every aspect of our lives; from science, to religion, to the "arts" themselves. The closer you get to the head of the octopus, the more your ratio of answers than questions increases. [Found the first image on a site showing the extent of the reach of a multi-tentacled beast innocuously known as the NCAA.]

One could deduce the beast/creature is also a Hydra, and should one get too close to any of the heads (as two of the authors involved in the above book, Danny Casolaro and Jim Keith, may have), you risk being put to the sword yourself. Rather than risk that route personally, I'll opt instead to vibrate at a lower frequency for the time being. As I deduced last time I contemplated the octopus theme: phalli and tentacles are connected at so many levels, they can, in many ways, be considered one and the same.

Looking at the last of the above images (a depiction from the Biblical tale of Shadrak, Meshak and Abendigo: three names / extensions that will arise again before this is over), it should be clear that phallus worship (disguised as monotheism), predates most known forms of Octopus worship, or any group of Japanese men having a wank at images of tentacles penetrating the innocent. From such a perspective, whether you're the monogamous type, preferring one penis per orifice of your preference, and one God to serve/please over many, or polytheistic and polyandrous, fantasizing/fearing the rape of many tentacles, is moot.

Being a creature born with one penis, I can attest to considerable personal energies being spent thinking of, or in the course of pursuing, couplings for my own tentacle. The thought of having many such appendages, would seem unfeasible not accounting for a quantum expansion in mental processing capacity. Hence, as I sit at my computer, resisting baser distractions which naturally tug at me while vibrating at this lower frequency, I push my focus lower, going within, into the depths of my own universe, to contemplate the symbolic meaning of my octopus.

This journey (which I alluded to at the beginning), began the first day of the month honoring the man who would be God, Augustus. At a friend's house, awaiting to go out, Galaxy Quest (a movie I had seen before, when my eyes were nary open) was on the television. The aliens in the film (pictured above), called Thermians, cast a reflection of themselves as normal humans. However, when they were subjected to torture (i.e., pain) or aroused sexually, their true nature was revealed.

Looking at Webster's Code Book, we see reflection defined as: "an instance of reflecting; especially: the return of light or sound waves from a surface." Digging deeper, we find that reflecting means "to turn into or away from a course: "deflect," or "to prevent passage of and cause to change direction; e.g., a mirror reflects light." We could go far deeper, but for now, it'd be a fair assumption, that the mirror may not be the best place to look if we want to find out who we are. We'll reflect on this further, in part two.

Above, we see one of the Thermians, in a state of increasing sexual arousal. Her tentacles have come out and are enveloping her human mate. Another human walking in on them was a little disturbed at the sight, as I suspect we would all be naturally. However, taking a look at the devilicious photo of the same actress, Missi Pyle, I'd have to confess, I'd be hard-pressed to deny her a proper shagging.

But, I'm not gonna turn this blog into a list of girls I'd like to shag (though I had been wondering, during times of frustration/introspection, whether the end-result might matter). There's a plot element in the movie, of a device called the "Omega 13," which is capable of either destroying the universe, or rewinding time by 13 seconds. As for the Omega, it wasn't too long ago I learned that the Omega was framed on the one dollar bill: {*1}

Also, note the 8 legged spider, and keep in mind it has three eyes (for part ii). The occult significance of the number 13 is near endless, so aside from pointing out it's an oft-repeating feature of "the bill," I won't get into all the permutations here. What I will stress however, is that the letter Omega is the 24th and final letter in the Greek alphabet.

Hence, an argument could be put forth that the Omega 13 (of Galaxy Quest) is a "reset" button. And, based on the present near-hopeless state of us (humanity), one has to wonder if a restart is the best option (thinking of the Matrix and such).

On Sunday (8/3), I settled in to my own routine, to watch the Venture Brothers (a show which merited it's own prior blog), and I caught me favourite character, Brock Samson say something like "or they may come at us in some kind of Octopus like tentacle thing that shoots lasers out of it's eyes." [Can't recall specific words.]

Tying Brock further into themes explored herein, are the above series of pics showing us he (a) is in fact a man among men (hence, we can assume connected the color purple), (b) is not adverse to sexual congress with marine life (the water metaphor, plus this scene was from a hallucination he had while doing a DMT type substance among shamans/occultists), and (c) has been assigned a tentacular clearance level ("8"). The most recent episode came on this Sunday night (08/10) after I had already started writing this article. In order to try and get this down today, I'll resist the urge to fully explore said episode (it may require a write-up of it's own, but will strongly suggest it is a "must-see" for any synchronaut).

