n E exponentiation ezine [7.0] ISSN 1555-693X http://www.anus.com/zine Contents: I. News II. Culture III. Features IV. Literature V. Self-Sufficiency Society has lost grips with reality and its ideals. A functional and healthy society is one ripe with ideals that help model the world in a way that makes it healthier, stronger and more fulfilled. This is to say that a healthy society is one that is philosophically tuned, environmentally minded, creative, realistic and optimistic. Collectively we do not strive for much beyond our momentary pleasure. We have lost ourselves in a sea of noise and technology gone awry. To regain personal and social health we must reform our ideals and mold them into something livable, as the ancients did. Goals must first be set for ourselves and we must develop our characters before we can set ideals and goals for our culture at large. When we are fit internally we are better able to serve the external world for the two states are direct models of each other. The bee does not serve itself or its community well by buzzing in circles, but it serves its community and itself by obtaining what is in its natural life's pattern, namely the need to pollinate and create honey. Each of us too must find our individual design pattern and manifest it in reality so that we can pollinate our world and see to its health. If we can get in touch with the world and ourselves via idealism and heroism, we will begin to fulfill more of our goals, which in turn will manifest their beauty and influence in the realm of friends and family, making us and them happier and healthier. Only after personal struggle and philosophic contemplation will we begin to heal our societal body of its sicknesses. If we fail to reverse our steps and march forward with a envisioned model of how the world can be, we remain lost in the dark, alienated from ourselves and others. It's time to get back in touch with reality and act in accordance with an absolute ideal upon which the fruits of reality can flower within us. It's time for a new dawn. ------- News ------- Altruism is Abandoned February 10, 2008 AUSTIN, TX - In a sweeping change yesterday in the nature of charity, a number of prominent and popular causes, once thought glamorous to pursue, have been largely abandoned by local activists. The drastic turnabout is thought to stem from local attacks by Purpose, who according to police is a longtime rival of so-called "activists" and activist causes, particularly those of a self-styled "altruist" bent. Sometimes referred to as Meaning, Purpose has been known to make simple thoughts and convictions with regard to reality painful to bear, often blindsiding victims with pangs of responsibility and re-instated self-doubt, destroying unnecessary ego, and resulting in total retreat from visible activist work. John Foley, a local Darfur genocide activist and alleged victim of Purpose, described his attack as "surprising" and "vicious". "I have no idea what happened...one moment I was sitting in the coffee shop ranting about the monumental injustice of the Bush administration's complacency about Darfur, and the next I felt an awful, sharp pain in my stomach and thought I heard someone mock me for my selfish whining, telling me to do something useful." When asked what this meant for the future of his work, Foley quickly added, "There won't be any. Stopping genocide on the other side of the planet is not worth this kind of trauma" and returned to nursing a latte. Like Foley, many of yesterday's victims have reported hearing distinct taunts, though this could not be corroborated by witnesses. Reports of contents of the taunts ranged from "your methods and goals are ineffective" and "you're only doing this for yourself" to "you would never really suffer for what you believe". For many activist-victims, the taunts purportedly used as a part of the attacks were the worst part of their experience. "Hearing that my sacrifices were irrelevant was...like, much worse than the taste of bile in my throat and sinking feeling in my gut" admitted Mindy Ungerman, a Green advocate and event leader. "I mean, I gave up my toaster and regular bathing for the Earth...it hurts not to be recognized for that. Pain like this makes me just want to drop the shallow moral pretense and try to re-examine my place in things." An unintended consequence of these attacks has been the mass discarding of sign making material typically employed by activists for protests. The markers and paint, in many cases discarded haphazardly, have volatilized or made their way through the city's storm sewer system, threatening the local watershed. Paper and poster board has also made its way to the Colorado River and has become problematic for local wildlife. Amanda Nielsen, a city government employee in charge of pollution and waste management, was aghast at the lack of volunteers for the immediate clean-up effort: "I thought this city was full of self-sacrificing activists and other do-gooder types. This problem is real and immediate...why is nobody around to help?" -=- US Federal Reserve Acts on Grade Inflation February 13, 2008 WASHINGTON, DC (EFN) - Citing fears of the possibility of runaway grade inflation, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, announced today the Fed's decision to raise the grade interest rate by half a percent. The Fed, normally concerned with economic matters only, and the recent source of consecutive interest rate cuts in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage debacle, surprised many by their sudden foray into education and social policy. Bernanke was quick to defend the move. In an uncharacteristically candid and animated explication of the power grab, he stated "Grade inflation, despite the feel good 'everybody wins' culture it helps sustain, is tearing this country apart from the inside. It frankly has more to do with economic matters than the head games we normally play with rate changes and forecasts for money that doesn't really exist." Asked to elaborate, Bernanke became visibly irritated, but continued calmly: "Look. See how the US dollar is nose-diving under the general realization that it is tied to nothing of concrete value? The same goes for an 'A' passed to a typical student for mediocre work in American History. As soon as the meaninglessness of that 'A' is understood it will become totally worthless. We are propping up entire generations with 'intelligence capital' that just isn't there, just as we have spent away our future on tract housing and fried food on Arab and Chinese credit, and not actual labor or resources." After receiving quizzical looks from the journalists present, Bernanke became more violent. "This couldn't be any simpler," he started, "but I'll speak more slowly so you can write it down. WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. The basis for our entire society is completely in our heads. We have raised a nation of slovenly idiots, people who think they can get something for nothing, whether it is in mortgage borrowing or high school algebra. Look around, we are obviously not getting smarter, yet the percentage of students reporting 'A' averages in high school has gone up 40% in 30 years. Does this seem sensible to you? Does this seem like REALITY?" After pounding the podium and catching his breath, Bernanke finished by adding, "we hope the increase in the grade interest rate will curb this problem long enough for me and my cronies to buy a nice armored house on a remote piece of fenced property while you morons grapple over the post-apocalyptic scraps. Goodbye." Local teachers unions, asked to comment, described their work with grading as "dutiful" and "patriotic." Lance Boyer, a science teacher at Al Sharpton Junior High School, unhesitantly justified his work on further grounds: "Everyone likes good grades. So what? Even if they don't earn them, I don't mind giving them something to keep them in line. For one, who knows who might be packing heat? I don't want to disappoint their overfed, overbearing, and entitled baby-boomer and Gen X parents, either, or get the diversity mongers on my back if I give a bad grade to the wrong person. Everybody wins as far as I'm concerned. I take my paltry paycheck and scram, glad enough no higher-ups bother me about those undisclosed felonies on my record." Upon news of the rate increase, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed more than 700 points, an all time record gain for the index. --------- Culture --------- Music: Artist: Magma Album: Mekanik Destructiw Kommandoh Label: Phantom Sound & Vision Year: 1973 Mekanik Destructiw Kommandoh (M.D.K.) is a bombastic, driving album from France's Magma. The main compositional force is Christian Vander, who utilizes themes present in this album in a later work, where they area retooled to a minimalistic ensemble. Instrumentation here is rather quirky, but not unbelievable for a progressive band from the 1970s. For instance, atop the standard rock instrumentation of drum kit (this one being diverse, and exceptionally well used), guitar, and bass (certain passages have smooth trills that suggest the bass player is using a fretless bass), a full chorus is employed, as well as a brass section. However, while standard rock instruments are used, the chorus, bass, and drum seem to be the main driving force in the compositions. One of the album's main features is a forceful, forward moving repetition of thematic material in all instruments: motivic chunks may exist for only a measure or consist of full although short phrases, with subtle variations in melody, harmony, and dynamic to provide momentum and build up to the next idea. When guitar appears, it is in a lead capacity, usually overshadowed by the other elements of the music, but for that, adding tension to the repeated patterns, encouraging transitions. Another thing that stands out is the immensity of syncopation and conflicting time signatures that in themselves provide a contrast temporally. The intense rhythmic power of each track betrays the composers professional training as a drummer. Even dynamics and motivic variations, which essentially serve to increase the force and activity of the music, are very mindful of their rhythmic orientation. A homophonic texture prevails throughout, with contrapuntal periods providing fierce syncopation and tension. It should be noted that this impulse doesn't seem to have a strong connection to rock, where rhythm is generally just a container for harmonic movement. M.D.K.'s rhythmic sensibilities are somehow more primal and vital, yet for it's complexity, sophisticated. Time signatures vary, and conflicting signatures create a peculiar groove that usually resolves itself with transition to a new musical concept. Like the best music with complex signatures it all remains fluid and coherent; it is alive and violent, agitated. The sound is also incredibly warlike and triumphant. The choral passages in their intensifying chants sound like harbingers of chaos with steady, ominous and sustained notes, or frantically chanted and flawlessly repeated vocal melodies that insist their madness to the listener. Though the lyrics are writing in a constructed language, one can understand the impression given by the shouting voice in Nebëhr Gudatt which seems to suggest impassioned oration, or the soprano screams, which seem tortuous, like an individual murder or the yelps of the mob as it is slaughtered piecemeal. The whole album, being conceptual, builds up to an extreme climax with full instrumentation and an explosive pace, where musical conflicts are only measures apart, the chorus is heated, and everything seems to dissolve at the end of Mekanïk Kommandöh, leading the way to the melancholy and divergent Kreühn Köhrmahn Iss De Hündïn, the album's final track, which seems to contemplate ruin and aftermath--hard earned success. A finely crafted and unique piece of energetic music. The conclusion is ultimately menacing, and coupled with a final, bittering drone of feedback, suggests something defeated but not entirely gone. Where rhythms contrast and independent themes battle back and forth in temporal nearness, the underlying feeling becomes apparent: the conflict between man and man; the difficulty of sustaining peace where different ideas regarding the fundamental nature of things cause deep and impassible chasms between communities, which set out to assert themselves, or simply to defend themselves. - Risc -=- Artist: Sombrous Album: Transcending the Umbra Label: Forever Plagued Records Year: 2004 Sombrous composes droning ambient music in the vein of Biosphere; a cosmic, minimalist aesthetic is gradually built up by tiny, emotive details in the texture of the music, giving voice to a cosmic meta-layer that seems to be one of the primary attractions of listening to this. It's very well executed in the sense that the few tonal changes that dictate the most simple of melodies, smoothly are cycled in epic-long conjectures, during which the listener feels as if melodic development and synth collage melt into one musical brush. The nature of this music is what draws millions of people to this genre; it escapes the formality of popular music