Hanging Out The Windows On The World (Trade Center)

The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center feature heavily in the title sequence to 1991 film 'Nothing But Trouble', the windows of the Twin Towers illuminated in the night.

There is another movie entitled 'Nothing but Trouble', this time a 1944 Laurel and Hardy comedy vehicle in which the duo play a pair of bungling chefs. The poster for the movie shows Hardy dangling Laurel out of a building's window, below which which we can see numerous Manhattan-esque skyscrapers.

Connections between Manhattan and Oz have been talked about extensively by others and in the opening titles of the 1991 'Nothing But Trouble' we see the 'letters NO' / 'OZ' hovering over World Trade Center. In the poster for the 1944 'Nothing But Trouble' our dangling waiter has his tray held up to the letters 'NO' / 'OZ' and the tip of his shoe points downwards to the space between two 'twin' skyscrapers, as if again making this connection between 'OZ' and the World Trade Center.

Looking more carefully at the 1944 'Nothing But Trouble' poster we may also observe the quotation marks hovering just above the letters 'NO' / 'OZ', resonating with the twin towers and the number 11.

In the film 'The Wiz', an urbanized retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz featuring an entirely African-American cast, including Micheal Jackson and Diana Ross, the film Emerald City Citizens sing and dance the song "Emerald City" below the majestically lit World Trade Center Twin Towers, further solidifying the connection between the WTC and Oz.

Continuing to hold in mind the 'Nothing But Trouble' poster and the predicament of our dangling waiter, we will now examine this cover of the Supertramp album 'Breakfast in America', depicting a waitress standing in front of the New York Skyline in a pose designed to replicate that of the statue of Liberty - only instead of a torch, our waitress holds aloft a plate upon which sits a glass of orange juice, in front of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Significantly the illustration is framed by an airplane window, as if we, the viewer, are inside an airplane, looking out the window, approaching this scene.

One can see that the 'U' of 'Supertramp', shown directly behind the towers, also directly resonates them, appearing as it does like the number '11'.

All of this takes us to 'Windows on the World', a restaurant complex that included a smaller restaurant called 'Wild Blue', and a bar called 'The Greatest Bar on Earth', as well as many rooms for private functions that were based at the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Windows on the World was destroyed when the North Tower collapsed during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. At the time of the attack on the World Trade Center, the restaurant was hosting regular breakfast patrons (taking us back to the to the title of the Supertramp album 'Breakfast in America'). Everyone present in the restaurant when American Airlines Flight 11 (remember the '11' of the Supertramp cover) penetrated the North Tower either perished as a result of the plane's impact and the ensuing conflagration, or lived through the attack but died in the collapse of the tower.

Observe the design and symbology of this Windows On The World logo below. To my mind this looks like a giant all-seeing eye.

Curiously, in 1998 an artwork was i stalled beneath the World Trade Center entitled Oculus (Eye), in the Chambers Street / World Trade Center station complex, consisting of 300 different mosaic eyes. The centerpiece of the work is an elliptical glass and stone mosaic floor, with a mosaic eye at the center with the image of the City of New York woven into the picture.

As above, so below...

The central picture in the following montage is of a program cover from a benefit dinner held in Italy to help Windows on the World restaurant employees. It shows the Statue of Liberty standing between the towers, resonating with our waitress from the Supertramp album cover, as well as Isis or The High Priestess, the 2nd card of the Major Arcana deck arcana of the Tarot.

The right hand picture shows the The High Priestess sat between the symbolic pillars of Solomon's Temple Boaz and Jachin, with a curtain or veil draped behind her which guards the 'Holiest of Holies'. Note the roman numerals for 2 at the top of the card also, which again resonate the number 11 as well as the twin pillars / towers. Note also the cross on her chest. We will will come to that cross later.

The following is an interior shot from inside the Windows On The World Restaurant, looking out over the Manhattan Skyline. Please note the startling similarity between this shot with one of the posters for the film 'The Dark Knight', a film which is loaded with 911 syncs.

Another promotional poster for the movie shows Batman standing in front of a skyscraper that has fiery hole in its facade, which is eerily reminiscent of the hole left after the impact of one of the jet planes that struck the WTC. Note the tagline of the poster: 'Welcome To A World Without Rules'

Back to Windows On The World... It has been speculated that "The Falling Man," a famous photograph of a man dressed in white falling headfirst on September 11, was a waiter at Windows on the World, reminding us again of the waiter being dangled out of the window in the poster for 'Nothing But Trouble'. The falling man was one of the people trapped on the upper floors of the skyscraper who apparently chose to jump rather than die from the fire and smoke. Five years after the attacks, Jonathan Briley, a 43-year-old employee of the Windows on the World restaurant, was identified by chef Michael Lomonaco as The Falling Man. Briley was a sound engineer who lived in Mount Vernon, New York and worked in the North Tower restaurant. The victim was initially identified by his brother in the morgue by the victim's hands and shoes. Lomonaco claims that he was able to identify Briley by his clothes and body-type. In one of the pictures, The Falling Man's clothes were blown away, revealing an undershirt similar to the shirt that Briley wore to work almost every day. However, the identity of The Falling Man has never been officially confirmed.

