Reflxn

The Future

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:19:54 -0500

For God’s sake, be done

with this jabber of “a better world.”

What blasphemy! No “futuristic”

twit or child thereof ever

in embodied light will see

a better world than this.

Do something! Go cut the weeds

beside the oblivious road. Pick up

the cans and bottles, old tires,

and dead predictions. No future

can be stuffed into this presence

except by being dead. The day is

clear and bright, and overhead

the sun not yet half finished

with his daily praise.

–– Wendell Berry

Why did I choose the mirthless laughter? Perhaps I forgot what real humor was, but Love.

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:02:46 -0500

As I reflect on the past year, it is sadly highlighted with few overwheling and motivating achievements. I don’t say that disparagingly, but as an observer of the year and as an opportunity to learn from ineffective ways to do things––as well as unadvisables lifestyles and life-choices. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have my high-marks, it just means I have plenty to learn from.

…

I’ve spent something like the last six months working from home, working off a guilt-based ethic, achieving very little, filling my days with boredom and excuses which only resulted in depression and resentment. I managed to let my artistic abilities atrophy; I stopped journaling––not altogether but far too sparsely––and said “no” in my heart more often than truly wanting to ever say “yes.”

What’s notable is that my autumnal depression came after reading “Boundaries,” a book whose intention is a just cause: to enlight the reader to understand what he has control and responsibility over, as well as what he does not. It should have come as no surprise to me then I would immediately find Resistance to my claims at ownership over my responsibilies and my property. Consequently, I slipped into a darker place, one that sough fulfillment in the insipid and hollow pursuits that erode the pillars of virtue from foundations laid in my youth. In all truth, I had forgotten God altogether, becoming a pragmatic atheist.

I used to disbelieve in Satan, by mere inheretance of my father’s nuanced and ambiguous beliefs. (Disclaimer: I don’t believe in personifications of anthropomorphic dieties. But that is too theosophical to divulge at present.) It occured to me, however, that to merely ignore an enemy is not the best (it may sometimes even be the worst choice!) path to victory. Sometimes the darkness must be fought, and fiercely––at which times I cannot help but imagine a very stalwart and resolute Winston Churchill.

Evil factually exists in the world. There are insidious forces, as well as “simply negative” energies that have an impact on the world. To ignore them when they must be confronted is an irresponsible shirking of spiritual duty. Sitting by like a passive observer or a neutral party is as complicit as association or participation; it has the same absolute effect––negative. Regarding the nature of evil, Elie Wiesel said it well,

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

And this is how Satan works––the devil of the dark cannot create: it can only destroy, manipulate, malign, pervert, and misuse. There is no inherent creativity and that is why it is the “natural state” of the world we begin with that is so easily derailed by perverse minds and hearts. And Entropy is an accomplice to the corrosive energy that tears things down and sucks them into the black.

And yet, there is Life! How miraculous a thing that we all exist! Even though there is a dark force that would see us all permanently return to dust, we still yet live at all, and for that there really is no explanation other than that God would want us to exist, and Want only comes from a lack, and as a response to absence the creation is LOVE! And more miraculously, within us is imbued a desire to keep living! It is a blessing of God that we harness any such willpower and indeterrable drive to continue to live. I fail to do the realization justice, but know this: the will to still live comes from the same source of Love from which we all sprang, in its purest form. This is a miracle and testament to God’s wonderous blessing.

gratitudeispresent: 167/365 Spoken Word: Why I hate religion...

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 15:44:30 -0500

gratitudeispresent:

167/365

Spoken Word: Why I hate religion but love Jesus

Oh, The Places Tumblr Can Go

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 11:56:17 -0500

Oh, The Places Tumblr Can Go:

parislemon:

A thoughtful post about Tumblr by Ingrid Lunden for TechCrunch. Two things I’ve been thinking about quite a bit recently related to Tumblr:

1) The tags remain a pure goldmine. The mobile discovery features are great, but the desktop experience still needs a lot of work. I wonder if something as simple as a giant search box at the top of the page isn’t the answer…

Often, on mobile, I find myself getting lost in the tags pages. “James Bond” “Hemingway” — they’re all pure gold. Search for anything you’re interested in and there’s bound to be a huge amount of great content. And unlike Twitter, where it’s mainly text-based, this content is almost all visual. It’s a true treasure of consumable and shareable content.

I think Tumblr should make tagging far more automated — it’s still not very easy to tag — or offer a much more robust content search to take full advantage of this.

2) Along similar lines, it strikes me that Tumblr could be the property to reinvigorate true brand advertising. That is, rather than the search-based links that still dominate the online ad landscape, Tumblr could harken back to the heyday of advertising when it was truly a creative endeavor meant to get people to remember your brand when they do eventually make a purchasing decision.

Tumblr’s visual appeal seems perfect for this. And that’s especially true if people are searching for something (see: above).

Photo

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:33:04 -0500

Photo

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 03:41:31 -0500

Will there be condominiums in data space?

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:55:46 -0400

A reflection on an article by Bill Viola from Reasons for knocking at an Empty House Writings

The article is about memory and time, and how as we approach a truer synthesis for artificial intelligence, the less able we will be to find “living room” for ourselves in a constantly growing age of technology.

Our friend Bill Viola (all the way back in the 1980s) made a fascinating assertion––and asked a poignant question––in his article about creativity and memory in the age of information overload. There is value in being able to forget, or at least, there is value in the ability to edit the memories of our lives––but are we allowed the possibility of respite while living amidst a media-saturated public space? It’s difficult to know, especially when statements such as McLuhan’s “…[sic] we make our technology and our technology makes us..” are admittedly true. Television and film in particular have reinforced our perception of segmented time and memory; we often also associate music with time periods and places in our lives. Media truly does have a hold on our contiguous experience.

And since the Renaissance, the West has considered visual perception and notation to be the truest form of understanding the world. The West mastered time and its notation so we can measure the march of progress minute-by-minute. In art, we have considered that which is most “realistic” to be closest to what the eye perceives as true…but in all these respects we often neglect the holistic nature of our living. By comparison, the traditions of the East have always considered the whole. Viola makes a phenomenal allegory of the differences in culture from East to West in his example of the Java musicians. The musical groups learn all songs by rote and repetition, but even with such expert knowledge, they would refuse to play only a segment of a song. Their is only the whole, in such a mindset, and the parts are inseparable.

Is the West too self-segregated by its own ideology? A history of evidence might point us to such a conclusion. But, I think, we’re getting better. Especially today, the advent of incredible advances in technology are pressing the West to think past segmentation and towards collaboration (maybe even cohesion). Consider why Apple has surpassed Microsoft and IBM as the top provider of consumer products. Naturally, it’s because the Apple ecosystem is unparalleled––from the time you open the box of a MacBook to the moment you need to wirelessly synch a printer or iPhone, it works flawlessly…and beautifully.

I hope, and I believe, that this is the direction of our future. We are aiming for a higher and more holistic approach towards everything, especially now that “User Experience” is the most recent buzzword in the tech-biz industry. I can only assume that the next chapter is finding a way to remove ourselves from the glut of “information overload” and the simplification of everything.

TED2011 Prize winner JR wants to change the world with art. Awesome.

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 02:51:54 -0500

TED2011 Prize winner JR wants to change the world with art. Awesome.:

Let’s all participate.

JR, a French street artist, uses his camera to show the world its true face. He makes his audacious TED Prize wish: to use art to turn the world inside out. A funny, moving talk about art and who we are. Learn more at insideoutproject.ne

EYE OF THE STORM

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 04:37:11 -0500

EYE OF THE STORM:

Awesome music video.

Jack Cheng: Time on Your Side

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 20:21:38 -0500

Jack Cheng: Time on Your Side:

Jack Cheng is the man. Love it.

jackcheng:

We all have nagging to-dos — the ones we put off for weeks or months (or even years). When we finally get around to taking action, we realize that we spent more time dreading them or worrying about them than it actually took to do them.

For the past couple months, I’ve been attaching a time…

40 Days of Exceptional Living

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:07:31 -0500

40 Days of Exceptional Living:

This is an offshoot blog of mine, as inspired by an assignment to remove ourselves from technology for a day.

It’s been an enlightening experience, for sure.

"Eventually I discovered for myself the utterly simple prescription for creativity: Be intensely..."

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 01:25:40 -0500

““Eventually I discovered for myself the utterly simple prescription for creativity: Be intensely yourself. Don’t try to be outstanding; don’t try to be a success; don’t try to do pictures for others to look at – just please yourself.” ~Ralph Steiner”

Day 4 - Getting Perspective There are many out there who are...

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Day 4 - Getting Perspective

There are many out there who are less fortunate, going through significantly more arduous circumstances––and they still manage to keep a richer, more substantive outlook on life than most of us!

csessums: Fixed vs. Growth Mindsets (Carol Dweck) People with...

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 20:06:51 -0500

csessums:

Fixed vs. Growth Mindsets (Carol Dweck)

People with performance goals, [Carol Dweck] reasoned, think intelligence is fixed from birth. People with learning goals have a growth mind-set about intelligence, believing it can be developed. (Among themselves, psychologists call the growth mind-set an “incremental theory,” and use the term “entity theory” for the fixed mind-set.) Illustrated by Nigel Holmes

via Stanford Magazine & designtumblelog:

Neon Bible

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:32:11 -0500

Neon Bible

If you have never seen this video…then you’re...

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:06:00 -0500

If you have never seen this video…then you’re missing out big time.

Literally all of this is CG, except for the man. Every. Single. Shot. (The man was green screened in.) This little short takes photo-realism to the next level. You would never know that this isn’t real.

Dry Dry Desert of Advertising

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:03:56 -0500

The automobile industry is lacking creativity in its marketing and advertising departments. I say this (currently) with respect to television ads. Over the new year, I witnessed seven commercials by seven different auto-makers all use the same method to showcase the sex appeal and prowess of their respective sedans.

Open scene to a vast, expansive, desert, preferably with a thirsty layer of cracked topsoil. Of course, purple mountains majesty can be seen in the distance, with a late afternoon sun breaking through powerful-looking and nearly ominous clouds. An engine revs aggressively, the distinct change from fourth to fifth gear can be heard, but no car seen yet. A soothing male voice convinces you that the liberty of luxury, the awe of high status, and thrill of precision are human universals worth aspiring to. We now see the car tearing through the desert. He throws in something about the excellence of engineering and brilliance of design. Of course, the commercial wouldn’t be interesting unless it had some sort of storyline to it, like outrunning arrows launched by an army of archers, or dodging other sedans or persons by power-sliding and fishtailing all the while.

That is what is what is most puzzling. All of these cars are being showcased doing the same thing: fish-tailing in the middle of the desert, kicking up heaps of sand. And saying you’re “best in class” doesn’t really put you a head above anybody if all your commercials are the same.

Let’s get a little more original guys (I’m talking to you, Chrysler, BMW, Lexus, Nissan, Audi, Honda and Toyota). You guys are better than that.

The new Ford Explorer Go. Do. commercial is a winner though (even if it’s for an SUV).

I have Bookworms: The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:59:44 -0500

I have Bookworms: The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English:

Ailurophile A cat-lover.
Assemblage A gathering.
Becoming Attractive.
Beleaguer To exhaust with attacks.
Brood To think alone.
Bucolic In a lovely rural setting.
Bungalow A small, cozy cottage.
Chatoyant Like a cat’s eye.
Comely Attractive.
Conflate To blend together.
Cynosure A…

thebronzemedal: Here’s a project mapping public library...

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:39:19 -0500

thebronzemedal:

Here’s a project mapping public library closures in the U.K. The red markers are libraries which have been marked for closure, the blue are libraries at risk for closure. This is absolutely terrible. I’m scared that a map like this for the U.S. wouldn’t look that much better.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Nokia

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 12:51:00 -0500

About two months ago, one of my house-mates was having her 20th birthday, and so to celebrate, she wanted to take out all of her friends to a concert. Now this was a band I’d never heard of before, but she said they were totally awesome. Ghostland Observatory was playing at the Nokia in LA Live. I had no idea if they were any good or not because I haven’t had the chance to hear them even on iTunes. But she bought the tickets for us, so I was excited to go see a free concert with my friends.

Day of the concert, I had a night class that went until 9pm, so I’d have to catch up with them on my own after class. I get to LA Live, text them that I’m on my way in, and run into the venue. I whip out my ticket, which a scrawny Indian scans and says, “you look really excited for this concert!” I’m pretty jazzed at this point after biking 2 miles from my house, so naturally, I burst with a “yeah man! I’m totally stoked for this!” He laughs and told me to have a good time, which I assured him I would.

I text the birthday girl: “hey where are you guys?”
The response: “We’re at the very front. Center and a little to the left..”

I walk forward to an attendant to help direct me to wherever the General Admission section is. She looks at it, and sends me down to a table by the side of the auditorium where they check it again, mark it and give me a wristband. At this point I’m technically still outside the concert hall and not indoors yet.

I then brush by to get to the door to the concert. I pull open the doors and AS they open the screech of an electric guitar blows my eardrums out. On stage I see a bald, tattooed man growling about how much he hates my dog. The drumset is suspended 10ft off the ground with a maniac slamming every bodypart he has onto the drums, and a the bass and guitar players are whipping their 4-ft long ponytails around like Willow Smith. There is a 15 ft image of a fist on fire above the band, and the lead singer flips off the crowd after a few more lines of growling and screams. Either this is one hell of an opening act or I don’t think I like my friends’ taste in music.

I slowly pull out my phone. “Um…where are you guys?”
“We’re here! Right by the guardrail in front!”
“K…”

I look out at the mosh pit happening right in front of the stage. I look at my clothes. I’m wearing a green polo, jeans, and sneakers. Everyone else here looks like they just came from a Harley convention.

I decide to forage deeper into the fray…and managed to get some pretty inquisitive looks along the way. There is NO WAY this is right. I look at my ticket.
Nov 4…yep. Thursday…yes. At Nokia…check. Ghostland Observatory…not so sure.

“Really, where are you guys?”
“We’re here! Like right under DJ’s nose.”

DJ? Is the lead’s name DJ? Or do they mean the turntable kind of dude? A five-foot tall mexican man is tossed into me, knocking me into a very unfriendly looking woman. Maybe I’m at the wrong place.

“Hey, come out to the lobby and find me…I’m lost”
“Ok see you soon. Go to the second floor.”

I go out and take the escalators upstairs, where I’m stopped by a rather boisterous black security guard. “Scuze me honey, can I help you?” she says.
“Uh yeah, can you help me find..?” I hand her my ticket.

She looks at me really confused, like I just handed her a box of lint. “How did you get here?”
“I biked…”
“No I mean how did you get in here?”
“Huh?”
“Do you know what day it is?”
“Yeah, um, it’s Thursday…”
“How did you get in this building?”
“I…I walked in…”
“Ok sweetie, let’s go downstairs”

She took me back to the front door and we met up with the manager, and she asked him how on earth I got into this venue with the wrong ticket. Oh thank goodness, I thought. I AM at the wrong place. She explained to me how to get where I was SUPPOSED to be.

Turns out there are two Nokia venues. One is the theater, which hosted Five Finger Death Punch, and the Nokia Club, which had Ghostland Observatory.

Needless to say, I ended up making it to the right place before the concert I intended to see started (It was just across the street). And it was a very good concert.