Large Fierce Mammal

“Our Dark Sentiment du jour presents a documentary film from the National Film Board of Canada. Made in 1990, The Burning Times was directed by Donna Read and was part two in a trilogy on women and spirituality. The Burning Times has been criticized as feminist revisionist history and I can see a reasonable argument in support of that in some parts. Still others, particularly the end segment, caused near painful eye rolling. For the most of it though, and taking into account its message, this film is a worthy document.” ~ Dark Sentiments – Day 15

We’ve been here before, seven years and two days ago on the fifteenth day of the first season of this series. Since then, much has happened in the world we know today that, as if we needed it, more than amply supports my observations made back then — observations that don’t so much brand me a brilliant observer as it does a stater of obviosities.

“Twenty-first century human culture worldwide still tolerates murder, torture, and eradication of entire cultures on religious grounds. Before, after, or entwined with all that, we have that covetous constant called greed. No matter the driving force behind it, we’ve proven ourselves to have a tendency to accept attack on dissent, or even attack on those daring to be different from what is graciously granted the definition of ‘normal’, based on the premise that such deviations represent the thin edge of the wedge for the entrance of evil into the world. This is done by forcefully equating the dissent with specific alternate agendas that are defined as evil in the extreme, thereby creating an ‘us or them’ framework of the power monger’s devising. The alternate agendas always turn out to be little more than being contrary to the interests of people of means who have an agenda of their own, a big part of which normally includes maintaining those means at the expense of people they want to keep under their heel.” ~ Dark Sentiments — Day 15

Everyone thinks they understand the word “ignorance”, but there are many uses for it depending on how much time you’ve spent, or want to spend, understanding and, of paramount importance, avoiding it. Sadly, in the county where I grew up and still live, it often means little more than “rude”. As in, “Why did you have to be so ignorant to him?” Irony there, and no mistake.

No, the worst kind of ignorance comes out of an absolute inability to learn and understand new information on a subject because your way of living in the world has rendered you deaf and blind to it. Quite simply, you can’t understand what you don’t know exists. To quote Musashi as I’ve done oft before and will again,

“If you know something, you know something. If you do not know something, it does not exist in your world.” ~ Musashi, What You Don’t Know

In his comment on yesterday’s Dark Sentiment, my Esteemed Friend and bottomless source of inspiration Stephen F. Kaufman said, in part,

“… Always the female, always, and without doubt, for a good reason. The phallic representation of the serpent in acknowledgement of the female’s raison d’etre of creation.The masculine principle as ever seeking union aware of the nurturing of the female without which the masculine would have no reason to be ….

“Aside from the obvious, and I won’t dwell on psychological issues with this, in my view the female has always been the primary force of creation. Certainly in ancient cultures, but notwithstanding that, only in relatively recent times has the woman been subjected to a ‘lower’ position and essentially a slave to a male oriented society. In ancient cultures there was equanimity and no sexual differentiation was evident as both played a significant part in the society. With the onslaught of religiosity, and the male dominance factor, it became the standard for the male to prove his virility by domination of women …. As deftly pointed out in the film, woman has been the progenitor of all of the reasoning and functional values that essentially control civilization with only certain aspects that are male related out of necessity ….

“What is presently happening throughout the world, is a feminist movement to ascertain the rightful position of woman in the overall cosmic sense of things. I think this is good, but at the same time it will take time for the male phallus-driven ego to be able to come to terms with the reality of woman as the definite equal.”

Well met Goode Steve! (more…)

Tonight’s Dark Sentiment is Full Circle, presented here as the third part of the National Film Board of Canada‘s Women and Spirituality Trilogy. Yes, I know I’m presenting them out of sequence, but I have my reasons.

The mission statement of this collection is certainly a worthy one:

A series of three titles investigating the relationship between women and spirituality from ancient times to the present. Titles include: Burning Times, an in-depth look at the witch-hunts that swept through Europe just a few hundred years ago (56 min. 10 sec.); Full Circle: Authors, teachers, social activists and feminists explore manifestations of contemporary women’s spirituality in the Western world (56 min. 36 sec.); and Goddess Remembered: A salute to the goddess-worshipping religions on the ancient past featuring discussions linking the loss of goddess-centred societies with today’s environmental crisis (54 min. 29 sec.).