Many have noted the connection between this famous image of 'The Falling Man' and 'The Hanged Man' of the Tarot Major Arcana, not only in his posture but perhaps in what he represents.

“Esoterically, the Hanged Man is the human spirit which is suspended from heaven by a single thread. Wisdom, not death, is the reward for this voluntary sacrifice during which the human soul, suspended above the world of illusion, and meditating upon its unreality, is rewarded by the achievement of self-realization.”

- Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages

If we consider The Dark Knight in relation to this, The Joker (played by the late Heath Ledger) ends the film hanging upside down outside a skyscraper and of course, in the poster for 'Nothing But Trouble' we see another 'joker', Stan Laurel, in a similar situation.

It seems pertinent to mention the Supertramp album once more also here, as the title track 'Breakfast in America' features the lyrics:

'I'm a loser, what a joker,

I'm playing my jokes upon you while there's nothing better to do..'

In another promotional poster for the film the late Heath Ledger / 'The Joker,', stands between two 'twin towers' / between the pillars of Boaz and Jachin, just like the High Priestess of the Tarot that we explored earlier.

In Ledger's last film role, The Imaginarium Of Dr Parnassus the character played by Heath Ledger is found handing underneath Blackfriars Bridge in London - i..e he is again portrayed as a 'Hanged Man'. Note the tattoo of an eye inside a triangle tattooed on his forehead here.

The scene was inspired by the actual 1982 hanging of Roberto Calvi (dubbed “God’s banker” due to his relations with the Vatican). The hanging took place under the exact same bridge. Although never publicly confirmed, there are strong theories that Roberto Calvi’s death was a symbolic and ritualistic murder carried out by the black masonic lodge called Propaganda Due, also referred to as P2.

Just before Dr Parnassus' travelling troupe finds Ledger's character hanging under the bridge, Parnassus pulls out the Tarot card of the Hanged Man, predicting what they are about to discover (middle shot in the montage).

In 1993 the band 'Blue Murder' (an idiom meaning 'to shout or protest loudly') released an album entitled "Nothin' But Trouble". The album cover shows a child dangling a black cat by its tail. It is notable that black cats have been historically referred to as symbols of bad luck and portents of doom and destruction. Blue Murder was also the name of a two-part television miniseries based produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and based in Australia / 'The Land of Oz'.

I now remind you again at this point of 'The Falling Man', the poster for the Laurel and Hardy film, the restaurant 'Wide Blue', part of the Windows On The World Complex, as well as Heath Ledger (the very name Ledger conjuring up the idea of windows and someone teetering on a 'ledge') and our dangling black cat, itself a portent of doom / destruction. When we consider 'The Falling Man' in particular, some of the track titles of Blue Murder's album 'Nothin' But Trouble' album take on a deep significance.

"I'm on Fire"

"I Need an Angel"

"Shouldn't Have Let You Go"

"We All Fall Down"

"Bye Bye"

The final lyrics of 'We All Fall Down' also seem relevant:

"And we all fall down

It's comin' to get ya

Just one more hit

Just another hit

You better look out

Cause the dealer's gonna get ya

You're going down"...

We have now looked a three pieces of music / film which feature the title 'Nothing But Trouble' and

we have seen how they connect to the themes of the Twin Towers, windows and The Hanged Man. We can now examine the debut single by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince (a.k.a. Will Smith), "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble".

However, before we do it is worth noting Will Smith's synchromystic connections to the 911 event.

In 1997 Will Smith starred in the movie "Men in Black". The movie poster for the film features the World Trade Center in the Manhattan skyline (bottom left).

Jake Kotze (rundonotwalk.blogspot.com) has observed that the space in-between the two MIB's legs forms two pyramids over the New York skyline. Some have argued that the Twin Towers are symbolic representations of the main two pyramids on of Giza, with Building 7 representing the smaller, third pyramid which is set slightly apart from the two main pyramids on the plateau.

Here we the Statue of Liberty looking over the World Trade Center complex, just as in the heavens the star Sirius (Isis), the brightest star in the night sky, sits beside the 3 stars of Orion’s Belt. As one can see, the three buildings that collapsed on 9/11 - Buildings 1, 2 and 7, can be seen as representations in size and distance of the 3 pyramids at Giza and the 3 stars in Orion’s Belt.