and aims instead for an esoteric patterning, much like classical music, where the focus moves from the rhythmic basis and the chorus to the details in the harmonic essence. In the music of Sombrous there are no choruses, only a main theme that diverges into new territory, through detailed instrumental changes that force the listener to pay attention to the music while falling into some kind of meditative trance. The impact is seductive and absorbing, unlike most modern ambient today that often falls short. The repetitive methodology sometimes loses direction, which is often the case with ambient music of this sort, but the medium itself enables us to create while interpreting, which means that every textural change is a potential back door to a new feeling or sensation. The music speaks to our creativity and emotive understanding but Sombrous is doing something far off from the trails of Klaus Schulze or Tangerine Dream. The last epic on this album is called "Stoicism," which I believe is telling for the music itself; not a withdrawal from emotions but a bold, deconstructive perception of life as a continuous transformation of colliding and dissolving forces. Dreamy, suggestive and fantasy rich, "Transcending the Umbra" reveals through musical cryptology our consciousness as both an organic part of the universe, as well as an independent energy to cause havoc, beauty and change. - Alexis -=- Artist: Tangerine Dream Album: Stratosfear Label: Virgin Records Year: 1976 In the album Stratosfear, Tangerine Dream presents a vigorous and dreamy neo-symphonic work taking advantage of atypical instruments and musical technologies available at the time. Synthesizers do the work of representing classical instruments such as flute and piano, as well as being used to provide their own unique tone colours. Classical devices litter this work and show both technical proficiency and creative vitality. A symphonic structure is evident: a division into four movements with structure and tempo varied in the tradition of the greatest classical symphonies. Electric counterpoint is prominent throughout the recording, with rhythmic lines serving as a ground for harmony and also thematic development while arpeggios weave in and out of one another in a musical dance of abstract thought. Melodic lines are echoey and self-referential. In the opening movement, patterns mutate recursively and thematic lines evolve; sections return in completeness as a striking analogue to the structural and aesthetic wisdom of the great composers of the past. The titles of the tracks reflect the bizarre, dreamy soundscapes Tangerine Dream builds in each movement. A great deal of reverb and instruments with droning, brooding energy are present; airy dissonance builds up tension underneath classically influenced phrases. Unusual shifts created by the unexpected introduction of electric tones, abrupt 12-string guitar chords, and noise, much the way the dreams of humans tend to shift illogically, almost magically. In the final movement, an abrupt chord paves the way for a wandering solo overtop jostled permutations of rhythmic elements in the introductory section of the movement before revealing thematic reference to the beginning of the album, providing conceptual unity to the entire digital symphony. These devices are used to introduce and conclude the entire work; rising tones pave way to the initial rhythmic energy that draws in the listener; a melancholy piano coda, thematically unrelated to the rest of the album, concludes the final movement with an airy piano melody cadenced stark and tense chord that sharpens the listeners awareness and expectations in the manner of waking from a dream and being ushered back into reality. In the end, one is left with the feeling of imaginative, subconscious beauty taking hold of the spirit and ever lifting the listener upward into a reflective, abstract realm of symbols and an ethereal force that is both melancholic and driving. A great accomplishment of electronic art music. - Alexis ---- Books: Title: Hamlet Author: William Shakespeare Publisher: Washington Square Press (July 1, 2003) Hamlet could be one of the most compelling characters in Western literature. Widely read and even more widely discussed, William Shakespeare's masterpiece continues to baffle its readers with ever-new truths revealed. Perhaps mostly famous for its existential rhetoric quote - "To be or not to be, that is the question" - "Hamlet" is a tragic-comic tale about the murder of the royal Danish king by Claudius, who marries the queen Gertrude and becomes the new political leader of Denmark. Prince Hamlet receives information from the spirit of his father, about the murder and the corrupt motives of the new king. He calls for revenge. Hamlet burns with hate and spends his time planning an assassination of Claudius, thus free his mother through human dignity. He decides to play insane to confuse the king and queen about his true motives. The story becomes complicated when Ophelia, the daughter to the royal servant Polonius, falls in love with Hamlet, and is forced to manipulate Hamlet into revealing his secrets. Hamlet recognizes this and disconnects the relationship to Ophelia, which drives her to commit suicide. Further, the son of Polonius, Laertes, becomes involved with the intrigue when Hamlet accidentally kills his father. Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is a story with many dimensions. First and foremost, it deals with the conflict between public and private perception of reality. Although we in modern society tend to see everything around us as "real," the truth is that most of what we experience can be manipulated by social opinion. Hamlet is the individual who realizes this and tries to use the knowledge to his advantage, in order to create a "common space" for reality at large. He penetrates illusion by playing with it. But "Hamlet" is also a study of the human psyche and the basic conditions for love and compassion. For Ophelia and Hamlet, love is a both a socially and politically impossibility, due to the surrounding factors restraining and preventing them from being together. This drives Ophelia over the edge, knowing her love will never be answered in her lifetime. Likewise, Laertes finally understands that hate is only an emotional reaction, which might be manipulated by anyone sharing the same motives for revenge. On top of this, Shakespeare penetrates the Christian dogma of his time, questioning fundamental principles such as "pray," "truth," "peace," and the existence of God. As expected, Shakespeare was a product of his time, and the Renaissance humanism means the focus remains on the individual and his approach to life itself. What makes Shakespeare unique in this regard is that he doesn't describe an isolated experience, but portray the fundamental conditions for human existence at large, leaving individual experience as a means of communicating a larger truth. Because even if this drama will continue to compel new readers for centuries, it no less succeeds - with an unmatched ability to create humor through the play with rhetoric argumentation and a sharp depiction of human emotions in contrast to rationality -in capturing some of the most intense moments in European culture, and humankind at large. - Alexis -=- Title: Welcome to the Machine: Science, Surveilence, and the Culture of Control Author: Derrick Jensen and George Draffan Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company (September 15, 2004) "Welcome to the machine: Science, Surveillance and the Culture of Control" is a compelling book by anti-modernist writer Derrick Jensen, author of the evocative, "A Language Older than Words." Jensen here is teamed with George Draffan, a fellow social critic whose amount of contributions to this text are undetermined. In this text Jensen takes on the culture of the machine and does so often with a biting and satirical tongue. While perhaps a bit too hippieish and even culturally paranoid on its surface, "Welcome to the Machine" is a text full of insightful commentary regarding modern commercialism, surveillance and technological obsession. In this regard the text draws some parallels with Ted Kacynski's "Industrial Civilization and Its Future" as it attempts to unflinchingly critique and attack many of modern societies neuroses and technological delusions. The text delves into the subsequent cultural effects that technology has on cultures and individuals and it effectively shows the interconnected nature of the major industries of our society, particularly between the media/commercial industry and the military industrial complex. The book, thankfully, is not a scholarly monograph or some other such piece of writing devoid of boldness and emotion. The book is both well researched and opinionated and does not fail to wear its heart on its sleeve, which is both to its benefit and disadvantage; to its advantage in that it boldly faces reality and expresses opinions and ideas even if they are not politically correct, but to its disadvantage when it launches into the same realm of uncontrolled sentiment that ruined the credibility of many counter-cultural movements. The text also has a tendency to adopt some safe and conventional "radical" views, but it nonetheless launches an attack on many of the sacred cows of modern society, including philosophic liberalism and its economic and political offshoots. In one regard the text is more humanitarian than most humanists in that, in its heart, it cares about life and the entire organization and systems that support life; as such it is not willing to morn the loss of individuals in the battle against environmental and social degradation. The philosophy of this book can trace its roots back to counter-cultural environmental and anti-authoritarian philosophy, however it is upgraded in this text and given a more hardened and mature edge. The book is not so much a call to arms, but a polemic against surveillance and technological manipulation in our culture. It is simultaneously intelligent and paranoid, making for interesting reading even if it leaves one recoiling over its oversensitivity's like one recoils from a street preacher. The fruits are aplenty here though, especially in regards to the effects of technology on culture, particularly in the form of marketing and mass manipulation. Look for some interesting insights and information on RFID tags, national id cards, schooling's relationship to prisons as well as the use of military tools in advertising and more. The book embraces a sense of realism as it addresses the hard and ugly and attempts to set its opinions and ideals in a foundation intent on doing what's best for the world at large, even if that means putting various politically correct social ideologies on the back burner if they do not serve the more pressing cause of preserving our environment and making our cultures richer, healthier and happier. On the other hand the text also succumbs to some of the squabbling and under-thought solutions to current problems that stuck a knife in the counter-culture of the late 60's. In the case of this text it's wise to follow the path and view the many trees, but don't necessarily accept all the insights and solutions given, although some of them are fruitful and worth thinking about. What's nice about this book as opposed to other texts that come from the same counter-cultural background, is that it does not adopt Tim Leary's counter-culture slogan of "tune in and drop out." The authors fully recognize the impossibility of ever "dropping out" and instead advocate action. The philosophy of these authors appears developed enough to the point that they recognize they are still products of their environment and they can never run and escape that as the back to land movement attempted, however they also recognize the need for radical change and attempt to address that change via modern communication means. Those curious about psychological warfare, marketing control and gimmickry will find something interesting to read in this text. -=- Title: Irminsûl Author: Varg Vikernes Publisher: Cymophane Publishing (2002) Reading the thoughts and ideas by Varg Vikernes is always, in one way or another, a challenge. The young teenager declaring himself to be an inhuman Satanist, has today grown up to become a pan-Germanic nationalist, advocating eugenics and Aryan mythological ideology. Like always when reading something by this man, one has to take his ideas with a pinch of salt. While it is beyond doubt that Vikernes is a highly intelligent man, he also tends to migrate into very radical rhetoric, too far out for most people. This somewhat limits his reading base to the Burzum-fans and the dissident nationalists in Europe, interested in what this man has to say. In his book "Irminsûl", Vikernes talks about the god-pillar that in ancient times was worshipped by Germanic tribes. He historically binds the knowledge of the statue and takes it to a mythological perspective, where he claims that it represents Thor. Thor, he says, symbolizes the physical force of gravity. He connects Thor with the Roman god Jupiter, to explain how the planet Jupiter prevents