Tuesday 26 January 2021
THE AEON OF ISIS
Tuesday 10 November 2020
Release The Hounds
"These puppies are of the same parents, but by virtue of a different bringing up The One is pampered, and The Other A Good Hound."
Let so much suffice for habit and modes of life.
Full shot.
Long shot.
Darkness. This is not Our Sky.
LECTURER (O.S.)
For many days before The End of Our
Earth, People will look into The Night Sky and notice a star, increasingly bright and increasingly near.
JIM looks around for a seat and passes down aisle.
a seat to be nearer. They exchange looks.
Full shot.
LECTURER (O.S.)
As This Star approaches Us, The Weather will change.
will turn warmer.
Low angle.
collar.
LECTURER
The Last of Us search The Heavens and Stand Amazed. For The Stars will still be there, moving through their ancient rhythms.
Angle shot.
An OLD LADY TEACHER in f.g. taps the heads of two kids in the row before her.
LECTURER (O.S.)
The familiar constellations that illuminate our night will seem as they have always seemed, eternal, unchanged and little moved by the shortness of time between Our Planet's Birth and its Demise.
Med. shot. PLATO staring upward.
LECTURER (O.S.)
Orion, The Hunter.
PLATO looks off.
Med. shot. JIM (from PLATO's angle).
JIM
Boy!
PLATO
(leaning forward)
What?
JIM
(surprised)
Once you been Up There,
LECTURER (O.S.)
Gemini, the Twins.
Two shot. JUDY and BUZZ.
LECTURER (O.S.)
(continuing)
Cancer, the Crab.
BUZZ pokes JUDY who looks at him.
the pincers of a crab.
"To speak generally, what we are wont to say about the arts and sciences is also true of moral excellence, for to its perfect development three things must meet together, natural ability, theory, and practice.
By theory I mean training, and by practice working at one's craft.
Now the foundation must be laid in training, and practice gives facility, but perfection is attained only by the junction of all three. For if any one of these elements be wanting, excellence must be so far deficient.
For natural ability without training is blind: and training without natural ability is defective, and practice without both natural ability and training is imperfect.
For just as in farming the first requisite is good soil, next a good farmer, next good seed, so also here: the soil corresponds to natural ability, the training to the farmer, the seed to precepts and instruction.
I should therefore maintain stoutly that these three elements were found combined in the souls of such universally famous men as Pythagoras, and Socrates, and Plato, and of all who have won undying fame. Happy at any rate and dear to the gods is he to whom any deity has vouchsafed all these elements!
But if anyone thinks that those who have not good natural ability cannot to some extent make up for the deficiencies of Nature by Right Training and Practice, let such a one know that he is very wide of The Mark, if not out of it altogether.
For good natural parts are impaired by sloth; while inferior ability is mended by training: and while simple things escape the eyes of the careless, difficult things are reached by painstaking.
The wonderful efficacy and power of long and continuous labour you may see indeed every day in the world around you.
Thus water continually dropping wears away rocks: and iron and steel are moulded by the hands of the artificer: and chariot wheels bent by some strain can never recover their original symmetry: and the crooked staves of actors can never be made straight.
But by toil what is contrary to nature becomes stronger than even nature itself.
And are these the only things that teach The Power of Diligence?
Not so: ten thousand things teach the same Truth.
A soil naturally good becomes by neglect barren, and the better its original condition, the worse its ultimate state if uncared for.
On the other hand a soil exceedingly rough and sterile by being farmed well produces excellent crops.
And what trees do not by neglect become gnarled and unfruitful, whereas by pruning they become fruitful and productive?
And what constitution so good but it is marred and impaired by sloth, luxury, and too full habit?
And what weak constitution has not derived benefit from exercise and athletics?
And what horses broken in young are not docile to their riders? while if they are not broken in till late they become hard-mouthed and unmanageable.
And why should we be surprised at similar cases, seeing that we find many of the savagest animals docile and tame by training?
Rightly answered the Thessalian, who was asked who the mildest Thessalians were, "Those who have done with fighting."
