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Sport’s vicious circle

Somehow the watching of other people sporting became a very important part of our lives, so important that sport became big business. People spend a great deal of time (and some a great deal of money) to watching soccer, tennis, baseball, cycling or whatever and sportsmen became heroes. A strange development that became an even stranger vicious circle. In order to get more attraction and more money, sport has to become bigger and bigger. Ridiculous amounts of money is paid for players, salaries are absurd and the money that TV-stations are willing to pay for the rights to broadcasts the plays is beyond belief. Especially in the case of soccer there is an unnatural rivalry between ‘supporters; of different teams who think that they can demolish entire cities to ‘make their point’. What irritates me most, is that even the main news makes time to tell us all about the world of sports, as if there is no more important news to give. The last week this has reached its top. I don’t care about the cyclists in France and if I did, I would watch the ‘sports news’, so why do I have to see half of the news dedicated to the Tour de France? Things get worse. Because the runners have to perform, they look for ways to do this better. This results in the use of all kinds of ‘medications’. Then runners have to sign that they are not into that, well that is news! Some runners of course can’t resist the temptation and now the news is all about the “scandals”, as if the average news-watcher is interested in that. I am not the least bit interested in it all, but I wouldn’t know how to learn about things that are more important without having hear all about ‘sports’. What is it that fascinates people so much in it and why do they keep being fascinated when it all turns out to be a farce? Isn’t there something better to do?

Developments

Now that all Monas.nl has been transferred, I can point my arrows towards some functionalities that I want to add to the website.
Partly on request, I have added a Google search function in every section to allow you to search the entire website and not just the section. The fact that this works with an off-site link is not completely what I want, but it will do for now.
Also I have added word-verifications for comments, because the spam-machines were a bit too active for my liking. However I believe everything works, I get almost no more comments. If something doesn’t work (in one section, some browser or not at all), please contact me by email (click “into” above). If for some other reason the verification keeps you from commenting, let me know as well. It is true that your first comment has to be verified by myself, later posts (in the same section I suppose) will be visible immediately.
My latest effort is the “recent comments” line in the “sidebar”. I wanted something like this, but I couldn’t find or make a good one. What you see now comes pretty close, but it not perfect yet.
Now I hope to find something about the ‘archiving issue’. Suggestion (especially by fellow WordPressers) are welcome.

The last thing I want to say it about the very section that you are now reading. The idea was a combination between a “blog” and a news-page for the other sections. I have the idea that the “blog function” gets a bit ‘undersnowed’ (as we say here). Therefor I added the category “blog” (I dislike the term, but most people will know what I mean at least) which also covers the “announcement”, “quotes” sections (I left this for ‘differentiating purposes’). Also I changed the title of the section. I hope this will prove to be an improvement.

WGT 2007

This year was the 16th edition of the (in)famous Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig. I was there too at the disastrous 9th edition and wanted to go again at least one more time, so that became 2007. It was a terrible drive to our hotel with traffic jams and heavy rains, but fortunately we managed to get our ribbon, have a look in the “Werk II” (where already on Friday night a big crowd had gathered) and go to the Völkerschlachdenkmal for the opening light-show. The Völkerschlachdenkmal remembers some 1813 battle and is the largest (and very impressive) European monument. The organisation of the WGT managed to use the entire monument and area for an impressive light shows with music of In The Nursery. A grand opening for sure (see here for some photos of things I write about).
On Saturday we checked out a few of the many locations of the festival, took a stroll throughout the city and ran into groups of “grufties” everywhere. This is what I mostly came for, the entire city is taken over by “die schwarze Leute”. You have to walk or drive from location to location to see a few things of the massive program or just hang around downtown. One band that I wanted to see was Rosa Crux who would play in the Schauspielhaus. I am no fond of their music, but the shows are supposed to be magnificent. Well, this is true! A top class theatre full of Grufties, a carrilon, self-drumming drums, a choir… a very impressive show for sure. From the courteous Schauspielhaus to the dampy UT Connewitz then, because there would be the one and only live performance of the Germany industrial cult-act Fir§t Law. Before that we saw Bad Sector, Antlers Mulm and Fjernlys. All alright, but the place was too hot and too crowded. Fir§t Law was just alright too. A man behind a laptop with a guitar.
On Sunday the want-list was a bit larger. In the afternoon a few CMI-bands would play in the Connewitz and I wanted to see Coph Nia again. Walking to the place there was a big crowd outside and obviously some people had an argument. Two people started to talk to us about people not being allowed to get in. Since my German is not that good, it took a while before I realised that this was another ‘leftish protest group’, but they didn’t just protest, they actually attacked people. Right in front of me a guy was hit in the face, then I was pushed away and yelled at. In a kind of reflex I just turned around and walked away, having no need whatsoever to wait until this little event would evolve towards a battle (it was only a matter of time before the group of ‘refused’ would outnumber the ‘protesters’). Later I heard that the police had been involved, that people had needed medical attention at that on other days and times, similar (and worse) things had happened. I wonder why people who have nothing to do with the organisation think that they can accuse and attack people solely on appearance. The events also made it to the newspaper btw.
Off to another location and (after being again rejected, but this time for the amount of people that wanted to see Qntal and Estampie in the Schauspielhaus) at night there fortunately were no protests and I did get the chance to see All My Faith Lost, Lux Interna, Rome and Ataraxia in the beautiful “Anker”.
On Monday we and a few hundred others went to the cinema to see Das Parfüm and at night went to the “Volkspalast” for Kammer Sieben, :Golgotha:, Apoptose (with local fanfare drumming group!), Jesus & The Gurus and Dernière. Previous time this place was a completely outlived dump, how it is a magnifent neo-Renaissance building with bars around the central vault room and the sides have been turned into smaller rooms for (after) parties. A job well done!

