Words and thoughts.

Ten Albums of 2009

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:04:26 GMT

I was talking to the good Doctor about this the other day, and I was having trouble coming up with a list of 10 albums from 2009 that I really liked enough to put on a list. I was considering a list of ten albums i (re)connected with this year, but I saw Aaron M's list on twitter and remembered a few.

Will add images later, this is just quick jotting down.

Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
Squarepusher - Solo Electric Bass 1
Kashiwa Daisuke - 5 Dec.
Patton Oswalt - My Weakness is Strong
Emeralds - What Happened
Doug Stanhope - From Across the Street
Circulatory System - Signal Morning
Ben Harper and Relentless7 - White Lies for Dark Times
Buddy Wakefield - Live at the Typer Cannon Grand
B. Dolan - House of Bees Vol. 1 (It's a mixtape, not a CD, but sue me)

A Brief Interview

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:33:43 GMT

I posted this over on the Spooky Outhouse forums, but figured I'd throw it here too. I'll put in a cut somewhere.

Dedicated to DFW

"Are you aware of how hard it is to make a parachute that's intended to fail?"

Q.

"It's not nearly that simple. Taking out the main chute entirely makes the whole thing far too light. These things have to have a certain degree of weight, you know, for realism."

Q.

"That requires that I tell you a bit about how parachutes actually work. Most chutes operate with a ripcord, where you pull the cord, the cord pulls out one or two pins, and then POOF! Parachute."

Q.

"Well yeah, it's a bit more complex than that, but it's enough to go on. Anyway, what I ended up doing was tweaking a pin, not the pin attached to the ripcord mind you, but another pin that keeps the chute attached to the deployment bag, so it doesn't open as soon as you jump out. This happens with some regularity in parachuting, the malfunctioning of the pin, So the whole thing was very realistic. It had, um...verisimilitude. At least when I planned this job out.”

Q.

"Usually there's a reserve chute, you're right. Very observant! I didn't actually account for that in the original plan, but it worked out in the end."

Q.

"So what happened was, I actually screwed up when I tried to tamper with the pin. I know jack shit about parachutes, but it's the way the client wanted it done, so I did a little research and did my best. When the mark jumped out of the plane and pulled the chute, the goddamn thing actually worked. I was a little surprised at this--"

Q.

"A very particular telescope and a good vantage point. May I continue?"

Q.

"Thank you. So the mark pulls the cord, and the chute opens! My blood ran cold when I saw that shit. You know as well as I do that in my line of work, you cannot fuck up. One botched job and your reputation is shattered forever. Maybe your skull, too."

Q.

"My saving grace was the dumbass who cleared the guy to jump. There was one hell of a crosswind up that far, and the mark's chute kinda rocked back and forth, gaining some momentum, right? So eventually the mark got even with the chute and it got under him. I don't think you're going to believe this, but God's honest truth I saw this with my own eyes."

Q.

"The guy literally fell into the parachute, as in it got completely under him, and it flew up and swallowed him."

Q!

"Yeah, I know, right? Pretty fucking amazing. This was a high-altitude jump (which, by the way, was a total bonus because risky shit is really easy to sabotage) so he pulled the chute probably a little more than a mile up, and pretty much got eaten by it. Can you even fathom that?"

Q.

"Imagine being on the biggest adrenaline rush of your entire life, and then being shoved into a freezing nylon coffin that happens to be shooting towards the earth at terminal velocity, which is 175 feet per second by the way. I had to look it up to make sure the impact would kill him. Which it did. I was still anxious because I've seen stories on Discovery Channel of people surviving that shit."

Q.

"Yeah! It's like I'd rather die, man, than survive a jump from the upper atmosphere. Being a vegetable for the rest of my life, fuck that noise."

Q.

"Do I feel what?"

Q.

"No. I never have."

Q...

"We're just meat and bones, lady. There's nothing special about any one person. We can get into an argument about the nature of self if you want, I'm prepared for that philosophical can of worms, but that's not your aim."

Q.

“I just don't see it that way. Let's move on, Metaphysical arguments are for the pub, not the couch. I've got some serious shit going on in my life.”

Q.

"I'm getting married soon. She's got a kid on the way. I'm thinking of going into another line of work."
Q.

"Well, I got a phone call last week, that I didn't tell my fiancée about.”

Q.

"I get lots of phone calls she doesn't know about, involving my job.”

Q.

“No, she doesn't know what I do. Eventually she will. 'I fix problems for people' is the line that

she gets, and she knows enough about my past not to ask too many, uh, what's the phrase... invasive questions."

Q.

"Yeah, like that. But right, this phone call. It's from a company I haven't ever heard of. They know my work, God knows how, and want to bring me into their organization. I asked what they wanted me to do, and they said, ""We want you to save lives.'"

Q.

