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July 5, 2010, 8:17PM |
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 by: Herm |
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Okay so I've been going on about this film to a few people I know in real life, on-and-off, for a little while now. And on my lunch break today I stumbled across it for £10... The Fourth Kind (2009) ... The blurb is as follows: In remote Alaska, citizens have been mysteriously vanishing since the 1960s. Despite multiple investigations, the truth behind the phenomena had never been discovered - until now. While video taping therapy sessions with traumatised patients, psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich) unwittingly exposes terrifying revelations of multiple victims whose claims of being visited by alien figures all share disturbingly identical details. Based on actual case studies, The Fourth Kind uses Dr. Tyler's never-before-seen archival footage alongside dramatic reenactments to present the most disturbing evidence ever documented in this provocative thriller critics are calling "terrifyingly real... The most shocking alien abduction movie to date." ~ I'd seen this before, so I knew what the film was like and what to expect. But then I'd watched that with two other people, and one was far more scared than me so it helped me get around being freaked out by it. But then I bought it earlier and made the plan to watch it on my own in my flat. Which I duly did. So I watched this in my small flat, filled with blind spots, corners, and all sorts of things that exacerbate nightmarish thoughts (not to mention that it's down the end of a dark alley, and completely devoid of people except for me... even the upstairs flat is vacant). I always watch movies in my chair, with my beanbag, with the main light off and a small lamp on behind me. It cuts out visual interference, and makes it a lot easier to get involved in a film. I wish I hadn't now! This film is about traumatised patients who suffer from sleeping problems and wake up at strange times of the night. They report seeing a white owl that is constantly looking at them whatever they do. I wouldn't say I'm traumatised, but I suffer from sleeping problems and often wake up at strange times of the night. And I know what I'm like... I have a strong imagination, and if I wake up at stupid o'clock tonight I'm going to instantly tell myself not to imagine an owl, and then I will and will start panicking for no reason! I mean jeez... when the film ended and it went back to the menu screen I quickly turned the TV off, but have not been able to bring myself to turn the PS2 off! (That's what I played it on...) It's still on now! As are all the lights... I'm sat here generally apprehensive about nothing specific, wondering if I'm going to try and keep myself up all night... despite being exhausted at only 10 to 1 in the morning! Ohh I'm not looking forward to the rest of the night now... --- If you have seen this movie, please don't ruin it for those who haven't. Discussions on this article would be a lot more productive as discussing Alien Abduction theories or anything of the sort, as opposed to the specific subject matter I've approached... despite it being damn good. | |
topic: Philosophy | |
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| Winds of Time - 4TH of July | July 1, 2010, 11:01PM |
 by: Crazydude13666 |
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Sitting A mist the lit sky a bright red, white and blue, Holding and embracing the glow of her all natural features, Thinking what it is like to be an American in the land of the free, To be independent in a world of uncertain futures. Here we are Standing Tall amongst the shadows of the forgot empire, Where those bright colors simply fade into the background of the night sky, Bombs Bursting and Rocket blazing in this night sky with the booms and crashes you all grew to love, Soldiers and Patriots Recalling times of Real Bombs bursting and people crying in the deep woods and cities. Forgot in the winds of time to a generation of the uncaring society of "reason" | |
topic: Philosophy | |
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| New Chat | June 30, 2010, 8:37PM |
 by: eon |
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After chat being non-existent for a while, I figured it might be a good idea to do something about it! Nothing super crazy, but it looks like a neat little chat. All of the chat links on site now link to a Tinychat room. It's kinda cool because you can log in using your facebook or twitter login and use your mic / cam. Give it a try. If there is enough interest, I'll appoint some moderators as well. | |
topic: Site News | |
[reply] [45 comments] |
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| Hell explained by a chemistry student | June 17, 2010, 2:41PM |
 by: Diabolic_Pixie |
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A lot of people are confused as to how Hell actually works. This one chemistry student explained it perfectly. The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid term. The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well: Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following: First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. This gives two possibilities: 1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose. 2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell,then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.' THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+. | |
topic: Various | |
[reply] [1 comment] |
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| Cool contest, bro. | May 5, 2010, 11:37AM |
 by: Springheel.is.dead |