This then links to the First Degree Tracing Board of the Freemasons:

"...this is why the tracing board portrays the three pillars as all being of different heights, with two larger pillars in the foreground and a much smaller one behind. This is not simply a matter of perspective, as the two foreground pillars are placed at exactly the same depth within the picture, but are given slightly different heights; while a much smaller pillar lies behind. Yet this depiction exactly reflects the reality at Giza, where two major pyramids are nearly but not quite of the same height, while the third is much smaller.” -Ralph Ellis, “Eden in Egypt (165)

The star in the top-center of the tracing board is the 'blazing star', which has often been thought to be a representation of Sirius. It is worth noting that in 'The Dark Knight', Ledger/ The Joker's catchphrase from the film is 'Why So Serious?' (read: Sirius).

Will smith also starred in 'I Am Legend', a film which is richly symbolic when it comes to the themes looked at in this post, taking for its setting a deserted post-apocalyptic New York City, in the year 2012 no less. Smith resides at '11 11 Washington' in the film. Please note the twin pillars either side of the doorway and the manner in which this resonates with some of the themes explored thus far.

The song 'Will 2K', from the album 'Willennium' (note the pyramid formed between his legs) again highlights Smith's connection with 11/11 (K being the 11th letter of the alphabet).

To understand why this important we should briefly consider the movie Super Mario bros, which will be touched upon much more fully in a future post, and features the Twin Towers heavily. In an alternate dimension the villain of the piece King Koopa occupies the towers and the towers themselves (note the large 'K' on the tower's facade) as well as King Koopa's name (KK) again connect to 2K / 11:11. All of this was noted by Jake Kotze some time ago. See http://rundonotwalk.blogspot.com for examples of his excellent work.

It should finally be noted that Men In Black 2 initially featured our MIBs battling a giant alien worm on top of the World Trade Centre at the end of the movie. This was quickly re-written after 9/11.

So, back to 'Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble', Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff's debut single, taken from their 1987 debut album 'Rock the House', a title that has obvious symbolic significance when we think about the 9/11 event. The song featured in the 8th episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air where Will and Carlton were battling over a girl. Following this theme, in the music video for the song we see Smith in a bedroom with a girl when her boyfriend walks through the door and finds the two of them together. Smith raps in the song:

"I was scared as hell, where was I supposed to go?

I just yelled Geronimo, jumped out the window".

These stills from the video show Smith doing exactly that.

Note the cross formed by the window frame, nestling in the centre of a giant heart on the wall - truly an 'X marks the spot' marker if ever there was one.

The cross resonates with a cross that was unearthed from the rubble of the WTC site and subsequently erected at Ground Zero.

"Following the attacks, a massive operation was launched to clear the site and attempt to find any survivors amongst the rubble. On September 13 one of the workers at the site, Frank Silecchia discovered a 20 feet cross of two steel beams amongst the debris of 6 World Trade Center. Those with access to the site used the cross as a shrine of sorts, leaving messages on it or praying before it."

In relation to the cross, consider this cover of a FEMA manual from 1997, which is often cited for its depiction of the WTC in crosshairs, which point to the impact point of one of the jets (upper north face of World Trade Center Number 1).

Although some people may find the cartoon shown below distasteful in its humour, it certainly illuminates the possible meaning of the large heart on the bedroom wall in the 'Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble' video.

It is this heart and the cross at it's center which Smith hurls himself into and breaks - the symbolic equivalent of throwing himself between Twin Towers of the World Trade Center - into the Holiest of Holies - through the 11:11 Stargate.

This act is tallied with the lyric "I just yelled Geronimo, jumped out the window..." If we look up the phrase Geronimo we find that it means the following:

1. (Military) US a shout given by paratroopers as they jump into battle

2. an exclamation expressing exhilaration, especially when jumping from a great height

It is thought to originate from the name of an Apache Indian chieftain who ran a campaign against White Settlers until his final capture in 1886. The reason as to why paratroopers are thought to use the name of a dead Apache chieftain for their slogan, according to one, is the following: "It was said that one day Geronimo, with the army in hot pursuit, made a leap on horseback down an almost vertical cliff - a feat that the posse could not duplicate. The legend continues that in the midst of this jump to freedom he gave out the bloodcurdling cry of 'Geronimo-o-o!' Hence the practice adopted by paratroopers. I hope this helps. It's at least colorful, if not authentic.'

It is worth noting that one of the interesting statistics regarding the World Trade Center is that three men successfully parachuted from the top of the towers, one of whom is shown about to embark on this endeavour below. http://hqinfo.blogspot.com/2010/02/twin-towers-digest.html

A final element we should note from the stills from the 'Girl's Ain't Nothing But Trouble' video is the black door to the right of the frame and the manner in which seems to aptly resonate the monolith from 2001, which itself directly connects to the 9/11 event. This connection comes in the form of the Millennium Hilton in New York City, which stands facing Ground Zero.

