David Lynch talks about creativity.
"I like a story that has some concrete structure, but also holds abstractions."
I agree strongly with that. I have long had that exact approach to pictures.
Another thing he says which I've used myself is that he stresses that all the details are in the original idea if you keep looking at it. Go back to the original concept, and more and more will come to view.
And by the way, when he talks about "bliss" and how it enhances creativity, he talks from an Eastern and a Trancendental Meditation viewpoint, which I don't know much about. But I have strong experiences with a spiritual "stillness place" which is power.
Using that place can give punishment in the form of fear, for the ego does not like it, because it's Universal. But it's a process too, in undoing the ego, I believe.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Ministry - Breathe
Ministry - Breathe
If you like hard rock chekkitout.
Some of the best drum work ever, by two drummers.
I was reminded of this by TTL mentioning this Muppet Show bit with Buddy Rich and Animal.
If you like hard rock chekkitout.
Some of the best drum work ever, by two drummers.
I was reminded of this by TTL mentioning this Muppet Show bit with Buddy Rich and Animal.
Manamana
Hannah reminded me of this classic Muppet bit.
(What is the real title of this song? I have it in iTunes, but I can't remember the dang title.)
And a Sesamstrasse version.
And, ooh, a Sandra Bullock version! (Thanks Alex.)
(What is the real title of this song? I have it in iTunes, but I can't remember the dang title.)
And a Sesamstrasse version.
And, ooh, a Sandra Bullock version! (Thanks Alex.)
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Ringtones, A Momentary Lapse of Reason
David Pogue says the ringtone market, especially its success, is insane.
"What am I missing here? How is a 30-second, time-limited excerpt worth three times as much as the full work forever? Does this not enter the heads of the people who are paying $5 billion a year?"
He is not alone.
I said: "People pay $2.50 for a ringtone? Are people nuts? What is it with people and their phones?"
And TidBITS said: "Clearly the popularity of ringtones indicates that civilization is nearing its end."
"What am I missing here? How is a 30-second, time-limited excerpt worth three times as much as the full work forever? Does this not enter the heads of the people who are paying $5 billion a year?"
He is not alone.
I said: "People pay $2.50 for a ringtone? Are people nuts? What is it with people and their phones?"
And TidBITS said: "Clearly the popularity of ringtones indicates that civilization is nearing its end."
Jeffery blog
Laurie Jeffery has a very active blog about nudism, it turns out.
(It is getting many visitors and comments, but they were wiped out by a design make-over recently. The comments, not the visitors.)
(It seems that if you want bigger images, the RSS feed has them.)
(It is getting many visitors and comments, but they were wiped out by a design make-over recently. The comments, not the visitors.)
(It seems that if you want bigger images, the RSS feed has them.)
Another future
Cute postcards from 1910. Some are interesting, some are a bit silly. Like this one. How does the plane hover?
Early video chat:
Early video chat:
Me and Joe Bob Briggs
I just found a snail-mail letter exchange I had with humorist/journalist Joe Bob Briggs back in... 1992! I had no idea that was on the web. Weird world.
[Apparently my first letter and reply was not archived.]
Dear Joe Bob,
Yes, I'm a genuine Dane. But I like slang, especially American slang. It's, like, totally rad. I like the way it just goes for broke; mows em down, scoops em up; slices and dices em; chops and drops em. Total annihilation, sunk without a trace. I mean, like, no holes barred. Like, go ahead, make my day; may the best man win; take your best shot; a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Thank you, sir, can I have another?
Is your hometown really called Grapevine?
By the by, I would like to acknowledge you for have a really rare quality, which is the ability to evaluate importances. It's amazing how rare that is--e.g., that actions are more important than thoughts or statements. Or that people are more important than color (whether one way or the other). Even that some popular super-controversial subjects are glaringly insignificant.
Is it true that condom commercials can't get on TV in the U.S.A.? Is that country for real? In Denmark two years ago we had four-meter condoms on commercials on our buses. We also can have nude broads on the front (and regularly on page 9) of the national newspaper with the greatest circulation without anybody getting offended.
Loving regards,
Eolake Stobblehouse
Copenhagen, Denmark
Dear Eolake:
Send me some Danish slang so I can use it in my everyday life. Like "Skoal me, man." Or "Your armpit smells like herring." Anything. - Joe Bob
Like, Dear Joe Bob,
You ask for it, you get it. After many sweaty hours of field work, here is a compiled, concise list of contemporary Danish slang. It turned out not to be easy, for the reason that most Danish conversations seem to be about either the state of the national soccer team (sometimes great, usually lousy), or the I.Q. of Brigitte Nielsen as compared to that of the leader of the Labour Party. (A difficult comparison, unlike the one about who has the greatest breasts. But then she cheated. She went to high school.) I don't like sports, I'm not interested in politics, I don't watch television, listen to the radio, or read newspapers, so you see it isn't easy. (For completeness' sake, I also don't smoke, drink, or date . . . or date anybody known to be a sister of mine.)
