Last night, I saw "Prometheus" in 3D. It is a prequel to the "Alien" movies and reveals a surprising origin to the Xenomorph aliens.
It was a visually astounding movie, in which the visual experience was greatly enhanced by the 3D effects. The scenes with holographic computer displays looked amazing every time. The sense of scale conveyed throughout the movie was meant to give the impression of tiny humans isolated on a vast alien moon far away from our home planet.
I've long been a fan of the art of H.R. Giger, whose 'biomechanical' aesthetic and creature designs were the inspiration for the original "Alien". Giger's influence was also apparant in this movie. There was an strong contrast between the brightly-lit ship of the title, the Prometheus, and the menacing Giger-esque ancient structures the crew found on their expedition.
Basically the story revolves around the highly-interconnected history between humans, the Xenomorphs, and a race of humanoid aliens, the Mala'kak (called 'The Engineers' in the movie). When you also add in the influence of the android David, the complex interactions between all of these beings in the movie makes the ideas of 'creator' & 'creation' irrelevant.
Although there is a connection with the Ancient Aliens theme that's popular right now, it is done in a way that is more profound than silly.
The story admittedly had a few plot points that were borderline ridiculous, even by sci-fi standards. However, the overall impact of the film allowed me to overlook these flaws and enjoy the though-provoking questions the movie raised.
The fictional Alien universe is a rich source of material & "Prometheus" made it much more interesting. This was a movie well worth watching, especially if you enjoy a mind-bending blend of science fiction & metaphysical speculation. One of my brothers saw it before me & said it produced more questions than answers. If done the right way, that can be the best kind of movie.
This past weekend, friends asked me to join them in protests taking place around the hotel that was hosting the 2012 Bilderberg Conference, in Chantilly, Virginia.
The Bilderberg Meetings are private, off the record forums attended by the members of the political, media, and corporate elite from around the globe. Critics of this secretive gathering claim that all kinds of nefarious conspiracies are being hatched from this event.
I decided to spend part of my weekend to go, in order to indulge my interests in politics, conspiracies (actual & theoretical), global affairs, &, most of all, people watching.
So, I drove down I-95 into Virginia where the meeting was held this year. When we got to the protest, I donned my high-tech Monkey Buddha protest disguise, specially designed to thwart advanced facial-recognition technologies being used by security. Ok, actually... it was a baseball cap & sunglasses to keep my face from getting burnt by the afternoon sun.
The only other political rally I've ever been to was "The Rally to Restore Sanity" in Washington DC. That is when a massive crowd of 250,000 people gathered on the capitol mall at the behest of Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert. It's the most people I've ever seen in one place. As you can see from the photos, that event was pure insanity. It was meant to help express a general frustration with the political state of the country.
This protest was a very targeted one, however, and there were maybe 1,000 protesters at the most. It was a very lively crowd, though. There were people from many different walks of life: students, activists, vets, families, working people of all kinds, retired folks, all trying to bring some accountability to the knuckleheads running the world. There were a few people who were acting a little crazy, but overall it was pretty peaceful.
A couple guys working the megaphones were from We Are Change, who made a bunch of videos confronting high-profile Bilderberg members. There were also people there from groups like The Oathkeepers, who are former military & police officers that are committed to preventing abuses of the 2nd amendment by those making & enforcing the law.
The protesters were specifically trying to bring attention to the fact that all these high-level people from around the world are gathering in secret to discuss global policy matters. Despite the main concern of the protest being the secretive nature of the Bilderberg Meetings, the people there were discussing a wide variety of issues that should be getting more coverage from the corporate media.
The Pied Piper of this particular movement is definitely Alex Jones, the host of the internet radio show Infowars. Although I don't listen to the show, I've been aware of him for awhile. Although he often dwells on conspiracy theories, of varying degrees of believability, he does seem to be trying to expose the tendency of those in power to create actual conspiracies.
