2018 and that Sinking/Synching Feeling?

I bought a 2018 calendar at the Byron Writers Festival in August this year which features Japanese woodblock prints of mainly water scenes like the one pictured on the front of the calendar of a whirlpool with waves crashing around it, which is also the picture for the month of February (the month the Chinese Year of the Dog starts) inside the calendar.

Beyond the Great Wave?

Oddly enough, it was the whirlpool and the crashing waves on the cover of the calendar that prompted me to buy it, because that was the sort of picture that spoke to me on an internal level of what 2018 was going to be like, not just for me, but the world in general.

Like an angry feminine yin energy that was going to do it's best to drag the world under in physical as well as mental energy and that it was going to be a year of treading water and trying to not go under.

And New Year's Day is also a Monday/Moonday in 2018

Before I had seen the calendar at the writers festival the mental picture I had in mind for 2018 was this one above, but when I saw the whirlpool in the print on the calendar it really got my attention, but I couldn't figure out why I associated the whirlpool with 2018 even more than the crashing waves.

But then at the end of December I saw stories about double whirlpools popping up in the oceans.

Mysterious double whirlpools that can suck up sea creatures found in ocean for the first time ever

Oddly enough, when I was gathering material on Jasun Horsley for my last few recent posts, 
Whatever Happened to Mr. Bates the Ideal Family and the Wounded Father?
I found the above You Tube interview (which was worth a watch) titled 'Pijama Surf Interview with Jasun Horsley' and behind Jasun was the crashing wave print, which I've mentioned above in this post.

NEW YEAR AND SUPERMOON: A FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS IN THE SKY TO BEGIN 2018

Government watching rise of Daoism carefully
"Central Peak Temple is the home of the fertility goddess Guanyin, and hundreds of people like Wang Qun turned up for the opening to pray and make offerings.

"When I was pregnant I came to pray for a healthy baby, so now it's open I've come to offer my gratitude," she said.
The younger generation are rediscovering the faith.

Lei Peng, a bus driver, has found no comfort in China's new wealth and rampant consumerism, but says he has found a deeper meaning in Daoism.
"People are lacking in faith, they've lost their cultural base, lost it all," he said."

Looks like we are in for a deep year in 2018, so all I can say is "just keep swimming".

And don't worry too much about the sharks as most of them seem to be freezing to death this year;-)

The first supermoon of 2018 will appear on New Year's Day — and it's more special than usual

Happy New Year.

UPDATE: 1st of January, 2018

Two injured, thousands evacuated after barge carrying fireworks catches fire off Terrigal beach
Something just had to happen out of the ordinary on the ocean to bring in the New Year after me writing a post like that above.
Maybe the fireworks boat hit a double whirlpool?-)

Oh, yeah.
And this news story as well -

NYE tragedy as six die after joyride

"The seaplane was returning from a New Year's Eve lunch at a picturesque restaurant on the NSW Hawkesbury river when something caused it to plunge into the water and rapidly sink, killing all six aboard.
The Sydney Seaplanes aircraft was carrying a pilot and five passengers when it crashed at Cowan Creek, Jerusalem Bay east of Cowan about 3pm on Sunday.
Police divers recovered six bodies soon after.
The operator, Sydney Seaplanes, said it was "deeply shocked" by the tragic accident and had suspended all operations until further notice."

Four Britons feared dead after seaplane crash near Sydney

Then there is this news story above as well, where the plane's tail is painted in what arguably looks like whirlpools.

And there is the super moon lurking behind the trees in my backyard at the beginning of 2018.

The moon looked a lot better than this with the naked eye than in my SE iPhone picture above.
In real life there was a circular rainbow around it ... without the rain that is.

The new 2018 calendar on my kitchen wall this morning

The (Super?) Moon Reflected in the
  Rice Fields of Sarashina in Shinano

Super Blue Moon eclipse on January 31

"The Blue Moon – the second of two full moons in one calendar month – will pass right through the Earth’s shadow, to stage a total eclipse of the moon during the nighttime hours on January 31, 2018. This full moon also caps a series of three straight full moon supermoons, whereby the full moon comes close enough to Earth to be dubbed a supermoon."

"If you live in North America or the Hawaiian Islands, remember that this lunar eclipse will be visible in your sky during the morning hours before sunrise on January 31."

