Blather
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Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky (Amazon.com) Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of the Things Seen in the Sky (Amazon.co.uk) This is by no means a book that will entertain everyone, especially those who are partial to a sweet slice of the extraterrestrial hypothesis, i.e. that UFOs are most definitely craft from other worlds. Jung attacks the phenomenon from (obviously enough) a sceptical and psychological angle, with an emphasis on the *psychic* aspect, and correctly predicts how 'ufology' was to spawn a plethora of quasi-religious cults. Rather that immediately treating UFOs as external phenomena, 'visionary rumours', presented to the conscious mind, he spends much of the book comparing them to phenomena known to come from the unconscious - dreams. He spends much of the *rest* of the essay interpreting the artwork of various artists, and their use of disc like objects, and unconscious 'fourth dimension'...

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Druid Shaman Priest - Metaphors of Celtic Paganism (Amazon.com) Druid Shaman Priest - Metaphors of Celtic Paganism (Powell's Books - new or secondhand) Druid Shaman Priest - Metaphors of Celtic Paganism (Amazon.co.uk) Asking 'who were the Celts and what were they up to?', Jones threads her way the linguistics and archaeology of the Celtic countries, tackling the apparent and dubious 'victory' of Christianity over paganism, and how our modern perception of the Celts has been coloured by politically motivated commentators of the last 500 years. Modest and subtle humour prevails throughout this volume, a trademark of Jones's style. She states that she's 'only begun to scratch the surface of Druidic representation' - this may be true, but at least she has left a hole for us to peer through. Essential reading for anyone interested in Celtic mythology, Druidism or paganism - daev

Blather
3288 views

Japanese Movie Posters: Yakuza, Monster, Pink and Horror (Amazon.com) Japanese Movie Posters: Yakuza, Monster, Pink and Horror (Amazon.co.uk) <!-- Holy Fire (Powell's Books - new or secondhand) --> On first glance, *Japanese Movie Posters: Yakuza, Monster, Pink and Horror* appears to be little more than a catalogue for DH Publishing's movie poster business. The last page even provides details on how to order the posters. However, *Yakuza, Monster, Pink and Horror* is a delight in itself, with 96 pages of katana waving gangsters, bald lesbian nuns, giant pterodactyls, lizards and moths, hardy samurai made up like drag-queens, and several scantily clad actresses in questionable fetish scenarios. At the beginning of each section, commentators Tetsuya Masuda and Kairakutei Black explain the background to the genres, and chart the rise and fall of the movie stars, the characters and the genres themselves. Godzilla, Mothra and Radon lead the monsters, Beat Takeshi and...

Blather
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Huxley's "drug book" The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell and his "cure yer own eyesight problems" book The Art of Seeing, as reviewed by our very own Daev. Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell (Amazon.com) Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell (Powell's Books - new or secondhand) Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell (Amazon.co.uk) On a May morning in 1953, Aldous Huxley ingested 0.4g of mescalin, then sat back, closed his eyes, and let the effects take hold... wondering what would transpire. When he reopened his eyes, his entire world was transfigured... from flowers to clothing: 'A bunch of flowers shining with their own inner light. Those folds - what a labyrinth of endlessly significant complexity! I was seeing what Adam had seen on the morning of his own creation - the miracle, moment by moment, of naked existence.' Huxley doesn't just dwell up on...

Blather
3009 views

Classic Irish stuff... Yeats as a ghostbuster... Buck Mulligan and Kinch... yes, it's Gogarty's As I was Going Down Sackville Street and Tumbling in the Hay as reviewed by Daev. As I was Going Down Sackville St. (Amazon.com) As I was Going Down Sackville St. (Amazon.co.uk) A dazzling, poignant and often hilarious portrait of Dublin in particular, and Ireland in general, of the 1920s. Joyceans will recognise Gogarty - poet, politician, pilot, patriot, surgeon, novelist and wit - has having taken the dubious role of 'Buck Mulligan' in *Ulysses*. One of our favourite quotes can be found in this book: 'A country without village idiots is not worth living in. Without them there is no way of knowing who are sane.' Also look out for Chapter 13, in which W.B. Yeats goes ghosthunting in Gogarty's house! Tumbling in the Hay (Amazon.com) Tumbling in the Hay (Amazon.co.uk) Gogarty's ribald tales of...

