The Obscuritan Journal

Long Overdue

2011-08-30T23:26:00.003-05:00

It was by pure chance that I ended up checking out my old blog tonight. It was for no other reason than curiosity that I decided to log in.

Can you imagine my surprise that I received 533 hits last month?

Trust me...I'm a bit gob-smacked myself.

I owe everyone who ever read this little corner of The Internet a massive thank you for having read it, and a massive apology...I shouldn't have stopped doing this.

I'm not making any predictions for the future at this point, but I'd like to think you might see a few more broadcasts from Obscuritan HQ at some point in the future.

Thank you so much!
-Lucas

The Forgotten Atrocity

2011-01-21T12:28:00.003-06:00

It is impossible to deny the that World War II changed the world. From Iwo Jima to Stalingrad, the men who fought on both sides shed blood for something they believed, for better or worse. Yet it is difficult to assign any amount of heroism to the acts that went unseen in the eyes of the post WWII world. There are elements of the war that seem to slip through the cracks of history books, moments that those who experienced them would rather forget. But in the interest of history, it is important that these stories be retold, paying to that elder notion of "those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."

Many of the crimes against humanity that were perpetrated through those dark days are still fresh in the conscience of the world, but one story that seems to never be told is that of a isolated location in Manchuria, disguised as a benign water purification facility, that led to the death of 500,000+ human beings: Unit 731.

According to Sheldon H. Harris' Factories of Death, Dr. Shiro Ishii (a physician with the Japanese Imperial Army) took control of a 150-building, six kilometer area outside the city of Harbin, Manchuria in order to conduct experiments on biological warfare. Japan had refused to sign the Geneva Convention's ban against germ warfare in the 1920s, giving Dr. Ishii free reign to try and perfect weapons and delivery systems for virulent plagues. In it's wake, Dr. Ishii allowed for nearly every conceivable manner of war crime to occur; vivisection of the camp's inmates were quite common, as well as experiments on the effects of hypothermia and amputation. In our more allegedly rational times, these sorts of experiments are grotesque and unnecessary.

But justice has, if nothing else, a perverse sense of humor. While most of the camps staff were put on trial and punished harshly, Dr. Ishii was granted immunity from the Tokyo Tribunal of 1948 in exchange for the information he gathered from his experiments. This is not surprising; despite the horrors of the "Final Solution" in Nazi-occupied Europe, scientific findings that came at the expense of the countless victims of the Holocaust has been gathered. It should also be noted for the record that Dr. Ishii would also go on to die in 1959 of throat cancer, after having served as a researcher of bioweapons in Maryland.

While it is human nature to attempt to find some sort of good in any dark time, this leaves us with a question: What is progress worth when measured against human life? Does the wrongful death of thousands of innocents become acceptable in the face of Scientific Knowledge, much of it invaluable for the lives it might save in the future? It is indeed difficult to look to the history of the world without finding a large amount of seemingly pointless destruction, and sadly science is not immune to this.

Author's Note: As a rule, I avoid any sort of serious ethical dilemmas here at The Obscuritan Journal. I don't feel that I have the sort of authority to dictate right or wrong in any sense; but it is impossible to write about such manners without these questions immediately coming to the fore-front of my work.
Further, in light of the gruesome subject matter, I have allowed for this work to be bereft of images out of respect to the victims of Unit 731 and out of respect for my more sensitive readers.

Spider Webs

2011-01-14T11:29:00.002-06:00

(I wanted to do something a little different this morning. Instead of posting a short but info-chocked essay, I thought it might be interesting to give you a little insight into the way my mind processes info and comes to conclusions. So everyone, strap in and I hope you have you flak-vests...kidding!)

When I was growing up, the Internet didn't exist. It really didn't start surfacing until I was a teenager, and even then it was still fairly primitive. I recall when a friend of mine had purchased a 24k modem and we thought it was blindingly fast...I don't want to know what it cost in 1995.

But here I am, getting ready to exit out of my 20s and I have to laugh, as I am posting in a blog that ten years ago wouldn't have existed. What slays me about the Internet is that the majority of our culture is now linked together in a vast web, almost forcing the world to take a stance of interconnectivity. And what do we use this new technology for? Jokes and pornography.

To really appreciate the power of the web, I start to think about the concept of an Internet Meme; information that spreads on a viral level. The concept of a meme is not new - there have been millions of pieces better written by far better educated people than me - but the basic idea of a unit of information spreading on a cultural level is powerful and fascinating. It's changed everything, from the way humor develops to story telling. Stories we used to tell around campfires when I was a Boy Scout (yeah, I was a Boy Scout...go figure) have found the way into 1's and 0's and taken on a mythos of it's own. Monsters exist...and they are only a Broadband connection away.

Kill some time on any Paranormal web board and you'll hear of The Slenderman. Youtube, in it's wisdom, has the whole Marble Hornets saga available for anyone looking for a good chill. I linked everyone in my last edition of "World Wide What?" to the very real darkness at the heart of modern Pripayat, Ukraine...if that isn't a sign of what anyone can see if they want, I don't know what is. When I was younger, a kid in the Midwest could never see images such as are available now. Is it any wonder that the generation that came after mine is as peculiar as they are?

We're growing as a people. It only makes sense that our hidden (and sometimes, not-so-hidden) fears might manifest in a place and way that allows us all to share.

World Wide What? 01-10-2011

2011-01-10T19:23:00.001-06:00

Chernobyl 25 Years Later offers you a chilling set of photos from one of the worst disasters in Industrial history. Not to be missed or viewed with the lights on.

The End (A Film Review)

2011-01-07T22:04:00.003-06:00

One problem that exists for any film-maker with an interest in cinema as art and not entertainment is message.: Will your audience be able to follow you? For this reason, "Art Films" seldom make it into the mainstream. But what becomes of a movie when it is being smothered under the weight of over-extended vision?

Richard Kelly's Southland Tales is a classic example of a film with a vision that, to a wider audience, looks like a hallucination. On paper, Southland Tales has all the makings of a hit: a big-name cast, compelling visual direction, and a strong enough concept to just wild enough to be different and sell. As well, Kelly had scored a big hit with Donnie Darko so a large budget and wide viewership should have naturally followed and been a boon, allowing him to break further into the mainstream. Unfortunately this vision appears to suffer from chronic myopia and falls flat on it's face. Southland Tales almost immediately slips into parody despite every attempt to salvage the effort.

But how does this happen? Wasn't everything in Richard Kelly's favor? How does a director snatch Defeat from the jaws of Victory? The film is primarily an elaborate and unique allegory for The Apocalypse, but it was Kelly's method of dealing with the subject matter and subsequent media presentation that ultimately stifled Southland Tales. The quirky dialog and casting are actually quite charming, albeit bordering on non-sequitor.

Kelly's mistake was believing that the audience could follow him. The movie was preceded by three graphic novels, most of which had never been seen or read (as of this writing, they are out of print) by a wide audience. Furthermore, anyone who lacks more than a passing understanding of The Book Of Revelation will not catch most of the symbolic references. At Cannes, the film was effectively jeered into submission; without bloggers and websites like The Onion's AV Club, the film would have slipped deeper into disrepute and obscurity (and likely would not have seen the latter-day success of Donnie Darko.)

This being said, the movie is worth seeing: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson plays a neurotic action film star with amnesia, Sarah Michelle Gellar plays a porn actress with artistic pretension, and the film is veritably loaded with cameos at every angle. But the charm of such a unique piece is ultimately fatally flawed by the directors lack of direction itself. It would be a stretch to say that Southland Tales is not to be missed, but would be more accurately described as great for late nights and a lot of alcohol.

'Twas the morning before Christmas...

2010-12-24T10:50:00.002-06:00

...and all through my apartment, I've been moving. Slowly. Which is funny, considering the lull I have taken through the month of December regarding The Obscuritan Journal. To my readers, I apologize - deeply - but this month has been crazy. I won't go in to any details, but suffice it to say that I miss unwinding every Friday with a new tale of something peculiar.

Christmas, for those of you who are culturally disposed to celebrate it, is supposed to be a time of giving, reflection, and bonding with your loved ones. As one might have guessed, I have no attachment to the holiday season, and as an American, the religious significance is all but lost, instead replaced often by crass consumerism, stress-related illness, and financial strife.

Yet when I hear stories such as this, I am given some hope for mankind. Then again, when you take into account these statistics, anything seems optimistic.

So consider this my gift to the World Wide Web: This blog, which I intend to resume after the start of 2011, has been the fruit of my mind for sometime. Sure, it might not bring "good Will towards man" or unite any families, but it's a start.

World Wide What? Dec. 15

2010-12-15T21:50:00.002-06:00

Sorry I haven't been around. The Holidays inevitably cause all sorts of havoc on my schedule. In the meantime, here is a little something amusing...

Medical and Doctor Slang How accurate this is, I can't say. But having spent more time in hospitals than I care to admit, it really makes you wonder...

Just Something To Think About...

2010-12-09T00:51:00.000-06:00

Kent M. Keith, "The Paradoxical Commandments":

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Be good anyway.

Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

People need help, but may attack you if you do help them. Help them anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

Something New: "World Wide What?"

2010-12-05T13:37:00.002-06:00

I've been kicking around a new idea. The Internet, for better or worse, is loaded to the brim with strange websites and other unforeseen oddities. With that in mind, I've been thinking about posting some of the weirdness I find here. I present to you a few links of note...

Found Magazine: Strange notes, pictures, and other bits. A true example of the "Found Art" concept. This website will repulse, compel, warm the heart, and boggle the mind. Well worth clicking around!

RandomPics.net The name says it all. You can lose a lot of time on this website.

This should keep you going for a bit. More to come!

Outside The Box, Part III

2010-12-04T15:22:00.003-06:00

For our final trip down the proverbial rabbit hole of Thought Experiments, it's time we get inside the box, in a manner of speaking. Of the countless potentials for Thought Experiments, this particular example calls for the greatest ability for mental Yoga.

Imagine, for a moment, that there is a box which is opaque. The only way to see inside is to open the lid. Inside this structure is a a vial of a highly toxic substance, generally listed as hydrocyanic acid. Next to the vial of acid is a radioactive substance. Positioned nearby is a Geiger Counter, which when it detects radiation, causes the the vial of acid to break. Topping off this peculiar set-up is a cat. Now, the Geiger Counter is on, and the lid is sealed. What happens?

Presumably, one of two outcomes: The vial is broken by the Geiger Counter (given the radiation inside the box), and the cat is killed. The only other outcome is that the Geiger Counter never registers the radiation, and the cat lives.

So, is the cat alive or dead?

The only way to know for sure is to open the box. At this point, we can determine the state of things but we cannot know anything until then.

This argument is a classic in the world of Quantum Physics known as Schrodinger's Cat. The point of the arguments is best described by Erwin Schrodinger himself. "It is typical of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be resolved by direct observation. That prevents us from so naively accepting as valid a "blurred model" for representing reality. In itself, it would not embody anything unclear or contradictory. There is a difference between a shaky or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks." This experiment has been the subject of countless arguments, articles, and pieces of fiction since it was written initially in the German magazine Naturwissenschaften in 1935.

The two most common outcomes of the Schrodinger's Cat experiment fall to the "Copenhagen Interpretation" as set forth by Niels Bohr and the "Many Worlds" model of Hugh Everett. Bohr believed that all situations were relative to observation and could thereby simply be determined by opening the box, and that no real conclusion could be drawn or theorized otherwise. Everett, on the other hand, would have argued that the conclusion was that the cat would be both dead and alive. The "Many Worlds" view would say that the instant the box was closed, two points diverged, one in which the cat would be killed, and the other where the cat would survive the encounter. These two separate worlds would split off and go forward into their logical futures.

There have been many arguments made regarding this experiment. An earlier version of the experiment that was posed to Albert Einstein by Schrodinger replaced the acid with active gunpowder and a detonation method. Einstein's response, when addressing Schrodinger in a 1950 letter, was illustrating the point of other scientists and Schrodinger. "Most of them simply do not see what sort of risky game they are playing with reality—reality as something independent of what is experimentally established. Their interpretation is, however, refuted most elegantly by your system of radioactive atom + amplifier + charge of gunpowder + cat in a box, in which the psi-function of the system contains both the cat alive and blown to bits. Nobody really doubts that the presence or absence of the cat is something independent of the act of observation."