WGT 2007 was a nice experience, save for the meaningless violence of overheated people. There were more locations that we have visited, but the Heidnisches Dorf, the Sixtina, the Kohlrabizirkus, the Agra park and the Parkbühne (this year not with neofolk but with hard electro) were just as every other place crowded with people. According to the Tuesday newspaper, there have been no less than 20.000 visitors!

Twin Peaks

Five years ago I got the American Twin Peaks DVD box for my birthday (otherwise I would have bought it). I don’t know how long it was since I saw these series then, maybe when my brother scratched together the series on official VHS tapes or maybe the last time it was in TV. Me and my girlfriend watched the seven episodes and expected that the rest of the series would follow soon. This took five years! Earlier this month the rest of the series were finally made available on DVD, this time at the same time all over the world, so this time I got the European version (with subtitles). We have first watched the first series again and are now slowly working through the rest of the episodes. Without a doubt, Twin Peaks is the best that ever happened in cinematic history, better even than David Lynch’s film-masterpieces Lost Highway and Mullholland Drive. Twin Peaks starts as a normal police series with a murder and an FBI agent. The characters are a bit strange, such as a woman with one eye, an airhead deputy, a doctor with two-coloured glasses. As the series continues, the atmosphere gets more and more mysterious, vague and dark. There is something strange about the little town, something dark. The killer is not just a killer, there is more going on. The FBI agent is a strange fellow too, doing yoga in his hotel room, speaking about Tibet all the time and having the weirdest visions. Evil is presented in a totally unique way in the series that slowly grow to ‘Lynchian’ weirdness.
I love the atmosphere. Lynch knows how to work with music and Julie Cruise’s “Falling” makes me melancholic, the ‘Twin Peaks theme’ brings tears to my eyes (even in the raped version by Moby). The work of Lynch is of the few cinematic works that works on my emotion. In this way, Lynch films and Twin Peaks are like music to me. I don’t get tired of them, they raise an atmosphere instead of just presenting a story or a puzzle to be solved such as in a the ‘normal’ TV and film productions. Halfway the series the murder is solved, but Lynch doesn’t care, the series continue. In later productions he no longer even solved the questions (or maybe he simply doesn’t ask them anymore), he just makes an atmosphere and cinematic experience.
Twin Peaks has great humour, many layers of understanding (“esoteric”?), a message and much, much food for thought. Some scenes I know by heart, even though I haven’t seen them for 10 years (or so), other things I had totally forgotten. Twin Peaks goes from everyday situations (such as a woman who can be pregnant from two men) to the weird and dark scenes that his films (especially the last INLAND EMPIRE) are completely built off. ‘Lynch light’? Maybe, maybe not, but I definitely understand why Twin Peaks reached a far greater audience than Lynch’s films do. You can just watch and enjoy them, but you can also try to dive into the deep; the films are not ‘enjoyable’ but FORCE you to undergo the mystery of them. I love both kinds.
We don’t rush through the series, but take it in small doses and yet I find myself humming “Falling”, thinking about the symbolism used, laughing about Andy or wondering what has happened thus far and this even on ‘Peakless’ days.

On polytheism

I recently started the book The Myths And Gods Of India by Alain Daniélou (1907-1994). The book was originally titled Hindu Polytheism and now subtitled The classic work on Hindu polytheism. I don’t think there is polytheism, especially not in Hinduism. Polytheism is also often an ‘accusation’ against ‘pagans’. Some of the modern ‘pagans’ indeed do regard themselves polytheists, I definately don’t!
Let me start with two quotes from the book:
“The notion of divine unity is […] a fiction, a mental construction which is merely a projection of the living notion of individuality into the causal complex, a shaping of “god” to the image of man.” (p.35)
“In any form of ritual, of prayer, of mystical experience, man can approach only one of the manifest aspects, one of the several “gods”, never can he reach the vague Immensity, which, in any case, could bring him no comfort but that of nonexistence.” (p.36)
I wonder, did Daniélou not understand, does he contradict himself on purpose? These two quotes are close to stupidity or ignorance. I even marked the second with “duh” in the sideline. First, if the Divine is one, why would this “one” by man-shaped? Second, that the Ultimate Divinity is out of the human reach, does this mean that it is nonexistent?
“Whenever he carries any form of experience to its farthest limit, man has a glimpse of an unknowable “Beyond” which he calls divinity. This divinity cannot be grasped nor understood for it begins where understanding fails.” (p. 5). Beautiful!
“The theory of polytheism is based on a similar attempt. It is only through the multiplicity of approaches that we can draw a sort of outline of what transcendent reality may be.” (p.5)
Indeed, the gods are part of the Ultimate, therefor in my view, many gods does not necessarily mean polytheism. In the end, all is one, or in the words of Daniélou himself: “Whatever we try to worship, the worship ultimately goes to Him who is everything.” (p. 10). Exactly my idea!
Daniélou gives several descriptions of Divinity: transcendent reality (p.5), supreme cause (p.6), Brahman (p.7), nondual Immensity (p.7), Immensity (p.20), undifferentiated supreme self (p.8), the Soul” (p.16). This definately is a Hindu doctrine, so why does the writer deny it?
“The Soul is the sum of all the gods. “All the gods are this one Soul, and all dwell in the Soul.” (Manu Smrti 12.119/ [13])” (p.16)
A strange play of words this writer makes. I agree with the man, but what he calls (and proves not to be) “polytheism”, is not in my opinion, there is nothing outside of Brahman.
(For the rest, this is supposedly the ultimate work on Hinduism.)