Copasetic Flow

A blood-curdling, heart-wrenching wail pierced the silence of the house.  The scream came from Number 3, our youngest.  She's still co-sleeping, (a fancy attachment parenting term for sleeping with her parents), so I immediately checked her to see what was wrong.  Her eyes were clamped tightly shut.  She was still asleep. Intense nightmares seem to be hereditary around here.  I had them as a one-year-old, and so far each of the kids have had them in succession at the same age. I, for one, at least had an interesting excuse.  My parents, both teachers, moved to the Hopi Reservation, (pictured by Ansel Adams below), a few months after I was born.  It's a beautiful, but isolated part of the country.  It's also haunted. The Hopis, pacifists who live atop three sheer mesas in what is now Northeastern Arizona, had developed a brutal but effective means for dealing with social issues.  When the black plague spread across the Southwest, the...

With new elections every day in the countdown to the presidency, Renaissance Adventures brings you the Top Ten Reasons to vote At The Movies 10 You have to try because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived. Anthony Hopkins in Meet Joe Black 9 You told me once that you were a patriot, well now its time to step up! Batman to Amanda Waller: Justice League Unlimited 8 We have two lives: the one we learn with and the one we live with after that. Glenn Close in The Natural 7 "I love you and that makes you mine!" It's your country! Vote! George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany's 6 "You'll like that one... It has a surprise ending". Pierce Brosnan in After the Sunset 5 "Remember the Maine!" "Who could forget it!" Like it or not, its your country and your war. Vote! Paul Newman and Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 4 "Every person's life touches so many others." Every vote counts! Henry Travers as ...

Part I Part II Last Time : In my last Superman conspiracy post, I promised more insight into the DaVinci connection. First, a review: The movie The DaVinci Code made the painting The Last Supper by Leonardo DaVinci even more famous. As I mused about the possibility that Superman could be a modern day Messianic legend, I mentioned the similarities between the color themes of Jesus and John's, (Mary Magdalene's?) clothes and those of Superboy and Mon-El. Sure, the colors are the same, but what other connections are there? Well, the original pre-Crisis version of Superboy sacrifices himself to save Earth. Because he uses his own body as a conductor between two wide spread energy terminals, he dies with arms outspread as if on a crucifix. Meanwhile, Mon-El, his best friend is left to carry on his works. For an impressive recounting of this link to: The Greatest Hero of Them All OK, we have the sacrifice of the heroic messiah figure, but what about the sacred femini...

Part I Part II Is the Superman story a modern-day Messianic legend? A comic book, an animated movie, a Jewish temple, DaVinci, and the latest Superman movie all offer evidence. Is there a connection? Does our author simply have too much time on his hands? You decide. My interest in this all started years ago. The comic book character Superman was killed by an alien villain, Doomsday. There was a lot of fanfare, and a funeral was attended by most of the other superheroes. But, low and behold, a few days later, Superman came back to life. The whole resurrection thing seemed a bit odd, but it wasn't too big of a deal. In addition to the comic book version , recently, an animated film of the same story was released. Then, a few years later, I was jogging to Central Park in Manhattan when I passed the Temple Emanu-El . The building is beautiful! If you get a chance, go visit. But what captured my interest was the -El ending of the temple's name. It reminded...