Eternal "Life" of the Dead

 

When seeing this mummy of a former beauty, the more than 2,000 years old woman, Xin Zhui - also known as "Lady Dai" - from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) I feel relief at the thought that I've decided to get cremated and not have a grave site. Lady Dai still has her own hair, she is soft to the touch, and her ligaments are not stiff, but will still bend. The main point is that all of this is not for her to experience, it's for those scientists who have inspected her and deemed her dead body the best-preserved human mummy in history. Did the ones who turned her dead body into this mummy expect that it would end up like this? Hardly, as they loved and admired her for what she had been when alive. Humans always have wanted to keep the moment alive eternally if they feel that it's the peak of a life time. However, the ravages of time often turn that wish into mockery, and by now Lady Dai has become scary and abhorrent. The myths of her beauty would have lived for ages, based on her picture if it hadn't been for the mummy .... 

https://youtu.be/DxKRfLg5dbg?feature=shared 

Just A Little PingPong About GHOSTS and MONSTERS ....

 

 

Everythings considered ghosts are not bad, no, they are rather nice. They come to check our ability to sustain shocks, that's all they do, except maybe kissing us now and then. Also they may try to play ball with our heads and hearts. However, all in a very friendly manner.
Ghosts are good at saying "booh", but some cry and moan. Those poor, unhappy ones are just wet sheets, and they tumble down in puddles of misery, trailing the wet spot while wailing their agony. That kind of ghosts want to sit in your lap like babies, maybe they even try to suckle your breasts, milk or not.

As to monsters like e.g. vampires, they are driven by fear. They never use mirrors for fear, yes, for fear of themselves, for their two feet fangs or even more. A mirror in your hand will turn them into pudding, their fangs will fall out from their mouths with a rustle, the claws will shrivel into nothing to be concerned with. However, they do keep their bad, infected breath so beware if you meet a smelly, well-dressed and often exceedingly polite weirdo. Look out that may be the big, bad monster from your childhood, the one standing in the corner of your bedroom at night, just looking at you, the one who nearly killed you with surprise by not doing anything. That may be a younger brother of Count Dracula, lurking, smelling and looking stupid -
well, out you whip your mirror in a flash of the moment ....

The REAL 007

The funniest part of any lists of the many achievements of the actor Christopher Lee (1922-2015) is that at one point he played a Bond villain because one may say that he - in real life - was the famous movie agent, James Bond, alias 007. How come when James Bond after all was a fictional character by Ian Fleming? Well, the inspiration for the famous author's still much beloved English super agent was his cousin, i.e. the actor Christopher Lee.

As they were cousins I take it that both of them may have been descendants of Charlemagne. At least Christopher Lee was and, what's more, they even look alike.

The Medieval emperor Charlemagne is a most impressive forefather who is known as the "father of Europe". In 800 Pope Leo III crowned him Holy Roman Emperor, and at his death in 814, his empire encompassed a large part of Western Europe. Neither Christopher Lee nor his cousin, Ian Fleming, inherited this illustrious royal status which is not valid today, but notorious acting brought on a title of "Sir" to the family.

To many/most people Christopher Lee still is best known as Dracula or some other vile creature as he often portrayed villains like him. He was very tall, and his personality as well as his commanding voice gave him an aura of natural authority which is perfect for special kinds of movie villains, but in real life he was a hero who fought monsters, namely Nazis in World War II. Much of what he achieved in his capacity of a genuine agent may be even more impressive than what is known today. As to this part of his career he retired from the RAF in 1946 with the rank of flight lieutenant.

 

I remember an interview with his Danish wife, the model Gitte, and she was asked whether he was as frightening at home as in his many film roles. She laughed and called him the kindest and sweetest man she knew. According to her there were no traces of the blood thirsty Count Dracula in his personality. 

 

In my opinion the monster Dracula is not as interesting as one of the other villains he played: The Tolkien-character of Saruman. Christopher Lee was the blood sucking Count Dracula in several horror movies, but as Saruman he had more material to play with - so to speak. Funnily enough he was the only one of the actors from these movies who knew Tolkien in person, which is one more of the many strange or just funny coincidences of his life.  