Minor Delay

2010-12-03T20:32:00.002-06:00

Good Friday, my friends!
Due to some unexpected things coming up, I will be posting a full blog tomorrow, rounding out the "Outside The Box" series. Hope to see you all then!

Outside The Box, Part II

2010-11-26T13:58:00.003-06:00

(Last week, we touched on the principle of Though Experiments, a method by which people can test and draw conclusions on things that can be impossible to test in laboratory conditions. This week, we dip again into this irrational pool.)

There seems to be no way to measure the nature of the human experience. The definition of "real" hinges largely upon the individual and the sort of world-views that they have. But can that really be trusted?

The center of the "human condition" is ultimately The Brain; the all-powerful bundle of nerves and tissue that dictate every facet of life. Even in the so-called "lesser animals," the brain gives light to everything in the surrounding world. The only thing that seems to really stop the brain are biological conditions. In a brain where there are no organic problems, the human mind is capable of creating new concepts and learning new things that an alarming rate. With repetition, the brain forms new synaptic connections which allow for greater depth and clarity of action and reasoning. But the brain's greatest strength is also it's biggest weakness - Organic construction and chemo-electrical signals are seemingly the only thing that brain really functions on.

For this reason alone, more skeptical people could argue that we cannot know with any certainty that anything we have experienced or encountered is, in fact, real. This realization has led philosophers to create a thought experiment that is horrifying yet amusing in it's implications: "The Brain In A Vat." By indulging in this exercise, we are allowed to ask ourselves questions regarding the very nature experience itself, and the potential for the malleability of simply being alive.

The experimental set-up, though hypothetical one, requires so stretching of the imagination. In theory, we would have to imagine that there is a setting like a laboratory where it is capable to suspend a brain in a fluid capable of nourishing it's tissues and keeping it alive. As well, it would require an electrical system and subsequent rig that would allow for precise electrical signals to be sent directly to very specific portions of the structure of the mind, allowing for a exact facsimile of the standard senses and memories. Presuming we are capable of this sort of place and technology, place yourself in the position of the brain. At this point, ask yourself this: "What do we know to be true? How many of our memories can be relied upon?"

Have you tasted a food so delicious that it could be described as "better than sex?" Under the parameters of this experiment, it is wholly possible to presume that your tongue (if you had one in the first place) never actually did. For that matter, if you did have a tongue that tasted something that good, how can you trust that you were actually eating it in the first place? This also begs the question: What does sex feel like, in these parameters, presuming that you are no longer (or potentially are not now) physically equipped for such an activity?

Under the scenario of the "Brain In a Vat," how can we guarantee that anything we have ever known is an actuality? If all experience can be broken down to chemistry and electricity, what are we as a species? It would nearly preclude the existence of a Soul, let alone the certainty of any sort of physical life experiences.

Come back next week and we will take one last look at this strange world. I strongly recommend you open your mind as widely as possible for next time; it's a mind-bender.

Outside The Box, Part 1

2010-11-19T16:09:00.002-06:00

When people find themselves at an stalemate with the physical world, there are multiple avenues to choose from. Given the modern world's disposition towards hard evidence, The Scientific Method has proven itself time and time again to be the best logic for dealing with most things that are misunderstood. Without it, the modern understanding of Chemistry, Physics, and Biology might not be possible. Further, nearly anyone with the inclination and time can learn from the work of others and should they have the available resources, perform the research and experiments themselves.

However, Science has it's limits. Some things cannot be measured. Other factors or circumstances cannot be tangibly produced. Finally, there are some experiments that, ethically speaking, would be viewed as reprehensible or inexcusable even "in the name of Science."

Thought Experiments exist to let people draw conclusions regarding these hard situations, think critically, or work on tangible solutions to the intangible. Moreover, they serve to stimulate an individual to think as a philosopher or scientist, making them exercises valuable to both layman and experts alike. With the mode of Thought Experiments, the only limitation that exists is the conscious ability of the experimenter, and no situation can be viewed as too absurd or unlikely to be put to test.

Named for the alleged founder of the Athenian city-state, the Paradox of Theseus asks a question that is extremely difficult to quantify: Identity. According to legend, the ship that he used to return the young of Athens to it's home shores was preserved for multiple generations. As a matter of duty, the Athenians would replace the timbers and materials used to build the vessel as they would decay. While the notion of repairing historical items is not all that strange, it begs a basic question: At what point does something stop being what it is claimed to be? If all of the original timbers are no longer in place, is it actually the ship of Theseus? This experiment is sometimes also called "Grandfather's Axe," or "George Washington's Axe." According to popular history, the first president of United States was notorious skillful at felling trees with an axe, and would use what he called his "grandfather's axe," despite the handle and axe-head having been replaced multiple times.

The consequences of such a question can be immense. Is identity solely linked to the body of an individual? If the mind were to be transplanted into the body of another, would that person still be themselves? Is your home still your home if you were to systematically replace every piece of construction with an identical replica?

Come back next week for a much more unique stretch of the mind!

Preview for Friday, November 19th

2010-11-17T23:21:00.002-06:00

What do an American President and a mythical Greek have in common?

Think about it.

Anything? If not, come back on Friday so we can chat.

Cane Fighting - Excerpt - E.W. Barton Wright

2010-11-13T08:03:00.001-06:00

Self-defence with a Walking-stick: The Different Methods of Defending Oneself with a Walking-Stick or Umbrella when Attacked under Unequal Conditions (PartI)

Introduction

It must be understood that the new art of self-defence with a walking-stick, herewith introduced for the first time, differs essentially from single-stick or sword-play; for a man may be a champion in the use of sword or single-stick and yet be quite unable to put a walking-stick to any effective use as a weapon of defence. The simple and sufficient reason to account for this is that both in single-stick and sword-play a cut is always taken up by the hilt of the weapon, whereas if you attempted to guard a blow with a walking-stick -- which has no hilt -- in the same way as you would with a sword, the blow would slide down your stick onto your hand and disable you. Therefore, in order to make a stick a real means of self-defence, it has been necessary to devise a system by which one can guard a blow in such a way as to cause it to slide away from the hand instead of toward it, and thus obviate the risk of being disarmed by being hit upon the fingers.

After some fifteen years of hard work, such a system has been devised by a Swiss professor of arms, M. Vigny. It has recently been assimilated by me into my system of self-defence called "Bartitsu."

In the art of self-defence with a walking-stick, the stick is held in the hand with the thumb overlapping the fingers, and not, as in single-stick or sword-play, with the thumb resting on the blade. The stick is therefore manipulated with the wrist -- and not with the fingers as in sword-play -- and the blows are given by swinging the body on the hips -- and not merely by flips from the elbow. In this way blows can be made so formidable that with an ordinary malacca cane it is possible to sever a man's jugular vein through the collar of his overcoat.

Read More! E.W. Barton Wright on Stick Fighting

Please Allow Me To (Re)Introduce Myself...

2010-11-12T08:09:00.002-06:00

Good Morning (or Evening or Afternoon, wherever you are) to readers of T.O.J. -

I've spent this week, and will spend most of next week, working on topics for the rest of the year. You'd be surprised at what a task this can be. It's not that there are a lack of subjects that interest me but that there are too many and I often have no clue where to start. It's a big world, and with every new country that shows up in my Blogger-Stats, I am reminded of that fact.

So I thought I'd take a few minutes today to share with you (or for those of you who have been regular readers, re-share) what this blog is about, where it is currently, and what visions I have for it's future.

When I began this blog in May-June of this year, I had very few stated goals. I began this blog with the primary intention of getting myself back to writing on a regular basis. It shows in my early articles that I had been away from a regular writing project for sometime, and do feel much more relaxed and confident as a writer now, so I can say that thus far, I can assign that to the "Mission Accomplished" list. My secondary purpose was detailed in my Statement of Intent entry: I wanted to bring back the Weirdness into the world. So after discussing ritualized suicide, eerie androids, and the history of coffee, I think I've made good on that promise.

So what does all of this mean for T.O.J. and the link to said Weirdness that it provides? Well, I've been thinking about that...

The fact of the matter is that I've had some big hits and giant misses. For instance, the entry Four Gods still manages to bring in viewers. Yet Obscure Tweet and it's cousin at Tumblr...not so much. I'm not one for Twitter, and while I like Tumblr's layout and format, it just hasn't been something I've enjoyed using for T.O.J. and really almost isn't worth going further with.

So I am, as of now, looking at the future of this blog and what I would like to do with it. As it stands, my plans with this site are tentative, and I have nothing set in stone. My goal is to eventually grow this into it's own free-standing site. I would like to develop a website not only for myself, but one where I could potentially bring on other writers, especially if they would be willing to cover specific areas (strange politics from around the globe, world music craziness, that sort of thing) and to where I would have more than just a text box with a few pictures. I am, at heart, a writer, so this is something I will stick with.

If nothing else, I've had a lot of fun. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled program next Friday barring any tragedies. In the mean-time, I have planning to do...

Cheers to you, my readers!

Bodies of Song

2010-11-05T10:39:00.004-05:00

Common wisdom holds that music is a universal language. Every culture seems to share the use of voice or creation of instruments with which to create melody and manipulate sound. One distinction, however, can be made that seemingly few pieces of music, when compared to the amount that is recorded over any given year, will stretch across time and touch people in other generations. In the case of Europe, or it's descended cultures, classical composers such as Beethoven, Handel, and Bach have enjoyed most of the limelight in terms of historical longevity. Popular music, on the other hand, seems to come and go without notice.

But an exception to this rule seems to exist within the world of Jazz. There is a catalog of songs that nearly all Jazz musicians and singers are able to perform, commonly called Standards. These tracks help to form the basis of Jazz as a genre as well as a musical technique. Songs such as "When The Saints Go Marching In" and "In A Sentimental Mood" have been played, altered, and recorded for many years, and likely will not disappear.

One song, however, holds a deeply unusual place; a piece of music with lyrics that often don't match the tune, almost deranged in it's happy mood when considering it's subject matter. It was originally known as "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer." It's best known today by it's adopted and accepted title: Mack The Knife.

The origin of the song lies in the hands of a pair of musicians and Socialist commentators: Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. Brecht and Weill began performing a show in Berlin called The Threepenny Opera during 1928, shortly before the rise of Nazism. The inspiration for the show was an 18th century musical known as The Beggar's Opera which was a commentary on the state of the British monarchy. Like so many others in showbiz, Brecht and Weill updated the show's premise to reflect the world of Post-WWI Germany, but in this transformation, a sharp and ugly thing occurred. In The Beggar's Opera, the character Macheath was a dashing hero in the spirit of Robin Hood. Under the satirical gaze of Brecht, Macheath went from a romantic thief to that of a violent sadist who killed children, raped young widows, and would be described in his introduction as more like a shark than a man. In an irony fitting of Weimar Republic-era Germany, the song was not initially slated to be in the show - it was added to sate the vanity of it's original performer.

The Threepenny Opera was performed over 1,000 times by the time the duo of Brecht and Weill had left Germany in 1933. Little did they realize how one song, written almost as a joke, would leave an indelible mark on music history.

What is interesting about "Mack The Knife" is how it has mutated over the years. In it's original form, the song is not a happy one. Here it is performed in it's original German by Christopher Lee:

This version falls into sharp contrast with how it is best remembered. Beloved singer Bobby Darin in many ways made a career off of the song, and Jazz Legend Ella Fitzgerald received awards and accolades for her rendition. In yet another ironic twist, during her star-making performance of the song, she forgot the lyrics and had to ad-lib her way through it in Berlin.

Yet most modern performances that are not in the mold of Darrin or Fitzgerald have attempted, through this generation's darkened filters, to bring the song closer to it's original intention. For the film and subsequent album September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill, singer-songwriter Nick Cave performs "Mack The Knife" with a nearly-demonic aplomb.

The myth of Mack The Knife, a serial killer with a body count matching many actual modern madmen, is is fixed within the soundtrack of Western Culture. The only thing remaining to be seen is who next unearths his murder ballad and releases it back into the ears of an unsuspecting world.

October 31st

2010-10-31T16:57:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween!

The Best Of The Worst?

2010-10-29T11:07:00.006-05:00

Something in the nature of horror film genre lends itself towards parody. By design, horror films tend towards being serious, but when the budget or talent involved cannot match the seriousness of a film-makers artistic vision, disaster is almost certain to ensue.

