k o s m o k r a t o r

i bought some venison shanks the other day so i could cook them for dinner tonight. i thought about roasting them, but as i have not used my slow cooker in three years, i got it out and decided to cook the venison in red wine and venison stock i made a few months ago.
i have not had a more delicious meal in a very long time.

then i decided to watch american idol voting episode, as per the ad on the tvnz web site that said 7-30pm. imagine my displeasure as tuning in to find that very annoying, yet award winning, phil keogan and the amazing race. i did have a fair few moments of interal giggles at the total ineptness of the midget guys and did find the deaf man very engaging, but the bourne tripatate beckoned and i watched all three.

i then returned to the tv and watched the movie below.



i had never heard of it before and it took me a few moments to get into the flow of it, but i soon found the story to be fascinating and intuitive and original and told in a gentle and respectful way. i was glad however, that my mental illness enabled me to guess the ending successfully. it's left me with a good warm feeling as i go to bed, even though there were deaths and suicides and tradegy in the film.

am watching frankenstein on tv. silly scientist.

cricket tomorrow for the last time this season. tempted not to go as i'm very tired, and lacking enthusiasm even for the beers afterwards (and during) but after watching todays efforts (new zealand vs australia) and the excitement it produced i'm probably going to go out. and especially if it's going to be as hot as it was today.

i read today, a intellectual synopsis, or more correctly, a dissection, of chitty chitty bang bang by ian fleming (yes, that ian fleming). it's been many years since i saw the movie version, having never read the book, but i'm glad i only read this now instead of when i was a child.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is an extended dream sequence as the child leads slip from life into death, much in the same vein as the Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge.

Very early in the movie, the children, Jeremy and Jemima, are nearly struck by a car driven by Truly Scrumptious, or so we are led to believe. I am certain that the children actually were struck by that car and killed, but before falling into death’s cold embrace, their addled minds produced a rich fantasy. A similar story structure can be found in 2001’s Waking Life. Waking Life has its main protagonist wandering through a series of events and experiences in what appears to be a lucid dreaming state, with little regard for making clear what may be real or not. Similarly, an extended fantasy sequence occurs beginning halfway through Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This sequence apparently has real-world implications; it is not until 15 minutes before the end of the film that we are certain those events did not happen.

This is also supported by the way Time loops and whorls in on itself as various events and motifs are constantly repeated. This is indicative of the human mind seeking out patterns in an attempt to make sense of what is happening. Specifically, the motif of nearly being hit by a car or an accident involving Truly’s car happens at least three times after the initial impact. The young children are revisting that final moment, as if to glean greater meaning from it, or to remind themselves that they are, in fact, dead.

All adult characters act in a persistently childish manner; a Baron enjoys his large toys, Grandfather and Lord Scrumptious are caught playing an intrictae game of toy soldiers. This further evidences that everything is a complete creation of a child’s mind applying their logic and actions to the world.

It may be noted that, yes, there are two children, so how can there be only one extended death sequence? Well, there is the popular, though as of yet unsubstantiated theory, that twins can share a telepathic link. The same aged, both blonde-haired boy and girl are almost certainly twins. And throughout the movie they make various spontaneous exclamations at the exact same time with the exact same wording, suggesting some kind of group mind.

And finally, and perhaps most daming of all, is the role that Truly Scrumptious takes on as the Three-in-One, or Mother-Maiden-Crone, the Jungian Triple Goddess. As the Bringer of Death by Motorcar, the children attach meaning to her and seek her out as a Mother Figure. For much of the film she wears all white, signifying maidenhood; the children then proclaim their fondness for Truly and their wish that she become their mother. Truly then begins wearing pink, signifying that she is no longer pure for having known man, fulfilling her role as the Mother.

In the end, the car, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which has become a familar representing the children, levitates into the air and flies off towards the heavens. The children have finally accepted their reality and move on to what dreams may come.


now i'm watching faye dunaway, william holden, o.j. simpson, steve mcqueen, paul newman and fred astaire.

one thing most of you wont have known about is my design aspirations and dare i say it, skills. they have been on a recent hiatus and i‘ve decided to try and get the rust a debridment and upgrade my skills a bit. to that end, i’m going all out writing code and developing a very nifty collage of php, ajax and mootools scripts and programmes.

if anyone wants to do some testing for me once all the components are together, that would be great.

The fall of our footsteps ringeth too hollow through their streets. And just as at night, when they are in bed and hear a man abroad long before sunrise, so they ask themselves concerning us: Where goeth the thief? Go not to men, but stay in the forest! Go rather to the animals! Why not be like me- a bear amongst bears, a bird amongst birds?“

”And what doeth the saint in the forest?“ asked Zarathustra.

The saint answered: ”I make hymns and sing them; and in making hymns I laugh and weep and mumble: thus do I praise God. With singing, weeping, laughing, and mumbling do I praise the God who is my God."




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EDIT: i‘ve just realisd the email form wasn’t working as i'd made some changes earlier, but it's fine and dandy now.

the weather has started to turn a bit cooler after several weeks of nice hot weather and i'm really liking it. as you know i don't often sleep particularly well, but the hot weather makes it almost impossible to sleep. window open lets in the moths, and a fan makes a noise. so the cooler temperatures are welcome.

the tsunami yesterday where the head of the harbour receeded and left yachts and boats stranded on the ocean floor and then rose to flood property , reminded me of the danger the world faces from unseen forces and the helplessness that ensues. we worry about global warming and water restrictions and drought and flooding but it's more than likely that an earthquake or tsunami or a volcanic eruption will do us in. especially living here in new zealand. there are three major fault lines and hydrothermal areas within 150 km from my place, and two volcanoes right on my door step. and yet we completely ignore them. until they start to move, and of course by then, it's too late. i guess if we're going to go, then i suppose going by way of hot volcanic ash or pyroclastic gases or gaping chasms opening up in front of us is acceptable.


lunch tomorrow with mum. another exciting afternoon of follow up questions after saturday night.



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