 

Movies obviously wasn't enough for him as he also delved into a musical career: He both sang and recorded music between 1986 and 1998. Amazingly enough he worked with several heavy metal bands when he was in his eighties. All in all he was a truly impressive man from the very beginning to the end of his life. 

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Lee

 

 

https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/charlemagne 

 

 

Wikipedia

 

 

The Furtive Glance And The Pretence

 

In itself the glance is of no substance, so to speak, but still it may be very, very offensive, maybe even like a fist to one's face, a slap or a punch. As an action it's a combination of borders crossed by somebody who were not invited and thus had no right to ignore those borders. He - or she - is an intruder who should have staid away, but didn't.

These three people are in the public area, where both the man and the women have a right to be. He is special as he is supposed to be blind or weak-sighted, but obviously isn't. Actually, the cane may be part of a disguise, making it possible for him to mask both himself and his more or less sinister designs upon the young ladies passing by. One might say that his cane is sort of an alibi: "I'm blind, yes, I'm disabled and therefore not dangerous ...." However, the very idea of someone not visually impaired who pretends to be blind makes me think of the serial killer who scored many of his female murder victims by using a similar decoy: Ted Bundy.

When he, dressed in a fake plaster casket, approached a well bred and polite, young woman and she, out of kindness, set out to help the poor, but rather charming, wounded and seemingly disabled man he moved in and killed her. In many instances he also did unspeakable things to her dead body which to me makes everything much worse because it proves the contempt he felt for his victims. What had they done to him to deserve being treated like that? Nothing, except existing .... 

 

It starts with a glance that may - or may not - be intruding, but one thing is for sure: The eye of someone like e.g. Bundy sees something that men or women who don't feel the urges he felt would be able to see. The glance leads to a lethal fantasy that most people don't understand and which may cost the life of many others, including themselves .... 

"Primitive" Cave-Paintings Are Outstanding Works of Art

 

 The Lascaux-caves 17,000 years back in time

Seeing age old Cave-Paintings or just pictures of them is an interesting experience as it disrupts many of one's prejudiced ideas about gender and art. First of all many or maybe even most of these art works are not primitive or "clumsy", like e.g. drawings by children. No, they are of a high standard and might easily compare to modern art works. This fact leads to some special as well as obvious question: HOW was it possible, and WHAT drove Stone Age people to make paintings like e.g. these ones?Normally those questions are being "answered" by references to religions and presumed beliefs in the magic power of drawings of the animals for hunting. Actually, nobody KNOWS for sure why they made these impressive pieces of art and maybe - just maybe - they did so because they loved to look at pretty animals. Also they may have been gods for them.

The eldest cave paintings were made by Neanderthals which to me is a proof that they were not as clumsy and low brained as has been presumed. For quite some time a 42,000 year old picture in Cueva de Neria (Spain) of something that has been seen as a seal was considered the eldest cave art work in the world, but that may be wrong.

 

One of the really interesting things about cave paintings is the "hand signature" of many/some of them. It's awesome and even touching to think of the artists that far back in time marking their art work with handprints. To me it's as if they reach out to modern people, assuring us that they were alive and humans like us. (I know that Neanderthals are special, but i see them as humans too, and one shouldn't forget that DNA and genes in modern people have proved that they left their biological mark on us too). 

 

Cueva de las Manos  

One extremely interesting perspective of these handprints of the prehistoric artists is that all pre-conceived ideas of them always being males have been disproved. On the contrary, many of these artist-handprints were left by women. Prejudices about sex and sex roles often seem to be based on the hyperbole of the 1950s with the male bread winner and the female home maker is closest to "Nature" and tat simply isn't right. The patriarchy as we know it didn't even start until c. 8,000.

When we find it likely that the female artist of the Stone Age met with the same prejudices as those 100-200 years ago it must be because we know how difficult it was for many women to get access to the world of art.

