Got 5 and half hours to spare? I do watch Tennis quite a bit. But I rarely watch a match from the beginning. Because some Matches can go on for a loooong time. This finals match between Federer and Djokovic was a record 5 and half hours long. The longest Finals match in Wimbledon History. 5 and a half hours of brilliance. Incredible tennis! Setting another record by going to Overtime – extra sets.
And a Tie Breaker. Mind boggling!
“Cricket ??!!!!” you say?? He must be out of his mind. Well, I do keep an eye on ALL sports. Because REALLY amazing things happen in Sports. Cricket – whether us North American people know it or not – is about the the most popular Sport on the Planet – outside Soccer SO … Yesterday (all my troubles seemed so far away) England – who invented the Sport – wins the World Cup of Cricket for the first time – after 44 years of heartache and disaster. BIG BIG CELEBRATION going on over there. And it was a truly amazing match.
Early in my Spiritual journey I didn’t care much about past lives or reincarnation.
I knew these concepts were fundamental Spiritual principles,
but apart from idle curiosity I really had no interest in them. I simply didn’t see any reason to give it much attention.
That was soon to change.
Shortly, I started to have a series of strange dreams. Several were about ancient Egypt. In another I saw a Celtic burial mound – and I knew had been buried there. Other dreams followed – a Chinese soldier – native American Indians – Ancient Rome and Greece. And more. Initially I merely dismissed them as unusual dream symbols. But eventually I started to notice that in many instances these dreams related to things that I was going through in my present life. They answered a lot of my questions. Questions about relationships, health, interests, talents and knowledge – many aspects of my life. I was forced to pay attention because the information was often useful and important.
Finally I read that we reincarnate as both man or woman. I challenged this because in all my past life recollections I had been a man. A male.
But somebody was listening.
I was soon shown a past life where I was a Mayan woman. This was shocking enough in itself, but I was also pregnant! Incredible! Try that one on. As I stood there in my humble hut, I saw temples in the background. Chichen Itza? (Would I be surprised?) Then I looked into the fire and saw the face of a Spiritual Master. Quetzalcoatl!??
I really don’t know? But that would make some sense to me.
We’ve been around a hell of a long time.
Ixchel – Mayan Goddess of love, pregnancy, childbirth, medicine, healing, weaving and domestic art
The recovery of the ancient Mayan cities – their Temple Pyramids – which are the Mayan churches –
has been a revelation to the modern Maya and a revival of Mayan religious traditions.
Video borrowed from YouTube
“According to legend, twice a year when the day and night are in balance, this pyramid dedicated to Kukulcan (or Quetzalcoatl), the feathered serpent god, is visited by its namesake. On the equinox, Kukulcan returns to earth to commune with his worshipers, provide blessing for a full harvest and good health before entering the sacred water, bathing in it, and continuing through it on his way to the underworld.” – https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pyramid-kukulcan-chichen-itza
Modern depictions of Quetzalcoatl/Kukulkan.
Said to be The God of knowledge and learning – among other things.
Creator of the Calendar and books.
Kukulkan / Quetzalcoatl obviously still has a powerful appeal.
From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukulkan: “The cult of Kukulkan/Quetzalcoatl was the first Mesoamerican religion to transcend the old Classic Period linguistic and ethnic divisions. This cult facilitated communication and peaceful trade among peoples of many different social and ethnic backgrounds. Although the cult was originally centred on the ancient city of Chichén Itzá in the modern Mexican state of Yucatán, it spread as far as the Guatemalan highlands.”
Akeviz “A spiritual city in the highlands of Guatemala; one of the smaller communities of Spiritual Travelers who are still connected with the ancient civilizations of the Mayans;
promotes the ancient mysteries of the once powerful Mayans and Aztecs.” – A Cosmic Sea of Words / Harold Klemp
“… in other traditions Quetzalcoatl was said to oppose human sacrifice. Mesoamerican priests and kings would sometimes take the name of a deity they were associated with, so Quetzalcoatl and Kukulcan are also the names of historical persons. He was known as the inventor of books and the calendar, the giver of corn to mankind, and sometimes as a symbol of death and resurrection. Quetzalcoatl was also the patron of the priests and the title of the Aztec high priest.” https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/q/Quetzalcoatl.htm
And a Happy 4th of July to our American Friends.
