Hermitism - The Faith of Elders

Wiki : A hermit (from the Greek ἔρημος erēmos, signifying "desert", "uninhabited", hence "desert-dweller"; adjective: "eremitic") is a person who lives to some greater or lesser degree in seclusion and/or isolation from society.

Perhaps hermitism isn't one of the faithful religion of this day and age and perhaps it isn't this generations new age hoop-la-dee-da. But what ever it is, is a old time faith of elders. Not one religion has its monopoly upon the ever seeking and faithful lot of humanity. None but the Hermit. For the Hermit is John The Baptist (John 5:35), the buddha ("Stricken" by asceticism - or rather in the company of.) or even Lao Tzu. No one can really describe the hermit. In the west he is the one whom baptized the living Christ. Yet for another it is the awakened maya. Case in point : The Hermit is the one who brings about reform in religion. Be it Judaism to Christianty, or Hindusm to the Jains/Carvaka awakening the Buddha , it is always the secluded individual that bring about reformation.

The following link is a site specializing in the writings, contemplations and the visions of various forms of hermitism.
Link - The Hermitary - Resources and Reflections of Hermits and Solitude

The Lords Prayer

Convicted forger A. Schiller was serving his time in Sing Sing prison in the late 1800s when guards found him dead in his cell. On his body they found seven regular straight pins whose heads measured the typical 47/1000ths of an inch or 1.17 millimeters in diameter. Under 500 magnification it was found that the tiny etchings seen on the heads of the pins were the words to The Lord's Prayer, which is 65 words and 254 letters long. Of the seven pins, six were silver and one was gold - the gold pin's prayer was flawless and a true masterpiece. Schiller had spent the last 25 years of his life creating the pins, using a tool too small to be seen by the naked eye. It is estimated that it took 1,863 sepatate carving strokes to make it. Schiller went blind because of his artwork.

Source - Anomalies-Unlimited

Down Time - Stray_Dog_blog

Sorry about the down time folks. Minds been in other places. But seems that the planets have now aligned ( or maybe Wayne Batteau's Cetacea ultrasound machines have finally laid off my sensitive brain waves. Hah.) I have been archiving good material this whole time, even if i haven't gotten around to posting it. Be sure, the new stuff i have will get you digging for months. I have at least 100 new post just waiting to be churned out now that i have my focus back.

Peace all, Stray Dog

Bill Hicks - Last Public Interview

This is Bill Hick's last interview before his untimely death. It was for a Austin TX Public Television. Bill you'll be missed.

DVD Player Hack - With Video & Link

I don't know about you folks but i enjoy movies from other places in the world and many times they are cheaper say from China for example. Heck it seems even Europe, while more expensive, gets more DVD extras. But ALL American DVD players only play DVD's from a certain region, that being region 1 DVD's. Screw that rubbish. I bought the thing i should be able to play ANY DVD i buy, right?! Well you can and its is VERY EASY to do. Just watch the video below and then go to the link i provide afterwards. From the webpage linked just type in your DVD players brand and model number and search. Its really that simple. Hope this helps people who love international cinema!



Video Help's DVD Hacks

Rubber Johnny - 6min Experimental Short Film

Rubber Johnny is a six-minute experimental short film and music video directed by Chris Cunningham in 2005, using music composed by Aphex Twin.Johnny (played by Cunningham) is an isolated deformed (possibly hydrocephalus) teenager kept on a wheelchair and locked in a dark basement with his chihuahua. Given his situation, he spends his life imagining all kinds of musical psychedelia to entertain himself.
Aphex Twin - Afx237 V7 (Rubber Johnny)

Smashing Pumpkins - Reunited - MP3's

I'm not sure if you guys are aware or for that matter, even care, if not move on. Smashing Pumpkins is 'officially' back together. The sad news is its isn't the original line up. James and D'arcy are no longer backing Billy's massive ego. But still, its good news to me, not ideal, but good news nonetheless. Recently SP played their first concert in Paris and a few tracks from the show have leaked. Tarantula (the newest single), Bullet with Butterfly Wings, Muzzle & Rocket (an acoustic version). Download here - SP Reunion First Show (23.47 MB)

And just as an added bonus back when Machina/The Machines of God was being produced it was intended as a double disc album, but the studio fell thru. So SP released Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music for free download on the Internet. Its the Smashing Pumpkins album that could - but didn't. You can download all 21 tracks here. Knock yourself out. Here's hoping the new album kicks ass!