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Well. Last month's poetry contest was a success and a failure. We succeeded in garnering some generous contributions of Andromeda time, but only received three entries?! And they were good, too, is the problem. As a reward for actually being willing to follow my guidelines, the three users who chose to participate will receive some andro time, thanks for coming out. As for the rest of my prize support? We're still open for business. I'll post a poetry contest in the poetry section of the forums that will run until mid June sometime. Here are the rules: 1. Enter no more than twice. 2. Your poem(s) can be about anything. I would encourage you to perform your piece if you can, but if you can't, no big deal, post anyways. Open up your poetry pores and BREATHE with me, people. I'll see you in the forums, where you can find further details. ---Zak | |
topic: Current Events | |
[reply] [32 comments] |
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| April is poetry month and we are poets. | April 7, 2010, 11:16PM |
by: Springheel.is.dead |
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WE ARE having a contest. These are the terms: 1. You are invited to submit a poem of normal length to the thread pertaining to this article that I have stickied for you in the poetry subforum. 2. This poem is to be themed 'spring', in some way. 3. This poem is to be accompanied by a recording of the performance of the piece. 4. This poem is to be submitted no later than the end of this month, April, 2010. It will be judged by a small panel of your peers, including myself and Sgath. And no one else. The reward for writing a truly good poem will be some andro time. Its GONNA be fun. In other related news: We are looking for members willing to donate their andromeda time to be pooled and awarded as a prize for this contest. Your participation in nurturing the arts here on ds would be very appreciated. Thank you for your time. I hope to read your poetry soon. -Springheel. | |
topic: Current Events | |
[reply] [54 comments] |
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| Ostara | March 18, 2010, 2:32PM |
 by: ILLmortal |
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Now comes the Spring Equinox / Ostara / Vernal Equinox, and the season of Spring reaches it's apex, halfway through its journey from Candlemas to Beltane. Once again, night and day stand in perfect balance, with the powers of light on the ascendancy. The god of light now wins a victory over his twin, the god of darkness. In the Mabinogion myth reconstruction which I have proposed, this is the day on which the restored Llew takes his vengeance on Goronwy by piercing him with the sunlight spear. For Llew was restored/reborn at the Winter Solstice and is now well/old enough to vanquish his rival/twin and mate with his lover/mother. And the great Mother Goddess, who has returned to her Virgin aspect at Candlemas, welcomes the young sun god's embraces and conceives a child. The child will be born nine months from now, at the next Winter Solstice. And so the cycle closes at last. We think that the customs surrounding the celebration of the spring equinox were imported from Mediterranean lands, although there can be no doubt that the first inhabitants of the British Isles observed it, as evidence from megalithic sites shows. But it was certainly more popular to the south, where people celebrated the holiday as New Year's Day, and claimed it as the first day of the first sign of the Zodiac, Aries. However you look at it, it is certainly a time of new beginnings, as a simple glance at Nature will prove. In the Roman Catholic Church, there are two holidays which get mixed up with the Vernal Equinox. The first, occurring on the fixed calendar day of March 25th in the old liturgical calendar, is called the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (or B.V.M., as she was typically abbreviated in Catholic Missals). 'Annunciation' means an announcement. This is the day that the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was 'in the family way'. Naturally, this had to be announced since Mary, being still a virgin, would have no other means of knowing it. (Quit scoffing, O ye of little faith!) Why did the Church pick the Vernal Equinox for the commemoration of this event? Because it was necessary to have Mary conceive the child Jesus a full nine months before his birth at the Winter Solstice (i.e., Christmas, celebrated on the fixed calendar date of December 25). Mary's pregnancy would take the natural nine months to complete, even if the conception was a bit unorthodox. As mentioned before, the older Pagan equivalent of this scene focuses on the joyous process of natural conception, when the young virgin Goddess (in this case, 'virgin' in the original sense of meaning 'unmarried') mates with the young solar God, who has just displaced his rival. This is probably not their first mating, however. In the mythical sense, the couple may have been lovers since Candlemas, when the young God reached puberty. But the young Goddess was recently a mother (at the Winter Solstice) and is probably still nursing her new child. Therefore, conception is naturally delayed for six weeks or so and, despite earlier matings with the God, She does not conceive until (surprise!) the Vernal Equinox. This may also be their Hand-fasting, a sacred marriage between God and Goddess called a Hierogamy, the ultimate Great Rite. Probably the nicest study of this theme occurs in M. Esther Harding's book, 'Woman's Mysteries'. Probably the nicest description of it occurs in M. Z. Bradley's 'Mists of Avalon', in the scene where Morgan and Arthur assume the sacred roles. (Bradley follows the British custom of transferring the episode to Beltane, when the climate is more suited to its outdoor celebration.) The other Christian holiday which gets mixed up in this is Easter. Easter, too, celebrates the victory of a god of light (Jesus) over darkness (death), so it makes sense to place it at this season. Ironically, the name 'Easter' was taken from the name of a Teutonic lunar Goddess, Eostre (from whence we also get the name of the female hormone, estrogen). Her chief symbols were the