This post is about the fundamentalist atheist (who's a bit sweet on Buddhism - "I don’t call myself a Buddhist. and yet, if you asked me ... I’d point you in the direction of Buddhist techniques of meditation, and to the Buddhist literature") Sam Harris. Before I even start, let me say, this is the post Sam Harris, self-promoter and shill for his own self, wants to have written - He's all about getting his name out there. He just loves drawing the debate away from the rational conclusion that what's out there can't yet be explained by science, but might be, and that belief in the possibility of explanation is faith, itself. He'd rather have it faith vs. "science" or whatever he's masquerading his faith as. When people, such as the Pope (even with his appearingly intentional stumbles), call for a dialog between faiths, Sam Harris isn't having it. His faith in his extremist anti-faith beliefs are making him almost as popular as Keith Olbermann, firefly of the left's popularity.
In Harris's droolings on the Pope's speech (Truthdig:
'God's Rottwieler' Barks) he does his own trite old hat tricks and pulls out some abused and weary rabbits, banging on the drum at the back of the bandwagon of Islam hatred while also showing a disdain for religion that really calls into question :
“Only thus do we become capable of that genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today....”
It is ironic that a man who has just disparaged Islam as “evil” and “inhuman” before 250,000 onlookers and the world press is now talking about a “genuine dialogue of cultures.” How much genuine dialogue can he hope for? The Koran says that anybody who believes that Jesus was divine—as all real Catholics must—will spend eternity in hell (Koran 5:71-75; 19:30-38). This appears to be a deal-breaker. The pope knows this. The Muslim world knows that he knows it. And he knows that the Muslim world knows that he knows it. This is not a good basis for interfaith dialogue.
The passages in the Quran he references in Sura Al Maedah (the Feast) say that idolaters will go to hell and that today's Christianity isn't the Christianity of Jesus. God isn't the Messiah, God isn't three, there's only one God. Christians have their own beliefs about the Trinity, but they won't say God is the Messiah or three or that there isn't just one God. Further, John 20:17 has Jesus saying to Mary Magdalen "I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." He's not going to himself. Sura 19, Mary, (that's right, haters, that chapter's called "Mary"), repeats a saying of Jesus similar to John 20:17 - "God is my Lord and your Lord; you shall worship Him alone. This is the right path."
Regardless, Harris is baiting not only the Pope, but also Muslims, and further, his cheering ignorant followers. His persistence in a superficial reading and understanding of faith shows that he's got an inability to apply critical thinking skills to texts of faith. Or, he doesn't, and he's simply trying to be a dick.
He goes on and pops off some of his little buzzwords and tropes about Islam - "martyrdom" and "jihad" along with the herring "treatment of Muslim women throughout the world," how Muslims have an "inclination to breed themselves into a state of world domination" (a student of Eastern philosophies, doesn't he know about India or China?) and his favorite apostasy case which he blithely tosses around not bothering to define or explain, since we all of course know how evil Muslims are. Again, I'm sad at Stanford. This type of critical sloppiness in my philosophy classes at Washington University would've gotten me an 'F' whereas I'm sure he shaved an "S" into his chest hair, dyed it red, and beerbonged all night after receiving some hummer for a 'bold' paper on justifying facistic secular rationalism.
This one really got me, especially from a closet Buddhist like Harris, right after he criticises the Pope for thinking every natural process and every mystery can be reduced to God:
Nearly a billion Hindus place three gods—Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver) and Shiva (the Destroyer)—in the space provided. Just how intellectually illuminating should we find that?
I'm sure he knows, but for some reason think his readers don't know (that's intellectually illuminating): Hindus believe that their gods are manifestations and aspects of the (single) universe. Facets, just as the Buddah would have you believe, Samuel. If you think about it for a second, that's what you think science is - fragments and bits of the universe in little logical bites, just waiting to be put together, or not.
He says this, too, on the lead up to the Pope's unfortunate (un)intentional statement about Islam:
“The West has long been endangered by this aversion to the questions which underlie its rationality, and can only suffer great harm thereby. The courage to engage the whole breadth of reason, and not the denial of its grandeur—this is the program with which a theology grounded in Biblical faith enters into the debates of our time. “Not to act reasonably, not to act with logos, is contrary to the nature of God”, said Manuel II, according to his Christian understanding of God, in response to his Persian interlocutor....”
Please read that first sentence again. I hope it doesn’t seem peevish to point out that the West faces several dangers even greater than those posed by an incomplete epistemology. The West is endangered, primarily, by the religious fragmentation of the human community, by religious impediments to clear thinking, and by the religious willingness of millions to sacrifice the real possibility of happiness in this world for a fantasy of a world to come. We are living in a world where untold millions of grown men and women can rationalize the violent sacrifice of their own children by recourse to fairy tales.
I think that last sentence refers to Masada, the fort where Jewish Zealots killed themselves and their children in 73 CE instead of surrendering to the Romans, a highlight in Zionists belief in their righteousness. While not a "fairy tale," I think he's saying that religion kills children. He could've well said something about Waco. When I read that, I thought the guy had no balls. He hates Islam, and loves to piss on it by association, why annoy evangelicals and Jews?
So, there you go, Samuel. You've got your name in bits. Enjoy the profit from your intellectual dishonesty. When you've got your 501(3)c set up to embarass religions, give me a call.
As a last bit, Mohammed Khatami, a religious scholar and former president of Iran spoke a few weeks ago in Chicago. I was fortunate enough to hear him speak on the very same topic the Pope would take up and Harris wants to be a dickrider of: dialog between faiths. Here's a snippet (apologies for the awful translation):
... there is a great opportunity of dialog and cooperation of working among people of faith, people of religion, the religious community and the people of faith - truly people of faith and people of true religion, not the extremists or terrorists or people who exploit religion and they use the name of religion, those getting involved in the terrorist or extremist activities but the balanced view, the people who understand this, and then those on the other side - the people who have pain of humanity in their heart the secular people [haters], the leadership on the other part on who are not known as the leadership of the religious - these two communities can work together and can communicate to one another for the betterment and better understanding of the cause of humanity. Here is the time when dialog among civilizations can come in, the dialog among civilizations can help to bring these two communities or segments together – the people of true faith and the people who are truly concerned about humanity.
