Wednesday, August 7, 2024

Alvin, Chipmunks, Wisemen, and "a chance to find if all we've dreamed in dreams was true"

A couple days ago I included the song "Witch Doctor" in one of my posts, and mentioned it was the song I had woken up and remembered my dad singing to me when I was very young (but had initially mistaken as the song from "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang").


When I went to find it on YouTube to drop in that post, I was surprised to see the thumbnail featuring Alvin and the Chipmunks.  They must have sang it in one of their cartoons or films or something?  It turns out that David Seville (this is a stage name), who wrote and sang "Witch Doctor", is also the inventor of Alvin, and that song would one of the earlier uses of the 'chipmunk' voice that would eventually turn into the fictional singing Chipmunk group.  This also explains why the human 'dad' of the chipmunks in the series is a man named Dave - it was all part of the act between cartoon and real life song creation.  Almost sort of like another Monkees creation, in a way, if you think about it.


In any case, this brought back more childhood memories.  Apparently there have been Alvin movies and cartoons in recent years.  I have not seen a single one of those, so have not kept up with any stories or developments regarding these musical rodents.  


However, as kids, my sisters, brother, and I would love watching the cartoon movie "The Chipmunk Adventure".  It was one of our favorites.  In fact, one of my sisters not too long ago texted out a picture of her own kids who stayed home from school because they were sick, and they were in front of the TV watching "The Chipmunk Adventure".  She remarked that she was keeping the tradition going (this is something we did as kids), to which one of my other sisters started texting back the lyrics to one of the songs, and going down memory lane.


It is actually the song she started texting that was going through my mind, and I've been looping it for a bit, thinking about Chipmunks and making some connections.  That song came up earlier last fall, actually, in the context of "Run, Boy, Run".  When I had been listening to that and pulling that song into my blog post, YouTube had pulled up "Off so see the world" as the very next song.  I will include it below, and I was trying to figure out why that song came up next because as you will see it is very different kind of genre and audience than someone who is searching for Woodkid's videos.  My guess is that when I had originally seen that text from my sister (looking back at it, it would have been from 2022), I had looked up the song on YouTube since you can't get it on Spotify.  So, it would have been in the queue, I guess, and it was pulled in after Woodkid's song ended.


Another great creation of the 80's, the Chipmunk Adventure features both the Chipmunks and the Chipettes, who are unwittingly ensnared in a global criminal enterprise as they race each other around the world.  The song in question features them in the middle of this race against each other, using hot air balloons.  Here it is for reference - not critical to view for the rest of this post, as I will summarize the chorus which was what was looping around in my mind, but in case you want the full experience:



So, the chorus goes:


Hey don't you know that we're off to see the world?
We're off to find our dreams
Why are our hearts beating so fast?
Why is there suddenly
A brand new hope inside us that will surely last?

Hey, don't you know that we're off to see the world?
We're off to find things new
So we will follow every clue
Just think there's suddenly
A chance to find if all we've dreamed in dreams was true


I've used that last line as part of the title of this post, but it was in the act of thinking about the Chipmunks, their Adventure, "The Witch Doctor", pretty much everything, that I started seeing some things, specifically with the characters represented and their names.  I'll get into them and you can see if they are apparent to you as well.


I am going to go through them as Chipmunk pairs (one Chipmunk and one Chipette) at a time, starting with Alvin and Brittany.


Alvin and Brittany


Alvin's name was actually the thing that, once I looked it up, I knew we might be in for some fun things.  It means "Elf Friend", or in another form "Aelfwine".  That was interesting.  We've seen this name before, not only in Tolkien's words generally, but in my own words specifically.  In that form, it came up as well in my post "Bigfoot:  Seek and it shall find you", where I used my son's picture of a flying Elvis, and mentioned that the name came from Aelfwine or Alvin (we even had a picture of Elvis rocking the Orion-Menelmacar pose).


In words I thought I had included on the blog somewhere,  but apparently hadn't yet, on May 12 I had a statement with the name Aelfwine in conjunction with the word Paracle'et, which I've covered before as a reference to the Holy Ghost:


May 12, 2020
Even if you will swarming eagles a nest
Good that is hue
Aelfwine para cle'et to know


I've also covered that two days after this statement, it was determined by the speaker in my words (at that point likely Gandalf-Nephi) that it as time to go "get your weight" referencing the Red Sawtooth Stone, which was full recovered on May 16.