The author is not responsible for any contents linked or referred to from his pages - If any damage occurs by the use of information presented there, only the author of the respective pages might be liable, not the one who has linked to these pages.

Image of the Day

I get the feeling this Cop can't meet his quota.

The 666 Preacher - Jose Luis "De Jesus" Miranda

José Luis de Jesús Miranda isn't the typical preacher. He claims to have at least 100,000 members world-wide in his congregation and every church meeting is held in a 500 seat auditorium, never with a bare seat in the house. But what makes this one so strange? Pastors usually don't travel in armored vehicles, preach on a stage flanked by undercover guards, spend $350,000 a year on security and have the number 666 tattooed on their bodies. But Miranda does. Why? Miranda an ex-heroin addict says he began to have revelations one night in 1976, when two angels appeared to him, heralded by trumpets. De Jesús says that at that moment, Jesus Christ merged with him. After that, he began to preach his version of the gospel and his version is indeed strange.

Miranda says that sin doesn't exist, he is one with God and also the Anti-Christ. Basically a 'do what feels good' philosophy. But it didn't start that way. At first Miranda believed himself the be an incarnation of Paul, but then came the conclusion he was one with God - therefore Jesus the Christ reborn. Miranda can't seem to decide who he is. Upset by his teachings others outside the congregation began to call him the Anti-Christ, this didn't bother Miranda one bit. In fact he acknowledged that he is indeed the Anti-Christ and commanded his followers to get the number tattooed on their arms, which all 500 loyal Houston Tx followers have done thus far. (See video bellow) Miranda also claims that all other religions must be destroyed and that he will one day rule the world via a New World Order.

Is he the next Jim Jones? Who knows for sure, but certainly he has a strong psychological hold on his followers. His show even boasted the highest December rating on the spanish tv station Univision. Much to critics' surprise the show generated the highest ratings of any TV show in the month of December, even surpassing the ratings of the live broadcast of the Latin Grammys in November by a substantial amount of viewers. Keep an eye on this one.

Links - Growing in Grace (English version), The Growing in Grace Cult (Cult Info), CNN.com "Pastor with 666 tattoo claims to be divine." & ABC.com "Jesus Might Be Alive and Well in Houston."

Video - CNN (Growing in Grace church members tattoo 666 on their bodies)

Video II - Interview on the Today Show

Bottle Rocket - Original Short Film

Wes Anderson's first film Bottle Rocket from 1994 that later became a full feature film by the same time. The short film was originally set to feature established actors but because of the low budget, the main characters were given to brothers Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson, who had never been in a movie before. This short is what put Anderson on the map and set him on the path to make such films as Rushmore (1998) , The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) . Enjoy.

The sound quality is poor - so turn up that volume. Also i know the video quality is pretty poor but this is a true rarity, not to mention the weapons conversation is worth the watch in of itself. Classic.

The Architecture Of Eugene Tsui

Antonio Gaudi, Frank Lloyd Wright, Santiago Calatrava and others have referred to nature but only in a visual and metaphoric sense, but Eugene Tsui's vision is beyond anything i personally have ever seen. It 'feels' as if one has stepped on a alien planet, stumbled upon homes that sprang forth from the ground and have been manipulated by craftsmen following a alien tradition. Very strange stuff indeed. But enough rambling on about how it makes me feel. I'll just leave you with some of my favorite pics and his website bellow. Enjoy.

Link - Gallery of Eugene Tsui's works

The Rasterbator - Posters for Free

The Rasterbator creates huge, "rasterized" images from any picture. Upload an image, print the resulting multi-page pdf file and assemble the pages into extremely cool looking poster up to 20 meters in size. The image to the left is what it will look like close-up! Now if i were you, i would burn the pdf file on a dics and take it up to Kinko's and print these bad boys on some nice matte photo paper. Now im off to make some badass posters on company time. Ha. Enjoy.