Let us celebrate this rare time in history where we have Nations
that care more about Freedom more than power.
HURRAH!
Today July 1’s is Canada’s 152 Birthday. Across the country the day will be celebrated in many ways with parades, musics and Fireworks. The biggest celebrations took place in Canada’s capital Ottawa were they had an afternoon concert and there will be an evening concert. Then the evening will finish of with a fireworks display.
In our city activities for Canada Day are being held in our city downtown. With activities at Studio Bell Home to the National music center and also New central Library. The activities continue at Princes Island Park and River front with a concert. The evening will then be finished with fire works display at 11 Pm.
Here’s a phenomenon that occurred this year at Chichen Itza right in front of
the Pyramid of Kukulkan the day after the Spring Equinox –which is a day that locals celebrate as the return of Kukulkan.
Call me crazy, but that looks just like a flying snake.
From Wikipedia:
“Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec god of wind, air, and learning, wears around his neck the “wind breastplate” ehecailacocozcatl, “the spirally voluted wind jewel” made of a conch shell. This talisman was a conch shell cut at the cross-section and was likely worn as a necklace by religious rulers, as they have been discovered in burials in archaeological sites throughout Mesoamerica, and potentially symbolized patterns witnessed in hurricanes, dust devils, seashells, and whirlpools, which were elemental forces that had significance in Aztec mythology. In codex drawings, both Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl were pictured wearing an ehecailacocozcatl around the neck.[5] There has additionally been at least one major cache of offerings with knives and idols adorned with the symbols of more than one god, some of which were adorned with wind jewels.”[6]
Don’t know how they got permission to use the Pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza, Hope they got a some good gold out of it. But it shouldn’t happen.
No doubt who the Star was.
In his career George Chakiris did have his moments in the Sun (West Side Story, Diamond Head …)
Shirley Anne Field – beautiful, but not very Mayan.
Brad Dexter? Where have we seen him before?
In The Magnificent Seven (1960) also with Yul Brynner.
InKings of the Sun, Brad gets a new hat.
Chichen Itza and the Pyramid of Kukulkan
Before CGI there was people!!!
Those steps are steep and jagged.
Here come the Toltecs.
Storming the Pyramid of Kulkulkan.
A dangerous stunt.
Many of the 91 steps are jagged and uneven – and over 12 inches in height. The Pyramid of Kukulkan incline is also a steep 45 degree angle. Combined with heat and/or wind and you can have a real problem here. And a fall on these steps would not be a happy event.
Don’t know what pyramid this is, but it’s a typical Mayan Pyramid.
Coming down is even more treacherous than going up. Imagine if this guy had fallen at the top.
Coming down the steps of the Pyramid of Kukulkan. You can see it’s no joke – even if you’re young.
I have to think that they stopped people climbing on the Pyramid for 2 reasons:
– It was destroying the Pyramid.
– Safety. People were getting hurt.
So look at this scene!!! This is insane! I’m guessing they performed this slowly – then sped up the footage for the Movie?? But it doesn’t look like it.
I smoked for 7 years. Not moderately. 2 packs a day. Combined with drinking, LSD, cocaine, hashish, ??? … I did everything but heroin. I was a well rounded abuser. This was my lifestyle. My drinking alone would have qualified me as a alcoholic. I was drunk and stoned much of the time.
Drugs and booze were readily available back then – and cheap. Cigs cost about 60 cents a pack. A case of beer was $2.75. In the tavern draft beer was 10 cents a glass. I could go to the bar with 5 bucks and drink all night. And have enough money left to take a cab.
Then I quit it all. It didn’t mix with a stronger need that I had. Spirituality. I was starting a new chapter in my life.
I had run the gauntlet and made it.
