Helter Skelter Vol. 6: The Delicate Sound of Thunder

2001 Timing
July 25-28, 2011

LeClair

To do it right with DSOTM, you should listen to Also Sprach at the beginning and end of the movie. The rest is all Floyd

Don't forget to all play repeat. I am working on this match-up right now, DSOTM with all three movies. Should have some cool data in 3-4 days. I hope sooner, but it is exhausting--fun, scary and exhausting.

Klaus

True.  After a few days of playthroughs, my mind goes to jello.

This project has become so normal to me, that I almost forget how abnormal it all seemed the first time I played DSOTM to the Wizard of Oz.  I am, however, reminded of it's novelty aspect any time I find an urge to discuss it with someone.

I hope you have the opportunity to do a live Harry Potter synch in the theater.  It's truly an amazing experience.

I have tried to find a good resource concerning Gauss tensor, but I feel as though I need more info/time to truly grok it.  At this point, this is what I can conceive of it: Gauss needed a mathematical equation to measure a seemingly immesurable object (Ceres).  The tensor equation required three points of observation with which to document consistent statistical points. This trio was beyond the normal singular human perspective.  Through the trio and math, Gauss was able to accurately predict the orbit of Ceres.  The extrapolation of this system hints at larger notions about reality.  

LeClair

If you find the time to do my recommended match up DSOTM/2001 you mind may solidify again.  It is fucking amazing.

Here is a final bit of instruction.  When the fourth play of "On the Run" comes around, just before the ancient Dave enters the Monolith, turn up the movie volume to 100%, with the DSOTM sound at about 60%.  The resulting experience is beyond description.

Regarding grokking the tensor, it is only a metaphorical usage I'm applying. Basically, because of the special way I personally stumbled into these three "mother matches" of 2001/DSOTM, TS/Meddle and EWS/The Wall, I have decided to use each album against all three films as a "metaphorical" version of the tensor. The goal is to co-relate the data to within an inch of its life. To measure three events with three different yardsticks. To "cut it up into little pieces" and put it back together again.

In a few days, when I relay my data for DSOTM, I will also relate just how I got into this mess, and discovered the 4:22 2001/DSOTM match-up. It is interesting.

Klaus

Started the final run up of Dark Side/2001 at 1:30:22 (Not sure if this completely accurate).

  Just might be the most sublime of them all.  Seamless.  I'm always amazed at how I'm repeatedly blown away at the beauty and magic within, and how it's like I've never seen it before with a new combination.  How deep is the rabbit hole???

I can't wait to restart from the beginning and take the entire Dark 2001 in.

Bravo, Mark.

LeClair

You must see from the beginning.  It will amaze.  You are eight seconds to the heavy side for this final run up, an effect produced by the slight inaccuracy of song times in aggregate, I suspect. It can be tricky lining up the time from other than the starting point, so I have made a key list for timings which I will send to you when it is completed.  Nevertheless, for this part of "2001" the effect would be extremely similar.

Here seems like a good place to tell you how all of this started for me.  I will be brief.

In the summer of 2001 I worked in isolation in a town on the border of Alaska/Yukon called Beaver Creek.  At this time, I had no knowledge of the kind that we currently discuss, except some trivial detail in he old noggin.  I was, however, a serious movie fan with a penchant for Kubrick.  One afternoon a fellow employee suggested the DSOTM/Oz synch-up.  I had never heard of such a thing, but I was duly intrigued.  The difficulty was that we were in the middle of nowhere and the availability of movies was scarce.  There was a lady in town who collected videos, and we were off to see if she had The Wiz to loan.  I was amazed to learn she did not.

At this exact moment, something incredible happened.  Without thinking or even having time to form a thought I bespoke the following sentence: "Well, we could do it with "2001", because they are basically the same movie".

I have no idea from where this thought emerged.  It was a kind of automatic speaking, like speaking in tongues or something.  To add to the weirdness of it all, the lady did have a copy of "2001" and we borrowed it.  My co-worker wondered how we would set up the timing.  Because I had devoted my life to classical music, I decided that Strauss's Also Sprach should be heard before the album started... mostly because I wanted to hear it myself.  I hit the play button on the attack of the last note of the piece.

Up to this time, I had never heard any Pink Floyd outside of radio play and random occurrence.

