What is 'mainstream media' and what makes it mainstream?
Well, as far as I can tell, a media outlet is mainstream if politicians will talk to it.
So, I would have to conclude that if politicians refuse to talk to it then it will stop being mainstream and, as a direct result, lose advertisers and stop making profit.
The inference being that media outlets have to follow the same basic agenda as our political masters if they are to remain in the profitable, advertiser friendly, mainstream.
And the agenda IS the debate.
Sunday, 12 April 2009
A Joke.
Surprisingly chilled weekend so far.
The Pars lost again and I made soup.
Oh and I wasn't surprised to hear that there was no CCTV footage of Ian Tomlinson being beaten by police. Just like there is never CCTV footage of such incidents. Even when the CCTV operators (at, say, Stockwell tube station)swear blind that there WAS footage.
Funny that.
Maybe they 'lost' it?
The Pars lost again and I made soup.
Oh and I wasn't surprised to hear that there was no CCTV footage of Ian Tomlinson being beaten by police. Just like there is never CCTV footage of such incidents. Even when the CCTV operators (at, say, Stockwell tube station)swear blind that there WAS footage.
Funny that.
Maybe they 'lost' it?
Saturday, 11 April 2009
This is Not a Riot.
The Met has a division called FIT (Forward Intelligence Team) who's stated job is to spot trouble makers at demonstrations.
One would assume that part of this job is to rule out folk who are not causing trouble -say, for example, when they are walking away from police with their hands in their pockets?
Which is why we should all be interested to note that FIT officers were present at the G20 protest and were seen, on the Guardian and the Channel Four footage, just standing around as if nothing was wrong. They also appear to have colluded with the assaulter in a conspiracy of silence for the week following the death of Mr Tomlinson.
This is because the officer who attacked Ian was NOT a bad apple, he was following Met tactical policy. As far as the Officers present were concerned there was nothing wrong with what was happening. It was a perfectly normal way for an officer to behave.
The fact that a great many front line officers in these circumstances hide their identities by covering their faces and removing their ID numbers is not a 'wardrobe malfunction' either. This too is common practice and allows individual officers to whack whomever they like, whenever they like.
Last Wednesday was NOT a riot. 5,000 protesters were kettled into a small area and (mysteriously) a branch of the most despised banking institution in the country was left unguarded. This is suspicious. What's less suspicious is that 3 or 4 of the angrier protesters smashed it up. Watched by a few dozen photographers, who chose to show this 'action' rather than the footage of side streets were innocent people were being beaten by the police. The fact that this footage (mysteriously) appeared when someone died is also suspicious. Why was this footage (which it is very much in the public's interest to see) not shown AT ALL until a man died?
Anyway, it wasn't a riot, it was a peaceful protest and the vast majority of the violence was perpetrated by the police against innocent members of the public.
One would assume that part of this job is to rule out folk who are not causing trouble -say, for example, when they are walking away from police with their hands in their pockets?
Which is why we should all be interested to note that FIT officers were present at the G20 protest and were seen, on the Guardian and the Channel Four footage, just standing around as if nothing was wrong. They also appear to have colluded with the assaulter in a conspiracy of silence for the week following the death of Mr Tomlinson.
This is because the officer who attacked Ian was NOT a bad apple, he was following Met tactical policy. As far as the Officers present were concerned there was nothing wrong with what was happening. It was a perfectly normal way for an officer to behave.
The fact that a great many front line officers in these circumstances hide their identities by covering their faces and removing their ID numbers is not a 'wardrobe malfunction' either. This too is common practice and allows individual officers to whack whomever they like, whenever they like.
Last Wednesday was NOT a riot. 5,000 protesters were kettled into a small area and (mysteriously) a branch of the most despised banking institution in the country was left unguarded. This is suspicious. What's less suspicious is that 3 or 4 of the angrier protesters smashed it up. Watched by a few dozen photographers, who chose to show this 'action' rather than the footage of side streets were innocent people were being beaten by the police. The fact that this footage (mysteriously) appeared when someone died is also suspicious. Why was this footage (which it is very much in the public's interest to see) not shown AT ALL until a man died?