I found this 1967 book at a yearly Brandeis U's Women's Committee benefit booksale in Old Orchard Mall's parking lot, sometime in the late 70's early 80's
"The trouble with non-conformity today is that unless you do it properly, "in" non-conformists will call you a square. In this book Elissa Jane Karg, who at sixteen is an expert, takes you by the hand and introduces you into the real world of non-conformity..."
Thanks to I Must Be Emo for getting me to revisit a favorite book of mine.
Poems, using the Fibonacci series as a template: Fibonacci Poems Multiply on the Web After Blog's Invitation, NYT, 04/14/2006
Merriam-Webster's put up
10 free text downloads for the iPod
- Declaration of Independence (1776)
- Constitution of the United States (1787)
- Bill of Rights (1791)
- Louisiana Purchase Treaty (1803)
- Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
- Gettysburg Address (1863)
- Civil Rights Act (1964)
- Social Security Act (1935)
- Monroe Doctrine (1823)
- Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
In a country where the constitution explicitly protects a worker's right to strike (think about that for a moment - here in the US a strike is a massively consequential matter), workers are striking about a proposed French law, the "First Job Contract (CPE, contrat premiere embauche)," that will allow employers to fire at will any worker under 26 before their 2 year employment anniversary. The figures for French unemployment are egregious, ranging from the low 10% to the upper 40%'s, when the younger age group is taken in isolation. French employers are hire-shy when looking for employees due to the country's mandated worker benefits - they want to be sure that the investment they make is the absolute right one without being on the hook for paying for underperformers. "Financing those benefits has created a debt whose annual interest approaches France's total annual income-tax revenues." (Time)
This issue is an issue about practical, modern socialism (and the failures thereof) and not, except tangentially, related at all to unions as we here in the US know them. Beware Stateside socialist union doom and gloom naysayers. The French are attempting to reform their robust established social safety net in order to get more people jobs, without resorting to the American-styled capitalism they're even more vehemently against. Add to this the irony that the youth are striking and protesting to salvage a social system that continues to bankrupt France.
So, if I were to be asked to comment, I'd say this to the striking university students and their constitutionally protected union organizers: Grow up.
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Better than a non-sequitur generator, feedback spam is great for ether-generated p
noetry.
3.14 1:59:26
In nine years it'll be sweet: 3.14.15 9:26:53!
A One Act Play
Guy: "I don't know the meaning of irony. Oh, and by the way, I can't tell you the evil due to my belief in Security Clearances."
Press: "OMG GUY SAYS HE CAN'T SAY! AFOULNESS AFOOT!"
NYT Readers: "heheh, they used 'alliteration'. Oh, and by the way, Bush is bad!"
FIN
(hippies, off stage left: !B4O)
Proclaiming "I am al Qaeda," Zacarias Moussaoui was escorted from a federal courtroom in Alexandria on Monday at the outset of jury selection in his terrorist conspiracy trial. As he was removed by federal marshals, he shouted, "This trial is a circus."
CBS News, today
Why oh why can't we see this stuff on TV? We miss out on Moussaaoui's insane ramblings just like we do Mr. Saddam's trial. There must be TV executives who are squirming for rights to broadcast this great, great stuff.
Here're some other nuggets from Moussaoui (in no way definitive):
- I don't want you to have the time to manipulate the system again against me
- Do you think that I am crazy to see your Doctor Frankeinstein.
- Do you think that every month I am going to put up with your insanity
- Leonie Brinkema your mentally sick.
Wikipedia on MoussaouiMoussaoui Letter 1,
Letter 2,
Appeal Transcript, The Smoking Gun
On the heels of a poll where everybody but the Israelis thinks Americans are crap (BBC "
What the World Thinks of America", Pew
Global Attitudes Project), Turkey's new blockbuster "
Valley of the Wolves Iraq," opening tomorrow, portrays American soldiers as butchers:
"In the most expensive Turkish movie ever made, American soldiers in Iraq crash a wedding and pump a little boy full of lead in front of his mother.
They kill dozens of innocent people with random machine gun fire, shoot the groom in the head, and drag those left alive to Abu Ghraib prison - where a Jewish doctor cuts out their organs, which he sells to rich people in New York, London and Tel Aviv."
Neat, huh?
Billy Zane stars as the lead, rogue American soldier, and
Gary Busey as the Jewish-American doctor. This, apparently, after the popularity of a fiction book published in Turkey,
Metal Storm (nyt,
aljazeera), which portrays a bloody war between the US and Turkey in 2007.
Talk about a failure of "hearts and minds" - and these are our
allies. Meanwhile, US tv audiences are
glued forcefully to their navels (no offense to the "heros," you know who you are) with A&E's "Flight 93".
A few weeks ago, I read Salman Rushdie's latest Shalimar the Clown and absolutely loved it. It's a story of jilted Kashmiri husband turned terrorist motivated by revenge on the person who caused him the pain of his lost wife and how his life's unraveled story comes to be intertwined with his American half-daughter, named India. This book spoke to me in many ways, as Rushdie's books often do, and I can only guess the impact would be less so for someone who's not familiar with the combo of India, Islam, the West, and of course a healthy penchant for the present and past of diplomacy and terror. Rushdie writes chapters in many perspectives - from the young, lithe half-Kashmir, half-European India (and yes, the irony is intended), to her Ambassador father Max Ophuls, to her Kashmiri mother Boonyi, to Noman/Shalimar the husband of Boonyi and terrorist. Like many of his other books, the narrative's laced with enough Hindi and Kashmiri words and customs (and food) as to be enticingly exotic yet homey.
It'd be easy to write things like "Rushdie makes density feel diaphanous and subtle. It was a true joy to read the words written. The story was poignant, capricious, exciting and topical." but none of that really matters. The story is grippy and the guy's literally a genius (there's a redundant pun in there, struggling to come out). It was an easy read and wholly pleasurable, except for the mornings after the many nights up til 4am. The topicality of the book comes directly from the beautiful descriptions of Kashmir (where there was just a quake) and the Pakistani-Indian political relations centering around Kashmir, the obvious Islamist terrorist references in Kashmir, Afghanistan and Indonesia, and the modernesque descriptions of LA.
