| DopeToBot |
[14 Sep 2004|06:01pm] |
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music |
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Mega Man 2 Remixes -- Dope! |
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) electricgecko once commented (quite correctly) that video game music was so cool back in the day, and now it's rather flat (er, sucks). I quite agree, so when I found this site, I was quite happy. :)
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| Bargain Books |
[29 Aug 2004|12:22am] |
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So I'm in Barnes & Noble, and there's some book-signing event going on behind me. The author's speech meandered across geography and history, explaining how we are genetically and spiritually all one race and one people. It's a sentiment I take as "de facto", so I drifted in and out of paying attention to his dissertation.
However, something about his review of history caught my attention, and it stuck. He started talking about the different faiths scattered across the globe, and their unique but similar approximations of mankind's "place in the world". While he held this as a universal example to our unity, I began wondering how he would explain the rise and fall of religious influence over the centuries if it really was so omnipotent. ( ... and then, something started to make a lot of sense. )
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| Funny |
[24 Aug 2004|01:16am] |
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I enjoy cooking. When done with its own time and space, it's a relaxing yet energizing activity that provides one of life's necessities for you and those around you; it can be zappy, fun, and comically hazardous if you feel like experimenting; it's also a great time to just jabber with friends while each takes a turn dancing carefully across the kitchen floor, savoring flashes of heat and hints of scent as you go.
There are certain dishes that you can throw together with relative ease and minimal attention. A dash of this, a sprig of that, a daring twist of one of those, and you're all set.
Curry is not one of those dishes.
And the more that I try to persuade it to be a spontaneous, easygoing, even-tempered foodstuff, the more it clearly teaches me otherwise.
:P
Note to self: Do not try to "rescue" a flavorless dish by adding Cayenne Pepper. OUCH.
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| Happy time |
[25 Jul 2004|10:48pm] |
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Today, I went to the Obon festival, which we try to visit each year. I missed the drums again, which makes me a little sad, but I caught the dancing, and came to a very calm, clear realization.
Every culture has unique rites for honoring the dead, for giving thanks for the harvest, for giving thanks for life and living – that somewhere in our "base level" as a species, we are fundamentally gracious, thankful, and offer up artistic and meaningful rites and sacrifices to "the powers that be".
This is a harsh contrast to many of my previous views of humanity and our negative, destructive tendencies.
Still, it makes sense that there would be a time of departure from the "old ways", when we questioned or (temporarily) abandoned all that we knew* and tried something else. The "slash and burn" mentality rampant in America and much of the global economy isn't completely surprising.
To put it simply, we don't know any better. Or, perhaps I should say "we're more thoroughly learning again what we already know".
It doesn't take a genius to realize that pumping billions of gallons of crude oil out of the ground, refining it, and burning it into the atmosphere isn't the best idea for us and our planet. Take any child or non-"modernized" person to an oil drilling site, and tell me they look completely "at-home" and comfortable. We know it's a bad idea, but we do it anyway – much like curious teenagers playing with matches.
And, much like adolescence, there is a learning curve involved. Every culture has its own tales of the hero/hunter/warrior going out into the world, interacting, changing, maturing, and then arriving back where s/he began. And so, it is the same way with us – and you can see the results every day. "Scientists verify that chicken soup really does help cure colds". "Research shows that eating a variety of fruits and vegetables is much more healthy than eating at McDonald's". "Ketchup is not actually a fruit". Who doesn't know this on some fundamental level**?
Just as in the old stories, I believe we will arrive right back where we started. We'll confirm our original knowledge that exploiting labor from our fellow man in the long run is a bad idea. Burning the rainforest isn't the best way to expand farmland. Using oil or coal for fuel causes more problems than they're worth. Creating unnatural synthetic materials only leaves mountains of waste that can only be broken down again by costly industrial methods.
I look forward to the day when we re-emerge from our stone-cut houses, put on our wool and cotton blend garments, tend our non-nitrogen-oxide-enriched fields, and get together to celebrate the turning of the seasons, and the quiet company around a campfire. I'm sure we'll have our company of nano-machines, atmospheric sensor arrays, and medical aid droids in the mix, but at least they'll be bio-degradable. ;)
* "What we knew" refers to a collective set of simple patterns in all cultures that have transcended time and place. "You reap what you sow". "The truth will eventually emerge". "No one suspects the Inquisition!". :)
