Thursday, November 18, 2010

... the Apophis agenda ...

... when you score a part on a television series you don't necessarily expect it to run for ten seasons, spawn spin-offs or become part of popular culture ... you can wish for it, yes, but it's advisable not to bet the farm on runaway success ... however, science-fiction serials often go viral and achieve immortality in unexpected ways, like Star Trek and the mega-movie franchise Star Wars ... so, my lengthy involvement as Apophis in the Stargate phenomenon had both precedent and portent ...















... being cast as the grand nemesis, successor to the flamboyant Ra character played by Jaye Davidson in Stargate-the-movie, promised a measure of singularity, not just owing to extravagant make-up, "Mickey Mouse" ears, killer bling and golden costumery, but also a virtual exemption from absolute vanquishment ...













... these days, well into episodic syndication (a fancy way of saying re-runs), it occurs to us we never actually saw him die but assumed his demise based on the predicament leading up to the fireball thought to have consumed him ... in the tradition of Elvis sightings, reports of the death of Apophis seem greatly exaggerated, and there has proven to be quite an afterlife for this pompous false God ... the identification in 2004 of an orbiting asteroid with a statistical potential to collide with planet Earth has raised the spectre of this resurgent villain once again ...












... the astronomers who named this threat after my character, David Tholen and Roy Tucker, are Stargate fans only too familiar with the predictably unpredictable re-appearances of Apophis ... a pattern mirrored by this inter-galactic rock that resembles a huge Irish potato or a flaming Idaho super-spud ...

















... calculations have Apophis close enough to Earth in 2012 to make better observations, but not close enough to counteract any Tea Party tilt at the American Presidency ... some likely gravitational adjustment in 2029 makes 2036 the year to ditch those insurance policies and have your bucket lists completed ...

... even Dick Cheney's successors, Blackwater and the mighty U.S. military would have to bow to Apophis ... the Russians, not trusting NASA projections that put most of the former Soviet Union under the asteroid's trajectory, want to pre-emptively shoot it down or deflect it over Washington, Waco or Wasilla ... they may only succeed in making Apophis really mad ...














... knowing Apophis like I do (I remain one of this world's foremost experts on the mindset of this persistent antagonist), I can safely state; Apophis will not throw the babes out with the bathwater ... before unleashing Armageddon he'll most likely take a sampling of Tau'ri (read Earthling) womankind as tithe or entitlement, to play Caligula while amassing an army or two on some distant planet in preparation for a future assault ...













... meanwhile, ever since the great civilisations of ancient Egypt, his mythology builds to crescendo ... there's even contemporary reasoning that the coming of Apophis was predicted in The Bible, and all sorts of creative souls continue to pay homage via artwork like this ethereal representation from a fan named Renee ...















... if the unthinkable happens, and the force that is Lord Apophis returns, riding on a baked potato to wreak havoc on the world which repeatedly frustrated him on televisions across the known universe, we can't say we weren't amply warned ... a penultimate twist-in-the-tale perhaps, is seen in this impact-rendering by the coincidentally named NASA-affiliated artist Don E. Davis ...


... I suspect that, somewhere, the late actor Don S. Davis, who portrayed Stargate Command's General Hammond helping to repel the early attacks of Apophis, would chuckle at the irony ...

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

... Joyce's gerberas ...

..."take time to smell the roses," ... this well known bit of advice is a Russian proverb, who knew? ... of course, in our Western interpretation it refers to more than roses ... the phrase nods to the fragrance of the flower while conveying a philosophy of deliberate appreciation toward beauty in general ... colourful plants, astral constellations, rainbows, autumn vistas, sea-breeze, natural phenomena great and small, in fact, any facet of Creation which stimulates pleasure sensors into a state of wonderment ...

... I arrive at these thoughts by reviewing photos of my most recent Jamaica jaunt which featured a trek to Black River, St. Elizabeth to hail Aunt Joyce, longtime earth-mother and horticulturist ... her yard's a port in a storm, featuring comforting constancy associated with boyhood happiness and adventure ...