Alex is a very forceful & charismatic personality. He was being constantly followed by a crowd & made several rants over the megaphone toward the "elitist scum" inside the hotel. I can see how the cult of personality has grown around him, but it would be a mistake to rely on him for all your information. He'll drag you down the NWO 'rabbit hole' until you go nuts. Personally, I always try to assimilate a diversity of viewpoints, from both mainstream & alternative news sources. Though watching Fox News pundits usually makes me feel nauseous, I try to take even them in once in awhile, just to see drastically different viewpoints from my own.
Here is a pic of me & my friend Loretta with Alex Jones wearing a sombrero, probably one of the greatest photos I've ever been in:
It was a very interesting experience, but I don't think it did much to stop whatever global political agendas are being implemented. That doesn't mean we can't get out there & practice our right to free speech, in protest of the greedy, short-sighted a-holes who are ruining the world.
Here are some photos of the protest outside the grounds of the hotel, (which I may or may not be in):
This past weekend I was fortunate to enjoy the 3-day holiday and the awesome weather.
On Saturday I sat out for a few hours at the local park to relax & read. Since I recently finished the biography of Steve Jobs, I'm now reading another biography, Scar Tissue by singer Anthony Keidis. I started listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers way back when I was in middle school in the early 90's. They are a great band & have a unique sound that's endured for decades now.
Sunday night I drove down to Atlantic City for a Dude's Night Out. I ended up at the Beach Bar off the boardwalk & had a pretty crazy time.
Despite having a formidable hangover on Memorial Day, I drove my brother to a nearby town where his girlfriend was staying. Her friend has a house right on the bay, so we spent the day swimming in the pool overlooking the water. After a few beers and a a couple plates of crab pasta, & I felt like a million bucks.
I decided to capture the patriotic image of the flag above that was flying over the dock, with the symbolic den of gambling, debauchery, & material excess in the background.
From this vantage point, at least, the flag is flying higher than the TRUMP-branded high rises.
I'm not even sure where to start when reviewing Assassin's Creed 2, other than, "Holy Crap, that was impressive."
Since I don't spend crazy amounts of time playing video games, I try to only pick titles that I know I'll enjoy after reading reviews & watching previews. That's why many of the games I've reviewed are 9.0's, because I don't waste my time if I don't think it'll be really good.
The story behind the Assassin's Creed series actually takes place in the modern day. The main character, Desmond Miles, is a descendant of a line of members of a secret historical faction, the Assassins. Their rival faction, The Templars, have been fighting for control of a mysteriously advanced technology over the course of hundreds of years.
Through experimental technology known as "The Animus", memory imprints can somehow be extracted from a person's genetic makeup. This DNA 'memory' is used to mentally re-create the historical experiences of Desmond's ancestors in a virtual reality experience. The player takes the role of Desmond- accessing his ancestors' memories to learn deeper truths about mankind's forgotten history.
I played the first Assassin's Creed a couple years ago. The original game takes place in the Holy Land during the Crusades, as Desmond's ancestor Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. I thought the re-creation of these ancient sites such as Jerusalem were awesome. Despite the fact that I like to try completing a game's side missions, though, they started getting very repetitive. Then, the game kept freezing every time I reached a certain point, & I couldn't continue playing. I sure as hell wasn't starting over, so I said 'screw it' & gave up on it.
Even though I didn't plan on playing any other games in the series after that, one of my brothers had Assassin's Creed 2. It is set in Renaissance Italy (which seemed really interesting) & got overwhelmingly positive reviews, so I decided to give it go. I'm extremely glad I did because it is an amazing game, with a superior level of production value that still has me awe-struck.
The sequel continues with Desmond trying to flee a Templar mega-corporation, Abstergo, that has been using him in experiments with The Animus. After he escapes with the help a small band of collaborators who have their own Animus machine, Desmond begins to recall the genetic memories of his Italian ancestor, Ezio Auditore da Firenze.
