Follow up to the 2012 Science or Supertition Premier

Way back in May I helped organise a UK premier showing of the extremely popular docu-film 2012 Science or Superstition. By now I am sure that most of the readers of this Blog will have either seen the film or at least be well aware of its content. I also had the great pleasure of meeting two of the guys from Disinfo.com tasked with working on the marketing of the DVD world-wide.

We had an interesting old time and I know that several friends and regular visitors to the site were eagerly expecting me to post a summary of events. Well as it happens I was indeed doing just that back at the start of June when guess what happened?

I was suddenly and very unexpectedly interrupted by of all people, the famous rap artist Kanye West…

There was me sat at the computer in the privacy of my own home typing away when out pops Kanye and gets all up in my face in front of the screen. He just blurted out, “Yo Bruce, I’m really happy for you, I’m a let you finish, but Disinfo did one of the best write ups of all time! Of all time!”

I was pretty shaken up but I had lots of kind support from the 2012 community and a few months on I am ready to try again. [Nervous glance toward the door]

So on the evening of the 26th May we were all set to roll the film following weeks of marketing on my part (and some on theirs to of course). The venue was nice, cosy, relaxed and boasted a well stocked bar for essential beer breaks. I had the pleasure of meeting both Raymond Wiley and Austin Gandy, the brains behind the Disinfo podcast as well as their plus one, a charming lady by the name of Katie Ekstrand. You know when you meet people and just think, hey these are cool guys, well that summed up my introduction to the team.

I would love to say here that after my weeks of marketing and their long flight and wandering around the UK that we had to battle the crowds to be heard and were surrounded by jabbering 2012 maniacs. Unfortunately the truth is that there were about ten people in the room including us. I guess that had this been post November and following the release of the upcoming Hollywood 2012 disaster movie the room would have been packed. Clearly Stroud was not quite as up on the subject as I had assumed from its famed alternative thought and awareness.

Those that were present enjoyed the film and they then had a surprise treat (actually it was a surprise for me too) when the guys put on an hour-long skit about people in the neo-pagan circles, ‘Stooges of the Occult’. It was one of those things where it helps to know that scene a little (which I do) but was amusing for everyone present regardless. The guys are very used to reaching an audience and entertaining them after many years of radio and podcast productions. It was a great evening and the lack of people, though a financial blow for all of us (venues cost money), was not enough to ruin the night.

We headed back to Cheltenham leaving the head-in-the-sand folks of Stroud to meet their 2012 fates without the key information from those in the know!

Being in the UK for only a brief time I had to show my friends from across the pond the English version of having a good time in the middle of the week. Of course that means getting dressed up (probably badly) and getting drunk in a mostly empty club whereupon one can indulge in what we Brits consider to be elegant dancing (think string puppets on crack). They were suitably impressed, and also amused to see how many of our local churches had been turned into pubs, bars and restaurants. Not so common in the US bible belt of the deep South, apparently!

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Our second day was the whistle-stop tour of the mystical wonderland that is my region of England. We hit the road fairly early and headed further South West to Glastonbury. For those who have not heard much about the town it is regarded as part of mystical Arthurian Avalon, as well as being tied to local legends such as visits by Joseph of Arimathea and Jesus Christ. Our first task was of course to clamber up to the tower on top of Glastonbury Tor. This was made slightly trickier by the fact I was on crutches and had not been able to walk for the best part of four months!

On the way up we passed a Tibetan Dharma centre and each spun the prayer wheels for some good vibes (weirdly the rain did stop for a bit straight afterwards). As luck would have it the Tor itself was shrouded in mist which gave us a real feel of the mysterious and magical. Being D & D fantasy geeks at heart we also got to joke about battling our way to the castle and our respective warrior stats (except Katie of course). Hey males don’t grow up we just get grey hairs.

The tower is an interesting spot not only for the great view, as the last Abbot of the ransacked Glastonbury Abbey had the dubious honour of being hung there for his non-orthodox ways. Dog knows what they would have done to the likes of me back then.

Knowing the town is famous for alternative bookshops we wandered into the centre and were all overwhelmed at just how ‘alternative’ it really is. There were literally dozens of shops dealing with occult, pagan, holistic, and new-age and every fringe arena you can think of. It did not take us many seconds to realise we probably should have had the film screening at a venue near Glastonbury. I very much doubt there is anywhere else like it on Earth. We lost ourselves in piles of weird and wonderful books for rather too long and had to rush to the car when we realised that our next port of call would be closing to the public pretty soon.

Damned rush hour traffic! The roads were jam-packed and I can only assume there was an accident or something way ahead of us. We took a devious short cut but alas arrived just as the gates closed for the Stonehenge visitor’s centre.

I was of course disappointed, as obviously I had wanted to give the guys a chance to go in. Fortunately they however were rather more of the sensible view that it was a bit of a con after I had explained that paying the exorbitant entry fee only got you about ten meters closer to the stones (and pointed out how much of them was made of modern cement). There was a good view of them from where we were already standing and you can’t actually walk amongst the stones themselves without special permission.

We made do with a few photos and an attempt to scrape some moss off a big stone nearest to the fence (for a magically inclined friend back in the states). Now fully ley-lined up and cosmic re-fuelled we headed on to our next stop. This was a novelty for all as its kinda not there at all. The almost equally famous ‘Wood Henge’ is really just an arrangement of stone markers in concentric circles representing the long since decomposed logs. At least you can stand in the middle of it and don’t have to pay for the pleasure!

The next site was new to the awareness of my friends, as it is less well known outside Europe than old Stoney, yet probably equally remarkable. Silbury Hill, our next mystical grid location, is the largest man made mound in Europe. It dates from the time of the Great Pyramid of Giza and has an unknown purpose and unknown method of construction. What is known is that the hill-like structure is hollow at its centre and lays amidst several other ancient sites such as barrows, standing stones and Neolithic mounds. Some readers here will have likely seen the famous photos of this mound with intricate crop circles having formed right adjacent to it. UFO’s also often reputedly buzz it.

I would not have wanted to let the guys leave blighty without actually touching an ancient standing stone however. Our last stop was to give them just that opportunity. After a quick drink in a rather too quaint looking olde English inn we wandered amongst the stones of Avesbury as twilight descended upon us.

I can’t stress how much I enjoyed the two days spent with my friends from Disinfo.com and hope that I will get to see them again before any super solar storms or incoming rogue planets make that impossible!

In the Meanwhile please do check out their new 2012 website and of course both the 2012 Science or Superstition film and its accompanying book!