Well, owing to the humungus response to my previous post regarding the ancient Greeks (1 comment hehehee) I thought doing another one would be appropriate owing to the fact of over whelming fan mail!

Right, the ancient Greek for today will be an astronomer named Hipparchus. Now the ancient Greeks were pre-occupied with mathematics, the subject, they thought, could answer literally everything, no matter what the problem, a mathematical solution could and would be found to solve it. An ardent supporter of mathematics being the universal panacea was a Greek philosopher Pythagoras, he saw it in music, and envisaged everything being described in terms of mathematical formulae. Spheres and circles of course would be the ideal candidates, readily 3 dimensional and the Moon being right above in the night sky, and local (astronomically speaking) was a perfect body to make mathematical calculations for purposes of measuring distance, so he set about measuring the distance between the Earth and the Moon. This however proved a nightmare! Pythagoras's original conception of how harmonious mathematics would be turned out imperfect numbers in his calculations, the numbers were not the simple ones he imagined would be at the root of everything.

As with all things, you may not discover the very thing you had set out to, but end up discovering something entirely different yet equally important! Enter Hipparchus, he noted that there were several observable facts that did not fall into the category of simple mathematical explanation. One of these was the obvious flaw in the so-called perfect composition of the night sky, he observed that not all stars that shone kept the same regular position as the vast majority did. These 'wandering stars' actually seemed to move independantly to the rest and actually double backed on themselves and would accasionally be brighter or darker in their light intensity. A clue to what Hipparchus was seeing still exists today in our description of the universe, the Greek word for 'wanderer' (planetos) gave rise to the name we still use, he thought he was observing stars, but in fact what he was looking at was a planet, probably Venus, or maybe Mars in a particular close orbit to Earth, and in those ancient times there were probably 5 planets visible to the naked eye.

Painstaking observations enabled the Greeks to plot the courses the planets took, and so duly noted that the paths the planets took were curved, so could they be segments of circles? After this discovery by Hipparchus, It was Plato who encouraged the schools of philosophy to explain how and why these 'wanderers' were adopting an erratic circular path?

Hipparchus had not set out to identify mathematics as a futile vocation, he was just interested in what those odd things were doing in the night sky and thus, discovered the planets. They were already there of course and had been for eons, but his keen nightly observations paved the way for future generations of ancient Greeks to further unravel the puzzle of the cosmos using such techniques as mathematics to prove the universe had a symmetry to it, and so ends another ancient tale of discovery…see you.

With science and religion dominating our perception of life, death, love, and the universe, do any of us really consider where these time immune concepts originated? Whether you are religiously or scientifically minded the ancient Greeks began a multitude of studies that are still in practice today. It was the ancient Greeks who began philosophical, scientific, and theological studies in order to explain the unexplainable when looking at the night sky.

One such ancient Greek, a mathmetician named Eratosthenes pondered the significance of the universe and his place in it, he would gaze (it is said) at the night sky and after a while he would notice things which unknown to him at the time was destined to shape our modern-day understanding of our planet as a sphere. The ancient Greeks as a whole noticed that the night sky, as seen from Samos and from Alexandria had the same stars but where in a different position? It is not noted how they traversed the distances between the two places to make these observations, but the ancient Greeks were great sailors, so we can assume they did drawings from one place and the other then made comparisons.

This story claims… Eratosthenes noticed that a stick, when planted in the ground would cast different shadows at different times of the day, and with the sun directly overhead would cast virtually no shadow at all, and at dusk or dawn the shadow would be at its longest. Eratosthenes observed two sticks of equal length one in Aswan and one in Alexandria at the same time of day, it is also unclear how he did this but maybe a friend helped him with his studies, or maybe Eratosthenes himself visited both places and made observations at the same time of day but on different days, whichever it was is not that important but what is important where his findings. He noticed that the two shadows cast by the sticks, at the same time of day, were of different lengths!

Now at this point, Eratosthenes considered what this revelation meant for his research and gained a remarkable insight. The two sticks had been carefully placed upright, and at right angles to the Earth, so if the Earth was flat as it was percieved to be in the ancient world, he reasoned that the two sticks would be parallel to each other, and since the sun is so far away, the rays of light travelling to each stick would also be parallel, so if the Earth was indeed flat, both shadows would be the same length at any one time of day, but this was not the case. This was simple elementary geometry in action, if the sun, on a flat Earth, was shining directly over one stick and casting no shadow, you would expect the same outcome with the other stick, and so cast no shadow? But on the other stick Eratosthenes recorded that a very clear shadow had been cast. His further studies showed that the two sticks would always cast different length shadows at any given time of day.