Being a designer & art history scholar, I found the opportunity to virtually explore cities of Renaissance Italy to be enjoyable in itself. Like most games that are produced with this high level of quality, I often found myself just wandering around the expansive locales- observing the meticulous detail of all the costumes, textures, architecture, and atmospheric effects that most people probably take for granted. As someone who has been playing video games since Pac-Man on the Atari 2600, I find the graphic quality of modern games like this to be spectacular.
I couldn't stop marveling at the impressive feat of reconstructing multiple, highly-detailed whole towns in an historically accurate way. Ezio gets to explore the sights & sounds of urban Florence, the country setting of Tuscany, and the canals of Venice. The crazy final sequence also takes you to Rome. The last scene takes place inside the Sistine Chapel, whose ceiling has not yet been painted by Michelangelo.
In addition to the beautiful graphics, Assassin's Creed 2 incorporates some actual art history into the gameplay. Ezio's family estate, Villa Auditore, is initially in disrepair. Throughout the game, items that you aquire help you improve the villa. One way to do this is to buy paintings by contemporary artists, like Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, & Titian. By the end of the game, you collect a large gallery of virtual paintings that would be any art lover's dream.
Another aspect of the game which I think is really cool is the deeper thread in the story, concerning the search for the mysterious origins of mankind and ancient knowledge, lost to history. This is a theme that was similarly explored in a book I read over the summer, Fingerprints of the Gods, by Graham Hancock.
The search in Assassin's Creed revolves around "Pieces of Eden" which are technological devices from a now-extinct civilization of beings who created humans as slave labor. (It's sort of like the Ancient Astronaut Theory, but these beings were from Earth- just older & more advanced than mankind.) Some humans rebelled against their masters & stole one of the artifacts, The Apple, that controls human neurological functions. Using this power, they recruited other humans to wage war against their creators. However, both groups became so caught up in their conflict that they neglected a cosmic threat that nearly destroyed them all. There were enough humans scurrying around like cockroaches to rebuild with the help of the few survivors from the First Civilization, who were now regarded as gods by their primitive creations.
To uncover details of this mystery, you must find clues left by Altaïr & the mysterious 'Subject 16', whose mind has become trapped in the virtual worlds of The Animus. An awesome aspect of this game is that Leonardo da Vinci appears throughout the game to supply equipment upgrades & also to help in deciphering the Codexes left by Altaïr. There are also mysterious 'glyphs' hidden in certain areas that open very challenging puzzle sequences. These make you feel like a genius when you figure them out. I'm proud to say that I figured out all the puzzles without looking up any answers. I did come really close to cheating on a few of the puzzles, after staring at the screen for a 1/2 hour or more trying to figure them out! Unlocking these scattered clues help piece together the story behind the age-old battle between the Assassins & the Templars for the powerful Pieces of Eden, which has occurred behind the scenes of history's major events.
Unlike the first one, Assassin's Creed 2 never lost my interest or seemed repetitive. I was enthralled by the visuals, the gameplay, and the story... all the way to when the end credits rolled, during which there is still a bit more of the game to play!
The only complaint I'd personally voice would be that the targeting and combat can be annoyingly inaccurate at times, but it doesn't hinder the overall experience.
The depth of this game is mind-boggling. Elements as diverse as Renaissance art, ancient mysteries, and ponderous philosophical questions are weaved between the open world free-running & the brutal assassination missions in a masterful way.
I'm planning on writing a post about the idiotic argument over whether video games can be considered works of art. This excellent game is 'Exhibit A' in the assertion that video games can actually represent the pinnacle of creative effort & are indeed artistic masterpieces unto themselves. • The Monkey Buddha's official rating: 9.0
There are many people who might welcome the chance to use something like an Apple iThink or a similar brain implant to augment their consciousness.
However, as this video shows, there would many unintended consequences & logistical issues that people can't even begin to imagine yet.