... the open-faced blooms of her gerberas come in various colours but it is the overlapping radiance of their display that makes me take time to really look ... the gerbera flower is a member of the daisy family which originates in South Africa, and is valued worldwide in floral arrangements ... it has been hybridized to the point where it can be considered a cash-crop ...














... I suppose one could say it shows considerable temerity on my part to talk of smelling roses while visually featuring gerberas, but that's the sort of thing I'm getting a reputation for here at Ackeelover Chronicles ... literary license and extrapolation ... besides, I'm really only speaking in terms of the exquisite expressions of nature represented by these flowers ...

... having attended many a Black River Flower Show, I have a good understanding of the power of a flower ... so too the people who came up with the Persian proverb "the world is a rose; smell it and pass it to your friends," ... I'm due for another visit to this versatile garden, perhaps at that time my peculiar logic will lead me to smell the orchids and write about Joyce's roses ...

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

... tick tock, you rock ...

... the ticking hands of time are a constant in our temporal existence ... days past are never regained, gloomy as that may sound ... but if we see growing up as the sort of blessing that gives us the opportunity to learn something new everyday, and every tomorrow, then the annual milestones we call birthdays become useful reference points, perfect for reflections on the past and to make resolutions for the future ...
















... me 'n' my boy have been through a lot of stages and hairstyles together, but somehow fate likes to conspire for us to be apart on his birthday ... up until now I've dealt with this as a function of pre-destiny and have made various attempts to compensate some other way ... though it's not intended to be a case of emotional disregard on any level, I know that the love-you-from-a-distance scenario doesn't fully bridge the divide ... and it hurts ...

... Creed rides skateboards for fun, and he'll continue well after this day which sees him turn twenty-one ... what was once merely kid activity is now a bonafide sport with real superstars and sponsorships from street-level to pro ... ok, so he's more street than pro, but fo' sho I'm feelin' the vert and those grabs ...



















... this age can be a cue for feelings of trepidation about the next step in life ... looking back on mine, I offer this ... twenty-one is the elementary stage of the metabolic plateau which succeeds the matrix of rapid development that is youth ... in effect, nature's call for deliberate progress ... not ponderous or boring, but measured and mindful to carry forward those things that will stimulate senses, release tensions and overcome inhibitions ... all the while continuing to accumulate skillz and experiences ...

... rockin' Mos Def and Q-Tip all day in his honor will have his full approval ... the kid's musicality comes via osmosis I suppose, such is the soundtrack to his life ... only he among his kin actually makes music, using voice and rhyme as instrument ... cool move too, linking with Pigeon Park homies to push seventies-style rock-pop, liberally fused with ragga-tinged hip-hop commentary ... part of the weed-wise Vancouver music scene bubbling out of Gastown bongs ...

... this particular show, photographed by Danya Robinson, was a tour send-off ... the band would make the trip East without Creed because the young M.C. (mic-chatter) has a day job from which he is not expendable, giving him a personal taste of that predictable, ambivalent conflict which haunts artists everywhere ...












... he made the right choice to honor the regular gig, the latest in a string of better choices after some astoundingly poor adolescent ones, but then ... which of us can say that wasn't our trajectory too ... there really is nowhere to go but up from a state of youth ...















... twenty-one is an arbitrary numerical threshold which allows us to accept a child proclaiming itself to be grown, but the truth is closer to "twenty-one" being a paradigm that sees as many people mature before reaching the number, as after it ... it's understandable that there's this over/under differential because nothing in life, except the inexorable passage of time, is immune to variation ...

... I'm proud of this young man, now formally turning adult ... saw it coming all the way (wink), even from here ... but once again I'm overseas for his birthday and conveying my love from afar ... this time however, there's a new recognition ...

... Happy Birthday to you my son, man-to-man ...