Blue moon over Hawaii on January 31st?

"On the other hand, if you live in the Middle East, Asia, Indonesia, Australia or New Zealand, this lunar eclipse will happen in the evening hours after sunset on January 31."

UPDATE: 9th January, 2018

The Bottom of The Ocean Has Started Sinking Under The Weight of Melting Glaciers?!

Whatever Happened to Mr. Bates, the Ideal Family and the Wounded Father?

That little Jack Torrance doll was a Christmas present this year from my youngest son (who is 23 years old) and my first reaction was to ask him if this is the way that he sees me.
He laughed and said no, it was because he knew that I liked Kubrick movies and that 'The Shining' was one of my favourites.

THE LIMINALIST # 139: THE LAND OF THE WOUNDED FATHER (WITH JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER)
Ironically, I had just listened to the podcast above before I had met him and his older brother at my sister's house for Christmas lunch and to exchange presents.
I was doing a minimalist exercise after listening to a podcast about getting rid of things around the house you don't want anymore, and thought my kids being Kubrick fans too might like the

Russian scary clown dolls and the Clockwork Orange figure I bought years ago for my bookshelf, because of the King/Kubrick movies of 'IT' and 'A Clockwork Orange'.

What Do You Give Someone for Christmas Who is into Minimalism?

My youngest son took the clowns and my eldest son took the Alex figure and ironically, I had picked up another plastic figure for my bookcase.
So much for my minimalist exercise, as I just made some space for a new figure to stand in.

To be honest I didn't like the gift of the Jack Torrance doll and felt a little wounded that my son would give me this doll as a Christmas present, as I was recently divorced from his mother after 25 years of marriage, who had set herself up early in my son's life as the good cop to my bad cop routine.
Not that I ever threatened people around the house with weapons and physical violence, but I guess I could sound like Jack if my boys were misbehaving, and I had to play the bad parent/wait till your father gets home type.
Anyway, I can't do much about how people see me ... or not see me, as long as I know who I am as a person and father.
I enjoyed Jasun's conversation with James Howard Kunstler in the wounded father podcast (not that I agree with everything said in it though) and while I haven't read Jasun's book, it does look interesting.

Seen & Not Seen 

is an exploration of a hidden lineage.
It maps how popular culture shapes our identities.

Both searingly personal and socially relevant, it’s not so much a book as a quantum-psychological experiment, with the author as its subject, guinea pig, and scientist all in one.
You are cordially invited to enter the movie labyrinth and participate in this unique experiment.
But keep in mind that your observation will affect the outcome!
Subjects included in the experiment:

What’s a movie autist anyway?

What’s the difference between entertainment and ideology?

What’s the connection between white male angst and The Searchers?

Was Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle autistic?

Why is Clint Eastwood the worst possible role model for a sensitive adolescent?

What’s the obsession with movie violence all about?

How and when did American movies become weaponized?

At what point does escapism become dissociation?

What’s the difference between Jonathan Lethem and David Icke?

When and how did the Pauline Kael/Clint Eastwood wars begin?

What makes Blue Velvet the movie blueprint for psychological trauma?

Why did critics hate The Counselor so much?

Who was Sebastian Horsley and why did he get crucified?

What does all this have to do with Jimmy Savile?

Why “confessions”?

I think I would have been happier to have got a Col. Nathan R. Jessep doll from the movie 'A Few Good Men' for Christmas instead;-)

The Shinings, Coincidence, or Just a Plate of Shrimp?

I'm not quite ready to minimalise my anger yet, as some things really can't be let go of that easily, I think:-)

The Shining turns 40 in 2[0]17, as Does PSY
Happy 40th birthday for tomorrow too Psy:-)

What Are Companies Like Google Doing with My Information?

I saw this little news piece this morning on a national news website that asks its readers -
Can you guess the top Google searches of 2017?

I got three out of ten right in that quiz, which is apparently 14% above the average, but the search result I was more interested in was the one I just did a search for on BING pictured below.

And I don't trust search engines like BING much better either, to tell the truth.

Does Google Know Too Much About You?
"Google has a lot of handy services, but as the company gains more and more information from its users, those users may raise even more questions about how big Google should be allowed to get, and whether the government needs to step in and strictly regulate how Google's overwhelming amount of information is used."

