From L’Oeil du tigre :
‘Neuf boîtes(!) du légendaire EP presque unreleased de MI AMORE, ‘The Lion‘ (2007), ont (…) été dépoussiérées. Issu des sessions d’enregistrement de ‘The Lamb‘ (2005), avec Kurt Ballou,‘The Lion, Five Mystical Songs’ n’aura jamais bénéficié d’une bonne distribution suite à la dissolution du label québécois Cyclop Média.’
A nearly-unreleased and long hard-to-find EP from these controversial Quebec blackened hardcore champions. AVAILABLE HERE.
KAREN BACHMAN discusses the strange and romantic art of Victorian hair work and its origins. Memorial hair work jewelry became popular in the late 18th century and reached its zenith in the 19th century. The wearing of a loved ones hair, encased in a locket, woven into a chain, or even framed in a wall, was a devotional act which kept the departed both physically and symbolically closer to the wearer.
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The Midnight Archive created by RONNI THOMAS (May 17, 2012)
Nous en avions brièvement discuté lors de l’équinoxe d’automne dernier :
Spectacular Optical Announces Upcoming Second Book:
In the 1980s, it seemed impossible to escape Satan’s supposed influence. Everywhere you turned, there were warnings about a widespread evil conspiracy to indoctrinate the vulnerable through the media they consumed. This percolating cultural hysteria, now known as the “Satanic Panic,” not only sought to convince us of devils lurking behind the dials of our TVs and radios and the hellfire that awaited on book and video store shelves, it also created its own fascinating cultural legacy of Satan-battling VHS tapes, audio cassettes and literature. The second book by Canadian micro-publisher Spectacular Optical, Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s, offers an unprecedented and in-depth exploration of how a controversial culture war played out during the decade, from the publication of the memoir Michelle Remembers in 1980 to the end of the McMartin “Satanic Ritual Abuse” Trial in 1990. This new anthology, expected to be released in summer 2015, follows on the success of KID POWER!, Spectacular Optical’s inaugural book about cool, tough and sassy kids in cult film and television.
Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s features 20 new essays and interviews addressing the ways the widespread fear of a Satanic conspiracy was both illuminated and propagated through almost every pop culture pathway in the 1980s, from heavy metal music to Dungeons & Dragons role playing games, Christian comics, direct-to-VHS scare films, pulp paperbacks, Saturday morning cartoons, TV talk shows and even home computers. The book also features case studies on McMartin, Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth and Long Island “acid king” killer Ricky Kasso. From con artists to pranksters and moralists to martyrs, the book aims to capture the untold story of the how the Satanic Panic was fought on the pop culture frontlines and the serious consequences it had for many involved.
Satanic Panic’s roster of contributing authors and media critics includes GAVIN BADDELEY (Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship and Rock n’ Roll), LIISA LADOUCEUR (Encyclopedia Gothica), DAVID FLINT (Sheer Filth), ALEXANDRA HELLER-NICHOLAS (Rape Revenge Films: A Critical Study), ADRIAN MACK (The Georgia Straight), FORREST JACKSON (Cosmic Suicide: The Tragedy and Transcendence of Heaven’s Gate), ALISON NASTASI (Flavorwire), LESLIE HATTON (Popshifter), DAVID CANFIELD (Twitch), DAVID BERTRAND (Fangoria; Spectacular Optical), ALISON LANG (Rue Morgue), KEVIN L. FERGUSON (Queens College/CUNY), WM CONLEY (Deathwound), KURT HALFARD (Twitch), SAMM DEIGHAN (Satanic Pandemonium), STACEY RUSNAK (The Postnational Fantasy: Essays on Postcolonialism, Cosmopolitics and Science Fiction), RALPH ELAWANI (C’est complet au royaume des morts) and JOSHUA GRAHAM, alongside co-editors KIER-LA JANISSE (House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films) and PAUL CORUPE (Canuxploitation). The book will also feature comic art by RICK TREMBLES (Motion Picture Purgatory) and original illustrations by Toronto artist MIKE McDONNELL.
The book’s launch in summer 2015 will be accompanied by screenings and panel events in multiple cities. Stay tuned for more developments on that front, as well as a full table of contents list to be announced later this spring. Please see attached for cover art, which will be printed with metallic silver ink on black matte.
This is the way the world ends; not with a bang but an eclipse. Or so some Christian ministers have said.
Many on the internet are worried that Friday’s solar eclipse is a sign of the end times, or a message of judgement from God. And while the theories are largely speculative, they are encouraged by a genuine collision of three rare and significant celestial events on Friday.
As well as the eclipse itself, a Supermoon and the Spring equinox are also set to happen — all three of which have in the past been celebrated as events of significance within various cultures around the world.
As well as the rare and spectacular sights in the sky, those who advocate the theory that the eclipse and other events are a sign of the end times or an omen of something else say that recent ominous events also show that something could happen.
The kinds of geo-political and societal events that tend to be associated with the end times by those who believe in such events are also happening, encouraging the idea that Friday could mark a sign of the apocalypse or another catastrophic event. Global stock markets are volatile and at record highs; there is increasing tension in the Middle East, including in Israel; and votes on same-sex marriage are scheduled for this summer in the US.
WorldNetDaily, an American site that is roughly affiliated with the American political right, reported that biblical experts believe that the message is a sign of judgment from God to those on Earth.