physical matter to crash down on planet Earth, and thus bind Thor to this same power in the universe. The god-pillar, consisting out of two "arms", symbolizes the gravity-force of Thor and the explosion-force of Woden. This means, Vikernes agues, that Woden is behind the scientific phenomenon called "Big Bang", where space matter expanded and eventually formed that which we today refer to as "the universe", while Thor is behind the gravity force which tries to implode all matter and delay the expansion of the universe. The main idea behind this discussion is the central force, sitting on the throne of the god-pillar, called Frey, which traditionally is understood as the god of fertility among Nordic pagan cults from pre-Christian times. Vikernes explains that Frey represents a balance between the expansion and the gravity of the universe, to achieve a state of harmony with life. He then talks about how humanity is able to create technology to achieve that balance, and this is where we start to see the good old Varg behind all of this: the Aryan race is the only race able to create this advanced technology, and can only reach this state through eugenics and racial separation. Who could guess? The interesting about this book is that it manages to cover so many fields of understanding: science, mythology, philosophy, history, etymology, politics - you name it. What's even more interesting is that the discussion seem to be very well grounded and contain very few holes. One has to understand this is Vikernes, when we read about how an alien race might have recreated itself through the Aryan race on Earth to immortalize its spirit. Still, it's impossible to discard that this man is very intelligent and paints a surprisingly intriguing perspective, justifying nationalism, eugenics, and a spiritual lifestyle close to nature. It's arguable whether one agrees with him on all points, and some debates may come off as completely absurd, yet we're not able to neglect this book as something irrelevant. No other scientist, if one may call Vikernes a scientist, has come up with the kind of quasi-mythological, quasi-philosophic debate around the creation and maintenance of the universe, like this man has. It's obvious that he takes his ideas seriously and that a lot of studying has gone into the creation of this short but intense material. Through an amazing allegoric depiction of Indo-european thought and culture, we experience a radical but nonetheless fascinating insight, into the mind of one of the most peculiar and far-out thinkers of our modern time. - Alexis ---- Cinema: Film: Videodrome Director: David Cronenberg Release: 1983 "The Television screen is the retina of the minds eye" - Videodrome Videodrome is an acid trip of a film that reflects parts of the philosophy of Canadian media ecologist Marshall McLuhan as well as French post-modernist philosopher Jean Baudrillard. The film stars James Woods as tv executive Max Renn, who specializes in showing dirty and smutty underground films on obscure late night television channels. The film is directed by the ever pervasive and perverse David Cronenberg, who also directed William S. Burrough's "Naked Lunch" as well as an array of sci-fi/horror films like "The Fly," and "Scanners." Videodrome follows the story of Max Renn as he seeks out new and shocking entertainment to show on his late night television station. Renn is an amoralist who thrives on personal gain, no matter what the expense. Renn, however, doesn't believe what he is showing on tv is real, it's all just entertainment. But things get strange for Renn as he discover's a new shocking program, Videodrome. Videodrome is a shocking late night feature shot with a candid camera and featuring lewd acts of bondage, S&M and murder. Renn becomes so obsessed with Videodrome that he demands to find its source and creator. However Renn soon discover's Videodrome is real and it begins effecting his life. Over time the media enterprise Renn thinks he is controlling slowly starts to leak into his world to control him. Videodrome becomes reality and begins infecting his life, so much so that he begins having hallucinations that he is becoming an extension of his television and vcr set. The film takes up some ideas from Marshall McLuahan, the Canadian philosopher who dubbed the term "the medium is the message" to describe the all pervasive influence of a media technology upon its environment. In the modern era the media has become our environment and we live partly in a simulation of information transformation and dub it "reality" (i.e. "reality" tv). The medium itself has the power to shape the way we think and act. Those of us living in media cultures are so indoctrinated with media sources that we don't even question or challenge their authenticity. We have lost the ability to trust our eyes because "it's all just entertainment" or "it's not really real." But in essence the medium works to effect and shape us, making it very real. In Videodrome we find a film that blurs the line between "reality" of the physical world and the "reality" of the media world. The two become so intertwined that after a while, like the character of Max Renn, we can't tell the difference. This is where the philosophy of Jean Baudrillard comes in, with his idea of hyper-reality and simulacrum. Videodrome represents a hyper reality, in that what it presents to us becomes more real than real. Max Renn's character lives in the world of technology so much so that it takes over his consciousness. We are unsure if the hallucinations he starts to have after viewing Videodrome are pure fantasy, or if they are in fact things that are occurring. In his search for the source of Videodrome, Renn discovers the tapes of Dr. Brian O'Bliveon, a media ecologist who has died in body but who has transferred himself into an infinite series of videos, of which Max Renn discovers and plays. Many of the tapes are addressed exclusively to Renn and are philosophic explorations of the power of the new technological mediums and their ability to control our living space so much so that we live more in them than we do in the physical world around us. O'Bliveon reveals to Renn a secret about Videodrome, that it is in fact a weapon designed to take over mass consciousness by enveloping the brain with a tumor that creates hallucinations. This is a rather Cronenbergian twist as many of his films blend the line between biology and technology and show how the two effect and interact with each other. By the time Renn learns of Videodrome's secrets it is too late. Renn, over time, is taken over by Videodrome and begins to change into a technological unit fit to fulfill Videodrome's desire to become the new reality. A secret cabal of Videodrome's creators contact Renn and attempt to load him with a videotape in order to program him to fulfill their needs. Renn resists but eventually is overcome and is essentially downloaded with data. His body eventually becomes melded with a gun hand that shoots ectoplasm that dissolves the body of its victim. This motif is a common one in Cronenberg's films as he often likes to deal with biology and the body. What more perfect territory to explore than the body and its relationship to our disembodying technologies such as the television and the computer? An interesting twist occurs in the film however as the Videodrome program subverted Renn's downloading process and actually reprogrammed him to kill its creators. By the end of the film we are left only with Videodrome and its material offshoot, Max Renn, just before he kills himself to enter Videodrome. The film ends with the iconic line "long live the new flesh." The film's use of the term "new flesh" hauntingly predicted the internet boom of the 90's and its slew of online gamers giving over their bodily existence to "the game". With the internet and television more and more people are now spending large portions of their time in a disembodied intellectual medium. The medium itself has the power, like Videodrome, to overtake us and shape us in its image. Television has become the basis of reality for many in our culture. Show a teenager a picture of gore from a film vs real gore and they might tell you the real gore looks fake. In fact such psychological tests have been done and the startling results are that those who have become indoctrinated by media are less likely to tell the difference. Media technologies shape the way we view the world and essentially make up "the new flesh." Videodrome uses both the film medium and the sci-fi/horror genre to encapsulate philosophically complex ideas relevant to our modern technological age and its obsession with disembodiment. By using horror and sci-fi elements Videodrome effectively works as a shocking film that leaves images in your head that contain philosophic weight. Cronenberg is an interesting director who leaves a love hate relationship in many viewers, this one included. But the challenge is worth it as there are ripe rewards to be found in the problems and issues Cronenberg's film raises. Long live the new flesh! - Gestalt -=- Film: A Clockwork Orange Director: Stanley Kubrick Release: 1972 A Clockwork Orange, an adaptation of the highly acclaimed novel written by Anthony Burgess, is one of the best and surely the most controversial movie made by Stanley Kubrick, one of the greatest film directors of the 20th century. The movie deals with themes of morality, role of the individual in the society, his free will and choice between good and evil and whether his humanity is lost when the society deprives him of that choice. Banned in many countries for its realistic scenes of violence and disturbing message, A Clockwork Orange tackles the heaviest problems of society with sardonic wit and satire which leaves nobody indifferent. A Clockwork Orange is a story about a vicious young man named Alex who, together with his gang, sets out into the nights of London beating, raping and robbing people without the slightest remorse because he is drawn and fascinated with "ultraviolence". Under Alex's ruthless and decisive leadership, the gang becomes notorious for their crimes. During one of their nocturnal rampages, Alex kills an old woman and is then betrayed by his gang, which leaves him to the clutches of the police. Sentenced to 14 years in prison, Alex finds himself in a situation from which he desperately tries to escape. After serving a few years in prison, Alex hears about the experimental Ludovico Treatment Technique, which is designed to suppress the desire for criminal behavior of the individual by injecting him with a serum, that causes him excruciating pain whenever he tries to act violently. Now being "reformed," Alex returns to society with uncertain future and many obstacles in front of him... With the brilliant Malcolm McDowell in the lead role, the actors are successfully portraying characters who fell lost and disillusioned in the declining society. Using innovative filming techniques, the director Stanley Kubrick made the movie as a dreamy journey by effectively using wide fisheye lenses and slow and fast motion in certain scenes which further break the illusion of reality; the story is seen through Alex's perspective and it is set in futuristic England. Almost all of the scenes were real locations, successfully showing the bleakness of a dysfunctional society. The slang language used in the movie is called "Nadsat" and it consists of Slavic words (for example "droog" and "britva" translate as "friend" and "razor") and it greatly contributes to the movie's uniqueness, so does the revolutionary soundtrack of Wendy Carlos, comprised mostly of reworkings of classical music with the Moog synthesizer which add a futuristic as well as familiar and archaic flavor. The critique in the movie is multilayered, satirical and sharp. Its primary targets are the society and the natural state of man, which is, according to Kubrick, brutal and violent and any society based on the false picture of that nature is probably doomed to failure. That is why the society is going berserk and oppressive, which artificial and mechanical methods try to "produce" the goodness in the individual by forcing him to act that way, so he also becomes artificial and mechanical, like the title of the movie suggests. He showed the two extremes of man's natural state and society's "civilizing" methods. The society tries to quickly and easily resolve its deepest problems, but concentrates only on the effect, not the cause. Its exceedingly bureaucratic nature is masterfully and humorously shown with long scenes of characters involved in protocol, signing multiple copies of forms, which further illustrate its incompetence. The movie, made in 1972, also criticizes behavioral psychology (which was popular at that time) which dehumanizes the individual and treats him like a robot whose faults can be fixed with the "stick and a carrot" approach. The satirical criticism of complex and deep issues of the society, as well as its innovative language, filming techniques and musical score continues to amaze, and upset critics and audience to this day, which serves as the best recommendation for seeing this movie. - Draugdur -=- Film: Conan the Barbarian Director: John Milius Release: 1982 The Sword and Sorcery genre is filled with all kinds of ludicrous garbage, that commonly ends up being a bad excuse for nudity and cheap ketchup effects. But as with movies in general, there are still a few gems out there of worth to seek out. "Conan the Barbarian" is one of them. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Conan, the innocent child that sees his family being slaughtered by a vicious warrior cult. Enslaved and used for hard labor, Conan grows up to become a strong and powerful man, eventually turned into a battle figure for his lord. One night when set free, Conan begins exploring the world around him and prepare to fulfill his destiny: to take revenge upon the warrior cult leader that killed his family and wiped out his tribe. "Conan the Barbarian" is an edgy mix of war, passion and religion. Its narrative is loosely based upon Nordic mythology and seems to defend those values as a contrast against the mystic "snake cult" that is responsible for the death of Conan's tribe. This cult develops into a "worship of the flesh," which together with its submissive and materialistic character, becomes a symbol of Christianity and its inverted spiritual understanding of the world. Conan and his god Crom defend the pagan belief in "steel," that is, the power of war, strength and courage. While the movie clearly wants to portray the conflict between these two religious worlds, it never holds water as a philosophical or artistic creation. Most effects are horrible, the dialogues are many times laughable and there's little of any sympathy for the characters involved. As an existential drama it is dodgy and confusing. A lot of scenes sweep the narrative over with bland scenes of sword fights and poorly simulated sex scenes. On the other hand, this is also where this film seems to provoke a sense of immersive experience. It's bold and fierce without becoming too pretentious. It has something to say but often uses clumsy ways of saying it. While it's impossible to deny the B-grade factor of "Conan the Barbarian," the lucid but creative and beautiful passages of positive human desire and its equivalence in uncontrollable destruction, turn this violent, robust piece of cinema into a cheap but powerful epic that displays and confronts us with a belief in individual destiny and heroic sacrifice. - Alexis ---------- Features ---------- The Fire We Wield One of the most memorable moments in movie history is found in the opening sequence to the epic film "2001: A Space Odyssey." In the sequence an ape, in what appears to be a prehistoric desert, comes upon a pile of bones. After a lone moment of contemplation the ape picks up what appears to be a leg bone and discovers a practical use for it as a club and hammer. With his newly found club the ape swings and hammers the other bones, shattering them. In so doing the ape has proven to himself that the bones can be more than just an inanimate pile in the desert; his practical idea has become a tool using practice. After hammering the ground with his bone club, the ape then returns to his tribe with his new tool. Later when the apes and his tribe engage in battle against a rivaling tribe for a puddle of water, the club wielding ape cudgels a challenging ape down with his bone, thus effecting the idea that this bone can be both hammer and weapon and in so doing he drives the hostile band away. The sequence just described depicted a turning point in one tribe's life and their evolution, and ultimately that of the whole species of apes. As a tribe the band of apes overcame an obstacle holding them back from survival in a desert terrain, which in turn effected a leap in evolution by the usage of the tool that aided them. No longer would they be held back by competitors and now they could be more resourceful in the gathering of resources as the bone became a tool with many uses. In an evolutionary sense the band of apes substituted strength for smarts and by relying on the latter they were able to steer their species in another direction by prevailing over the lesser adapt tribes. Why should the band of apes wield strength if intellect provides the keenest edge to carve out a space for their species in an ecological niche? A flip side to this newly developed advantage is that the advantage can become a crutch when it is upheld at other attributes' expense. Gaining smarts reduced their physical strength, hence certain bodily possibilities they once inhabited in their environment are now cut off from them, but a whole new set of possibilities are gained through the growth of their intellect. Apart from the series of changes the tribe itself underwent by adopting a single hammer tool, their development reflects itself in the environment they inhabit as well, for surely species effect their environment as much as their environment effects them; the most obvious example being that the tool now allows them to find more sources of food, which effects the ecology and enables the ape species to grow in population and use their surroundings more efficiently at the expense of previously unabused or untapped resources. Tools and their usage thus effect entire ecologies and not just the species that use them. --Technology's Effects on Our Species-- Instead of focusing on our evolutionary ancestors, the effects of technology are best evaluated from a modern standpoint. We have evolved to be a tool-using species since the very first tool was put into usage to help us brave the world. Tools have aided us in gathering food, building shelter and in protecting us from the cold. All this has also contributed to an increase in our population. A principle behind this species growth is that as the requirements for living are eased, the environment can sustain a larger population; the people can live off the land more effectively. Living more effectively in an environment does not come free, however, as every action always has a consequence and leaves its footprint in the sand. Of course not every tool is equally as powerful and consequential either. Primitive innovations can hardly be compared to modern ones in terms of sheer power of impact on their environment as the general resource drain required to produce modern tools is far greater than that required to produce primitive tools. Note however that much modern technology is built on the backs of old technology. In other words, modern tools wouldn't exist if at one point there had been nothing to enhance upon. A tractor can be envisioned as an evolved plow, however the environmental and species impact of a plow vs a tractor is large and it is questionable as to whether the industrial tractor is as sustainable as the plow. If not, old tools are more adaptable then many modern ones in terms of sustainability. Looking back on our collective history as a species it is easy to argue that we have improved upon many fields of our everyday lives: transportation, food gathering and production, and shelter construction to name a few. When mankind hauled its logs with horses, tilled the fields with ox and plow, and lived in villages of houses made of sturdy logs, there was much "slack" to be seen, and these few tasks were done with inferior efficiency compared to this day and age of industrial machines. Nowadays there are logging machines and trucks that have largely replaced the horses and sleds of old; tractors and special machines are designed to till our fields; dense cities are erected to provide housing and services for the folk, who now move with four wheels on pavement instead of by feet on the path. All this happened, in part, because there was room for improvement upon old tools. To us it might be difficult to see the technological lineage behind the environmental surroundings we now inhabit because we often don't think of another environment laying underneath the heavily technologically enhanced one we are accustomed to. However, in order to gain insight into technology and its effects on us we must be able to think big and re-envision our surroundings and link our technologies back to their effects and consequences. In the modern world we literally inhabit an industrial and technological sheath; exceptions are granted for people's still living a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Technology has become our ecology and in order to gain knowledge about where we are going collectively we need to retrace the line of our technologies back to their origins and re-envision their usages and practicalities. We have to see the landscape again as it was when it was unformed by human hands. Then can we better wield our technology and understand and shape it with a model for a better future in mind. To do this with true effectiveness we must, as Nietzsche noted, understand our rootedness in the earth. Resources are not infinitely renewable after all. It at present obvious that we have had a gigantic negative effect on our environment, leading to what some might call imprisonment by our own devices. Attempt a thought experiment for yourself to get a better grasp of our current situation. Look around you while in the middle of a city, take note of the number of inventions we have made: a throng of cars, lights, music, buildings tall, large and small with paint on their walls, multifarious clothing and garments, metal in all possible manifestations, a plethora of foods and drinks, concrete, glass, and infinitely more to the point it is mind boggling. Because changing environments require constant adaptation by the species that inhabit them we are always striving to gain some form of advantage to further a goal we happen to have in mind as a collective. An invention in a completely unexplored field opens up a world of possibilities and we seek to expand upon that single pioneering idea. Take electricity for example. What first was a source for generating light, became the fuel for tools and electronics never before imagined. The development of a new technology opened up a whole new world of possibilities that were previously unavailable before that technologies existence. In theory, to make survival easier, we must lessen the demands imposed on our bodies by negative external elements so that we can accomplish more work in less time. Without the aid of tools provided by our environment the burden of development would be on our bodies, but with the right attributes we are able to use and even create tools to work around the problem. In other words, as a technology-centered species, we are constantly working around the challenges posed to us at the expense of physical evolution; we are favoring intellectual development. The excessive usage of tools instead of muscle power, for example, certainly enables us to adapt to larger and larger amounts of load, but how would we do if a link in the technology chain snapped one day, or was severely weakened? Whatever that link supported would topple. The creative fire has forced us into a cycle, in which using its inventive possibilities yields magnificent results but also creates dependency, which is to say we have grown dependent on a large chain of technology for our very survival. --Spiritual Influence-- In modern times technological dependency is intrinsic to us, seeing as we live in a cradle of technology. The cycle of creative inventiveness and dependency upon the modes of creation is visible in spiritual matters as well. We mirror our external environment within ourselves in the form of values, morals and other characteristics that litter the inner landscape. In our modern era of technological fertility we are experiencing a spiritual poverty. Collectively we are existentially unfulfilled with our living spaces. For evidence of this human condition take note of the anguished art of the modern era. Artists are often a culture's subconscious mouthpiece. The art of the modern era represents a people in personal and spiritual turmoil who are disconnected from themselves and those around them. Think of pop art, expressionism and Dadaism in the early 20th century and the more modern variations of each movement for examples. Our current problem as a species is rooted not so much in our technologies and their destructive potential, but in the internal ideas and philosophies governing them. The problem is our lust, greed, hedonism and foolhardy desire to expand into the far reaches with no concern for how our technology effects our living environment and daily relations. Ipods, cd players and cell phones, after all, have only given us more tools to tune out the world and the people around us. Outspoken believers in technology exhibit unquestioning trust in the saving hand of western science and technology. Hence a scientist or humanitarian somewhere is continually talking about technological development bettering our collective welfare; they are looking for external solutions to modern problems that are in fact inward problems. Instead of finding the power within ourselves to endure, to persevere and to conquer, the technocrats of the modern world seek quick external and technological solutions to our problems. They reason: it has worked well for us in the past, letting us