For many fans of "B-Moves" and other assorted schlock, the pinnacle of the Good-Bad ("it's so bad it's good") Cinema was set by Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space. This film starred Bela Lugosi in his final roll, clearly nearing the end of his life and horribly addicted to pain killers, as well as horror stalwart and former professional wrestler Tor Johnson. The movie existed on a tiny budget, and Ed Wood's wild creativity could never compensate for his general lack of talent as a director. But for the virtually endless list of flaws that the movie suffers, Plan 9 is not without a certain well-meaning though weird charm. This does not excuse it as an artistic exercise; it is hardly a "cinematic achievement" by any stretch of the phrase, it did however dominate the position of "The Worst Movie Ever Made" in the minds and hearts of movie fans for decades.

But little did any of these devoted cinemaphiles know that something far worse was waiting to reach it's icy grip from the past and strangle Plan 9 into submission. No one would could have prepared for what was re-released like a Lovecraftian nightmare onto the world on January 30th, 1993.

The much-beloved television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 is known for it's unique format: take B-grade (or below) horror, science fiction, and drama films from the 1950's up to the 1980's and verbally skewer them for a television audience. On the aforementioned January date, the show aired an episode featuring the 1966 independent film Manos: The Hands of Fate. (And for those who have multi-lingual inclinations, the title of the film would translate to Hands: The Hands of Fate.) This episode would re-introduce an unsuspecting world to a film so profoundly bad that it would seemingly confound and unnerve even the cast of MST3K and would later go on to be described by the episode guide released by the show as the worst film that they covered yet one of the most popular episodes in the series' canon.

While the very notion of a television show devoted to bad movies being bothered by this movie paints a very vivid image, Manos must be seen to be believed. It is a movie so profoundly awful that it borders on surreal. The history of this strange piece was is one story that is doomed from it's very inception. In the case of most bad bits of cinema, there are generally only a few factors that can be blamed for a movie's demise. In this case it is a veritable cocktail of ruin: No budget, wooden acting, non-existent directorial skill, bad recording equipment, under-developed plot, pointless dialog, irrational editing choices, and a veritable Infernal Host of other factors that makes Manos devoid of any redeeming feature. Arguably it's worst feature, however, lies in it's writer/producer/director/lead male actor Hal P. Warren. His plot, that of a small family being terrorized by a coven of Luciferian polygamists and the groups Satyr Man-Servant, would have been an unremarkable but solid horror movie concept. Warren's sheer ineptitude in all of his listed capacities on the project combined with the other factors mentioned were a death-blow to the movie before it was even born.

None of it's cast would go on to any degree of notoriety. One member, who had been rumored to be plagued with personal problems prior to filming, committed suicide shortly after the film's release (though it has been joked that the movie is so awful that it could have a body count.) Hal Warren, in a nearly prophetic statement, would say that the after the film's quick and unceremonious death if the film's dialog could be re-dubbed, "it could be a comedy."

But like any manifestation of the Forces of Darkness, Manos: The Hands of Fate refused to die so easily. The power of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and it's devoted fan-base has given new life to the movie. In 2004, a trio of Canadian Film-makers released a documentary called Hotel Torgo after tracking down and interviewing Bernie Rosenblum, the stunt coordinator, electrical, and bit-part actor who is one of the last members of the cast and crew still alive to tell the tale of Manos.

So what did Hal P. Warren, suitably a fertilizer salesman from El Paso, Texas unleash upon us? Some people seem to view his film as a cinematic Crime Against Humanity. Others, perhaps with more of a pragmatic streak or sense of humor, view it as harmless and campy fun, or a cinematic cautionary tale. But this much is true: Manos: The Hands Of Fate lives. In 2011, filming of a sequel entitled Manos: The Search For Valley Lodge, begins filming in El Paso with a tentative release date of 2013.

Wanna Read More Of My Work?

2010-10-29T11:03:00.002-05:00

Good Morning, My Readers!
I am pleased to announce that I am now a reviewer for The St. Louis Music Press, an up-and-coming Music, Concert, and Interview magazine.

Click here to read my review of the new self-titled release from Red Mass, and click here to read my review of Spirit Youth by The Depreciation Guild.

Also, the link to the St. Louis Music Press has been added to my list o' links.

Go!

Preview - Friday the 29th

2010-10-25T23:17:00.002-05:00

Have you felt the awful power of this man? Do you know to whom he answers?

No?

Then I strongly recommend you come back on Friday to hear the awful true story behind this man's infamy.

The Oath?

2010-10-22T14:20:00.002-05:00

The Hippocratic Oath states: "First, Do No Harm." Medical science and Doctors have done, throughout the course of history, as much as possible to keep the patients they have as comfortable as humanly possible.

This line of reason, however, is a very delicate one. Doctors, with the goal of preserving life in mind, periodically have to cause a patient temporary discomfort in order to keep them alive. In modern world, most people are willing to accept the pin-prick of a Polio innoculation in order to not suffer from an awful disease. But the line between maintaining that understanding can grow extremely blurry when it comes to the legal and ethical Rights of patients, as well as a Doctor's responsibility to keep a person alive. Where does it begins to cross into the territory of breaking the "No Harm" rule of the Hippocratic Oath?

The concept of Medical Ethics, like any other method of thought, has it's limits. Not every situation that a medical practitioner will encounter will be easy to confine into a "black or white" framework. Modern medicine has made massive advancements in the past 100 years. While fictional accounts such as Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun illustrate what was medically possible (if not very unlikely) at the start of the 20th Century, the story is more of a war protest than it was a novel regarding medicine. It does, however, raise a question regarding the role of morality in medicine and raises the question, arguably one of the first, of Quality of Life and going with a patient's desires for treatment. The story is that of a young soldier in World War I who is near-fatally wounded by artillery fire. He is a quadruple amputee and his face is badly mauled; he has blind, deaf, cannot smell, and is permenantly mute (essentially missing his entire face) yet still fully conscious. The doctor's responsible for the novel's protaganist refuse to euthanize him, leaving him a prisoner inside his own ruined form.

So what becomes of those individuals to whom life is as cruel (or more so) than the stroke of an author's pen? Of the many millions of possible examples where the lines might blur, two very different cases can give us an insight into the nebulous world of where "Right vs. Wrong" meet "Living vs. Dying."

The stories of Stephanie Keene, better known as "Baby K: and Dax Cowart, bring sharply into focus how modern medicine, with it's seemingly never-ending resourcefulness in saving life, falls into a trap: What is Right or Wrong, and what is Living?

Stephanie Keene was born in Virginia in 1992, to be did not have a true chance at life. In utero, she was afflicted with a condition known as anencephaley - somewhere in her development, she developed only a brain stem but no other portion of her brain. She would be, throughout her life, a vegetable, capable only of the functions of the autonomic nervous system such as breathing, heart-beat, and the ability to detect touch. She would never have had a conscious thought. Despite being notified this development prior to birth, her mother would not terminate the pregnancy due to religious conviction. Doctors also advised her, after being born, that she would not gain consciousness and suggested that the child be taken off of life support so that "nature can take it's course." After being weened off of life ventiation, the child did not thrive and had to be taken into hospitalization several times to be kept alive. A court battle ensued; the hospital and state wanted to take power of attorney from the patents, and the mother argued in court that her spiritual convictions that "all life is sacred" kept her from being willing to let the child die.

Baby K eventually passed away six months after birth without ever having a single conscious thought.

Dax Cowart, on the other hand, had lived a normal and healthy life. While assisting his family with menial tasks, he was badly burnt when a gas leak nearly took his life. The resultant fire left near-terminally injured; prior to being subjected to life-saving techniques, he begged repeatedly to be allowed to die. Left blind, deaf, and bereft of his hands, Cowart pleaded with doctors to not subject him to a treatment that could preserve his life due to the massive skin damage (nearly 70% of his skin was burnt away,) one of which was repeated bathes in water and chlorine. While this undoubtedly kept him alive, Cowart would claim that he felt as if he was "being skinned" and that he would scream with such intensity that he would pass out during each treatment due to the pain.

Dax Cowart is still alive today, living as a successful lawyer, but has said in repeated interviews that despite his present life and success that we would still have preferred to have died rather than be treated. He begged his care-takers constantly to let him die, but the state of Texas legally would not allow this, and doctors would thwart his multiple suicide attempts.

With these stories in mind, what is living? Do doctors have the right to dictate to a man such as Dax Cowart, who was clearly suffering, that living in agony is better than dying? What about Stephanie Keene? Was she ever alive to suffer? While it is impossible to argue the rights of a parent to protect a child, was she truly in her "right mind," able to make choices that were in her best interest, let alone that of a child?

I will leave it to the reader to make those choices for themselves. But the question of "What is Life?" is a fundamental of philosophy, and the world of science and medicine are not immune or exempt from these things.

Psyche in the Red

2010-10-19T19:05:00.005-05:00

(Thanks for coming by. I would like to issue two apologies:
1. For the late date of this post. I am back on my feet and in fighting shape, thankfully.
2. Blogger is having difficulties with photos and formatting, so this blog appears more stripped than normal. This won't happen again.)

Few fields are as perplexing or intriguing as the study of the human mind. It could be argued that Psychology continues it’s grasp on the world for the fact that the actual function of thought and personality cannot be physically grasped. Yet the study of the mind and it’s functions could be one most important fields since the psyche and it’s “inner workings” are the very root of the human experience.

Sigmund Freud is often considered to be the “father” of Modern Psychology. His process of psychoanalysis and subsequent division of the psyche would pave the way for countless theorists, proving to infuriate and compel every college student who has taken part in a PSY-101 course world-wide. Of his many well-know concepts, Freud’s theory that the Unconscious Mind resonated strongly enough that 100 years later, people still struggle to make headway into the murky waters of what lies beneath waking perception.

In 1906, Freud began correspondence with an enthusiastic young Swiss doctor named Carl Gustav Jung. Freud received a copy of "Studies in Word Association" from Jung, which precipitated a meeting of these two minds in Vienna a year later. If the stories are true, Freud and Jung spent a near-solid thirteen hours in discussion during this initial meeting and would remain in close contact until 1913, when they had a falling-out over interpretation of Psychoanalytic Theory.

The dissolution of his relationship with Freud did not deter Jung; until his death in the 1950’s Carl Jung would continue to push the boundaries of psychology into new, esoteric territory. Jungian Analysis, as it is often called, blends Freud’s Psychoanalysis with theories on the origin of mankind’s inner nature. Jung believed that man shared a hereditary link to a rich encyclopedia of symbols that are universal, regardless of a person’s cultural origins.

One of the largest divisions between “traditional” Psychoanalysis and Jungian Analysis is the symbolic description of the function of the mind. Freud first presented his theory of the Id, Ego, and Super-Ego in a 1920 article called "Beyond The Pleasure Principle." In Freud’s view, these three segments were combined with the Unconscious Mind, representing the vast unseen repositiory of long-forgotten memories and repressed desires would influence (and sometimes wreak havoc) on the Conscious Mind and World. Jung on the other hand argued that the mind was broken into multiple symbolic segments: The "Persona," a sort of face shown to the world which serves to conceal and protect a person’s core nature; The "Anima" (for men) or "Animus" (for women) which is a sort of opposite-gender unconscious counterpart to the individual that represents a form of unification of a person’s rational and irrational personality traits; The "Shadow," a form given to the repressed or denied desires and elements of a person. Though Jungian Analysts warn that a person’s Shadow might be frightening, that it is also a source of powerful creative energy; and finally the "Self," which represents the whole of a human by unifying all of these elements of the Unconscious and Conscious mind together. Jung argues in his book "Modern Man In Search of a Soul" that the only possible way to live Life successfully is when we confront and integrate these elements, or in his own words, “It is only possible to live the fullest life when we are in harmony with these symbols; wisdom is a return to them.”

In 1938, a 38 year old Dr. Carl Jung began to experience a profound change in his own psyche, which he called like “Doing a schizophrenia,” or in his memoirs Memories, Dreams, Reflections, he would describe as a flow of symbols in his mind that he must “…let myself plummet down into them.” Between 1914 and 1930, Jung would record these incidents and transcribe them into a piece called "Liber Novum" (Latin for “New Book,”) or as it would later come to be known, "The Red Book," for the crimson coloring of its bindings and covers. For the sixteen years Jung would labor through this journal, loaded to the covers with internal and inter-personal symbols, illustrated by and hand and written in flowing calligraphy. Much of the book is filled with conversations with mythological and historical figures, or anthropomorphized psychological constructs in an attempt to control the “incessant stream” or realization in his psyche.