But Aelfwine has come up even more specifically with a character we have spent a good deal of time on.  "Eriol" is another name for Aelfwine, and if you remember, we have tagged that name - at least in this context and these stories here - as belonging to Faramir-Eonwe.   For example, see my post "Mbasse: The union of Bread and Eriol at the House of Tom Bombadil".


So, Eriol is Faramir, with Alvin or Aelfwine as being another name or title for this Being.  Thus, I now had the suspicion that Alvin, the chipmunk, represented our Faramir character.


And sure enough, Alvin is always dressed in his signature Red Attire.  I've made some references to that in previous posts, as the Red Rocker or Red Judge or some other variations of that  The character of Alvin is always dressed in Red.  He has a yellow (or gold) letter "A" on his shirt.  Presumably standing for Alvin, but also potentially for Aelfwine and even Alpha, meaning the beginning, first, or the number One.  I pointed out just yesterday the Red Sun image below the Burning Ham name that contained the number one inside of it.



A later song, which I will include after I discuss Brittany, also establishes Alvin's Red Rocker bonafides as he and the other chipmunks sings about being "The Girls and Boys of Rock and Roll".


So, Alvin was a strong beginning into my Chipmunk inquiry.  If he is meant to represent Faramir, then this must mean that Brittany is meant to represent Eowyn.  


This one definitely falls right into place, as well - too easy.


I've already tied Eowyn to the name of Brittany very explicitly in my post "Nyarna and Brittany Spears".  For example, this excerpt:


So Brittany Spears, the name from this morning, seems to point back to Eowyn, even if the complete rationale for the different spelling of the first name isn't completely clear to me (or perhaps it was just to be a clever play on the France-England theme and that is all).  Even my first dream with the word Nyarna, which means Story or Tale, now seemed to tie directly into this line of thinking.  As you will see, and as I hope to explore or understand better, those November words I mentioned earlier and which I will cover next seem to be about Eowyn and the story she had been compiling.


I should note that Brittany of the Chipmunks is spelled in the way I wrote it out there, with the play on words for Britney Spears.


Lastly, regarding both Eowyn and Faramir, I have likened them to Adam and Eve, strangely.   I introduced this a bit in my post "Eowyn-Eve dwelling in everlasting burnings", and have had scattered mentions of it in other posts.   Further, one of their major story elements is their separation following Eowyn's ascension after events of the LOTR, and they have yet to be reunited.


As part of the lead-in to the other song I mentioned above about Rock and Roll, and will post below, the scene begins with Alvin and Brittany fighting over a piece of fruit.  That fruit?  An apple.  That traditional fruit of the Fall, and is associated with Adam and Eve.  Brittany even says that she found the apple first.  Following this, Simon says to Jeanette that "we've got to keep these two apart", a clear reference to the fact that part of the plan we are currently in actually required Eowyn and Faramir to be separated.


Here is the clip.  What I just went through is right at the beginning, but you can hang around for the song as well.  It is a fun one.



And actually as I just watched it again, that red apple at the beginning sure looks like a Red Ball that Alvin ends up holding.



Simon and Jeanette


OK, so on to Simon and Jeannette.  This is going to be short, and it is also pretty straightforward, at least as I see it.  Once I tagged Alvin as Faramir, then Simon was obvious.  If we are dealing with these Chipmunks representing characters that include Faramir, we should expect to see Simon Peter among that group as well.


Originally named Simon before Jesus gave him his new name, Peter is Gim Githil of my story here, and this represented by Simon the Chipmunk.  I mean, the name fits perfectly.  There are some additional things about this character, but I will bring that into the Wise Men conversation.  It will be Simon that made me realize that we have a potential connection here with the 3 Magi or Wise Men of tradition.


Jeanette is Simon's counterpart.  This name is simply, when it comes down to it, the female version of the name John, meaning "God is Gracious".  We have seen this name before here, but also quite a bit over on William Tychonievich's blog under the name of Joan, and sometimes other variations of that name as well (e.g., Jean).  William wrote quite a lot on Joan of Arc, for example, and I also put out my guess that Joan is the same Being who has called herself Claire.


Anyway, that is who I tag Jeanette as representing - Joan-Claire.  I think it is a pretty good guess for a bunch of reasons.


Moving on.



Theodore and Eleanor


These two are the most mysterious of the bunch.  I have been writing for some time now on the duo of Alvin-Faramir and Simon-Peter (as the Gim Gs), but here we have a 3rd character.  Who could this be?


It isn't entirely clear, so let's just lay out what clues we have.  


The names of Alvin, Simon, Brittany, and Jeanette have been dead-on hits, in my book at least, as to their representative characters, so I am going to work under the assumption that Theodore and Eleanor as names are also likewise important clues.


