Cosmic wonder and cosmic blunder

I once heard that is nothing more annoying than having to sit and listen to someone describe a movie you have not seen. Well, maybe that is an exageration, after all, if someone is very visual and can describe scenes in wonderful detail, then I often want to go out and watch the movie myself. I do think there is some truth to the sentiment, however, and know first hand how awkward it can be describing a movie to someone who has not seen it and probably has better things to do then listen to my half-baked description of it.

A couple weeks ago I was in my colloquium and felt myself drawn to a great discussion on the exploitation of nature for medicines, foods, etc... and vice versa the militant preservation of such areas that prohibit people the freedom to use the resources they may have previously enjoyed. Other issues such as bio-piracy and commodification were brought up as well. Many contributors to the discussion were bringing in excellent examples to help the student who initiated the discussion. Various sources and different ways to approach the subject were offered. Well, not wanting to be left out of the discussion (which I absolutely hate, and have to learn to temper myself), I proceed to take one of my points of reference to the discussion, a music video... not even a movie, and proceed to describe the video frame by frame to the class. A music video... When I finished I looked around to notice about a dozen silent faces staring my direction. Needless to say the conversation moved on to another subject. I normally am one who relishes these awkward moments, actually I think its funny even if you initiate awkward moments, its kind of like the temptation one feels as a kid when you have a stick in your hands and your friend rides by on a bicycle. One of those cause and effect situations that throws everything over the handle bars.

Regardless, no one went flying over the handle bars, only the conversation. So, in lieu of a conversation thrown over the handle bars a week and a half ago, I think this might be an appropriate place to offer the video, There There: The Boney King of Nowhere by Radiohead. I find myself often only able to relate to conversations in ways that draw me to story, and this is definately the case with the above conversation. I can think of examples that relate to the discussion, but if I have seen or read a story that has that lyrical and magnetic pull on me, I can only think in similar terms if a discussion develops. My first inclination in the above discussion was to talk about the Welsh stories of the Mabinogion in which similar protocols are offered. I can't recall precisely what story it is, but a King knows of a cosmic cauldron that is guarded over by three giants who sit around in an iron house stirring the pot, I assume looking very much the part of mystical hags and horrid trolls. The King wishes to have access to the cauldron so he can revive his army of 100 dead soldiers. He makes a request of the otherworldly beings, too which they all too happily oblige. Of course, you must thinking, 'there has to be a caveat,' well there always is, right? After being stirred in the massive cauldron, the soldiers are all plucked out one by one, fully alive and aware, but with no memory of their time in the underworld nor in the cauldron of cosmic stew. There is always a caveat... and for the King, he now has 100 soldiers who can neither hear nor speak. There be secrets in the otherworlds beyond our confines of home, family, mortality. But, I think the thing I wanted to get across to the colloguium, and Thom Yorke of Radiohead does this quite wonderfully through his storytelling, as well the Mabinogion and a million other myths articulate quite appropriately both the dangers and the protocols of going there and removing stuff out. Notice how Thom Yorke spies on all the animal families going about their daily business, and how he lurks around from home to home much like a thief, he's looking for something, I like to think he's looking for secret and arcane power. Now notice how when he stumbles across the golden shoes and lab coat, the paradigm suddenly shifts, and the animate world around him looks straight at him not as passive recipients of his gaze, but as 100% tooth and claw.