Now, I was hearing this amazing album next to my favorite movie, a movie I would have bet my life that I knew something about, and my world was shattered.  It is fair to say that my study of the occult, media, and related material began exactly when that event took place in June of 2001.  Thing is, I barely survived the resulting psychological injury.  My social and professional life was destroyed.  I withdrew into a cone of silence.  It took me about five years to get to where I could make myself understood to others.

Really Bill, you need to see this from the beginning, straight through the intermission to the end, asap.  How deep is the rabbit hole?  Deep.

In a few days I will have completed my correspondence table for the DSOTM part of the tensor.  Another day to write it up and I hope to have it for you to peruse for the weekend.  

Klaus

Gonna spin it today.

What did your co-worker think?  Were you smoking/drinking?
Did you have subtitles?
Did you watch DSOTM and Wizard of Oz soon after?

LeClair

No subtitles.  It was done on a boom box and a TV.  We blended the sound.  My co-worker was astonished.  He may have wondered if I was on the up-and-up... if I had done it before.  We repeated the experiment several times and as I remember it, there were more than a few people who got the gist of it all.  I have not seen or spoken to any of these people since 2001.  It was more than a year later that I finally watched The Wiz/DSOTM.  The result was an article, my first at metaphilm. 

I had started smoking weed some months earlier (at age 34 no less).  I went quickly from a joint or two weekly to an ounce or so monthly.  By Beaver Creek I was kronik, yo.  I had brought about four ounces with me to last the 4 1/2 moth contract, but had burned completely though it in 6 weeks.  I was drinking about 20 oz. of straight whiskey--all day long, just sipping.  Needless to say, I was seriously fucked-up.  It was, without a doubt the highest, wildest and weirdest experience of my life.  I have tried to recreate it, but have yet to touch again so close to the void.

The great part about it is that as unhinged as I was, I doesn't matter in the least to the profundity of what I discovered and have continued to discover.  I have paid a high price, but so far it is worth it--big time. 

Now that I think of it, it wasn't a year between the two synchs... it may have been merely a few weeks.  It was a heady time for me.

Klaus

Is your article about Wiz/DSOTM still up at metaphilm?

LeClair

Yeah, it's up there. And I was right the first time. It was a little more than a year later than the 2001/DSOTM cataclysm of June/Jule 2001.

BTW. When you do get around to the complete 2001/DSOTM, I hope you do it to the end. I am watching it right now and the timings are a gobsmack. Most delightfully, the melody of Ont The Run and Time mixs fin a mindbending way with the closing Also Sprach and Blue Danube. The melodies are so close that I regard this as potentially purposeful.

Here's a link to the article

http://metaphilm.com/index.php/detail/the-wizard-of-ads/

Klaus

I thought that that was the article.
I could tell from the style, sense of humor.

Quick note:  a pink Floyd site references the words on the intercom of On The Run to be " "Get your tickets and your passports at the ready, we make a brief stop at customs and then we begin. Now boarding flight 215 to Rome from Colorado Fields.". Any thoughts to the accuracy?  If so, ridiculous.

I hesitate to bring up this question right now:  the official running time of DSOTM seems to be documented at 42:59.  This does not balance with the time I have calculated on my iPod, which is 42:51.  For the third run through, I advanced according to 42:59, allowing for 1 second of pure silence in between, leaving 2 X 43:00, arriving at 4:22 + 86:00 = 1:30:22.  In my viewing, many transitions were seemingly perfect.  I am going to start from the beginning and go throughout, but was wondering if you have noticed these timing discrepancies.  Thoughts?

LeClair

Yes, I have noticed these discrepancies. I discovered them last week when I tried to cut up EWS with The Wall Timings. There are two main problems. The first is that the individual track titles do not represent a "to the instant" timing, but rather a rounded off amount that is sometimes nearly a complete second off-time. Second is that the replay function does not overlap "to the instant" either. The aggregate of mis-timing can create a pretty big discrepancy when looking at sections of the mash-up. For this reason, the only accurate timing must be considered the "uninterrupted all-play-repeat with the correct start time". In regard to all three films, I am comfortable, even firm, that the start-timings I have "discovered" are accurate to within one-half second. You have seen the wonders of Meddle and The Wall. When you see the DSOTM/2001 mash you oughtta know fer sher about the timing issues.