Of course Google isn't the only tech company you can't trust to do the right thing, either.

I don't trust any of the big tech companies to do the right thing by its "customers".

How The Narrative Of Google And Facebook Comes Undone In 2017
"It’s hard to think of an industry that has collectively squandered its good will faster than those from the Silicon Valley.
It all started innocuously enough with the technology council created by President Trump, with Peter Thiel—cofounder of PayPal—becoming a top adviser who marshaled Tim Cook from Apple, Jeff Bezos from Amazon, Sheryl Sandberg from Facebook, Satya Nadella from Microsoft, Ginni Romety from IBM, Elon Musk from Tesla, Eric Schmidt and Larry Page from Google, and Brian Krzanich from Intel inside Trump Tower for a tech submit last December.
Exactly what was transpiring behind closed doors was unclear, since Steve Bannon, Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner were also behind that same closed door.
What’s clear was that Trump thought of Peter Thiel as “a very special guy” and had made his 2014 best-selling book Zero to One a must-read, and it served as “something of a Bible” for Trump campaign staffers.
Staffers were told that “competition is for losers.”
“If you want to create and capture lasting value, look to build a monopoly,” advises Thiel.
The Wall Street Journal reprinted the book excerpt; Stanford University invited Thiel to share business tips by teaching a class, CS 183: Startup.
What has roiled Silicon Valley has nothing to do with corporate performance.
In 2017, the Dow set an all-time high 70 times, adding 5,000 points in a calendar year for the first time ever.
Leading the pack as the world’s most valuable companies are Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook.
Twenty years ago, the most valuable were Exxon, General Electric, Citibank, and Walmart.
Data is the new oil.
Online footprint trumps offline real estate."

So, what do I think companies like Google are doing with my information?
Search me?-)

Building an AI "Collective Consciousness" Unconsciously?

Dr. Colin Ross on THC

I don't usually listen to shows about the MK-ULTRA program/s, as there are some real wild paranoid theories floating around on the net by people who probably do need some kind of psychiatric help, but this podcast that I listened to above ... well the free portion of it anyway (I didn't pay to hear the second part) ... was really even keeled and worth listening to, I think.
Dr. Colin Ross | MK ULTRA: Mind Control, Psychiatry, & The CIA
"Join The Higherside Chats podcast, as host, Greg Carlwood, talks MK ULTRA: Mind Control, Psychiatry, & The CIA with guest, Colin Ross.
As many of us who are familiar with the crimes of the deep state know, there are few projects that have managed to the earn the reputation synonymous with the litany of mind control experiments conducted by the CIA during the 60s.
Better known as MK ULTRA, these sadistic experiments have haunted government agencies for decades, while a slow drip of heavily redacted documents finds its way into the public arena, bringing with it more question than answer.
Fortunately, today’s guest, Dr. Ross is an internationally renowned clinician, researcher, author and lecturer in the field of dissociation and trauma-related disorders. Authoring 29 books and over 200 professional papers, Colin is the founder and President of the Colin A. Ross Institute for Psychological Trauma and he joins The Higherside to help shed some insight into the deep states mind control campaign."

I thought it was interesting that halfway through the podcast St. Elizabeths Hospital in DC is mentioned as one of the main hospitals suspected of playing a starring role in the MK-ULTRA program/s and that Chris Knowles from 'The Secret Sun' blog was the guy who recommended Greg have Dr. Ross on the show, as Elizabeth is a name currently floating around at The Secret Sun blog and tied to the Siren theme that Chris has been writing about this year.

Chris mentioned the Gold Coast and these sirens of Seaworld in Queensland, Australia pictured below, which reminded me of another siren from the Gold Coast, too.

Harley Quinn's Gotham City Sirens movie is still coming

I'm currently (pardon the pun) writing a post about the sirens of the Gold Coast and Margot Robbie, so stay tuned for that one.
Happy Holidays! Margot Robbie and her husband Tom Ackerley celebrate Christmas (complete with ugly sweaters and Santa hats) with her family and friends in Australia

And let's not forget that the little Danish mermaid from Oz has been out here splashing around in some synchy waters, too.

(Queen) Mary Christmas and a Surprise in the New Year?

2018 is shaping up to be a very deep year in the world media it seems.