Saturday, April 26, 2003
p.s. i really ought to do more things like the aids walk - becoming more active in my community. i always have donated to diff charities, but somehow one's physical presence at events/activities that benefit causes, i think, is important. my problem (and i know it is an excuse) is that with everything else going on in my life, it is tough for me to actively seek out events like this. for example, i found out about the aids walk only because someone i go to school with mentioned it to me - i.e. i am willing to participate in activities if i become aware of them, but have done a lousy job keeping myself informed of what all events are going on.
i participated in an aids walk in oberlin today, although following my philospohy of "why walk when you can skate?", i skated it instead of walking it. i got there earliy and skated around the square just for fun and to get the feel of the square's unusual sidewalk. for the walk proper, we circumnavigated tappan square a few times - the sidewalk is a nice herringbone brick pattern - which looks nice, nut bumpy to skate on... because everyone else was walking i couldn't skate too fast (although one guy suggested i could try some rollerderby moves and get points for passing people, IF, of course, i had the proper helmet on!), but i practiced swizzles, footwork, etc...we were lead by a marching band - either the high school or the college - which repeated three motown tunes (heard it through the grapevine, can't hurry love and can't help myself - endlessly) gee - oberlin college is known for their music programs - shouldn't their marching bands be playing 'round midnight, monk's mood, crepuscule with nelly or something equally hip - anyhow i won a haircut at the drawing for door prizes - each person that won got to pick from a table of prizes - when i won the person running the show mentioned that the haircut certificate mught be a good prize - gee - think they were trying to tell me something!
anyhow, afterwards, went for a skate on my favorite bike trail which is near the square. didn't go too far as even at the slow pace i had been on my skates for a long time - felt great...
anyhow, afterwards, went for a skate on my favorite bike trail which is near the square. didn't go too far as even at the slow pace i had been on my skates for a long time - felt great...
in a comment to the post below sharon, probably because the alt text for the photo was in fractured french asked the question: "alors, qui est-ce? il s'appelle comment?"
in doing so, she showed me as a poseur as i only know a handful of french that i recall from my high school days in the late 20th century, as i don't really understand the question. being too proud to ask for a translation, i am assuming she is asking "what's up with the picture?"
the literal answer is that this is a photo of my monitor, which at the time was showing a photo of me.
however, long-time readers know that my worldview is far too complex for such a straightforward answer. and as any student of modern physics (or viewer of red dwarf) knows, many believe that there are infinite parallel universes where all possibilities are played out. additionally, i like to let my readers come to their own conclusions. therefore, i will offer two possibe explanations and let you decide which one is relevant for this universe.
possibility a. this work was inspired by the painting of a pipe - i believe by magritte, which contains the caption "c'est n'est pas une pipe." ("this is not a pipe" for you yanks). i don't know the title of it. it is one of my favorite paintings. (why i dnn't know, for sure, the title and artist of one of my favorite paintings is another question for another day.) anyhow, the "gist" of the painting is that it indeed isn't a "pipe". it is a "painting of a pipe". although this might sound like a silly word game that a precocious 6th grader might try, the point is really profound because we confuse symbols with reality all the time. we get caught in our concepts of what words are and what words mean in a way that is disassociated with reality. this is the point of one of my favorite writers, alan watts - who i fear, is thought by some as an unfortunate side effect of the hippie era, but to me is one of the most profound interpreters of "eastern" philosophy for modern westerners. anyhow, my photo was inspired by the painting and makes it once removed. i.e. not only is this not me, it is not a photo of me, it is a photo of a photo of me. the once removed aspect shows that since the time of the pipe painting, if anything, we have become more caught up in the world of symbols and less in touch with reality. the work has an interesting subtext, because i have spent so much time with the computer. it has been a source of wonder, of employment of entertainment, yet i get as bored as anyone with tech-y talk - at least certain kinds - i.e. i love computers but they are not my life. an additional level of meaning is that i am not my blog. the blog is a part of me, but i write what i choose to write about. my blog is my experiences filtered. this taken together with the post before it, my blog is a self-portrait, but one from a carefully chosen, perhaps flattering, angle, so you don't see how big my nose is, or how grey my hair is.
possibility 2: i got a digital cameral for $25 ($20, actually, after the rebate), and i was playing around with it, thought this photo was pretty cool, posted it and made the rest up.