Anyway, it wasn't a riot, it was a peaceful protest and the vast majority of the violence was perpetrated by the police against innocent members of the public.
Thursday, 9 April 2009
I think I Heard it Ping....
As far as I'm aware the police in the UK first started using "kettle lines" during the 2001 Mayday protest.
The idea is to pen in (or, if you prefer, illegally detain) protesters, press, innocent bystanders and anyone else who happened to be there so that no-one can enter and no-one can leave the pen; resulting in an inevitable build-up of pressure until the police would be 'forced' to push back and use batons, resulting in the crowd being contained in an ever-smaller space for hours on end without food, water or toilet facilities.
On the surface, and leaving the civil liberties angle alone for now, this seems like a sensible tactic from a practical point of view. It stops trouble from escalating and reduces property damage. However, it was inevitable that, eventually, someone would lose their life as a result of this tactic since it always involves getting folk who really don't want to be there trapped in a hostile and frightening environment. Most protesters are young, fit, have had some training in how to deal with these situations and are ideologically motivated.
During the G8 protest in Edinburgh for instance I witnessed the Police charging and baton bashing a middle-aged, tweed wearing gentleman who had merely been in a bookshop (I saw him leave the shop holding one of their carrier bags) and wanted to go home. He approached the police lines (from outside the kettle-pen) whereupon he was baton-charged, surrounded and ushered INTO the kettle. Huh?!
I'm sure he's OK, but it must have been a horrible experience for someone like him who was neither prepared nor willing to experience the atmosphere in there. But, through no fault of his own, he was trapped. That particular kettle was moved around but remained in place for a good three hours. I hope he didn't have a weak bladder.
I don't know how many bank windows are trade-able for a human life in the modern market. Can't be all that many judging by the popularity of the tactic.
The fact that it has taken the death of an innocent man (whether or not it was as a result of the tactic is unclear at the time of writing. It definitely didn't help) to bring the brutality of this tactic to public attention is shocking. The press were all over every protest where the tactic was deployed. At many points in Edinburgh there were more photographers than protesters and every time a police line appeared the cameras were snapping away like nobody's business yet none of them chose to report on the police tactics. That, apparently, doesn't sell newspapers. Unless someone happens to die; then it might. Although I have still seen scant few reports mentioning it. They mostly publish pictures of angry mobs containing blood-dripping from one or more faces and/or people the police might want to arrest. As a result the press will be resisted more at future demos I fear, as protesters become aware that the photographers are hindering them in their task. This won't make it any easier for the demonstrators to get their argument out to a wider audience.
The health and safety risks from the kettle tactic are not its only fault however. It is a morally bankrupt notion to treat everyone present at a scene, for whatever reason, as terrorists, criminals and vandals for one thing. For another, it is simply a denial of the right to protest. A right which has slowly been eroded to almost nothing in the past 20 years or so. Also, it is mass-detention of mostly innocent people exercising their right to protest peacefully.
I've heard reports of people in tears, begging the police to let them leave the kettle on Wednesday, including one woman who was desperate to get out so she could collect her child. They were all, of course, refused.
If someone was actually breaking the law then they should be arrested and THEN detained. If they are not causing trouble then they should be free to carry on with their business - the police should have no right whatsoever to detain anyone without first arresting them and charging them with a crime.
The mood in the anti-capitalist subculture seems to be getting heated and differences are being forgotten as they all start to notice who their real enemies are and work together. This, coupled with the inevitable increase in support they will gain from the formally apolitical (who will become increasingly aware of their powerlessness as a result of their troughs suddenly being empty due to the banking crisis), means that we might well be in for an interesting summer.
The idea is to pen in (or, if you prefer, illegally detain) protesters, press, innocent bystanders and anyone else who happened to be there so that no-one can enter and no-one can leave the pen; resulting in an inevitable build-up of pressure until the police would be 'forced' to push back and use batons, resulting in the crowd being contained in an ever-smaller space for hours on end without food, water or toilet facilities.