dash through bottlenecks to our prosperity with ease, so why not let it lend its hand to us in the future as well? While this outlook on life may seem positive and optimistic because of the lack of dark clouds it envisions on its horizon, it is actually passive and fatalistic because it is philosophically inept and has a diluted sense of reality. It is the equivalent of promising a profusely bleeding individual that if they put a Band-Aid on their wound they will be up in a jiffy. By a failure to properly assess any given situation and accept that sometimes there are dark clouds on the horizon, we will never see the sun of the future. Evolution, spiritual as well as its material manifestation, requires a certain amount of adversity and strife in order to be successful. The technocratic fetishists that put full and unyielding faith in the solution of more technology to modern problems do not appear to recognize the spiritual value of adversity. Their position is akin to delusion as while their views of reality are in some ways accurate, they are one sided and fail to recognize other vitals component of reality, such as the need for adversity, discipline and internal strength. For all our focus on outward development we have forgotten about inward development, which in fact governs outward development. A spiritually inept individual will never properly control the fire they wield as they lack the control and discipline to do so. The modern era presents us with a wealth of intelligences without perspective; engineers, technocrats and others of similar societal positions often fall under this veil. This leaves us with a wealth of brilliant technological inventions that are not controlled by trained or philosophically adept hands. Give an undisciplined child a gun and expect someone to get shot. We also do not know where we wish to go as a species, which is a problem. This means we continually are building more and more technologies on the backs of old technology without seeing far down the future to get a general perspective as to where our inventions will lead us and how they will effect us. As mentioned previously, inventions aim towards easing the current physical difficulties and so anything new is often seen as inherently positive by the general population as the case is hardly ever the opposite that more technology will bring more physical stimulus; note this does not mean it is good, in fact it appears to imply the opposite as it neglects the utility of adversity. Of course not just anything goes and passes public approval because people on average won't accept every gadget that cunning salesmen spit out to the stores. However we still accept much of what is thrown at us. Our attitudes have been formed through a long process of amazement and satisfaction with technology and we have come to accept it as a faithful friend who would never leave us in times of trouble. This philosophy has had a profound effect on our values and how we view the world, since in our experience our backs have always been watched by our technology. There always seems to be the omnipotent social figure to clean the bogeymen from under the bed so that we might sleep peacefully. We never distrust this entity, be they scientist or technocrat, because of their apparent benevolence and through this alliance we begin to believe that we ourselves are omnipotent. After all, we perceive ourselves as inviolable because violation has been increasingly at lack in our lives; have we been left in the dark, in the cold, have we had to hunger and exert ourselves? Most of us have not to any significant degree. Through easing our lives the experiences of suffering have been made less common, and without as much suffering and coarse surfaces to grind us we lack the mastery to keep our self-image in check and humbled. Imagine an uncared-for garden that is infested by weeds: the useful plants the garden was supposed to produce are challenged and the essence of the garden is diluted. Eventually the weeds overtake the garden through the absence of resistance and flow freely over the previously productive patches of soil; spiritual inflation and deflation follows a similar process. One would think that only the aforementioned believers in technology, the technocrats, would truly devote themselves in such a manner to every new invention, but actually the general populace gives itself over as mentally dependent on technology by not being too loud in questioning and weighing its benefits and negativities. Through having and also using the potential crutch of technology, we take it for granted and live and breath it without further thinking; then again, why shouldn't we? It is only expected that we are cast according to our mould and also that our relationship - dependency - to technology won't change unless we reconsider our stance towards it. However, the weakness of will that once allowed us to utilize the crutch anyhow we pleased has hardly created any opposition against the voluntary enslavement of humanity at large. We are blindly pushing onwards on our path and unless we begin paying attention to our surroundings, and ourselves we will encounter consequences our optimistic passivity ultimately cannot save us from. --Environmental Consequences-- Because the human species is so widespread and our selection and size of tools manifold and grand the unavoidable effects of our technology on nature can not be dismissed. The ways in which we can damage the walls of our environmental home and foul the land are seemingly infinite and in this modern age the awareness of our "footprint" is quite widespread, at least in the Western countries. To counteract the danger posed by reckless pollution, we have agreements that forbid various economic and technological production that might greatly disrupt and environment so much so that it has noticeable negative health effects on the greater populace. Global warming is one of the behemoths we are poised against. Armed with an arsenal of regulations and agreements, of which the Kyoto protocol is perhaps the most famous one due to the refusal of the United States to join its cause. We are faced with a split in our path: should we proceed with our industries to maximize production, or should we pay more attention to the environment that languishes under our ignorance? The Western popular opinion is in favor of softer, "natural" values, but a drastic break from consumerist/industrial development would be, in essence, anti-modern and as such would cause societal changes that reflect themselves at the positions of power, as well. For maximal popularity, a political compromise is reached and the people are sold an image of developing technology hand in hand with nature: the research, production and consumption of technology is never stalled or halted even for a second, but merely stamped with the "green" brand for easier market digestibility. Of course, it is not disputable that this technology comes with good hearted and benign intentions in some cases, but as the old adage goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We never changed, nor change, our course by accepting and using new eco-friendly inventions with profit in mind, and so the abyss yawns evermore terrifying despite the satisfied shimmer in our eyes. We should note, however, that it is not technology (the idea of it) itself that is harmful to the environment but rather its usage. Being the powerful tool it is, it far expands our influence of either constructive or destructive kind; it can function both towards harmonious living or mindless consumption in the name of maximized comfort. Sadly our intentions as a species have not been towards the former, the latter having the foremost say on our actions. Thus our oceans are poisoned and robbed of fish, lands raped with merciless over-farming and forests cut down, and all the spoils of this war are fed to the machine, which is but an extension of our desires. Therefore our desires should change if the current course is to be steered to a healthier direction. --Healthy Technology and Balance-- If the usage of technology has affected us so much and threatens to swallow us ever deeper in its alluring abyss, is there such a thing as "healthy technology"; would achieving balance be anything but a utopia in the far horizons? It wouldn't seem so, considering all the mentioned effects our ingeniousity with tools has had upon us and our environment and how surely it carved itself into the essence of our being. Because of this fact, we can never be truly apart from it and as such, absolutes should not be sought. We once were hunters relying on few tools and much of physical prowess, but as the amount of tools has increased we have permanently shifted from that point, resulting in expectable physical degeneration and perpetual technological development. Since our origin lies in the chilling autumnal mornings, the dampness of forests in dawn, craggy boulders, caves opening to fields of snow and the vitalizing fire, we should embrace this past of our selves despite - or precisely for - the obvious hardships it entails. However, this should not mean, to a certain extent, that all technology should be abandoned at once; cars stopping, lights dying from traffic poles to the innumerable windows around and the smoke of factory pipes reducing to a weak vapor blown off by the winds of this unusual noon. In an "ideal" world humans could use whatever technology they wished, but since every invention forms the top of one pyramid and the base of another, that will not be possible. If we wished to stay at the modern level of technology, for example, and also reduce our footprint, we would have to have the willpower to not engage in harmful habits that require the given present tools to begin with. Self-limitation is a matter of discipline and either physical or mental strength, or both, to make up for the loss of "relief," and as such we'd be faced with a challenge where no tools could aid us. The development of technology into a severe crutch instead of a tool and the spiritual changes it brought - the lower resistance that begets weakness - is the primary reason why technology as it stands now should be considered harmful. How does this not contradict the notion that we should not abandon technology even though the evidence points to the contrary? Answers should not be sought from the extremes as the world does not function only in black and white terms. If we were to achieve a balance between tool usage and having a rewarding life, we should strive for more than merely seeking to nullify or minimize the struggle required in life; the tools should be considered as an extension of our will like a sword is an extension of the arm. We have an intrinsic capacity for greatness, and that should only be enhanced by tool usage instead of making it obsolete. In practical terms, such a reform and resurrection of the will would mean that many of our current inventions would be considered irredeemably unnecessary: namely those created solely for the purpose fulfilling our urge for comfort, and those whose resource drain would well surpass their usefulness. If we view the technology at our disposal with this in mind, we would see quite a mixed bag of tools: some would be instantly scrapped for spare parts, some could have useful potential and there would be few truly worthwhile extensions. Examples: television, even though it can function well as an informative device, would be displaced by radio and computers, both of which can serve that purpose at least as well; simple mechanical tools like pulleys, and handheld implements like shovels and hoes are invaluable by their astounding cost-effectiveness; computers, while they are extremely efficient at storing and spreading information, unfortunately are on top of a sizable pyramid, which maintenance and usage would be very costly if they were produced in masses. Chances are they would not be in everyone's home. If we ever achieve balance with technology and correct the currently distorted master/slave-relationship with it, we would have to go roughly a hundred years back, more or less. It would be grievous to abandon some of the fruits we have invented, such as the revolutionary computer, but in the end, all tools should be viewed as extensions to our will and we should ask ourselves: "How does this tool further my cause, how does it deepen my handprint in the face of reality? Or is it merely something to relieve my tired muscles with?" -Frostwood, with contributions and additions by Gestalt ----------------- Self-Sufficiency ----------------- Roasting Coffee at Home Coffee is the world's second most traded commodity; only oil surpasses it. Despite its popularity, quality coffee is uncommon, and relatively expensive where available. As good drugs are preferable to mediocre, coffee addicts will seek the best they can get. However, purchasing pre-packaged beans in a grocery store or coffee shop means that you're paying for packaging, labor, and overhead in addition to the coffee itself. Green beans can be purchased directly from local roasters for 15%-50% less than the retail cost of roasted beans. By roasting your own coffee at