Well, it's a funny cartoon, but, as the handprints show us, it's not accurate. Also, one shouldn't forget that the supreme deity started out as a female god, not only a "goddess", i.e. the consort of the male god. As it is, even the god of "the Bible", Yahweh, was the toyboy of the supreme deity, Astarte who was "Queen of the Heaven".

I hope we shall get to know more about the handprints of the cave artists in the years to come. Also they are beautiful and very impressive in their own rights.

https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/1016/Were-most-cave-painters-women-Their-hand-prints-say-yes

https://videnskab.dk/kultur-samfund/verdens-aeldste-hulemalerier-blev-skabt-af-neandertalere 

 

https://videnskab.dk/Kultur-samfund/kvaeg-mennesker-og-haandaftryk-verdens-aeldste-hulemaleri-fundet-paa-borneo 

 

https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/viden/teknologi/overraskende-fund-verdens-aeldste-dyremaleri-dukker-op-i-grotte 

 

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/archaeologists-unearth-graves-ancient-warrior-women-russia?fbclid=IwAR0byto0BZaI57FiGbrdQl-XsWN-25n7ExzPIxIGYv-U2hn9Hmh7PEigypg 

https://jyllands-posten.dk/nyviden/ECE9476291/kode-gemt-i-hulemalerier-kan-vaere-oprindelsen-til-skriften/ 

 

https://netspirit.dk/emner/maleri-og-tegning/hulemalerier-verden/ 

https://videnskab.dk/kultur-samfund/pokkers-kvinder-med-oekser-et-fokus-paa-fortidens-koensroller-kan-skabe-ny

 

https://www.hindustantimes.com/art-and-culture/oldest-known-cave-art-was-made-by-neanderthals-not-humans/story-1nRzMhYLN5oVUKESP1RUdM.html 

 

Wikipedia 

 

GHOSTs, Up For Thoughts and Considerations

 

Do I believe in ghosts? Not really, but I'm open to the question, and - what's more - many years ago i did take part in some primitive seances with a Ouijaboard. I suppose one might say that I flirted with the idea of dead people living in some kind of parallel world, which they might leave to visit the living. As there are no scientific proofs of an afterlife everything about ghosts hinges on age old beliefs, legends and - let's be honest - wishes: One may wish for the existence of ghosts because that would mean that life doesn't end by one's death. On the contrary, life goes on, i.e. on a different, non-substantial level. As far as I know this kind of ideas are to be found all over the world, in all kinds of societies. However this only proves one thing: Humans as such don't like the idea of non-living, they want to interact and make an impression no matter what: Dead or alive I am ....

I suppose that's why an important trait of all religions is to see humans - and maybe also animals - as some sort of "double creatures": We are not only our bodies, which may rot in the grave and get absorbed in the dirt of it, but also an invisible and much more important part: The soul. Most people think of the soul as some kind of "twin" to the body and those who tell about seeing ghosts very often identify them by their looks.
 

Apparently there has been several sightings of the second wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, who I must say had every reason to be mad at the treatment she was subjected to. As it is ghosts are supposed to start appearing because of crimes they themselves have committed or someone has committed against them so that figures. However, I'm surprised that people presumably have met her in trains and other places where she never set foot when she was alive.

This very funny movie from 1984 was very popular. People simply adored the ghostbusters who"zapped" ghosts or just made them go away. The reason for this war against ghosts is that spookeries are considered to be very annoying by the living, relatives or not. Also it's frightening as ghosts are not seen as someone without means of hurting the living ....

One thing is a movie-ghostbuster, another one is someone who does what they did for a living. A real, genuine ghostbuster is the son of music legend Ozzy Osbourne, Jack Osbourne. He has been chasing ghosts with various co-busters and I've seen some of the documentaries of their exploits. They seem to have fun, but I looked in vain for a sort of spiritual perspective on what they were doing. Why would those ghosts they believe they've found waste time and energy on doing what they ask them to do??? Is it good to be a ghost or should one try to help them leave such a "life"???? To me it's strange that jack and his friends don't ask that kind of questions, especially to themselves: WHY am I, Jack Osbourne, trying to force these ghosts to do my bidding of turning on or off lights instead of looking for the gateway that presumably allows them to get out of this dead-end spot where they have become sheer entertainment?