On the surface, and leaving the civil liberties angle alone for now, this seems like a sensible tactic from a practical point of view. It stops trouble from escalating and reduces property damage. However, it was inevitable that, eventually, someone would lose their life as a result of this tactic since it always involves getting folk who really don't want to be there trapped in a hostile and frightening environment. Most protesters are young, fit, have had some training in how to deal with these situations and are ideologically motivated.
During the G8 protest in Edinburgh for instance I witnessed the Police charging and baton bashing a middle-aged, tweed wearing gentleman who had merely been in a bookshop (I saw him leave the shop holding one of their carrier bags) and wanted to go home. He approached the police lines (from outside the kettle-pen) whereupon he was baton-charged, surrounded and ushered INTO the kettle. Huh?!
I'm sure he's OK, but it must have been a horrible experience for someone like him who was neither prepared nor willing to experience the atmosphere in there. But, through no fault of his own, he was trapped. That particular kettle was moved around but remained in place for a good three hours. I hope he didn't have a weak bladder.
I don't know how many bank windows are trade-able for a human life in the modern market. Can't be all that many judging by the popularity of the tactic.
The fact that it has taken the death of an innocent man (whether or not it was as a result of the tactic is unclear at the time of writing. It definitely didn't help) to bring the brutality of this tactic to public attention is shocking. The press were all over every protest where the tactic was deployed. At many points in Edinburgh there were more photographers than protesters and every time a police line appeared the cameras were snapping away like nobody's business yet none of them chose to report on the police tactics. That, apparently, doesn't sell newspapers. Unless someone happens to die; then it might. Although I have still seen scant few reports mentioning it. They mostly publish pictures of angry mobs containing blood-dripping from one or more faces and/or people the police might want to arrest. As a result the press will be resisted more at future demos I fear, as protesters become aware that the photographers are hindering them in their task. This won't make it any easier for the demonstrators to get their argument out to a wider audience.
The health and safety risks from the kettle tactic are not its only fault however. It is a morally bankrupt notion to treat everyone present at a scene, for whatever reason, as terrorists, criminals and vandals for one thing. For another, it is simply a denial of the right to protest. A right which has slowly been eroded to almost nothing in the past 20 years or so. Also, it is mass-detention of mostly innocent people exercising their right to protest peacefully.
I've heard reports of people in tears, begging the police to let them leave the kettle on Wednesday, including one woman who was desperate to get out so she could collect her child. They were all, of course, refused.
If someone was actually breaking the law then they should be arrested and THEN detained. If they are not causing trouble then they should be free to carry on with their business - the police should have no right whatsoever to detain anyone without first arresting them and charging them with a crime.
The mood in the anti-capitalist subculture seems to be getting heated and differences are being forgotten as they all start to notice who their real enemies are and work together. This, coupled with the inevitable increase in support they will gain from the formally apolitical (who will become increasingly aware of their powerlessness as a result of their troughs suddenly being empty due to the banking crisis), means that we might well be in for an interesting summer.
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto
Except for the stupid ones that is.
Some folk need to stop behaving like fucking plankton.
"Oh the whale is just looking out for us. Protecting us from fishy terrorists"
No it's fucking not. The whale wants to eat you you fucking planktonian turd. The whale wants to whack you on the back of the legs and watch you die. It wants to shoot you seven times in the head. It wants to watch porn using your money and it wants to sell you shite that you don't fucking need.
Fuck the whale, fuck it in the leg whacking, head shooting, porn watching, shite selling blow-hole.
Some folk need to stop behaving like fucking plankton.
"Oh the whale is just looking out for us. Protecting us from fishy terrorists"
No it's fucking not. The whale wants to eat you you fucking planktonian turd. The whale wants to whack you on the back of the legs and watch you die. It wants to shoot you seven times in the head. It wants to watch porn using your money and it wants to sell you shite that you don't fucking need.
Fuck the whale, fuck it in the leg whacking, head shooting, porn watching, shite selling blow-hole.
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
A Perfectly Good Aeroplane.
I've decided to do a parachute jump this summer.