But why pursue the line of argument further? For the Greek name for moral virtue is only habit : and if anyone defines moral virtues as habitual virtues, he will not be beside The Mark. But I will employ only one more illustration, and dwell no longer on this topic.
Lycurgus, the Lacedæmonian legislator, took Two Puppies of The Same Parents, and brought them up in an entirely different way : The One he pampered and cosseted up, while he taught The Other to Hunt and be A Retriever.
Then on one occasion, when the Lacedæmonians were convened in assembly, he said, "Mighty, O Lacedæmonians, is the influence on moral excellence of habit, and education, and training, and modes of life, as I will prove to you at once."
So saying he produced The Two Puppies, and set before them A Platter and A Hare : The One darted on The Hare, while The Other made for The Platter.
And when the Lacedæmonians could not guess what his meaning was, or with what intent he had produced the puppies, he said,
"These puppies are of the same parents, but by virtue of a different bringing up The One is pampered, and The Other A Good Hound."
Let so much suffice for Habit and Modes of Life.
Saturday 10 October 2020
GAME
Take a look at The Lawman,
Beating up the wrong guy --
Oh, Man! Wonder if he'll ever know?
He's on The Best-Selling Show
Is there Life on Mars...?
Did you find the girl?
No, well, I can't say I'm very surprised.
I'm going to rest in my bed for half an hour.
I do not wish to be disturbed.
I'd stay there until tonight, if I was you.
We don't much relish strangers around today.
He's asleep. I don't like to use it on him, really.
The laird said we're to take no chances, didn't he?
I know, but with the Hand of Glory there's no telling when you wake.
He might sleep for days.
All the better.
Shh!
We don't want him butting in.
Go on, light it up.
That will make you sleep, my pretty Sergeant.
I'm away to change.
We can't do without Punch.
You best get on ahead.
They've given you girls five minutes start, haven't they?
Good-bye.
What's the matter with you, Macgreagor?
Do you call that dancing?
Cut some capers, man. Use your bladder.
Play The Fool.
That's what you're here for.
I suppose you've been getting drunk at your own bar.
That's more like it!
Good, good!
Here comes the job, that you chop off your head!
Chop, chop, chop, chop.
Chop, chop, chop, chop.
Everyone must go through, Macgreagor.
It's a Game of Chance, remember.
It's Holly.
Well done.
Now, my friends, to The Beach.
O god of the sea, I offer you this ale as a libation, that you may bestow upon us in the year to come the rich and diverse fruits of your kingdom.
Hail, god of the seas! Accept our offering!
And now, for our more dreadful sacrifice...
yo those who command the fruit of the Earth.
It's Rowan.
What's the matter, Mr. Macgreagor?
Now, don't be frightened. I'm a police officer.
I've got to try and get you away.
Hurry, mister, please.
I don't like it here. They're coming.
Do you know what they're gonna do?
They're going to - - Come on, come on. Hurry, hurry!
We can escape through The Cave. I know The Way.
Quickly. That's The Way Out up there.
Come on. It's through a big tunnel.
We seem to have lost our torch-bearing friends.
I'm sorry. It was worse than I remembered it.
Did I do it right?
You did it beautifully!
Dear little Rowan. Rowan, darling.
Come on, now.
LORD:
Welcome, Fool.
You have come of your own Free Will to the appointed place.
The Game is over.
POLICEMAN :
Game? What Game?
LORD :
The Game of The Hunted leading The Hunter.
You came here to find Rowan Morrison, but it is We who have found You and brought You Here and controlled your every thought and action since You arrived.
Principally, we persuaded you to think that Rowan Morrison was being held as a sacrifice because our crops failed last year.
POLICEMAN :
I know your crops failed.
I saw the harvest photograph.
LORD :
Oh, yes. They failed, all right, disastrously so... for the first time since my grandfather came Here.
The blossom came but The Fruit withered and died on The Bough.
That must not happen again this year.
It is our most earnest belief that the best way of preventing this is to offer to our God of The Sun and to The Goddess of Our Orchards the most acceptable sacrifice that lies in our power.