home, you'll drink fresher, cheaper, and better tasting coffee (if you learn to roast well, that is). The benefits are many, and the process is dead-simple, but mastery takes patience, practice, and dedication. The only downside is that you'll never be able to drink Nescafe again. Before we can discuss the roasting process, some common coffee terminology needs to be covered. Coffea Arabica: Usually abbreviated Arabica. One of two economically significant coffee species, Arabica crops provide about 75% of the world's coffee. This species requires a great deal of attention and care, but from it comes all premium/specialty coffees. Coffea Canephora: Commonly known as Robusta. The other major cultivated species, Robusta is hardier, more disease resistant, and yields more cherries per plant than Arabica. However, the taste of Robusta is often likened to burnt rubber. Robusta beans contain 2-3 times the caffeine of Arabica beans. Origin Character/Profile: The sensory characteristics represented in a region's coffee. This is affected by climate, soil, altitude, genetics, processing methods, drying methods, etc. Cherry: The fruit of the coffee plant, wherein the seeds grow. Green beans: These are the unroasted seeds of the coffee plant. Two grow inside each cherry, with the exception of peaberries. Peaberry: A mutant seed which grows only one per cherry, instead of the usual two. Peaberries are smaller, denser, and more spherical, which means they roast more evenly than regular beans. A peaberry receives all the nutrients usually allotted to two beans, which means they amplify the coffee's origin character. Peaberries are a great choice for skillet roasting. Dry or Natural Processing: The oldest method of processing coffee. Ripe cherries are spread out in the sun to dry, before further milling which removes the pulp from the seeds. Traditionally used in regions where sunlight is more abundant than water. Wet Processing: Ripe cherries are added to sorting tanks and run through a de-pulping mill before soaking for 12-48 hours in fermentation tanks which make further pulp removal easier. Beans are then dried, usually by the sun as with Dry Process. Wet processing requires an immense amount of water, and is more labor-intensive due to the many sorting steps which increase quality. Wet Process coffees tend to be "cleaner," fruitier, and have a more pronounced acidity than Dry Process coffees. Pop or Crack: Refers to a popping noise which takes place at certain times in the roasting process. At first pop, the bean browns and its sugars begin to caramelize. At second pop, the cell walls are beginning to break down and oil migrates to the surface of the bean. Chaff: A thin outer skin that separates from the green bean while roasting. Acidity: In coffee terms, this refers not to PH, but to a brightness, or sparkling clear sensation near the tip of the tongue. Pronounced acidity is an indication of high quality coffee, but not its sole determinant. Acidity increases with the elevation at which the coffee is grown. Body: The weight, or mouthfeel of the coffee. How thick/heavy is the coffee on your tongue? Flavor: Both the overall impression, and specific notes/tones that emerge at different points. Flavor can change dramatically as coffee cools. Another indication of quality coffee is its taste at room temperature. If it's still delicious, that's a good sign. Drop (the roast): To add a pre-weighed charge of green beans to the roaster. Pull (the roast): To remove roasted beans from the roaster to the cooling tray/device. Storing Green Beans and Roasted Coffee: The green bean selection at your local roaster could be overwhelming at first, especially if you are not familiar with origin characteristics of common coffees. If you're totally lost or just don't know what you like, start with a few choices which represent the archetype of a region. Guatemalan or Costa Rican coffees will introduce you to the bright, clean, and smooth Central American profile. Expect pronounced acidity, a medium body, complex sugars, and a smooth finish. South Pacific coffees are the inverse of Central America. Try Sumatra, Papua New Guinea, or Sulawesi (Celebes). These coffees are heavy, dense, and earthy, with a thick body and low acidity. They're great with milk and sugar, dense cakes, and fine tobacco. Africa offers us a little of everything. Kenya AA has a great dry acidity, deep wine tones and berry flavors, and a medium body. Ethiopian Harar is wine-y and incredibly fruity with a distinct blueberry aroma and flavor and medium-heavy body. Harar is dry-processed, which gives it a more complex, but "dirtier" flavor. Contrast it in this regard with a wet-processed Central American, which is cleaner but simpler. Ethiopian Yirgacheffe is often wet-processed, and has a lemony-citrus acidity, medium body, and delicate floral notes. Once you've located a local coffee roaster, you can begin stocking green beans. One advantage of home roasting is the ability to keep several types of coffee on hand, as green beans are good for about a year, as opposed to a week or two for roasted coffee. Green coffee needs to breathe; it should be stored in a container that allows moisture to exchange with the air. Green coffee can mold in a sealed jar or plastic bag. Find a storage place whose temperature doesn't fluctuate frequently or rapidly, and don't worry about insects because very few find green coffee palatable. Also, at your roasting shop you can usually get free jute coffee sacks, which are extremely useful and durable. These bags are ideal for storing green beans, and can be taken apart and re-sewn with their own thread, allowing you to make storage sacks in any size. Roasted coffee does not need to breathe as such, but will release carbon dioxide gas, especially in the first 24 hours after roasting. This gas should be preserved if possible, because it protects the coffee from oxygen, which degrades the oils and volatile organic compounds that are crucial to fresh, delicious coffee. Ideal storage containers include: glass "Mason" jars with sealable lids, vacuum-seal bags with one-way valves, or plastic ware with lids. Glass is easy to clean and won't react with coffee oils, but probably shouldn't be sealed too tightly or it could shatter. Keep roasted beans cool and dry, just like green beans. The flavor of your beans will peak around 2-3 days after roasting; they'll be good before then, but may taste grassy, green, or unpleasantly acidic. A few days of resting will mellow the initial sharpness, especially in very dense, high-grown coffees. Any coffee that will not be consumed within 10-14 days should be sealed and frozen. Roasted coffee will greedily absorb ambient aromas, so keep it out of the refrigerator or it'll taste like mayonnaise and plastic. Stale, but otherwise sound coffee often tastes dull, muted, flat, and distinctly of cardboard. Coffee is great fertilizer and has a carbon-nitrogen ratio of 20-1, so save spent grounds or stale beans for your compost. Roasting overview: The roasting process is the same regardless of the method employed to that end. The beans must be heated, kept in motion so as not to burn, and rapidly cooled when the desired roast level is attained. During this process, complex and only partially-understood chemical changes take place, which are responsible for transforming bitter, grassy, green beans into delicate, balanced, and addictive roasted coffee. Coffee roasting is a highly sensory experience, and you'll rely heavily on your sense of sight, smell, and intuition about the roast. Take in as much sensory information as you can. This can be overwhelming and confusing at first, but the more you taste, touch, smell, and listen, the faster everything will "click" in your head. Every type of bean has a different personality and will behave a little differently in the roaster; when you learn what each bean "likes," your roasts will manifest more favorable origin characteristics and overall roast quality will improve. The initial stage of roasting is endothermic, up until 1st pop. As the green beans are heated, they will gradually yellow as their internal temperature rises and water evaporates. The coffee may smell "grassy" at this point. The beans will slowly brown and smell "toasty" as they approach first pop. The roast will also begin to smoke and chaff will separate around 1st pop time, which usually happens when the bean's internal temperature reaches 400 degrees F (204 degrees C). The coffee's sugars begin to caramelize around 370-400F, and continue to caramelize as long as internal bean temperature rises. First pop is usually obvious, and it sounds a great deal like popcorn popping. Some beans pop quietly, others are almost violent. Water and Carbon Dioxide escape as the bean's cells break down. The roasting process now becomes exothermic, as the beans are releasing energy stored up from the initial heating. The beans will pop for 1-2 minutes on average, and then the roast will return to its previous endothermic state. If the temperature is allowed to stall at this point, the coffee will probably taste "baked" due to interruption of sugar caramelization. One can end the roast at any time after first pop. A roast that finishes between first and second pop is called a "City" roast if it's lighter or a "Full City" roast if it's darker. The origin character of a coffee is highlighted at this roast level, along with any defects in the bean. This is where the highest quality coffees can display their delicate traits without interference from flavors acquired during the roasting process. If you choose to take your roast darker, you must apply more heat. The beans will continue to expand and smooth after first pop, until they begin second pop, which sounds like crackling cellophane. This is the sound of the bean's woody matrix (cellulose) breaking down under the heat. The coffee is literally beginning to burn. Most of the bean's sugars have caramelized now, lending dark-roasted coffees their pronounced bittersweetness. If the roast continues, oils will migrate to the surface of the beans. If the roast is stopped before or just after oils appear, it's called a "Vienna" or "Continental" roast, which is a balance between Full City complexity and French intensity. If roasting continues and the oils come out on the surface of the bean, this is a "French" roast. A French roast will be smoky, sweet, and have a more intense, but narrower flavor profile than a Full City roast. At this level, flavor defects are hidden by the roast, but origin character and subtle flavors are obscured as well. Experiment with different roast profiles until you find what's best for a particular type of coffee. Every coffee has a roast "curve" or profile that brings out favorable qualities. If you plot a graph of time vs. temperature during your roast, you'll see exactly what this means. By moving the 1st pop time (as 1st pop temperature remains relatively stable) earlier or later, you can bring out different taste characteristics. Heating the coffee to 1st pop earlier emphasizes the coffee's acidity. By delaying the 1st pop, acidity will be diminished but other flavors may emerge. Work with large differences (1 minute increments) in pop times to begin, and then use smaller margins to zero in on your ideal profile. The key to improving your coffee roasting skills is consistency. When troubleshooting a roast or experimenting with new profiles, only change ONE variable at a time and observe the result. Changing multiple variables makes it nearly impossible to know which changes caused which results, and even if you do achieve the desired results in one area, other attributes are likely to be undesirable. The same principle holds true for brewing coffee or pulling espresso shots. Roasting Methods: Skillet Roasting Tools One needs only a few tools to roast at home. The method which requires the least investment is simply to roast the beans in a heavy skillet or wok over a heat source. This requires no electricity, only sufficient heat, and can be done over a campfire or backpacking stove. Skillet roasting can be aerobic exercise, as the beans must be kept moving to prevent scorching. The major drawback of skillet roasting is its inconsistency of end product compared to other methods. It's still a good method to know, as it's low-tech and portable. To roast your coffee in a skillet you will need: 1. A well ventilated place - outdoors or a stove with a smoke hood and exhaust fan 2. An iron or copper skillet (or wok, etc.) with a lid 3. Insulated gloves/hot pads, for holding the skillet 4. A thermometer for recording drop (initial) temperature/pop temperature 5. A metal colander for cooling the beans 6. A stopwatch to record elapsed time 7. A notebook if you want to keep a roast log. In the roast log you record data like pre-roast weight, pop time(s) and temperature(s), and tasting notes. This can be tedious, but it's easier to repeat great roasts if you know what you did last time. Skillet Roasting Process: 1. Begin with a pre-heated skillet, clean and free of oil. Put the lid on the skillet, start your timer, and begin heating over a medium-high heat. The pan should be evenly hot, so take a good 10 minutes or more to pre-heat the pan. When the thermometer reaches your target temperature, turn down/off the heat and let the pan cool for a minute before heating back up to your target temperature. Ideally you'll heat up the skillet around 370F-400F before you add the green beans. However, cast iron retains heat very well, so you may find drop temperatures as low as 350F yield excellent results, especially after multiple consecutive roasts. 