The Hilton Worldwide website states the following:

"The hotel is a high-rise black glass building which pays homage to Arthur C. Clarke's vision of the Monolith in '2001: A Space Odyssey'." http://www.hiltonfamilynewyork.com/millenium-hilton.php

In the film 2001, a mysterious black monolith appears at key markers in human evolution and its presence appears to actually trigger human evolution in the first act of the film 'The Dawn of Man'. Later in the movie it returns to usher man through a Stargate to be reborn as a star child. Many others have observed the deep significance that a building, directly modelled on this monolith, is present at the site of the WTC attacks and literally overlooked them on 9/11, as if this symbolised that an event had taken place that would usher in a new phase of human evolution. It seems fitting that a monolith resonator, in the form the black door, should be present at the key moment in 'Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble'- namely, the point at which Will Smith hurls himself through the the cross-hairs of the window and into the symbolic Stargate.

In relation to this, the Hilton's logo actually features two twin pillars, directly resonating the twin towers, with a vortex (read: wormhole / stargate) swirling over them to form the 'bridge' of the H.

We should consider Will Smith's starring role in the movie 'Hitch' when thinking about the Hilton logo and how the vortex / stargate forms the 'bridge' of the 'H'. In the poster below we see Smith himself forming the 'bridge' between two H's. He becomes like the image of the High Priestess we examined earlier, standing in the Holiest of Holies (i.e. between the two H's). Symbolically the Twin Towers, representing the twin pillars that stood outside Solomon's Temple, revealed the Holiest of Holies when they fell.

Also note the the promotional posters for the film Hitch, which presents Smith as a 'dealer' (note the 'eye' on his card), just like Ledger / The Joker in promotional posters for The Dark Knight.

Now let us return to the beginning of this post and the 1991 film 'Nothing But Trouble'. This film featured Tupac Shakur. Will Smith is married to Jada Pinkett Smith, who was close friends with Tupac before his death, describing him as being 'like her brother". His feelings may well have extended beyond this if we look at the poem he wrote her, called 'Jada'. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/3004340/tupac_shakurs_poem_jada.html?cat=2. This, to my mind, adds a certain resonance to the stills from 'Girls Ain't Nothig But Trouble' and the theme of 'battling over a girl'. One of the lines of this poem is:

"U r the omega of my heart"

The person who poster this poem comments that they believe this line "implies that she is the one he wants to be with...given that omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. He wants her to be the 'last' person his heart ever falls for..."

Remember that all important 'cross' in the center of the heart? Tupac's fifth and final studio album was entitled 'The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory' and was released under the stage name Makaveli, a reference to 16th Century writer Niccolò Machiavelli, who suggested that faking one's own death was a legitimate political tactic to fool ones enemies. The album was finished before Tupac's reported demise and the first to be released afterwards. The album cover shows Tupac suspended / hanging from a cross. Note it's resonance to the cross if the window frame in the 'Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble' video and the cross unearthed and erected at the WTC site.

Another point of note is Jake Kotze's insightful observation that Tupac was shot on the 7th of September 1996 and died on the 13th of September 1996, meaning he was 'passing over' during the key 9/11 time slot. I note this Facebook page in Tupac's honour in relation to this: 'The day Tupac Shakur died was the 9/11 of Hip Hop'. Indeed.

Finally let us consider the haunting image of 'The Falling Man' once more and note again it's resonance with the 12th card of the Major Arcana of the Tarot, 'The Hanged Man'.

In reference to this card, a blogger, talking about this card in relation to overcoming his alcoholism said that whilst he did not feel he discovered God in the process, "I did cease to be my own God, and in the surrender of my own apparent omnipotence concerning my life, I found the freedom that had always eluded me. In the Hebrew book of Genesis, God says to Adam that he may partake of anything in the garden except for the [fruit from the Tree of] Knowledge of Good and Evil. That if man, in his self-involvement took it upon himself to assume the role of deciding what in the world was good or ill, the removal of himself from the natural order would sicken and destroy him. “For if you do,” the God of Abraham said to Adam, “you will surely die.” The Hanged Man, by the suffering of his circumstance, sees the world now from a different perspective. His upside-down point of view makes him notice the world’s details all over again in a new light, and he sees the significance of his newfound perspective everywhere he looks. That has been my experience, and though nothing but my point of view has changed, my attitude can be one of deep entrancement, not suffering." (12thehangedman.wordpress.com)

“Feste: Let her hang me: he that is well hanged in this world need fear no colours.”

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night; Act I, Scene V.

'Colours': to fear colors meant to fear the standards of an opposing army in battle. To fear no colors became proverbial for have no fear. Feste puns on the collars of the hangman instead of colors.'

Feste is the Jester (Joker) in the Shakespeare comedy Twelfth Night.

In 2006 the former workers at the restaurant 'Windows On The World' opened up their own restaurant in Manhattan: 'Colors'.

Until the next time....