If technology progressed to a point that one's mental processes could somehow be enhanced or extended beyond physical death, I hope it wouldn't be encumbered by such banalities as legal agreements or advertisements.
Unfortunately, it's possible that by digitizing their consciousness in order to preserve it in perpetuity, people would be subjecting themselves to an infinite virtual prison sentence.
Of course, absolutely nobody knows whether death is a permanent "lights out"- or a gateway to another state of existence... so that's the gamble one would have to take.
As the Presidential campaign season heats up, I'll be doing plenty of political posts. Of first importance, though, is trying to keep a humorous outlook.
On io9 I saw these awesome renderings of great moments in American History... that never happened.
The pictures, by Jason Heuser, are ALL great & hysterical.
Click the link to see more- like Teddy Roosevelt shooting Bigfoot, Ben Franklin vs. Zeus, & Andrew Jackson, alien hunter.
This weekend I went to see Marvel's"The Avengers" in 3D & it was pretty awesome. This is going to be a geek-tastic post, but I have to rave about this film a bit.
Marvel's The Avengers Trailer 2 (OFFICIAL)
When I was a kid, I collected comic books- but never had any issues of The Avengers. I was familiar with these and most of the other Marvel & DC characters, though. This movie made excellent use of the iconic heroes that make up the super team.
I'm very critical when it comes to most creative works, because I can usually think of a better way to do it. Only recently have superhero action movies gotten to the point where I think they are produced properly.
The Superman movies from the 80's seemed cheesy to me. I thought Tim Burton's version of Batman was ok back when I was 12 years old, but the sequels were garbage.
More recently, DC has been improving the quality of their movie franchises. Batman Begins was very cool, but Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight was horrible & The Dark Knight Rises looks like it's going to be crap. Bane & Catwoman look like they've been handled all wrong & Christian Bale's voice when he's Batman is unbearably annoying. I saw & really enjoyed The Green Lantern recently. I was glad that they did justice to one of my favorite comic characters.
As for Marvel movies, I really liked the X-Men movies & the Wolverine spin-off was done well. The Spider-man movies were good, but the portrayal of his arch-nemesis Venom in Spider-man 3 was weak. I don't really care for the Fantastic Four & haven't seen those movies. Even though The Silver Surfer was one of my favorite characters, I refused to see the Fantastic Four sequel when I learned that the planet-devouring Galactus was going to be some kind of nanobot cloud.
The individual movies leading up to The Avengers have all been solid films in their own right. They all came together to make a truly kick-ass movie that even my critical eye can find few faults with. The way that Marvel has worked to interweave all these separate stories into one overall thread has been brilliant.
• Iron Man has the benefit of the best casting decision ever, with Robert Downey Jr. playing Tony Stark. The state of computer graphics is finally at the point where the portrayal of the mech suit is believably realistic & looks amazing.
• I thought the digitally rendered Hulk looked 'off' in his previous movies, but he was much improved in The Avengers.
• Thor would have been a really cool movie if Natalie Portman & her character didn't ruin it.
• I haven't seen the Captain America movie yet, since I've always thought he was really lame. Chris Evans is a convincing Capt. America, though, that is true to the character.
Cap, The Hulk, & Thor are all being handled infinitely better than the ridiculous attempts made in the 80's.
"The Incredible Hulk Returns"
"Captain America" (1990)
As for The Black Widow, she's played by Scarlett Johansson... so..... that's all there is to say about that!
Loki was a decent villain for The Avengers, but the Asgardians (Loki & Thor) seemed pretty vulnerable for god-like beings. It was funny when The Hulk gave an unsuspecting Thor a taste of his strength, though.
The Avengers had some well-placed humor, eye-popping visuals, an exciting story, superb casting, and everything that should be in a great superhero movie. Like most people, I left the theater going "Wow!" & freaking out over all the amazing details. I give it my highest recommendation, whether or not you like superhero movies.
The excellence of this film was topped off with a final teaser scene, shown after the first set of end credits. The Marvel Film Universe is about to get a whole lot bigger & crazier!