These findings were pointing at only one possible answer, and Eratosthenes concluded that although the two sticks were both at right angles to the Earth's surface, they were not parallel to each other, and that could only happen if the Earth's surface was curved. To be fair, the Greeks had long suspected the Earth's surface to be round, and Eratosthenes experiment did much to prove this theory.

Apart from all the other things the ancient Greeks began, reasoning through mathematics and logic would prove timeless for mankind, the quest for a greater understanding of the universe had begun, and Eratosthenes could be considered a pioneer, he had established a template for investigation, a basic method that science could apply in its geometrical studies. Eratosthenes did many more things with 'Euclid's' mathematical elementary geometry but above all he had proven beyond reasonable doubt that our planet, our home, was indeed round.

Another Greek tale later…JDA. 

David Cronenberg born (15 March 1943) Toronto, Canada, his parents were Jewish but they never enforced their religious beliefs or ideals on the young David. He had a idyllic childhood which is surprising given the subject matter of his films he was later to produce. After leaving high school he attended the university of Toronto where he aspired to be become an author like his father (who was a journalist and occasional fiction writer) but the alternative interest of film making was making itself known and could not be repressed. There were no film courses at Toronto university in the 1960's but after witnessing a feature film made by a fellow student (David Secter) called "Winter kept us warm" he was inspired and exhilarated, so, after a short stay in Europe (living primarily in Copenhagen and a short time in London) the now 24 year old David Cronenberg returned to Toronto university where he graduated and was now convinced that he wanted to spend his life making movies.

"Transfer" was to be his first ever film (1966) which he wrote and directed and had a duration of 7 minutes. In 1967 came his second film "from the drain" with a slightly longer duration of 14 minutes, both of these films were shot on 16mm film. These early films although not widely known served as a prooving ground for Cronenberg to develop an understanding of camera techniques, different lenses, angles, and what their effect would be on finished film. 1969 saw the release of "Stereo" shot using 35mm for the first time and was to be the longest film to date (65 minutes) which now in retrospect is somewhat of a classic for fans such as myself, but again, is not widely known. His 4th film "Crimes of the future" (1970) was also shot using 35mm film lasting 65 minutes, his friend Ivan Reitman (Ghost busters fame) said at the time to Cronenberg that if he had done the film 'straight' it would have become a commercial success!…..hmmm, I wonder?

Funding was an issue in Canada for film makers..a film industry did not exist, Cronenberg had to wrangle funds from various places under the pretence of writing a book! It was not until Canada founded the Canadian Film Development Council or 'CFDC' that funds could be applied for and used to make films…such were the laws and privileges at the time, and "Crimes of the future" was to be the first Cronenberg film to be financed thus. Those four early films though not cinematically magnificent or visually stunning earned Cronenberg a reputation that would steadily begin to place him on a short list of original film makers. Now, with these four films under his belt the horror genre was a stones throw away and although those films didn't contain the full 'body horror' as his later films, he would soon gain the same artistic weight and fame as the likes of 'John Carpenter' and 'George.A.Romero' were enjoying through their horror films.

Cronenberg found other ways to finance his work, for example…he would make short films for tv and also advertisements, this would help him sustain his projects and his livelihood. In 1975 Cronenberg stunned the world with his interpretation of what a sexually transmitted disease could mean to a local community with his latest offering "Shivers" (87 minutes, 35mm, aka.."They came from within, The parasite murders) this film was a of 'full feature lenth' and in its day was truly disturbing and contained sexual explicit material that audiences on a global level were not prepared for. 1976 saw the release of "Rabid" a tale of cosmetic surgery gone wrong with the victim becoming vampire like in her hunger for fresh blood, the film starred 'Marilyn Chambers' in the lead role (Rose) who at the time was a porn star! The role was originally offered to Sissy Spacek but she was advised to turn it down owing to the fact it might damage her upwardly mobile career. 1979 came "Fast company" a story about car racing (a Cronenberg passion) and this film has remained his most commercially viable to date, playing its lead characters 'straight' with no horror or ambiguity, but this film is not well known either due to the fact it never got a global release. Cronenbergs last film of the decade (70's) was to be "The Brood" a monster of a film starring none other than Oliver Reed as Doctor Hal Raglan a specialist in psychoplasmic surgery (a treatment of serious mental disorder through its physical manifestation in the body) I can remember at the time seeing tv trailers of cinema audiences being filmed in infrared covering their eyes in complete and utter disgust! way to go Dave.