As one whose spirituality is firmly grounded in Nature, and includes an absolute appreciation for strong and powerful Women who don’t draw their vision of those attributes from motivational memes posted to social media, much of what I found espoused here didn’t clash my mental gears. However there were significant components sprinkled throughout that I did find hard to watch for several reasons, mainly due to the taint of what comes off as neo-pagan cosplay at times, but the political messages that pop above the surface now and then didn’t help. (more…)

“Twenty-first century human culture worldwide still tolerates murder, torture, and eradication of entire cultures on religious grounds. Before, after, or entwined with all that, we have that covetous constant called greed. No matter the driving force behind it, we’ve proven ourselves to have a tendency to accept attack on dissent, or even attack on those daring to be different from what is graciously granted the definition of “normal”, based on the premise that such deviations represent the thin edge of the wedge for the entrance of evil into the world. This is done by forcefully equating the dissent with specific alternate agendas that are defined as evil in the extreme, thereby creating an “us or them” framework of the power monger’s devising. The alternate agendas always turn out to be little more than being contrary to the interests of people of means who have an agenda of their own, a big part of which normally includes maintaining those means at the expense of people they want to keep under their heel. Good news though. It’s not just our society of today that’s prone to this. It’s ALL societies that have ever existed, because if there’s one thing we learn from history, it’s that people don’t learn anything from history. Oh sure, some of us do, but society is a really big crowd, and elections prove my thesis that any crowd is only as smart as its least intelligent and drunkest member.” ~ Dark Sentiments Season 1 – Day 15

On day 15 of Season 1 in this series, we made reference to the National Film Board of Canada‘s Women and Spirituality Trilogy., and featured the first title in that series — The Burning Times. Tonight’s Dark Sentiment will be a revisit to that subject matter in the form of all three documentaries followed by own commentary. (more…)

Throughout the world there are tales of places and artifacts afflicted with unfortunate residual influences left over from their previous denizens or owners. Whether this other kind of “human remains” come to be seen as a curse or a haunting is predicated on whether it is believed to be the cause of physical harm (curse), or simply an effect running the continuum of annoyance from a sense of disquiet to extended sleep deprivation (haunting).

We are all familiar with allegations of cursed Egyptian tombs, spread to keep superstitious grave robbers at bay, and it’s interesting how easily those tales made their way into the ever so scientific minds of the Victorian Era. Much more on that another day.

Another school of thought holds that certain types of antiques require special treatment to strip away any residual otherworldly interest, or unwholesomeness, they may have accumulated whether through having been much loved in another person’s life, or having been used, even simply present, at a particularly horrible time in that of another. Even today there are businesses that specialize in such cleaning services, and of such cleansing, an entire genre of dark entertainment has sprung, cinematic and otherwise.

Tonight’s Dark Sentiment dips a toe into this pool, but at the dirty end where no cleansing exists. The Jigsaw is an award winning short film by Sibling Films starring Pedro Monteiro and Darragh O’Malley. (more…)

A sample view of Guillermo del Toro’s sanctum sanctorum — Bleak House in Los Angeles (Click image to enlarge. Photo © Josh White/ JWPictures.com. Source: Art Gallery of Ontario)

Guillermo del Toro: At Home With Monsters is the name of an exhibit currently appearing at the Art Gallery of Ontario until 7 January 2018, and consists of items from the private collection of the man himself. From the Exhibition Overview:

From the fantastic to the frightful, don’t miss this rare glimpse into the world of renowned filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and his cabinet of curiosities. Taking inspiration from del Toro’s extraordinary imagination, At Home with Monsters reveals his creative process through his personal collection of art, artefacts, books, and props, all culled from Bleak House, del Toro’s creative haven located in Los Angeles.

First broadcast 27 September 2017 on the CBC Radio show Q, host Tom Power interviewed Guillermo del Toro about his creative influences, his vision of monsters, and afore mentioned AGO Exhibit. For tonight’s Dark Sentiment, here’s From the crib to the AGO: Guillermo del Toro’s lifelong kinship with monsters. Click the title to read the intro, and then settle back for the 20 minute interview that you’ll find in this grotto right here. (more…)

“But darkness came on fast, and the paths of the wood seemed but imperfectly known to the marauders.” ~ Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott

Sad to tell, most people with a taste for Dark Sentiments don’t always go looking for it in moonlit forests, ancient basements, forgotten burial grounds, remote moors, hoary caves, or sexual adventure. Not enough go to literature. Most to cinema. A few go out to dine.

Last season we spoke of a dish that most would rather not see, let alone taste or smell. Today we’ll delve into a chain of restaurants with a far more appealing menu, and that specialize in keeping patrons literally in the dark, ensuring the blindest of blind dates. Welcome to Dans le Noir.

Described by one reviewer:

“Dans Le Noir employs only blind waiters and you depend on them completely, especially if you’ve had too much to drink and really want a wee-wee.

Our waitress, called Lizza, was very patient and polite with us. She warned us every time she placed something in front of us, and slowly explained how to pour water and wine into our glasses.” ~ The Blond discovers: a taste of darkness – Dans Le Noir?