** Not to be confused with "who doesn't know this but convinces themselves otherwise?".
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| Randomy thoughts (somewhat)... |
[21 Jun 2004|01:39am] |
Inspiration to share by this journal entry by maui
A few weeks ago, I was thinking about the different "styles" of memory (not that there are distinct and separated classes): memories of vision, sound, smell, touch, taste, language (with contextual meaning as opposed to just "sound"), intellectual abstractions, cadences of thoughts (like the lyrics to a song), simple swells of emotion, and more. Some "nodes" of thought are clusters of these senses or ideas tied together, sometimes in rational ways, sometimes in "complicated" or confusing ways (much like "dream logic", where putting the hamster on the green microwave OF COURSE gets you a visit from the fire department checking for loose sprinklers in your chimney). They can be beautiful, somber, terrifying, or exhilarating webs of experience, and all have a fractal-like connection to other related "points" on the "web".
The interesting (or frustrating?) point, though, is that so many of these elements of experience are communicated through just language. On one hand, language is an amazing tool that lets you share glimpses of thought in replication across space and time. On the other, it is SO damned limiting based on the necessity to smother the richness and depth of life down into a pre-formatted context of grammar, vocabulary, and cadence. How much is shaved off by shoving that very round peg into that very narrow, square hole?
Of course, there's the beauty of art, music, dance... so many forms of communication – and yet, you can immerse yourself in these imitations so much, struggling so hard to extrapolate the meaning and feeling, that you forget to step outside your own door, forget to take in the world for yourself. You can forget to feel the richness of the summer sun with your own skin, and forget to marvel at the rainbow after the storm with your own eyes.
I guess it's one more thing to celebrate. :)
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| Put your hands in the air... |
[31 May 2004|05:00pm] |
Wow... it's been a busy few weeks.
Lots of stuff going on at work. This is a very good thing.
Just spent most of Memorial Day Weekend at the beach, and DAMN was it good. It feels like summer already, even though the summer solstice hasn't past yet. The waves were consistently over my head-level, which made for some fabulous rides and some embarrasing yet comical pummelings. I feel mellow (if not a bit hot), but rather thrashed -- in the good way. :)
Cheers to all.
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| A day in the life |
[17 Mar 2004|11:58pm] |
Had a good time today. Got some work done, met up with mystee, who I hadn't seen in ages, and had a great time catching up. Now I just gotta get my arse in gear and finish several "in progress" projects at once. Can't complain much, though.
Still, it reminded me of just how much time I've been spending at work and with other random chores, and how little I've been able to set aside for enjoying things. Gotta switch that up a bit -- mainly by making my work days more efficient.
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| Echo...echo...echo |
[14 Feb 2004|07:42pm] |
You know, its amazing when you catch yourself living life as a reflection of memory, half-paying attention to what's actually going on, and half-glazedly watching some distorted reel roll in your head.
Amazing, too, is the plethora of seemingly random cues that can set off such a spell, just like the random neuro-associations that can make recognizing Synthesasia (sp???, mentioned in electricgecko's journal way back when) such a deep, creative, and meaningful way of thinking.
Cheers to Living Life In The Now, and learning to react to the variety that reality offers us.
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| Cuteness |
[28 Jan 2004|10:56pm] |
My girlfriend got me a sweet little card for no reason in particular today.
She is just awesome. :)
Love ya, hun.
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| Aahhh... |
[28 Nov 2003|01:04pm] |
Had a nice past couple o' weekends -- hung out with kayjkay quite a bit, went with stumpykitty to go visit with one of her friends who's down for the holidays, and generally "slowed down a bit". I had no idea how much sleep I lost over the previous month until I found myself passed out on the couch... repeatedly...
Thanksgiving is an odd holiday season. There's a lot of unpleasant stuff going on for a lot of people that I know (things that I've experienced in the past). Things are relatively stable for me, and I'm very grateful for it.
Have a happy holday season, everyone.
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| Relaxo |
[02 Oct 2003|06:42pm] |
Had a good past couple of days.
Hung out with dustmeat last weekend, and roamed around the nefarious Block at Orange. Had a great ol' time, and even got to top the evening off with Cold Stone.
Yesterday I took stumpykitty out to Santa Barbara for her birthday, and we kidnapped kayjkay from her little cave -- she was all squinty out in the sunlight. :) Had loads of fun catching up, and once again, capped off the evening with Cold Stone. stumpykitty and kayjkay both passed out on the way back in the car in sugary comatose bliss.
Work is good right now.
It was really a treat to see people that I haven't seen in AGES. Must do this sort of thing more often.
