Thursday, November 8, 2012

Empire builders will weep as grandiose monuments to their own megalomania are reduced to rubble, while what they call "the rabble" will become "The Robots' Rebellion"...



An excerpt from...
Pirates & Parasites (Don't let them bring you down, folks!)

For millennia the warlords have ruled this planet and they will be resisting their own imminent extinction by attempting to drag millions of other lives with them as they go the way of the dinosaurs.

Those who have learnt to trust their heart wisdom will have little trouble accepting the incoming frequencies, thereby accelerating their own awakening on the cellular, molecular, atomic and nuclear levels. Within the next few months (that's right, I said months, not years, not decades), even as the 3D Matrix begins to get more and more unreal, the ones who can maintain their emotional equilibrium and trust completely in the Unknown will find life becoming simpler and more exquisite. They will consciously acknowledge their own integral roles in the evolutionary passion play that will take us from micro to macro perspectives, and gladly celebrate their initiation as galactic citizens.

Institutions that have enslaved the human imagination for untold generations will crumble like stale bread, even as their adherents become discombobulated and turn upon each other in desperation and panic. Armies will exhaust themselves and disintegrate through meaningless combat even as deserters begin to outnumber combatants.


Congenital liars, hypocrites and deceivers will end up their own victims. Those that persist in scapegoating others and assigning blame will find themselves devoid of a following.

Empire builders will weep as grandiose monuments to their own megalomania are reduced to rubble.

The status quo is static - and reality is dynamic. In a dynamic universe, status has no value or significance. However, humble virtues such as compassion, empathy, humility, and goodwill towards others will become the only accepted currency.


Creativity rather than destructivity will regain the upper hand. The planet has been ruled by criminal syndicates for countless millennia. This was only possible during the Kali yuga, which has just about run its course. Only inertia and long-ingrained habit are keeping oppressive social systems in apparent operation. Secret police, spy agencies, covert programs designed to keep power in the hands of a plutocratic elite will be exposed as more and more whistleblowers begin to break free from their indoctrination and implants. Evil cannot withstand the light of publicity and will evaporate under the burning sun of an enlightened humanity.


As the democratization of human communities begins to spread like wildfire, centralized government and ancient power cabals will weaken and die. The Anunnaki bloodlines that constitute all monarchies will either transmute themselves into a force for universal good - or be forever terminated. 
Don't worry about Umno. Or the Rockefeller-Rothschilds. From a macro perspective they are merely small-time street gangs that will soon become fascinating exhibits in cosmoanthropological museums. So fear them not. Maitreya has spoken.

[Originally posted on 29 May 2012 but refurbished and revisited in view of the abysmal misbehavior of the Royal Malaysian Police in harassing, intimidating and oppressing the citizenry on behalf of their testosteronally overdriven panjandrums.]



Tuesday, November 6, 2012

We’re off to off the wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz!

Who among us has not been amused and delighted by the extraordinary spectacle of Munchkins bursting into song and dance in celebration of the Wicked Witch’s demise?

Have we not wondered, at different moments in our life, if we were more like the brainless Scarecrow, the heartless Tin Man, or the Cowardly Lion?

And, just like Dorothy, have we never come to the conclusion, after a surfeit of incredible adventures, that there’s no place like Home?

When MGM released in 1939 the Hollywood version of what had already achieved cult status as a stage musical, L. Frank Baum’s immortal classic The Wizard of Oz  swiftly won the hearts of a worldwide audience.

I don’t remember how old I was the first time I caught the movie in my hometown but it certainly left many vivid images imprinted in my impressionable young mind. So when The Wizard of Oz was restaged between April and May 2012 at KLPAC by Pan Productions – a young and vigorous outfit helmed by the highly talented Nell Ng, Peter Ong and Alizakri Alias – I looked forward greatly to catching it.

Radhi Khalid as the Tin Man, Stephanie Van Driesen as Dorothy Gale, Peter Ong as The Scarecrow,
and special guest star Wolfgang as Toto

I wasn’t disappointed. It was as wonderful a production of a time-tested favorite as any you’re likely to see in any major city. Director-choreographer Nell Ng opted to stick close to the general tone and flavor of the Hollywood version and found herself the perfect Dorothy Gale in Stephanie Van Driesen (who even bears a passing resemblance to the young Judy Garland and, more importantly, is a well-rounded talent in terms of acting, dancing and singing).

Tria Aziz: a magnificently malevolent
Wicked Witch of the West
 
Another outstanding casting choice was Tria Aziz as Almira Gultch and the Wicked Witch of the West whose iridescent green makeup and powerful singing voice made her a candidate for the best supporting actress award. But, then, many other key players were equally impressive – particularly Peter Ong (Hunk/Scarecrow), Radhi Khalid (Hickory/Tin Man), and Zalila Lee (Zeke/Cowardly Lion). Special mention must be made of Wolfgang the terrific terrier who took on the challenge of playing Toto.