Then, most recently (ie today), I finished a book that I'd given Jack that, once he read it, insisted I read: Gene Wolfe's Shadow & Claw. Science-fantasy isn't my genre anymore and I was a bit hesitant. I find myself picking up non-fiction to force calm upon my ADD mind and lately, travel books. I'll occasionally pick up a fiction book, like Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go (which I also gave my highest rating of "absolutely loved" due to a great many things, such as the dystopian setting and the slight mystery of the narrator's identity, though I didn't write about it) that'll make me less skeptical about the genre, or Daum's Quality of Life Report (which I found to be almost an utter waste of time and will probably be snapped up by Hollywood to be made into a coming-of-age-empowerment movie) that makes me never want to read fiction ever again (I can just go to the movies). Reading science fiction/fantasy as a genre of choice, though, had ended for me after Tolkien and Herbert.
To clearly explain this book, I'm compelled to use a metaphor. To ride a horse you first must not be afraid of it, for it will smell fear on you and buck you straight away. With Wolfe, he starts out clearly indicating that even though it looks and smells and acts like a horse, it's not, it's a destrier and that word substitution alone is enough for you to forget you're riding a horse-that's-not-a-horse until it's obvious you're already on it and trotting away. That's fine. The first half of the book (Shadow & Claw are actually two books in one, but I'm going to refer to the text between the covers as one) is an intriguing and well written (what I thought to be) Conan-story of cloistered journeyman Severian and his adventures towards the throne.
There's enough in the first half of the book - a first-person narration in an autobiographical style of the travails of a postmodern, postapocalyptic medieval Torturer - to hint not so subtly that there's a long mythological history behind so much of the odd language and words of the cultural phenomena described as Severian travels from his only known existence in the Torturer's guild to and through the vast city beyond. By the end of the first half, I was a bit saddle sore but quite pleased with the ride.
The second half of the book shifts gears wildly, which isn't inconsistent so much as jarring as shifting gears expectedly is. The problem, though, is that the IV-drip of background mythology is immediately turned up so that by the end of the book (Severian, who was, earlier on, tasked with traveling to a remote town called Thrax and does not end with Severian reaching Thrax, though, granted these two books are only the first part of a series) you're literally choking on the boluses of background myth coursing through the pages. Not to mention, the fantastical occurences are so wild yet so obviously part of Wolfe's world that I practically forgot that Severian was supposed to be going towards Thrax.
The guild of Torturers is explained in such a way, from the perspective of an insider and his views on how outsiders regard the profession of torturing, that the reflections and respect can't help but be juxtaposed with the current debate on torture and cruel and inhumane treatment. Being a science-fantasy book, the parallels are tenuous at best, but it did make me reflect for a short time until Wolfe started piling on the mythology into the furnace of the book and the not-horse shifted wildly into nuclear gear. In communicating with uncommunicative Jack (he's off playing "Who's Your Uncle?" with women and childfolk) I've many times used the word "crazy." Stunned as I am from the experience of reading this book, it's probably a pretty apt description. Ursula K. LeGuin (one of my favorite scifi authors) gushes (as evidenced by the use of the trope "ellipsis") on the back cover of this Nebula and World Fantasy Award winning book "Magic stuff ... a masterpiece... the best science fiction I've read in years!" No where in that does she mention that you're going to get bucked. Then trampled. Then bucked and trampled simultaneously. Not once.
There you have it, a two-plus book review gift. Remember, it's the thought that counts.
Of course I loved it, duh. I have to see it again, though - sitting in the first row pretty much sucked.
Here's funny:
Also, if you haven't heard Harry and the Potters,
do.
Steve Jobs
kicks ass - always has, always will.
Yes, tomorrow is the opening of the UN's 60th General Assembly in New York and there'll be lots of hot things to come from that (the non-definition of "terrorism" already abandoned as a topic, UN reform, speeches from Bush, Sharon, Musharraf, Ahmedinejad, and Putin, among other delectable UN wordplay) but the most anticipated sparks will be outside the UN at the
George Galloway vs. Christopher Hitchens debate tomorrow at 7p EST.
Hitchens has already shown himself (on the Daily Show, most recently, contrary to the opinion of Jon Stewart fans) to be a strong and eloquent advocate for pro-Iraq war rationale (albeit he has reservations about the execution, as does anyone with a TV or brain) and should be well positioned to make sweet, sweet love to the darling of the Left's
Galloway, an unabashed Bush basher and UK MP for his own breakway anti-war "Respect" party who'll hopefully rehash his
wonderful performance given in the Senate Investigations Subcommittee of May 17, 2005 (
video).
Some select quotes:
"Bush, and Blair, and the prime minister of Japan, and Berlusconi,
these people are criminals, and they are responsible for mass murder in
the world, for the war, and for the occupation, through their support
for Israel..." - Galloway, Al Jazeera, 06/20/2005
"Senator, in everything I
said about Iraq I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong
- and 100,000 have paid with their lives, 1,600 of them American
soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies ... Senator, this is the mother of all smokescreens. You are trying to divert attention from the crimes that you supported." - Galloway responding to Senator Norm Coleman, 05/17/2005
"[Christopher Hitchens is a] drink-sodden former Trotskyist popinjay and useful idiot" - Galloway upon spotting Hitchens, just before the 05/17 Senate hearing
"[That] was unfair." - Hitchens responding to the above Galloway comment.
I am one of those who believe, uncynically, that Osama bin Laden did us
all a service (and holy war a great disservice) by his mad decision to
assault the American homeland four years ago. Had he not made this
world-historical mistake, we would have been able to add a Talibanized
and nuclear-armed Pakistan to our list of the threats we failed to
recognize in time. - Christopher Hitchens, A War to be Proud Of, Weekly Standard, 09/12/2005
Tasty! I sincerely hope Hitchens can drop some knowledge on Galloway before the seasoned entertainer (er, "member of parliment") panders to what seems like will be a self-selected and stacked audience. Ah, it's just too much to ask to have logic interfere with showmanship!
New York is truly the center of the Hottness Based Community.
A May 27 story in the Greeley Tribune quoted Allard
as saying the more illegal immigration there is, "the more crime you
have." ... Colorado Democratic Party Chairwoman Pat Waak called on Allard to apologize and assailed his remarks as "another example of Republican attitudes toward the Latino community ...
"I think the chair of the Democratic Party owes an
apology to the Hispanic community for identifying all illegal
immigrants as Hispanics," Allard said.