To see the spoiler, highlight the text below:
The scene showed the alien who kneeling before an unseen figure on an asteroid in space. The alien said something to the effect that "battling with the humans would be courting Death." That's when I thought... "no way!!!"... before they showed 'the mad Titan' Thanos turn towards the camera & grin. I hadn't read any spoilers about this scene. However, I said right before it that the only way Marvel can build on something bigger would be to use a storyline like The Infinity Gauntlet series I read when I was a teenager. They are clearly going to bring the entire Marvel movie lineup (The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, Spider-man, & The X-Men) together to face off against Thanos & the Infinity Gems. Based on Marvel's track record so far, it is going to be completely awesome!
At least the official Avengers movie turned out better than this:
One of my best friends, who I've known since 1st grade, is currently in med school in NYC. He came back around recently & we always talk in depth about scientific topics. We were discussing the crazy things that happen in the small scales of microbiology.
On of the most underrated uses of the computer is as a visualization tool. Digital media can allow us to conceptualize processes existing on levels that we can't directly perceive.
I thought the animation in this TED talk by Drew Berry, showing the molecular workings within our own cells, was pretty mind-blowing.
Since I'm talking about small-scale phenomena, I'll also post this almost surreal video of tiny organisms in water.
Even though the narrator talks like some kind of robotic alien, the video of the microscopic creatures is amazing. Turn off the sound & put on Groove Salad instead.
I can't blame ancient people for their awe of the Great Rift in the sky, which defied their understanding. However, we now know that the dark area of the visible Milky Way is caused by interstellar dust & material blocking the concentrated starlight.
The only time I get to see a really good view of the Milky Way is when I'm in the Pocono mountains in PA. It's one of my favorite things to sit out at night on lake, under a starry sky with a beer, & just admire the infinite cosmos.
This is a good reminder that there is only the present moment. The past, future, & whole the idea of a linear historical time line are part of our collective imagination.
For reasons unknown, I just finished listening to a 10 hour workshop of pure crazy wisdom by the Master himself, the late Terence McKenna. It took awhile, but I listened to it in segments when I could.
It would be an understatement to say that McKenna was one of the most unique visionary minds of the late 20th century. He passed away in 2000, but thanks to the Internet, his brilliant madness lives on.
Some of his ideas are still waaaaay out there, but he was loquacious and witty in a way that was completely genius & novel.
Whether or not his various individual theories were correct, he introduced a concept that I think should be further examined- the fractal modeling of time.
I think fractal models can greatly increase our understanding of both space and time, in the same way the development of calculus has advanced science greatly since Newton's day.
Despite McKenna's tendency to externalize his wacked-out experiences onto the Universe-at-large, both physical and temporal experience are ultimately only in our heads.
Here are a couple select nuggets of Terence's crazy wisdom that I've seen posted recently:
Recently I've posted about the extraordinary vision of Steve Jobs & Arthur C. Clarke in regards to the development of computer tech.
As a graphic designer I'm interested in the history of art & computer graphics, in particular. Studying the tools of the past helps me appreciate the current state of graphic art tech. The Macs I use now are finally on par with the speed and versatility that I feel is satisfactory for my creative work.
This video was posted on Neatorama... & made me glad to have my current version of Photoshop! It was produced by National Research Council of Canada in 1970.
Despite it's primitive appearance by today's standards, the idea of moving around points of light to create recognizable imagery was just as magical then as it is today.
The fact that nothing but a string of 1's & 0's, simple ying/yang binary elements, can be used to create entire virtual worlds never ceases to amaze me.
A Guide to World History for People who Romanticize the Past
I always argue with my Mom about her belief that the world used to be a better place in years past. As the title of the fake book suggests, there havealwaysbeen awful things going on, since the beginning of human history.
'Better' & 'Worse' are value judgments, so whether things have improved or not is mostly a matter of personal opinion.
