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alt="spaceplace" width="500" height="364" /></p> <p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="500" height="350" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oNNzBh4LS8I&feature" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" height="350" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oNNzBh4LS8I&feature"></embed></object></p> <div><span style="white-space: pre;"><em> </em></span></div> <p>Here’s a clip from Sun-Ra’s 1972 film <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Is_The_Place" target="_blank"><strong>Space is the Place</strong></a>. The plot of the film is as follows: After becoming lost in space through his musical astro-travels, Sun-Ra discovers a new planet, which he deems fit for African-American colonization. He then returns to a strip-club in Chicago, where he used to play piano, in order to confront “The Overseer”, an archetypal pimp-type character. The two agree to play a hand of cards in order to decide the fate of “The Black Race” for all eternity. Then a bunch of nonsensical hijinx occur featuring strippers, hookers, evil FBI agents, impotent NASA engineers and so forth. In the end, Earth is destroyed just as Sun-Ra and his chosen disciples speed off into outer-space.</p> <div><span style="white-space: pre;"><em> </em></span></div> <p>Unsurprisingly, the film is a mess, but a good sort of mess. It appropriates the premise of Bergman’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seventh_Seal" target="_blank"><strong>The Seventh Seal</strong></a>, tosses it in a bubbling pot full of blaxploitation clichés and then douses it with a thick swath of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrofuturism" target="_blank"><strong>afrofuturistic</strong></a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliocentrism" target="_blank"><strong>heliocentricism</strong></a>. Or maybe it’s afrocentric heliofuturism. Either way, check it out.</p> <div><span style="white-space: pre;"><em> </em></span></div> <p><strong>BONUS</strong>: Sun-Ra’s version of <em>Pink Elephants</em></p> <div><span style="white-space: pre;"><em> </em><br /> <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="500" height="350" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bfLpnXQpjvw" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" height="350" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bfLpnXQpjvw"></embed></object><em> </em></p> <p></span></div> <div class="sociable"> <div class="sociable_tagline"> <strong>Share:</strong> </div> <ul> <li class="sociablefirst"><a rel="nofollow" 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rel='external nofollow' class='url'>standard_grey</a></cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div> <div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"><a href="http://pblks.com/2009/11/if-you-find-earth-boring/comment-page-1/#comment-2055">December 31, 2009 at 12:44 am</a></div> <p>CLASSIC.</p> <div class="reply"> </div> </div> </li> </ol> <div class="navigation"> <div class="alignleft"><span></span></div> <div class="alignright"><span></span></div> </div> <div id="respond"> <h3 id="respondTitle"><span class="hook">Leave a Reply <span class="cancel-comment-reply"><a rel="nofollow" id="cancel-comment-reply-link" href="/2009/11/if-you-find-earth-boring/#respond" style="display:none;">× Cancel reply</a></span></span></h3> <form action="http://pblks.com/wp-comments-post.php" method="post" id="commentform"> <p class="contain"><input type="text" name="author" id="author" value="" size="22" tabindex="1" /> <label for="author"><small>Name </small></label></p> <p class="contain"><input type="text" 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