The multimedia effects by a digital projection outfit called Dam Interactive were, in a word, wizardly. They played a significant role in the success of the production, convincingly conjuring a wide range of atmospheres - from a violent tornado to enchanted forests, spooky castles, and an Emerald Palace fit for a Wonderful Wizard. Musical director Eric Carter Hah deserves a standing ovation for bringing the fairly complex score to life with such effortless ease I initially thought I was hearing a pre-recorded soundtrack. Then I realized there was an 11-piece orchestra hidden backstage.

Seeing The Wizard of Oz as a stage musical for the first time in my life was most definitely a treat. Even more so since many of the talented and charming cast happen to be dear old friends. As a treat for all the senses, Nell Ng’s Wizard  left little to be desired – and, as I told her afterwards, my only complaint was that the air-conditioning in KLPAC was so cold I found myself sitting on my hands between rounds of hearty applause.

Suhaili Michelline as the good Witch of the North

L. Frank Baum in 1911
I decided to do a bit of research on the man who created the Land of Oz - that colorful character named Lyman Frank Baum (15 May 1856 ~ 6 May 1919) and found him to be way too complex to summarize. In his youth he got hold of a simple printing press and became an editor-journalist-publisher. Then he got into poultry breeding and traded in fireworks. At the same time he was infatuated with the theater and squandered a large portion of his wealth investing in unsuccessful plays. He took on a great many roles, using stage names like Louis F. Baum and George Brooks.

In 1880 Baum’s father built him a theater in Richburg, New York, and he wasted no time writing, producing, directing and acting in plays – even composing songs and conducting workshops in stagecraft . Just as he was beginning to reap some acclaim, a fire destroyed his theater, along with his costume collection and the only copies of his playscripts.

Failure and ill fortune continued to dog L. Frank Baum until his 44th birthday – when his collaboration with illustrator W.W. Denslow yielded a best-selling children’s book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Thereafter Baum began churning out a stream of children’s books based on his Oz characters.

Five years later he announced a grand plan to buy an island off the California coast where he would build a gigantic theme park named “The Marvelous Land of Oz – a fairy paradise for children.” Eleven-year-old Dorothy Talbot of San Francisco was to be crowned Queen of Oz and the park was to be administered by a committee of child advisors. Baum himself intended to relocate to the island where he would presumably assume the role of a real-life wizard.

Alas, the theme park project was abandoned after another theatrical venture, The Woggle-Bug, failed at the box office. Baum even founded a film company in 1914 called The Oz Film Manufacturing Company but lost a lot of money on the venture. One gets the distinct feeling that L. Frank Baum was born just a wee bit too early. It took another visionary entrepreneur, a fellow named Walter Elias Disney – born shortly after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz became a runaway best-seller – to realize all of L. Frank Baum’s fantastic dreams.

Among the interesting details I unearthed about L. Frank Baum, the fact that he had the tendency to look askance at religion caught my attention. Although raised as a Methodist, Baum expressed a great deal of skepticism about orthodox dogmas. At one point he joined the Episcopal Church – but mainly for the purpose of participating in community theatricals.

In 1897 - influenced by Matilda Joslyn Gage, Baum’s feminist mother-in-law - Baum and his wife became Theosophists. The Theosophical Society had been established in 1875 by Henry Steel Olcott (a military investigator, journalist and lawyer) and the famous Russian mystic, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Theosophists hold that “there is no religion higher than truth.”

In the light of this, can any traces of L. Frank Baum’s metaphysical inclinations be found in The Wizard of Oz? Considering that the Wizard presides like a deity - inspiring awe, reverence and not a little fear - over the inhabitants of Oz, isn’t it delightful that it takes a fearless and innocent little girl named Dorothy to gain entry to the Emerald Palace and penetrate the Wizard’s high-tech public relations apparatus, so that the Great Wizard of Oz is ultimately exposed as an eccentric "extraterrestrial" trickster, a master illusionist, a professional thaumaturge - albeit a disarmingly benign one?


It doesn’t require too much of a stretch of the imagination to draw a few parallels with The Matrix movies - wherein the Archons or Fates appear as a funky assortment of complex metaprograms running the holographic pseudo-reality from which Thomas Anderson aka Neo the hacker escapes (after he swallows the Red Pill offered by Morpheous) and fulfills his destiny as “The One.”

Indeed, I would venture the opinion that The Wizard of Oz qualifies as a forerunner of The Matrix. It’s easy enough to replace the Wicked Witch of the West with Agent Smith. Now I’m seriously looking forward to the musical version of The Matrix.

Does this constitute political commentary?