Most people who think that life was better in the "Good Ol' Days" are mostly thinking back to a time when they were younger. At the time, they were probably just ignorant of all the horrible crap going on around the planet. Of course things seemed better when we were younger. A young person has no idea that genocide, disasters, crime, & other horrible things are going on everywhere... all the time!
Another factor contributing to the common perception that society is descending into chaos is the 24-hour cable news cycle. We now hear all the crazy stuff happening around the world, in real time.
Although there are plenty of bad things happening in the world, my personal view is that the state of humanity is improving overall. It would be cool to be a temporary time-traveler, but I would definitely prefer to live my life NOW than at any time in history.
My last post was about the creative & marketing insights of Steve Jobs, which helped to jump-start the era of the personal computer.
In this 1974 video that precludes the creation of Apple Computers by several years, Arthur C. Clarke correctly theorizes about the potential application of computerized devices. At the time, the primitive computers were big enough to fill a small room, but his predictions about compact digital devices that would allow people to instantly communicate throughout the world proved to be accurate.
The infinite intricacies of Fractals have revolutionized our understanding of the universe & have spawned endless applications, from generative computer art to the internal antennas of cell phones.
I personally believe that fractal properties give valuable insights into many aspects of the world we live in.
One cannot begin to understand the nature of Reality without thoroughly studying & understanding fractal geometry.
Despite already knowing alot about the founder of Apple Computers, I'm really enjoying the read. It's a great story that gives enthralling insight into the creation of what I consider to be the greatest creative tool ever produced- the Mac computer.
My life has run parallel to the development of microcomputers. The Apple II was shipped around the time I was born. The early encounters I had with Macintosh computers were in elementary school, & later we used them in our high school science classes. I was using Windows PCs at home, though, & they sucked.
It wasn't until my design classes in college that I began using Apple G4 computers regularly. In my career as a professional designer, I've used Power Macs exclusively. Windows is like a leper to me, I don't even want to touch it.
On fusion anomalog I saw this ad from 1976, featuring the original Apple I homemade computer. It was basically a circuitboard, but it could be attached to a keyboard & a TV or monitor, which was revolutionary at the time.
The original Apple logo is on there, too. It has the look of an engraving & is much different than the iconic apple with the 'byte' taken out of it.
I've recently read the section of the book about the start-up of Apple, in the garage of Steve Job's parents. Steve Wozniak basically engineered the computer components & Jobs was the one who figured out how to market it.
Despite being a weird mix of a guru-like personality & a completely insufferable jerk, Steve Jobs had an indomitable will that obviously produced amazing results.
Even with his many flaws, Jobs really was a genius. He's influenced the course of human events as much as any single person in the modern age.
When I first started this blog waaay back in 2005, (during The Bush Dark Ages) the other name choice I considered for it was 'Space Ape'. It stemmed from the recognition that we humans are basically hairless monkeys who learned how to temporarily escape the atmosphere in metal containers.
However, I thought "The Monkey Buddha" better reflected my personality & the myriad things I thought I'd be posting about. Monkeys & Space are still 2 things that are guaranteed to get my attention, though.
Anyway, this is a really striking picture & contains as much gravitas as humor.
I posted awhile ago about an interactive animation that allows you to use a slider to visually travel through the spectrum of scale that encompasses the Universe- from the quantum level to the most expansive areas of the cosmos.
The Scale of the Universe has been recently updated with more info & animated graphics.
This is one of the most mind-blowing conceptual tools I've come across on the web.
Unfortunately, even presented in such a simple & accessible format, the vast nature of reality is ultimately impossible for the mind to fully grasp.
I think that studying fractal geometry, and especially how it applies to generative computer art, has helped me develop a better understanding of the Universe. The natural world is full of recursive patterns & self-similarity on all scales.
On Superpunch, I saw this amazing digital painting of a grandmother and child observing the home planet Earth from an orbiting space station. It evokes a very real & emotionally stirring vision of the human experience in the future.