To make many excuses few, I had to invent a couple to make it look like a list. I'm not telling which ones.
"Fat Times" (Something you say when getting good news or just in a generally good mood. Means, like, "Golden Years.")
"Respect" (Said in double speed and pitch. A quote from a techno-rock heavy-metal tune. Ministry: The mind is a terrible thing to taste.)
"Don't throw books when living with illiterates . . ."
"It's colder in the country in the winter than in the city in the summer." (An old rural saying used to confuse small children as a warm-up to school.)
"You are talking too much compared to how much you are saying." (Biting retort to people who usually don't understand it.)
"A tomato as big as a balled-up child's head."
"Keep the city clean; walk a Swede to the ferry." (The Swedes can't drink alcohol until they are 21. So they come to Copenhagen.)
"Like cacti in the bed." (About unwanted guests and old lovers.)
"It's like I'm saying, always have said, and say now tearfully . . ." (Girls under 16 shouldn't look like that--or whatever you find sad or noteworthy.)
Thanks is due to my father, God rest his dear, promiscuous soul, for a few of these.
Still hanging in there,
Eolake Stobblehouse
Copenhagen, Denmark
Dear Eolake:
My favorite one is "a tomato as big as a balled-up child's head." That's really sick. I don't expect it from Denmark. Congratulations. - Joe Bob
[Apparently my first letter and reply was not archived.]
Dear Joe Bob,
Yes, I'm a genuine Dane. But I like slang, especially American slang. It's, like, totally rad. I like the way it just goes for broke; mows em down, scoops em up; slices and dices em; chops and drops em. Total annihilation, sunk without a trace. I mean, like, no holes barred. Like, go ahead, make my day; may the best man win; take your best shot; a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Thank you, sir, can I have another?
Is your hometown really called Grapevine?
By the by, I would like to acknowledge you for have a really rare quality, which is the ability to evaluate importances. It's amazing how rare that is--e.g., that actions are more important than thoughts or statements. Or that people are more important than color (whether one way or the other). Even that some popular super-controversial subjects are glaringly insignificant.
Is it true that condom commercials can't get on TV in the U.S.A.? Is that country for real? In Denmark two years ago we had four-meter condoms on commercials on our buses. We also can have nude broads on the front (and regularly on page 9) of the national newspaper with the greatest circulation without anybody getting offended.
Loving regards,
Eolake Stobblehouse
Copenhagen, Denmark
Dear Eolake:
Send me some Danish slang so I can use it in my everyday life. Like "Skoal me, man." Or "Your armpit smells like herring." Anything. - Joe Bob
Like, Dear Joe Bob,
You ask for it, you get it. After many sweaty hours of field work, here is a compiled, concise list of contemporary Danish slang. It turned out not to be easy, for the reason that most Danish conversations seem to be about either the state of the national soccer team (sometimes great, usually lousy), or the I.Q. of Brigitte Nielsen as compared to that of the leader of the Labour Party. (A difficult comparison, unlike the one about who has the greatest breasts. But then she cheated. She went to high school.) I don't like sports, I'm not interested in politics, I don't watch television, listen to the radio, or read newspapers, so you see it isn't easy. (For completeness' sake, I also don't smoke, drink, or date . . . or date anybody known to be a sister of mine.)
To make many excuses few, I had to invent a couple to make it look like a list. I'm not telling which ones.
"Fat Times" (Something you say when getting good news or just in a generally good mood. Means, like, "Golden Years.")
"Respect" (Said in double speed and pitch. A quote from a techno-rock heavy-metal tune. Ministry: The mind is a terrible thing to taste.)
"Don't throw books when living with illiterates . . ."
"It's colder in the country in the winter than in the city in the summer." (An old rural saying used to confuse small children as a warm-up to school.)
"You are talking too much compared to how much you are saying." (Biting retort to people who usually don't understand it.)
"A tomato as big as a balled-up child's head."
"Keep the city clean; walk a Swede to the ferry." (The Swedes can't drink alcohol until they are 21. So they come to Copenhagen.)
"Like cacti in the bed." (About unwanted guests and old lovers.)
"It's like I'm saying, always have said, and say now tearfully . . ." (Girls under 16 shouldn't look like that--or whatever you find sad or noteworthy.)
Thanks is due to my father, God rest his dear, promiscuous soul, for a few of these.