The co-founder of Christian website Root Source, Bob O’Dell, told WND that the message was a sign of judgment. The eclipse will be total across the North Pole, and so is not pointed at anyone in particular.
“The North Pole can’t really be called the territory of any particular nation or people,” O’Dell told the site. “This is likely a message from God to the entire world.”
But since the eclipse will most affect those in northern Europe, the message should be especially heeded by people there, according to a pastor interviewed by WND.
“In Jewish tradition, a total solar eclipse is a warning to the Gentiles and a sign of judgment on the nations,” he told the paper. “When we look at where the darkness will be, it will be in northern European countries like England and Sweden where we see the rise of Islam and anti-Israel sentiment. Europeans especially should take heed.”
The connection between Friday’s eclipse and the end of the world comes partly from the “Blood Moon Prophecy”. That refers to the theory that a tetrad — four consecutive lunar eclipses, with six full moons between them — is a sign that the world is coming to an end.
Those that believe in the prophecy see it partly borne out by the Book of Joel, which says that “the sun will turn into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes”. That has been connected to the phenomenon of the blood moon — the phenomenon where the moon turns copper red as it passes under the Earth’s shadow.
March’s solar eclipse have been connected by some to the series of lunar ones that are seen as harbingers of the end times. This solar eclipse sits in the middle of the tetrad, and is seen as another signal that signs are appearing in the sky.
There is no way to be sure that the predictions won’t come true until Friday morning, when the eclipse happens — it is set to begin around 8am and carry on until about 11am. But something spectacular is certain to happen, as the moon moves in front of the sun and brings darkness to the UK, whether or not it also marks the end of the world.
Andrew Griffin
The Independent
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Blood moon returns: Another total lunar eclipse will color the moon blood red (October 7, 2014)
Welcome back Jesus? Christians say ‘Blood Moon’ signals End Times (April 15, 2014)
A team of scientists led by renowned French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio recently announced that they have found a bowl, dating to between the late 2nd century B.C. and the early 1st century A.D., that is engraved with what they believe could be the world’s first known reference to Christ.
If the word « Christ » refers to the Biblical Jesus Christ, as is speculated, then the discovery may provide evidence that Christianity and paganism at times intertwined in the ancient world.
The full engraving on the bowl reads, « DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS, » which has been interpreted by the excavation team to mean either, « by Christ the magician » or, « the magician by Christ. »
« It could very well be a reference to Jesus Christ, in that he was once the primary exponent of white magic, » Goddio, co-founder of the Oxford Center of Maritime Archaeology, said.
He and his colleagues found the object during an excavation of the underwater ruins of Alexandria’s ancient great harbor. The Egyptian site also includes the now submerged island of Antirhodos, where Cleopatra’s palace may have been located.
Both Goddio and Egyptologist David Fabre, a member of the European Institute of Submarine Archaeology, think a « magus » could have practiced fortune telling rituals using the bowl. The Book of Matthew refers to « wisemen, » or Magi, believed to have been prevalent in the ancient world.
According to Fabre, the bowl is also very similar to one depicted in two early Egyptian earthenware statuettes that are thought to show a soothsaying ritual.
« It has been known in Mesopotamia probably since the 3rd millennium B.C., » Fabre said. « The soothsayer interprets the forms taken by the oil poured into a cup of water in an interpretation guided by manuals. »
He added that the individual, or « medium, » then goes into a hallucinatory trance when studying the oil in the cup.
« They therefore see the divinities, or supernatural beings appear that they call to answer their questions with regard to the future, » he said.
The magus might then have used the engraving on the bowl to legitimize his supernatural powers by invoking the name of Christ, the scientists theorize.
Goddio said, « It is very probable that in Alexandria they were aware of the existence of Jesus » and of his associated legendary miracles, such as transforming water into wine, multiplying loaves of bread, conducting miraculous health cures, and the story of the resurrection itself.
While not discounting the Jesus Christ interpretation, other researchers have offered different possible interpretations for the engraving, which was made on the thin-walled ceramic bowl after it was fired, since slip was removed during the process.
Bert Smith, a professor of classical archaeology and art at Oxford University, suggests the engraving might be a dedication, or present, made by a certain « Chrestos » belonging to a possible religious association called Ogoistais.
Klaus Hallof, director of the Institute of Greek inscriptions at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy, added that if Smith’s interpretation proves valid, the word « Ogoistais » could then be connected to known religious groups that worshipped early Greek and Egyptian gods and goddesses, such as Hermes, Athena and Isis.
Hallof additionally pointed out that historians working at around, or just after, the time of the bowl, such as Strabon and Pausanias, refer to the god « Osogo » or « Ogoa, » so a variation of this might be what’s on the bowl. It is even possible that the bowl refers to both Jesus Christ and Osogo.
Fabre concluded, « It should be remembered that in Alexandria, paganism, Judaism and Christianity never evolved in isolation. All of these forms of religion (evolved) magical practices that seduced both the humble members of the population and the most well-off classes. »
« It was in Alexandria where new religious constructions were made to propose solutions to the problem of man, of God’s world, » he added. « Cults of Isis, mysteries of Mithra, and early Christianity bear witness to this. »
Jennifer Viegas
Discovery News