Others … ?
It took 6 months to cough the tar out of my lungs. I never smoked again and I had no inclination to do any of that other stuff either. I was done.
But why did I do it? I don’t know? I just felt I needed to. I don’t regret it. But I don’t encourage it. It’s stupid and destructive. Avoid it.
When I stopped everything I lost most of my friends. Our relationship revolved around drugs and drinking. They didn’t want me around if I wasn’t participating. I felt the same way about them.
“Now that I’m gone, I tell you: Don’t smoke. Whatever you do, just don’t smoke. If I could take back that smoking, we wouldn’t be talking about any cancer. I’m convinced of that” – Yul Brynner
Yul was from the era (not so long ago) when smoking was sophisticated.
Yes, there was more than one movie made about the Maya.
In 1963 Kings of the Sun ‘blazed across the screen’. In the 60’s they loved these huge Historical Epic style films with hundreds
of Extras fighting in large battle scenes.
Not much CGI in those days.
Reviews were lukewarm. Yet I wonder if this won’t be one of those movies that becomes more appreciated over time.
One thing you can say about the existing Studio systems of that era is that they found and developed great Stars.
One of those great Stars was Yul Brynner. Even in a lousy Movie Yul’s charisma dominated the Screen.
And guaranteed Box Office.
Between 1944 and 1976 Yul made about 47 Movies – many of them were Epic style Action productions.
Just a few of Yul’s Epics.
Looks invincible doesn’t he? He wasn’t. Slain my lung cancer in 1985. He was 65.
In 1969 I studied ART at The Alberta College of Art. It’s now called Alberta University of the Arts.
It’s a Beautiful Day Today / Moby Grape ’69
I was a poor student. I’d told my folks that I intended to become a Commercial Artist. (They’re called Graphic Designers now)
It didn’t take me long to discover that I didn’t have the discipline for that.
They didn’t even use computers in those days.
I chose sculpture instead – and came away with nothing.
But in the meantime I drew stuff.
Lots of stuff.
And it’s been sitting in a box for 50 years.
Why did the Maya abandon their magnificent temple cities?
Drought?; War?; Spaniard?; Disease? …
no Starbucks? … ??
All of the above?
Maybe none of the above?
Somebody knows.
As the Spring and Fall equinox sun sets, a diamond-backed snake (shadow)
makes a snaky pattern on the way down the pyramid staircase. Here people gather and celebrate. The Mayan may have left their Temple Cities, but they did not leave. Many still practice their religions such as Popul Vuh. And speak their native language and dialects. They are still here.
Generic and predictable – aren’t those terms we’ve all seen tossed casually and in derogatory fashion towards westerns before? Yet generic is no sort of criticism at all, in my opinion. Almost all films, and certainly the more interesting and rewarding ones, belong to some genre or other. Using the word generic is simply an acknowledgement of the fact that certain tropes and trappings are present, and thus should not be construed as some negative feature. Which brings me to “predictable”, and few genres have within them the range and variety of the classic western. So whenever someone presents you with bland labels such as those above, I’d urge caution and encourage everyone to see for themselves and make up their own minds. Now all of this is, I’ll grant, a rather long-winded way of telling readers that Four Guns to the Border (1954) is film which proudly wears its…
It would appear that Sound was deliberately built into a lot of Mayan architecture.
How they knew how to do this we may never know?
And the fact that the echo sound of the Quetzal bird
was discovered at the Pyramid of Kukulkan
and recreated is almost equally amazing.
Were those who reconstructed the Pyramid aware of this phenomenon? And even if they were, what were the chances their reconstruction would successfully achieve this result?
And since only 2 sides of the Pyramid have been restored we don’t know what the the other 2 might have offered.
This brings us to the 2nd sound phenomenon:
The Sound of the Serpent at The Temple of the Warriors
Truly amazing. And since there was once a roof over that structure the sound/echo
would likely have been even more pronounced.
At one point this season the St. Louis Blues were dead last in the Standings. Dead Last.
The fans were screaming for a ‘rebuild’.