 

https://www.snexplores.org/article/science-ghosts 

 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ghost-women-why-are-there-so-many-female-ghosts 

 

https://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/anne-boleyn/ghost-of-anne-boleyn-the-stories/ 

 

https://sc.edu/uofsc/posts/2023/10/conversation-are-ghosts-real.php 

 

https://nypost.com/2019/04/25/how-jack-osbourne-went-from-rock-royalty-to-ghost-buster/ 

 

Wikipedia

 

 

Genes of Mark Twain

 

Mark Twain (1835-1910) was - and still is - a beloved American writer, essayist and humorist. He is one of those people who gained a lasting popularity by works that seem to have caught something important in the self-perception of a nation: His fictive characters like e.g. Tom from in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1876) and its sequel "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1884) stand out as "true Americans", but - and that's the great part of it - you don't have to be an American to love them. Twain was called "The father of American literature", but as it is he also was a father in the world of realities as he had four children, i.e. one son who died in early infancy and three daughters. Sadly enough, two of these three girls also died young and only one, Clara, married and had one child, her daughter Nina Gabrilowitsch.

Clara Langdon Clemens

It seems that the surviving Twain-daughter had some traits in common with the fictional boy-characters her father had created. She was prone to mishaps as she had an inkling for adventurous exploits like e.g. sledding down steep slopes. When growing up she not only dreamed of being her own woman, away from her family of a, at that time, mortally sick mother and sister, and an absent father, but also of becoming an opera star. However, that career wish was never fulfilled although she on several occasions performed succesfully as a recital singer. She also had some fame as a fine pianist, but she married a genuine musical prodigy, the Russian pianist‚ composer‚ and conductor Ossip Gabrilowitsch. They had one child, namely their daughter‚ Nina (1910-1966), who was to become the last one in the Twain-bloodline as she never married, but remained a spinster all through her life. When Ossip Gabrilowitsch died in 1936 Clara married another Russian musician, Jacques Samoussoud, and lived with him in California until she herself died, 88 years old.

 Nina with her parents, Clara and Ossip Gabrilowitsch

The only grand-daughter of Mark Twain wasn't a female "Tom Sawyer", but she exhibited some traits that have been seen as something she had inherited from her famous grandfather, namely alcoholism. Something he himself didn't own up to. When she was found dead in 1966 she was surrounded by empty whisky bottles and something that indicated a grave narcotics problem. She never met her famous grandfather who died four months before she was born, but she felt related to him in many ways which made her chose his family name "Clemens", naming herself Nina Clemens Gabrilowitsch. As it was she lived off her inheritance from him after she had had to drop her dreams of becoming a great photographer. 

Her life was spent in travels and one gets the impression that she somehow never started to grow into the person she might have become had she not chosen drugs and spirits as the most important to her. She did have a somewhat mysterious affair with an artist by the name of Carl Roters for several years. Clara did not approve of him as she thought he was to blame for her daughter's drinking, but he himself said that he didn't want to marry her because of her addiction to alcohol and drugs. In 1941he married someone else. 

The only descendant of "the father of the American literature", Mark Twain seems so very bleak and colorless that she in my opinion resembles a "ghost" of what might have been, but which never became a reality. Well, she wasn't either her grandfather or her mother, and somehow she seems to have lacked most of what constituted their personality. She is in many ways a very mysterious individual and it has been said about her that she is the least known relative of Mark Twain which is quite sad as she was his only true descendant.

Mark Twain on a visit to the laboratory of Nikola Tesla, 1894

https://marktwainhouse.org/about/mark-twain/sam-clemens-family/twains-children/ 

 

https://marktwainstudies.com/finding-the-lost-diary-of-mark-twains-granddaughter-nina-gabrilowitsch/ 

 

http://www.twainquotes.com/19660119.html 

 

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gabrilowitsch-2 

 

https://lordsofthedrinks.org/2015/03/28/mark-twain-the-drunken-father-of-american-literature/ 

 

Wikipedia