Denver Post, 06/29/2005
That quote from Senator Allard prompted cries for apologies.
I'm
unclear here, isn't something that's illegal already a crime? And
if it's not -- because for something to be designated a "crime" it has
to be prosecuted -- doesn't this beg the question about our enforcement
and tolerance of illegal immigration?
It's like a firetruck racing through town with a loudspeaker, everone's going to hear something about it, they may just not care so much. Here's my review of Star Wars, episode 3: Revenge of the Sith: Cynical and pandering. The whole prequel series has been building up towards this cgi induced specta-debacle and it's boring. It looks like Lucas intentionally sacrificed the plot, dialog, and other actual movie bits to let big name actors and his successful theme carry the whole thing, so he could work on other projects (like
Indiana Jones 4 which, thankfully, he won't be directing).
There were some decent fight scenes in the first two, but this third one was all flashing and meanie fases, and very little actual anything to hold attention. I was so dulled by the time the climactic battle between Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker meandered around that I almost forgot that this was the dovetail/shank into the original series. Certain segments of that fight were actually visibile and weren't so bad. Then, as with everything else in the movie, the characters opened their mouths. "I have the high ground," Obi Wan exhorts, more of a pleading than a warning. "NUO!! I CAN JUMP REEL HIGH!" Anakin retorts. Say no more. Ruined, my childhood memories have been.
Reports are that
Hasbro may not make a gagillion dollars and will only make a quadrobillion. The way Star Wars is seen has officially changed forever and there's no room for nurdly dithering about what's "canon" - these 6 films are meant to be taken together in context and that context is cheesy dialog and plot without imagination.
Dawn & Drew's
100th Podcast
A little celebration of the previous shows and congradulatory comments.
I haven't heard all of their podcasts, but with 100 episodes of Dawn & Drew's interaction as a public slice of a couple's relationship, it's much more poignant than any scritped dramedy on tv. They're in stark contrast to Nick & Jessica's MTV "reality" interaction - Dawn & Drew are much more real - or at least much more poopie-pants-mouthed - and I invite them into my home. Thanks, Dawn & Drew for sharing your bits (of life) with the rest of us.
Rip & Read - 05/11
#110 and 05/12
#111
I'm a fan of Mr. Rodgers's nom de guerre Charlie Quidnunc (Latin for "what's up?" or "what's news?"). Some shows are about news I've heard or I don't think are terribly exciting (such as #110), but it's always neat to hear what his net's pulled in. One person I'm not a fan of is Dave Winer for some comments he made about NeXT - for which I have a special place in my heart - years ago as well as his insistence on LCD for the masses (pushing xml-rpc, rss, and soap). It's petty, I'm aware. I don't listen to his podcast or read his blog, so take that as you will. There's apparently a difference between passion and being opinionated and also being arrogant. I don't think a town hall style panel meeting was invented by Winer. The clip of Winer being petulant at
BlogNashville and the blog responses to the event made me feel not vindicated, but embarassed. With civility as a topic it's behavior, not past achievements, that make one's reputation. Thanks Charlie.
Evil Genius Chronicles,
05/11
Slusher typifies the predominant variant of podcasts that what people normally think about when describing a podcast - the audio blog. Mixing music into podcasts is a good thing, especially for this sort of low-production, no-edit, lo-fi, from the heart subgenre of podcasts. Three songs, I think. Paragraph markers. Some sort of theme, I'm not sure. Almost every podcast has at least one theme, expressed or not - the a/v geek theme. It's not really a choice. Being a podcaster means you're born this way - you've got to interact with audio and specific audio applications and it inevitably leads to talking about the frustrations and successes. With his extensive radio background, hearing small frustrations are almost disingenuous if it weren't for what people listen for when spinning up a podcast and what makes him a darling of podcast creators: a guy, a microphone, dialog talking to you and not at you, and dedication. This type of podcasting points directly back to the medium and meaning of blogs and the blogging phenomena. Slusher, to me, represents this early creator arc. I'd have to listen more and constantly to really be able to make a connection back.
Tracks Up A Tree,
05/11 Promote Brooklyn
Funtime Ben's podcast is one of my favorites and I always enjoy listening to them. First off, this podcast is sort of like Reel Reviews, in that he plays music that means something to him and makes that connection via his commentary. There's a bit of direction down this path. This is more of a music-radio-like podcast than an audio blog show. His musical taste is similar to mine and it's always a successful treasure hunt. For example,
Ageless Beauty by a band from Canadia,
Stars, of their 3rd album,
Set Yourself On Fire. Italian hand kisses. Perfecto.
Sunday's a day to catch up on podcasts. Some of these are very old, so don't sue me.
Michael Geoghegan's
review of
The Conversation. Geoghegan's great, he really tries to explain why the movie he's reviewing's fascinating, the nuances and the background that make him so interested in the film. That's extrordinary. His reviews have that dynamic ability to show him seeing the film, so it's a completely earnest and personal perspective. Also listened to his
review of
The Filth and the Fury, a documentary about the Sex Pistols. I don't have any interest in the Sex Pistols, but I really appreciate the summary and the history. There're a few for my Blockbuster queue. (
Blowup,
The Conversation)
Dawn & Drew epsiode #
78. Bad teeth, iPods, Anal sex, and black licorice, what else needs to be said?
I signed up for a 4 week trial of Blockbuster online three days ago and received my first movies yesterday and today. Three days isn't so bad; apparently there's a distribution center in Denver (one of the original 10) so the time to send/recieve should be tolerable. I think I'll be able to anticipate wanting to watch a movie 3 days prior, but I'll keep watch.
I saw I Heart Huckabees with Jack and Amanda yesterday and found it to be a scattered and sophomoric pseudophilosophical (ie, trying to be too smart) plot with an ensemble cast. They used Jason Schwartzman to the proper effect, though. He was exactly the right combination of alternative eager, as per Rushmore. Whee. I watched most of About A Boy tonight (scenes 15-19 of 20 were scratched) and decided that were I 1) rich, 2) in England, and 3) looked like Hugh Grant, that's exactly what my life would be like right now, scratches and all (he finds happiness, but the crucial scenes where he experiences the turn around - flawed!).