This weekend a bunch of my family is getting together at my parent's house for Easter dinner. My very extensive family are the most important connections in my life. It's deeply meaningful to see the strong bonds formed between grandparents, parents, children, and 'Uncle Dudes' like myself & my brothers.
Now that we have a new generation of nephews & nieces coming up, I've become even more aware of the limitless possibilities that the future holds for the human race. These infants & toddlers who already know their way around the iPhone's digital interface will be hopefully one day be commanding the starships that will begin to explore our area of the galaxy.
Sometimes I wonder how people living thousands of years from now & traveling to other stars will relate to planet Earth. Will it become a legendary place, that space colonists only see in pictures?
I guess it all depends on how fast travel can take place throughout space & how easily people can stay in contact among the stars. Maybe technology, like hyperspace or gravity warp drives, will be developed that will allow future space travelers to return to Earth relatively quickly. Perhaps traveling to Earth at least once in a lifetime will be like a spiritual pilgrimage to Jerusalem or Mecca in the current age.
What I love about this painting is the beautiful simplicity of the scene- yet it still conveys a vast, mind-expanding sense of space, time, & the wonder of Life.
Recently, the Supreme Court has been hearing arguments for & against the 2010 health care law, The Affordable Care Act.
The country has to wait until June 2012 to see whether the Court upholds, or rules against part or all of the law. The hang-up is on the idea that the government mandating people to get health insurance is "un-constitutional".
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect
union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for
the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the
blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
It's the government's responsibility to promote the general welfare, and what is more fundamental to the welfare of society than it's health?
Anyway, regarding this pending decision, I agree with the premise of this article I saw on TPM:
A reversal in the health care law might be a major pain in the ass at first, but the backlash might lead to a more progressive health system in the long run.
I've always believed that there's no reason that an employer should haveanything to do with health insurance coverage of its workers.
Business should be completely out of the equation.
I'm totally socialist when it comes to health care. The federal government should be THE single-payer in some kind of universal health care system, without private health insurance companies.
Hopefully, one day we can start to unravel the absurd systems that cause such staggering inefficiencies & unnecessary hardships into the functioning of society.
However, I also believe that you need to truly love and appreciate yourself to be an effective contribution to society at large.
Therefore, I was amused to find that, by scoring a 22 on this quiz, I'm clearly past the level of narcissist (which is a score of 20). My highest component trait scores were in Exploitativeness & Self-Sufficency.
God, I'm soooo awesome...
When I was in high school, I would start my homework around 10PM & be up past midnight. My room was on the 2nd floor, & after midnight my Mom would tap a baseball bat on the ceiling below me to signal me to go to sleep. Then, the next morning, I would hear her banging it on the ceiling to wake me up for school at an ungodly hour. I guess I've always been more of a night owl.
I'm trying to be more positive now about waking up in the morning, but I do love to sleep. I saw some funny pictures about the joy of awakening I'm posting below.
This great comparison, featuring Neo being jarred from The Matrix dreamworld, was on the Chive:
I also saw the funny poster below from a series featured on VisualNews.com:
Discovering the Zen mode of thought when I was a college student had a great impact on my personal understanding of the world. This approach to understanding reality felt immediately familiar to me, since I've always had an introspective, but iconoclastic, personality.
Essentially, Zen is a mindset in which names, preconceptions, and even the appearance of physical reality are all recognized as constructions of the lightshow within the mind. It doesn't mean that there's no "reality", but that reality as we experience it is extremely limited and even further filtered through our senses & perceptions. One benefit of looking deeply into one's own existence is to be "comfortable in your own skin" and understand our part in the universe.
I have Daily Zen as my homepage to randomly generate quotes from masters & practitioners.
This particular quote sums up the philosophy & practice very well:
"To study the Way
whether moving or still,
is nothing more or less
than becoming quite intimate
with our own nature,
resting quite easy in our natural state."