They fired the coach.
And started to climb.
All the way to the top.
It wasn’t done on the back of Superstars.
It was a complete team achievement.
Everybody bought in.
Everybody believed.
Blues Culture.
Marvelous to behold.
Apocalypto Soundtrack / Words Through the Sky / james-horner
“No one can outrun their destiny”
Wrong. Anybody can.
If you know how.
Must have been a very tough movie to make:
Jungle, mosquitoes, snakes, all kinds of crap/challenges/obstacles.
But it’s a good movie.
Graphic in places (of course). Mel never holds back on the heavy stuff: Braveheart, Passion of the Christ, Hacksaw Ridge … Made in 2006. And since we’re making discoveries about the Maya everyday,
(I’m not confident we’ll ever get a handle on them)
it’s pretty hard to get everything right.
This is NOT a documentary however.
Unusual Cast. No Yul Brynners or Elizabeth Taylors here. Most unknown. Yet they do a very good job. Let’s give a nod to Director Mel for that. Visually stunning. Rewatchable. Excellent job.
So this guy called Quetzalcoatl walks out of the jungle one day and becomes a God.
To both the Aztecs and the Mayans.
He must have been a hell of guy. Throughout Central America there’s temples and pyramids dedicated to him all over the place.
So we have this beautiful bird called the quetzal
meaning “precious” or “sacred” in several Mesoamerican languages
that was associated with Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent
– a connection between Earth and sky.
Beautiful eh!
Soooo … now we discover one of the (among several) wonders of the Pyramid of Kukulkan / Quetzalcoatl an amazing thing that the Mayans created from sound / echo that was built into the Pyramid of Kukulkan.
First listen to this recording of the Quetzal bird singing.
Now … watch and listen to this:
When you stand in front of the Pyramid of Kukulkan and clap your hands
you hear the song of the Quetzal bird.
Audio scientists don’t know how they did this.
Here is my own video of this experience:
It seems that many ancient civilizations knew some things about the power of SOUND that we don’t. And this isn’t the only place at Chichen Itza where they engineered sound into their architecture.
Took a ride on my Norco Hybrid today – over to the Mall.
I heard rumors that exercise is good for high blood pressure.
I’m sure it is.
Off I went.
Norco Hybrid
Not a bad steed really. About $350 bucks. That’s all I’m gonna spend on a bike.
Has about 20 gears – or more.
I know the low ones really well.
But for me, it’s main modification is a larger bike seat.
Geezer size.
Yep.
I recall from my body building days that the bum muscles are called Gluteus Maximus.
That’s Roman for Big Bum Muscles.
Mine are really well developed.
(I have no idea where the small ones are.)
However, I rediscovered the large ones very quickly.
“The Maya name “Chichen Itza” means “At the mouth of the well of the Itza.”
This derives from chi‘, meaning “mouth” or “edge,” and chʼen or chʼeʼen, meaning “well.” Itzá is is the name of an ethnic-lineage group that gained political and economic dominance of the northern (Yucatan) peninsula.”
“One other possible translation for Itza is “enchanter (or enchantment) of the water,”
from its, “sorcerer,” and ha, “water.”
Since Kukulkan / Quetzalcoatl, appears to have been a highly enlightened person,
“enchanter” and “sorcerer” makes sense.
In 2015 the Pyramid was discovered to have been built over a A cenote[seˈnote])
a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock
that exposes groundwater underneath. A natural well.”
I heard someone suggest that this may have been accidental. Really!? It’s called “At the mouth of the WELL of Itza” for a good reason. These people did nothing by accident.
In other words, we are still discovering things about the Mayans
that we didn’t know before.
Our guide, Carmen, showed us some recent photos of sun/celestial alignments at Chichen Itza that were only recently discovered by Security Officers who work at the site year round. These discoveries are not yet common knowledge.
