The Two Towers, or the Siren's Ultimate Prophecy
The film featured a version of the Tim Buckley song 'Song to the Siren', sung by actress/singer Paula Arundell.
Richard Fidler wrote about the siren myth, which was based on a real queen from the Middle Ages and put the above picture in his book, which of course is where the original 'Starbucks' coffee logo came from.
"Melusine (French:[melyzin] may-loo-ZEEN) (or Melusina) is a figure of European folklore, a female spirit of fresh water in a sacred spring or river.
She is usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish from the waist down (much like a mermaid).
She is also sometimes illustrated with wings, two tails, or both.
Her legends are especially connected with the northern and western areas of France, Luxembourg, and the Low Countries.
She is also connected with Cyprus, as the House of Lusignan that ruled the island claimed to be descended from Melusine."
Track #4 is named 'Moulin Rouge' on Tim Buckley's album 'Starsailor', just above 'Song to the Siren'.
We Need To Talk About Starbucks's Siren Logo
"Two witch sisters, raised by their eccentric aunts in a small town, face closed-minded prejudice and a curse which threatens to prevent them ever finding lasting love."
'Moulin Rouge', also the name of a movie starring Nicole Kidman as the main star, which has its own weirdness surrounding that movie and songs -
Well, I guess White people seem to rate it high on their list, not to mention film festivals.
Chris writes about the coincidence of the Broome Street syncs in New York and Perth, but fails to mention that Broome is a town at the top of Western Australia that is famous for its pearl drivers, many whom drowned in the sea.
Just follow the coast from Perth to the top of the state.
It's now the home/vacation spot to artists and big Australian singers.
"The town has a deep history based around the exploits of the men and women who developed the pearling industry, starting with the harvesting of oysters for mother of pearl in the 1880s to the large present-day cultured pearl farming enterprises.
At first, aborigines were blackbirded (enslaved) and forced to dive naked, with little or no equipment.
Pregnant girls were preferentially used as they were believed to have a superior lung capacity.
In 2010 the Shire of Broome and Kimberley commissioned a Memorial to the Indigenous Female Pearl Divers.
When slavery was abolished and diving suits were needed for deeper diving, Asians and islanders were given the dangerous job instead.
The Japanese were especially valued for their experience.
The riches from the pearl beds did not come cheaply, however, and the town's Japanese cemetery is the resting place of 919 Japanese divers who lost their lives working in the industry.
Many more were lost at sea, and the exact number of deaths is unknown.
The Japanese were only one of the major ethnic groups who flocked to Broome to work on the luggers or the shore-based activities supporting the harvesting of oysters from the waters around Broome.
They were specialist divers and, despite being considered enemies, became an indispensable part of the industry until World War II.
Each year Broome celebrates this fusion of different cultures in an annual cultural festival called Shinju Matsuri (Japanese for "festival of the pearl") which celebrates the Asian-influenced culture brought there by the pearling industry."
The map around Heath Ledger's place of residence when he overdosed (accidentally, or otherwise?) is rather loaded in hindsight when looking back from the year of 2017, at least from where I'm looking.
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| Filmed at FOX studios in Sydney |
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| Rouge Starbucks cups?! |
'Moulin Rouge', also the name of a movie starring Nicole Kidman as the main star, which has its own weirdness surrounding that movie and songs -
And Nicole Kidman will be Queen Atlanna in the new 'Aquaman' movie now filming on Queensland's Gold Coast -
Aquaman Movie Given the Green Light in the Bitch's Shadow When Myth, Pop Culture and Real Life Collide?
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| We all drink coffee?! |
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| Black Swan songs?! |
It's now the home/vacation spot to artists and big Australian singers.
"The town has a deep history based around the exploits of the men and women who developed the pearling industry, starting with the harvesting of oysters for mother of pearl in the 1880s to the large present-day cultured pearl farming enterprises.
At first, aborigines were blackbirded (enslaved) and forced to dive naked, with little or no equipment.
Pregnant girls were preferentially used as they were believed to have a superior lung capacity.
In 2010 the Shire of Broome and Kimberley commissioned a Memorial to the Indigenous Female Pearl Divers.
When slavery was abolished and diving suits were needed for deeper diving, Asians and islanders were given the dangerous job instead.
The Japanese were especially valued for their experience.
The riches from the pearl beds did not come cheaply, however, and the town's Japanese cemetery is the resting place of 919 Japanese divers who lost their lives working in the industry.