The topics addressed were (a) a mysterious "orb" that has two uses (one unknown, the other could collapse the universe upon itself), (b) Nikola Tesla aligned with a faction, that was battling against another which included Aleister Crowley, (c) Crowley being murdered and made fun of, (d) high-ranking agent Brock being told that even he is but a mere pawn in a game he is incapable of understanding, and (e), I kid you not, contained humorous examples of discovering and misinterpreting synchromystic clues, including a tip on deciphering Webster's dictionary.

The crown on Brock's badge, not only shows us who controls these intelligence / mercenary agencies, but synchs us to another of "her majesties" operatives Ian Fleming, and his tool of disinformation/revealing, James Bond. {*2} The not so subtle Octopussy title, not only connects us back to the world-control seeking Octopi, but tentacle sex/porn. You don't have to be an occultist to notice the blatant penis imagery: be it the powerful rocket flying out of Bond's loins, the handjob suggestive layout of her hand with the "grip" positioned where the [purple] head of his manhood should be, or how every single woman in the third image is touching the penis obelisk (again, one's hand suggestively holding the "neck").

Aside: Found a strange tribute made 17 years later (2000) named Inside Octopussy. My first thought was, "Gee, what 13 year old boy named that one?" But, there was planning/reason behind this "exposé." It was filmed at the Berlin Wall and ran 33 minutes. Let's not forget the villain in the movie was Kamal Kahn! Capping it off, when I looked on IMDB today, found this bizarre section: "MOVIEmeter: 8% since last week why?" {*3}

The last image (above) is highly suggestive, with a titillating near revelation of the vulva through the see-through fabric. The 13 "Bonds," along with the revelation this is the 13th movie in the series, gives us yet another solid synch between the number 13, the number 8 and this multi-tentacled monster we're exploring herein.

The last event which prompted this journey, was finding the movie Dagon, shortly after Brock's "gentle nudge." Reading the comments on someone else's blog [BTW: they can be a great source of information, so if you're not in the habit of reading comments, get into it] a person going by anadæ recommended the movie (based on one of H.P. Lovecraft's writings). As I've come to expect from the synchrosphere [¿can I call it that?], between said comment and my writing this, Dedroidfy found a thorough site with all books Lovecraft (online). [On a sad note {*5}]

The above scenes are from the sacrifice ritual from Dagon. Beyond mere nudity, the scenes (a) hint that blood serves a purpose to lure the beast (hence, she was cut prior to being offered), (b) show the victim being lowered into the pit/well, where the god/octopus first squirts her with his oily discharge, and (c) most importantly, after her [ahem!] "disney moment," she is now dangling above the pit, so that the beast has to arise from the depths beyond the well to consume her.

Dagon's images also take us back to the arena of tentacle rape, a world which I didn't even know existed prior to undertaking first exploration of octopus them. [It would seem there are many fans: don't miss this comment.] In the odd news category, also found this bizarre story: Octopus sex man avoids jail, which though misleading (insinuating Octopus sex was his crime), offers up this useful nugget: "McLagan's self-esteem was so low he equated himself with a beast." Speaking of "the beast" (another moniker for Crowley), be sure to read the above exchange between Beast Boy and his friend / love-interest / soon-to-be victim.

While some would speculate that the internet gave rise to octopus porn culture, the 1934 cover of Spicy Adventures (see library of covers) would suggest otherwise. The theme has been with us since I don't know when and I'm beginning to surmise, inexorably connected to who and what we are. Whether pop culture is perpetuating the idea consciously, subconsciously or unconsciously would be a matter of great (and perhaps, trivial) debate. As you can see above, even Marvel Comics got in on the act. [Any Briton who cares to tell me whether the last above image is a joke or not, is welcome to comment.]

Subsequent looks at Futurama's Beast with a Billion Backs (covered in prior blog, and in detail by Hidden Agendas) convince me that while metaphoric and extremely clever, the main plotline of the movie is tentacle sex. The cover, featuring the most sexual character of the series, attests to that. My only question is whether the conspicuous location of (or even reason for) the V light behind her is a subtle nod to those not anally inclined, as to which orifice of Leila's the tentacles are intent on permeating. [For those interested in the grisly answer as to whether Leila got penetrated, see Quentin Tarantino, You Suck).

