this blog is a visual notebook of inspirations for a group of bandit bloggers. we post things we see and like. our lives don’t revolve around singular topics and neither does our blog. sorry! nothing is in-or-out of context here. enjoy xx
my how times change… quickly. it was just yesterday, when i was shocked to hear that gaddafi was suddenly forgiven for his involvement in the terror bombing over lockerbie and surprisingly taken off the terrorist list. why? he was then invited as guest of honor, were he met his match – M. berlusconi – and became italy’s biggest trade partner (buying a stake of about 2% in fiat, 7.5% of juventus, and 7.5% in unicredit bank, etc). within months he was back on the shit list for “harming his subjects”. well… i’m glad we went in and “stopped the killing” (of course many more have been killed at the hands of foreign supported rebels and french sorties than by the evil dictator himself). so it surely wasn’t humanitarian reasons nor the kindness of strangers that got them involved. one should wonder what was (and is) really going on at the expense of ordinary people? by ec
what is in a name? beauty, terror, raw force of survival. these images, by tomasz gudzowaty, of a wildebeest (aka gnu antelopes) herd over a million strong on the plateau surrounding the ngorongoro volcanic crater in the serengeti during the december to june rainy period, inspire and haunt.after the last rainstorm, the plain rapidly changes into a dry and hostile wasteland, the wildebeests migrate, following the escaping rain and at a certain point during the migration, the herd must swim across its largest obstacle – the mara river. an epic journey. by kl
sky people: mayan artifact from tikal ruins guatemala
aliens who came to earth thousands and thousands of years ago? established civilization as we know it? bred earth and alien DNA to create a race known as man? i mean i would have laughed this man out, and considered him in desperate need of a hobby. i’d picture ron hubbard and a bunch of hollywood freaks on prozac writing alien scripts in the church of scientology. i mean come on, to believe this type of stuff is more foolish than believing in god and organized religion… but hell it’s fascinating!
in my search for documentaries on the similarities of the pyramids of egypt and south america, in accordance with my desperation in my choice of films on demand, i came across a history channel series titled “ancient aliens” and its 2nd episode: “gods & aliens”. not generally being a fan of aliens, the word “god” did get me interested. after all, we’re told there’s a god up there and we’re told there are aliens up there. supposedly, both visited us and are planing to come back soon… i pressed play. twenty 44 minute episodes later i’m bummed that it’s all over. i thoroughly enjoyed the “stories” and the imaginative fictions, and although i find 80% of the “reasoning” and “facts” in the series assumptive and weak, i have come to place this theory that is frowned upon by millions (including myself) well above god and religion which billions still believe in. not that this says much about the theory but still.
the premise of the theory is grand but surprisingly fully compatible with evolution. what is different between this and christianity, or scientology, or religion in general, is that you are not asked to “have faith and believe” but look, ask and judge a “theory” based on assumptions. it goes something like this: 1- our solar system is a micron in relation to our galaxy (milky way). our galaxy is but one of estimated hundreds of billions of galaxies (per nasa hubble telescope research). 2- there is a higher probability that life exists somewhere out there, than the probability that it doesn’t. 3- life organisms can travel through space via galactic collisions (the big bang being one) this is referred to as panspermia. 4- we know that myths, stories, even religions and beliefs are generally routed in some form of events or truths that were passed down, granted distorted or exaggerated down the line. 5- the story referred to here is the story of beings in the skies, gods, angels descending, inception of a virgin by god and other nonsense. the type that is present in almost identical sequence in egyptian, greek, babylonian, mayan, african, indian and even pagan documents. what was there that provoked this completely disjointed cultures to talk about the same thing? 6- well the AAT’s have come up with a magical story:
aliens came to earth long ago. in a series of experiments, they meshed alien DNA with earth beings. the failures were the hybrids of men (actually alien) with bird heads, centaurs, unicorns, and cyclops as depicted by egyptian, mayan and other cultures in paintings and stories. the successful experiment was man, a sapien with a larger brain similar to aliens. this they claim is what darwin claims to be his missing link. james watson, the man behind the discovery of DNA, claims that there is a chance that man kind’s missing link was simply a fluke accident, but the chances of this accident are like a tornado going through a junk yard and coming up with a fully assembled 747 aircraft… meaning next to none. so the plot thickens… aliens then pass knowledge to this new man with a bigger brain. man being still dumb, sees the aliens as gods (thus the multiple gods of the past). so the aliens don’t actually resemble us, we resemble them. thus most alien sightings are with 2 large eyes, 2 arms, 2 legs and a pot belly (every mans future). eventually either man revolts against alien, or they leave earth for one of many reasons they give in the film. man idolizes alien in some cases, for it gave him life and knowledge. what we think of god today, they claim, was simply alien flesh and intelligence. the stories of angels with wings, are aliens that flew to the sky and back and this goes on and on… it has surely made me dream a bit and i’m glad i saw it, beats natalie portman’s “black swan” any day. if you have 20 hours to kill you too can stream it on netflix. by dd