you be the judge
;-)
in doing so, she showed me as a poseur as i only know a handful of french that i recall from my high school days in the late 20th century, as i don't really understand the question. being too proud to ask for a translation, i am assuming she is asking "what's up with the picture?"
the literal answer is that this is a photo of my monitor, which at the time was showing a photo of me.
however, long-time readers know that my worldview is far too complex for such a straightforward answer. and as any student of modern physics (or viewer of red dwarf) knows, many believe that there are infinite parallel universes where all possibilities are played out. additionally, i like to let my readers come to their own conclusions. therefore, i will offer two possibe explanations and let you decide which one is relevant for this universe.
possibility a. this work was inspired by the painting of a pipe - i believe by magritte, which contains the caption "c'est n'est pas une pipe." ("this is not a pipe" for you yanks). i don't know the title of it. it is one of my favorite paintings. (why i dnn't know, for sure, the title and artist of one of my favorite paintings is another question for another day.) anyhow, the "gist" of the painting is that it indeed isn't a "pipe". it is a "painting of a pipe". although this might sound like a silly word game that a precocious 6th grader might try, the point is really profound because we confuse symbols with reality all the time. we get caught in our concepts of what words are and what words mean in a way that is disassociated with reality. this is the point of one of my favorite writers, alan watts - who i fear, is thought by some as an unfortunate side effect of the hippie era, but to me is one of the most profound interpreters of "eastern" philosophy for modern westerners. anyhow, my photo was inspired by the painting and makes it once removed. i.e. not only is this not me, it is not a photo of me, it is a photo of a photo of me. the once removed aspect shows that since the time of the pipe painting, if anything, we have become more caught up in the world of symbols and less in touch with reality. the work has an interesting subtext, because i have spent so much time with the computer. it has been a source of wonder, of employment of entertainment, yet i get as bored as anyone with tech-y talk - at least certain kinds - i.e. i love computers but they are not my life. an additional level of meaning is that i am not my blog. the blog is a part of me, but i write what i choose to write about. my blog is my experiences filtered. this taken together with the post before it, my blog is a self-portrait, but one from a carefully chosen, perhaps flattering, angle, so you don't see how big my nose is, or how grey my hair is.
possibility 2: i got a digital cameral for $25 ($20, actually, after the rebate), and i was playing around with it, thought this photo was pretty cool, posted it and made the rest up.
you be the judge
;-)
Friday, April 25, 2003
we have yet to find wmd in iraq
n korea claims to have nuclear weapons and hints at testing or exporting them
?
n korea claims to have nuclear weapons and hints at testing or exporting them
?
ok - so this is going to be one of them manic post-a-thon kind of days...
bbc6 is playing radiohead's creep
first of all, great tune, but who'd have thought that the band that made this song would make ok computer - can't wait to hear the new one...
and, whenever i hear this song i can't help but remember either beavis or butthead's comment - something on the order of "this guy ought to say to himself 'i am somebody'" - god i miss then - 10,000 digital cable channels and can't find b&b on any of them - wtf?
bbc6 is playing radiohead's creep
first of all, great tune, but who'd have thought that the band that made this song would make ok computer - can't wait to hear the new one...
and, whenever i hear this song i can't help but remember either beavis or butthead's comment - something on the order of "this guy ought to say to himself 'i am somebody'" - god i miss then - 10,000 digital cable channels and can't find b&b on any of them - wtf?
the flyer for my blog presentation refers to me as "Professor Mike...", which i found odd. My actual rank is "Instructor" and now i feel compelled to begin my talk with a sgt. hulka inspired "don't call me professor; i work for a living",
referral whimsy...
i included general vincent brooks' name in a joke post and it gets me tons of hits (well 1 or 2 a day anyhow). many looking for info about his wife. perhaps smitten cnn junkies seeing if he is available?
i also get a fair number of hits for info about diana taurasi cause i mentioned her in a post during my post-a-thon during the ncaa final game
but today's bizarro referral was an aol search for "did john entwistle believe in jesus ?"
p.s. call me a geek, but does anyone else get a kick out of how google changes it's logo periodically for cartain days - today includes a double helix to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of dna
i included general vincent brooks' name in a joke post and it gets me tons of hits (well 1 or 2 a day anyhow). many looking for info about his wife. perhaps smitten cnn junkies seeing if he is available?
i also get a fair number of hits for info about diana taurasi cause i mentioned her in a post during my post-a-thon during the ncaa final game
but today's bizarro referral was an aol search for "did john entwistle believe in jesus ?"