Aside: I'm sure this is just coincidence (one of the few), but I found it interesting that both IMDB's Futurama's BBB and Inside Octopussy entries have a "V" next to the date. V for Vaginal penetration???

The subsequent image (above) is the art-work of a young fan, which strongly supports my argument about the passing of memes. This was obviously not a conscious effort, but note the placement of the sole tentacle, Frye's tonque out in [oral] anticipation, the pink hearts (i.e, vaginas) and white swirls on background (¿along with upside-down male genitalia?) and lastly, the pronounced [¿engorged?] hearts in place of his eyes, indicating the confusion of carnal lust, as flowery love.

Coninuing to resonate at this lower frequency, we find actual photographs of real people, ranging from hack amateur to professional photographs, of the sexual connection between Octopus and the self being repeated. The placement along the genitalia (or, lower chakras) could speculatively be seen as natural, but the center image is the one that grabs my attention the most.

In particular, I'm fascinated by the centering of the core/mouth (¿third eye?) of the Octopus directly over the heart (chakra). But, before I look deeper in the well, let me apologize for the mental rape I've subjected you to (yes, that man is wearing a bra). If you want to take this journey with me, you've got to come all the way.

The most eye-opening scene in Dagon [for me], was one where the protagonist was dreaming (i.e., with his third eye) {*4} of this lovely girl [who he, the protagonist, was unaware was actually his Gemini twin he was fated to join]. As they prepare to kiss and "couple" (I normally try not to use the word shag more than once in article, though the actress to the left was also quite shaggable ... oops, that's thrice now), he [and we] suffer from following shock (¿or revelation?)

The first image (one just discussed), on its own would imply little. However, the next one, shows the protagonist's father, exposed after her removes his mask (made of human skin). A few humans were skinned in the film (too graphic, hence I'll spare you), and the suggestion was the practice was tradition. The Greek word "apocalypse," as many of you may already know, literally translates to revealing by lifting the leather veil/covering. Have I stumbled into an apocalyptic truth herein?

At the beginning of this article, I discussed the Octopus of our "us versus them" world. It is a terrifying beast, and we've been instilled with a fear to constantly be on our guard, because it may be lurking around every corner to get us/subvert us/rape us. [btw: whoever took the first picture, would it have hurt to tidy up the apartment just a little bit? Oh, and yes, we get it ... pussy. That was not so clever.]

Its tentacles reach into the food we eat, to the [prescription] drugs we take, to the television we watch, and to even the music we listen to (discussed in prior blog). Even though I didn't label them as such at the time, my first-level conspiratorial expositions / research found "unseen hands" [nod to Epperson] wherever I looked. They were everywhere, and I confess, the beast was quite daunting. However, the following images don't seem so frightening, do they?

Note the significance of Lisa Simpson coming out of the recesses of her dark closet, in her Octopus outfit. Looking back over all the preceding images, I have to wonder if this scary octopus reaching at us from every direction is the lie, that keeps us tethered, ravaged and subjugated. What if the tentacles were our own instead, our connections to reach into everyone and everything, reversing the polarity of the flow, and indeed turning fear into love. Perhaps there lies a little Octopus inside all of us?

I was inspired to find an artist in America who has named his company SoulGlass (see the imagery). An artist, despite the uncreative state most art has been reduced to (topic of a prior blog), is one, who by definition, communes with his creator/soul, hence with the creative infinite. I can't say if it was the glass-blower's intent, but to me, such a "glass" could serve as the fragile container to hold one's soul. Practicality would dictate protecting such a structure, lest it shatter, with a hard yet pliable covering. A tough leather covering perhaps?

Looking at Revelations, from the cryptic metaphoric manual known as The Bible, and trying to account for the implanted distractions/deceptions put in at the beginning, and those later added by endless Czars of the Roman Empire (some tend to call them Popes of the Vatican), we are told that for the end times to begin, the beast must rise to destroy the [material] world. The Cthulhu mythos and the Kraken poets tell stories of similar nature.

Seeing that we, like the Earth itself, are 80% water, I think most of us are standing on the wrong shores, focused on looking out towards the wrong depths. {*6} Per Revelations 13:

1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and I saw out of the sea a beast coming up, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon its horns ten diadems, and upon its heads a name of evil speaking,

4 and they did bow before the dragon who did give authority to the beast, and they did bow before the beast, saying, `Who [is] like to the beast? who is able to war with it?'