Link after examples :


Link - The Rasterbator

Video - Bill Hicks Last Show

We'll miss you Bill. Blessings.

Google Video Link - Bill Hicks Last Show

FreeMoviesCinema - Free Movies - D'uh

Wow the net is booming with sites hosting free movies these days. Watch em free while you can people, i have feeling this isnt going to last very long. With that said, this is Free Movies Cinema, sure i have posted LOADS of others sites doing the samething, hosting movies to watch for free; but this one's a bit diffrent and worth a look. They seem to lean on the classic movies side, Documentaries, Film Noir, Classic Horror films etc. Plus they have a cool feature where you can read the latest movie news from there news feed at the bottom of the page. I digg it. Hope you do.

Link - FreeMoviesCinema

The author is not responsible for any contents linked or referred to from his pages - If any damage occurs by the use of information presented there, only the author of the respective pages might be liable, not the one who has linked to these pages.

Image of the Day

Antoni Gaudí's - Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia [official site & wiki], or Catalan for "The Holy Family", is a yet-to-be-finished Roman Catholic basilica in Barcelona, Spain.

The church’s design is rich with Christian symbolism, with façades featuring intricate details describing the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Perhaps the most awe inspiring is the eighteen towers representing the 12 Apostles, 4 Evangelists, the Virgin Mary, and a central tower - the tallest of them all - representing Christ.

The construction of the Sagrada Familia basilica started in 1882, directed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, who devoted his life to it. When people said that the construction had taken a very long time, Gaudí replied that he was building the church for God, and that his client wasn’t in a hurry. He then became known as "God’s Architect."

In 1926, Gaudí got run over by a street car. Because of his raggedy attire and empty pockets, no one wanted to take him to the hospital. Eventually, he was taken to a pauper’s hospital where no one recognized him until his friends found him and tried to move him to another hospital. Gaudí refused, saying that he belonged with the poor, and died a few days later.

Because Gaudí refused to work with blue prints, preferring to use his imagination and memory instead, construction of La Sagrada Familia was halted after his death. Part of the church was even burnt during the Spanish Civil War. Construction of La Sagrada Familia was restarted afterwards and continues until today.

Hisaharu Motoda - Post-Apocalyptic Art

Artist and teacher Hisaharu Motoda created haunting visions of a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, complete with ruined buildings and plants growing through the cracked streets. Link -via Cynical-C

The Animation of Robert Morgan

"Robert was raised in the cursed town of Yateley, Hampshire. At the tender age of three, he developed a passion for cinema when his uncle showed him Fiend Without A Face (1958) on an 8mm projector. As a result, he became a strange child, obsessed with monsters, sharks and insects.

As a “sensible adult” he studied Animation Filmmaking at The Surrey Institute Of Art And Design and in 1997 made his very own film THE MAN IN THE LOWER-LEFT HAND CORNER OF THE PHOTOGRAPH, which won five international awards and several cheap sales to broadcasters.

In 2001, he made THE CAT WITH HANDS, a tale about a very bad pussycat . It was inspired by a recurring nightmare Rob’s older sister Eleanor had when she was young. The film was funded by Channel 4, and won six fairly prestigious awards, including the Soho Rushes New Director Award.

In 2003, having been given funding by S4C and SGRÎN, Rob made THE SEPARATION, another stop-motion piece that won 15 international awards. He currently has numerous projects in various stages of development. Some are live-action, some are animated. Some are long, some are short. He lives in London." - Source & Link's to all his videos for free - Animus Films

Below is Robert Morgan's animation "The man in the lower-left hand corner of the photograph".

Part 1

Part 2

Skulls in Culture

Skulls in Culture takes a look at how mankind has regarded and portrayed human (and non-human) skulls through the ages.


Skulls do more than just protect the brain — they also stimulate the mind. Often symbols of mortality and power, they have been employed in human ceremony, ritual, and art for tens of thousands of years. From the ancient animal skulls in Paleolithic burial sites to the curlicued cattle skulls that float like spirits over Georgia O’Keefe’s canvas mountains, cultures around the world have turned to skulls to express ideas about both life and death.







