 |
| Credit: Håvard Berland |
This shit isn´t going away, is it? It would be ironic if the next world war would be fought between the US and the EU circa 2040 over oil on Greenland. Rather than between Russia and the EU over Svalbard, as predicted in some futuristic documentary I watched long ago...
Greenland issues "strong warning" as Trump-linked oil firm prepares to drill
A summary of the new documentary "Capturing Bigfoot" which apparently proves once and for all that the famous Patterson-Gimlin film is a hoax. The docu has not yet been commercially released, but it was recently shown at a film festival in the United States. Note that the content-creator linked above *isn´t* a 100% skeptic, which may explain why he sounds so shocked.
I´ve been skeptical towards cryptozoology and cryptids for some time, but it´s still a bit disappointing that the Patterson-Gimlin film has been conclusively debunked (if that´s the case), since that was the best piece of evidence that the elusive hairy man might be real after all.
The world just got more boring.
So I ask the Divine for a sign, and the answer I get is...the Patterson-Gimlin film is a hoax? WTF?!
Is it all over? No, I´m not talking about Trump, Putin or something to that effect. An American documentary film maker claims to have uncovered previously unknown film reels which strongly suggest that the famous Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film was faked. Some family members have apparently confirmed it.
Yuge if true. Or, to put it in another way: Fucking shit. The best evidence for Sasquatch being a real flesh-and-blood animal out of the window. Cryptozoology as a whole is over.
Or is it? Of course it isn´t. The show will continue anyway, somehow. Because the ride never ends. Or something. But for those of us who want the Truth to be Out There (pun intended), 2026 didn´t start off very well, did it?
 |
| - You *do* know that we are evolutionary cousins, right? - Nah, I´m a special creation. God loves beetles! |
Just watched a rather boring French docu about the evolution (or is it EVIL-ution) of insects. Apparently, Lucia (or LUCIA = Last Universal Common Insect Ancestor) was a crustacean which crawled out of the ocean...and the rest is history. Hundreds of millions of years of history, to be exact.
No surprise there. I mean, the idea that fleas, locusts and termites (or the praying mantis!) are ultimately derived from a primordial cousin to crayfish and crabs does make a certain intuitive sense. They are equally eerie and unsettling. Like some stuff straight out of Lovecraft.
Although I have to say that arachnids are even worse. Where did *they* come from, I wonder? Color out of space?
Trump and some branch of his admin recently posted a very strange meme. It shows Trump together with a penguin holding an American flag. They are seen walking towards a mountain range at which the Greenland flag has been hoisted. Most people who seen the meme react at that particular detail. After all, penguins live in Antarctica. Greenland is in the Arctic.
But...
The more I think about the meme, the more I´m convinced that this is a hex. A self-hex, to be precise. Trump is essentially cursing himself?! The picture of the penguin originally comes from a strange docu by Werner Herzog. Yes, *that* Werner Herzog. The guy with all the pessimistic and apocalyptic films and documentaries. Often with a certain Klaus Kinski as lead actor. The penguin is implied to be nihilistic or insane. Rather than heading for the sea together with his flock, he walks towards the mountains...and a certain death. On the Mountains of Madness?
So the meme could be (subconsciously) read in the following manner: Trump is acting like the crazy penguin (or like Kinski?), leading all of America to its doom, chasing the mirage of a Greenland military conquest.
It´s actually quite eerie. And no, I don´t really believe in magick. Which makes it eerier still.
"Glitch in Bhakti" is an anti-ISKCON documentary produced by some breakaway faction, which simply calls itself ISKCON Truth. They support the "ritvik system", but also criticize the official ritvik movement around the ex-ISKCON temple in Bangalore. Is it a breakaway of a breakaway?
The docu is probably confusing for those entirely new to the subject, consisting of excerpts from American news reports, private films of ritviks heckling the official ISKCON (which sometimes leads to brawls) and a mysterious tape recording in which Prabhupada seems to suggest that he is being poisoned. Plus other material also excerpted from elsewhere.