Blather
3105 views

"One measures a circle beginning anywhere" - Charles Fort Charles Fort was a painstakingly erudite dissector of scientific texts and a ravenous predator of scientific dogma, who scrutinized how scientists formed their theories according to their own personal views, rather than the weight of evidence available. Fort gleefully trawled through the data that was suppressed, discarded or explained away in a less than satisfactory manner. He referred to this this data as 'damned'... Read about Fort in Charles Fort: Scientist Or Humorist? (by daev) The Complete Books of Charles Fort (Amazon.com) The Complete Books of Charles Fort (Amazon.co.uk) The Complete Books of Charles Fort (Powell's Books - new or secondhand) The Book of the Damned (Amazon.com) The Book of the Damned (Amazon.co.uk) The Book of the Damned (Amazon.co.uk) Lo! (Amazon.co.uk) Wild Talents (Amazon.co.uk) Charles Fort online: Charles Fort Institute Mr. X, Consulting Resologist 'Mr. X has a great interest in...

Blather
3235 views

I hate reviewing books too long after I've read them. I should really write the review as soon as I've finished it - there and then... But no, I must have finished John Ronson's The Men Who Stare At Goats around the 21st of January - and here I am, now trying desperately to review it. 'Remote viewing' might be a common phrase to anyone used to reading websites like blather.net, or leafing through issues of Fortean Times. But to the average Sunday supplement reader, it could be related to do with controlling their TV set. In this book, Ronson, in his trademark disarming style, has broken through, introducing the normals to a shedload of Special Ops weirdness. Ronson set out to investigate the US military's interest in remote viewing, a method of 'seeing' into remote places (like the Kremlin) or influencing distant events, using personnel - often ordinary soldiers...

Blather
3098 views

Lord Dunsany The Hashish Man and Other Stories (Amazon.com) The Hashish Man and Other Stories (Amazon.co.uk) The Hashish Man and Other Stories (Powell's Books - new or secondhand) A collection of twenty-five stories from one of the most underrated writers of early 20th century science-fiction and fantasy, Dunsany is often said to have been a major influence on both Lovecraft and Tolkien. In our opinion, Dunsany - who lived in Ireland most of his life - is nearly untouchable in his talent for painting literary pictures of bizarre adventures in exotic, otherwordly realms... - daev Why are we selling this? Read the related Blather article, No Such Place.

Blather
3313 views

The history of the environmental organisation... This book achieves several things - it's a both biography of both Jim Bohlen and the environmental organisation Greenpeace. It also serves as a history if the environmental movement as a whole, and the catalysts that have spurred people into action againstthe plundering of the planet. The books begins with an account of the 1971 voyage from Canada to the Aleutian Islands, where a bunch of Canadians and Americans attempted to halt US nuclear tests on the island of Amchitka. They didn't succeed, but their actions reached such a high profile that nuclear testing soon dwindled to a halt. Bohlen was on board the ship, and his life changed remarkably as a result. His plans for isolating his family in a sustainable farm in the boonies wasn't going to happen - instead, he became major activist in an organisation with a global reach. This...

Blather
3283 views

A biography of one of Ireland's best loved performers... I just finished reading The Fun Palace by the late Agnes Bernelle. One of Ireland's best known cabaret singers and actors, (she moved here with her husband), her legacy lives on, with the likes of Camille O'Sullivan keeping the Bernelle name alive... Bernell's autobiography is a tumultuous, semi-linear tale of a woman who, while burdened by her parents wants, a foreign culture, her eccentric husband's philandering and two children, somehow manages to rise above it all, and become one of the divas of modern cabaret, as well as being the first 'non-stationary nude' in British theatre (she decided to dispense with a leotard during the 'Dance of the Seven Veils' in Wilde's Salome. That was in 1956! Her aforementioned husband, ex-Spitfire pilot and cousin of Winston Churchill, Desmond Leslie, co-wrote 'Flying Saucers Have Landed' with George Adamski, and was quite the...
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