Link - Skulls in Culture

Photography - Manuel Libres Librodo Jr.

Manuel Libres Librodo Jr. is a photographer from the Philippines living in Thailand. His gallery has thousands of photographs all kinds of people from different cultures, but he obviously loves to take pictures of beautiful women’s faces. Link -via Metafilter

215 Free MP3s from the Wu-Tang Clan

The Wu-Tang Clan are giving away 215 MP3 songs on their official website. A great mix of tracks from 2003-2005, there are also some rarities like demo tape versions and live recordings. Link - via MetaFilter

Conspiracy Video's

I dont know about you, but i love conspiracy video's and conspiracy theories in general. Some have even been shown to have been right, take MKULTRA for example. Some are very persuasive, some half baked and some seem like the ramblings of a tin-foil hat wearing madman. True, possible or even far fetched, i love them all. These are links to sites with Video and Documents from the likes of very real conspiracies that where perpertrated agianst the american people by their own government (see MKULTRA), some that are plausable ( A second gunman/JFK - The Waco Fires ) and other that if real would be earth shattering( 9-11 an inside job ) . You decided. Enjoy.



Links - The Dossier - Freedom Files - Support the Truth

TV Links - Better then a Remote Control

TV Links is a site will LOADS of free content. From Movies, TV Shows, Cartoons, Music Videos, Anime and Sports, they got your fix. Just check em' out. You wont regret it.

Link - TV-Links

The author is not responsible for any contents linked or referred to from his pages - If any damage occurs by the use of information presented there, only the author of the respective pages might be liable, not the one who has linked to these pages.

Civil Disobedience - Vrillon of the Ashtar Galactic Command

Vrillon, representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command was the name used by an unidentified voice who broadcast on the transmitters of Southern Television in the United Kingdom for about five minutes at 5:10 PM on Saturday November 26, 1977. The voice, which was disguised and accompanied by a deep buzzing, broke in to a broadcast by Independent Television News to warn viewers of the dangers of Atomic bombs, false prophets, the evils of money, "the destiny of your race" and "so that you may communicate to your fellow beings the course you must take to avoid a disaster which threatens your world and the beings on other worlds around you".

As the broadcast did not affect the video signal, it was difficult to detect its source, and the transmission disappeared at the end of what sounded like a prepared statement. While this signal overrode the broadcast many people called the police and one women even needed an ambulance citing fear. - Source & Full message transcript and Video - Labyrith 13

Vrillon of the Ashtar Galactic Command Recording

Museum Vrolik

The McConvilles send the Kircher Society these haunting photos from their recent visit to the Museum Vrolik in Amsterdam, one of the world’s great 19th-century teratological collections.

These photos are 'graphic'. They are actual human bodies that where once preserved for the sake of science and medicine. You have been warned.

Via - The Kircher Society

Walerian Borowczyk - Collection of Short Films (1923-2006)

Walerian Borowczyk is a prolific animator of the bizarre. His influence is far reaching, including the fabulous Brothers Quay. A collection of Walerian Borowczyk's short film works can be found here or Dom, posted bellow.

Dom (AKA HOUSE)
Dirs. Walerian Borowczyk & Jan Lenica (Poland, 1957) 12 mins
An eclectic collage of film fragments and styles bound together by a shared preoccupation of self-consciousness as being trapped in a cruel world.

Xia Xiaowan - Artist

Chinese artist Xia Xiaowan’s 3D artwork is made from "slices" of painted glass stacked in a row to create a 3 dimensional image. I find his work eye grabbing and the medium he uses as vastly original. Some of his darker work reminds me of Adam Jones' of the band Tool. A definite complement coming from this blogger. I think Shu-Min Lin sums it up best by saying :

Xia Xiaowan surpasses the boundaries of painting and establishes a new way of “looking” at paintings. He draws his inspiration and method from X-ray photographs, giving two-dimensional painting a three-dimensional effect. He combines material, technology and painting, thus maintaining the hand-made qualities of painting while adding elements of installation and sculptural art and displaying the cold, absurd and strange qualities of realism. In this sense, his painting installation alters the way the audience “views” art. The audience is encouraged to “appreciate” the artwork from different perspectives and to think about the method by which the work was created. As an integration of sculpture, painting, installation art, photography and medical technology, Xia Xiaowan’s works exude an air of ambiguity. His distinct artistic approach represents the trend of China’s contemporary new painting.

