Black (Iron Prison?) Mountain

Looking through the bars of Telstra Tower
towards Parliament House

On my last trip to Canberra after walking the streets of the city -
Do You Ever Get the Feeling You Are Being Watched?
I headed up to take a look at Telstra Tower, which was built on Black Mountain, which overlooks the city of Canberra ... probably in more ways than one, as well;-)
"Telstra Tower has become one of the most symbolic landmarks in Canberra and a major tourist attraction with a total of over six million visitors. 
In 1989 the World Federation of Great Towers invited the tower to join such distinguished monuments as the 
CN Tower in Toronto, Blackpool Tower in England and the 
Empire State Building in New York City."

The Tower which was built on Black Mountain

"Telstra Tower (also known as Black Mountain Tower and formerly Telecom Tower) is a telecommunications tower and lookout that is situated above the summit of Black Mountain in Australia's capital city of Canberra. Rising 195.2 metres (640 ft) above the mountain summit, it is not only a landmark in Canberra but also offers panoramic views of the city and its surrounding countryside from an indoor observation deck and two outdoor viewing platforms."

It wasn't lost on me that I had planned on seeing the movie 'Snowden' when it hit cinema screens in Australia and 'Snowden' opened while I was staying in Canberra and that I would have to see it in Canberra if I wanted to see it in its opening week.

So, as I made my way through the tower on top of Black Mountain the 'Snowden' movie and its themes were never that far from my thoughts and the bars for our own safety on the outdoor viewing platform suddenly seemed a great metaphor for modern telecommunications and I couldn't help comparing the tower to a black iron prison, like Philip K. Dick would write about in his novels like 'VALIS'.

The bars around the outdoor viewing
 platform on Black Mountain

"The Black Iron Prison is a concept of an all-pervasive system of social control postulated in the Tractates Cryptica Scriptura, a summary of an unpublished Gnostic exegesis included in VALIS.

"Once, in a cheap science fiction novel, Fat had come across a perfect description of the Black Iron Prison, but set in the far future. So if you superimposed the past (ancient Rome) over the present (California in the twentieth century) and superimposed the far future world of   The Android Cried Me a River over that, you got the Empire, as the supra- or trans-temporal constant. Everyone who had ever lived was literally surrounded by the iron walls of the prison; they were all inside it and none of them knew it.""

Now I was Oliver Stoned and thinking like a true Dick-head, as I walked around the tower on top of Black Mountain overlooking the nation's capital city of Canberra. 
Philip Kindred Dick had suddenly become a kindred soul in my thoughts that day:-)

The glass pyramid over the model of the
 tower as you walk in at ground level

I must say I felt a tinge of sadness as I read the plaque and saw that the tower was opened by Malcolm Fraser when he was Prime-minister of Australia.
Not that I cared for his politics, but I grew to like Malcolm not long before he died and got to see him for the flawed human being he was ... and we all are.
I still recall meeting him at the Byron Bay Writers Festival not long before he passed away and that will always remain a fond memory of mine -
The Best Years of Our Lives?

No Jumping?!
In the lift or off the tower?-)

The lift capacity in the tower is 23 persons?!

I couldn't help smiling when I just saw the above photo of the lift capacity being 23 people and remembered the last post I wrote about odds and having 23 people in a room -
Number 23 and Genetic Luck?

My car looks so small from up here
and I hope it starts again:-)

Looking at the centre of Canberra through
 the glass of the observation deck

Lake Burley Griffin through the
glass of the observation deck

Lake Burley Griffin through windows ...
but not a computer:-)

The outdoor viewing platform on top
of the indoor viewing platform

Funnily enough, I saw this article on the Radio National website about where the safest place in Canberra would be if there was a zombie outbreak and the tower is ranked #6 -

When the zombie apocalypse occurs what places in Canberra will be the safest?

666 on the radio dial?!

Forget the zombies, because up here
you'll be battling the wind:-)

I'm glad that I took the time to check out the tower on Black Mountain, because it blew me away ... almost literally.

The tower is definitely worth a look if you happen to be in Canberra at some point and should give you something to think about if you have seen the movie 'Snowden' and/or read Dick.
And it's great to visit even if you don't know Dick:-)

And here is a twist, 
"A growing number of celebrities are joining the fight against construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline on tribal land -- including actress Shailene Woodley, who faces trial after her arrest during the protests."
Hollywood A-listers join protests against controversial Dakota Access pipeline

Actress Shailene Woodley arrested during a
protest against the Dakota Access pipeline

Shailene Woodley plays Lindsay Mills, Snowden's girlfriend in the movie 'Snowden'.
"Woodley, who was arrested Oct. 10 and charged with criminal trespassing and engaging in a riot, could face two months in jail and $3,000 in fines if convicted of the two misdemeanors. 

She expected to stand trial in January.
Woodley claimed in her Facebook video that police told her she was arrested "because I'm well-known (and) because I have 40,000 people watching." 
Other protesters were reportedly allowed to leave."

"Woodley is among several Hollywood stars protesting the $3.8 billion pipeline -- built by Energy Transfer Partners -- which would transfer up to 570,00 barrels of crude oil a day from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota and Iowa into Illinois. 
Actor Mark Ruffalo, an outspoken environmental activist, also joined anti-pipeline protesters on the ground in North Dakota. 
Ruffalo posted a photo to his Instagram account Thursday showing a man hit with rubber bullets in the face during what he insisted was a peaceful protest."

White bird in a SNOW storm?-)

What's that saying about life and art again?-)
"Tris and Four fight to end the Bureau of Genetic Welfare's authoritarian reign over the United States."

I wonder if Telstra Tower was built on native land?-)

God help us all:-)

#6?! I'm not a number, I'm a free man;-)

Not a number?! Whatever you say #1;-)

And look what's just happened in the World Series Baseball Game 7 at the end of the ninth innings, if not to prove a point;-)

Six a piece?!