So, perhaps if we wanna find the beast, we must look within the deep recesses of ourselves, and open the door to the shadow self we've spent a lifetime (or perhaps, lifetimes) trying to avoid. The universe is speaking to us: remember Fight Club? The oft-maligned Crowley, think of him what thou wilt, was completely in the right about one thing: asserting your will/power on others, lest you let them assert it on you. Come to think of it, that is precisely why we are in the mess we are in.

However, I'm not about to go off half-cocked and suggest we slay the beast within, for I like many here among you [Ding from memory bank: "There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke." We'll revisit same song before this is over.], am still ignorant and confused as the true nature of ourselves (¿our elves?). We still toss out terms like good and evil while looking for saviors, without even understanding the meaning of the words, or even which side is deceiving nor which is assisting us. We blindly follow fools, until a new fool comes along, turning on the old and labeling him "evil," all the while, the new leads us back to "ground zero." [Credit to Mercurial Talismans for tip.]

How can we know who the ominous "eye" watching over us is, when we still don't even know who the "I" is? It is one thing to find the beast, and that is the simpler part. But, it is quite another to know his nature.

Hence, next up: triads, 8's, the water door, cubes, the grand chessboard, the Lion's Gate, "to infinity and beyond!" And, of course, more octopus porn! :-)

To be continued in Octopi, Phalli, Cubes of Life (II)

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*1: Thanks to reading Wrong Way Wizard's excellent article commemorating 7/4 1776: O Hey Can U Dig, By The Dawnz Early Light, Ma Peeps? In it he points to Talisman video by Charles Stanfeld Jones (who I believe is the same source I made the spider discovery through). We'll revisit the Rubik's cube and 1776 before this is through. [LB]

**2: Some visiting Brit's were poking fun of how dumb the average Americans have become, and while I concurred with their opinion, I asked what made them think they were any better? When I suggested they don't even know the queen runs their country, they insisted her position was merely "ceremonial." A few points later (percent ownership of the UK land mass, the "royal" air force, the "royal" navy, and who their most powerful organizations [MI5/MI6] belong to), they were forced to reconsider.

Hm: Now, I'm forced to wonder why it is expected demanded that we address those of royal [ignoble] lineage in the plural? [LB]

*3: This deserves it's own footnote. "Inside Octopussy" featured an actor named BJ Worth [¡grimace!] playing himself (¡no pun!). But, his resume suggests more. Of course he would be affiliated with the film XXX! [LB]

**4: An anonymous commenter once speculated whether we truly understand the nature of the third eye, beyond labels like good and bad. This is not my answer, but knowing Cthulhu is the great beast that lies dreaming in the deep, have to wonder if one of our many astral connections (tendricles) is not a symbiotic one between us and the great beast. [LB]

*5: Occult researcher/writer Kent Daniel Bentkowski of Kentroversy passed away in between this writing and my last. I had misgivings about including it as a mere footnote, though others (notably Greg from Occult of Personality and Henrik from Red Ice) have said much more on his passing. Personally, I just wanted to express my gratitude for Kent's work and all the insight he has given me on my path to enlightenment. [LB]

*6: I mentioned this last time around, but in case you missed it, Live from the Logosphere's Reptilian Brain, Cthulhu, Neptune, Andromeda and the Beast of Revelations is a must read and on-topic. [LB]

[audio http://media.libsyn.com/media/freyburg/rfs95.mp3]

While the long-running BBC show has a presence in the U.S. on SciFi Channel and has a legion of followers in this country, Doctor Who is an undeniably English creation, and simply doesn't have the following in the U.S. that, say, Battlestar Galactica does (or even my late, lamented pet series, Journeyman). It's ironic then, that due to that gap of awareness, most U.S. fan film followers don't realize that Dr. Who is the subject of more fan films than any other franchise except for Star Wars. So then---where to enter the world of the legendary show's fan films?

There's a few stops; for instance, Clifford Hoeft's Doctor Who fan film page, the 114 Who flicks listed at fanfilms.net, and my personal favorite, The Doctor Who Fan Film Database, which lists related fan shorts running back to 1985.