"The next day I had a packet in my PO Box with some information in it. Apparently this place is an international underground foundation, and what they do is they stage near-death experiences on completely unaware citizens. Stuff as small as almost getting plowed by a subway train, all the way up to large-scale actions that, by some 'fluke', turn out not to work."

Q.

“I'm not sure, exactly. They didn't go into the underlying philosophical questions that the statement 'We want you to save lives' brings up when you follow that by essentially saying 'We almost kill people for a living.' I'm trying not to worry about it too much.”

Q...

"No, it's real! I met with a recruiting agent for the US. There were a few of us in the room, presumably all guys kinda like me, guys who have a very specific set of skills, and are very...damn, words escape me...discreet! That's it. Those word-a-day calendars are bullshit man. I don't remember anything from those.”

Q.

"He had a whole presentation about things they've pulled over the years. Like you remember that pilot that landed the 747 in the Hudson a few years ago? Really amazing story, right?"

Q...

"Totally staged. The guy had worked for them for years, learning how to do that shit.”

Q!

“That wasn't even the biggest one. This guy stood up there and told me that they created the Y2K craze, to scare people into changing the way they live. At that point I thought the guy was out of his mind, but...”

Q.

“They had solid documents, video interviews with people, it's completely legit, as far as I can tell. I don't know how the fuck they're getting away with it, but again, in my line of work you learn not to ask a whole lot of questions.”

Q.

"You're goddamn right I'd take an offer! I saw the salary those guys make. No benefits, but the extra pay makes up for that. The work isn't nearly as sporadic as it is in my current occupation either."

Q.

"Absolutely it'll be dangerous! Field work is the name of the game! With these guys, it's always big projects, so you're very rarely working alone. I was never really a team person in school or anything like that, so we'll see how that goes. Judging by the people in that room with me, hopefully they'll be smart enough."

Q.

"No, they didn't mention any failures, but it does make you wonder, doesn't it?"
-------------------------------------

Thank you for reading! Your comments and criticism would be appreciated.

Inglourious Basterds - A short review

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:58:45 GMT

Quentin Tarantino is an interesting director. He takes film archetypes he loves and really stylizes them, adding his own panache to the mix.

Almost all of his films are this way. Pulp Fiction is his homage to Jean-Luc Godard and the French New Wave, Jackie Brown is obviously blaxploitation, the Kill Bill movies are his tribute to japanese pinku/female vengeance movies (even Basterds has this, with Shoshanna). The grindhouse idea has pretty obvious roots, and Reservoir Dogs is essentially dedicated to John Woo (mexican standoffs, skinny ties, and heists).

Basterds is Tarantino's love letter to Spaghetti Westerns, to directors like Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci, and Sam Peckinpah, with a few references to war films like The Dirty Dozen and mixing genres in ways that continually surprise.

The opening scene of the movie really is just incredible. The shots are all composed extremely well, the casting was spot-on. The tension that's built just in the opening scene ("chapter") is fantastic. The Jew Hunter (Cristoph Waltz) steals the show in my opinion. He's so scary while at the same time as smooth as can be, and speaks 4 (FOUR!) languages with fluency through the film. There's a reason he won best actor at Cannes this year.

Basterds was fantastic. It does require a bit more from its viewers than most (read: any) other summer blockbusters (part of the fun of the movie, was pointing out references to other films, and trying to remember sources from the soundtrack. It's Tarantino's best script to date, and the cinematography is just out of this world. The shot composition is unlike anything else I've seen in quite a while. I think film buffs will get the most out of this picture (or they'll hate it voraciously because Quentin wears his influences on his sleeve). It's quirky, dialogue-driven, with gore/violence at moments of tension (which is what I expect out of Tarantino's flicks).

But the way it mixed languages and shifted perspective effortlessly, along with the characters all being played to the hilt, Tarantino has outdone himself. By the end of the movie I couldn't get 'In a Wicked Age...' out of my head. It seemed like the PCs chosen were:

The Jew Hunter
Shoshanna
Aldo Raine
Fredrick Zoller (maybe)

I'm inclined to think that if basterds was a Wicked Age game it would have only 3 players, but I digress.

Fantastic movie, I'm inclined to say the best movie I've seen in 2009.

UNRELATED NOTES:

School started last week, and I'm satisfied with my classes. Taking 9 hours of english and lit is going to be pretty intense, but I'm really excited about it.

The Great Way

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 05:11:05 GMT

The Great Way
Sengstan (Third Zen Patriarch)
Translated from the Chinese by Richard Clarke
Thanks to Ram Dass

The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however,
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
is the disease of the mind.
When the deep meaning of things is not understood
the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail.

The Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.
Live neither in the entanglements of outer things,
nor in inner feelings of emptiness.
Be serene in the oneness of things
and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves.
When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other
you will never know Oneness.

