Having previously read a bit about The Great Year, a documentary narrated by James Earl Jones (so you KNOW that shit is gonna be serious) I was stoked to see it on Dailygrail the other day up for streaming on the always radtacular Google Video. Anyone interested in 2012, ancient civilizations, and Zeitgeist-type intrigue should take an hour and check this shit out. Here’s the pitch from the DVD one sheet:

The Great Year, is the term that some ancient civilizations use to describe the slow precession of the equinox through the twelve houses of the ancient zodiac, a period that takes about 24,000 years. Different cultures refer to this cycle by different names including: the Platonic year, Perfect year, Yuga cycle, Ages of Man or just the equinoctial cycle, but one thing is clear, it was known to virtually every ancient culture throughout the globe. In their epic work Hamlet’s Mill Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend document the great year tale and point out it was the number one topic woven into myths and folklore around the ancient world. Why were our ancestors so fascinated by this subject that they memorized stories that were passed down for thousands of years and built megalithic structures on every continent to monitor this movement? We think it is because the tales are true! That is, as the Sun curves through space carrying the Earth with it, our bodies and our planet move to a region where they are affected by different cosmic forces that indirectly result in the rise and fall of civilization. As mans consciousness expands and contracts, and the cycle plays out, just like a solar year with its seasons, it results in great ages of enlightenment and dark ages of misery. Indeed, the archaeological record shows a broad decline of ancient civilizations beginning about 5000 years ago, a long world wide dark age and then finally a rise in consciousness with the renaissance continuing to the present day. Were the tales and myths and stone henges really just for amusement and farming? Or is Hamlet’s Mill correct: folklore is the scientific language of ancient times, and they were trying tell us of the dark days to come, and trying desparetly to preserve knowledge in the pyramids and megaliths and temples so carefully aligned to the heavens incorporating sophisticated mathematical principles.This is the story of the Great Year and new scientific evidence to support it. Recent solar system studies seem to indicate that precession is indeed caused by a curving motion of our sun through space. While not yet widely accepted, if true it a startling finding confirming the wisdom of the ancients. 

With the annual Earth Day celebrations set for next week, environmental consciousness seems to be all the rage . Personally though, there are few things that provoke such utter ambivalence in me than environmentalism and its status as a growing force in the global zeitgeist. It’s not that I don’t agree that something needs to be done. I think anyone with any shred of common sense realizes that the current model of “modern living” does not pencil out in the long run when you factor in the finite nature of not just our resources but also with the space in which we are working. However, acknowledging that “inconvenient truth” is one thing, but actually coming up with a solution, not to mention implementing it, is entirely another. Some people say the solution is to start “living green,” which is definitely a nice little slogan. And at face value, it has some merit. But in practice, it’s basically become nothing more than another way to do the same shit and feel better about it. It’s sort of like Christianity: It was founded upon a noble enough principle, but once the idea started to become the institution, shit started to get all fucked up. I mean, how many years did it take after Jesus supposedly taught everyone to love everyone else before dudes were killing people in his name? How many years has it been since the idea of “living green” came about before Wal-Mart changed their logo from blue to green, or Clorox started making Organic Bleach?
Another trait common amongst organized religions definitely shared by the Church of Green is the penchant for those who “believe” to merely select the parts of the church doctrine that they can most easily adhere to and blatantly ignore the rest, all while maintaining an air of piousness. It’s like the militant bike rider, railing against SUVs and cars as greenhouse gas-belching pollution machines, who doesn’t bat an eye about flying home three times a year to see the folks, spewing pollution directly into the upper atmosphere. Or how about the eco-conscious housewife, who makes sure to turn off the lights when she leaves a room to conserve energy and bought herself a Civic hybrid to cut back on emissions, but then serves her family burgers for dinner, the production of which released more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than three hours of driving, and used up more energy than leaving a light on for 20 straight days, not to mention that disproportional amount of localized pollution created by large-scale meat farms and the role of overuse of antibiotics in the beef industry in creating antibiotic-resistant bacteria. I guess it’s the thought that counts, right?
I guess the moral of the story is, however popular the green meme has become, its actual utility is questionable at best. For now, living green will continue to be something you can buy at the store, use in your marketing campaign or learn as a college internship: an ideal. Carbon neutrality will continue to be something you buy on a Web site, like a Christian indulgence. It’s gonna take a lot more to kick mankind’s addiction to consumption than a few melted ice caps, killer hurricanes and deadly droughts. We need to hit rock bottom, man. I’m talking Old Testament style shit. People are too lazy and stupid to do what they actually know is right until they literally have no other choice. We’ll just keep building malls and damming rivers and jacking up our pickup trucks until our eyes are melting out of our fucking skulls and even then, we’ll just invent some better sunglasses, made from 25 percent post-consumer recycled plastic!

Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlain told Spinner that him and Billy Corgan plan on hitting the studio later this spring, but added “I don’t think we will make records again.”

Pointing out that the band’s contractual commitment to Reprise Records is finished, the drummer explains “I look at it like the old business model is dead and the music business doesn’t know how to move forward. We want to keep things vital and keep things viable and get our music across while remaining relevant. Music has in many ways just become an advertisement for your tour. ”

“I think what we’ll do is start releasing songs,” Chamberlin continues. “The record or CD format places too many limitations on your piece of art. People just don’t buy records anymore. Anyone under the age of 24 just buys songs. It’s just in our best interest to release blocks of songs. And I think what we’ll do – not to let the cat out of the bag too much – is to create the framework where we can release a number of songs and maybe create a title. We can gather three or four songs, but it will all flow up to a larger body of work. But to call it record in the traditional sense would be anachronistic.”

Guess its a lot easier to buck the system when you’ve scanned 10 million or so units, own your own studio and have legions of fans who will gladly pay for your warmed-over noodlings, ie Zeitgeist.

Flipping through the channels yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised that MSNBC was replaying their live coverage of 9/11 in it’s entirety, from the moment the news first broke that the first plane had hit the World Trade Center. Talk about riveting television! Heroes ain’t got nothing on watching planes fly into buildings and hearing Matt Lauer and Katie Couric try to assume a newsy tone, at least until they could wake up Tom Brokaw and get him down there to handle business. I don’t really know to what the occasion this replay was owed, since the 6th Anniversary of the event had passed some days before, and according to the TV Guide there was supposed to be some show about fat people, but nevertheless I was pretty into it, which I guess might sound kind of fucked up, but whatever. It was interesting to see the events unfold in hindsight, with six years worth of conspiracy theorizing and Loose Change/Zeitgeist watching behind me. Not saying that I believe in any of that stuff, but I’m DEFINITELY not saying that I don’t, yaddidimean?

To that end, today brings another tiny chip away from that much-derided “official” explanation for the happenings of that fateful day, in the form of pilot Russ Wittenberg, who flew over 100 combat missions in Vietnam, sat in the cockpit for Pan Am and United for over 30 years, and previously flew two of the actual airplanes that were allegedly hijacked on 9/11 , United Airlines Flight 175 & 93. According to Wittenberg:

I don’t believe it’s possible for… a so-called terrorist to train on a 172, then jump in a cockpit of a 757-767 class cockpit, and vertical navigate the aircraft, lateral navigate the aircraft, and fly the airplane at speeds exceeding it’s design limit speed by well over 100 knots, make high-speed high-banked turns,.. pulling probably 5, 6, 7 G’s… I couldn’t do it and I’m absolutely positive they couldn’t do it.”

Theres this movie floating around the internet lately that has most likely managed to piss off every single person who took the time to watch it. I felt it was well worth the time taken because it made me think, hard. Such a film offering alternate perspectives and identifying obvious problems is definitely a touchy subject and frightens lots of people away. I just saw this the other night, and it blew my mind to pieces. I showed it to a few people. Some kept an open mind, others did nothing short of shoving their fingers in their ears walking away saying “La lala lalalala.” For better or worse, Zeitgeist, The Movie will totally punch you in the balls.

For your consideration, a cause for concern.

Dont ask questions, just watch.