It's something I've wanted to do since I was about seven. I remember sitting in primary school bored, staring out of the window and envying the parachuters (is it parachutists? spellcheck seems to think so!) as they drifted slowly and gracefully to the ground. My teacher (Mr Hughes) may well have noticed them too (although, to e fair, he was far more boring than us, so how he found the time to stare wistfully out of the window when he had 30 seven year old children (no we weren't all 37 years old, that would be stupid) to entertain him is beyond me, so, thinking back, he probably just saw me being distracted) because he set us an exercise where we had to write a factual account of something. He told me to write about parachutieres.
I was pleased with this task. It gave me an opportunity to put my heart and soul into something, to express my love for the freedom that, to me, these parachuterists embodied. So I set to work. Then I realised that it was a factual exercise and that I knew no facts at all about parachutering, I was going to have to make it up and fluff it with opinion and emotional waffle.
Of course, it was rubbish. Mr Hughes called me over to his desk and told me so personally. Nevertheless, it was my first attempt at an essay style which would later serve me well with a little fine tuning and minimal research, so I have my ignorance of parachutaneering to thank for that.
So the parachuterer has, for 30 years now, represented both freedom and imagination so I reckoned it's about time I gave it a try.
If only I could find the embodiment of 'twisting the question to fit your answer' I'll have both my essay writing techniques covered.
It's something I've wanted to do since I was about seven. I remember sitting in primary school bored, staring out of the window and envying the parachuters (is it parachutists? spellcheck seems to think so!) as they drifted slowly and gracefully to the ground. My teacher (Mr Hughes) may well have noticed them too (although, to e fair, he was far more boring than us, so how he found the time to stare wistfully out of the window when he had 30 seven year old children (no we weren't all 37 years old, that would be stupid) to entertain him is beyond me, so, thinking back, he probably just saw me being distracted) because he set us an exercise where we had to write a factual account of something. He told me to write about parachutieres.
I was pleased with this task. It gave me an opportunity to put my heart and soul into something, to express my love for the freedom that, to me, these parachuterists embodied. So I set to work. Then I realised that it was a factual exercise and that I knew no facts at all about parachutering, I was going to have to make it up and fluff it with opinion and emotional waffle.
Of course, it was rubbish. Mr Hughes called me over to his desk and told me so personally. Nevertheless, it was my first attempt at an essay style which would later serve me well with a little fine tuning and minimal research, so I have my ignorance of parachutaneering to thank for that.
So the parachuterer has, for 30 years now, represented both freedom and imagination so I reckoned it's about time I gave it a try.
If only I could find the embodiment of 'twisting the question to fit your answer' I'll have both my essay writing techniques covered.
Monday, 6 April 2009
Said the Joker to the Thief.
If you have a wee look on the post 'mysanthropy' you'll notice that there is a comment from a photographer complaining that I 'stole' his work.
At first I was tempted to reply with something like 'I couldn't resist it because it was the ideal representation of a cheap cliché I was using ironically' and going on about how he should be pleased that I was getting his work out to a (slightly) wider audience. But I resisted and instead decided to reply with an apology.
But it seems that I can't reply to this blog as myself for some reason and although duality of self has been a recurring theme (or as much of one as can be established in such a short time) I think that multiple personalities would be stretching it a bit.
So I wrote this entry instead.
Just to let Chris know, his free advert for his photography site (check it out and let me know what you think) will be allowed to stay on this blog for as long as his photo was allowed to stay. I will delete his comment after that.
I also think he might have worded his request in a slightly friendlier way. I'd have been happy to put up a link to his website and create a permanent advert for his work for instance. I'd even have been happier had he not said that I'd 'stolen' his work. I didn't steal it. It's more analogous with sneaking into his garden and playing on his swing than sneaking into his garden and taking his garden gnome.
I accept that I shouldn't have used the photo without permission. I blame the ease of use of google images, and I'll be more careful in future. For one thing I WAS stealing bandwidth from his website because l used the copy of his image from there. That was wrong of me.
I should have downloaded the image and re-uploaded it to imageshack or some-such: then he would have been none-the-wiser!