As good a place to start as any is the fun, three-part flick, Tyranny of the Daleks, 4198 A.D., produced by the mysterious UK outfit, Cheeky Monkey Productions. One of the first things that jumps out at you is the quality of acting; these people can spill extensive exposition without batting an eye (particularly the cute Lizzie Whitting, playing Romana), and the cast clearly has a blast in the movie. Pay attention and you'll even notice a Star Trek crossover of sorts!

If you'd rather just read, you can always check out the aptly titled Doctor Who Fan Film Magazine (you'll never guess what it's about). Produced as a free downloadable PDF file by teen fan film fan Billy Treacy, the nine-page zine covers the production of a number of flicks, most noticably fan films by, erm, Billy Treacy.

That said, it's all in good fun, he gets other filmmakers in there, and the layout quality is impressive for a first-time zine. Topics in the current issue include a preview of the fan film Time Agent, a chat with Chris Thompson, creator of a fan production called The Final Adventure, and some other bits and pieces.

Got a Who flick the world ought to check out? Tell all about it in the comments section below!

I'll eventually be moving this to Monday so you can all start out the week knowing EXACTLY how much science fiction content there will be on the SciFi Channel.

Let me put that differently: I'll eventually be moving this to Monday so you can all start out your week knowing EXACTLY how much skiffy content there will be on SkiffyTube™.

(I seem to remember a class in journalism or some such that mentioned you're supposed to list the largest factor first when it comes to lists, polls, percentages and such - unless of course your subject is how little there is of something, in which case you lead with the smallest item.  Which is of course why I am in a quandary over how to introduce this.  Do I start with 'the most content on Skiffytube™ is NOT science fiction', or do I start with 'the least represented genre on Skiffytube™ is science fiction'…?)

I took the up-coming, mid-August week (10^th - 16^th) (end of the summer season if there were such a thing anymore) as my exemplar.

Let me define some terns.  Small finch-like birds that…ooops, wrong blog.  It's easy to lose your subject (and concentration, not to mention target audience) when discussing the SkiffyTube™ channel.

To continue. 

My terms are generous.  If I think it is SF, then it goes down as SF.  If I think it is marginally SF, it goes down as marginal SF.  If it is anything else, it goes down as non-SF content.  (The sub-categories of which are legion.)

Where something has been described elsewhere as SF and I disagree with that identification, it goes down as non-SF - with an explanation.  Please note, no explanations are required below.

Let's get the easy stuff out of the way.

The total programming time available over the course of a week is some 168 hours.

Of that time the SciFi Channel Skiffy Tube(TM) devotes

20 hours to paid programming

48 hours to movies

2.5 hours to suspense anthology shows

.5 hours to educational programming

9 hours to the X-Files

2 hours to anime

11 hours to reality programming

       1 hour of wrestling, 2 hours for Ripley's (the best of the lot) 3 hours for Scare Tactics, 1 for Scariest places and the rest to my favorite oxymoron - the paranormal reality ghost hunting franchises

9 hours to dark fantasy

8 hours to paranormal fantasy

1 hour to spiritual fantasy

57 hours to SF & Marginal SF programming

The movies break down as:

4 hours of SF movies

2 hours of  Marginal SF movies

42 hours of rubbersuit monster movies

The 57 hours of SF programming breaks down as:

9 hours of  The Outer Limits

4 hours of Star Trek

17 hours of Star Gate franchises

8 hours of Jake 2.0

1 hour of Charlie Jade

4 hours of Eureka

4 hours of Jeremiah

8 hours of Jericho

1 hour of Doctor Who

1 hour of Battlestar Galactica

If we aggregate the anime, the movies and the shows, (that are at least marginally SF) we end up with

65 hours of Science Fictional programming.

Why is X-Files not SF?  Here's the X-planation:  the show is a police procedural that deals with a variety of subjects - paranormal, myth, urban legend, ufology, conspiracy, etc.  Some of the trappings are sometimes SF, but the show itself is not.

Ripley's Believe It or Not is an early precursor of the reality show.

Tales From the Dark Side is a Night Gallery/Twilight Zone anthology show also-ran, with often low-quality production - not one of the best of the lot.  Again, sometimes SF plots/themes, but more often than not, suspense, paranormal & etc.

You can probably figure out that I don't think that someone gaining 'extra-powers' necessarily falls into the SF definition, nor do tales of someone who talks to spiritual beings - that's something for CBN, but then they've probably got enough of that going on 'for real' over there not to need a 'fictional' account of the same thing.

