4.30.2008

film { For Northernmisfit...

'Artemis Eternal' project.



I stood in the shadows and from a distance tracked your efforts to make shorts and films and I've enjoyed what you have made. I admired you for chasing your dream. I know it took a lot of time, effort and money. But you're not alone. Others have this dream and are unsatisfied with movies traditional outlets produce, and some of them are starting to do something about it.

I support the independent, the little guy, who has a creative vision and dream. I've seen many films, made by people who love something, on shoe string budgets, and homemade special effects, that had more substance and depth, and even better acting than some multi-million dollar 'blockbusters'.

Creativity, in all its forms, should be embraced.

4.29.2008

books { 106 books everyone has but no one reads, just to look smart

Saw this on Rhapsody, top 106 books that sit on shelves unread by most people, but used to appear smart.

Rules:
bold = read
underline = read for school
italics = started but not finished

The Books:

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes : a memoir
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

4.28.2008

music { 'cause its going to be one of those weeks...

Stevie Ray Vaughan 'Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)' {Live at the El Mocambo}

4.25.2008

casual_friday { Something for Nerdwife

'Something Beautiful' by Tracy Bonham

4.23.2008

economy { American Retailers rationing food?

Interesting. I don't have TV, so I'm curious if our media is covering this or not?

4.22.2008

video { yesterday's evil twin



This is an inappropriate idea related to yesterday's video. Semi-tongue in cheek...

4.21.2008

music { An Anthem

311 - Don't Tread On Me




Analysis? It's about personal limits of shit you'll take, reminding people to respect your boundaries, then returning to your happy state.

But you know me, I'm always up for a fight.

"You might see me as calm
But I go out like a bomb"

music { 'Crazy'

Alanis Morissette

outing { Team CubeZoo went to the Orchestra

Some members of Team CubeZoo are frequent orchestra goers. I rarely go. We all went this weekend. I enjoyed myself. The theme was familiar music, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and this one which I was first exposed to via Looney Tunes.

musings { On the subject of People and Institutions

or

How I learned to loathe people and institution.

The last few weeks have been dark, angry, frustrated, hopeless ones. I won't say in regards to what, as that is personal and not for public consumption. Its also been a growing period, harsh life lessons learned and absorbed. A further step down the road away from the innocence of childhood was taken. I feel I've stepped farther away from the inner child these last two weeks. Is this is what being an adult means?

We accumulate regrets, we have experiences that accumulate. At some point we no longer see the world through the eyes we once had as youth when the world was new, and we were surrounded by a network of friends and family that shield us from the harsher realities of the greater world.

I think when people reach this point can vary and is individual, based on life experiences. It also happens when you choose to let it happen. Some times it is forced upon you.

I'm not suggesting that adulthood is all doom and gloom, as it is not, moments of joy, happiness, hope, and experience still occur, but once you become an 'adult' you see things through a sort of prism. Or perhaps the prism that is put up to filter experiences to help us learn, grow and adapt is removed, or made thinner.


So this is what I was going to write. But I've reconsidered. The last two weeks have not been the best, rivaling , but not too closely approaching the dark times when I had cancer. I'm bitter. I'm angry. I'm hurt. I'm frustrated that I can't help.

But I also had a thought.

People and institutions only have the power you give them. I'm not going to empower my enemies. Hate is a strong emotion. It can eat away at you. I'm usually the type to if not forgive, forget. But something, people and place will be forever marked. I don't truly hate many. I dislike numerous, but hate, true searing hatred is only reserved for those who have committed the gravest wrongs against me, my family, or those who are my closest friends.

For 15 years I carried with me a hatred of a person in Junior High and High School who picked on me and degraded me to elevate his status as 'alpha male'. At my 10th class reunion in 2003 I met this person again. He was a broken individual, his life after High School was not a good one. He had a problem with drugs that left him mentally and physically broken. He was a different person. My hatred evaporated after talking to him after having not seen him for 10 years. I didn't pity him, he made the choices that ended in his state, but I no longer hated him. The suffering of others is not something I take joy in. I've never wished serious ill on my enemies, because I've been there, on the receiving end, and the feelings and pain are not things I want others to feel.

However, some I think deserve to know how they make others feel, but I've not found a satisfactory way to teah this lesson. While I would so dearly love the momentary sweetness an eye for an eye could deliver. That taste I've found, turns to ash and bitter.

