Monday, May 10, 2010
Banishing the Monday Blues
If you love all things Asian, like I do, then head on over to Pink Tentacle, one of Mac's favorite sites, and feast your eyes on the latest exhibit of some vintage Japanese steamship travel posters. So pretty!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Identified Failing Object
"I wouldn't say it's failed yet," BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said. "What I would say is what we attempted to do last night didn't work."
Go tell it to the swimmers in Alabama currently dodging tar balls...
I'd really like to move off this topic, gang... and, really, I will try. Really I will.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
A Room With a View...
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| Mac's office space - photo found on his Flickr pages (click to enlarge) |
... to Mars, that is. The map was an insert from an old Times magazine sent to him by a friend.
 |
| Found in my vaults. |
Mac's kitty, Ebe, relaxing in the captain's chair. While the small orange blob on the floor might be an alien life-form, it might also be an orange peel. You be the judge.
And, below is the 2007 Blogging the Singularity interview w/ Chris Williamson that took place in the same room, too.
It's not (only) the oil, stupid...
Apparently, all the dead turtles and jellyfish suddenly washing up on the Mississippi shore are "clean" of any evidence of oil... but I wonder if anyone is addressing the dispersants used to clean up the BP mess? See video below...
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Apocalypse Now
I generally try to avoid current events, but I've had to make an exception regarding the latest BP oil-spill... Let's face it, people go to jail for drugs... not so for creating massive ecological disasters.
And, it goes without saying that one posthuman we all knew is spinning in the aether.
P.S. So, what about a worthy image for "your brain on drugs"? My pick is "Turkish Delight" by sylverdali. Hell, we could all use some right now... delight that is... ;-)
Post-Mac Blues
Yves.Leqoc
Browsing around and just had to share this photographer. His name is Yves.Lecoq and his surrealist images are amongst some of the most amazing I've ever seen. Trust me, and check them out at his Flickr.com gallery!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Hawking on Aliens..
He suggests that aliens might simply raid Earth for its resources and then move on: “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach.”
Mac was a huge fan of Stephen Hawking and I think he would've gotten a kick out of this latest article featuring Professor Hawking's latest "warning". Interesting... but, obviously Hawking hasn't considered cryptoterrestrials!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
"Espresso, hat, camera"
This was one of Mac's photo's (circa 2008) that can be found on his Flicker pages... an ironic little homage to himself, perhaps... and an image that he'd probably enjoy on this memorial.
I would, at this time, like to give a special thanks to this blog's followers: Kate Sherrod, Kartott, Joshua Fouts and Anna Nachesa. Your presence has been (and always will be) much appreciated. I wish you all the very best.
Also, thanks to those who have left their mark on these pages, in whatever form.
For those who may have wondered, "Araqinta" was never an alias but was in fact a name for my artistic "workshop" while Mac was alive. It was taken from the name of a fictional planet I had created for an unfinished story I had began in 2005. I have taken most references to it off of these pages, but it will remain the URL for this blog-spot.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Perchance to Dream
I dreamt about Mac this morning. That is, he starred in the dream.
Dreams in general are defined on many levels by different disciplines and various theories - ranging from a mere dumping ground for unconscious brain meanderings to a psychological playground for sexual desires to a passion play constructed of "collective", mythological elements. Neurologists and other scientific theorists generally try to marginalize their importance by lumping all unconscious activity into one easily-accessible (and acceptable) box thereby effectively "dealing" with issues outside of conventional analysis. Which, of course, tells us nothing.
Occultists might say that dreams contain clues of ones "fortune". Mediumistic types claim that through dreams they can communicate with the dead. Artists and writers gather inspiration from their dreams. Others claim that dreams are akin to out-of-body experiences or remote-viewing. I'd have to say, that in my own experience, dreams are actually all of the above... sometimes just a brain exercise, at other times, a lucid and valid experience of the psyche. But, I would also have to say, drawing from my own experience, that dreams are more. The "more" being that peculiar X-factor - i.e. things we have not yet the ability to understand nor fully explore.
The dream I had with Mac was a lucid dream... and for those that occasionally have them, the lucid dream feels very much like an actual waking experience occurring in an actual place in a sort of "dream-time". The lucid dream has an eerie reality about it despite the unlikelihood of its elements. Mac and I were technicians in what seemed to be an underground bio-lab. As neither of us, in reality, are or were "biologists", this might seems strange, but in the dream it seemed perfectly normal. That this bio-lab happened to be on Mars was, in the dream, also elementary. What piqued my interest in the dream was that this underground bio-lab on Mars also was situated in an underground body of water. One literally had to swim under the surface - in a peculiar way; a sort of inverse sensation to that in a levitation dream, if you've ever experienced one - to gain entrance. On the other hand, there seemed to exist a terrestrial entrance to the lab as well but it was off-limits as it seems there was some threat posed by either antagonistic humans or, possibly, an indigenous population. The lab itself, however, seemed to be an international endeavor with a variety of races and nationalities involved.
