Posts tagged as ‘Thoughts’
Design is to Art as Slam Poetry is to Poetry. # § Art, Design, Thoughts, Uncategorized
"The Fountain":http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Fountain/70051673 is one of those films that will either move you with the resonance of its themes and technique or bore you to tears as a derivative movie that deep down shows us nothing new, but does so in an elegantly beautiful manner. I'm solidly of the former opinion; but as I've had more time to mull over what it is I like about the film, the more I am convinced about the validity of the second argument, thus turning me into someone who usually has to defend it to others, while at the same time acknowledging the detractors have a point.
I love "Aronofsky's":http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Fountain/70051673 habit of giving us the denouement as the last scene of a film. It's like a bittersweet pill that leaves us breathless and wanting more as the credits begin to roll. The Fountain's Soundtrack, written by "Clint Mansell":http://www.myspace.com/mansellclint (Kronos Quartet and Aronofsky's Requiem For a Dream) with a little help from Mogwai, absolutely blows me away. It would have been a much lesser film without it. I listen to Death is the Road to Awe in the car on my way to work into Los Gatos everyday. I wonder what that says about my state of mind in the morning, or about the nature of what I do for a living? Probably nothing.
For Aronofsky fans, this is his best but most flawed film to date. It is the anti-Requiem film that is less a punch to the gut and more an exploration of basic human emotion like fear, grief and love that binds us to each other, in the hope that it leads to a more examined life.
Disturbingly sad music moment #1099: hearing _The The's_ "This is the Day":http://www.last.fm/music/The+The/_/This+Is+the+Day used in an M&M commercial. # § Advertising, Music, Thoughts, Uncategorized
_Learn to face the strain_. I've been busy these last few days rearranging my life and daily bread around. I moved to a location closer to downtown Mountain View on Saturday, but I'm sort of off the grid at the moment: my phoneline is not working and neither is my internet connection. So it's been a few days of being tired and unplugged from moving and nonconnectivity, which is actually kind of nice (at least on the analog side). Strangely enough, I found a spot in the townhouse where I can pick up a Google WiFi connection. It works only in one spot however, probably because it's basically line of sight onto the next street which has a transmitter (GoogleWiFi Node: 250 Jason Way[37.39524384, -122.0719713]) I believe. Normally Google Wifi isn't strong enough to work indoors, so I consider myself lucky to be able to see it on the network list. I've also started my new gig with the _red envelope through the mail_ company which I'm absolutely digging. Completely new milieu doing interesting technical problems with technology I actually respect and with a great team to boot. I haven't been this psyched about the daily grind in years. Hooray for me! Hopefully tomorrow, I'll at least get my internet connection back. Until then, I'm not expecting to get too many chances for updates. # § Life, Thoughts, Uncategorized, Work
In addition to catching up on some algorithm analysis, I've also been spending a good chunk of time this election evening following political threads, mostly focusing on this "mefi thread":http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/56114 for my refresh action. The biggest nailbiter race, and the one in which I have the most emotional investment, however superificial, is the Virginia race between George Allen and Jim Webb. As of 9:40pm PST, Webb is finally out in front by at least 1000 votes, after being behind much of the evening. Simply incredible. Here's hoping he pulls it off and sends Allen packing. As for the rest of tonight's events: Even though I'm not as political as I used to be in my 20s, I can say that my mood hasn't been this elevated since November 1992. To the newly elected congress, please make the bad man stop. # § Current-Events, Politics, Thoughts, Uncategorized
I'm in Chicago this week and next, so not a lot of activity till I get back to Cali. By the way, for you Illinoisans, WTF is up with how expensivo the toll roads have gotten here? # § Chicago, Life, Thoughts, Uncategorized
Sometimes we think we can find catharsis in the simplest of things: finishing a lost book, revisiting an old place, sending a message and receiving a reply. But then the moment arrives and fades away, and the sense of calm and clarity you envision never fully materializes. You are simply as you were before, breathless and incomplete, resigned to the realization that this is as it has always been: that life is about learning to live with longing and being able to turn away and close our eyes to the impossible. # § Life, Thoughts, Uncategorized
"Up With Grups - The Ascendant Breed of Grown-Ups Who Are Redefining Adulthood":http://newyorkmetro.com/news/features/16529/
This is an obituary for the generation gap. It is a story about 40-year-old men and women who look, talk, act, and dress like people who are 22 years old. It’s not about a fad but about a phenomenon that looks to be permanent. It’s about the hedge-fund guy in Park Slope with the chunky square glasses, brown rock T-shirt, slight paunch, expensive jeans, Puma sneakers, and shoulder-slung messenger bag, with two kids squirming over his lap like itchy chimps at the Tea Lounge on Sunday morning. It’s about the mom in the low-slung Sevens and ankle boots and vaguely Berlin-art-scene blouse with the $800 stroller and the TV-screen-size Olsen-twins sunglasses perched on her head walking through Bryant Park listening to Death Cab for Cutie on her Nano.What starts off as an interesting article about a latent sociological phenomenon (one that completely resonates with me) unfortunately disappoints and turns a wrong corner with the shallow equation that consumption of pop-culture accoutrements somehow correlates with this new adult state of mind. Granted the article is New York/Brooklyn centric, so in a city where almost everyone makes a fashion statement, perhaps all this accessorizing is just how the point is made. But I'm mostly turned off by the examples of Grup parents in the article. They are portrayed as vapid materialists, fettered to their _uniform_, _lifestyle_ and _musical taste_ as a statement of their condescension for the normal and prosaic. They also seem to have an unhealthy obsession with handicapping their children with the emotional baggage of transforming them into hip and trendy mini-version of themselves, rather than allowing them the room to blossom, discover a variety of different things and to possibly even dork out once in a while. But the article says more about how _little_ has changed in the state of indie-alternative culture, music and fashion for the past twenty years, and how the ideas that constitute this milieu have remained virtually unchanged during this same period. Perhaps we've reached a cultural plateau that will take another generation to break out of? It's more likely that the people who get to define the media message on hip are now themselves Grupsters, merely articulating what matters to and defines them personally. Or maybe deep down, the new adulthood is really about never wanting to stop living the rock and roll lifestyle we used to have, and doing everything that's materially possible to retain it or the illusion that we are still the same twenty-year olds that we once were or wish we could always be. # § Culture, Thoughts, Uncategorized
