For Thanksgiving, I just had to get my niece a little something to kick off the holiday season. When she was a baby, I showed her that beneath the overgrown leaves of her grandmother's coffee table centerpiece, sits a little decorative bird. She was quite surprised to find a bird hiding in a plant that she had seen sitting in the same place on the same table for as long as she could remember. When my niece reached to touch it, I chirped loudly at her. She pulled back her hand and squealed! So this was a game we'd play when I would visit.
At Christmastide, a garland is hung round the inside of the doorway. It is made of holly and poinsettias, and decorated with drums and french horns and trumpets and the like. At the very top—my niece was very happy for me to show her—sits a bird. I picked her up so she could see it more easily. When she reached for it, I chirped loudly. She squealed, and this was the game we would play when I would visit for the holidays.
And while she's too old now to squeal when chirped at, I got my niece a bird of her own, that she may put on the Christmas tree every year.
If one were thinking of trying it, putting this gift together was easy and cheep! cheep! cheep! The bird was purchased quite inexpensively at Kmart, although I have seen ones just as nice at Target. I found a gift box and painted it with acrylic paint. When dry, I filled it with opal metallic shred—or as we used to call it—white Easter grass. Then I poked a sprig of craft berries through the lid of the box.
And if one wants to get fancy, there are plenty of other christmas birds to be had that may not be as cheep! cheep! cheep!
Remember last year when I mentioned that every year I make pumpkin soup for Thanksgiving, and everybody loves it? Well, that was a bit of a fib. I was planning to make it every year, and everyone who tried it the previous year had no complaints. So last Thanksgiving after I had made a big deal about my recipe here in the Shop, I told the family that I had made pumpkin soup again, my father said, “Naaah, don’t bring it.”
Recently, my father and I were in a restaurant. While we were perusing the menu, my father said, “They have pumpkin soup. That sounds like it might be good. I don’t think I’ve ever had pumpkin soup.”
I said, “Yes you’ve had pumpkin soup! I made it for Thanksgiving two years ago, and last year I asked you if I should bring it again, you said, ‘Naaah, don’t bring it.’ So I didn’t bring it.”
Then I asked, “Would you like me to bring it this year?”
And he said, “Naaah, don’t bring it.”
At this time in November, just as we’re beginning to think of one kind of flightless fowl (namely, turkey), another shows up unexpectedly. After a ten year absence from the Sunday funnies, cartoonist Berkley Breathed returns with his new comic strip, Opus! For those of you who don’t remember, Opus the penguin was a character in the strip Bloom County, along with other notables such as Milo Bloom, Mike Binkley and his anxiety closet, Attorney Steve Dallas, and the over-imbibing Bill the Cat. With news of Opus’ return, one hopes Calvin & Hobbes won’t be too far behind.
Image swiped and posted under the aegis of some fair-use legal mumbo-jumbo. Ask Steve Dallas. THPPFFTT!
Yes, well—sorry about that. A little too much wine leads to a little too much whine. Although really, the sentimental movie is probably what put me over the top. But never fear—the holidays are almost here! That should cheer me up. In the mean-time, I’ll keep you posted on goings-on around the Shop. Oh, and, sorry to Steve Winwood. I kind of like “Low Spark of High Heeled Boys”.
When there's no one left to leave you,
even you don't quite believe you
That's when nothing can deceive youWhile you see a chance take it,
find romance fake it
Because it's all on you
—Steve Winwood
While drinking a bottle of Shiraz and watching Amélie, I notice that the paintings that hang in Amélie's bedroom are painted by artist Michael Sowa.
I also notice that, as the Glass Man points out in the movie, one must grab opportunities before they slip away. But what does one do with oneself after they slip away?
I notice she's been gone for almost two years now. That's longer than I knew her, but it doesn't seem possible. Those times seemed so full, and these, empty. Perhaps i am insane? perhaps, after a bottle of Shiraz, i am merely drunk. But tomorrow I will not be drunk, and my bed will still be empty.
She and I fell in love watching Moulin Rouge. We went to concerts in the park where i couldn't hear the music because she talked the entire time about schnauzers—and I didn't care! I had to order at the restaurant because she was too embarassed to say “Moons Over My Hammy”. We spent nearly every waking moment together—and more than that, besides. We watched the movie Sliding Doors. we snuck into the city to hear jazz at the aquarium. Here's the sad part of the story. Standing in a parking lot she asked me to elope with her—two weeks before her wedding to a guy who always refused dance with her, only visited her for one week during holidays—a guy she never said anything good about. But I thought, “My God, her parents would hate me!” and “I'd railroad the entire wedding!” and all the little impractical things that could have made life difficult for a little while.