local, organic and grassfed, bowery lane bikes hand make in NY. heres a bit about the bike: “we conceive, build and finish these bikes for unsurpassed quality, sustainability and style. we use only american steel for our frames, which are forged in a factory that derives 30% of its power from solar panels. the facility is located within new york city limits, which means employees can commute via bicycle or public transport. in short, we produce these bikes conscious of our impact on the country, the environment and the local community.” well done, unfortunately im in the market just for a brooks leather saddle for my english 3 speed bike, but just in case you fancy that. by dd
in my bug-a-phobic finding to convince myself of the freak i am, i read about the deadliest of all creatures to man. not shark, nor taranchulas, nor bears but a little mosquito. the anopheles mosquitoes kill more than a million people each year. not a freak after all. i’m more phobic than ever now. guess i wont need a range rover series 1 after all. by dd
trying to conquer my phobia with bugs, today i purchased a dried out specimen of this giant beetle enclosed in a glass frame. the hercules beetle, which was features in pixars “a bugs life”, is found in the rain forest and is the largest specimen of the rhinoceros beetle family. although harmless to humans (does not bite or sting) it can fly and crash land on you!!! and the males can reach an impressive 6.75 inches in length, making them rather threatening to a city dweller. they are aptly named hercules (the bulky son of zeus), due to their strength allowing them to lift 850 times their own body weight. this makes them, proportionately, the most powerful animal in the world. if man could lift 850 times his weight, one could lift 136,000 lbs, that’s roughly 68 tons! the horns are generally used in battling other males, picking them up and smashing them to the ground often breaking off the head. they eat rotten trees and fruit, and live as adults for no more than 3-4 months. beautiful illustration by somefield and below the real mccoy. by dd
the dynastes hercules at evolution framed double glass $498
the temple of kukulcan (el castillo). also know as chichen itza.
i’ve been to almost all of central amercica’s major pyramids, and being up there it is awe inspiring… imagining the short mayan priests 30 meter above ground, surveying the stars and the foliage that runs as far as the eye can see. still to this day all we have are but assumptions and theories on how these massive structures where actually built, still to this day the only answer we have to how two such far civilizations, in egypt and central america could have created such identical structures, and similar gods is all but “coincidence”! or more technically put:
“separated by the atlantic ocean and two thousand years, the pyramids of egypt and mexico call out to the imagination. they offer glimpses into romantically esoteric societies filled with secret rituals and exacting construction that even today cause us to ogle over them like voyeurs. so the question is not whether they still move us today, obviously they do. rather, the question is whether they moved each other, or failing that, did they dip their buckets into some common well of knowledge? of course there are seeming similarities between the artifacts and architecture of these geographically and temporally distant societies. the jade death mask of pacal could easily be compared to that of tut. likewise, the half-animal, half-human gods of egypt are similar, at their most basic level, to mesoamerican gods like quetzacoatl. and who can ignore the pyramids? unfortunately, despite these apparent similarities, they are unrelated to one another. not only were the mesoamerican pyramids built millennia after the those of egypt, they also did not share the same basic design or function. while the egyptian pyramids were private tombs meant to set the pharaoh off from the mainstream society of the day and protect him for eternity, the pyramids of mesoamerica, though sometimes used as tombs, were primarily public temples of ritual and celebration.”
the above argument does not even address the simplest of all issues, the general shape of the pyramids. that has been pushed aside by some as the basic shape one piles up stones. while i can see that being a possibility/coincidence, i don’t buy that given all the other similarities between the two… and no, piling up stones in a shape of a pyramid is not the obvious choice. placing a slab over 2 others (stone henge) is closer to a cave structure or other natural spaces man would have been familiar with. and yet we are to think making a fully perfect geometric shape, both accurately aligning with the stars, is a result of simply piling stones? rather insulting. it’s a riddle i’ve been entertaining myself with for the past few weeks. its exciting and fun. by dd
a visual collective outlet of inspiration
one disturbing, sexist, ruler kisses another