Amongst adherents of Jungian Psychology and Analysis, "Liber Novum/The Red Book" represents a pure look into the psychological framework of a man whose work inspires a near-religious devotion. But the family of Carl Jung, who held "Liber Novum/The Red Book" away from publishers since Dr. Jung’s death in 1961, feeling that it might not have ever been intended for mass-consumption. In 2009, Sonu Shamdasani and Stephen Martin (a pair of Jung historians and adherents) convinced the Jung Estate to allow "Liber Novum" to be digitally scanned, edited, translated, and published. As well, the book has been on display at the Rubin Art Museum of New York and The United States Library of Congress.

Carl Jung and his theories have had an impact on the modern world. The pop-culutre love of “dream interpretation” is rooted in Jung’s use of dream analysis to help diagnosis psychological disorders. He is often credited for being one of the cornerstones of Alcoholics Anonymous, in that he once told a seemingly-incurable alcoholic patient that he believed that religious devotion could offer him redemption from addiction. Allegedly, this patient began to seek religious education and conversion which allowed him to abandon his need to drink. Jung is credited with popularizing the terms “Introvert and Extrovert,” and is thereby, at least in part, responsible for the ever-popular Myer-Briggs Personality Test. In many ways, the sheer size of Carl Jung’s creative output is impressive, but with the inclusion of "Liber Novum" he and his theories stand ready to inspire and confound countless future Analysts who intend to plumb the depths of the mind.

Mea Culpa

2010-10-16T10:46:00.002-05:00

Everyone-
Due to being sick as a dog as well as having to take care of an unexpected situation, this weeks T.O.J. is late. I will have it posted as soon as I can write it out.

Now, if you will excuse me, I need lie down.

Preview for Friday, October 15th

2010-10-13T20:44:00.002-05:00

John is responsible for Book of Revelation. Padmasambhava is credited with Bardo Thodol. So who is this man, and what revelations did he share with us?

If you would like to find out, come back to T.O.J. on Friday.

T.O.J. Updates

2010-10-08T11:58:00.002-05:00

Good Afternoon!

I'm pleased to launch three new ways for you to follow The Obscuritan Journal.

Are you a Twitter user? Go to Obscure Tweet to keep up with posts as they happen.

Prefer Tumblr? We have that covered here.

Can't get enough of Facebook? Here is the official fanpage for The Obscuritan Journal.

With these three links, denizens of the World Wide Web can access this page in more ways.

So what are you waiting for?

This Week

2010-10-06T21:50:00.001-05:00

There will be no regular post this week. Instead, I intend on announcing a few new things for The Obscuritan Journal this Friday. So come back then and I can share with you.

See you then.

The Curious Case of Dr. Miklos Nyiszli

2010-10-01T13:34:00.005-05:00

Common wisdom states that individuals who are not mindful of the past will continue to repeat themselves. For this reason, Mankind has made an effort to record every bleak moment, hoping to stop the tides of atrocity long before they begin to swell.

It is small wonder that much of history is centered around war and tragedy. In a way, it is easier for people to measure the events of the world by the gruesome sign posts created by battlefields and metaphorical Hell-mouths left by man’s uglier side. Hotel Rwanda, a 2004 film by Terry George, exposed many people for the first time to the horrors of the animosity between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes of central Africa. The Khmer Rogue executed approximately 200,000 of it’s own people from 1975-1979, and would later be chronicled by director Roland Joffe in his 1984 film The Killing Fields. Bookstores and Cinemas are awash with media telling us of people and cultures enduring a “Dark Night of The Soul,” surrounded by horror that, if they hadn’t actually occurred, no one would believe possible.

Somewhat lost amongst the piles of literature, poetry, and cinema of War and subsequent violence is the story of Dr. Miklos Nyiszli. A Hungarian pathologist and medical practitioner, Dr. Nyiszli found himself in a position that few humans could ever endure, attempting to survive a one of the places where inhumanity went on full display, a name which will likely be acid-etched into the collective Shadow archetype of Humanity; the Nazi extermination camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Dr. Nyiszli wrote his only book, Auschwitz: A Doctor’s Eyewitness Account, shortly after returning home to Hungary from the camps as a document for the rest of history to study. He attempts to tell the unadulterated and uncensored tale of The Third Reich’s systematic murder of any individual who did not fit into their worldview. Where as many accounts of the Nazi’s concentration camps comes from the lives of the prisoners who were starved and tortured, Dr. Nyiszli came from a position that has made his book as well as his memory (he passed away in May of 1956) both invaluable and reviled.

In the summer of 1944, The Nyiszli family arrived by train to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Poland, with a convoy of Jews from Eastern Europe. During the “selection” process," Dr. Nyiszli was separated from his wife and daughter after volunteering the information regarding his profession. Little did he know, he would end up serving as the primary physician and autopsy expert for one of the most infamous of the Nazi war criminals: Dr. Joseph Mengele So, from June of 1944 to January of 1945, Dr. Miklos Nyiszli served with the Sonderkommando (a group of Jewish prisoners, executed generally every four months, who worked the Crematoria and gas chambers in exchange for a slightly better lot in life) as well as serving as the physician to the SS, who were not only Auschwitz’s administrators, but also chief Executioners. Dr. Nyiszli would primarily, however, spent the majority of his time in the camp performing autopsies under the direction of Dr. Mengele, who was attempting to prove via pseudoscience, the “inferiority” of “non-Aryans.”

Auschwitz: A Doctor’s Eyewitness Account is a gut-churning tale with an unflinching narrative manner. While there are plenty of other stories regarding “The Final Solution” and the associated Nazi camps, Dr. Nyiszli’s book can be a cause for argument, and has remained such since it’s initial publication in 1947. At the same time, Auschwitz is also a valuable document, giving a unique insider’s view at the functioning and organization of a veritable genocide machine. Dr. Bruno Bettelheim, a psychologist who wrote the forward to the 1960’s paperback edition of Auschwitz (which has been included in most reprints since that time,) issued a scathing criticism of Dr. Nyiszli’s decision to assist as the chief pathologist at Auschwitz. Dr. Bettelheim also likened this to one of the most well-know stories of The Holocaust: The Diary of Anne Frank, arguing that the Franks, and by implication, Dr. Nyiszli and most other Jews, were led by the urge to attempt living life with “business as usual,” leading ultimately to the death of an entire family as well as approximately 6 million Jews and millions of other minority groups throughout Europe. This criticism, however, is light when considering the words of Michael Nevins, M.D., who wrote the essay Moral Dilemmas faced by Jewish Doctors during The Holocaust. Nevins flatly says “Dr. Nyiszli was a reprehensible individual who ingratiated himself with his masters in order to save his own skin.”

While it is difficult to understand how a seemingly rational person could take part in the activities of Auschwitz-Birkenau, leading millions to their deaths, does Dr. Miklos Nyiszli deserve the mountains of scorn that have been heaped upon him?

It is easy to find anyone who would take part in such atrocity as horrible or hate-worthy, but knowing that Dr. Nyiszli held no sympathy to The Third Reich turns the situation into a profound moral ambiguity. In Auschwitz, Dr. Nyiszli repeatedly points out that his concerns while in the camp were the safety of his wife and daughter, as well as trying to stay alive long enough to tell the public of the concentration camps. As well, the depth of violence being committed in the walls of Auschwitz-Birkenau was clearly a surprise to Dr. Nyiszli, and he repeatedly says that each new development he witnessed (I.e. the varying methods of execution and corpse disposal) disturbed him greatly.

Further, the argument that Dr. Nyiszli volunteered himself merely to preserve his own life is a somewhat problematic accusation. As a conscious human being, Dr. Nyiszli was determined to “save his own skin’ but could that same argument be thrown at the other members of the Sonderkommando? Without his instinct towards self-preservation (as well as his desire to save his family and preserve the tale of his hardship) the world would not have the intimate knowledge of “The Final Solution” that we do today.

Whether or not you agree with the choices made by Dr. Miklos Nyiszli from June of 1944 to January of 1945, this oft-forgotten story deserves to be retold, if not as a cautionary tale, but as a question of man’s instinct to survive versus the moral dilemmas that can face even the most common of people.

Preview for Friday, October 1st

2010-09-29T19:58:00.004-05:00

Can anyone tell me what book this is from?

"In writing this work, I am not aiming for any literary success. When I lived through these horrors, which were beyond all imagining, I was not a writer, but a doctor. Today, in telling them, I write not as a reporter, but as a doctor."

Come back on Friday to learn more.

The Last Act

2010-09-24T11:40:00.007-05:00

Perhaps the only capability in human nature that is darker than murder is the ability to take one’s own life. Suicide is an inevitability of the human condition; it seems to exist in nearly every culture and is generally reviled. Most of the world’s major religions treat suicide as an affront to Divinity and the secular world tends to treat suicidal individuals as mentally unstable and in need of help, sometimes against the will of the individual in question.

But seemingly few cultures took suicide to the extreme of Feudal Japan. For many members of the ruling class, suicide was a gruesome and inevitable end.

The tradition of ritual suicide first appears to have started in 1192 A.D. during the Kamakura Bakufu (“Tent-Government,” or military rule.) This turbulent time period is known as much for the growth and spread of multiple schools of Japanese Buddhism as it is for the invasion of Japan by the Mongols under the leadership of Kublai Khan. In this state of immense violence, Samurai warriors would stop at nothing to guarantee that they would be captured. Suicide on the battlefield is not new, but in the highly militarized culture of 12th Century Japan and it’s warlords would leave a lasting imprint, seemingly strong enough to nearly enter the 20th century.

The act of ritual suicide is known in Japan as Seppuku, literally meaning “cutting the belly.” From a modern Western standpoint, it is difficult to conceive why anyone would want to take part in this so it helps to understand the world of Feudal Japan. Until the Meiji restoration of 1868, the Japanese world was divided by a rigid caste system. At the top of the social order was the Shogun or Daimyo. They take were the actual leaders of the country, with the Emperor of Japan existing primarily as the head of the indigenous religion of Shinto but few actual temporal authorities. Enforcing this system were the Samurai, who functioned not only as soldiers for the regional leaders, but as bureaucrats, educated-elite, and police. Beneath them existed the majority of people; primarily craftsmen and farmers.

For those individuals born into the Samurai caste, the notion of absolute loyalty to the State and it’s leaders was expected. While much has been written in the modern era regarding the philosophy and ethics of this warrior class (called Bushido) it is debatable as to how much it was actually adhered to, versus how much of it is more a concept dictated by World War II-era Imperial Japanese propaganda. What is not debatable, however, is that the expectations put upon the warrior class. The word Samurai roughly translates to “To Serve” or “Servant,” even if it means following the order of their superior to the death.

For the common-folk of Feudal Japan, a death sentence meant facing beheading or strangulation. For the Samurai class (or anyone else above them in caste system) the “method of dispatch” was formal, designed to give the Samurai a death was both certain and dignified.