Apart from the particulars, however, my dream experience seemed to be centered on communicating with Mac. I was so happy to "see" him again, though in corporeal reality we had never met. He seemed healthy and in good spirits... and was discussing his immediate past, which, unfortunately I can't remember. We were also enthusiastically discussing our venture... when, at which point, the annoying buzzing of my alarm clock dragged me out of the dream. I lay there for a long time trying to go back to sleep and re-enter the dream, but it never happened.
In any event, this is the first dream I've had starring Mac after his death that remained clear in my mind upon waking. I know this post is over-long - for this I apologize - and I know, too, how generally bored we are when someone recounts a dream, but I hope some of you appreciated it. I also hope that those of you who have dreamt of Mac or will in the future - maybe my post will inspire a dream (!) - will share it with the rest of us. Maybe in some weird, X-factor way, dreams are a way to keep track of Mac, so to speak, as fantastic and delusional as it might seem. Mac himself, was very aware of his dream-life... and I think he'd approve of us mentioning his dream-appearances... that is, unless you consider your dream divulges personally sensitive material, in which case, you're excused!
Dreams in general are defined on many levels by different disciplines and various theories - ranging from a mere dumping ground for unconscious brain meanderings to a psychological playground for sexual desires to a passion play constructed of "collective", mythological elements. Neurologists and other scientific theorists generally try to marginalize their importance by lumping all unconscious activity into one easily-accessible (and acceptable) box thereby effectively "dealing" with issues outside of conventional analysis. Which, of course, tells us nothing.
Occultists might say that dreams contain clues of ones "fortune". Mediumistic types claim that through dreams they can communicate with the dead. Artists and writers gather inspiration from their dreams. Others claim that dreams are akin to out-of-body experiences or remote-viewing. I'd have to say, that in my own experience, dreams are actually all of the above... sometimes just a brain exercise, at other times, a lucid and valid experience of the psyche. But, I would also have to say, drawing from my own experience, that dreams are more. The "more" being that peculiar X-factor - i.e. things we have not yet the ability to understand nor fully explore.
The dream I had with Mac was a lucid dream... and for those that occasionally have them, the lucid dream feels very much like an actual waking experience occurring in an actual place in a sort of "dream-time". The lucid dream has an eerie reality about it despite the unlikelihood of its elements. Mac and I were technicians in what seemed to be an underground bio-lab. As neither of us, in reality, are or were "biologists", this might seems strange, but in the dream it seemed perfectly normal. That this bio-lab happened to be on Mars was, in the dream, also elementary. What piqued my interest in the dream was that this underground bio-lab on Mars also was situated in an underground body of water. One literally had to swim under the surface - in a peculiar way; a sort of inverse sensation to that in a levitation dream, if you've ever experienced one - to gain entrance. On the other hand, there seemed to exist a terrestrial entrance to the lab as well but it was off-limits as it seems there was some threat posed by either antagonistic humans or, possibly, an indigenous population. The lab itself, however, seemed to be an international endeavor with a variety of races and nationalities involved.
Apart from the particulars, however, my dream experience seemed to be centered on communicating with Mac. I was so happy to "see" him again, though in corporeal reality we had never met. He seemed healthy and in good spirits... and was discussing his immediate past, which, unfortunately I can't remember. We were also enthusiastically discussing our venture... when, at which point, the annoying buzzing of my alarm clock dragged me out of the dream. I lay there for a long time trying to go back to sleep and re-enter the dream, but it never happened.
In any event, this is the first dream I've had starring Mac after his death that remained clear in my mind upon waking. I know this post is over-long - for this I apologize - and I know, too, how generally bored we are when someone recounts a dream, but I hope some of you appreciated it. I also hope that those of you who have dreamt of Mac or will in the future - maybe my post will inspire a dream (!) - will share it with the rest of us. Maybe in some weird, X-factor way, dreams are a way to keep track of Mac, so to speak, as fantastic and delusional as it might seem. Mac himself, was very aware of his dream-life... and I think he'd approve of us mentioning his dream-appearances... that is, unless you consider your dream divulges personally sensitive material, in which case, you're excused!
Paracast Reminder
Just a reminder - at 9 PM - 11 PM (EST) tonight (April 11th), there will be a Paracast radio show featuring Mac's pals, Nick Redfern, Greg Bishop, and co-host Paul Kimball, discussing Mac's last book, "The Cryptoterrestrials". Be there or be square. If you can't be there, you can still download the episode archive at a later time.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
PUBLISHED!
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Patrick Huyghe has just informed me that Mac's book, The Cryptoterrestrials; A Meditation on Indigenous Humanoids and the Aliens Among Us has been published and is now available!
Here's a link to the Anomalist Book notice: http://www.anomalistbooks.com/tonnies.html
This is the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1933665467/
And although I'm sure you recognize my cover art (see previous post), I also previously mentioned that Mike Clelland did the interior illustrations to the book. Here's a link to his blog with some examples: Little Boing Marks. Also, check out his other blog with a tribute to Mac.
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