So I said, “Let's think about it”, or “We have to find a better way to do this”, or some stupid excuse. Was I waiting for a miracle? Yes. But that was it. I think I was waiting for a tidier miracle. The miracle came in a parking lot and I missed it. She didn't leave me. You see, ladies and gentlemen, I failed her. I. Failed. Her.
So I think it would be easier to let this go if she had left me. But I sit like a lighthouse keeper, burning the lantern wick every night—after the shipwreck dashed sailors' bones on the barnicled rocks.
I also notice that when one goes shopping late at night for a bottle of Shiraz, the speaker systems are always playing Steve Winwood. Fuck Steve Winwood.
Or should I say—Look, Who’s back! Who, you ask? The Doctor, that’s who. The BBC has brought us the Ninth Doctor. And he’s been animated! The good news is, the special effects simply must be better. Or just watch it so you can hear that timeless cosmic theme song by Ron Grainer. And rumour has it that in upcoming episodes, Derek Jacobi will play the part of the Doctor’s arch nemesis—The Master!
Well, that’s just about enough talk concerning blockbuster sci-fi movies, so let’s change the subject to CLONE WARS! Specifically the Cartoon Network’s near-nightly 4-minute installments that tie in to the upcoming Star Wars Episode III- In the Grip of the Tendrils of Doom! (!!!) Allright, I made that last part up. I don’t know what it will be called, but I must admit that I liked the titles “Episode I-Phantom Menace” or “Episode II-Attack of the Clones” better than “Episode IV-A New Hope” or “Episode VI-Goin’ To the Teddy Bear Picnic”. I and II just have that old movie serial ring to them. But I digress.
If one happens to miss the episodes of CLONE WARS as they are broadcast, Cartoon Network has been kind enough to post the previous day’s episode.
Oh yes, and borrowed from the Cartoon Network website this image was.
Let me be the first to say that my prediction was wrong about how the movie The Matrix Revolutions would play out. After seeing the movie I have realized my mistake. I actually thought that the last installment of the trilogy would have resembled the first installment in that it would have been well-written (intelligent, thought provoking, internally consistent, revelatory, etc.). In keeping with a new trend in sci-fi films, we are treated to a story that promises to reveal some hidden mystery, and after a brilliant beginning, it becomes apparent that the creators never had any plan for a conclusion, i.e.: The X Files, or Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes.
But let me back up. I had started writing what quickly became an unwieldy, blow-by-blow account of all the plot-holes and loose ends in Revolutions. I finally gave up, as I was expending far too much energy on it. I was also thinking of writing my own version of how I think Revolutions should have been. But again, I decided that I have better things that I could do besides retroactively fixing a poorly conceived blockbuster movie script after it was filmed and released. Perhaps I’ll write it someday. I think I’ve figured out a way to fill plot-holes and give a satisfying ending that goes beyond the trite, happy postcard ending that was done better in Dark City. If I write it, the post will be titled Finding Neo.
If you are still planning on seeing Revolutions, if only to get some sense of closure, here are some things you need to know:
The woman playing the Oracle (Mary Alice) is a different actor than in the previous movies because Gloria Foster (the original Oracle) died after the filming of Reloaded, so don’t think too hard as to why she’s different.
The studio execs reportedly told the directors—The Wachowski brothers—to break up what was to be the second and last movie into two parts to make it a trilogy. So if it all seems a little watered down, that’s why.
And apparently, it wasn’t Niobe and her crew that were slumped over the consoles during the finale/montage at the end of Reloaded. They’re alive and right as rain.
In Vedic mythology, Vishnu—the Cosmic Preserver—is often portrayed reclining on a multi-headed serpent. Remember this when Neo is in the Machine City. Brahma—The Creator—was born from the blossom of a lotus. Remember this also in the Machine City when everything goes orange.
Also in Vedic mythology, Ramachandra is the seventh incarnation of Vishnu. Ramachandra is the name of one of the new characters. Sati is the act of a widow climbing onto the funeral pyre of her desceased husband. This act transports the widow directly to heaven, and also redeems all of her ancestors. Sati is also a new character.
Thirdly, in Vedic mythology, the cosmos is reborn endlessly. With the inclusion of Indian characters, the Wachowskis may be hinting that the same fate may be in store for the Matrix. However, producer Joel Silver has announced that there will not be a fourth movie. One would think one full movie and two half movies should have been enough. With all the dangling plot threads, it’s not difficult to see why fans would be confused.
Everything that has a beginning has an end, and hopefully that holds true for the moviemaking careers of the Wachowski brothers.
In retrospect, I think we should’ve have taken the blue pill.