Animals are fine, but their acceptability is limited.
A little child is even better, but not nearly as effective as the right kind of adult.
POLICEMAN :
What do you mean, "right kind of adult"?
LORD :
You, Sergeant, are the right kind of adult, as our painstaking researches have revealed.
You, uniquely, were The One We Needed.
A Man who would come Here of his own Free Will.
A Man who has come Here with The Power of a King by representing The Law.
A Man who would come Here as a Virgin.
A Man who has come Here as a Fool.
Get out of my way.
WENCH :
You are The Fool, Mr. Howie -
Punch, one of the great Fool-Victims of History, for you have accepted The Role of King for a day, and who but A Fool would do that?
But you will be revered and anointed as a King.
You will undergo Death and Rebirth - Resurrection, if you like.
The rebirth, sadly, will not be yours, but that of our crops.
I am a Christian, and as a Christian, I Hope for Resurrection.
And even if you kill me now, it is I who will live again, not your damned apples.
Sleep Close and fast
No matter what you do, you can't change the fact that I believe in the Life Eternal, as promised to Us by Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
I believe in The Life Eternal as promised to Us by Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
LORD :
That is good. For believing what you do, we confer upon you a rare gift these days - a Martyr's Death.
You will not only have Life Eternal, but you will sit with The Saints among The Elect.
Come. It is time to keep your appointment with The Wicker Man.
Now, wait! Now, all of you, just wait and listen to me.
And you can wrap it up any way you like.
You are about to commit murder. Can you not see?
There is no Sun God.
There is no Goddess of The Fields.
Your crops failed because your strains failed.
Fruit is not meant to be grown on these islands.
It's against Nature.
Don't you see that killing me is not going to bring back your apples?
Summerisle, you know it won't. Go on, man.
Tell them. Tell them it won't.
LORD :
I know it will.
Well, don't you understand that if your crops fail this year, next year you're going to have to have another blood sacrifice?
And next year, no one less than The King of Summerisle himself will do.
If the crops fail, Summerisle, next year your people will kill you on May Day.
LORD :
They will not fail. The Sacrifice of The Willing King-like Virgin-Fool, will be accepted.
But don't you see I'll be missed?
They'll come looking for me.
There will be no traces. Bring him up, Oak.
Go on.
No! Think! Just think what you're doing
! Think what you're doing! Think! In The Name of God, think what you're doing!
Oh, God! Oh, Jesus Christ!
Oh, my God! Christ! No, no, dear God! No, Christ! No, no!
Mighty god of the Sun, bountiful goddess of our orchards, accept our sacrifice and make our blossoms fruit. Mighty god of the Sun, bountiful goddess of our orchards... - Hear ye the words of the lord! ...accept our sacrifice and make our blossoms fruit. Awake, ye heathens, and hold! It is the Lord who hath laid waste your orchards! It is he who hath made them bare! - Reverence the sacrifice. Hold, ye husbandmen, because the harvest of your field hath perished and the vine is dried up and the apple tree languisheth! Even all the trees of the field are withered because the truth is withered away from the sons of men. Desire shall fail and ye shall all die accursed! Summer is a-comin' in Loudly sing cuckoo Grows the seed and blows the mead And springs the wood anew Sing cuckoo Ewe bleats harshly after lamb Cows after calves make moo The lord's my shepherd I'll not want He takes me down to lie in pastures - Oh, God. Grows the seed and blows the mead And springs the wood anew - Sing cuckoo - Oh, God. I humbly entreat you for the soul of this, thy servant, Neil Howie... who will today depart from this world. Do not deliver me into The Enemy's hands... or put me out of mind forever. Let me not undergo the real pains of hell, dear God, because I die unshriven - Cuckoo, cuckoo - and establish me in that bliss which knows no ending, - Cuckoo - through Christ, our lord. Grows the seed and blows the mead Failure! Failure! Sing cuckoo Ewe bleats harshly after lamb Cows after calves make moo Bullock stamps and deer champs Now shrilly sing cuckoo Cuckoo, cuckoo Wild bird are you Be never still, cuckoo