The message of "Glitch in Bhakti" is that ISKCON was a good organization under Prabhupada, but quickly degenerated after his death (or murder), when the 11 members of the new collective leadership turned themselves into "gurus" and hence usurped Prabhupada´s authority. The scandals surrounding New Vrindaban in West Virginia and the murder of Sulochan are mentioned. The docu also accuses the post-Prabhupada ISKCON of liberalism and decadence. Everything from an idol of Jesus to female fashion shows are frown upon, and so is the use of the English language when singing devotional hymns. New editions of Prabhupada´s books are another point of contention.
The "ritvik system" (or more properly the ritvik doctrine) is the idea that Prabhupada didn´t appoint a successor. The 11 members of the collective governing body therefore weren´t "gurus" and "acharyas" - these roles strictly belonging to Prabhupada himself - but rather "ritviks" or representatives, a lower position. Prabhupada remains the sole guru even posthumously. Maybe I missed something, but I don´t think it´s clear at all that this was Prabhupada´s intention. It certainly sounds as if he *did* appoint his successors to be gurus with the power to initiate their own disciples...
If you must know my position on this rather esoteric point (for an outsider).
Make of this content whatever you wish.
This YouTube clip is 18 years old and apparently taken from a documentary about the two last Jews in Kabul, Afghanistan. OK, let me guess. There are *no* Jews left in Afghanistan today? Bizarre stuff.
So I just watched the French documentary "Giza Pyramids" from 2023, featuring both French-speaking and English-speaking Egyptologists. OK, fine, so the officialdom is finally paying attention to possible alignements between the pyramids at Giza and the stars in the night sky. They even mention Robert Bauval´s controversial Orion hypothesis. I must say that their criticism of it is extremely lazy, though! One prominent archeologist, Mark Lehner, claims that it´s hard to believe that the Egyptians could have made such correlations, since...it´s pitch dark at night, so they couldn´t see anything?!
Ahem, Mark, I´m sure the ancient Egyptians knew how to make flaming torches...
The other objections are of a similarly unserious character. Finally, we meet somebody who explains how these accursed Hamites could have made the necessary measurements with the aid of two instruments known as "merkhet" and "bay".
The docu also proposes its own correlation hypothesis: the "air shafts" in the Great Pyramid are pointing at Orion, Sirius, Kochab and Thuban, which all play a prominent symbolical role in Egyptian mythology. For instance, Osiris is associated with Orion and Sirius with Isis. Pharaoh´s soul was presumably expected to rise through these shafts until it reached an immortal realm among the constellations.
So it seems the fringe speculations were kind of right, after all.
For some reason, I feel like linking to this old blog post from 2021. I must be the only person who starts reflecting on Shiva while watching a boring documentary about some fossils in Colorado!
 |
| Credit: Luna04 |
"Humans before Neanderthals" is a fascinating documentary about archaic humans in Europe about 450,000 years ago. Here, they are assigned to the species Homo heidelbergensis or Heidelberg Man. This species is believed to be ancestral to both our species and the Neanderthals.
These robust humans lived in Europe during an ice age, hunted reindeer and bears, manufactured spears and hand axes, and lived in caves at least during the winter. They didn´t seem to have fire. The bears were presumably hunted for their hides, which were used as clothes. It´s also possible that they "buried" their dead by throwing them into shafts in the caves. One handaxe have been found in such a burial shaft, perhaps as a symbolic parting gift? The documentary calls this "the oldest shrine in the world".
There is evidence that Heidelberg Man (and Woman) felt compassion, since they took care of disabled children. However, everything clearly wasn´t alright in Old Europe. Some have suggested that these archaic humans were cannibals. While compassionate towards their own children, they killed and ate those of other bands! But sure, all material remains are open to interpretation. Perhaps the makers of this documentary side with one particular faction within the archeological community? If so, it´s the most pessimistic one, since one scientist interviewed argues that Homo heidelbergensis practiced cannibalism *by choice* even during periods when other food sources were abundant...
I admit that I was fascinated by "Humans before Neanderthals". Previously Homo heidelbergensis was just a name, now they (or those in Europe assigned to this species) have an identity. It´s also rather sobering that humans for most of their existence lived in this kind of "barbaric" and "primitive" stage. In that sense, this is the natural state of man. We are the anomaly.
With that reflection, I end this review.
"What are UFOs?" is a recent NOVA documentary about the UFO phenomenon. It was shown on Swedish TV just two hours ago. While nominally objective, I think it´s obvious that it´s main purpose is to debunk the Pentagon UFO videos, including the UFOs/UAPs popularly known as "Gimbal" and "Tic Tac". I think they are quite succesful in proposing alternative explanations.