Upon the declaration that a Samurai must commit Seppuku, the condemned would be required to prepare, quite literally for his death. The Samurai would don an entirely white outfit, traditionally worn for funerals. They would compose a short poem to metaphorically describe their death, drink a final cup of rice wine, and be led to the spot of their execution. (It should be noted that there was a similar tradition of Seppuku for the wives and female members of the Samurai class, but that it was not as common.) The traditions of Seppuku indicate that for the Samurai it was a honorable death. In his classic 1871 text, Tales of Old Japan, Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford wrote of a Samurai named Zenzaburo who had attacked visiting dignitaries from Europe. “After another profound obeisance, Taki Zenzaburo, in a voice which betrayed just so much emotion and hesitation as might be expected from a man who is making a painful confession, but with no sign of either in his face or manner, spoke as follows: ‘I, and I alone, unwarrantably gave the order to fire on the foreigners at Kobe. and again as they tried to escape. For this crime I disembowel myself, and I beg you who are present to do me the honor of witnessing the act.’ Bowing once more, the speaker allowed his upper garments to slip down to his girdle, and remained naked to the waist….he tucked his sleeves under his knees to prevent himself from falling backwards; for a noble Japanese gentleman should die falling forwards. Deliberately, with a steady hand, he took the dirk that lay before him; he looked at it wistfully, almost affectionately; for a moment he seemed to collect his thoughts for the last time, and then stabbing himself deeply below the waist on the left-hand side, he drew the dirk slowly across to the right side, and, turning it in the wound, gave a slight cut upwards. During this sickeningly painful operation he never moved a muscle of his face….At that moment the kaishaku(the condemned Samurai's "second"), who, still crouching by his side, had been keenly watching his every movement, sprang to his feet, poised his sword for a second in the air; there was a flash, a heavy, ugly thud, a crashing fall; with one blow the head had been severed from the body. A dead silence followed, broken only by the hideous noise of the blood throbbing out of the inert heap before us, which but a moment before had been a brave and chivalrous man. It was horrible”

It should be mentioned that this form of ceremonial disembowelment was not reserved exclusively for capital punishment; disgrace or loss of “face” could be and often was sufficient cause. The culture of Japan, both ancient and modern, has always been deeply steeped in the notion of honor. To have one’s name or reputation severely besmirched not only damaged the person, but the person’s family and ancestors as well. It would be better, the logic of this “honorable suicide” dictates, for a person to willing cease to live than to continue to insult family and ancestry by being alive. As well, a very special form of Seppuku, called Junshi, became especially problematic. Upon the death of noble lord, the throng of Samurai that served as his retainers would commit this gruesome form of suicide en masse as a sign of loyalty to their leader. This practice became so common that the Tokugawa Shogunate issued a statement in the 1660’s banning the practice. According to the Buke Sho Hatto, published in 1663, "That the custom of following a master in death is wrong and unprofitable is a caution which has been at times given of old; but, owing to the fact that it has not actually been prohibited, the number of those who cut their belly to follow their lord on his decease has become very great. For the future, to those retainers who may be animated by such an idea, their respective lords should intimate, constantly and in very strong terms, their disapproval of the custom. If, notwithstanding this warning, any instance of the practice should occur, it will be deemed that the deceased lord was to blame for unreadiness. Henceforward, moreover, his son and successor will be held to be blameworthy for incompetence, as not having prevented the suicides."

Suicide in modern Japan is still a common occurrence. Legally speaking, there is no prohibition against the act though government organizations have made official statements attempting to dissuade suicidal individuals from the act. While ritual disembowelment is all but a thing of the past, it was estimated by the World Health Organization in 2009 that 32,845 people committed suicide, generally by means of hanging, poisoning, or jumping from buildings and other elevated surfaces. Though it is impossible to directly link the self-destructiveness of Japan’s Feudal past to modern behavior and psychology, it is certainly noteworthy to consider that the Japanese are historically rooted in this sort of activity. Time will be the judge of whether the modern world can erase this most ancient habit.

Preview of Sept. 24th

2010-09-22T18:59:00.001-05:00

Something to think about...

“Another person has said that, as the ceremonies to be gone through by principal, witnesses, and seconds are all very important matters, men should familiarize themselves with a thing which is so terrible, in order that, should the time come for them to take part in it, they may not be taken by surprise.” -Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford

I'll explain it on Friday.

Why I Do What I Do

2010-09-21T09:09:00.002-05:00

Just a quick bit of info...
As of this morning, The Obscuritan Journal has received 927 hits. When you consider that as of Sept. 11th, the count was at 676, that's saying a lot.

1,000 hits has been a goal of mine since I started. My reason for this is that once I crossed that line, I knew I would have reached a point where I could feel good in really pushing outwards with this project in terms of advertisement and content.

Just remember: I might be the one doing the writing, but it is you, the reader, who makes this blog what it is. And while I certainly live by the adage that I'd still be doing what I do regardless if anyone is looking, I can't overstate the point that having people, some of which from points literally thousands of miles away, are the reason I continue.

So thank you for everything.

Design Flaws?

2010-09-17T13:33:00.006-05:00

In May of 2005, the Kansas State Board of Education held a series of hearings regarding science curricula. While the process of review and revision educational standards and teaching methods are not new, these specific hearings were highly abnormal. Recent elections had given six of the ten available seats on the Board of Education to socially and politically Conservative Christians who wanted to change how the Theory of Evolution, as proposed by Charles Darwin, would be presented.

These members of Board wanted to present a concept called Intelligent Design as a scientific theory that offers an opposing but plausible explanation of life on Earth. Intelligent Design, since entering into public consciousness, has been a cause of major argument. It’s proponents contend that Evolution is a theory that is still hotly debated by the majority of the scientific community, therefore in it’s place Intelligent Design could offer an explanation that uses God (the “Intelligent Designer”) in place of the seemingly random or chaotic forces of Natural Selection and Mutation.

Scientists, on the other hand, contend that there is no real debate over Evolutionary Theory’s veracity and that Intelligent Design and it’s related movement is pure pseudoscience; Intelligent Design cannot be backed by physical evidence nor be proven by the Scientific Method, given that it deals exclusively in the realm of the Metaphysical.

During the hearings, Bobby Henderson, a graduate of Oregon State University with a degree in Engineering, sent a letter to the Kansas Board of Education arguing that there may be a third argument to be had. Henderson’s letter stated that alongside Darwin’s Theory and Intelligent Design, a creation myth regarding an god known as The Flying Spaghetti Monster should also be taught. (Yes, you read that correctly.)

It must have been difficult for Henderson to predict that his letter, written as an absurdist criticism of the Intelligent Design debate, would balloon into an Internet sensation as well as a sold criticism of Religious Fundamentalism. Calling his faith “Pastafarianism,” Henderson argues that he has “written accounts” of The Flying Spaghetti Monster creating the world, as well as altering any attempts at Carbon or Nitrogen Dating materials used by scientists with the power of “His Noodly Appendage.” When word broke of this incident, it spread quickly causing many Internet users who were critical of Intelligent Design (and a large portion of those with an unusual sense of humor) to proclaim themselves “Pastafarians” and that they too believed in the power of The Flying Spaghetti Monster. In short order, Henderson launched a website as The Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster, as well a book comprising it’s gospels. In the spirit of his original letter, The “About” section of his website claims “Some claim that the church is purely a thought experiment, satire, illustrating that Intelligent Design is not science, but rather a pseudoscience manufactured by Christians to push Creationism into public schools. These people are mistaken. The Church of FSM is real, totally legit, and backed by hard science. Anything that comes across as humor or satire is purely coincidental.”

So what can be said of Henderson’s “Church?” The website presents itself with tongue planted sharply in cheek, but the use of satire as an antidote to the sometimes venomously grim world of religion is not new. Organizations such as “The Church of The SubGenius” have made this a stock-in-trade. Venerating the clip-art image of a salesman called J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, The SubGenius aspire to a transcendent state called “Slack” and claim that they are the descendants of the Yeti (a mythical Tibetan form of Sasquatch.) The Church of the SubGenius has been making mockery of religious and social Evangelism for more than twenty years, and use their unique brand of surreal mockery as an effective, if not hilarious skewer against social and religious institutions. In the world of Religious Parody (or depending upon your worldview, Parody Religions,) The Church of The SubGenius are a sort of Dadaist gold-standard by which to be measured. The Pastafarians and could easily reach that sort of absurd pinnacle. Like anything else in life, a parody can only ultimately be as strong as it’s subject matter. In the end, The Flying Spaghetti Monster needs Intelligent Design as much as Intelligent Design needs Natural Selection.

Preview of Sept. 17th

2010-09-13T20:40:00.004-05:00

Can anyone tell me what this has to do with the nature of all living creatures on this planet?

Anyone?

No?

Then come back this Friday so I can explain.

I'll see you then.

The Obscuritan's State Of The Union

2010-09-11T10:42:00.002-05:00

I began writing here at The Obscuritan Journal in May of this year, and I have to admit that I am having a great time doing so. I owe everyone who has taken a second to stop by and read my posts, so I thought I throw a little something different this week at you, just so you know what is going on here.

I've stated previously that my goal here is to eventually parlay my work here into something bigger. After taking into consideration the advise of some of my readership and close friends, I have a rough plan for the next year as to what I want to do here, and how to improve this blog to make it something more noteworthy.

The plan, as of now, looks something like this. In no specific order, I need to achieve the following goals:

1. I would like to purchase "The Obscuritan Journal" as my own and get away from using a third-party group to host my site.
2. I would like to spread the site via syndication and dead-tree advertising. If anyone would be willing to help me create and spread flyers/business cards, it would be deeply appreciated.
3. I'm thinking it's nearly time to create a Facebook page for The Obscuritan Journal, primarily as a dedicated point-of-contact for those people who are already Facebook users to help spread the word.

In short, The Obscuriatan Needs You!
(And yes, it is fun to refer to myself in the 3rd Person by a different name)

So what am I getting out of all of this, other than a creative outlet? Thanks to Blogger's "Stats" feature (which I will miss dearly once I do leave Blogger) I have been able to see what is actually happening in terms of readers and web-hits. So let me hit you with some facts:

- As of this posting, I have had 676 views, 307 of which in the past month.
- "Four Gods," posted on July 16th, has had the most viewers, followed by "Among The Ruins."
- Google and Facebook are the primary sources of hits for my site.
- The following countries are the highest ranking in terms of readership: Untied States (572 hits,) Canada (17 hits,) United Kingdom (14 hits,) and Germany (9 hits.) I have also had hits from The Czech Republic, Indonesia, and Ecuador.
- 40% of my readers are using Firefox. 38% are using Internet Explorer.

I can't say enough how much I appreciate everyone who has commented, emailed, called, or sent text messages in response to my work. I intend to keep this up for some time...so if you keep coming, I keep writing and researching.

Quick Update Sept. 10th

2010-09-10T08:37:00.002-05:00

This weeks blog may be delayed by 12 to 24 hours while I am collating some information. For your information, the information I am collecting has less to do with a new topic, and more to do with this blog. You'll hear from me shortly when I am ready to present.

Talk to you soon, and enjoy your weekend!

A Dark Mystery

2010-09-03T12:42:00.009-05:00

Arguably one of the most ubiquitous beverages in the world, Coffee is arguably a cornerstone to the lives of millions of people, from farmers all the way to consumers. Coffee has such a place in the cultural heritage of so many, that even people who don't drink it will often speak fondly of the aroma while it's brewing or refer to taking a "coffee break" from an activity.

But how did such a humble shrub become one of the world's largest agricultural powerhouses? What magic does a tiny bean contain that can lead to true international trade?

The history of coffee is generally traced back to Ethiopia in 850 AD. A goat-herd named Kaldi once found his flock munching on a bush with red berries, after which they behaved with an unusual amount of energy. Perplexed, Kaldi decided to sample the berries himself and experienced the world's first case of "coffee jitters." Shocked by his discovery Kaldi took some of the berries to a local elder, who roasted the berries over a fire and added them to boiling water, creating the world's first "cuppa Joe."

Whether or not there is any truth to the "Myth of Kaldi" is a matter of speculation. What is known, on the other hand, is that coffee beans were traded and passed through Sudan into Yemen's port of Mocha around 1400-1500, where it spread throughout the Arab world. Given the Koran's prohibition on Muslims consuming alcohol, coffee became a beverage at social gatherings, a trait that it still holds as true today as it did during the 16th century. By the mid-1500's, three coffee shops had opened in Constantinople. By 1650, coffee had fund it's way into Venice where Europe's first cafe' was opened in 1654.

As Europe began exploring and colonizing the "New World," coffee invariably followed. From it's mythical origins to today, coffee has lost none of it's power. According to the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organization, global coffee output should reach seven tons by the end of 2010, with an estimated 6.9 tons consumed in the year. As of 2008, the countries consuming the most coffee per day per year are Finland, Norway, and Iceland (The United States ranks number 26 of 181 in terms of daily consumption per year.)

While the history and current usage of coffee does shed some light, the question still remains: Why is coffee popular? At a glance, it can be hard to fathom how a dark, oily fluid, served piping hot, and known for it's bitter, acidic flavor could have crossed so many cultural borders. The obvious answer would be caffeine. But this idea falls apart when the the wide-spread popularity of tea is figured into the equation.