Blockbuster, if you're keeping score, you suck since 50% of the movies I've watched (33% of the ones I've received) have been scratched or “unwatchable,” according to your website. (Don't worry, Blockbuster, dear, you've got weeks to make it up to me.) I have American Chai for later on.
I returned Huckabees today, so we'll see how quickly the next one on my list, Talaye Sorkh, arrives. I'm still looking for something that'll rss/xml/export my queue, so I can share it with other people. If anyone comes across something, please let me know.
Movies, I'm starting to think, are like little 2 hour books, but not really - only in the way that they're engrossing. They're, at the very least, a way to soak up an annoying spot of time that's lying about. I've been meaning to catch up on a list of movies I haven't seen, but it's bittersweet - at some point, my list won't overlap with anyones. I suppose it'll be back to venturing outside into movie theaters!
This essay was one of many written by the third grade class of Al Saddam in Ramadi (recently renamed to “National School”) and is typical of most of Khanoume Jaffari’s class.
My Hero
by Fazia Akbar, 8
My hero is the man with the most courage and bravery. He is able to escape Amerki soldiers with no problems. I know he can run very fast with three legs! He is my hero because he is also a good muslim and has a beard and is named Zarqawi. I would like to use a computer some day with him. I would to take pictures for the Amerki soldiers to find on my computer. I think as a good runner I would be very fast and would use my scarf as a cape. Also, I would not flinch if someone put me in jail even if I had to wear a black bourkha like a tent! He is my hero because he saves us from occupations. I think he is really good at being a hero!
(Thanks, Ian!)
Reuters: “Metro newspaper showed 62.3 percent of respondents who have decided how to vote oppose the treaty.” That vote's going to happen on 05/29.
That's up from the Metro newspaper 03/15 poll, 57.8%. Salut!
Tim Lehmann, Assistant Director of PNAC thinks it's due to the Turkey issue (Weekly Standard).
It'll be Europe's just desserts (flan, probably) if France bails on the 500+ page Constitution, authored by one of France's former Presidents. (Recall, good Citizens, that ours is about 11 pages.)
"Houses"—so the Wise Men tell me—
"Mansions"! Mansions must be warm!
Mansions cannot let the tears in,
Mansions must exclude the storm!
"Many Mansions," by "his Father,"
I don't know him; snugly built!
Could the Children find the way there—
Some, would even trudge tonight!
- Emily Dickinson
The Window of My Soul
During prayer I am accustomed to turn to God like this
and recall the meaning of the words of the Tradition,
“the delight felt in the ritual prayer.”
The window of my soul opens,
and from the purity of the unseen world,
the book of God comes to me straight.
The book, the rain of divine grace, and the light
are falling into my house through a window
from my real and original source.
The house without a window is hell;
to make a window is the essence of true religion.
Don't thrust your ax upon every thicket;
come, use your ax to cut open a window.
- Rumi
I came upon a child of god
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, where are you going
And this he told me
I’m going on down to yasgur’s farm
I’m going to join in a rock ’n’ roll band
I’m going to camp out on the land
I’m going to try an’ get my soul free
We are stardust
We are golden
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
Then can I walk beside you
I have come here to lose the smog
And I feel to be a cog in something turning
Well maybe it is just the time of year
Or maybe it’s the time of man
I don’t know who l am
But you know life is for learning
We are stardust
We are golden
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
By the time we got to woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation
We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devil’s bargain
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
- joni mitchell
craigslist.org post and
cycletrader.com post
"Someone buy me, I rule! Vroom."
Tonight, The World Cafe is having Keane on live, and is going to have Moby, Ivy, and Brazilian Girls, all after Fresh Air's interview with religous writer and ex-nun Karen Armstrong (author of the excellent Buddah, Islam: A Short History, etc.). A great night to stay in and listen to the radio.
Why shouldn't our dear fearless leader have a podcast? I mean, he's got a weekly radio address (each under 5 minutes). Is he against mp3s, and by proxy does that mean we are against mp3s? I dunno, but I thought I should e-mail him and ask. As I was doing so, I found the proper place to ask technical questions and was really disappointed that I didn't have reason to e-mail him. Like, what's he got to do that's better than checking out radio/index.html from cvs and editing it? I bet he'd leave it checked out and blame Cheney. Oh well, nurd humar averted.
After a bit of manipulation, I decided to test out an RSS feed for the administration. They'll come up with one eventually, they're the government.
"And although it seems unlikely that Bono will get the job, on Sunday, Treasury Secretary John Snow said that he has not ruled out the idea of the singer being added to the list of potential candidates for the leadership of the World Bank.
According to an Associated Press report, Snow said, "I am not going to review here all the candidates that are on the list. But I will attest to my admiration for Bono. He does a lot of good in this world of economic development. Most people know him as a rock star — he's in a way a rock star of the development world, too. He understands the give-and-take of development. He's a very pragmatic, effective and idealistic person." "
[
link]
"uno, dos, tres QATARZEEEEH" - Bono, counting money in the World Bank vaults. I have vertigo. I'm well intentioned, I donated to tsunami victims, make me the head of the World Bank. Seriously people, get a grip.
Yesterday, I was driving to Denver in a car that was like an estranged friend and had no tape player so, with my iPod on the fritz (the reason I was heading south in the first place - well, one of them), I listened to commercial radio; particularly the “alternative” stations. Apart from the curious use of “emo” by the button jockey, they played a Foo Fighters track (Everlong), 2 RATM songs (Guerilla Radio, irony anoyone, and Bombtrack), a Nirvana one (Heart Shaped Box), and a Cure song (Just Like Heaven; additionally they did a spoof entitled 'crank calling Robert Smith'). That sort of playlist reminds me when I used to actually listen to commercial radio - haven't times changed since college? Good tracks, no doubt, but should the purportedly edgy, emo Clearchannel station be retitled “classic indie“ or something?