Many more were lost at sea, and the exact number of deaths is unknown.
The Japanese were only one of the major ethnic groups who flocked to Broome to work on the luggers or the shore-based activities supporting the harvesting of oysters from the waters around Broome.
They were specialist divers and, despite being considered enemies, became an indispensable part of the industry until World War II.
Each year Broome celebrates this fusion of different cultures in an annual cultural festival called Shinju Matsuri (Japanese for "festival of the pearl") which celebrates the Asian-influenced culture brought there by the pearling industry."
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| Headstones in the Japanese Cemetery, Broome, WA |
I saw W Houston Street in that last map above and couldn't help thinking of Whitney Elizabeth Houston who drowned in a bathtub in a hotel room and wasn't she a Baptist?
"Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, producer, and model.
In 2009, Guinness World Records cited her as the most awarded female act of all-time."
And then there is a (Naomi?) Watts Street, too.
Watts and Kidman are best friends from their teenage years, with Kidman now filming 'Aqua-man' on Queensland's Gold Coast and Watts in the latest David Lynch project, 'Twin Peaks'.
And of course there is Prince Street running behind W Houston Street.
Prince of course penning a 'Batman' soundtrack and dressing as a Joker/Two Face/Batman character for the album and music clips.
The Batman soundtrack of Prince's was released on Nicole Kidman's birthday 20 June in 1989 (and on a personal synch note, June 20th is also my oldest son's birthday).
Kidman would play Dr. Chase Meridian in 'Batman Forever' in 1995.
"In her Silver Age incarnation, Atlanna left Atlantis to travel abroad.
And then there is a (Naomi?) Watts Street, too.
Watts and Kidman are best friends from their teenage years, with Kidman now filming 'Aqua-man' on Queensland's Gold Coast and Watts in the latest David Lynch project, 'Twin Peaks'.
And of course there is Prince Street running behind W Houston Street.
The Batman soundtrack of Prince's was released on Nicole Kidman's birthday 20 June in 1989 (and on a personal synch note, June 20th is also my oldest son's birthday).
Kidman would play Dr. Chase Meridian in 'Batman Forever' in 1995.
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| The Bitch's Shadow |
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| "'67 is a bitch"? |
She was almost killed in a raging hurricane, but her unconscious body was found by Tom Curry.
A lonely lighthouse keeper, Tom took her in and nursed her body back to health.
The two fell in love and acted as husband and wife.
They had a son, Arthur Curry.
She decided to keep her origins secret. She died young due to an illness."
The Siren Song keeps flowing on through time it seems.
The Siren Song keeps flowing on through time it seems.
And like Chris Knowles writes, it's not done yet by a long shot.
It just happens that Melusina is a nickname my parents gave me when I was little, for reasons too silly to explain here. After calling me that for a while, they discovered that Melusina was an actual name of a mythical creature, and they started looking for information about it. This is something they told me, but I can't find references in the Internet right now for it, so you may want to do some research and see if you find anything: That the version of Melusina with a fishtail or two was a later one, and that the original version had geese's feet instead. This seems to me to connect Melusina to the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite, who had many associations with water and was sometimes depicted riding a goose. They also said that the peace symbol represented a goose's foot, and was a reference to Melusina (according to Wikipedia, it has nothing to do with geese). Interestingly, the peace symbol for nuclear disarmament was most often seen just about the time that this "Song of the Siren" was written and Starbucks was opened.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia is no be all and end all went it comes to knowledge Maria, it's just a rough guide to the world and a good common general reference resource.
ReplyDelete'Among the Pilgrims: Journeys to Santiago de Compostela' by Mary Victoria Wallis -
"The legends say that the Ebro was the home of Lusina, or Melusina, the goose-footed water goddess of fertility.
Her consort was the mighty Lug, Celtic god of the arts, after whom the Galician city of Lugo is supposedly named.
The goose and the cryptic figure of the goose's foot can be seen all along the Camino.
The Camino's goose roots may reach far back in history in another direction too.
The goose is thought to be the European version of the Egyptian ibis, the serpent fighting bird sacred to Isis, the mother goddess."
Actually looking that up about the goose helped make sense of the goose on my key-ring I bought last year in Canberra (a British Museum key-ring), which I'm about to write about soon.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't work out the real significance of the goose, but that might just be the key to it.
So thanks for bringing the goose feet up Maria.