I'm being generous with some of the shows I classed as SF - Jericho chief among them.  Sorry.  I saw parts of one episode once and it sucks.  The logic of the scenes I watched was so poor that I can only give them marginal credit because it's a post-apocalyptic tale.

Charlie Jade - never saw it.  The Wiki description - cop trapped in a parallel world - almost sounds like Piper's Paratime concept.  I'll give it a nod cause Wiki says it is SF.  (Thin ice, I know, but...)

Jeremiah - more post-apocalyptic stuff.  Like a stretching out of the Miri episode of Star Trek, TOS:  all the grups are dead.  "Bonk Bonk on the head, bonk bonk!"  Meh.

(Producers like post-apocalyptic tales:  hardly any budget needed for costumes, CGI or sets.  Just find a junkyard, lay out some smoke pots and - viola!  The Earth After Whatever…)

I'll be nice and admit that Star Trek: TNG, the Star Gate spinoffs, Outer Limits and etc ARE SF. 

So, for the week of August 10^th, 2008

Skiffy Tube™'s SFPR 38.69% (Science Fiction Purity Rating)

Hey, at least AMC gets it right a heck of a lot more than that:  when they label something SciFi, I'll bet they're on the mark at least 75% of the time.  (So now AMC can tell SFC they're TWICE as pure!)

For those of you who like the math done for you:

20 hours of paid programming                            11.9%

48 hours of movies                                             28.5%

2.5 hours of suspense anthology shows                 1.4%

.5 hours educational programming                           .02%

9 hours of the X-files                                            5.3%

2 hours of anime                                                   1.1%

11 hours of reality programming                            6.5%

9 hours of dark fantasy                                         5.3%

8 hours of paranormal fantasy                               4.7%

1 hour of spiritual fantasy                                        .05%

57 hours of SF & Marginal SF programming       33.9%

8% of the movies are SF

4% of the movies are marginal SF

And, just to put a fine point on things -

111 hours devoted to non-SF programming

  57 hours devoted to SF programming

or

ONLY 57 hours devoted to SF programming

and 111 hours devoted to other shit stuff.

He has the widest collection of DVDs of his favorite science fiction  like Battlestar Galactica,  Andromeda,  Star Wars, Star Treks and recently Dr Who.  I think it is his old time one remaining passion, though which I cannot relate to, I totally support and love him for it.

Why ? Because I can leave him for the whole day (or night) while he is sitting infront of the tv with only coffee and some nibblies and his favorite sci- fi on, and he is totally relaxed and happy, even without my wonderful presence.  It is definitely one of the safer activity that he can do by himself without me, as I am totally uninterested!

I just could not really stand science fictions.  To me, they are all the same - same storyline but different characters and costumes.  Well, the only redeeming value for me are some of the really hot actors in their space suits and the unbelievably stunning costumes they use in Battlestar Galactica.  Still, I'd rather watch my Miss Universe collections :) 

Recently, Dr Who is in everynight when there is nothing on television.  The latest series - with this really smart looking, gay looking smooth tonqued doctor, made me sit down for three hours!   And I could not believe it!   Well, David Tennant, as Doctor Who gave science fiction, a new look!   More exciting and I just love his Scottish-Brit accent.  And his funny facial expressions ... very fierce and almost childlike... and the fabulous converse shoes in different colors.  

But hearing the rumour that David Tennant is gay actually prompted me to watch this series.  Is David Tennant really gay???  Being awarded the Sexiest man alive by some gay and lesbian award giving body, would have made him a gay icon, but is he really gay?  Well, by the way he looks and the way he acts, I'd be damned if he does not have at least 75% of gay genes in his armpits !

I love the Titanic episode with Kylie Minogue - a science fiction with gay icons has just become so campy.  I cannot believe, for the first time, I enjoyed watching a science fiction, and became an instant fan of Dr Who. 

A surprised Doctor

A crazy Doctor

A seemingly angry doctor

A smitten Doctor (ohhh the cat is sooo cute!)

David Tennant and Patrick Stewart star from today in the RSC's production of Hamlet in Stratford upon Avon.

Want tickets? You're far from alone! Tickets sold out ages ago and there's a huge queue for returns so don't hold your breathe!

Normally, I wouldn't recommend the secondary ticket market myself by in cases like this it really is your best, if not only, option - if you're prepared to pay enough the tickets can be obtained. Try TicketsCabin for eBay tickets and SeatChoice for other suppliers. Good luck!