bunny (both for fertility and because her worshipers saw a hare in the full moon) and the egg (symbolic of the cosmic egg of creation), images which Christians have been hard pressed to explain. Her holiday, the Eostara, was held on the Vernal Equinox Full Moon. Of course, the Church doesn't celebrate full moons, even if they do calculate by them, so they planted their Easter on the following Sunday. Thus, Easter is always the first Sunday, after the first Full Moon, after the Vernal Equinox. If you've ever wondered why Easter moved all around the calendar, now you know. (By the way, the Catholic Church was so adamant about NOT incorporating lunar Goddess symbolism that they added a further calculation: if Easter Sunday were to fall on the Full Moon itself, then Easter was postponed to the following Sunday instead.) Incidentally, this raises another point: recently, some Pagan traditions began referring to the Vernal Equinox as Eostara. Historically, this is incorrect. Eostara is a lunar holiday, honoring a lunar Goddess, at the Vernal Full Moon. Hence, the name 'Eostara' is best reserved to the nearest Esbat, rather than the Sabbat itself. How this happened is difficult to say. However, it is notable that some of the same groups misappropriated the term 'Lady Day' for Beltane, which left no good folk name for the Equinox. Thus, Eostara was misappropriated for it, completing a chain-reaction of displacement. Needless to say, the old and accepted folk name for the Vernal Equinox is 'Lady Day'. Christians sometimes insist that the title is in honor of Mary and her Annunciation, but Pagans will smile knowingly. Another mythological motif which must surely arrest our attention at this time of year is that of the descent of the God or Goddess into the Underworld. Perhaps we see this most clearly in the Christian tradition. Beginning with his death on the cross on Good Friday, it is said that Jesus 'descended into hell' for the three days that his body lay entombed. But on the third day (that is, Easter Sunday), his body and soul rejoined, he arose from the dead and ascended into heaven. By a strange 'coincidence', most ancient Pagan religions speak of the Goddess descending into the Underworld, also for a period of three days. Why three days? If we remember that we are here dealing with the lunar aspect of the Goddess, the reason should be obvious. As the text of one Book of Shadows gives it, '...as the moon waxes and wanes, and walks three nights in darkness, so the Goddess once spent three nights in the Kingdom of Death.' In our modern world, alienated as it is from nature, we tend to mark the time of the New Moon (when no moon is visible) as a single date on a calendar. We tend to forget that the moon is also hidden from our view on the day before and the day after our calendar date. But this did not go unnoticed by our ancestors, who always speak of the Goddess's sojourn into the land of Death as lasting for three days. Is it any wonder then, that we celebrate the next Full Moon (the Eostara) as the return of the Goddess from chthonic regions? Naturally, this is the season to celebrate the victory of life over death, as any nature-lover will affirm. And the Christian religion was not misguided by celebrating Christ's victory over death at this same season. Nor is Christ the only solar hero to journey into the underworld. King Arthur, for example, does the same thing when he sets sail in his magical ship, Prydwen, to bring back precious gifts (i.e. the gifts of life) from the Land of the Dead, as we are told in the 'Mabinogi'. Welsh triads allude to Gwydion and Amaethon doing much the same thing. In fact, this theme is so universal that mythologists refer to it by a common phrase, 'the harrowing of hell'. However, one might conjecture that the descent into hell, or the land of the dead, was originally accomplished, not by a solar male deity, but by a lunar female deity. It is Nature Herself who, in Spring, returns from the Underworld with her gift of abundant life. Solar heroes may have laid claim to this theme much later. The very fact that we are dealing with a three-day period of absence should tell us we are dealing with a lunar, not solar, theme. (Although one must make exception for those occasional MALE lunar deities, such as the Assyrian god, Sin.) At any rate, one of the nicest modern renditions of the harrowing of hell appears in many Books of Shadows as 'The Descent of the Goddess'. Lady Day may be especially appropriate for the celebration of this theme, whether by storytelling, reading, or dramatic re-enactment. For modern Witches, Lady Day is one of the Lesser Sabbats or Low Holidays of the year, one of the four quarter-days. And what date will Witches choose to celebrate? They may choose the traditional folk 'fixed' date of March 25th, starting on its Eve. Or they may choose the actual equinox point, when the Sun crosses the Equator and enters the astrological sign of Aries. | |
topic: Life | |
[reply] [6 comments] |
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| Green Day? | March 17, 2010, 10:46AM |
by: eon |
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I believe I'll go out for a drive and run over anyone wearing green. Pinching is weak, I came to play, son. (Happy St. Patrick's Day to all. Be safe, especially if you're drinking the green beer!) | |
topic: Site News | |
[reply] [28 comments] |
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| Thoughts on the History of Civilization | March 9, 2010, 7:18PM |
 by: Sgath |