Those who do not live in the single Way
fail in both activity and passivity,
assertion and denial.
To deny the reality of things is to miss their reality;
to assert the emptiness of things
is to miss their reality.
The more you talk and think about it,
the further astray you wander from the truth.
Stop talking and thinking,
and there is nothing you will not be able to know.
To return to the root is to find the meaning,
but to pursue appearances is to miss the source.
At the moment of inner enlightenment
there is a going beyond appearance and emptiness.

The changes that appear to occur in the empty world
we call real only because of our ignorance.
Do not search for the truth;
only cease to cherish opinions.

Do not remain in the dualistic state;
avoid such pursuits carefully.
If there is even a trace
of this and that, of right and wrong,
the Mind - essence will be lost in confusion.
Although all dualities come from the One,
do not be attached even to this One.
When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way,
nothing in the world can offend,
and when a thing can no longer offend,
it ceases to exist in the old way.

When no discriminating thoughts arise,
the old mind ceases to exist.
When thought objects vanish,
the thinking subject vanishes,
as when the mind vanishes, objects vanish.
Things are objects because of the subject (mind);
the mind (subject) is such because of things (object).
Understand the relativity of these two and the basic reality:
the unity of emptiness.
In this Emptiness the two are indistinguishable
and each contains in itself the whole world.
If you do not discriminate between coarse and fine
you will not be tempted to prejudice and opinion.

To live in the Great Way
is neither easy nor difficult,
but those with limited views
are fearful and irresolute:
the faster they hurry, the slower they go,
and clinging (attachment) cannot be limited;
even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment
is to go astray.
Just let things be in their own way
and there will be neither coming nor going.

Obey the nature of things (your own nature),
and you will walk freely and undisturbed.
When thought is in bondage the truth is hidden,
for everything is murky and unclear,
and the burdensome practice of judging
brings annoyance and weariness.
What benefit can be derived
from distinctions and separations?

If you wish to move in the One Way
do not dislike even the world of senses and ideas.
Indeed, to accept them fully
is identical with true Enlightenment.
The wise man strives to no goals
but the foolish man fetters himself.
There is one Dharma, not many;
distinctions arise
from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To seek Mind with the (discriminating) mind
is the greatest of all mistakes.
Rest and unrest derive from illusion;
with enlightenment there is no liking and disliking.
All dualities come from ignorant inference.
They are like dreams or flowers in air:
foolish to try to grasp them.
Gain and loss, right and wrong;
such thoughts most finally be abolished at once.

If the eye never sleeps,
all dreams will naturally cease.
If the mind makes no discriminations,
the ten thousand things
are as they are, of single essence.

To understand the mystery of this One-essence
is to be released from all entanglements.
When all things are seen equally
the timeless Self -essence is reached.
No comparisons or analogies are possible
in this causeless, relationless state.

Consider movement stationary
and the stationary in motion,
both movement and rest disappear.
When such dualities cease to exist
Oneness itself cannot exist.
To this ultimate finality
no law or description applies.

For the unified mind in accord with the Way
all self -centered striving ceases.
Doubts and irresolutions vanish
and life in true faith is possible.
With a single stroke we are freed from bondage;
nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing.
All is empty, clear, self -illuminating,
with no exertion of the mind's power.
Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and imagination
are of no value.
In this world of Suchness
there is neither self nor other- than-self.

To come directly into harmony with this reality
just simply say when doubts arise, "Not two."
In this "not two" nothing is separate,
nothing is excluded.
No matter when or where,
enlightenment means entering this truth.
And this truth is beyond extension or diminution in time or space;
in it a single thought is ten thousand years.

Emptiness here, Emptiness there,
but the infinite universe. stands
always before your eyes.
Infinitely large and infinitely small;
no difference, for definitions have vanished
and no boundaries are seen.
So too with Being and non-Being.
Don't waste time in doubts and arguments
that have nothing to do with this.

One thing, all things:
move among and intermingle,
without distinction.
To live in this realization
is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.
To live in this faith is the road to non-duality,
Because the non-dual is one with the trusting mind.

words!
The Way is beyond language,
for in it there is
no yesterday
no tomorrow
no today.

Vibram Fivefingers: Supplemental

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:16:08 GMT

Here are a couple articles about why these shoes are awesome, as well as reasons for ditching traditional shoes for VFFs (or other barefoot-style shoes), or for no shoes at all.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/barefoot/

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/05/07/vibram-five-fingers-shoes/

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/04/your-shoes-are/

http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/

College: Update!

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:26:48 GMT

Today I turned out a 'Professional Judgment' form in order to get my financial aid re-evaluated because of my mother's recent layoff from Cessna. Anyone familiar with Wichita at all will know that this is an aircraft town, and Cessna's one of the biggest employers in the area. It sucks, but the silver lining is that my school is most likely (based on info I got from a source on the inside) going to pay my way for this year and possibly next. I was also told by this same source that I'll likely have some leftover aid money after books and such. Yay for that, and I'll be paying my credit card off, and possibly getting a netbook.

