This post is a collection of disparate musings (as opposed to desperate musings, although a couple of things I’m including are pretty smarmy!) on stuff going on in the news.
First off, Happy New Moon! One of my favorite astrologers, Maria Kay Simms, writes the following, about the Leo Moon’s energies:
New Moon, 19 Leo 51, August 12, 7:02 pm EDT
Leo is about creativity and Sun symbolizes how we like to shine. At this New Moon we’d do well to focus on our creative energy. Ask yourself what kind of energy you project. Are you focusing on the most positive manifestations of that energy? Or do you sometimes give your energy to negative thinking that only dissipates it?[FYI: Click the above link for her meditation ritual.]
Moving from the sacred to the profane:
Sundays are a good day to practice what churches preach about loving one’s neighbor, or what have you. Unless they’re gay, of course. Some things never change. To my sorrow. I’m not going to indulge in religion-bashing, nor am I going to judge the god-all-mighty self-righteous ones, who have always used the Bible to justify their xenophobia. In my cosmological view, the Universe has a way of equalizing such ugly hypocrisy. And so it must be.
Sundays are not my favorite days to discuss politics, because I am old-fashioned and believe that Sunday should be a day set apart from the creepiest secular concerns, so I’ll keep this short. On last season’s Real Time finale, Bill Maher’s guests were PJ O’Rourke and Ben Affleck. The multi-talented Affleck opined that Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney would ‘get the Republican Party nomination because who else have they got?’ Seems the UK Guardian thinks the same thing, based on Mitt’s reception in Iowa. Interesting foresight, Ben.
Moving to Arts and Culture:
This story dates back to May 14, 2007, but if you are a Salvador Dali fan, you might want to check it out: Surreal to reel – Dali at the movies. It’s about the Tate Modern exhibition, Dali & Film, which documents and explores Dali’s fascination with Hollywood filmdom, especially his love of Harpo Marx, Walt Disney, and Cecile B. DeMille:
Naturally, DalÍ loved Hollywood, where the border between reality and fantasy merged. During his first trip there to see Harpo Marx in 1937 he sent a postcard from Los Angeles to his fellow Surrealist André Breton, saying: “I’m in Hollywood, where I’ve made contact with the three American Surrealists, Harpo Marx, Disney and Cecil B. DeMille. I believe I’ve intoxicated them suitably and hope that the possibilities for Surrealism here will become a reality.”
Here’s a video of Dali’s ‘dream sequence for Hitchock’s Spellbound‘:
Next, a fascinating archaeological find in China - the Terracotta Army. The First Emperor of China, Qin Shihuangdi, had an entire army of baked clay beings buried with him, as helper-protectors, in the afterlife. The Times Online reports as many as 8,000 figures have been discovered outside the city of Xi’an.
Next, a very ‘cool’ article, although it ends a bit too glibly: How the concept of cool changes … and stays the same, by Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle, August 12, 2007. LaSalle follows the birth of cool, in the aftermath of the human catastrophe that was World War I, to the present. Well worth a read.
Finally, a reminder that tonight is the best night for viewing the Perseid meteor shower. Since the Moon is new, the skies should be plenty dark enough to see the show. Of course, it depends on your time zone. Here on the East Coast, 2 a.m. is when the Earth moves through the densest part of the debris. Happy viewing!
Cheers, Morgan