Perhaps the historical connotation of the educated and intellectual class being fond of coffee explains it. In England, coffee shops were historically referred to as "Penny Universities," since a potential patron only needed to pay a small charge at the door to cover the beverage cost, thereby allowing them to take part in animated discussions or impromptu lectures. However, there is an equally strong modern connotation of coffee being the a blue-collar beverage, symbolized by the seemingly omnipresent thermal-sealed containers of strong black coffee in factories and job sites.

In most major cities, one can find at least one coffee shop with very little effort. Most major grocery chains now have at least half an aisle devoted to coffee and related items. While the reasons for coffee's popularity may be intangible, it is nearly guaranteed that the thirst for it will never pass.

An Apology

2010-08-30T20:49:00.003-05:00

To my readers, I want to say this:

My last article sucked. Yes, you read that correctly.
Sucked.

For that, I apologize. After re-reading the piece, I realized how half-cooked and rushed it was, not only as piece but as a concept.

With that, I will be moving on to another topic this week, one actually worth reading.

What Could Have Been, pt. 1

2010-08-27T21:29:00.004-05:00

Story telling is divided down two generally clean lines: Fiction and Nonfiction. While these two worlds are often the only ways one can spin a yarn, it is easy to see how these two distinctions might bleed together. Great men, from ancient China's Guan Yu to President George Washington, have many stories that are unverifiable attributed to them, but they weave almost seamlessly into the fabric of both popular story and cultural tapestry.

At what, however, does the storyteller diverge from what is considered to be the accepted historical narrative to ask "What if?" Speculative Fiction fills this gap and has provided the literary world both beautiful and outlandish contributions to culture. Speculative fiction does not entirely deal in history; any subject where there is room for debate or imagination allows for an author to spin a tale within an already accepted realm.

Jules Verne, arguably a master of Speculative Fiction, released his classic work, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1869. The story focuses around the crew of the Nautilus, a submarine far advanced of nautical technology at the time. Nemo's crew deals with giant squid, hunting for giant pearls, and battles against the elements in this ground-breaking piece, and yet for reasons seemingly unknown, the story has stuck in the consciousness of the literary world seemingly since it's publication.

However, not all of Speculative Fiction are so seemingly light. Kevin Wilmott's "mockumentary" C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America was produced in Britain in 2004, asking the simple but world-altering question of "What if the North had lost to the South in the American Civil War?" With an unblinking eye, Wilmott's film tells a story that would be considered shocking to most audiences though not necessarily to that of historical scholars.

So what can be said of Speculative Fiction in relation to the world outside of books and the proverbial "Silver Screen?"

Join me next week for a look at one of the quickest growing and most bewildering out-cropping of a fictional genre known.

Preview - August 25th

2010-08-25T20:05:00.002-05:00

I have a simple question for you: What do the goggles do?
If you know the answer to this trick question, you already know where I am going. If not, check back on Friday.

Death & Rebirth

2010-08-19T12:12:00.008-05:00

Experimental and Avant-Garde films are not entertainment as most people would normally see it. In many cases, the standards of narrative, cinematography, and sound are abandoned for testing the metaphorical (and sometimes literal) boundaries of both cinematic and audience tolerance.

Few films so viciously assault celluloid and audiences as E. Elias Merhige’s Begotten. If movies can be described as a ribbon of dreams, Merhige’s experimental masterpiece is a ribbon of fevered nightmares, a bleak reinterpretation of archetypical Creation myths. Allegedly written regarding the directors near-death experience at the age of 19, it’s easy to see how Merhige would later go on to direct such macabre films as Shadow of the Vampiree (a dark comedy/horror centering on F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu.)

Begotten uses a twisted allegory to represent the elements common to Genesis stories found across multiple cultures. Many stories feature a masculine Demiurge coupling with a Mother Goddess, giving birth to a self-sacrificing Messiah. Anyone with a passing familiarity with Theology or the Cosmology of Hinduism or Ancient Egypt might be able to see some of these in Begotten. They may be shocked, however, to see a Messiah naked and twitching in primal suffering or to see a God in a seemingly mindless act of self-mutilation. Where Merhige excels in this film, however, is not in gore or “shock factor,” but rather his vision of the cinematic process, from technique down to the base medium being used.

Filmed entirely on Black and White Reversal stock, Merhige went through the painstaking process of rephotographing each frame. The end result is a true monochrome; black and white with absolutely no grey middle tones. The effect is entrancing and unsettling, shifting between blindingly bright and complete obfuscation, the visuals can be deeply confusing as to what is actually being viewed. Sonically, Begotten is devoid of spoken word and a traditional score or soundtrack. In place of dialog is crickets, white noise, snippets of classical instrumentation, and an unwholesome wet gurgling noise. The combination of visuals, subject matter, and atonal sound creates a mix that is as enticing as it is repulsive.

Begotten was released in 1990. Given the graphic and bizarre presentation, it was unable to secure a wide distribution, though eventually it found it’s way via independent movie companies who secured copies. With the advent of Internet, Begotten has found a greater audience, and has been considered to be a high-water mark for Experimental cinema as well as heralding the oncoming violence that has bled back into Horror movies.

Begotten is a truly unique work, and as such, is not for all audiences. For those interested, I have provided a link to the film in it’s entirety. However, keep in mind that it is not safe for work, extremely graphic, and not “light cinematic fair.” As always, apply discrimination before clicking the link below.

Click here to watch.

Preview for August 20th Edition

2010-08-16T22:14:00.004-05:00

"Language Bearers, Photographers, Diary Makers.
You with your memories are dead, frozen.
Lost in a present that never stops passing.
Here lives the incantation of matter.
A language forever."

Contemplate this until I see you on Friday.

Intrusion

2010-08-13T12:19:00.004-05:00

The technique of using pop culture or consumerism against itself is not a new one. But like any type of controversial act, there must be a starting point or watershed. In the United States, the events on a chilly Chicago night in November, 1987 appears to have set a bizarre standard.

To have the proper perspective of this event, the year of 1987 must be taken into account. The U.S. had been contending with the failing theory of “Trickle Down” economics. Crack cocaine had become a major problem in many cities, met with a police response that was simply not strong enough to match it. The Iran-Contra affair was still a fresh wound, and the Cold War with the Soviet Union was still a black specter hanging over the consciousness of the country. The “Me Generation” had come into being, as such, the 1980s as a whole are remembered as a time period of crass consumerism. In response, a genre of fiction known as “cyberpunk” became popular. Generally set in a near and dystopian future ruled by large corporations, corrupt governments, and saturated in high technology, Cyberpunk stories focused on individuals, often disenfranchised or disillusioned, throwing themselves at the world in an attempt to break down the metaphorical walls of an oppressive world.

One of the most commercially successful pieces of Cyberpunk was Max Headroom. Set in a future of dangerous, aggressive marketing and technology gone awry, the memories and psyche of an investigative journalist are loaded into a computer network. This entity, whose name forms the title of the series, assists freedom fighters with combating this repressive regime. In an irony seemingly lost on many companies (which, in hindsight, is wholly befitting of the 1980s,) the character and image of Max Headroom became associated with Coca-Cola products through a series of television advertisements.

Viewers of the Chicago, Illinois based WGN news broadcast at 9pm were surprised and disturbed to see the nightly sports highlights interrupted by a strange sight. A man wearing a latex rubber Max Headroom mask behaving wildly in front of a sheet of corrugated metal, accompanied by a loud, atonal buzzing noise. WGN engineers, realizing what was going on, changed transmitter, leaving anchorman Dan Roan flustered and perplexed on screen, saying “If you are wondering what just happened, so am I.” At 11:15pm, WTTW, another local Chicago station was struck. This time, audio as well as video came through. For 90 seconds, WTTW viewers watched again as “Max” again to act erratically, mocking Coca-Cola ad slogans, make strange comments regarding dirty gloves, and in a surreal turn, remove his pants to be spanked by an individual off-screen wielding a fly swatter.

This is not, however, the first act of T.V. broadcast piracy. In 1977, a ITN in England news update (which aired on British Southern Broadcasting station) had it’s audio pirated by an individual claiming to be an extraterrestrial who delivered a message claiming to be offering humans world peace and salvation. In 1986, an individual identifying himself as “Captain Midnight” broke through a HBO broadcast with a text complaining about HBO’s monthly prices.

The “Max Headroom Piracy Incident,” as it’s widely known, is exceedingly strange for a number of reasons. Previous signal pirates seemed to have some sort of purpose or message to be conveyed. “Max,” on the other hand, seemed to have little intention beyond hurling irrational insults at local TV stations, humming the theme to a cartoon show, taunting soft drink manufacturers, and to be publicly spanked. One could argue that the acts of the individuals responsible for this act foreshadowed groups such as The Cacophony Society (a band of pranksters from 1970s San Francisco) or Anonymous (Internet hackers, activists, and “trolls” who utilizes websites such as 4chan.)

The television series and adverts featuring Max Headroom have since faded into (no pun intended) virtual obscurity, and are generally relegated to nostalgia, effectively disappearing from the pop-cultural consciousness nearly as quickly as it arrived. There is an irony to the fact that someone using the visage of a character designed to satirize a highly technological world actually being outlived by a further bowdlerization of itself. To date, the persons responsible for the “Max Headroom Piracy Incident” have never been caught, nor has anyone come forward to claim responsibility.

Another Preview

2010-08-09T20:03:00.004-05:00

Where were you on the night of November 22nd, 1987? If you were in Chicago, Illinois on that night, this story requires no introduction.

If not, however, come back on Friday. I have something to show you.

This Week

2010-08-03T21:18:00.002-05:00

I will not be posting a new article this week as I am taking time to come up with a handful of new topics to work on. I hope to have some sort of "teaser" up when I get the subject matter all squared away.

See you soon!

A Test Of Character

2010-07-31T13:04:00.010-05:00

A common stereotype of young men is that they may be able to forge strong friendships out of confrontations with one another. Perhaps no group proves this more than the traditional fraternal organizations of German Universities.

The practice of dueling and training with swords is likely as old as the sword itself. During the 15th and 16th century, most well-to-do gentlemen would not leave their home unarmed. Weapons such as the rapier and smallsword were indispensable in a world populated by territorial political conflict and violent robberies while on the road. Young men attending college, who were invariably the descendants of wealth or nobility, would bring their weapons with them while traveling between campus and home. It does not take much imagination to see that young me, away from home, would come in to conflict with one another. The blood y and often lethal encounters were common enough to warrant multiple fencing schools forming in most major cities.

By the late 17th century, dueling was so common place that laws and customs were developed to attempt to set some restraint around this dangerous activity. By the end of the 18th century, most men of the aristocracy had been involved one or more duels, and laws eventually passed to outlaw this activity. This did not, however, change the fact that sword-play had become engrained into the cultural fabric of Europe. In France, blunted swords designed for thrusting (the forerunner of the modern Fencing Foil) were popular for men interested in sword training. The Germans, on the other hand, came to prefer a different sword for the “Gentlemanly Art.” This weapon, called a Schlager, was a heavy saber with a large bell or basket shaped hand guard, was used for slashing and cutting rather the thrusting weapons found elsewhere.

What separates Mensur, the Schlager Fencing art of German Student Unions, are three important facts. First, Mensur combat is not about winning or losing. While there are a number of traditions that surround this art, the purpose of Mensur is ultimately “character building.” Secondly, Mensur is a “static” art. Most people who are familiar with “traditional” Fencing are used to seeing the competitors moving and lunging at lightning speed across a platform. In Mensur, the combatants stand only a few feet apart, without dodging or feinting, and attack each other while standing in place. The largest distinction, however, that separate Mensur from other “sport” Fencing forms is that the blades of the Schlagers are razor sharp.

It is difficult to comprehend why seemingly intelligent young men (according to tradition, women are not supposed to join this activity) would engage in such a fool-hardy and dangerous activity. Viewed historically, however, Mensur dueling is not unique. The practice of young men and women training in formalized or ritualized combat as an educational experience is common across a multitude of cultures. The Nguni, a tribe within the Bantu language group of Central Africa, train young men in a form of staff fighting. Japanese school children, often times throughout High School and College, may study Judo (an aggressive form of wrestling emphasizing chokes holds and joint-breaking locks) Kendo (a form of Fencing that is rooted in the study of the Japanese Katana sword,) and Atarashii Naginata (Fencing with bamboo poles, based on a Samurai Polearm.) It could even be argued that American football could be seen as a form of ritualized group warfare.