Theodore means "a gift from god" or "divine gift".  This is interesting to me for two reasons.  First, we have seen this meaning attached to two other names that have come up.  Dorothy, featured in Twister, as the device containing a number of spherical sensors that are released into the tornado, means this same thing.  As does Jessie, or at least one interpretation of that name.  We have seen Jessie before, if you remember.  That was one of the names on the shoe cubbies at William's language school.  And, as a preview into my thinking, all of this chipmunk-based reflection will likely change my guess as to identity of the 3 Beings represented there.  I think I am going to swap out Thingol-John, and substitute in whoever Theodore is meant to portray.  We should have the 3 Chipmunks as I see it now.


So, those name connections seem at least a little interesting to me, and put a guess in my mind already at this point.  The Wise Men thread will I think help enforce this, maybe.


Just thinking creatively back to Dorothy, if I am just spitballing for a moment.  In the movie Twister, Dorothy contained a number of small spherical sensors that I actually analogized to Stones.  There is one character referenced in the Book of Mormon who was also associated with a collection of small Stones.  That would be the Brother of Jared.


Given that Jared is Faramir in this story, it may make sense to assign the identity of Theodore to that of his unnamed brother.  I am going to pencil it in for now, actually, even though I know we would need some additional details or thought to build some more confidence in this guess.  It makes sense to me, however.  I mean, the Brother of Jared was a 'large and mighty man', and just look at Theodore - dude is 'large', and can't seem to step eating.


Eleanor, Theodore's counterpart, is a name we are all familiar with on this blog.  A name associated with the Anor Stone as El-Anor, I am going to suggest that in this case it doesn't refer to that Stone, at least directly.  The name itself in English means "light, sun ray, radiance", which is perhaps also a tie to the Brother of Jared's role in bringing light to the barges by means of his stones.  But in thinking through the person herself that this might refer to, perhaps her name or one of her names would correlate somehow with this?


In Elvish, the name means simply "Sun Star", which is one of the reasons why it was used to introduce the Anor Stone (Sun Stone).  In either case, we have something symbolic of the sun or light, so there might be something to look into there.  But, like I said, this one is the most cryptic of the 3.  Perhaps the overall mystery actually further suggests the Brother of Jared and his significant other, as both are unnamed in the Book of Mormon text.


In any case, lets get on to the Wise Men.



Chipmunk Magi


Simon was the linchpin that connected the 3 Chipmunks with the 3 Wise Men of tradition, because of some work I had already done in connecting Peter with Balthazar, the Wise Man that is traditionally represented as Black.  For details on what I guessed at, you can go to my post King Balta Sheave and Peter.  William had by chance helped me make that connection by mentioning Sheave of Tolkien's writings, and that post was a follow up where I further identified Sheave, Balta, and Peter as all names for the same person, with Balta also being the same name as Balthazar, one of the Wise Men.


So, my mind got going as to whether there was a larger connection here between the Chipmunks and the Magi.  I've concluded that I believe there is.


Alvin, Simon, and Theodore are known for their colors.  Alvin is Red.  Simon is Blue.  Theodore is Green.  You will also note that their clothing, at least as represented in The Chipmunk Adventure, look to be more like robes than anything else.  Here is a screenshot from that last song I inserted, with the three of them running:




Apparently the Magi of tradition were known to wear robes, and also had colors associated with them.  Though, to be fair, while my initial search seemed to corroborate the colors of the chipmunks, it is very apparent that the Magi are depicted in a broad array of colors - depends on what site you visit.  In any case, here is what Google AI gives me, and what showed up at the top:


The colors gold, green, and purple are often associated with the Magi, representing power, faith, and justice, respectively. For example, in one depiction, Gaspar wears a green cloak and gold crown with green jewels, Melchior wears a gold cloak, and Balthazar wears a purple cloak.


So, Balthazar's purple is close to Simon's Blue (same color family, kind of?) but definitely a direct hit with Jeanette's color.  Gaspar's green lines up with Theodore.  Then we have the gold of Melchior.  Alvin's "A" is Gold, so that sort of counts, but I did find that Melchior is often depicted as wearing red, so I am going to give it a pass.  



Alvin = Melchior = Faramir

Theodore = Gaspar/ Caspar = Brother of Jared

Simon = Balthazar = Peter



So, names.  Melchior means "King of Light".  This would work for Faramir who, along with Joseph, I have as one of the fathers of the Family of Light.


Gaspar means "Treasure, Master of Treasure (Treasurer), or Jewel (from Jasper).  When I saw "Treasurer", I found that interesting.  We had previously discussed Faramir as a Secretary, and now we have a Treasurer.  These meanings, including the association with Jewels, I can actually tie pretty well to both Theodore and to the Brother of Jared, who I am currently guessing Theodore represents.  I am actually feeling better about my guess, honestly.


Balthazar has a traditional meaning, but in that earlier post on Balta, I had found a better one. In Romanian, Balta means "Swamp, marsh, or muddy pool".


Perfect.


Ok, so all 3 Wise Men seem to line up with the 3 Chipmunks.  Pretty well, actually.  One other note, though, and this last detail works out also very nicely, in my opinion.  


In that AI search definition I inserted above, it not only gave the colors but the symbolism of those colors (I am not sure where it got this from, though):  Power, faith, and justice.


Faramir I have guessed at being the Jah ni hah, who Joseph Smith wrote in his GAEL as being "One delegated from the highest source acting in or being clothed with the power of another".  So, there is the Power tie to Melchior and Gold.


If Green and Theodore is the Brother of Jared, then Faith is definitely the appropriate symbol here.  Jesus would show himself to him, and he cited as the reason that never before had any man shown as much faith as the Brother of Jared had.  Further, Moroni stated the things that the Brother of Jared saw (part of his treasure, perhaps?) would not go forth to Men until they repented and showed the same kind of faith that the Brother of Jared had.  Perhaps those writings and the interpreters (including Moroni's version?) are at Tom's House as well.


And Justice for Peter.  In a previous post on Peter-Marsh, I associated this individual with Alma the Elder, and cited the power that was given to him to judge the Church (which makes sense if he is Peter), and that he had power to blot out names of those who did not repent.



Conclusion


There are a couple winks that I found on William's blog when I went there to look something up that indicated at least some of my thinking above and associated guesses might be on the right track.   I stumbled across the post titled "Serendipity".  In that post, he mentions the Three Wise Men, and includes a picture a man dressed in a blue shirt with the letters "Mage" on it:


He writes below it:


A blue shirt prominently displaying the word MAGE. (I assume it actually says image, and that the sleeve is occluding the first letter, but the sync fairies are opportunistic like that.) This word -- the French form of magus, singular of magi -- is precisely apropos, as it can refer either to a wizard or to one of the biblical Wise Men.


We have one Mage, singular, reference  (and of course it is based on a French form), and he is wearing Blue, just like Simon the Chipmunk.  "Jean" as in blue jeans, jean jacket, etc. is also mentioned in the post as part of this 'serendipity' theme.  Jeanette?  


In addition, William recently wrote about his vision of going into two caverns.   In the first cavern, he basically had a vision of the nativity, witnessing the Holy Family, a fairly direct tie with the Wise Men of tradition, also said to be present to see the newborn Jesus.

3 comments:

  1. The word chipmunk comes from an Indian word referring to how the animal descends trees “upside down,” or head first. Perhaps a tie-in with the tradition that Peter was crucified upside down.

    The Pogo strip I recently posted includes the line “Now where’s them Wise Men an’ the star?”

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  2. Yeah, that could be an interesting tie-in with Peter.

    Potentially tying to your post from earlier today, I was already thinking earlier today of a dream I had last last year that involved John Malkovich.

    In my dream, I was in a chapel and there was a procession of men that were walking by in a line, and they each appeared to be holding metal (not wood) crosses. My face zoomed in on one of them, and it turned out to be John Malkovich who was staring at me with a strange look on his face.

    The procession of men were being brought up to be crucified, upside-down, on the walls within the chapel using the very crosses they were carrying with them.

    Anyway, I wasn't going to mention it, but then you just commented on Peter's upside-down crucifixion. I don't know what it means.

    On a happier note, I wonder if the association of 'upside down' with the chipmunks could also be due to the stories that come from them, or these wise men? Things will be turned 'upside down' by the forces of Good per Nephi's statement in 2 Nephi 27 (probably the more accurate version or intent of Isaiah's words). And that is all in the context of a new Book.

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  3. "Wise men" usually brings to mind the James Blunt song, having kept it in my playlist since shortly after its release here. Interestingly it has two music videos; I'm far more familiar with the striking US version, but they both have a thing about identity.

    Original UK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cueB7j4ZGrM (I hope it works ok - the vid itself should be 3:45, though the thumbnail is from the US one)
    US: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEim4IFVaNs
    Lyrics, in case: https://genius.com/James-blunt-wisemen-lyrics

    ReplyDelete