If this is the contemporary trend of China's new artist, count me a fan. After all one of the meanings of art is to have the observer question, to force them to find prespective in the object being viewed, and Xia Xiaowan does it well. For me personally it's humanistic, cold & haunting realism. Love it.
Links: Galerie Meile & artnet

Images of the Day - Reflective Art

Crucifix imbedded in the throat for 10 days.

Yes you heard right. Crucifix was imbedded in the throat for a Boston woman for 10 days and was removed without a knife! (Apr, 1924)

via[J-Walk]& Image[Modern Mechanix]

Coca-Cola - NSFW Poster

From the website:

This poster was released in the mid 80s and prompted a total recall of all posters because of the picture painted in ice-cubes at bottom right corner - a woman performing an act. The graphic artist who designed the picture put this in as a joke, and it went through unnoticed until someone spotted it on the back of a Coke truck.
The artist lost his job and was sued, and all promotional material had to be recalled and destroyed. Very rare and hard to get hold of — released in South Australia in mid '80s.

link:Urban Legends Reference Pages via:haha

“I am Not a Nazi” Swastika.

Here’s an online gallery of "I’m not a Nazi" Swastika at Heathen World (and yes thats Coca Cola):

The Swastika has been in use by humans since prehistory. The word Swastika has its roots in Sanskrit, the language of ancient India, but the actual symbol is older. Swastikas have been found on vases, coins, and other artifacts all over the world. Various cultures that probably didn’t communicate used swastikas or similar symbols independent of each other. The Swastika has been a Hindu symbol for thousands of years.
…
The Nazi use of the swastika has stained the symbol’s reputation for a long damned time. Hitler’s adoption of the swastika is logical when looked at in a historical context.

The gallery is very interesting: Link - via Happy Ant

The Manga Bible

Hodder Headline will be selling a manga version of The Bible(SMS Version). Ink and color are done by a guy called Siku of Marvel comics. Don't know about you but this blogger will be picking one up!
Link

Free Online Photo Editors

A bit diffrent then my typical post, but i found some of these to be really fun and neat. They do the job fairly well and hell, you get to trick out your pics for free for myspace or whatever social network you use. Extreme Tech goes over all the 5 best they found. I had fun with Picnik myself. Just click the links below and Extreme Tech will let you know which one is the best for the job at hand.

Fauxto
Picnik
Picture2Life
Pixenate
Snipshot

Geoff Hudspith’s Steam-Powered Bicycle.

Geoff Hudspith created a steam-powered bicycle: Link - via BloggerFodder

Foot Binding and Other Fashion Blunders in History.

From Radar Online, here’s a top 10 list of History’s Biggest Fashion Fouls. Coming in at number 5 is Chinese Bound Feet:
"According to one of several versions of the story, the Chinese fetish for foot-binding (pictured, above), designed literally to keep women in their place, dates from the thirteenth century with the Empress Taki, who was born with a clubfoot. Her courtiers took to binding their own feet in cloth in imitation, and soon small, tightly bound designer feet became highly desirable in Chinese women, even though bound toes were likely to become gangrenous. Chinese husbands, meanwhile, encouraged foot-binding because their crippled wives were less likely to run off. Foot-binding was officially abolished by Chairman Mao in 1949."
Link - via Gorilla Mask

Aleksandr Aksinin - Russian Graphic Art

These 3 etchings are © the estate of Russian graphic artist, Aleksandr Aksinin (1949-1985), killed in a plane crash on his way to an exhibition in Tallin.

Galleries: one, two, three, four. [Toronto Slavic Quarterly article]

18th Century Obstetrical Models.

The Anatomical Museum in Modena, Italy, has a very cool collection of obstetrical models made by Giovan Battista Manfredini in 1775.
Link [warning: teratology section at the bottom of the page is gross and distrubing, but now that I told you this, can you resist? Of course not you sick puppy.]

Jan Švankmajer - Rakvickarna

Images of the Day