On the way back, I turned the radio off and listened to what I had on the ailing iPod (diagnosis: fragmentation and general malaise brought on by forcing an Apple device to mate with Windows); here's a sampling:
Honey Pie, Beatles
Fallen For You, Sheila Nichols
Baby Britain, Elliot Smith
O Stella, PJ Harvey
You Said Something, PJ Harvey
In the Morning, Norah Jones
New Mate, Figurine
As a little homage to Mr. Hornby, this brief is about what I read last month and how I've been duly influenced. I initially went to Barnes to buy my brother The DaVinci Code so that he could read it on our upcoming New Years trip and succumbed to the double-threat Siren's song of the desire to be reading (which is very different from the actual desire to read) and the hedonistic gauntlet of books on display while walking through the aisles trying to find Mr. Brown's book. I actually went twice. I found The DaVinci Code on the first try, no problem -- 30% off post-Christmas sale, front and center -- but was hooked by The Polysyllabic Spree on my way out, hamstringing myself with past reading of Fever Pitch, High Fidelity (and of course the movie), and About a Boy (movie to be seen) and having heard some NPR review of the book. I couldn't remember exactly what it was about -- I thought it was a book of short stories -- but when I got it home I was pleasantly surprized. It's about Mr. Hornby's struggle with reading the books he buys which for most readers, as he rightly points out, is difficult, since there're always more books bought than read. The little subtitle/jacket blurb reads “a hillarious and true account of one man's struggle with the monthly tide of the books he's bought and the books he's been meaning to read“ and “a collection of fourteen months of his essays from the Believer magazine.“
I went back to Barnes the next day because I had to have what I thought would be good island reading material: Francis Fukuyama's State Building, after having seen the author talk about it on CSPAN2 (which is fast becoming my favorite channel). On my way to the checkout, there stood in the orgiastic gauntlet of words, a newly translated edition of Swann's Way, by Marcel Proust and I had to have it -- never mind that 1) I have at least two copies in the house already, and at least one back at my parent's house where the bulk of my books live, and 2) I've never actually read all the way through it, since it puts me to sleep and I nod off remembering things past. The Now Habit arrived by post -- a book tangentially recommended to me by a friend's friend's wish list. So, stocked up with such great books, I was ready to lay on the beach and read some stuff in a week or so.
The chapters are short and engrossing in The Polysyllabic Spree so, by the time I'd touched down in Chicago, I'd read it all. It was fruitful and I was satisfied. It made me feel better about reading, which can sometimes feel like “wasting time“ sitting there while the world screams by at an ever quickening pace. There's great insight into what Mr. Hornby considers Literary Novels and the visceral connection that the written word can make in one's life, in particular, his. I learned a bit about autism through the books he read (his son is autistic) and about the clique or community of authors and publishers that he's in. Authors, editors and publishers that he know would send him books, asking him to read and review them because they were 'just like' his own work, his brother-in-law (who's a writer) would send him a book, etc. None of the personal touches or the community seemed contrived or exclusionary -- it's as if he was inviting me in to take a look at how strange “they” really are, even while he's part of the whole thing.
I started State Building and got quite into it, but it's dense and layered, mostly because it's Mr. Fukuyama's lectures in book form and its academic pace is ever so slightly different than the jaunty anecdotal and reflective tone of the previous book read. By the time I got to my island destination, I was only partially through the first chapter. Over the next few days, I read some, but the island has its own rythym, more for sand castle building rather than state building. I put it down and picked up The Now Habit, which is a self-help book about how not to procrastinate. It opens with a bunch of profiles of procrastinators which is quite fun to read, since there're lots of points of identification with the characters, and it goes on to say how wonderfully they stopped procrastinating, so there's character development and a happy ending, multiple clinical cases over. Whee! I never knew reading self-help books could be so helpful to my very self. I got through half of it and felt really, really guilty for putting it down, which I think is partially the objective of the book. I read State Building on the planes back, which is impressive for me, since my super power is Sleeping on Planes. I don't normally split books or try to juggle more than one or two books at a time - it's an additional layer of intellectual hubris I'm really not ready to admit. I will, though, make grandiose promises and fill up my bookcases.
This month, I'll finish up State Building and The Now Habit and maybe even start Swann's Way, which I carted out and back into the United States. I brought back A Barthes Reader, edited by Susan Sontag, because it was staring at me from my college bookcase during my brief stay in Chicago and I'm a sucker for my postmodern past. Stray threads.
In the Bahamas, there are some sweet vehiculars that don't exist in the States.
- Kia Visto
- Toyota Yaris
- Suzuki Ignis
Watched some coverage from the car shows in LA and in Europe and there're some very interesting cars coming out (mustang, etc.) or in concept (volvo ycc - for/by girls). Also, the guy who brought us the Yugo is looking to flood the American market with $14k Chinese cars. Whee.
Benjamin Walker's Theory of Everything: 30 minutes. Listened to #10 “Evil” on Sat., which has two stories in a personal interview and reflective style reminiscent of This American Life. The first story was about Darth Vader (a guy who'd changed his name to) and the 2nd was about Walker's visit to the Hague to give Slobodan Milosovic some books. I don't really believe the first story, but I'd have to do some internet-lookingup; both were very worth listening to. Rating 8/10
I love Wes Anderson's movies since they're so quirky and layered like your dad's ascot or finding a local bookstore's bookmark in the leatherbound books in the private school you never went to. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (website) was so much fun, made even more so by the fact that it was the first movie of the day and effectively empty. I'm not really smart enough to review the movie, but great repeat performances from Bill Murray, Angelica Huston, Owen Wilson, and some hillarious performances from Jeff Goldblum, Cate Blanchett, and Willem Dafoe. The relationship between Murray and Huston (and Goldblum; their characters played an estranged threesome) was just great and the dialog askew enough, the characters crenelated enough, the subtle details obvious enough to keep me smirking throughout.
Afterwards, I went to Best Buy to look for the soundtrack but the lot was full with people returning Christmas gifts. I looked on iTunes, but the whole album isn't there (one of the actors, Seu Jorge, also did great renditions of Bowie tunes, acoustically and in portugese throughout the whole movie and with Mark Mothersbaugh doing the soundtrack, how could I not get), so maybe Barnes later.
The only notable preview was the Hitchhiker's Guide (website), which didn't show much, except that it was a Disney film. Oh, right and some scary movie (Dark Water) by the Ring author with the always beautiful Jennifer Connelly.