The first matrix I designed was quite naturally perfect, it was a work of art, flawless, sublime. A triumph equaled only by its monumental failure. The inevitability of its doom is as apparent to me now as a consequence of the imperfection inherent in every human being, thus I redesigned it based on your history to more accurately reflect the varying grotesqueries of your nature. However, I was again frustrated by failure. I have since come to understand that the answer eluded me because it required a lesser mind, or perhaps a mind less bound by the parameters of perfection. Thus, the answer was stumbled upon by another, an intuitive program, initially created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche. If I am the father of the matrix, she would undoubtedly be its mother.When the movie The Matrix was first released, I had a discussion with a gentleman who, at the time, frequented the same pubs as I. He was certain that The Matrix was a Christian parable for our time. He was convinced that Neo represented the Christ-figure, noted the idea of the “true” world hidden behind this “false” one, and evidenced Neo’s interaction with the Godhead—namely, his love-interest named Trinity. All of this was enough to convince the gentleman. And while I found that a plausible hypothesis, I felt that all those concepts were also present in the belief systems of the Christian Gnostics—and the Gnostics had allowed for a place in their cosmology for the Divine Feminine Principle.
—the Architect from The Matrix Reloaded
The Concept of Sophia
The story of the Sophia, taken from the Apocryphon of John, goes essentially like this: Sophia was an emanation, or offspring, from the Pleroma, or the source of peace and pure light. In her ignorance one day, she created a being infused with the sparks of her own divinity. But as this child had no father, he was a child of chaos. She hid the child behind a veil so the other emanations could not discover the mistake she had made.
Behind the veil, the child of chaos created a world for himself—a world made of meat and mud, of filth, and shit, and sinew. With the divine sparks, he created souls that he encased in the flesh-systems of the world. Sophia, in an effort to retrieve the divine sparks to return them to their rightful place in the Pleroma, defiled herself by descending into the filth. There she became trapped, and fights to find the redeemable in all souls, that they may, through a special spiritual knowledge, return to the glory of their true home of peace and perfect light. Sophia’s hope is that she will eventually be rescued by the Christ-figure—her true love—and the two of them together will free the world.
Resources About the Gnostics
There is a book by Elaine Pagels called Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas. It was reviewed by Christianity Today International’s Books & Culture and The New York Review of Books. A site for neo-gnosticism can be found at the Gnostic Society.
And for discussions about Gnosticism as it relates to The Matrix, go to an article called “Wake Up!—Gnosticism and Buddhism in The Matrix”.
What Is (All This About) The Matrix?
The Matrix trilogy still could be a Christian parable, I suppose. The Gnostics, for the most part, were Christians. As Frederica Mathewes-Green points out in her Books & Culture article “The most-cited Gnostic text, the Gospel of Thomas, mixes familiar sayings of Jesus with others of more mystical bent. These are sometimes cryptic but hardly outrageous. They’re not far different from Christian poetry and mysticism through the ages.”
But the sticking point for me is the idea of the Divine Feminine. If it turns out that there is no powerful feminine force throughout the series that reveals herself at the end to be more than what she seemed, then I suppose it could be considered a Christian parable. But if a character turns out to be Sophia-like, then—like it or not—it’s a Gnostic parable. And if you’d like to know my prediction, (if you haven’t figured it out already) then read the next paragraph. Or if you’d rather not see my potential SPOILER, then don’t read it. But remember, once you pick, you can never go back. So will it be the red pill, or the blue?
My guess is that Trinity is the mother of the Matrix. Not the Oracle. She is the program initially created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche, as quoted by the Architect (or, the Child of Chaos). It is she who restores life to Neo with a kiss in The Matrix after he is gunned down by Agent Smith. It is she who has degraded herself (in the eyes of the machine world) by descending into the world of the flesh. Trinity is the Sophia.
The vibrant colors of Autumn are so short-lived, and give way to the dismal colors of winter. The leaves rattle like dry bones, and swirl like dust-devils in untrod corners. The spirits are here. They will drift through the tall, dead grasses. They will get tangled in the sky-reaching knuckles of bare trees. They will spook the cat, or perhaps the cat will spook them. They will live in our old grandfather clock, and sweep through our dreams. “How do you do?” they will say, sipping out of miniature tearoses filled to the brim of petal swirls with a wan brew of steeped cobwebs and the crushed leaves of cypress picked from Böcklin's lost painting. You will wake only after Faustian bargains and Sisyphian labors, which will melt away inconsequentially. After you leave for work, they will stoop over the faucet, subsisting on the clockwork drip of the cold, cold tap, waiting for you to return so they may warm themselves by the accidental charge from your carpet stockings. Or perhaps they will enjoy the warm glow caused by the turning of a book leaf. And they will stay until the spring equinox, where they will be replaced with green and fertile spirits. Or perhaps the late autumnal spirits are just the ghosts and ethereal bones of the fey summer elves, waiting to be reborn.