Looking beyond junior college, I'm in pretty close contact with the Admissions advisers at Naropa University, a private, fully-accredited university in Boulder, CO that emphasizes contemplative education. From the site:

Contemplative education is not solely traditional education with a course in meditation thrown in; it is an approach that offers an entirely new way of understanding what it means to be educated in the modern Western liberal arts tradition. At Naropa University, students wholeheartedly engage in mindfulness awareness practices in order to cultivate being present in the moment and to deepen their academic study.

These include sitting meditation, T'ai Chi, and other contemplative disciplines. It's founded on essentially Buddhist principles, and I feel that I would fit very well in that environment. I'm currently talking to them about their application process, and how my WSU experience will affect my admission/aid.

So overall my journey is ongoing, and positive.

I'm sleeping so strange at night...

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:51:11 GMT

I fell asleep (as I some times do) listening to John Hodgman's audiobook version of 'The areas of my expertise' last night.

At the end of the book, he reads 700 hobo names while Jonathan Coulton plays a song in the background. This takes quite a long time, as you can surely imagine.

So in this dream last night, I was hanging out with these dudes (faceless, nameless) playing video games, and they spoke in normal sentences, except every sentence started with a number, and they went in sequence. I participated in the numbering of my sentences as well, and I woke up a bit later, listening to John Hodgman reading hobo names, with numbers in front of them.

I had a dream in the recent past when I fell asleep listening to Henry Rollins read a poem called 'Everything', and in my dream that night we were walking through a shitty neighborhood, Henry and I and a few other people, just listening to him talk about our surroundings, as he does in the book. It was easily the craziest-slash-best dream I've ever had ever.

WWOOF

Wed, 27 May 2009 07:05:05 GMT

http://www.wwoofusa.org/

WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, and it allows people to exchange their time and labor doing farm-related tasks for 25-30 hours/week in exchange for room and board. No real experience farming is required, and all you have to do is set up arrangements with farms seeking volunteers, and get yourself there.

This looks really cool, and I've read a ton of positive experiences. I also love seeing the country, so packing some shit in my car and driving to wyoming or northern california or some such place is an awesome prospect. I can see myself doing this for months at a time going from farm to farm, working for food.

Vibram Fivefingers (AKA my frog feet)

Wed, 06 May 2009 19:09:14 GMT

http://www.vibramfivefingers.com

I found out about these babies through Tim Ferriss, author of 'The Four Hour Workweek' and prolific blogger.

He really talked them up as an alternative to shoes in almost any context. I've been wearing them consistently for about 6 weeks now and I can definitely say that they are awesome. My posture has improved, my feet feel better, and they're just fun to wear.

Everything you used to do with your feet now has added fun. Driving and shifting in my car feels more natural, I can actually feel the ground underneath my feet, giving walking around outside (normally a pretty banal activity) another dimension of sensory experience. Lifting weights in these shoes has been interesting, and my form is better than when wearing shoes.

Excuse my hyperbole please, I just really dig these shoes. Pics of my feet after the cut.

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:20:04 GMT

Trying ping.fm. Thanks @tferriss!

TED Talks

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:49:57 GMT

I've been spending a lot of my time at ted.com lately. It's a conference that stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and it's about bringing speakers from all over the world together in order to share ideas and collaborate, and give "the speech of their lives" in 18 minutes or less. Usually they're a little over, but it's all good.

There were two talks in particular I wanted to highlight, but there are /so/ many great talks by some people you will recognize, and a lot that you won't.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/adam_savage_s_obsessions.html

and

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow.html

The first talk is by someone all of you who read my infrequent ramblings know of. Adam Savage of Mythbusters tells a story of obsession and inspiration. The second is about happiness, and how losing oneself in challenging work. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi speaks about states of 'flow'.

One more, and programmers/web designers like bafadam will hopefully enjoy this one:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/blaise_aguera_y_arcas_demos_photosynth.html

This short talk-slash-techdemo, is about how we can use internet social networking combined with photographs to create something truly amazing. It must be seen to be understood.

This, I think, has been a replacement for the kinds of intellectual stimulation normally exchanged in a university lecture or with good friends and a few beers.

God damn, I can't wait to go back to school.

Today's Tweets

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:07:12 GMT

23:28 Haven't been twittering much lately. I can't breathe through my nose. This is awful. #
23:29 Plus side though I haven't had a cigarette in 4 days. Woo not getting lung cancer! #
11:40 @Talulla Shit's about to get real. #
14:35 throwing up is no fun. Allergy meds + cold/flu meds + french toast for lunch = bluuuh #
16:55 Tony Reali's got movie quotes today on ESPN. Pulp Fiction, Matrix, Indy, etc. #