4.18.2008

casual_friday { bt sleepwalks

BT 'Somnambulist'

4.17.2008

tagged { I've been tagged...

Well.

The rules:


1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages).
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog.
5. Tag 5 people.


"He was almost whispering now, with a huskiness more terrible than a scream, and I trembled as I listened." (The Dunwich Horror and Others, HP Lovecraft)

And now the tagged:

EvilBobby

NorthernMisfit
GeekGoddess
Zophorian
Jeffery

(I won't tag members of Team CubeZoo in case others want to tag back)

musings { Hate

There is a lot of hate in this world.

How do you combat hate, with love?

Hasn't worked so far.

How do you counter act human nature?

The petty, the jealous, the malicious, the irrational, the hateful.

I've not found an effective way.

Though I do know more hate is rarely the solution.

4.11.2008

4.10.2008

musings { Some things have been said well by Aesop Rock


Flash that buttery gold, jittery zeitgeist
Wither by the watering hole, water patrol
What are we, a heart huckabee, art fuckery suddenly?
Not enough young in his lung for the water wings?
Colorfully vulgar poacher at a mulch like
'I'ma pull the pulse out a soldier and bolt.' (Fine)
Sign of the time we elapsed
When a primate climb up the spine and attach
Eye for an eye, by the bog's life swamps and vines
They get a rise out of frogs and flies
So when a dog fights hog-tied prize sorta costs a life
The mouths water on a fork and knife
And the allure isn't right
It's gore on a war-torn beach
Where the cash cows actually beef
Blood turns wine when I leak for police
Like 'That's not a riot, it's a feast, let's eat.'

And I will remember your name and face
On the day you were judged by the funhouse cast
And I will rejoice in your fall from grace
With a cane to the sky like 'None shall pass.'

Now if he never had a day a snow cone couldn't fix
he wouldn't relate to the rouge vocoder bliss
How he spoke through a no-doz, motor on the fritz
'Cause he wouldn't play roll over, fetch, like a bitch
And express no regrets though he isn't worth the homeowners piss
To the jokers who pose by the glitz (Fine)
Sign of the swine and the swarm
When a king is a whore who comply and conform
Miles outside of the eye of the storm
With a siphon to lure and a prize and award
While avoiding the vile and bizarre that is violence and war
True blue triumph is more
Like wait, let it snake up outta the centerfold
Let it break the walls of Jericho. ready? go.
Sat where the old cardboard city folks
Swap tails with heads like every other penny throw

Okay, woke to a grocery list
Goes like this: duty and death
Anyone object, come stand in the way
You can be my little Snake River Canyon today
And I ran with a chain of commands
And a jetpack strap where the backstab lands if it can. (Fine)
Sign of the vibe in the crowd
When I cut a belly open to find what climb out
What a bit of gusto he muster up
Make a dark horse rush like enough's enough
It must'a struck a nerve so they huff and puff
Till all the king's men fluster and clusterfuck
And it's a beautiful thing
To my people who keep an impressive wing span
Even when the cubicle shrink
You gotta pull up the intruder by the root of the weed
NY chew through the machine

And I will remember your name and face
On the day you were judged by the funhouse cast
And I will rejoice in your fall from grace
With a cane to the sky like 'None shall pass.'

-Aesop Rock, 'None Shall Pass'

A follow up on my previous mash of Modest Mouse from earlier this week.

I will remember the names and the faces of the funhouse cast.

4.09.2008

otaku { Astro Boy Troop

Excellent!

music { she said don't turn around...

Der Kommissar's in town...

4.08.2008

R.I.P. { Charleton Heston died on Apr 5, 2008

I guess now we can take it out of his cold, dead hands.

musings { Well it would've been, could've been worse than you will ever know

(adaptations and modifications of the Modest Mouse lyrics to the song 'Dashboard' changed to suit a specific need)

But it often seems like it is always worse than we know. Patiently erasing and recording my own episodes, its not like I will let this go. This week, has not been a good week for me. The dashboard melted among other things, but at least I still have the radio. The windshield is cracked and shattered, but the fresh air is good, you know?

I've been so hardwired to concede so much I just have to stow it and move on; everyone is talking to me about nowhere and it seems now like some place I want to go. Not a lot of difference at this point between the east and west horizon so why pick a direction.

Those I thought I knew have shown their true selves. I scream and I scream but its just seems blowhard.