Though made illegal by the Nazis in World War Two, Mensur has seen a slow return to practice since the 1950’s. While not every Fraternal organization on every campus takes part in this activity, groups who do take pride in being seen as “Fighting Fraternities.” Those individuals who participate in this sport now wear protection for the eyes, throat, sword-arm and chest, participants still stick to the tradition of striking for the face. In fact, a young man who has a Schmiss, or scar from a Mensur engagement, is considered to have a mark of distinction on his face.

It’s impossible to predict the future of Mensur. Provided that young men, loaded with a sense of invincibility and testosterone, the future of German Academic Fencing is likely bright, if not bloody and unpleasant.

Valley of The Dolls?

2010-07-23T17:47:00.004-05:00

As previously noted, one of the cornerstones of horror lies in things not happening as expected. While this is principle is easy to apply in the context of fiction, why is it so true yet so seemingly difficult to explain in the context of real life?

You would be hard pressed in this day and age to find someone living in an industrialized nation who hasn’t seen a Warner Bros. or Disney cartoon. There seems, on a base level, to be an innate charm to vaguely humanoid creatures gifted with speech and independent thought. Furthermore, Humans have a tendency to assign human characteristics to animals and other non-human entities. This habit is called Anthropomorphism. One need only take a brief stroll through mythology and fable to discover that this habit permeates nearly all elements of history and human experience.

So what would happen if you house pet began to speak?

While Science Fiction is full of seemingly human entities, actual science is only now beginning to make headway towards convincing replicas of human beings. Until recently, Robots have served a functional purpose in industry and mechanics for years, but Androids (robots which function to replicate human beings) have yet to find a function, in part due to failing to actually replicate people convincingly.

Japan and South Korea, both having a cultural and industrial leaning towards technology, have become leaders in the field of robotics research and development. The Intelligent Robotics Lab of Osaka University teamed with the Kokoro Co., Ltd. To produce an android called DER 2. A complex arrangement of servomotors and pressurized air allow this machine to mimic a wide variety of human mannerisms (though it is still incapable of independent movement.) Not to be outdone, a research group with the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, led by Baeg Moon-hong, unveiled EveR-1, a female android capable of limited speech in English and Korean, emotional display and response, as well as making and keeping eye contact.

As fascinating as these development may be, an almost inevitable reaction to any sort of humanoid automaton that replicates the actions of people is discomfort. While this seems counter-intuitive, humans seem almost hard-wired to want robots and other creations to look and behave like robots, and can only tolerate a small amount of human appearance and behavior from them.

Sigmund Freud penned an essay in 1919 entitled The Uncanny. The article expanded upon an article written in 1906 by Ernst Jentsch, which described how cognitive dissonance is sometimes caused by a sensation of an item or experience being foreign and familiar all at once. Regarding robots that behave or replicate human behavior, Mori Masahiro may have an explanation.

Mori, a roboticist coined the term Bukimi no Tani, or “The Uncanny Valley.” Mori theorized that human beings can identify and empathize with non-human entities more as they begin to look less like machines and more like organic creatures. However, the closer this thing comes close to perfect replication of the human form, something dramatic occurs. As a non-human begins to become indistinguishable from an actual human (or by extrapolation, if a corpse, which is already considered mildly unsettling, where to suddenly reanimate and crave the flesh of the living) humans stop view it as a robot acting like a person, but instead begin to view it as a human who is acting strangely, even behaving incorrectly. On a graph, subjective reaction to one of the entities can be measured as rising to a peak; as the entity grows more likable, the line grows vertically. Suddenly, the line drops due to being disturbed by the android or entity, causing a “valley” in the chart.

The “Uncanny Valley” reaction begs a question: Why do humans continue to strive toward perfecting a human replica when such a large section of the population will invariably be repulsed by the results? Perhaps the desire to assign an anthropomorphic quality to our surroundings and world is an inevitability. Humans being locked into our own perceptions and notions of consciousness need to project that framework onto reality. So when an entity that “should behave as we do” does not, we are horrified.

From this, two more questions emerge. At what point does this sense of disgust stop? Will we ever outgrow this sensation? Perhaps, the fear lies at this: what if we were to discover a soul in the machine, or perhaps, that we do not have really have one of our own.

I Need Help!

2010-07-17T07:02:00.003-05:00

I don't know about you but I am happy with the progress I am making here at The Obscuritan Journal. While the content comes pretty naturally to me, I need help with getting the word out about this blog.

So I'm asking my readers for a little advice. What is the best way, do you think, to generate some hits? I want this to become a website with a large readership (not that you guys and gals aren't great.)

So if any of you have any ideas regarding advertising or getting the word out, I am all ears. Contact me via my email (for those who have it,) Facebook, or leave a comment with a suggestion. I am all ears!

Four Gods

2010-07-16T10:14:00.009-05:00

The counterculture of the 1960's conjures a wide variety of reactions. Some look back with a charmed nostalgia. Others, mainly those who didn't "tune in, turn on, and drop out," view this time period as the end of a "golden era" of Western culture. Regardless of one's opinion, it is near-impossible to deny that the '60s created and unleashed a number of colorful and bizarre figures into pop consciousness. Some figures, such as "Gonzo" journalist Hunter S. Thompson continued to show influence well past the '60s. But what of the others, those brief and unusual flashes in the pan?
The Process Church of the Final Judgement, or simply The Process existed only briefly, but is an organization whose influences can still be felt at the fringes of modern subculture. The groups strange and often maligned story is similar to many other cults and radical religious movements but does not evoke the same reaction as groups such as the Waco, Texas Branch Davidians. Depending on which account you assume to be true, a mention of The Process is met with conspiratorial whispers or groans and rolled eyes.

The strange story of The Process begins in England where Robert DeGrimston met Mary-Anne McClean. Both DeGrimston and McClean were heavily involved in Scientology, training at the Fitzroy Street church to become auditors. In a short period of time the two became extremely skilled at Scientology's unusual psycho-spiritual counseling techniques and began breaking away for the organization's guidelines. Going under the name "Compulsion Analysis," DeGrimston and McClean went in to business for themselves. After being excommunicated from Scientology, the two were married.

The combination of Robert DeGrimston's peaceful, hippie-handsome public presentation and Mary-Anne DeGrimston's head-strong personlity was magnetic. The pairing of attraction and authority is common to most cult groups, and for the DeGrimston's, it quickly turned out to be a profitable crowd pleaser.

In 1966, the DeGrimston's and 25 devotees of "Compulsion Analysis" leased and moved to a property of Mexican coastline called Xtul. By all accounts, the property caused them $150 a year and was far from luxurious. It was in this communal lifestyle that the group began to transform. According to legend, the group weathered a massive tropical storm, where they met Jehovah (a Hebrew name used to describe the God of the Old Testament.) It was at this point that Robert and Mary-Anne DeGrimston took the group in a new direction.

Now known as The Process Church of the Final Judgement, Mary-Anne and Robert DeGrimston preached an unusual blend of Apocalyptic proto-Gnostic Christianity. The very term, "Process," was an abbreviation for the term "Pro-Cessation," denoting a desire for a Biblical Armageddon. Also, The Process viewed Divinity as divided into four deities. Jehovah, a strong and authoritarian deity of self-restraint. Satan was the God of unrestrained aggression and animalistic violence. Lucifer, the "Morning Star" of Judeo-Christian belief, represented lust, playfulness, and sensuality. Finally, "Processeans," as they called themselves, view Christ as a being of peace and mercy, intent on unifying all of the deities together and thus leading to the end of the world. As a symbol, The Process used a sort of skewed cross, vaguely resembling a swastika, representing this four-corned mythos.

Given their unusual theology and striking public appearance (members were prone to wear gray or blue suits, black hooded robes, Satanic pendants and large crucifixes in public,) The Process was easily misunderstood. But for it's worth, they did make attempts, perhaps misguided, at charity and assisting Church members. Assistance with finances food and personal issues were offered, however it's also been said that most members would easily be tithing 10% of monthly income to Church leadership, while the DeGrimston's and other leaders would live it relative luxury.

A combination of factors led to the demise of The Process. Ed Sanders, a Beat and Psychedelic era musician wrote a book called The Family. In his book, Sanders wrote at length about Charles Manson and the Tate-LaBianca murders. But in a cynical twist, Sanders makes a dubious connection to "The Manson Family" and The Process. While a layman might take The Process' sensational imagery and written materials as "evil," perhaps the worst charge that can be levelled at them is is that they did publish and article written by Charles Manson (while incarcerated) in their infamous "War" magazine. For less accepting members of society, already suspicious of any form of alternative faith, any reference of violence or darkness, especially on the tail-end of the "Manson Family Murders, was too much.

With rumors of Church leadership fleecing it's "flock" out of money beginning to surface, public hostility was enough to drive people and popularity against coffee shops and worship spaces owned by The Process. Internal strife turned out to be the ultimate nail in The Process' coffin. While details of this event are sketchy, it is widely believed that Robert DeGrimston, who identified as a devotee of Lucifer, wanted to bring other women into bed with his wife. Mary-Anne DeGrimston, who strongly followed Jehovah, was extremely displeased by this development. The divorce of The DeGrimston's broke the back of organization, which officially ceased activity in 1974. Mary-Anne DeGrimston is purported to have passed away in 2004. Little has been seen or written of Robert DeGrimston since that point. It is believed that he may have found success in the Telecommunications industry but no one is ultimately certain.

So what ultimately can be said of The Process Church of The Final Judgement? Reference to London, Boston, and San Francisco would be incomplete without mention of them. Alternative music, especially Experimental and Industrial sub-genres have used the group for subject matter. While they may, in the end, be a brief blip on the cultural radar, the shadow of that blip still rears it's head to cast a chill.

Preview

2010-07-12T07:54:00.004-05:00

Anyone recognize this symbol? If you do, you'll get an idea of what I am working on. If not, check back here at the end of the week...this promises to be an intriguing piece.

Meta (A Book Review)

2010-07-10T19:53:00.006-05:00

For many people, the nature of horror lies in the acceptable not happening. If you let an item loose from your grip ten times, that item will fall to the floor ten times. So the question of the horror writer is "What happens when, on the tenth drop, the dropped thing simply floats in air?"

Mark Z. Danielewski released House of Leaves in March of 2000 generating an underground following ever since. What makes the book exceptional, however, is that it simply defies explanation, a book that is more an experience than something simply read. By nearly abandoning the traditional structure of the fictional novel, Danielewski creates a literary nightmare that alludes to both fact and fiction that is both touching and repulsive.

House of Leaves primarily follows Johnny Truant, a resident of Los Angeles who is tormented by the shadows of his unfortunate past and a disturbing new reality. Late one evening, a friend contacts Johnny regarding a deceased blind man named Zampano and the sprawling mess of book he was writing, entitled The Navidson Record. Once introduced, Zampano's work becomes a second but equally important plot which runs parallel to the dramatic "crash and burn" that Truant undergoes.

"The Navidson Record" tells the story of Will Navidson, a photojournalist who is abandoning the wild life of seeking out tragic stories around the globe. He and his family settle in to a new home, hoping to use their relocation as a starting point for a more reserved and peaceful life. Soon the calm is shattered by a growing spatial disparity in the structure of their house, an ever-expanding black hole that threatens the life and sanity of all who enter the house.

Lesser writers would render a tale of this complexity to a hackneyed ghost story. Danielewski, on the other hand, swings masterfully between extreme darkness and light-hearted humor. Claustrophobia gives way to vast expanses in the space of a few chapters, often running the two plot lines literally side by side. The first words of House of Leaves warn and challenge us: "This is not for you." The statement is apt; the book does not have a broad appeal. It's very layout does not allow for a passive reading experience. Instead, House of Leaves demands that the audience dive head-first in to a labyrinth of shadows and leave all preconceptions regarding narrative behind them.

For those who might be interested, the album Haunted by POE (who is Danielewski's sister) was written as a partial companion piece to the book and is, on it's own merits as well as it's literary connection, worth purchasing.