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Our species evolved as hunter gatherers. During the last ice age, human beings were forced into a smaller habitable area namely in Mesopotamia, leading to population crisis, where there were not enough resources for everyone. Our species was forced to adapt. This lead to agriculture. Since less people were involved in gathering food, people found new ways to operate in societies. Soon there were blacksmiths and potters, tailors and soldiers. The lack of need to be directly involved in food acquisition lead to an increasingly complex array of social functions. What happened as a result was the information available to transfer exploded in volume, where blacksmiths taught blacksmiths, soldiers taught soldiers, tailors taught tailors, leading to a need for essential information to be recorded, usually involved with trade. So came math, and writing. Then as more information was recorded, more adaptations formed around the new information. It has in a way lead to a sort of external evolution of mutating behaviours, as societies adapt to the new sum of external information available, allowing cultures to shift their behaviours as their acquired information changes. This has lead to vast changes in the structure of societies, leading to urbanization, industrialization, and the fracturing and competing of philosophies over how to organize and govern them. But this has never meant progress, only change. External evolution has actually lead to the degradation of humanity's habitat, and may ultimately lead to its destruction, so to say the changes that have taken place in our behaviours are progress is misleading, and false. Some things about modern behaviours benefit the species, some serve to its detriment. In the same way, our hunter gathering brothers and sisters adapt to their environments in the same rational fashion. But without the need of agriculture, social functions often have no need to become increasingly stratified since an environmental balance serves the culture's longevity, and there is limited need to adapt to degrading resources through war, trade, and technology. One of the major problems of modern civilization as we call it is that while our external evolution allows us to adapt to the sum of ideas of a society and therefore change our behaviour in more complex ways, they sometimes serve us very poorly in the real world, as creeds, codes and ideals fail to satisfy the real situation, and often lead to imbalances both environmentally and socially. Countless examples exist in history, as ideologies battle each other, empires collapse, opposing ideologies endanger the entirety of life on the planet and often result in severe destruction. They may yet destroy the planet. "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, but the one most responsive to change" - Charles Darwin. Whereas hunter gathers have adapted perfectly to their environment, unfortunately they have also been incapable of necessary change often and are destroyed by more aggressive cultures, not because of lack of strength, as Darwin points out, but because of lack of ability to change. So while modern civilization may seem to be more 'developed' or 'progressed' that is not the case at all, there are merely specific differences in behavioural adaptations, as humans have a remarkable capacity for changing their behaviour due to complicated communications skills. If by progress we define human capacity for survival, modern behavioural adaptations may very well lead to the end of life on Earth, and therefore cannot be identified in any way as progress. But neither can we say hunter gatherer civilizations are more progressed than modern civilizations simply because of better environmental adaptation, since they are often destroyed by failure to adapt to conquerers. I hope this gives us a better appreciation for the diversity of human behaviour, and that we can rationally reject notions of progress and merely be satisfied to identify the benefits and disadvantages of individual behaviours in individual societies. | |
topic: Philosophy | |
[reply] [32 comments] |
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| The New Conformity | March 1, 2010, 5:04PM |
 by: quirky_one |
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Not long ago, the businessman was an admired symbol of success. Today conforming nonconformists cut him down to size. The businessman is a loser, an anonymous cog. He has not reclaimed his identity, announced his specialness. As the rising tide of nonconforming conformity crests into a tidal wave, the roles that once symbolized respectability and normalcy (e.g., the corporate player) become targets of ridicule. As a result, almost everyone is an aspiring celeb, remixologist, or rock star biding time on the tradingroom floor. They are announcing themselves to the world as individuals dedicated to the establishment of their own fleeting narratives and recorded legacies. By regulary pursuing activities that function primarily as channels to proclaim difference, mixing ongoing performance with their everyday responsibilities and deliberately seeking a place for themselves in the global mass culture - intentionally signalling their specialness. The obsessive marketing of one's "individuality" as celebrity can be found all over the world. Jean-Marie Messier was dubbed "France's first rock star CEO" by Fortune. He wrote a book called J6M.COM where he tells us in this modest tome,"Never having to answer to a higher authority, that is what guided me. I have been lucky. At each turn in my career, I have succeeded in increasing my independence." Not long ago such crass egotism and dismissal of the idea that there might be a higher authority thatn the successful CEO would have been shocking. But in the age of new conformity, he's just very special. Reality TV further spreads the ideology of new conformity. Everyone could and should sperate themselves from the crowd, be more themselves. Losers are those who are content to stick to the crowd. Winners are those who reinvent themselves to stand out. Reality TV pulls us even further into the dreamy world of externalized perpetual performance and internal normalcy that is the hallmark of the new confromity. The message is clear: With a little tweaking, you, too can be a more and better you. | |
topic: Philosophy | |
[reply] [29 comments] |
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