Interestingly, the docu even promotes the idea that many UFOs might be "ours". As in secret military craft tested by the US air force. This, too, I think is true. However, "What are UFOs?" then suggests that the general public misunderstands what they are seeing and that this inadvertently aids the military in directing attention away from their secret tests. Nah, that´s only a portion of it. The rest is evidently too controversial for an "official" documentary of this sort. The rest being a long term conspiracy by military intelligence to actively encourage a belief in alien visitation.
I suppose NOVA can´t spy on their own government. Let´s see how long it takes for them to air a program about the New Jersey drone panic...
"Secrets of the Dead: Field of Vampires" is a somewhat macabre documentary about vampire panics in 17th and 18th century Central Europe. It centers on recent archeological excavations of a burial field outside the obscure village of Pien in Poland. Many graves were found to be disturbed in an apparent attempt to hinder the dead from rising again as vampires.
The film-makers have decided to concentrate on an unknown female nicknamed Zosia, who seems to have died a natural death at the age of 18. She was buried with a padlock attached to her foot, a superstitious attempt to keep her "good soul" from leaving the body. If it would do so, its evil double would take over! For some reason, the grave was opened at a later date and the padlock found to be broken. To stop Zosia from rising again as a vampire, a scythe was placed over her neck, presumably to behead her if she ever tried. The remains buried in some of the other graves were treated even worse. For instance, a dead child had gotten half of its body removed.
The archeologists speculate that Zosia may have suffered from seizures when alive, which would have marked her out from "normal" people. Somewhat surprisingly, she must have been rich. Analysis of her teeth suggests that she wasn´t a local, and may actually have been Swedish. During the 17th century, Swedish troops invaded Poland and attacked Torun (the largest town in the area where Pien is located). Could *this* explain why Zosia was suspected of being a vampire? A wealthy woman from an enemy nation who behaves strangely. We sense a mixture of envy, hatred and fear.
However, since at least one third of the graves at the "vampire field" had been disturbed, something else was surely going on. Perhaps some kind of mass hysteria or should we call it vampire panic? The docu mentions a very bizarre case from 18th century Moravia of just such an occurence. In 1755, corpses were dug up and put on trial (!) in the small village of Svobodné Hermanice (Frei Hermersdorf). Found guilty, the corpses were then taken to a nearby forest and burned. Perhaps vampire scares had something to do with life becoming harsher during the Little Ice Age and the increasingly more deadly wars during the Early Modern Period? This was also the high tide of the witch-burnings.
"Secrets of the Dead: Field of Vampires" ends with a Swedish forensic expert reconstructing the face of Zosia, which for some reason becomes very emotional to the Polish archeologists. Personally, I just shook the head at the "human condition" while watching this. For isn´t that what vampires really are? A kind of de-humanized humans. And a very human superstition...
So I just saw a French science documentary, "Alter Ego", on Swedish TV about cloning. Artificial human cloning of non-human animals, to be exact. Remember Dolly the cloned sheep? For whatever reason, the European Union bans this kind of cloning, so the industry thrives in the rest of the world. In the docu, they interview Americans and Argentinians who clone horses (including race horses), Chinese who clone pet dogs, and a hyper-modern lab in the United Arab Emirates financed by the Emir of Dubai which clone dromedaries (camel races are popular in some nations). In the United States, there are supposedly cloned deer with exactly the qualities a wild-game hunter wants!
There are also discussions to clone mammoths and other extinct animals, such as the dodo. Maybe this is a bit too much hype? One scientist actually believes that cloning birds is extremely difficult to impossible. Another opines that "cloned mammoths" would really be genetically enhanced elephants which can live in cold weather! However, the cloned foal of a Przewalski´s horse (this species or sub-species is extinct in the wild) is real, so here is a possible avenue to save endangered species. It seems cloning can even enhance the genetic diversity of a species. The two-humped Bactrian camel (which is almost extinct in the wild) is mentioned as the object of another possible rescue mission.
