Shushan!

Two weeks ago, my younger two kids wanted to rent a movie called Johnny English:  Reborn.  They've watched it once before, way back in 2020 when it was on Netflix (based on my check of the viewing history - I thought it had been more times than that, actually) but it was removed from the catalogue sometime after, I believe.  So, this second time, now almost 4 years later, we ended up renting it.

I am not sure what gave them the idea to watch Johnny English, but there is a scene in the movie that gave us a running family joke/ saying.  I guess our use of it made me think that we must have seen this movie more than just the one time before.  By how often we've referenced it, you would think that we watched it quite a few times.

In the scene, Johnny English is flying back to MI6 after having successfully recovered a key from a secret organization.  The movie is a comedy spoof of James Bond, basically, with the jokes centered around how dumb Johnny is.  As they are on the plane, one member of the secret organization approaches him disguised as a flight stewardess, and asks if he can stow away his briefcase containing the key in the overhead compartment for them while landing.

I was going to describe it more, but here, just watch it.   It is the Susan/ Shushan joke that starts around the 0:35 mark that I will be following up on after the scene:

Anyway, our youngest would have been 4 at the time, and he loved that last part where Johnny says "Shushan!" after realizing he had been duped.  Actually, all of our kids loved that whole Shushan joke and scene, but it became something he in particular would say to his older brother as he was getting ready for his games - his way of saying good luck or something:  "Shushan!"  So, then we all started saying that - like if our oldest son made a big save or something (he's a hockey goalie), we would say "Oh man, he just Shushaned him!".  I don't know - it just became a thing.

This morning I went over to William Tychonievich's blog and read his latest post.  In the post prior to that one, however, called The study of water, Debbie (the same commenter who helped me potentially solve my Mbasse riddle with her mention of Debra meaning Bee) had added a new comment that included, what else, the name Shushan.   This caught my attention given that we had just re-watched the above scene a couple weeks ago.

It was also interesting that she made the same Susan-Shushan connection that the Johnny English joke is based on.  Here is an excerpt of her comment:

And last but not least, the tulip is also a member of the lily family, Liliaceae,.

Do recall my many many comments about my 2008 Suzy dream and what I believe
the dream's connection to the Golden Gate in Jerusalem also known as The Shushan Gate.  Shushan/Susanna/Susan/Suzy all meaning lily.

She connects both Shushan and Susan, but also then ties them both to the name Lily.

Lily is both a standalone name, but also a nickname for Elizabeth, among other names, though I am not sure if that is a common use anymore.  It is something I didn't know before looking it up. This is the first paragraph from Wikipedia regarding Lily (the name):

Lily is a feminine given name usually derived from lily, the flower. The name became particularly popular along with other flower names for girls during the 1800s and early 1900s. The lily also has associations with and has been symbolic of innocence and purity in Christian art. Names beginning with or containing the letter L have also been particularly fashionable for girls. It is also occasionally used as a diminutive for other names such as Elizabeth.

It was Elizabeth that we have associated with Eowyn-Deseret, and that I referenced in that same post where we connected Mbasse with Eowyn.

Part the origin of my theory that Eowyn used the Ithil Stone to ascend from this world came from the dream I recounted in the post "Keys as Cars: Stones as a means of transportation and the healing of the Anor Stone in Ithilien [correction: Ithil Stone]".  In that dream, I mentioned that my girlfriend from college was representative of Eowyn, that I was seeing the dream through the eyes of Faramir, and that I was in the process of figuring out how to make use of the 'car' (Ithil Stone) while my girlfriend was fairly emphatic in stating she would have nothing to do with it due to its previous use by a 'smoker'.

Another interesting thing that suggests we might be on to something with this Eowyn-ascension storyline?  The name of my girlfriend from that dream is Lillie.

Changing topics slightly to end this post, I want to go back to the Johnny English scene and highlight something I just noticed as I pulled in the video clip.  Johnny basically channels part of Alma's parting words to his son Helaman.  At about the 1:50 mark, as everybody else is concerned that there isn't actually anything in the briefcase, Johnny talks about how "it is often the little things that pack the biggest punch".  He goes on to compare this small object to the pebble that killed Goliath, and so brings a stone into the analogy for his small key, which he does not yet realize was stolen from him.

Compare Alma's words to Helaman:

 

Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.  (Alma 37)

For context, at this point Alma has just given Helaman the care of the Brass Plates.  He will later in this discussion, give him charge over the Liahona or 'ball' (the Anor Stone), in addition to other items, and use a similar analogy, saying that it worked through 'small means' to bring about 'marvelous works'.

I don't know - when I heard that little speech from Johnny it brought my mind straight to Alma and Helaman.  It just really stood out.

That character Helaman, though, has been on my mind a bit since the beginning of this blog, actually, so it is not completely out of the blue to think of him.  Back when I first started this blog, a voice mentioned the "Sons of Alma", which wasn't expected and I didn't have a lot to go on in terms of context.  I still don't know what it means or what was referred to.  It was sons, plural, so I assume Shiblon at least may be included.  

Why their involvement?  Again, I am not sure.  We are talking about pretty special things, though, and Helaman would have had charge over the Brass Plates, Ether's Plates, the Seer Stones, and the Anor Stone for a time.  That might be important, maybe.  He would later give these things to his brother Shiblon, as recounted in Alma 63.  So, two brothers who had (and perhaps used?) these sacred artifacts perhaps being involved in their restoration in a future day? That is the best I can come up with at the moment, but it could be something else entirely.  I really don't have any idea.  I am just thinking out loud about it again based on Johnny English bringing it back to my mind.