Kukulkan / Quetzalcoatl
“Kukulkan (/kuːkuːlˈkän/) (“Plumed Serpent“, “Feathered Serpent“) is the name of a Mesoamerican serpent deity. Kukulkan was worshipped by the Yucatec Maya peoples of the Yucatán Peninsula, in what is now Mexico. The depiction of the Feathered Serpent is present in other cultures of Mesoamerica. Kukulkan is closely related to the deity Qʼuqʼumatz of the Kʼicheʼ people and to Quetzalcoatl of Aztec mythology. Little is known of the mythology of this Pre-Columbian era deity.”
They got that right.
And since some of this knowledge may enter into the Esoteric arena it’s unlikely that science will ever get the whole picture. Per usual, getting Truth is always a personal endeavour. Don’t wait for Harvard.
We have an action packed lineup for the February 21 meeting of the Western Film Preservation Society, Ed Wyatt Chapter at McKimmon Center on the campus of NCSU.
First up is Johnny Mack Brown in “West of Carson City” (1940). His sidekick is Fuzzy Knight and the leading lady is Peggy Moran. There will be plenty of action with three of the baddest heavies in B-Westerns. With Harry Woods, Roy Barcroft, an Charles King in the same picture (they were only together in 4 films), it doesn’t get any better than that!
Our second feature stars James Arness in “Gun the Man Down” (1956). Robert Wilke is the heavy and this film introduces Angie Dickinson in her screen debut. There is not only plenty of action but also Angie and James! Between the fighting, gunplay, and Angie, you will not want to miss this one!
We have an action packed lineup for the February 21 meeting of the Western Film Preservation Society, Ed Wyatt Chapter at McKimmon Center on the campus of NCSU.
First up is Johnny Mack Brown in “West of Carson City” (1940). His sidekick is Fuzzy Knight and the leading lady is Peggy Moran. There will be plenty of action with three of the baddest heavies in B-Westerns. With Harry Woods, Roy Barcroft, an Charles King in the same picture (they were only together in 4 films), it doesn’t get any better than that!
Our second feature stars James Arness in “Gun the Man Down” (1956). Robert Wilke is the heavy and this film introduces Angie Dickinson in her screen debut. There is not only plenty of action but also Angie and James! Between the fighting, gunplay, and Angie, you will not want to miss this one!
Carmen – our Guide – shows us how Mayan Temples used to look – brilliantly colored and illustrated.
At last … there it is: The Temple Pyramid of Kukulkan!
So why is Pyramid of Kukulkan so special? There are others that are bigger and more impressive. But there are several reasons that I will reveal shortly.
Our motley crew.
Up until recently they used to let people clamour all over this. And, of course,
everybody wants to do that. Me too.
BUT this is a very important artifact and thousands of people climbing on it
will eventually destroy it. So I’m glad they stopped that.
“I like joy; I want to be joyous. I want to smile and I want to make people laugh. And that`s all I want. I like being happy. I want to make others happy.”
– Doris Day
What can be said of the Ancient Maya? – a massive Civilization/Culture
that spanned beyond 3500 years throughout Central America.
Much, much more than I have room for here. And much more to be revealed.
Recent aerial laser technology has revealed over 60,000 manmade structures in in Central America. Many appear to be large pyramids. They don’t have the enough time,money, or people to investigate them. Most will remain a mystery far beyond our lifetime.
The Mayans/Aztecs built immense Pyramids – several bigger than the Pyramids in Egypt.
RUSTY WRIGHT / 2019 Saddle Bronc Champion
LISA LOCKHART / 2019 Stampede Barrel Racing Champion
From the Web 
Canada Day Fire Works 2018 
Knight and the leading lady is Peggy Moran. There will be plenty of action with three of the baddest heavies in B-Westerns. With Harry Woods, Roy Barcroft, an Charles King in the same picture (they were only together in 4 films), it doesn’t get any better than that!
Our second feature stars James Arness in “Gun the Man Down” (1956). Robert Wilke is the heavy and this film introduces Angie Dickinson in her screen debut. There is not only plenty of action but also Angie and James! Between the fighting, gunplay, and Angie, you will not want to miss this one!
