I’ve been tweeting and posting on social media lately about my ambivalent feelings regarding the World Cup: On one hand I think soccer is a beautiful sport and as an admirer of the Greek ideal I love athletics in their pure physicality. I’ve been looking forward to the World Cup for four years, but the plutocracy, neo-slavery and commercialism that have made the event possible are disturbing to say the least.

The deplorable situation in a country like Brazil originated from colonialism, racism, and classism, but today it’s the entire world that’s affected by ubiquitous globalism, cut-throat capitalism, the breakdown of social connections and the mixed-blessings of communications technology.

Peter Lamborn Wilson, AKA Hakim Bey, is best known for his blazing screed T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone. Here Wilson speaks to history, politics, technology and civilized culture, and its impact on authentic communities.

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Apologies for the lateness of this show, I (The Ken) have been ill.

This week: The Big Dog is off the chain, yeah that’s right, Ken’s hosting again. That’s really all you need to know….no?…ok, this week we discuss The latest activistprank from the Yes Men, New moons and hipsters, Hack your face!, Kim’s analogue dream tape, Stuff, The weirdness of Mandella’s interpreter, Brazilian football is Smash TV, Nintendo gayness, and Florida’s cache of medieval weapons.

Personnel – Kim Monaghan, Frater Isla, and Ken Eakins

Links to your soul

• The Yes Men Prank Homeland Security Link
• New moon rising – Link
• URME Prosthetic Surveilance Hacking! – Link
• Cassette Tapes are Back! Link
• I would. – Link
• Mandella interpreter is a fucking oddball – Link
• Brazilian Futbol Fan Killed by Toilet Link
• Gaytendo – Link
• Cache of Medieval weapons discovered in a coffin in Florida – Link

Interlude:

These disturbed wannabes – Link

If you are a regular reader or podcast listener, you won’t be surprised to find that I was immediately grabbed by recent headlines about a werewolf loose in Brazil. I’m inclined to click even the most mildly lycanthropic link and a story about a wild man-beast in a place that’s full of both tropical jungles and densely populated cities was too good to resist.

While this story, video and image hit the crypto/occult mystery-creature spot for me, this Skeptophilia post goes on to examine how we can be overwhelmed by irrational fears. It’s an interesting observation of the kind of the bypassing of the rational that may turn an engaged, thoughtful appreciator of fringe culture into a wild-eyed true believer.

Here’s more…

A story this week out of Brazil highlights the third “F” — which stands for the flight response. It could also stand for “fear,” because that’s what usually motivates an animal running away. The story, which comes out of the town of São Gonçalo de Campos, near Feira de Santana, in the state of Bahia, is about a rather terrifying cryptid that has been sighted more than once in local neighborhoods.

All of this would have been nothing more than another tale of “I saw something real, really I did” if it hadn’t been for the footage captured on a home security camera. Watch it for yourself:

Okay, yes, I know. There are no such things as werewolves. There’s no reason why this couldn’t have been faked. It probably is a guy in dark clothes jumping around in front of the homeowner’s security camera, in order to keep the whole scare going. Who knows? Maybe it’s even “Pingo,” who dreamed the story up to have his fifteen minutes (or in this case, more like two weeks) of fame.

But I have to admit that watching this video gave me some very irrational shudders right up the spine. There’s something about the way the creature moved that just doesn’t look… human. I’m probably being suggestible, I realize that; our fight-or-flight responses have been programmed through millions of years of evolution to shriek at us, whenever we see a shadowy shape in the dark, “DEAR GOD IT’S A PREDATOR RUN FOR YOUR LIFE OR YOU WILL BE MESSILY DEVOURED.” The chances of it being anything other than a hoaxing human are very small.

Stay Awake!

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel where I archive all of the videos I curate at Insomnia. Click here to check out more occult posts.