I just want to catch the last laugh in this show.

music { What we Had

Handsome Furs - 'What we had'

science { Biofuel on Jet liner

Interesting.

Algae and a plant that renews carbon into degraded soil. I like these solutions.

4.07.2008

reviews { Into the Wild

Another movie about a journey. Its based on a true story set in 1990-1992 about a man who after graduating from college drops of the face of the Earth to leave his parents. He embarks on his "great adventure" and heads towards Alaska. The movie chronicles he trip, zig-zagging across America and the people he meets. It contained an all star cast and a soundtrack by Eddie Vedder. Its not a happy film, it just is what it is. Its a beautifully told story if albeit a sad one.

reviews { movie: Darjeeling Limited

I loved this movie. I'm a big Wes Anderson fan. All you nay-sayers can kiss my ass. This movie continues in the vein of Rushmore, The Royal Tannenbaums, The Life Aquatic. Its a beautiful movie, the DVD comes with 'Hotel Chevalier' a prequel short that sets up one of the brother characters (also shows Natalie Portman completely nude).

We watched this to cleanse the stain of 'Saw' from our brains. The characters we're well developed, odd, painfully hip, which are signatures of Wes Anderson films. Bill Murray makes an appearance.

Its a bit existential, but not to the level of I Heart Huckabees. While I didn't like it as much as Life Aquatic or Rushmore, it was still a strong movie, its a good 1.5 hours.

4.05.2008

history { MLK (part 3)

"Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam"

4.04.2008

history { MLK (part 2)

U2, 'Pride (in the name of love)'

history { MLK

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I Have a Dream" (August 28, 1963)



"I've Been to the Mountaintop" (April 3, 1968, the day before he was killed, and disconcertingly prescient)



Robert F. Kennedy announces the death of MLK to a crowd in Indianapolis (April 4, 1968)

reviews { movie: Saw

Don't see this movie...ever...not even on cable, and its late, and you're drunk...switch to Skinemax.

Fuck this movie sucked.

And I like shitty horror movies like this one should have been. This was neither scary or interesting. I will give it one small thing, I didn't see the ending coming. But that was mainly because the rest of the movie was setup in an overly predictable manner to distract you from the end. Fuck spoilers, Jigsaw is the dead body in the middle of the floor. Oooohhhh what a twist!?! The only things really scary in this movie were Danny Glover's acting (he played his role from Lethal Weapon again) and domo-ariggato-mr-roboto acting of the doctor character, who I won't spend the energy looking up, because I really give fuck all about who he is or what else he's done. I've seen him elsewhere...damn it...I had to look him up now...holy crap I can't believe this was the guy who played Westley in the Princess Bride...wow, just wow.

Obvious someone liked this film, I'm thinking people who don't like to think too hard, because they've made Saw IV.

You know some movies are so bad, they are good on a certain level, because deep down there is a hidden genius or a labor of love...this, this was...fuck this was just bad.

Its going on my list with 'Congo' and 'Mortal Kombat II' as worst movies ever made.

The trailer is better than the movie:

scifi { (12-7)-[4] = 1(?)

There are 12 models. They were built by man. They have evolved. They have a plan. We've seen 11. Who is the final one?



There must be someway out of here said the joker to the thief...

This has happened all before, and it will all happen again.

casual_friday { virtuosity defined

Wells Cunningham - Caprice No. 24 [Niccolò Paganini]

4.02.2008

law { unitary executive and torture isn't illegal when we do it

Well, the Pentagon finally released the John C. Yoo memo that pretty much signed off on any torture we wanted to conduct in the name of national security. Story here.

Memorandum Part 1 Part 2 [PDF].

(the memo is supposed to be 81 pages long but this is only 39).

My reaction:

1) The American Bar Association should immediately disbar John C. Yoo.
2) The University of California Berkeley Law School should immediately cancel any tenure and fire John C. Yoo.
3) John C. Yoo should be arrested and placed on a plane for the Hague for his war crimes tribunal
4) The U.S. Department of Justice should cooperate fully with his prosecution.
5) John C. Yoo should not be tortured or interrogated using harsh physical techniques he himself considered acceptable, because that is not how civilized, justice minded human beings operate, and because if we act with such disregard to legal and human rights, then we have no moral standing to demand that our enemies or even inconvenient Earth-mates do not do so as well