At first I was tempted to reply with something like 'I couldn't resist it because it was the ideal representation of a cheap cliché I was using ironically' and going on about how he should be pleased that I was getting his work out to a (slightly) wider audience. But I resisted and instead decided to reply with an apology.
But it seems that I can't reply to this blog as myself for some reason and although duality of self has been a recurring theme (or as much of one as can be established in such a short time) I think that multiple personalities would be stretching it a bit.
So I wrote this entry instead.
Just to let Chris know, his free advert for his photography site (check it out and let me know what you think) will be allowed to stay on this blog for as long as his photo was allowed to stay. I will delete his comment after that.
I also think he might have worded his request in a slightly friendlier way. I'd have been happy to put up a link to his website and create a permanent advert for his work for instance. I'd even have been happier had he not said that I'd 'stolen' his work. I didn't steal it. It's more analogous with sneaking into his garden and playing on his swing than sneaking into his garden and taking his garden gnome.
I accept that I shouldn't have used the photo without permission. I blame the ease of use of google images, and I'll be more careful in future. For one thing I WAS stealing bandwidth from his website because l used the copy of his image from there. That was wrong of me.
I should have downloaded the image and re-uploaded it to imageshack or some-such: then he would have been none-the-wiser!
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Bleaurgh!
I didn't post anything yesterday because I was feeling uninspired and instead of sitting down and forcing myself to write something (sorta like what I'm doing now) I decided to leave t until later when I was feeling up to it.
That's a mistake since it was clear that I wasn't going to feel up to it at any point yesterday.
I've been sleeping really badly of late so I've been more scatterbrained than usual, which is normally an indication that I should do nothing more taxing than read or watch a film. This, however, does fall into that category since it's basically typing out whatever comes into my head.
Perhaps after the last few entries I was simply worried about what might come into my head!!
That's a mistake since it was clear that I wasn't going to feel up to it at any point yesterday.
I've been sleeping really badly of late so I've been more scatterbrained than usual, which is normally an indication that I should do nothing more taxing than read or watch a film. This, however, does fall into that category since it's basically typing out whatever comes into my head.
Perhaps after the last few entries I was simply worried about what might come into my head!!
Friday, 3 April 2009
Why I'm Never Bored.
I forgot my headphones this morning, so I had to go on a train journey with only my own thoughts to entertain me.
Which is handy because one of those thoughts was the realisation that it is possible (although unlikely) that I could, one day, become Pope.
The Vatican City is the only nation where I have any chance whatsoever (in theory) of being head of state. Even in my country of birth (the UK) I have zero chance of attaining the position by dint of my not having had the foresight to have been born to the correct parents.
I'd have to lie and scheme a fair bit if I was to stand even the slightest chance.
Which is handy because one of those thoughts was the realisation that it is possible (although unlikely) that I could, one day, become Pope.
The Vatican City is the only nation where I have any chance whatsoever (in theory) of being head of state. Even in my country of birth (the UK) I have zero chance of attaining the position by dint of my not having had the foresight to have been born to the correct parents.
I'd have to lie and scheme a fair bit if I was to stand even the slightest chance.
Thursday, 2 April 2009
Take the Dream.
I have a great deal of trouble with sleep. It's not just that I'm an insomniac: all sorts of weird/annoying things happen even after I do manage to nod-off.
An example of this is sleep paralysis, a fucking weird experience and no mistake. I experienced this quite regularly for ten years - I'd say from about age 12 or 13 up to about 23 or 24 and it was only relatively recently that I found out what it was - the power of the internet and an imaginative search-string holding the key - so at the time when it was actually happening I had no fucking idea.
It was extremely frightening the first few times. Who wouldn't be shit-scared if they suddenly found that they were paralysed for no apparent reason! That first time the shock sort of jolted me out of it (or, as I now know, I woke up) freaked out and very very sleepy. So I probably fell asleep and forgot all about it.
Until it happened again about a week later. This time I wasn't so shocked, so I didn't wake up as soon as I realised that I couldn't move. I just sort of lay there experiencing an increasing sense of what wikipedia calls an 'acute sense of danger'. It was probably the most frightening experience of my life that second time. Not only did the shock not wake me but I had the other instance as a sort of reference - it happened once for a very short time and now it's happening for longer.