Have you ever been so bored with your blog, that you've felt the urge to stick a stuffed hedgehog at the top of it? No? Em. Ok then. Must just be me. # § My-Blog, Thoughts, Uncategorized
Do you ever get the feeling that sometimes, your brain either needs a tuneup or a complete rebuild? Is that why people do the crack rock? Oh, and you folks that have day jobs, kids and still blog like crazy: What are you fucking on and can I have some of it? # § Thoughts
Maybe I can get my blogging mojo back by reading this "article on being a more productive blogger":http://www.to-done.com/2005/05/be-a-more-productive-blogger/? More likely, it's the work hours, the running, the kidlet and life in general (not necessarily in that order) that's keeping me so mentally exhausted at the end of the day that to even attempt composing a coherent sentence in my head and typing it on screen is like pulling out nipple hairs with oily fingers. At least I seem to have no problem with self-deprecation and inappropriate toilet humor. I can do that kind of stuff in my sleep. # § Blogging, Life, Thoughts
Posted on various job boards: Software Developer. Experienced with excellent communication skills. Sometimes snarky but mostly laid back. Willing to relocate to Hawaii or surrounding islands. Seriously. Please? # § Thoughts
Internal work deadlines and casual blogging do not mix. Hence the _paucity of updates_. However, like any other Hydra, as soon as one deadline is passed, another one looms in the near distance. This is the way of the Developer(tm). Yet I ask myself in stolen moments, is there another enlightened path or a better way? I believe there is, but only for those willing to sacrifice and change their worldview. Does this describe me? Maybe. Eventually. But not just yet. Balance is the key. Knowing that life is about change and that it never ever stops. Buddhism teaches us that this is the constant of the universe. The only human difficulty we have is learning to be at peace with it. The Way(tm). # § Thoughts
There is simply something about the days and daze of Summer, as well as living the harried yet exhilarating life of a parent of a budding toddler that assures neglect of all things ephemeral. The blog, such as it is, fits into the latter, so I've not updated it with anything original, amusing, or noteworthy. Which is to say that I've recently only been regurgitating links instead of expounding on thought as is my usual wont and which my favorite blogs often eloquently do (You know who you are).
As we reach the tail end of the season, which is usually the warmest time of the year here in NoCal, and my professional schedule becomes less busy (not really going to happen), and life with Kai settles down (yeah, right), I'll try to spend more time on exposition and less on regurgitation. Although who doesn't like expectorating a nice juicy link now and again?
# § ThoughtsMarshall Brain's essay on the future of that human endeavor called work in the midst of a robotic revolution has been making the rounds and is both interesting and alarming. He speculates that the wide-scale introduction of robots into every level of work that humans perform in the near future can either transform human society into one of two competing and opposite futures. One is essentially Utopian, where automation leads to the elimination of work and people are insanely free to pursue their goals and follow their hearts and passions. The other is Dystopian, where the divide between the richest and the rest grows even greater as automation leads to great profits and massive job displacement of large segments of society caused by robots.
Essays like Brain's are of course extremely speculative, but while I was reading about his predictions for the Dystopian future, I recalled that in the last 30 years, the richest 2% of the population now own 98% of the wealth in this country. I also read that this recent jobless recovery includes jobs that will never come back because they have been outsourced to countries with cheaper labor. These are highly skilled white-collar positions filled by intelligent people who have essentially been displaced from their industry. This is not to argue the validity or invalidity of any of this reality. But imagine such displacement on a massive scale and you can envision the kind of chaos and instability that would occur.
To the extent that you believe any of Brain's ideas, we already exhibit symptoms of his negative future right now, and I can't help but feel we are on a knife's edge of some sort, regardless of whether or not robots take over our work. Much grist for the mill.
# § ThoughtsProfound aphorism of the day: "The end may seem to justify the means, but all too often the means deform the end. " # § Thoughts
It had to happen eventually. Ageism is hitting Generation X, at least anecdotally. This makes me realize how fast time seems to move as we near that critical age where we no longer fit into the 18-35 demographic, but into the the 36-55 range. As funny and revealing as the discussion may be, it's simply a classic case where the more things change the more they stay the same. Aging indeed. I'm going out and get myself parachute pants, a thin red leather tie and some velcro shoes from Chess King after work. Oh, I can't forget the Goody comb in the back pocket either. # § Thoughts
Apropos of Nothing via theyblinked, I was reminded of a memorable post I read from the late Eugene Kan's blog, which thankfully is still online:
I have a love-hate relationship going on with San Francisco. I hate to love it and love to hate it. It annoys the fuck out of me and inspires me to rethink my patrician lifestyle all at the same time. This article describes my feelings about San Francisco and to large extent, the entire Bay Area, when I'm in love mode, which is usually less often than the latter. # § Thoughts