BBC Radio4's “In Our Time“: An hour. Interviews with physicists about the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. Sounds boring or at least pedogogical, right? Really facscinating stuff, actually, but had to pay attention, or at least rewind a bit. The presenter, Melvyn Bragg, did a great job of pretending like he didn't understand in order to get the physicists to explain a point (I fully believe the guy's a smarty). On the superficial side, British accents talking about physics - what could be better. Not the expected “podcast“ but a very welcome one, indeed. Rating: 7/10
Rip & Read Blogger Podcast: I liked this one; the producer read a lot of blogs, distilled them, made commentary. Precisely what one wants in a review/summary: enough of the real stuff plus enough of what the producer thought was interesting. Subtle and nicely done. Three of them, about 13 minutes each. Rating: 8/10
Tracks Up the Tree: This one was great. Some neat music (Metric, I already love, so that made my ears happy) and some personal commentary about the music so you got to know a bit about who was talking. “Funtime Ben,“ the host, comes across as knowledgable, engaged, interested in spreading indie, and not haughty or snooty as some of my friends or myself, er, um, some of the other indie music whores, er, people can sometimes be. This is one I'll listen to a second time, just to hear some of the songs. I have a bunch of Blonde Redhead, but I haven't really gotten into them so much. Same with Stephen Malkmus Listening to TUTT, I'm definately going to give them a listen again, too. On top of that, some suggestions for other podcasts, other than Podcast Alley. At the time, the Podcast Alley site was down, but this podcast is worthy of me deliberately going out and touching someone (via a rating, guttermind). (oh yeah, and it makes me miss nyc.) An hour, fully worth it. Rating: 8/10
Two Rights: Conservative Political Discourse: Some good dissection of the stories of the news cycle, too much focus on Dave Winer. When I subscribed to this podcast, their feed coughed up some “promos“ for their upcoming show. Now, I was eager to get an ear on the real show, so the garish 30 second or so teasers turned me off. It annoyed me that I'd have to find and delete the files. Yeah, it's a small thing. The odd commercialism of it all was, I guess, commendable? They've got friends who're podcast PR people, which seems like an odd curveball play to get into the adworld. Didn't appeal to me as much as I thought it would. The whining (pun intended) was too much and (w/o the pun) not the grating conservative whine, although there was some screedy tones. Speaking of tones, their mics were a bit hot. Overall not subtle, and I didn't expect it to be, but not really provocative, either. 30 minutes (not including seperate promo teasers) Rating: 5/10
Also, a Dawn & Drew today. Cute, lewd, yay.
Two things strike me about the podcasts I've listened to so far: The first, it seems like the indie one's I've heard have only been produced for a very short time (under 6 months), which is simply amazing. Even The Geek News, which didn't impress me impresses me simply for the balls to actually do the thing and have caught on so much. The dedication of the people that speak into a mic and rss their voices all over is commendable. The second is summed up in this line, from the TUTT site: “You snub one of us, you snub us all.” This second “thing” or comment or random though or whatever is a very fertile one for me, since it sprouts up a lot of thoughs about virtual communities, possessiveness, companionship, and self-referrential postmodern cliqueishness. Also, the reference to blogcons reminds me of anime/d+dcons and a good chunk of Chasing Amy. More as it ferments. For now, I'm going to browse the inkernet podosphere and not worry so much about what it signifies.
Geek News Central. It's Sesame Street meets A+ certification. The guy is reading release notes from software, slashdot, other peoples' blogs, and even more self-referrential, other peoples' podcasts. Honestly. I can read faster than I listen, so what's the point. Poor guy, though. Seems like he's trying, I've known people like him (from what I can tell, in 20 minutes) and I guess there's a market for it. The information isn't useful to me. Rating: 0/10
Dawn & Drew Show: their 50th show. They must be doing something good, because they're basically #1 podcasters and they just started in September. Three months. Not so interested in their lives, though they basically talk like anyone else does, but in this way that's in between what's said in private and what's said to be extroverted. There's just a hint of an act. It's sort of sweet, their interaction - and their personalities definately come through. I'm not an ex-punk, they are. They also live in Wisconsin. It's audio lookylooism. About 40 minutes. Rating: 4/10
Reel Reviews: This is nice. The guy reviewed the Scorcese film “The King of Comedy” and had a good contexual background to it. Easy to listen to and informative. May even watch the movie reviewed. 20 minutes. Rating: 7/10
Dot Net Rocks: I've listened to this hour long show before, but never “podcasted” which isn't any different. This one was a chat with a Microsoft insider. A bit screedy, but I guess that's sort of to be expected. Rating: 6/10.
So far, I'm a bit disappointed with the content that's out there, but I've got a few more sources queued up, so I'll keep giving the genre of home radio a listen.
When I was growing up, there were random encounters with Dr. Demento, a crazy show with satire and pre-Wierd Al like music, mostly in the back of a van or in hotel room with the seniors of the Math team. (yeah, yeah, suck it up. i'll factorialize you, beeotch.) It was, for me, sort of like a three-way crash between a clown car culture of the '60's, my parents' Ambassador culture, and whatever smoke-filled senior's car high school culture I grew up with. Luckily, my exposure was short, just long enough to retain some smell molecules so that when similar things pop up, a sense memory is triggered. When I started looking through
Podcast Alley for this podcast phenomena (what's a podcast? it's an audio blog posting, essentially, but really any downloadable mp3), I got a shudder and a chill. What is it about car crashes that makes one stare? I dunno, but the soma and schadenfreude of listening to - not just reading, a la blogs - other peoples thoughts is a meta-layer of creep above the insanity that's out there. The time people "waste," geez.
Podcat is a 50 minute podcast of excerpts of other podcast in a icky audio montage that somehow appeals to people. It's painful to listen to the intro, the transitions, etc. but this is the contextually appropriate way to get an overview of what's out there (reading about podcasts seems like cheating). It's character building, I keep telling myself, the cat screech segues and the psychedelic hyperdramatic "host." I don't really want to listen to
Adam Curry (yes,
that Adam Curry, of MTV - who already seems to wax nostalgic about podcasts) or Dave Winer (no link, on ethical grounds; i'm a little ill even typing the name) or the highly talked about
Dawn & Drew Show (which I've subsequently downloaded via the
iPodder rss software). If only it wasn't so painful to listen to the summaries and the transitions of Podcat.
Here are some of the podcasts I've downloaded:
- Podcat - gross. Like, I'm sure I'm supposed to say that I appreciated the exposure to other podcasts and not snip at the production quality, but that's literally what triggered my Dr. Demento memories. It's grating. I hate that I haven't found an appealing way to be exposed to podcasts, it's simply hackneyed and offputting. Podcat, stop it.