'What the fuck! Am I paralysed now? Because if I am I'd like to point out that I'd rather not be if that's at all possible'. I possibly might have mused.
Eventually I calmed down a little bit.
Ok, was I really paralysed? I tried to move stuff. Really fucking tried with force of will to move stuff and eventually my toes wiggled and the 'spell' broke. I turned over in bed, relaxed and drifted off to sleep,,,,
...except I soon noticed that I couldn't move again.
'Fuck!' I probably thought and put all my mental will into to wiggling my toes. It worked pretty quickly that time! Woohoo! I can escape at will! Now that I am in possession of that nugget maybe I can play around with this and work out what's going the fuck on.
It didn't happen for a few nights, but when it did I went with it a bit. I took in the experience with no sense of danger , cute or otherwise (well maybe a wee tiny fear, bit nothing overwhelming), and it must have been when I fell asleep and dreamed that I'd fallen out of my body.
That's right folks, I fell out of my body and landed on my bedroom floor - all the while thinking I was not only awake, but also paralysed - and the sense of un-cute danger returned with a vengeance.
'Shit-on-a-motherfucking-stick' I probably pondered, and the shock again pulled my out of it - I dreamed that I was 'sucked' back into my body and when I reached it I noticed that it was no longer paralysed.
The atheist in me was confused. I was convinced that it wasn't a dream - it seemed so real - so I discounted that far to quickly (considering it was the truth) if the best result was finding out what the fuck was going on. And I did want to know that, so I kept it pretty much to myself and developed an interest in Sumerian Mythology instead.
It's probably a good thing that I did dismiss it though, because for the next wee while it was great fun playing with it. The best trip you ever had. Literally dreaming whilst you are fully concious! And being in complete control of the dream (but not the environment: the illsion of reality of environment was crucial to making it work I suppose) at the same time!
Take that LSD!
Fuck you peyote!
Kiss my skinny arse ketamin!
I missed it when it stopped happening.
The reason I mention it is because it has recently (within the past 3 years) been semi-reprised with a new weird mid-sleep sport: lucid dreaming (apparently you can teach yourself how to do this). Lucid dreaming is nowhere near as weird or scary though.
It tends to start when something familiar looks out of place. My lucid dreams normally start off in my flat because my unconscious (or the part of me that creates the dreams) seems to work on general-ism and archetypes so there are usually things that the me who experiences the dream can pick out that are out of place.
(I'm not really sure what part of me creates the dreams and what part experiences them, and therefore uncovers the sham, so forgive the vague language and/or pronouns.)
The realisation that I was dreaming woke me up the first few times, but after that I only wake up when something fucked up happens and I want to leave the dream.
I quite enjoy the odd lucid dream, even though they are less 'controllable' than the sleep paralysis hallucinations, so I turned the light switch in my bedroom upside down.
Another fucking non sequitur Mark?
No. I turned the switch upside down because I suspected that the dream-creating-me was too stupid to remember (or even know) that I had done it.
And I was right, that light switch initiated more lucid dream adsventures than anything else.
Although, unfortunately, my cat is beginning to take over that role o late. I wish my fucking unconscious or whatever would get it it into my thick head that my cat is dead and that it is rather rude to jolt someone out of a dream with a vision of his not long dead cat miawing at him. That just ruins it and I end up waking up immediately and annoyed. Then writing this blog entry.
I think that sleep hates me. It even fucks with me when I'm not awake.
An example of this is sleep paralysis, a fucking weird experience and no mistake. I experienced this quite regularly for ten years - I'd say from about age 12 or 13 up to about 23 or 24 and it was only relatively recently that I found out what it was - the power of the internet and an imaginative search-string holding the key - so at the time when it was actually happening I had no fucking idea.
It was extremely frightening the first few times. Who wouldn't be shit-scared if they suddenly found that they were paralysed for no apparent reason! That first time the shock sort of jolted me out of it (or, as I now know, I woke up) freaked out and very very sleepy. So I probably fell asleep and forgot all about it.