The documentary doesn´t discuss human cloning and no Raëlians are interviewed. The production is clearly pro-cloning and I do wonder after watching it why the EU has banned cloning. How does this help us? How does it help the animals? Is it just some weird superstition? On our "enlightened" continent! In reality, the applications are almost endless. Imagine killing off all wolves, but keeping their DNA around for future re-creation just in case.
Hmmm...
"Makten över Svalbard" is the Swedish title of a Spanish (sic) documentary about Svalbard, the contested archipelago in the Arctic Sea. I´m not familiar with the original Spanish title. Svalbard has a somewhat curious status. Most of the territory is administered by Norway, but it´s simultaneously also an international demilitarized zone. Any nation that signs the so-called Svalbard Agreement can exploit the archipelago´s natural resources.
There are two towns at Svalbard: Longyearbyen and Barentsburg. The former is the seat of the Norwegian governor. The latter is a Russian mining town and seems to be de facto independent of the Norwegian authorities. A large portion of the documentary deals with the simmering conflict between the two towns. Barentsburg looks like an anachronism, with a bust of Lenin, some Soviet flags and even a mural showing a red (!) polar bear. By contrast, Longyearbyen is surprisingly modern. Half of the population are Norwegians, the other half come from 50 different nations.
When Russia attacked Ukraine, most Ukrainian citizens left Barentsburg and moved to Longyearbyen. The Norwegian settlement then imposed its own "sanctions" against Barentsburg. They refuse to do any business with the Russian town, tourism is actively discouraged, and climate scientists stationed in the Norwegian town don´t seem to be allowed to work with Russian scientists. Barentsburg looks pretty deserted, with most shops and diners being almost empty. Western sanctions against Russia makes it difficult for the Russian mining company to obtain new machinery.
Despite the Russian coal mines being barely profitable, Russia nevertheless refuses to evacuate. Svalbard is simply too strategically important and might become even more so in the future, ironically because of global warming. If the ice recedes in the Arctic Sea, new shipping lanes will open up. The Northeast Passage might suddenly become more important than the Suez Canal. Also, new natural resources could be exploited on the islands. Russia has already invited China to finance a mysterious project at Pyramiden, an abandoned mine...
Meanwhile, Longyearbyen are setting themselves up for failure. The last coal mine on the Norwegian side will close in 2025, the town will make a "Green transition" to solar and geothermal energy, et cetera. The mining workers (the only longterm residents) will leave, and most people at Longyearbyen will presumably be transient scientists and tourists. Not sure how this is supposed to counter the Russian influence?
However, there is also an element of hypocrisy in the whole thing. One scientist says that diesel fuel will be used even after 2025, and it turns out that the mine (originally set to close already in 2023) was kept operational for two more years since Germany needed the coal after losing Russian oil and gas due to Western sanctions. Note also the absurdity of importing diesel fuel to islands with *literal coal mines*! Both are fossil fuels, of course.
A fascinating part of the docu is about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a facility for the storage of plant seeds from all over the world. The seeds are stored in the permafrost. But...the permafrost might start melting due to climate change. What will happen to the unique Arctic genebank then?
All in all, a quite interesting documentary, although I often drew somewhat different conclusions from it than those presumably intended by the producers.
Sure wonder what happens when somebody tells a certain Donald Trump about this valuable piece of real estate in the Arctic...
"Mirage Men" is a documentary about how the US intelligence community has managed or manufactured the UFO phenomenon in order to cover up secret (non-alien) military tests. It prominently features the so-called Bennewitz case and even includes an interview with Richard Doty, the air force intelligence agent chiefly responsible for that particular disinfo operation.
Unfortunately, the documentary is very confusing and badly edited. I´m not sure if people new to the case (or the UFO scene) will learn anything important from it, except that ufologists are often intensely suspicious of each other! On one point, "Mirage Men" was helpful: it actually contains a perfectly rational explanation of the baffling cattle mutilations sometimes associated with UFOs. Yes, it´s another secret government operation...
If you decide to watch the docu, please read the blog posts linked below first for some background.
I´m not saying it was the government, but it was the government
In 1972, Marjoe (as he was always known) released an eponymous documentary in which he exposed the entire charismatic movement as a bunch of frauds. He then morphed into a B-movie actor, circus performer, and so on. He is apparently still alive.
Both uploads above feature clips from "Marjoe". The first is commented by a former Jehovah´s Witness. Scams of this kind seems incredibly common.