Still hanging in there,
Eolake Stobblehouse
Copenhagen, Denmark
Dear Eolake:
My favorite one is "a tomato as big as a balled-up child's head." That's really sick. I don't expect it from Denmark. Congratulations. - Joe Bob
William Shakespeare
Why are William Shakespeare's works so intensely popular and respected?
Misunderstand me correctly (as my father used to say), they are obviously well written and so on. But normally when an artist is both extremely popular and respected, his works will move me. But these plays don't, particularly. They are good, but I just fail to see how they are that good.
Of course who wrote them is a different matter entirely. I don't see the controversy as being as important as the works themselves. (In The Disappearance Of The Universe it is claimed from above that Elizabeth I forbade Edward De Vere to put his names on these plays, since plays, and particularly comedies, were considered very crude entertainment in those days, and it would sully aristocracy to have an aristocrat publish such stuff.)
Misunderstand me correctly (as my father used to say), they are obviously well written and so on. But normally when an artist is both extremely popular and respected, his works will move me. But these plays don't, particularly. They are good, but I just fail to see how they are that good.
Of course who wrote them is a different matter entirely. I don't see the controversy as being as important as the works themselves. (In The Disappearance Of The Universe it is claimed from above that Elizabeth I forbade Edward De Vere to put his names on these plays, since plays, and particularly comedies, were considered very crude entertainment in those days, and it would sully aristocracy to have an aristocrat publish such stuff.)
In Defense of Nude Celebrities
"In Defense of Nude Celebrities" - MSN article.
"The cure for it, ironically, is to stop caring so darned much about nudity. If it doesn't rile us, then it's not going to be a route to riches. Once that happens, we can turn back the clock, perhaps even to Michelangelo's time, and we can look at a picture of a lovely human specimen and appreciate it for its inherent beauty. It's a sad thing to turn the one thing that's truly ours -- our bodies -- into a source of shame."
Update: I found the picture of Vanessa Hudgens nude, finally. (Man, they must be working hard at keeping it off the web.)
She is beautiful.
And what a totally innocent picture. I tremble to try to imagine how messed up one has to be to be very upset about this.
One has to hand it to Disney, though: at least they did not freak out enough to cancel their projects with her. Well done.
"The cure for it, ironically, is to stop caring so darned much about nudity. If it doesn't rile us, then it's not going to be a route to riches. Once that happens, we can turn back the clock, perhaps even to Michelangelo's time, and we can look at a picture of a lovely human specimen and appreciate it for its inherent beauty. It's a sad thing to turn the one thing that's truly ours -- our bodies -- into a source of shame."
Update: I found the picture of Vanessa Hudgens nude, finally. (Man, they must be working hard at keeping it off the web.)
She is beautiful.
And what a totally innocent picture. I tremble to try to imagine how messed up one has to be to be very upset about this.
One has to hand it to Disney, though: at least they did not freak out enough to cancel their projects with her. Well done.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
"Leave Britney alone"
"Leave Britney alone". This is a demonstration of how the Net has changed the world, for better and worse. This bizarre, disturbing plea from an androgenous fellah, Chris, is today the number one video on YouTube, and is already after a day making the rounds in the mainstream media.
Update... OK, this is funny, just nine minutes ago, Chris added this video where he says that he "can't think about 9/11 when Britney is going through what she is going through".
We should all have fans like that. On second thought... maybe not.
The broadcast-yourself web is weilding some bizarre results. This little girl is saying "please send me hate mail. I love hate mail. I only got like... none."
By the way, the excellent film Austin Powers 3 had a bunch of high-powered guest stars, and for some reason Mike Meyers had chosen to include Britney Spears. I said then that she was not in the same class or had the same staying power as the others. It seems now that this was correct.
Balmoral Castle and The Queen
This is Balmoral Castle, Queen Elizabeth's summer home. Nice place, maybe I'll get one. I bet the upkeep is a killer though.
I looked it up, because I have just watched movie The Queen, a really nice and interesting movie. (Ooh, I see now it won an Oscar. Well deserved.)
And pretty amazing, the transformation of beautiful Helen Mirren in this film, both physically and psychologically.
When I see movies like this, I can't help but wonder what the people portrayed think of them. Is the story more important than the concern for real people involved? I don't know.
Here's a note to DVD menu designers:
1: Please don't have any music running in the menus, particularly not looping.
2: Please don't insert gratuitous video clips between menus. It does not add anything, and wastes time for the viewer.
3: Please collect all options in as few screens as possible.
4: Please put commentaries under Special Features, where they belong, not under Setup, which is for sound and subtitles settings. It was only because I read elsewhere that this film had a commentary that I found it, and even then it cost me time and irritation to locate it.
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