As I mention, I have developed a master timing key to allow the movies/music to be broken into smaller sections for study. I have finished the list for DSOTM with all three movies. I'll send it to you when I compile the DSOTM part of the tensor.

Yeah, those words from "On the Run" are accurate. I think we can agree this hole is deep as deep can be. The question is, can we hold our breath long enough to get to the bottom.

Klaus

Quick check:  I find that Us and Them ends just as the light show ends, and Any Color You Like starts just as Bowmans eyeball hits the screen.  This cut destroyed me.  Does this jive with your experience?

"Yeah, those words from "On the Run" are accurate. I think we can agree this hole is deep as deep can be. The question is, can we hold our breath long enough to get to the bottom."

This made me laugh out loud.  Great stuff.

In the Wizard of Oz, Professor Marvel's horse is named Sylvester.  The name of the actor who played Heywood Floyd in 2001?  William Sylvester.

LeClair

I find this cut very pleasing... so pleasing that it is troubling, because it is quite a bit off of my timing. I am a little pissed actually, because this cut is so frickin' awesome that I need to go back now and reconsider my timing after two days of work. FUCK!

Oh well, it is all in the game and I want to get it right. It would be alot harder if it wasn't so fun. I must say that as strongly as I feel about 4:22, this particular cut of yours, with the "white flash" preceding, seems a perfect fit for the moment as you see it.

It's not fair that you should get devastated and not me!!

I will now watch the whole damned thing again. Give me a couple few hours.

I just did your eyeball/Any Color match up.  For a second I was nigh on to convinced you had me, but as interesting as one or two synchs are, I think it falls short of the wonders of the 4:22 timing.  The movie is a good 20 sec. behind where it fits best.  When you have reached the end you will hear '...live for today, gone tomorrow..." just as ancient Dave enters the Monolith for the last time--you will know.

I don't want you to think that I don't appreciate your contribution here.  I desire to be challenged on every and any detail you consider worthy.

Do the 4:22 match from start to finito... you won't be disappointed, but you'll probably be pretty tired.

Klaus

Absolutely bro.  Excited to view it in it's entirety.  I'll report back.

LeClair

OK.  At last we have communication.  I think you have made a mistake in identifying the track-name.  The eyeball cut to multi-cubes begins exactly as "Brain Damage" begins.  This is to the lyric "the lunatic is on the grass".  If this is the timing you have found then we are on the same page.

Klaus

Sorry, i got confused.

Here is what I've been working with:

By the exact numbers of my iPod: start at 4:22, plus two complete plays at 42:59, plus 25:45 for Speak>>Money.   This leaves Us and Them starting at 1:56:05, Any Color starting at 2:03:55, and Brain Damage starting at 2:07:20.

LeClair

And therein lies the problem. For some reason, by the numbers, you come in seven or eight secs on the heavy side of the movie. I noticed these discrepancies and corrected them by carefully watching the movie and recording the exact DVD timecode when certain tracks started. It was time consuming, with many errors on my part. However I have checked and re-checked and somehow it comes out according to the following DVD Key. When you do the full version you can check for this yourself... or just trust me. Here is the 2001/DSOTM Time key for start times on the whole album. I'll send you the trachk spacing later, with my data. You'll find these time lines up with the Brain Damage cut just exactly as you describe it.

Play One Starts at 4:22
Play Two Starts at 47:18
Play Three Starts at Just a split second before 1:30:13
Play Four Starts at just a split sec. before 2:13:08

This gives the final play of Any Color at just a split before 2:03:48, which is seven seconds on the light side of your current timing.

Don't forget to turn up the movie for the final play of Also Sprach. A good spot to turn it up is while Dave has his dinner.

Happy Hunting.

Klaus

Awesome, thanks for the input.  Gonna do this in the morning tomorrow.

Talk to you then.

I'm thirty minutes in.  And, well, I mean, it's just...well, you know.  A skull cracker.

The most amazing thing about this is, I was convinced that I had it, that my calculation and mix was THE mix, and after watching it through, according to your guidelines, it is clear that your mix is absolutely precise.  It provides my mind a lot more confidence in the arena of objectivity.

In Finnegans Wake, the thunderclap that recurs throughout the book is the word of God, the changing of aeons.  In 2001/DSOTM, the thunder is clearly heard as the Monolith lands, the astronauts (specifically Floyd) on the Moon(and one of the most haunting moments), as Dave captures Franks dead body, as well as a fourth and final time as man is reborn.

The first time you experienced this back in, not so oddly enough, 2001,  the thunderclap roared long and loud, and I can understand and appreciate the confluence of variables that ushered in a very long and dark night of the soul for you.

Funny, after watching it completely through, all I want to do now is start it up from the beginning.

  Thank you for your patience on this one, a lesser person could have gotten quite agitated concerning my occlusion.

LeClair

Wow... I am more than pleased that you have enjoyed this as much, it would seem, as I do.  There is no need for your apology (as brilliantly written as the whole mail is).  I am certain about my timings and some of my conclusions too, but not married to them.  Your insight is valuable, in spite of a bump or two along the road.  I have sought a partnership of this quality for a long time.

I am glad you noted the "thunderclap" and am more than tickled that it also appears in Joyce as you describe.  I am of the opinion, given my marginal knowledge of Joyce, that Kubrick intended 2001 to pair with Ulysses; EWS with Finnegan and The Shining with The Dead.  I admit that this is mere intuition on my part, although there are a few clues in EWS (Apt. #5A: Harford's Address).

Klaus

"Delicate Sound of Thunder became the first rock album to be played in space, as Soviet cosmonauts took it aboard Soyuz TM-7. They left the cassette box on Earth to save weight. The members of Pink Floyd were present at the launch. The double LP was also the band's only album to be officially released in the Soviet Union by the state-owned label Melodiya."   from Wikipedia

LeClair

I am impressed.  What is the date of this event?  To my sensibility, this is not plain coincidence, nor is it brilliant creative programming.  I am of a mind that it has an occult nature that Kubrick either knew of or programmed himself.  I have so much I want to say right now, but I am holding back until I can present the complete data on my first pass of the DSOTM tensor.  I will finish watching EWS today.  Tomorrow, I will go through "The Shining", which should be easy, as I have done it before with DSOTM.  It is my ardent goal to get my data to you no later than Saturday... I am shooting for Friday night.

As an amuse bouche, here is some deductive reasoning.  I admit this is very thin, and doesn't really have any meaningful bearing on the research at hand, although I suppose it could do.  Rather, it is just a speculation I entertain as to one small part of how this might have gone down.  I have developed this "theory" thanks to the direction given by our partnership thus far.

Young Roger Waters admires Kubrick and maybe even thinks he "gets" it.  Pink Floyd gets alot of early chops writing music for the movies, and score several films by the late 60's.  Waters wants to score a Kubrick film.  According to the Floyd/Kubrick site, Waters's one regret is that he did not score "2001".  There is an implication that he petitions Kubrick for the opportunity to score the movie, and is denied.

I speculate that when Waters finally sees "2001", his regret is amplified.  Not to be completely foiled, Waters decides to score "2001" anyway and the result is '71's "Meddle".  The trouble is that "Meddle" fails to draw the attention and perhaps praise Waters desires, namely, from Kubrick.  It is a matter of subtlety.  "Meddle" simply fails to attract Kubrick's slightest attention.  Waters decides to turn up the heat and DSOTM is the result.  DSOTM contains direct, even explicit reference to the values expressed in "2001".  Polymath Kubrick catches the hint this time, and checks it out.  He may be either pissed or delighted, but he is certainly curious enough to investigate that "Meddle" is a profound soundscape to his film and that DSOTM, perhaps accidentally, gives away many of his carefully encoded secrets.

For myself, I have decided that mastermind Stan is amused by Waters fascinations and decides to recapitulate with "The Shining"/Meddle mash-up.  Meanwhile, Waters is run down.  Drugs, Fame and Booze have weakened him just enough to receive the final download and he at last identifies Kubrick as not just a Great Artist, but as Adversary, Dungeon Master, and Cruel Cosmic Social Programmer.  Waters creates "The Wall" with its Brick pattern cover, as a declaration of the complete realization of Stan's persona as programmer and of his own failure to rise to the Draconian standard of Kubrick's vision.

Stan responds with EWS, in his persona as "bricklayer" Victor Ziegler.  The message is clear.

I am back to work on EWS just now and promise wonders.