The 1980's was a interesting time period, not only for Cronenberg but for the world! the video had come of age…. video players were now cheaper and readily on sale anywhere you could think of, now you could watch feature films at home or watch the sleazier porn films that at the time were rife, and still are. Then there was the 'snuff' movie, a supposedly live filmed event of murder or torture captured to sell to whoever wanted it or were willing to pay the price to view it. I personally think that the human race took a turn for the worse during this decade and the subject of Cronenbergs films also reflected this trend I think. 1980 "Scanners" was released into the world, a story of people with telepathic capabilities with the power of telekinesis who whilst in the womb were altered irrevocably by a drug (Ephemerol) that was given to the pregnant mother for pre-natal depression, this in turn produced a 'scanner'. The story, a fight between good and evil was Cronenberg's biggest production to date and who could forget the famous exploding head scene!

"Videodrome" produced in 1982 and probably my all-time favourite David Cronenberg movie dealt with a Toronto cable station specializing in softcore violence and pornography, the central character 'Max Renn' (named after the motorcycle 'Renn Max, but with the first letters switched) played by a young and up-coming James Woods, is searching for something that will 'break through' and put the cable station on the elitist map of television. He discovers a broadcast called 'Videodrome' which claims to show 'snuff' movies, he then tries to locate the source of the 'Videodrome' signal. The film, hated by the previewers at the time had to be re-edited by Cronenberg in order to make the film more understandable to a wider audience, but as the main character (Max Renn) breaks down through halucinations initiated by the 'Videodrome' signal, then so does the film…it remains in my opinion one of the most brilliant examples of the' video age' and its consequences I have ever seen, and David, I thank you.

In 1983 Cronenberg adapted a Stephen King book "The Dead Zone" into a film with the same name, the core story is Johnny Smith who, being in a comatose state after a serious road accident for five years finds his then would be wife married, believing Johnny would never recover from the coma. He discovers that he has been endowed with a gift, a terrible gift of being able to see peoples death by touching them and by a chance meeting with the president learns what the possible fate of the world will be if this president remains alive, this was to be the first of many novel adaptations Cronenberg would be involved with.

The 'body horror' of "The Fly" 1986 was to be Cronenbergs most visually stunning film so far, with incredible effects created by Chris Walas, (who went on to direct the sequel) this was a real horror film which on a basic level dealt with a man suffering from a type of cancer that was transforming his body into something else, namely a fly. Yet again a young and up-coming actor was used for the lead Jeff Goldblum, supported by an equally young Geena Davis to play the love interest. Geena Davis was chosen primarily because Goldblum and Davis at the time were a real couple and so enhanced the believability of the sex scenes. Towards the climax of the movie we see some truly horrific imagery as Goldblum becomes 'Brundle Fly' and thus acts accordingly like vomitting over food to break it down etc…….yuck.

1988 "Dead Ringers" a disturbing tale of twins who become doctors and ran their own gynaecology clinic that was actually based loosely on fact. This film had Jeromy Irons playing both lead roles via split camera techniques (that actually worked) and Genevieve Bujold as the love interest in this twisted story of a love triangle turned tragic, amongst other various themes it dealt with was the notion wether or not two identicle twins could survive outside 'the whole', brilliant, but very disturbing, and this was to be Cronenberg's last film of the 80's.

"The Naked Lunch" (based on the novel by William S. Burroughs) loomed upon us in 1991, it is a film not for lightweights who do not know Cronenberg's works or read the book that this film is based upon. Drugs and Homosexuality are on display here as well as aliens and bizarre imagery such as a talking beetle typewriter, and 'Interzone' of course, it is pointless trying to describe this film in any detail, you just have to sit down and experience it yourself! let me know if there are any plot lines you can't follow and I will explain them as best as I can.

1992/3 "M. Butterfly" (or "Madam Butterfly") is the only Cronenberg film of note that I have not been fortunate enough to see, mainly because of limitations in its release, I believe the movie can be found on VCD or Video. It is a story of an accountant played by Jeromy Irons (his second film with Cronenberg) who is besotted by a Chinese diva 'Song Liling' who later he discovers is in fact a man, and the tragic consequences that follow this discovery.

1996 saw the infamous "Crash" being released in Britain after the preceding efforts of the British film boards attempt at banning the movie. Again, this film was based on a novel, namely 'Crash' by J.G. Ballard, the story centered around a couple, James Ballard (James Spader) and his wife Catherine (Deborah Unger) who enjoyed a very open sexual relationship and were both exploring this freedom in more radical ways after meeting up with a pathological character 'Vaughan' a renegade scientist and leader of a subterranean group who spend their time watching videos of simulated car crashes. The film explores, as did the novel, primal sexual instincts resulting in various levels of depravity committed after near death experiences involving automobile accidents that the characters go through in order to fulfil these instincts. According to the censor board the film glorified 'joy riding' and dangerous driving followed by gratuitous sex, this couldn't be further from the truth and Cronenberg set about refuting such claims, finally the censor board yielded and let the film in giving it an 18 certificate (well what else could they give it? DOH!!) The film, once released had mixed revues but Cronenberg yet again had pushed back the boundaries that censorship tries so hard to maintain and is still the most audacious film that David Cronenberg has ever made.

1999 "eXistenZ" was unleashed to critical acclaim, the original screen play written by Cronenberg (his first for over a decade) ventured into the world of 'video gaming' doing what 'Videodrome' had done for the video age. The plot was ingenius, and the acting brilliant! It had a multitude of stars such as Jude Law, Janet Jason Leigh, Willem Defoe and the second appearance in a Cronenberg film of Ian Holm (first appearance being "Naked Lunch".) The film has an amazing 'pay off' at the end that I as part of an audience did not see coming and thus, reinforcing its status as a work of art mixing reality with simulated computer environments to great affect. Also it was to be the first time that Cronenberg used CGI, mainly for blood effects (for safety purposes) and the small mutant seen at the petrol station, but real time effects will always be his preference. Organics are prevalent here too, with body attachments connected by umbilical cords through to weird creatures all done with the now well established Cronenberg sensibilities.

The new Millennium passed and Cronenberg was on the hunt for new material to convert into film, he found it again from a novel by Patrick McGrath "Spider" 2002, this film starred Ralph Fiennes in the lead role as 'Spider' a man haunted by a traumatic event from his childhood which he has totally supressed, and after coming out of a institution for the criminally insane and into a home for deemed safe mental patients, returns to the street he remembers he had onced lived in with his mother and father attempting to piece back together his shattered life and memory. I am still spell bound when I watch this film mainly because of the sublime performance of Mr Fiennes as 'Spider', supporting actors are Gabriel Byrne and Miranda Richardson who play the parents of the young Spider. The on screen exploration of the mentally ill is not a feel good film, the ending is downward and will make you re-assess the plight of the homeless and mentally challenged and will change your opinions of them.

2005 Cronenberg adapted yet another book "A History of Violence" but this time the subject matter came from a new source this being a graphic novel by John Wagner and illustrator Vince Locke, after much alteration the script was made film ready and production started. The lead role this time around was offered to Viggo Mortensen who became a household name after he portrayed 'Aragorn' in the magnificient "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, (Peter Jackson.) Mortensen accepted the role and duly went about creating the character he was to portray by 'living the part' such is his approach. The story is one of a man with a violent past, who, working for the mob has escaped the gangland trappings and has reinvented himself in another town where he has gained a wife (Maria Bello) and two children who have no idea about his turbulent past. One night two men enter the cafe that Tom Stall (Mortensen) owns intent on robbery and murder, and after a heroic deed preventing injury to his staff members and subsequent killing of the antagonists, Tom Stall is deemed a local hero who, after coming out of hospital finds himself on the local news much to his displeasure. This noteriety gets him noticed by the very people he fled from and very soon his past begins to catch up with him. People who thought Cronenberg had 'sold out' to main stream cinema were very wrong indeed when the 'Cannes' film festival premiered it. After the film he got a standing ovation, although the audience were thoroughly delighted with his latest effort the critics had mixed opinions claiming it was amusing in the wrong places! This aside the film went global and was financially successful, helped by the fact that there were huge hollywood names in the cast list, namely Ed Harris, who after learning that Cronenberg was at the helm agreed to play the part of Joey's (Tom Stall's) former gangland colleague. Also, William Hurt had a small role at the end as the would be gangland boss and Joey's brother who had to endure ridicule after the so-called mess that Joey had left him in. The film was a study of violence and the consequences of it on a close knit family, the on screen killing was done in a very realistic visceral way. This brings my story up to date…..but….

With the release of "Eastern Promises" a tale about the Russian mafia and prostitution! Cronenberg was so impressed by Mortensen that he asked him to play the lead role as a Russian mobster which Mortensen agreed to do, the film also stars Niomi Watts. This film, although very violent in parts, serves as another of Cronenbergs inroads into more mainstream cinema.