Among The Ruins

2010-07-02T22:25:00.004-05:00

(Author's Note: I do not condone any activity that might lead to bodily injury or worse. However, I can only say that if you are interested in such behavior, it ultimately falls to the conscience of the individual. I only recommend the usage of your reasoning faculties and to draw your own conclusions. -Lucas)

An inevitable by-product of urban development and progress is the decline and emptying of a structure. These building begin to decay or lose purpose, the needs of industry evolve, catastrophe strikes, and ways of life come to an end. These facts of industrialized living leave, in turn. A physical footprint in the form of once-magnificent buildings, utility tunnels, and other locations in their wake.

There is another inevitability: Humans love to go where they are told they cannot. No amount of legal deterrence, caution tape, or chain link fence will keep a curious person out. While it is fairly common to find someone who has “gone somewhere they shouldn’t have,” there is another category of individuals taking this activity to a peculiar extreme.

Urban Exploration (also called UE, UrbEx, or Hacking) is a practice that has seemingly grown in popularity in recent years, drawing people of various educational, socio-economic, and cultural backgrounds together for the thrill of discovering and experiencing what is often hidden in plain sight.

For Urban Explorers, few locations are off-limits. Abandoned homes, offices, churches, and factories are often the destinations of choice. For those “Hackers” with a sense of the macabre there are empty mental hospitals, jails, and crypts that serve as treasured discoveries. There are even UrbEx enthusiasts who will plumb the depths of storm drains and sewers, or individuals who will climb the heights of bridges and skyscrapers for a unique thrill.

Enthusiasts have referenced a Frenchmen named Philibert Aspairt as the first recorded Urban Explorer. The city of Paris sits atop a vast underground network of tunnels and mines. Once used to supply stone for early Parisian construction, “The Catacombs” proved to have a strong but fatal pull; Aspairt disappeared into them in 1793. His body was uncovered in 1804, allegedly within sight of the exit leading back to the city streets. While technology has come a long way since Aspairt entered the these forboding tunnels with only candles and a set of keys, his story still serves as a cautionary warning.

It almost goes without saying that exploring areas that are remote, abandoned, or neglected is, at best, a calculated risk. Many “modern ruins” are loaded with free floating asbestos. Squatters, some homeless or mentally ill, are reputed to call these neglected structures their own and vigorously defend them. Floors and ceilings are often in severe disrepair or decaying. One need not be an architect or engineer to imagine the myriad dangers that this sort of hobby can have.

Due to the generally illicit nature of Urban Exploration (though there are practitioners who will contact property owners for permission to enter locations,) it is not at all surprising that the relative anonymity of The Internet has allowed a small but active community of explorers to experiment and seek adventure into the world of forgotten urban landscapes. Two sorts of websites seem to dominate the U.E. web-presence: Community Groups and Artistic Works.

Arguably the one the largest and most influential organizations in the world of Urban Exploration is Infiltration. Founded by the late “Ninjalicious,” Infiltration began it’s life as a print magazine but soon found itself growing as a website, publishing articles and providing a message board for U.E. enthusiasts to connect and share information. “Ninjalicious” was the first outspoken proponent of the Sierra Club’s policy of “Take nothing but photos and leave nothing but footprints” to be applied to U.E., feeling that the vandalism or destruction of these locations merely took a potentially great experience away from future visitors. A quick search using the Google search engine indicates the site’s popularity; Infiltration appears as the #3 listing when searching for “Urban Exploration.” The site still draws daily visits and posts, and will likely to persist to be the premier Web Community resource for enthusiasts. On the other hand, Artistic Websites tend less towards education and more towards spectacle. While still maintaining the “Take only photos…” ethos, websites such as Opacity and it’s founder “Motts,” offer the world an intimate glimpse at how beautiful a place in an advanced state of decay can be, all the while protecting the location and it’s photographer from potential problems. Other websites, notably Dark Passages, seem to function as a sort of Jungian photo-essay. The website’s anonymous narrative and gripping, uncomfortable images of a Mental Hospital shortly before it’s demolition serve to show the surreal and sometimes nightmarish world of a place filled with shadows and nearly-lost secrets.

While it’s practitioners may be few and faceless, Urban Exploration will likely be around as long as people continue to abandon and forget about locations in the cities they inhabit. The only thing that remains to be seen, however, is what images are captured and what stories can be extracted from these blighted corners.

I strongly advise you look at these websites!
www.opacity.us
www.darkpassage.com
www.infiltration.org

Liber Incognita

2010-06-25T17:46:00.006-05:00

Few artifacts in the world of books have caused greater confusion and theorizing than The Voynich Manuscript. Its origin is unknown as is the Manuscript’s author. Despite the context clues that can be drawn from its illustrations, the function of the text is also unknown. To add to the litany of mysteries it offers, it is written in an unidentifiable language and script.

This unusual tome first appears in known history in 1912 when Wilifred Voynich, a book collector, purchases the manuscript from a Jesuit school in Rome. Voynich made every possible attempt at uncovering the books secrets, sending photographed copies of the 200 page book to interpreters and code-breakers around the world, but all returned answer-less and as perplexed as its owner. There are apocryphal stories of The Voynich Manuscript having been sent to a military code-breaker during World War II with disastrous result; according to legend, the cryptographer slipped into madness due to his inability to translate the text.

What is so compelling about this book? At the heart of it’s strange history is the simplicity of mystery itself. The book has no apparent pedigree. Perhaps it is best to break the Voynich Manuscript to its most obvious component parts. The book is seemingly separated in to multiple sections, covering what appears to be various subject matters. Illustrations of plants lend to the thought that it is a botanical text, abruptly shifting gears with what appears to Astrological or Astronomy. Further crude and unusual illustrations of people bathing in pools fed by what appears to be pipes in the shape and color of human organs.

Two figures are often implicated with The Voynich Manuscript: Roger Bacon and Dr. John Dee.

Roger Bacon was a Franciscan Friar who lived during the 13th Century and is best remembered for his early scientific and alchemical experiments. Bacon often found himself run afoul with the hierarchy of The Vatican given his insistence on studying and teaching Astronomy and the philosophy of Aristotle. Known for his vast amount of knowledge of a variety of subjects during a time period when even those blessed with an education were extremely limited in what they knew, it stands to reason with Voynich theorists that the “Doctor Mirabillis” of Oxford could be the hand that is responsible for this mysterious piece.

Dr. John Dee was an astrologer and mathematician in service of Queen Elizabeth I, often serving as her tutor and personal scholar. Dee is, in many ways, a figure whose presence can be felt in the shadows of British History. It is claimed that he, using Astrology, picked an auspicious date for Elizabeth’s coronation and was responsible for coining the term “The British Empire.” A student of French Neo-Platonism, Dee never seemed to make a distinction between his “serious” areas of study and his more arcane pursuits. While known as a devoutly Christian man, John Dee was well-known for a serious of occult rituals in which claimed to found a way to make contact with the entirety of the Angels in God’s employ.

While both of these men are colorful and deserve their unique place in history, it seems unlikely both of these men have a connection to The Voynich Manuscript. The connection of Roger Bacon to the Manuscript seems solely based on the connection to the book being in England and apparently coming from his time period. The “Dee Connection” to the manuscript is said to lay in that he either fabricated the book or had purchased it at some point (Dee is said to have had the largest collection of books in the country for his time period) and sold it nearing the end of his life. It should be noted, however, that historians who have studied the life of the illustrious Dr. Dee have never come across conclusive proof to indicate that he had ever owned the tome. It is also worth noting that Dr. John Dee was implicated by renowned horror author H.P. Lovecraft as having introduced the terrifying but non-existent grimoire, The Necronomicon, to the Western World.

Without a historical record to authenticate the book, loaded down with a seemingly indecipherable script written by an unknown individual or individuals, it is possible to see The Voynich Manuscript as an elaborate but successful hoax. But to what end? Why would a writer, likely an educated person, go to such length to create a book of such complexity if it served no practical purpose? While it is possible that it is merely a perverse joke that still mocks us from the 13th century, there is still a devoted following of researchers, both professional and amateur who wish to decode the text. It currently resides at Oxford University, a location it will likely remain until someone has the intellectual acumen or blind luck to break the strangle-hold of mystery that a book can hold over us.

Burning Inside

2010-06-18T13:08:00.005-05:00

There is a cruel irony in the demise of a city by the very thing that gave birth to it. Few established locations can claim such a fate.

Perhaps no one who assisted in the settling of Centralia, Pennsylvania in 1884 could have foreseen it’s downfall. For much of it’s short history, the borough of Centralia had lived on the mining of Anthracite. This high-carbon but low-impurity form of coal was difficult to burn and hard to put out and became one of the life-bloods of Pennsylvania (up to 1% of the state’s income at a point.)

The official story on how Centralia went from a population of over 1,000 residents to under 10 living people less than fifty years later is nearly impossible to believe. But like so many other small towns of the time, Centralia had dealt with it’s refuse through the simple expedience of man’s oldest discovery: Fire.

Located just outside of the town proper, the landfill that held the garbage of Centralia was located in a pit that had previously housed a strip mine with access to a seam of Anthracite. While no one is exactly certain of the precise details, it is known that in May of 1962, the trash held in the pit was burned. The official account of Centralia’s demise is due to the town not providing a proper barrier to keep the flames of the trash-heap out of and away from the entrance to the mine. This oversight allowed for fires from the landfill to enter in to the seam and ignite the entire Anthracite vein.

Where this a Hollywood production, the entirety of Centralia would have instantly ignited into a massive volcano or geyser of white-hot flame. The reality of the issue, however, is far more insidious. It did not take long for the town’s residents to become aware of the problem that was quite literally growing beneath their feet. All early efforts to extinguish the flames had proven fruitless or stifled by local governmental beauracracy. Early after the incident, temperatures in the coal seam were recorded at over 170ºF. In 1974, a local adolescent boy was nearly killed when a sink hole, later measured at nearly 150 feet deep, opened beneath his feet while he was playing in his back yard.

By the beginning of the 1980’s, a slow Exodus from Centralia began. The United States government put aside over $40 million for the town’s residents to relocate. The final blow for Centralia came in 1992 when the government of Pennsylvania claimed eminent domain and began demolition.

All that remains of Centralia, Pennsylvania today are a handful of ruined buildings, a few residents squatting on what once was their home property, clouds of smoke from the earth, and carbon monoxide. The borough still draws a handful of visitors, however. Curious individuals, thrill-seekers (aside from the obvious environmental dangers, there are apocryphal rumors that the city is now haunted) and fans of the film Silent Hill, whose fictious location was conceived by screenwriter Roger Avery had researched the town’s history.

If you would like more information, please look in to TheTownThatWas.com, a documentary detailing this modern ghost town, it’s uncertain future and precarious present.

A Quick Visual Update

2010-06-14T21:52:00.001-05:00

As of now, the blog roughly resembles what I want it to resemble. If all goes according to plan, I should have my first real entry up and running by the end of the week.

Statement of Intent

2010-06-12T14:44:00.000-05:00

We've all heard the old adage that "There's nothing new under the sun." While this may be true, it's astonishing to me how many little things slip through the cracks of human knowledge.

With the advent of The Internet as a world-wide power, information of every sort has become available to the world on an unprecedented scale. Yet like the days prior to Google and Firefox, some bits of life have been relegated to the more neglected or uncomfortable corners of consciousness. This is where I come in.

Ever since childhood I have been drawn to the bits of knowledge left behind by the mainstream. The obscure, unsavory, or just plain peculiar have fueled my imagination. It's likely not suprising that the study and search for those topics has, to one degree or another, consumed my private life.

It is with this spirit in mind that I have embarked on this project. I have few goals per se; my primary interests are disseminating "weirdness" back in to the world (if only a piece at a time) and hopefully entertaining my readers at the same time.

At the same time, please understand that I intend to treat these subjects with as much respect and reverence as I am capable of providing.

With that, I can only ask that you "stay tuned" and, if you are so inclined, provide me with constructive feedback.

Just To Let You Know....

2010-06-10T13:58:00.000-05:00

None of what you are seeing is permenant. The reason I have posted this is to have a basic frame on which to start my blog. Keeping in mind that I haven't made a serious attempt to keep a blog in some years, much less one that is essentially going to be driven by a rough format, this location is to be considered a "work-in-progress" at all times.

So within the next few days expect a serious entry or two, and likely some visual revisions.

Thanks for stopping by!

Test

2010-06-10T13:53:00.001-05:00

This is a test