- Dawn & Drew Show - The snippet I heard on Podcat (again, why I do it to myself, I have no idea) plus the reviews I've read made me think it might be fun to listen to.
- Two Rights: Conservative Political Discourse - searching on Podcast Alley came up with this and I want to check it out because I'm starting with the assumption that people that're out there are whiney liberals. Maybe these guys'll be whiney conservatives. Reading about their latest podcast, they're commenting on Dave Winer (I just threw up a little in my mouth) ... sad to see these podcasters eating their own poop (and yes, i can smell it on me).
- Reel Reviews - some guy's film reviews. Not bad; informational, some opinion, doesn't piss me off, doesn't piss me off about the genre.
... here are the
Top 50 Podcasts from Podcast Alley.
Can't wait for the commercialization of the indie which always happens with this (an under-the-table podcast sponsored by McD's or Sony or whatever PR firm for whatever new teen movie blitz; not to mention an "updated" version of
Pump Up The Volume).
Oh, yeah: "why?" Well, because I thought "hey, i have a bunch of free space on my iPod" and this seemed like a good idea. Right, why a good idea. A while back, I thought it would be the hottnoos if Dan, Jack, Ian and I got a radio segment on the
local liberal station and basically sat around for half an hour or an hour and jabbered about politics. Maybe even some call ins and it'd be hillarious. Sounds like commercial radio, nay traditional radio, is dying dead in the street smack dab in the middle of a triple-car crash. Sorry AirAmerica. Even
BBC piddles on you guys.
[edit: just like that:
Heineken podcast, 12/07]
The SciFi Channel started airing Stargate: Atlantis and I was immediately hooked. The last aired episode (#10, The Storm, aired Sept 17) was a cliffhanger. According to TV Tome, SciFi won't be airing the rest of the season 1 episodes until January. But they're being aired first in Canadia. This boggles my mind. Anyhow, thanks to the internet, there's a site with torrents of episodes 11 (The Eye, aired Nov 9 in Canada) and 12 (The Defiant One, aired Nov 16 in Canada).
I'm excited to download them, but I don't know what the implications are for watching tv on my computer.
Update: Great episodes. I guess TiVo'll catch them in January. (By then, I'll probably have watched them all! Thanks Canadians, muhahaha)
Yes, I'm anticipating the release of this game. I explored the open beta and it looks and feels great. Lots of cartoony interaction and animations, easy progression, lots of flair to pin to your desktop vest. I've been waiting for a decent DAOC replacement and this one looked like it might be it. After playing the open beta, I think it'll hold my interest much longer than DAOC did (two level 14 characters; by comparison, jay now and still has like 5 lvl 50's), despite what Jack has to say about my commitment and determination (which I know is a ploy and a challenge).
Most of the brief time in the open beta was with three characters:
- Night Elf Rogue, Piksee, Lvl 9
This one, ultimately, was the most fun. The quests seemed pretty straightforward and were a nice mix between exploration tutorials and kill farming. I started talking to as many NPCs as I could, getting quests and I let them stack up so that I had, at one point, five open quests, which really got to the ocd in me. I wanted to complete them, like immediately. At one point, I'd grouped with two warriors and was delighted to see that the game allowed quest sharing so we could all participate in overlapping quests. Not all quests were shareable. Definately made for a more collaborative experience. I didn't explore interaction as much as I would've liked, though I don't really consider MMORPGs to be social worlds like There. The difference and distinction between these worlds requires a whole other conversation.
The skills, such as Backstab, Gouge, and Eviscerate appeared to be well thought out - gaining power over a range of levels, requiring some to be used before others, having a recovery period - and added to the fun in the gameplay. I enjoyed a reptilian / pavlovian feeling by pressing the keys in order and watching the lights go blinkie and the status bars go woosh. By the time I stopped playing Piksee, I had about five different special attacks I could use as well as a buff. Combat was much more Blizzardian (ie Diablo or DungeonSeige) than DAOC and that was a good thing, in my opinion.
I tried out First Aid without really reading up much on how all the primary and secondary professions go together. Also seemed to be fairly straightforward with regards to crafting. Only at the very end of playing this character when I was mobbed by Gnarlpine Warriors did I need to use some of the bandages I'd crafted. Leatherworking and Skinning are recommended to go together, though I'm not so keen on wanting to be a pelt scavenger. Dying, recalling and resurrection were all very easy and didn't really take a toll on playtime for the level I was at.
The world was enjoyable and fun to explore, if a bit overpopulated. I'd played on a PST server - servers are divided up by timezone (PST, MST, CST, EST) and by PVP or huggy. There were limited beta servers available, and only a few times did experience any lag - none in combat situations.
I didn't get the opportunity to go into an instance dungeon, another one of the intriguing features of this game. Hopefully, soon.
- Dwarf Priest, Gronchbat, Lvl 3
Played through a few first quests, joined up with a dwarf rogue to complete one, and basically found the world to be enjoyable and understandable. Spells seemed reasonable and balanced. It appears that all characters have a distance attack or something that makes up for pulling monstrons. Both the priests's basic attack spells and the rogues attacks draw aggro a lot more than, say, a warrior's attacks. Nothing really surprizing, just worth noting.
- Undead Warlock, Aarrth, Lvl 4
I usually don't play primary spell casters or pet classes, but this was a nice experiment. First off, WOW doesn't allow 3 sequential letters in the name, so my original name of Aaaarrrr wasn't working. Intro quests were easy, though I didn't stack them up as I did with Piksee, since I knew there was no point in leaving things hanging with the beta going down. In the last five minutes of open beta, I was able to complete 2 quests and get to level 4. Nothing exciting, really, since it seems that most of the lower levels are pretty rote. Doing this the third time made me wonder about the higher levels.
Jay turned me on to the beta (he'd played both the closed and open beta) and also mentioned that the UI can be customized via XML. Some of the mods, as per CosmoUI (appears to be an in-game UI mod aggregator/manager), look really interesting. Blizzard states that the scripting involved is based upon Lua 5.0, which I'm going to explore a bit more into, since game scripting's always been of interest to me, since Neverwinter Nights brought it to the fore. There's a .NET version of Lua, too, but the author's page for it is down. Lots of opportunistic convergence here.
Some urls of interest: