I Can't See You, But I Know You're There

Ganz and Falk and Sander, Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire (1987)).

Summers Past, Summers Present

Scene from American Graffiti (1973) © Universal/Lucasfilm/Coppola Company. Image Source: Broadway World.

I always thought of summer as the season of the now, the eternal present of parties, lakefront getaways and socializing. Perhaps because of that, it is also the season of memory, of past parties and past socializing, especially of youth. But credit where credit is due: the inspiration for this post on summer memories was one of Kate Sherrod's amazing Suppertime Sonnets (see an excerpt below, quoted with kind permission, the remainder of this great sonnet is on her site):

Cruisin'
It's summer; school is out, the kids are free,
And they go screeching by in all their cars
As though it were a Friday night. When we
Were that age we were just the same. The stars
Glowed high above us, burning, dying, while
We paid them hardly any mind, except
When we were waiting, sometimes with a smile,
Sometimes with bitterness, for those who kept
On telling us "just one sec." ...

Sherrod's sonnet made me think of the George Lucas film about crusing in Modesto California in 1962, American Graffiti. For a long time in America, summer in pop culture has been frozen somewhere in the '50s and '60s, presumably because that period encompassed the youth of the Baby Boomers. The big period for 1950s' summer retro was the early-to-mid 1980s, when they made some of their most seminal films. I've done other posts on summer youth and memory, concerning River Phoenix (here), and the Coppola adaptations of S. E. Hinton's Outsiders and Rumble Fish with Mickey Rourke (here).

Below the jump, a few music videos that were summer hits with visions of the past; songs that looked back on summers past or had retro summer themes; or songs that played on sultry summer nostalgia. And for the present: three songs from Ron Sexsmith's new CD, Long Player, Late Bloomer. After seeing an HBO Special about this long-ignored talent, I hope it will be the hit album from the summer of 2011. For over a decade and a half, trashpop, driven by characters like Simon Cowell (whom my friend D. calls, "a false druid"), has dominated the airwaves and internet. This is an album from a Gen X songwriter who's been around for awhile. He's been described as performing "outside his time" and his style definitely fits more with the acoustic sound that persisted until the mid 1990s. He has always projected poignant introspection and melancholia, but his songs are open-hearted and the soulfulness in them is genuine; this is not whining in a can. Maybe, since the Great Recession just keeps hanging on, our tastes will change, and the underdog in all of us will finally win.

Cyptid Summer

Image Source: Our Bigfoot.

Later today, there will be a press conference held in California to discuss new evidence, collected Memorial Day weekend, of a Sasquatch (Hat tip: AOL via Phantoms and Monsters):

*********** MEDIA ADVISORY**********

Potentially the Most Convincing Evidence of Bigfoot Since the Patterson Film of 1967

We have an full upper body impression including half of its face On the passenger side window of a pickup truck

And on the drivers side window, the Nostrils, Nose and Lips of a Bigfoot

Who: World Media – Please RSVP to SangerParanormal@aol.com
We will contact you to confirm your attendance

What: No, it’s not a Bigfoot in a Freezer and we are not affiliated with those guys in any way. This evidence was captured during an expedition in the High
Sierra’s of California during the Memorial Day weekend of 2011. There were a total of 5 people in attendance who made the discovery. Three of those people
are………….

1. Is an award winning High School Principal with a Masters Degree, Formerly a Science Teacher and a former investigator for www.BFRO.com.

2. Correctional Officer for 19 years and is Employed at a prison in California. Was featured on a Episode of Monster Quest titled” the Sierra Sasquatch”.

3. Is a employee at AT&T Telephone. Associates Degree in Electronics. Founder of the www.SangerParanormalSociety.com

Also, a 14 year Forensic Specialist who is friends with 2 of the people mentioned above was called out to come and take photos and swab For DNA……

This location where the evidence was captured is known for heavy Bigfoot activity And has been regularly visited by the investigators mentioned above.

When: June 23, 2011 at 4:00 pm (Pacific)

Where: Piccadilly Inn, Banquet Hall
5115 E. McKinley Ave
Fresno, Calif. 93727
559-251-6000 fax-559-251-6956
Directly across from Fresno Yosemite International Airport

As I've noted before, my favourite part of the Bigfoot Field Researchers' Organization site is their audio recordings.  Real or not, you will feel chills: for example, check out the 1973 Whoop-Howl from Puyallup, Washington; the 1978 Whoop-Howl from Snohomish County, Washington; the 1994 Ohio Howl. 

I09 is interested enough to offer a $2,000 bounty for authentic photos of cryptids.  The site is devoting the whole summer to this investigation, and even setting up contests for great fakes as well.  One of the best blogs on the internet that deals with cryptids is Cryptomundo, which is working with I09 on this project.

See my earlier posts on Cryptids and Monsters, here and here.

Midsummer's Simmering Collective Unconscious

Naked Russian diver tames Beluga whales in Arctic waters.  Um ... what?  Image Source: Viktor Lyagushkin/KNS/I09.

Some days, the news headlines give a straightforward snapshot of what is going on in the world.  Some days, the mainstream media stories are curiously uninformative, strangely empty of content and meaning.  On days like that, I appreciate Fox Mulder and Twilight Zone a little more.  Offbeat Websites capture the current mood, if not the facts.  And frankly, the mood's uneasy.  Even more than usual, the Internet is positively humming with weirdness right now.

Weimar blog focusses on twins this week. Image Source: Andrej Glusgold via Weimar.

Midsummer. It should be a dreamy, beautiful time.  But we're half way through a troubling year.  The year began with flocks of birds falling from the sky and fish dying in their millions (bizarre occurences are still happening).   Then Japan had one of the worst earthquakes in her history; and the worst nuclear accident in global history resulted, about which the news is not improving.  The death of Osama Bin Laden prompted an upswing in threats and conspiracy theories.  Economists remain pessimistic about global economies.  An Indian prophet died amid expectations of his resurrection.  An Italian prophet predicted a terrible European earthquake.  A California prophet proclaimed the end of the world now, no, this autumn - and then suffered a stroke.  The Middle East has churned through its 'Arab Spring' to a violent stalemate.  Astrologers are proclaiming that the heavens have turned upside down in a month intensified by three eclipses.  A Chilean volcano exploded.  And so on.

Image Source: Rodney Smith via Weimar.

Here's the collective unconscious, at a glance:

• Great Depression Coming in Next Six Months
• Death of Heroes: Marvel Kills Spider-Man this Wednesday, or rather, Faux Spider-Man
• Devaluing Heroes: DC and Marvel Inflate and Retcon Heroism
• Conspiracy Theories Percolating: Fear of Barcodes and RFID
• Weird News: Bigfoot Cryptid Info Leaked
• Weird News: Loch Ness Monster Sighted
• Weimar Blog Focusses on Twins and Triplets This Week

  

Image Source: David Byun via Weimar.

True to the impulse toward Milliennial dualism, it feels like the ghostly mirror image of the second half of the year is manifesting opposite the first six months that have already transpired. The stage has been set, we're ready for Act II.  Or is it Act III?  An eerie expectation arises that there's a ethereal third dimension to this mirrored configuration.

Image Source: Karl Hubbuch (1927) via Weimar.

Love in the New Millennium 6: Summer Solstice Stardust Reveries

Image Source: Glogster.

Welcome Summer!  Today marks the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere.  With it, a buzzing haze descends amid dreamy reminiscences.  Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust is one of the greatest songs ever written when it comes to capturing the way love leaves an indelible memory. Carmichael wrote it in Bloomington, Indiana in 1927. The lyrics were added in 1929 by Mitchell Parish.

Stardust (Carmichael/Parish 1927-1929)

And now the purple dusk of twilight time
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart

You wandered down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that would not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by

Sometimes I wonder why I spend
The lonely nights dreaming of a song
The melody haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you

When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But that was long ago
And now my consolation
Is in the stardust of a song

And beside a garden wall
When stars are bright
You were in my arms
Nightingale tells it's fairy tale
Of paradise where roses grew

Though I dream in vain
In my heart it always will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain

When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
Oh, but that was long ago
And now my consolation
Is in the stardust of a song

Beside a garden wall
When stars are bright
You were in my arms
The nightingale tell its fairy tale
Of paradise where roses grew

Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain

The song always makes me think of a 1920s-Fitzgerald age immortalized in The Great Gatsby and its famous line regarding Gatsby watching the green light at the end of Daisy's dock:

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter - tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther … And one fine morning -

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

Star-crossed love bends our understanding of time, mixing intense memories with hope - it's a state of mind that clings to past and future.  There's a nice post at The Great Jay Gatsby about the green light in that novel (that post is the source of the image below).  Below the jump, a famous rendition of Stardust by Nat King Cole.