And as you have almost certainly realised, the title of it derives from W.B. Yeats’ classic poem, The Second Coming. For those of you not familiar with it, the relevant section runs:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand…
I can’t promise a revelation – but if I hear of one, I’ll be sure to let you know.
So this isn’t really a personal blog – I have a LiveJournal for that – it’s more a collection of loosely grouped essays and random weirdness, divided into several categories and delivered on a somewhat regular basis:
a great chain of crossovers between various fictional worlds, primarily from a roleplaying point of view, interspersed with other, more random crossovers.
Ad hoc:
These categories will pop up less often, usually only as I think of something to write about in them. They may, on occasion, displace a weekly feature from its slot, but more often than not, they’ll simply show up on Thursdays or Saturdays.
long form blog essays (Or ‘Blessays” as Stephen Fry calls them) about all kinds of things. Often consisting of me ranting about whatever’s annoying me on that day.
you know how sometimes you listen to a song, and it seems to make no sense – and then later on, you discover that you misheard the words? This isn’t about that. This is a listing and analysis of all the lyrics that make no bloody sense whatsover even when heard correctly.
And sometimes, when I feel so inclined, it’s also a place to put filk lyrics. Sorry about that.
assorted announcements, maintenance and changes news. Used only when needed, and usually in addition to whatever other posts there may be that day.
I’m always happen to entertain suggestions for topics you’d like to see covered in The Campaign for Symmetrical English, The Daft Lyrics Database, The Pharmacopoeia Fantastica or Crossing Over. If there’s a word, a song, a drug or a crossover you’d particularly enjoy watching me tackle, by all means let me know.
Other Content:
In addition, there’s some other content of a more (though not entirely) static nature, to be found in the Pages sections:
A highly dangerous and radioactive drug, Xenite is not native to the world of Top Ten (and America’s Best Comics in general). It is an element from a different periodic table, specifically that of Grand Central, the parallel universe of Precinct 1.
Given its nature, there are very few people who can use it without suffering radiation poisoning, all of them superhuman or divine in nature. The only known user of the drug at this time is Commisioner Ultima, of Grand Central, whose power levels were akin to those of Superman. As she is now deceased, the origins and history of the drug may never be known.
In effect, the drug appeared to be a form of super-powered heroin, although given that the only depiction of its use was a deliberate overdose, it is hard to be certain of this identification.
Made in the depths of Hell from the sufferings of the damned, Pain is a gray powder. It is treated much like snuff by the demons who take it, and usually stored in snuff boxes.
The effects it has on the demonic physiology are as many and as varied as those physiologies, although the two universal constants are that it enhances the pleasure of sex, and that, although it is possible to resist the drug’s effects, it is painful to do so.
When used by the damned themselves, it appears to intensify sensation to a painful degree.
Hundreds of years before the dawn of history
Lived a strange race of people… the Druids
No one knows who they were or what they were doing
But their legacy remains
Hewn into the living rock… Of Stonehenge!
Stonehenge was constructed out of massive slabs of bluestone, by persons unknown using means unknown for reasons unknown, on a field on Salisbury Plain, in Wiltshire, England.
Theories abound as to its purpose, although as the lyrics above suggest, it is generally believed to have been something druidic. Suggestions include it being a burial ground, a primitive observatory, or a place for human sacrifice. Less likely theories argue that it was constructed by Atlanteans or aliens.
The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Elvis Aaron Presley, was born to Vernon Elvis and Gladys Love Presley in a two room house built by Vernon. He was preceded into the world by his stillborn brother, Jesse Garon Presley, some 35 minutes earlier.
Presley is one of the best known and most popular rock stars of all time, acheiving a level of fame and success in his 42 years that remains the yardstick by which all celebrities must still be measured, and if you don’t already know who he was… well, you were probaby born after 1977.
Also, although Guiness doesn’t keep records on it, he is also probably the most-frequently impersonated human being of all time.
In the year 3535, it appears that humanity lives in a brave new world where psychiatric drugs are mandatory – not so much prozac nation as prozac planet. And these drugs, well, they make lying impossible, so either we’re all much more guarded or we’re all much more blunt.
Either way, it makes me think of the film Equilibrium, because you’d probably need that sort of police force to run such a state.
Referenced in:
In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus) – Zager and Evans
The Rump Parliament was what remained of the British Parliament after Colonel Pride had purged it a month earlier, leaving only those parliamentarians who supported the army.
On January 6, 1649, the Parliament appointed a total of 135 men to constitute a High Court for the trial of King Charles I for tyranny. A quorum was declated to be twenty of these appointees.
The trial of Charles I commenced shortly thereafter, and duly returned the guilty verdict it was intended to.
Derived from the bodily fluids of one of the fastest of all mammals, Moongoose Blood is a superhuman level stimulant, capable of accelerating the bodies of users into speeds just short of light speed, visible to the naked eye only as lightning-like flashes.
Also known as ‘Goose Juice, the drug is highly illegal and the police force of Neopolis finds it a perennial problem.
An entire sub-culture has grown up around the use of Mongoose Blood, which can be best characterised as ‘extreme rave culture’. Goose music is so fast that to those not currently on the drug hear it only as a painfully high-pitched whine.
An accomplished bassist, pianist and bandleader, Charles Mingus is perhaps best-remembered today for his work as a composer. Between 1943 and his death in 1979, he composed and arranged numerous influential works of jazz – his final composition, Epitath, was appropriately never performed until after his death.
Mingus was a perfectionist, especially as a bandleader, and was notorious for his temper – he was widely known as ‘the Angry Man of Jazz‘ – but most of the musicians he worked with agreed that his perfectionism most often brought out the best in their performances.
The Boston Strangler – assuming it was only one man – was a serial rapist and murderer who terrorised Boston from June 1962 and January 1964. He killed thirteen people, all of them single women (ranging in age from 19 to 85), and all but three of them he also sexually assaulted. Despite his nom du crime, not all of his victims were strangled.
Although a man named Albert De Salvo later confessed to and was convicted of the Strangler’s crimes, there remains some doubt that he was actually responsible for all of the crimes – although he knew many details police had not released to the public, there were some inconsistencies in his testimony. To date, however, no one else has been charged with any of the crimes attributed to the Boston Strangler.
Referenced in:
The Boston Strangler – Macabre
Midnight Rambler – The Rolling Stones
Dedicated to Albert De Salvo – Whitehouse
Boston Strangler (Albert DeSalvo) – Church of Misery
