Xanadu----> What a few lyrics and the name can open up Pt.2

[Byzantine]

"Open your eyes and see

What we have made is real...." -----> Lyrics heard in 4x4 "Eggtown"



As I mentioned before, when most people hear the name Xanadu it either conjures up the Coleridge poem ~Kubla Khan, or a Vision in a Dream. A Fragment~ (based on the Mongolian retreat used by Kublai Khan) or Hurley's choice in video fare of the "cult" classic. Research the name Xanadu and there are many interesting connections.


In Citizen Kane, Xanadu is the fictional estate of Charles Foster Kane. It was described as "The world's largest private estate " but it was also described as:



"Here, on the deserts of the Gulf coast, a private mountain was commissioned and successfully built. One hundred thousand trees, twenty thousand tons of marble are the ingredients of Xanadu's mountain. Contents of Xanadu's palace: paintings, pictures, statues, the very stones of many another palace - a collection of everything so big it can never be catalogued or appraised; enough for ten museums; the loot of the world. Xanadu's livestock: the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, the beast of the field and jungle. Two of each; the biggest private zoo since Noah. Like the Pharaohs, Xanadu's landlord leaves many stones to mark his grave. Since the Pyramids, Xanadu is the costliest monument a man has built to himself."


In Citizen Kane the real life castle Oheka Castle was used to stand in as Kane's monument to himself. In looking into the background of Oheka Castle, I could not help but wonder if Oheka's benefactor was a blueprint for Alvar Hanso. Oheka castle was built by Otto Hermann Kahn --->take the O He Ka and you get Oheka who was was an investment banker, collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. Otto was also an "Economist" who wrote several books. Here is the link on him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Kahn


He once said, ""The deadliest foe of democracy is not autocracy but liberty frenzied. Liberty is not foolproof. For its beneficent working it demands self-restraint, a sane and clear recognition of the practical and attainable, and of the fact that there are laws of nature which are beyond our power to change."


One could not help but wonder if Alvar Hanso funded The Dharma Initiative to help establish his own Xanadu with the use of "few dozen butlers and maidservants".

[Byzantine]

Here is a list of books Kahn wrote:


* Of Many Things; Being Reflections and Impressions on International Affairs, Domestic Topics and the Arts (1926) (a compilation of speeches and writings)
* The Value of Art to the People (1924)
* The Myth of American Imperialism (1924)
* Reflections of a Financier - A Study of Economic and Other Problems (1921)
* Our Economic and Other Problems: A Financier's Point of View (1920)
* Let Us Reason Together(1919)
* Taxation: A Letter (191
* Right Above Race (191
* Poison Growth of Prussianism (191
* The Menace of Paternalism (191
* When the Tide Turned (191
* Frenzied Liberty (191
* The Common Cause: Britain's Part in the Great War (191
* Some Comments on War Taxation (191
* The War and Business (1917)
* Prussianized Germany. Americans of Foreign Descent and America's Cause (1917)
* Art and the People (1916)
* Suggestions Concerning the Railroad Problem