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| The LOVE BOAT |
[25 Aug 2003|12:46am] |
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Had a fucking FANTASTIC day today:
Went to Catalina. Round trip is only $43 -- considering a tank of gas is $35, that ain't bad at all.
First off, stumpykitty and I rented a two-person kayak and went tearing off around the Marina area. Beautiful water, ocean breeze, and simply a marvelous feeling of freedom; and, as we soon found out, one hell of a great workout!
We came ashore, devoured much cooked animal flesh, cruised the shops, and chilled for a bit. Rented some fins and masks (only $10 for both of us!) and went diving around the local (shallow) kelp beds, admiring sea bass, garibaldi, and some other random skinny fish with cool turquoise stripes. The water was much more murky than last time, which wasn’t the greatest, but it was still a blast. Some lady brought some dog food to attract more fish, and the bass were jumping out of the water a bit for the floating nuggets; one even wedged into... my armpit, which was a... “unique sensation”. O_o
Came back up, dried off, got some ColdStone ice cream (GOD, YES!), and then played some mini-golf at one of the most EVIL courses in existence. The holes are creative – some even have vertical loops – but they’re all damned hard. Jenny beat me 68 to 69 – but I didn’t mind losing with that score. :) Checked out more stores, and ended up trying to chill out next to this group of people with some loud racist old man discussing social issues. While it certainly pissed me off, it was very educational to hear how someone could twist certain statistics and unconnected facts into something so ugly.
Found some super-cool hidden shops, especially this import store called “Bay of the Seven Moons”. Spectacular variety, beautiful stones and jewelry, and great prices. Got some Celtic dragon knot rings, grabbed some cheap dinner, and rolled on through. Grabbed some coffee with oatmeal cookies right out of the oven. I had forgotten how damned good they could be.
We discovered their not-so-little waterfront bookstore, and I found an awesome Native American art magazine, which had some very inspiring pieces and promising web links. I’ll post some scans or something when I get a chance.
Got on the boat, napped, and zoomed home. Not bad for a day out. Gotta get going with little sleep tomorrow, but it was well worth it. :)
Take care, all – hope you had a great weekend.
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| Art musings |
[20 Jun 2003|12:53am] |
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A little prefacing:
While this is a somewhat comprehensive analysis of the points I'd like to cover, it is not necessarily how I feel about the subject of "art" in every way, shape, and form; it's sort of a review of a few strong colors I have in my full spectrum on the subject -- some of which contradict each other -- but, hey, that's what you get on complex subjects.
Secondly, it's also one of the center pins in a little internal controversy that has made me rather uninterested in art for the past several months. Not that the appreciation of art or interest in it is gone, but more the meaning and fulfillment -- which I've noticed quite a few other people have mentioned here and there. I'm curious how similar/different these feelings are to everyone else.
( That's from his 'blue period'... )
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| Finding Nemo |
[16 Jun 2003|01:10am] |
Might as well throw in a silly little editorial. Wasn't planning on seeing this one really, just kinda "happened". For any interested, here's a brief reflection:
I found it to be more worthy of a split "five-day animation special" format rather than a workable cinematic presentation. The scenes and characters were so segmented and awkwardly introduced, I found myself thinking of them as disposable stepping-stones towards the movie's predictable family fun ending, rather than anything particularly memorable or worthy of further curious investigation/development.
The humor was also dominated by fart/belch jokes and one-liners -- which can sorta work, except they've been blasting most of the punchlines out in the commercials for the past two months straight.
Still, several good (new) chuckles are to be found here and there. I'm more curious to see what the heck Disney's new bear-movie venture is going to be (it has me worried...), and where Pixar is going from here. I hope their next one is a bit thicker on plot and creating meaningful characters -- even though they have to crank out two films by 2005. We'll see.
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| The important stuff |
[15 Jun 2003|04:39am] |
It's odd when you get those refreshing little reminders every now and then of how lucky you are, and how cool the universe can be sometimes.
While this may seem rather stupid and mushy to some, well, I don't care. You'll just have to scroll past this bitty 1k of sugary soapboxing. :P :)
I'm just here to say that stumpykitty has been nothing less than the most thoughtful creature I've ever known, and that I appreciate her patience and understanding more than I can say; and, I'll say it from the digital hilltops as a simple gesture of my appreciation.
Getting up at 2 AM to caringly chat with me 'till 3:30 simply because I'm frustrated is just one sign of how much she cares, and it's not something that I'll soon forget. Thank you, Honey, for everything; you're awesome. :)
....
and then she comes in and bugs me just 'cuz it's 5AM. :P :)
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