Despite following political news closely, I haven't felt the need to comment alot on the presidential race lately. The GOP primaries have basically been a ridiculous mess.
I've been saying all along that Mitt Romney's going to be the nominee after the clown show is over. Having become the exclusive party of plutocrats, obviously the Republican with the most money will be the nominee... & Mitt's got plenty of $$$. However, I can't believe that he would ultimately pose a serious challenge to Obama unless something crazy happens before the election. For reasons that almost everyone on the Left AND the Right have already been pointing out, Romney is a horrible candidate. The average non-millionaire American would have to be a complete fool to want that robotic vulture capitalist running the country.
There's obviously plenty of things to criticize, but I think Obama's presidency has been generally good. He's an intelligent guy, & consistently shows clear understanding of the complexity of the many heady issues facing our country. After watching years of Dubya bullshit his way through his 8 disastrous years, it's a relief to think someone is dealing with things who isn't a total jackass.
Though I don't think the Republican party is going away anytime soon, it's leaders & spokespeople seem to be doing their very best to alienate as many voters as possible this election season.
On top of all the other nuttiness coming from that side of the aisle on both the state & national level, the House GOP just released their latest re-hash of their warped financial vision for America.
As usual, they are fully prepared to slash the social safety net & let the corporate sharks in to prey on the population. Suprise!... they want to screw the disadvantaged- while awarding tax breaks for millionaires & multinational corporations. Who would've guessed?!?
Being "fiscally conservative" to these people means you want to save money for rich people & defense contractors by cutting services for the poor & sick. I fully agree many health & social programs need to be seriously reformed, but the right wingers are ready to just slash & burn.
I went back to an old post & found this pic from the last time Rep. Paul Ryan proposed his party's crappy ideas:
Although I have an Italian last name, 3 of my grandparents were Irish, so I enjoy celebrating my Celtic heritage on St. Patrick's Day.
Before I load up on Irish stew & Guinness, though, I wanted to post this excellent video I saw that explores the rich ancient heritage of Éire.
The documentary is from the Irish public broadcasting station, RTÉ. The video is an hour long, but worth watching if you're interested in Irish history.
There's always ideas for crazy graphics popping into my head. I try to write down or sketch some of them before I forget.
Though it may seem kind of cynical or defeatist, this particular cosmic image isn't just meant to disparage the relatively futile, but necessary, efforts of mankind.
It's mostly meant as a reflection on the extremely narrow limits of our mortal perspective.
The reason people & society dwell on so many petty, absurd things is because it's easy to completely lose sight of the larger reality of our world and the vast universe.
If we could truly accept our fragile existence on this island planet, we could focus on the things that would improve that existence for everyone.
We can't transcend our limitations unless we recognize them first.
With the emergence of the global brain we call the Internet, the human race is beginning to self-examine & hopefully overcome the many fundamental problems we face.
The biggest problem we face, in the long term, is how to escape this little blue ball and survive beyond it.
*To buy a print or poster, please visit my Cafepress store:
Almost all of the concepts were rejected... which is usually the case in any commercial design process.
Some of the ideas are cool, but some are pretty bad.
However, as someone with limited product design experience, I can appreciate the effort involved in coming up with such a wide variety of concepts & the time it took to illustrate them all.
I bet most Star Wars fans would appreciate the Gurgling Gungans squeeze ball:
I'm an unabashed Star Wars geek. The legendary story George Lucas created has been an inspiring influence on me & every generation since its release, around the time I was born.
The original movies owe much of their design & visual appeal to the creative abilities of artist Ralph McQuarrie.
This visionary recently passed away, but the saga he helped develop will continue to inspire people of all ages for quite some time.
Not only did he create the look of the Star Wars universe, but he also helped with the production of many other hit movies, like Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., and Jurassic Park.
Here are some galleries of Ralph McQuarrie's art for the Star Wars movies (with better thumbnails than the un-viewable, tiny thumbnails on the artist's site).