With restaurants sprinkled world wide, including London, Aukland, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Nantes, Nice, and St. Petersburg, Dans le Noir operates on the philosophy that the removal of one sense will result in a heightening of the others. This may or may not be true for everyone, but from my own experience with more than satisfactory success employing sensory deprivation in the service of other appetites, why the hell not? (more…)

Unless you haven’t been paying attention, or were born  to such privilege that you didn’t have to, you will at least by now have come to the suspicion that the world is not fair, and all people are not created equal. All that stuff about rights to free expression, and all people being “created” equal are entirely about legal protections against our loving governments infringing in areas that might contradict either of those, and for the most part, daily interactions in the world are between people, neither of whom are the agents of government. In that realm, no such guarantees exist.

Speaking your opinion in the wrong place and time could get your teeth knocked out, or worse, and if that happens, you have certainly been assaulted, but your rights have not been infringed. I read recently of a disabled man who equated being turned down for sex during a date with a woman with a level of discrimination that ought to be punishable under the law. His meritless argument is not about equal opportunity so much as the personal responsibility to find a way to get out from behind any eight ball the universe bounces in front of you on the great pool table of life, so if you can’t charm your way into woman’s pants, you’re even more disabled than even you thought.

All this being said begs the question of who has it “easier”, across the board. I could delve into the advantages of looks, wealth, wit, and I will in time, but for today we’ll focus on an easy question, with the able assistance of none other than that most inimitable chronicler of the Human condition of both then and now. Speaking to us, “… while on a walk on a sunny day through woods in Switzerland, never far from a rather noisy river …”, the intrepid and ever so brave Lindybeige admits to addressing, “Too big a topic for one short video, but I give it a go.”

The question being answered is taken from his Q217 series in which Lindybeige says, “I shall attempt to come up with at least something faintly interesting to someone somewhere in answer to 217 questions from a list.”

Today’s question was, “Which sex do you think has it easier in our culture? Have you ever wished you were of the opposite sex?” (more…)

If you’re unfamiliar with films like The Blair With Project, and Trollhunter, or haven’t even heard of them, then I’m at a loss to explain how you got here. Notwithstanding that, let’s soldier on together, and we’re glad to have you.

While I’m not a particular fan of the faux documentary genre in general, I do appreciate the methods I’ve seen used to present such films in all their shakey, unedited raw footage found in an abandoned car glory. And so we have today a mere two minutes of nightmarish and beautifully inexplicable imagery with the usual pseudo historic back story:

“Recently a piece of evidence from a Japanese police station was leaked on the internet. The video is part of the ongoing investigation of the disappearance of Sayomi Takahashi, a young 3D artist working for an independent video game company in Tokyo.

“The images come from a project based on the works of Camille Flammarion, a french author who delved into psychical research. At first sight, the sequences don’t make much sense, but since the release of the video several people believe there’s a hidden message regarding the artist’s disappearance.

“‘it must keep on playing… 10 hours… deadly wish….'”

I would interpret this as meaning that you’ll get the curse on you if you don’t keep replaying it for 10 hours, but this being art imitating strife, I wouldn’t go for that level of authenticity if I were you. And as to Camille Flammarion, go ahead and look him up; or don’t. We’ll be looking in on his life and times before this season is out. (more…)

“Fairy Tales, as they were originally written, weren’t the saccharine offal children who don’t belong to Mrs. LFM and me, or a few notable Friends, grew (or are growing) up with. They were intended to convey valuable life lessons to the offspring of people who lived a lot closer to reality than most in the so called “first world” do now, and the stories routinely employed animals as representations of very real dangers and foul intentions. One you’ll recognize immediately is the Big Bad Wolf in Red Riding Hood who represented all that was evil at its ravening, grandmother killing, child devouring worst.” ~ Dark Sentiments 2014 – Day 2: A Fairy Tale

So began our DS Season 5 presentation of an animated version of Charles Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood, adapted to The Little Girl and the Wolf by James Thurber. Tonight’s Dark Sentiment returns to that subject matter. (more…)

Lessons

By LFM

To raise a child is one of Nature’s fundamental things,
For offspring must be taught to thrive amid the hurts and stings.
The world abounds with things that rend the heart, that bruise, and pierce,
And bitter Truths, like he may lose, however True and Fierce.

Some curses will be comely while some blessings be disguised.
Some enemies you’ll have to make, some need be recognized.
The smoothest, brightest path’s not always where your feet should walk.
The sharpest blade has met the stone ere cuts the thorny stalk.

The wise are called to Learn and Teach, and do in equal measure.
Seek thee not those ones who’d teach, but solely for their pleasure.
And through your life you’ll find a mentor’s tied to time and place,
As when you’d learn to shoot a gun, or tie a proper lace.

There’s time to sit in quiet, and there’s time to stand and fight.
There’s time to be the darkness, and a time to be the light.
The greatest skills are learned when “simple” things elude your ken,
And down is but the trail head on the path to up again.