2. Weigh or measure your green beans. Volume is fine, but weight is better. You'll want 9-12 ounces (255-340 grams) of coffee for an average roast. More coffee will take longer to roast and consistency will decrease, but if you have a very large skillet it's more efficient to drop larger roasts. 3. Turn down the heat to low-medium, add your beans, and start the timer, then proceed to stir or shake the beans. Gently move the beans back-and-forth so they don't sit in one place and burn. Continue to shake the skillet until you pull the roast! 4. It should take about 5 minutes for the beans to reach first pop. Adjust the heat to change pop times. You can occasionally lift the lid to check the development, but keep those beans moving or they'll scorch and taste ashy. It's a good idea to back off the heat when the beans begin to pop, as it allows them more time to develop before hitting second pop and helps keep them from scorching. 5. Generally the beans should be pulled no more than 4 minutes after first pop (for a Full City) or they'll begin to taste "baked." You can fudge this a little if the beans need more time/heat to develop, or try pulling early and see how your coffee tastes. 5a. For a Vienna or French roast, leave the coffee in the skillet and add a little heat if the beans don't keep developing. You'll have to get the beans internal temperature up to 450F to begin 2nd pop. Generally one can turn off the heat once 2nd pop begins, because further heat will cause the beans to oil too quickly. A Vienna roast should be pulled when the first spots of oil begin to show at the ends of the beans. This is usually 30-45 seconds after 2nd pop begins. A good French roast should be dark but not too oily. 6. When beans are ready, dump them into your metal colander and agitate to cool. You'll need to plan ahead and dump the coffee a little before it's done because it'll continue roasting until it cools enough. 7. Make the proper notations in your roast log, store the coffee, and continue roasting or clean up. Simple. Roasting Methods: Popper Roasting Tools A step up from the skillet is a hot air popcorn popper. These can be found for pocket change in thrift stores, and will dramatically increase the consistency of your roasts. Be sure to get one with air vents around the sides of the drum, because models with mesh screens on the bottom could ignite the chaff as it separates from the bean. To roast coffee in a popcorn popper you will need: 1. A well ventilated place - outdoors or a stove with a smoke hood and exhaust fan 2. A suitable model of popcorn popper 3. Insulated gloves/hot pads 4. A thermometer for recording drop (initial) temperature/pop temperature 5. A metal colander for cooling the beans 6. A bowl to catch the chaff as it leaves the popper 7. A stopwatch to record elapsed time 8. A notebook for roast logging. Popper Roasting Process: The popcorn popper usually roasts 4oz of coffee in 5-8 minutes. It's a smaller batch size than a skillet, but very quick and far more consistent. There's no built-in way to adjust temperature, so the machine is on and heating for the entire roasting process. 1. Pre-heat the popper for 30 seconds to 1 minute, but there's no need to "surf" the temperature as with the skillet. Anywhere from 370F to 450F is probably fine. Experiment and find what works best. 2. Weigh or measure an amount of green beans equal to the amount of popcorn kernels indicated by the manufacturer. The maximum is usually 4oz (113 grams). 3. Drop the beans, start the stopwatch, place the chaff bowl under the popper opening (where popcorn would come out) and sit back. 4. The beans will develop quicker than in the skillet, and should begin 1st pop around 3-4 minutes. 5. Watch closely after 1st pop, and be sure to pull the roast a little before you think it's ready to compensate for cooling time. 5a. Keep roasting if you want a darker roast. 6. Unplug the popper and dump the beans into your colander, and shake or stir until cool. 7. Store, and keep roasting or clean up. Make sure to take good notes along the way! Commercial home roasting machines are available, and what you're paying for is consistency and repeatability, but unfortunately commercial roasters still fall short of professional roasting machines. The popcorn popper is an unbeatable price/performance ratio for the home roaster. One can roast several years on a popper before a commercial roaster will improve the consistency of one's roasts. Recipes: Try some new coffee cooking with all those beans you've got now. Cthulhu's Revenge A chaotic espresso drink fit to summon eldritch horrors from the cyclopean depths of one's psyche or call down unnamable madness from the outer spheres. The secret to this drink is to intuit the measurements. You'll probably need to make it a few times to get it right, but what's great is that it'll always be a little different every time. Cthulhu's Revenge is properly made with Robusta or a Robusta/Arabica blend to insure a psychosis-inducing caffeine content. 1. If you have access to an espresso machine, make a double shot or two. If not, make a small amount of double-strength coffee in a French press. Make more coffee if you like but always err on the side of making the coffee strong! 2. Add honey, dark chocolate or cocoa, and optionally nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, powdered chilies, or any spices which seem appropriate. 3. Drink, and repeat if necessary. Not for those who fear a caffeine overdose or have a need to sleep in the next few hours. Kaldi cakes Hippie style energy bars after an ancient Ethiopian war bread. Think of it as time-release caffeine with fiber. This is basically a quick-bread with added green beans. Coffee was originally consumed raw, as a whole cherry. Roasting didn't develop until around 1400AD, so until then green coffee was boiled to produce a bitter drink or ground and eaten with animal fat. Eating the green beans allows the caffeine to be absorbed slowly, meaning you get a longer, but less intense energy lift. These are great for hiking or camping. This recipe is modular, so add or change ingredients to suit your needs or taste. The blade-type coffee grinders are good for pulverizing green beans. Avoid putting green beans in a burr grinder as they could damage the grinder. Skeleton Ingredients: 2 cups whole wheat flour 2 cups unprocessed bran (wheat, oat, whatever) 1 cup green beans, ground 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 1/2 cup honey Suggested Modular Ingredients: 1 cup date, chopped 1 cup walnuts/pecans/almonds, chopped 1/2 cup chocolate (chips or chunks) 1 tsp cinnamon, ground 1/2 tsp cardamom, ground Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup warm water to the honey, and mix, then add to dry ingredients. Knead the dough and continue to add warm water until the dough is moist, but not sticky. Bake approx. 40 minutes at 325F (163 C). These work well in muffin tins or other small baking tins, as they cook more evenly and make better snacks. It's a work-in-progress, so play with the recipe, adding a fat or using raisins instead of dates...you get the idea. - Tychoseven ---- Food: MAKE YOUR OWN BREAD Victoria McMagnus Not so long ago, shop bought bread was made using traditional methods, albeit by machines. It tasted much better than the bread currently available, and was also more nutritious. Standards since have slipped shockingly - an indication of the general commercial attitude that the consumer should be exploited without any shame, and that money means more than any other consideration. Where money is concerned, principles fly out of the window. Bread is considered a staple food, and is very convenient for making nutritious snacks at a low cost. Although brown - eg whole meal - bread is preferable to white (white flour is so lacking nutritionally that insects even die in it!) any non-organic whole meal flour has a large amount of pesticide residue. The chemicals stick to the husk of the wheat. Always choose organic, given the chance. Bread contains fiber, carbohydrates, protein, essential fats, vitamins and minerals. Some bread recipes are more time consuming than others, involving a lot of kneading of dough (can be therapeutic pounding out your frustrations) and this takes some skill. Bread-making machines costing around $200 are not a bad idea if you are short of time. The cheaper models are less reliable, cook too small loaves, and are more like the sort of thing people use one or twice and then never again. I had a Panasonic bread maker that served me for a few years or so. But making your own bread by hand is very satisfying. Few smells are more appetizing than that of freshly baked bread. People trying to sell their houses are even recommended to fill their home with the scent of baked bread or freshly brewed coffee, to entice potential buyers. Supermarkets also know that the scent encourages customers. The modern industrial method of bread-making now produces bland tasting, overly-yeasted bread with added hard fat. Look at the ingredients. There are a number of additives to make the loaf hold much more water, stay together and preserve it from mould. Extra salt is added to give flavor, increasing heart risks. There is two to three times as much yeast in industrially produced loaves as home-baked. This could explain increasing: yeast intolerance, thrush/candida infections and IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). An itchy rash is a symptom of yeast allergy. The added fat, which makes the bread texture appear more pleasing to eat, contains a high amount of omega 6 fatty acids. This is associated with a number of serious health concerns. Quick and Easy Whole-meal Loaf There are a lot of instructions - but this really is a simple recipe! Ingredients 1lb5oz (600g) Organic whole wheat flour 2 level teaspoons salt 2 level teaspoons easy-blend dried yeast 1 level teaspoon soft light brown sugar A good 14fl oz (400ml) very warm water (but not burning hot) Also: Two 1lb loaf tins or one 2lb tin. Method Grease the tins thoroughly using some butter or margarine. Pre-heat the oven on lowest setting and warm the flour for about ten minutes. Put flour and all other dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix well together. Make a gap in the center and pour the warm water in gradually, while mixing with a wooden spoon. You may not need all the water - go carefully - but dough is better off on the wet side, unlike pastry. You will have to finish the mixing by hand. There should be one smooth lump of dough with the bowl clean. Plonk the dough down onto a flat surface like a clean wooden chopping board, dividing it into two for two loaves. Now stretch it into a rectangular shape. Next fold one edge into the center and the other edge right over that. Fit this into a tin, pressing firmly around the edges so that it looks rounded. Sprinkle a good dusting of flour and cover with a clean, damp, cloth such as a tea-towel. Leave to rise at room temperature for about an hour (30 to 40 minutes if warmer). Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees centigrade or gas mark 6) before putting the loaves in to bake. It will be ready to bake provided the dough has successfully risen to the top of the tin. The cooking time is 30 minutes approx for two loaves, and ten minutes more if baking a single loaf. When turned out of the tin, the underside of the bread should sound hollow when tapped with your knuckles. If not, put it back in the tin and bake a little longer. To finish off - put the bread back into the oven without a tin, to improve crustiness. Cool it on a wire rack before storing. - Venus ------------ Literature ------------ The Necklace of the Brisings One night in Asgard, the home of the gods, Freyja, the goddess of beauty, love, fertility, and more, dreamt of the most beautiful necklace ever crafted. When Freyja awoke, she had an irresistible urge to find this necklace, so she traveled down the Rainbow Bridge, Bifrost, to Mid-gard, the land of men. What Freyja didn't know is that Loki, the crafty and cunning god of mischief and deceit, had followed her. He followed Freyja all over Mid-gard, as she searched for the necklace of which she had dreamt when all of a sudden she looked into a cave to see a flicker of light, as if from a flame, emanating from the deeps of the cave. She decided to descend into the depths of the cave as one never ascends into depths, and as she neared the bottom chamber of the cave she noticed the light begin to grow, heat began to envelope her and she heard the sound of what may have been hammers ringing as they pounded upon metal. As Freyja neared this chamber she became much more stealthy as to not give away her presence and as she cast her eyes around she saw four fat ugly disgusting dwarfs who were all working upon the very same necklace she had seen in her dream. Freyja had a notion to steal this necklace but she thought better than that as she was the goddess of beauty so she surrendered her presence to the eyes and ears of the four dwarfs and she made an attempt at charming them out of their beautiful necklace: a necklace which Freyja knew, deep in her heart, was made exclusively for her. She demanded the dwarfs give the necklace to her and at her daft request they all gave a hearty laugh; they laughed so hard that their fat, little bellies jiggled, and they almost fell over. After the dwarfs had regained their composure they assured Freyja that she could have the necklace but she also had to acquiesce to their desires. She offered them land, to which offer the dwarfs laughed again; she offered them gold, to which the dwarfs replied that they had more gold and silver than they could have a want or need. Freyja was running out of options when the dwarfs made their offer to her. They stated to Freyja that only one thing could gain her possession of the necklace and that was for her to sleep with each of the dwarfs, one per night. To this request she cried repulsed, "Sleep with you?! You ugly dwarfs?! A Whore! A whore, they would call me!" And to this reply the dwarfs merely smiled and looked at her until she finally gave in and said, "Fine! Do as you will, for I must have that necklace; it is the most beautiful one in all the nine worlds and it must be mine!" So, Freyja slept with the four dwarfs, much to her own disgust, though she knew that she could live through this inconvenience to gain possession of her desire. Now, all this time, Loki had been trailing Freyja and upon discovering her dirty deeds and unbridled lust for this necklace he turned himself into a falcon and flew back to Asgard to inform Odhinn, the Allfather, in his hall Valhalla, whose walls are made of shields and spears, of Freyja's terrible misdeeds. Odhinn flew into a rage and knocked Loki to the floor with one mighty swing of his huge arm, and bellowed, "GET ME THAT NECKLACE!!!" Loki limped away, still in pain from Odhinn's mighty blow, and waited for Freyja's return to her hall, Sessrumnir, whose walls are made of silver and shine brighter than the sun. As Freyja completed her end of the bargain, the dwarfs, satisfied as they were, gave Freyja the necklace she so desired, and she returned to Asgard, though she was slightly less light hearted than when she had left five nights before. When she returned to her hall, Sessrumnir, whose walls are made of silver, she locked herself into the chamber, and she gazed into the mirror, at her new necklace that she so cherished and she vowed never to take it off now that she had finally obtained it after such despicable deeds as she performed for ownership of it. Now, her hall, Sessrumnir, whose walls are made of silver, was an impregnable hall, and nothing could enter into her hall not even if attempted by force. However, Loki, the sly one, appeared outside Freyja's hall and he turned himself into a fly and he began setting about a way to breach the walls of her hall. He tried everywhere and he had failed every attempt until he found one place in the wall that had been damaged which he could barely slip into while in the form of a fly. He flew into Freyja's hall and he walked upon her as she slumbered with her necklace fastened round her neck and he began attempting to remove the necklace. Unfortunately, for Loki, the sly one, Freyja's arm was upon her necklace, as if she were stroking her prized possession even in her sleep, and Loki was forced to ponder and to try to find a way to get her to move. He found a feather, and he began tickling Freyja's nose with the feather and eventually Freyja's arm came up to scratch her nose and as she did thus Loki grabbed her necklace as quickly as he could without awakening Freyja from her slumber. As soon as Loki had obtained the necklace, he turned back into a fly, and he flew back out the same hole he had entered, and he flew all the way to Odhinn, the Terrible One's hall, Valhalla, whose walls are made of spears and shields, and he delivered to Odhinn the necklace that had brought a potential disgrace upon the gods. When Freyja awoke, she noticed that her necklace was gone and she let out the most horrid shriek ever heard to this day, which resounded through all of the nine worlds. She made her way, as quickly as she could, toward Odhinn's hall, Valhalla, the Hall of Battle, for she knew that such cunning treachery could only be the work of Odhinn, the Terrible One-Eyed One. When she arrived to Odhinn she demanded an explanation and for her necklace to be returned to her to which Odhinn replied with laughter filled with scorn. Freyja scolded Odhinn for his treachery and continued to demand for her necklace to be returned to her, adding that she would do anything to have it, as she had already shown with the dwarfs, when Odhinn interrupted her, saying, "It is no lie, I did decree that necklace to be brought to me, and it is also no lie that you are also no stranger to treachery: what will the worlds now think of us gods, with a whore among us. You do not deserve to possess this necklace, but, seeing as how you have shamed yourself enough for its ownership, I command you to return to Mid-gard, to find two kings, and to set them against one another in hatred, and I command you to stir up hatred among men, until war leaves the fields bloody with the dead." To which she replied, "As you wish. Now give me my necklace." And to Freyja her necklace was returned. - Hrothgar -=- Monopoly (Of the World) Your tears are but a sign of modern over tension, Your mind is televisions' biological extension, Cry the time away to find, when you open your eyelids, You are but a variable taking all the highest bids, Happy to devote your life, To subservience on a switchblade knife, And always begging for more. You can be paid to be a whore, Come fiscally entwine yourself in our twisted fair, Because once there's nothing left we can sell the fucking air, We'll charge a hundred for a lung full and a thousand for the two, And when everyone is in our fists we'll incorporate the food, You see it's not about survival, unless you count yourself and I, It's about my soaring bank book updates coming on the fly, We'll pillage what is left that we haven't poisoned yet, And when we're almost out we'll put somebody else in debt, For we are not to blame, we are the country's newest spine, We are the corporate managers who pay ourselves to whine, We give your salary so you can buy back what we give to eat, You see our clever paradox? We thought it would be pretty neat; You go to any poorer country and simply set up shop, And then they've nothing else to do but work until they drop, So simply give no one the choice but work, unless they want to die, And then the only way to live is buy, buy, buy. - Mark McNeil -=- Streams that Don't Flow Cars zoom under the bridge. They stare down, watching with no fixation the blurry lights as they bleed into one another. Orange, white, red, transitional hues. Sometimes gaps where the dwindling sunlight reflects against the paint of the vehicles: dark green, grey-hardly as brilliant. It doesn't stop, the steady river of cars and lights. When exhaust hits their nostrils they cough a little, their stomachs clench. Steve clicks his teeth as the wind hisses passed them in the open air. Audible chill ripples through his nerves. His clothes ruffle. "What's up?" Kyle asks, raising his eyes and looking forward. Hills with trees line the highway and conceal suburbs connected by the concrete bridge. "I'm really high, and it's fucking cold up here." "Let's get moving then." Shoes bounce off pavement arhythmically. The wind resists them. Cars pass-an endlessly moving line, filing and shuffling. Wait your turn. The procession slows, crawls, and stops. Thin sheets of exhaust drift upward. Trails and trees and out of every one you see the same thing. Large, open houses, two door garages. Kids skateboarding. Rows and rows of houses, and a car to adorn each one. They walk by hastily. "I know this little stream. One way it just dies off, and you're at a huge freeway. I haven't gotten to the find the other end yet." A ready dirt trail stretches in the direction Kyle has turned, grass cropped on either side. It's dark. Leaves mosaic, little asymmetrical blocks of color peek through and where trees are scarcer, coherent images are revealed. Tan - yellow painted houses behind wire fences. Tool sheds and sky and windows into kitchens. Steve looks at his shoes. Squirrels chirp and rotate up trees. Rabbits hop onto the road, where a car may or may not swerve from them. Rails and steel tubes punctuate the creek. We're putting a road here, so you gotta make due buddy. We've got to keep going. You? You'll get along just fine. The creek thins, but houses become more disbursed. NO TRESSPASSING - huge plots of land with long driveways where they walk into the distance through the front yard - grass nicely kept to frame the wild, knotty, untended fields and short trees. Cars rip by them. The stream is gone. Bare hills roll out encircled by trees and other foreign yards. The refreshing drone of high speed rolling time bombs provides ambiance. They stare at the sky cool and damp in the grass, passing a joint back and forth. Light is sapped from the sky and stars fill in gaps. Their isolation has grown over the years. Fine matter nearly invisible linked them together so smoothly in the sky, but the evenings darkened and even the moon fought resiliently to continue showering stolen rays. So, they kept their distance and spoke their own names weakly. The ponds listened less while still casting a lulling glow, ever fainter. Horns fought feverishly and the hum was like automatic feedback, the soft pitch that resonates the morning after an eardrum challenging concert. Grass crunches like muted paper under their shoes. Another stream concealed by drooping willows beyond a house. Harvested land and young apple trees. Kyle looks down, sighting distant highways. Lights blip by fast as blinking: orange, red, amber, white. Apartments loom, pale glows from eternal eyes watching always, ceaselessly observing the subjugated reaches. Steve smashes a stick against a metal sign post. It splinters into thousands of fragments and one half is sent flying. Steve holds the other half in amazement. It is wet to the marrow, and smells of rot. Picture of a snow machine and a dirt bike in a column, a glaring yellow background capturing starlight, wobbling down to a fine vibration. A satellite tower blinks a red light - on and off - its alternating red-and-white body puncturing the soil beneath it. They reach a dull hum of cables. Steel girded towers scream DANGER HIGH VOLTAGE surrounded by the additional - absolutely necessary - barbed wire chain fence. Towers stare each other down in their timeless deadlock, bound with thongs of violent energy. Little bush patterns where boxes are crumbled; sleeping bags accompany backpacks and brown LCBO bags, flat and thin. Large, open houses, two door garages. Swerving grids of houses arbitrarily placed in cul-de-sacs and crescents. Wealthy people live on crescents, where they drive pricier cars and shop at Wal-Mart. Their feet express disease in rapid unison; eyes float to arrays of leaves. Lights and wrapped black cable are revealed in the mosaic. Wooden poles like crucifixes stand parallel, holding hands to their brothers', Hallelujah. Kids skateboarding in offensive shirts, because defiance is okay. Your seed can oppose you, don't worry about it. It's in the rules, see? Now have a beer and let's watch football. Hey, it's just teen angst, they'll get over it. Blue chemiluminescence flickers against curtains projecting through picture windows. Street lights illuminate spheres in yellowish tint. The chill deepens as the sky yields to blackness. They disappear into the indistinguishable yonder. Better suit up, it's a long and lonely journey ahead. - Risc -=- The cold in the air This tinge in the breeze that had lain dormant, out of senses altogether It awakened my mind and lifted my lids To the colors of autumn in the waves of air It was then when I saw the old man Winter, riding in their wake on a motley leaf, cast to flutter by the breeze Empty branches whip in the grayest of winds, but a soft hum rises, lulls the earth into sleep And when the winds finally die, and night falls on the waiting ones He sits still on his leaf, silent as stone, eyes fixed at the skies The trees are like spires; among them he is silent Grasses cover the earth; among them he is still A lone flake of snow trails down unto him: his abiding eyes close, and the dawn breaks white and calm -Frostwood -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [ exponentiation ] Issue 7.0 February 15th, 2008 Published Quarterly by the Corrupt: A Civilization Watchdog http://www.corrupt.org With assistance from Forest Poetry http://www.forestpoetry.com and The American Nihilist Underground Society http://www.anus.com/ Editor: Gestalt Writers: Risc Hrothgar Victoria McMagnus Alexis Frostwood Kontinual Mark McNeil Tychoseven [EOF]