Until it happened again about a week later. This time I wasn't so shocked, so I didn't wake up as soon as I realised that I couldn't move. I just sort of lay there experiencing an increasing sense of what wikipedia calls an 'acute sense of danger'. It was probably the most frightening experience of my life that second time. Not only did the shock not wake me but I had the other instance as a sort of reference - it happened once for a very short time and now it's happening for longer.
'What the fuck! Am I paralysed now? Because if I am I'd like to point out that I'd rather not be if that's at all possible'. I possibly might have mused.
Eventually I calmed down a little bit.
Ok, was I really paralysed? I tried to move stuff. Really fucking tried with force of will to move stuff and eventually my toes wiggled and the 'spell' broke. I turned over in bed, relaxed and drifted off to sleep,,,,
...except I soon noticed that I couldn't move again.
'Fuck!' I probably thought and put all my mental will into to wiggling my toes. It worked pretty quickly that time! Woohoo! I can escape at will! Now that I am in possession of that nugget maybe I can play around with this and work out what's going the fuck on.
It didn't happen for a few nights, but when it did I went with it a bit. I took in the experience with no sense of danger , cute or otherwise (well maybe a wee tiny fear, bit nothing overwhelming), and it must have been when I fell asleep and dreamed that I'd fallen out of my body.
That's right folks, I fell out of my body and landed on my bedroom floor - all the while thinking I was not only awake, but also paralysed - and the sense of un-cute danger returned with a vengeance.
'Shit-on-a-motherfucking-stick' I probably pondered, and the shock again pulled my out of it - I dreamed that I was 'sucked' back into my body and when I reached it I noticed that it was no longer paralysed.
The atheist in me was confused. I was convinced that it wasn't a dream - it seemed so real - so I discounted that far to quickly (considering it was the truth) if the best result was finding out what the fuck was going on. And I did want to know that, so I kept it pretty much to myself and developed an interest in Sumerian Mythology instead.
It's probably a good thing that I did dismiss it though, because for the next wee while it was great fun playing with it. The best trip you ever had. Literally dreaming whilst you are fully concious! And being in complete control of the dream (but not the environment: the illsion of reality of environment was crucial to making it work I suppose) at the same time!
Take that LSD!
Fuck you peyote!
Kiss my skinny arse ketamin!
I missed it when it stopped happening.
The reason I mention it is because it has recently (within the past 3 years) been semi-reprised with a new weird mid-sleep sport: lucid dreaming (apparently you can teach yourself how to do this). Lucid dreaming is nowhere near as weird or scary though.
It tends to start when something familiar looks out of place. My lucid dreams normally start off in my flat because my unconscious (or the part of me that creates the dreams) seems to work on general-ism and archetypes so there are usually things that the me who experiences the dream can pick out that are out of place.
(I'm not really sure what part of me creates the dreams and what part experiences them, and therefore uncovers the sham, so forgive the vague language and/or pronouns.)
The realisation that I was dreaming woke me up the first few times, but after that I only wake up when something fucked up happens and I want to leave the dream.
I quite enjoy the odd lucid dream, even though they are less 'controllable' than the sleep paralysis hallucinations, so I turned the light switch in my bedroom upside down.
Another fucking non sequitur Mark?
No. I turned the switch upside down because I suspected that the dream-creating-me was too stupid to remember (or even know) that I had done it.
And I was right, that light switch initiated more lucid dream adsventures than anything else.
Although, unfortunately, my cat is beginning to take over that role o late. I wish my fucking unconscious or whatever would get it it into my thick head that my cat is dead and that it is rather rude to jolt someone out of a dream with a vision of his not long dead cat miawing at him. That just ruins it and I end up waking up immediately and annoyed. Then writing this blog entry.
I think that sleep hates me. It even fucks with me when I'm not awake.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
G20
I'd like to wish Barack Obama and the other world leaders the best of luck for their summit.
I for one will be very disappointed if their important work is allowed to be undermined by thoughtless protests.
I for one will be very disappointed if their important work is allowed to be undermined by thoughtless protests.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)