p.s. call me a geek, but does anyone else get a kick out of how google changes it's logo periodically for cartain days - today includes a double helix to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of dna
i have work to do, but can't bring myself to do it. as a faculty person who teaches web development, blog surfing counts as research, doesn't it?
ok - i remember
my blog presentation is this coming wednesday and is titled blogapalooza i gave the person in charge a few possible titles and fliply suggested this one and it's the one he went with. my presentation is part of a series and for a frame of reference the titles of the other presentations were "Ontological Literary Criticism" and "Reconsidering the Egyptian Metaphysics of Grail Lore". i alternately feel a bit of a goof and extremely proud of myself for the tone/title/topic of my presentation in comparison with the others. hey, us web folk are required to be wacky
also, i saw a bumper sticker on some kind of ford truck that said "i eat rams and *ahem* defecate chevy's" - ok, i am paraphrasing - i can't imagine ever feeling that proud of my vehicle (although i admit, i DO tear up a bit when i talk of my salomon inline skates
i hope this weekend to wrap up all the work for the class i am taking - my prof. keeps asking for revisions - which is good - i get my stuff in early and it's great he gives me opportunities for revision. other students get things in right at the deadline and perhaps they are perfect, but my approach has always been to get something done quickly, then get feedback and react - as pop producer, nick lowe once said "bang it out now and tart it up later" - i also wonder if my prof (who is, btw, one of the best professors i've had in any subject) is pushing me because i am doing well in the class - i.e. making it more challenging - that being said - i really hope this is the last round of revisions as i have bigger fish to fry (metaphorically, of course. real vegetarians don't eat fish)
also, bbc6 has jack bruce on and is interviewing him - asking him to pick a few tracks, who he'd invite to a party, etc... fascinating. i saw jack bruce with the golden palominos many moons ago - that was a band. that was a concert. and when bruce came on stage - just for a few tunes, he pushed it up, as kip hanrahan would say "from world class to heaven". that was in my young and foolish days - had a cocktail or two that night (at least) - great show...
my blog presentation is this coming wednesday and is titled blogapalooza i gave the person in charge a few possible titles and fliply suggested this one and it's the one he went with. my presentation is part of a series and for a frame of reference the titles of the other presentations were "Ontological Literary Criticism" and "Reconsidering the Egyptian Metaphysics of Grail Lore". i alternately feel a bit of a goof and extremely proud of myself for the tone/title/topic of my presentation in comparison with the others. hey, us web folk are required to be wacky
also, i saw a bumper sticker on some kind of ford truck that said "i eat rams and *ahem* defecate chevy's" - ok, i am paraphrasing - i can't imagine ever feeling that proud of my vehicle (although i admit, i DO tear up a bit when i talk of my salomon inline skates
i hope this weekend to wrap up all the work for the class i am taking - my prof. keeps asking for revisions - which is good - i get my stuff in early and it's great he gives me opportunities for revision. other students get things in right at the deadline and perhaps they are perfect, but my approach has always been to get something done quickly, then get feedback and react - as pop producer, nick lowe once said "bang it out now and tart it up later" - i also wonder if my prof (who is, btw, one of the best professors i've had in any subject) is pushing me because i am doing well in the class - i.e. making it more challenging - that being said - i really hope this is the last round of revisions as i have bigger fish to fry (metaphorically, of course. real vegetarians don't eat fish)
also, bbc6 has jack bruce on and is interviewing him - asking him to pick a few tracks, who he'd invite to a party, etc... fascinating. i saw jack bruce with the golden palominos many moons ago - that was a band. that was a concert. and when bruce came on stage - just for a few tunes, he pushed it up, as kip hanrahan would say "from world class to heaven". that was in my young and foolish days - had a cocktail or two that night (at least) - great show...
and now a craptacular friday 5 and more!
1. What was the last TV show you watched?
hmmm - i dozed off watching tv last night - forget what was on - the last thing i paid attention to was monty python's flying circus - most notable skit - john cleese as the uk's great boxing hope - funny stuff - he was boxing a ballerina
2. What was the last thing you complained about and what was the problem?
the friday five. it was craptacular
3. Who was the last person you complimented and what did you say?
i complemented a photo of someone - said it was pretty
4. What was the last thing you threw away?
a hershey bar wrapper - with almonds
5. What was the last website (besides this one) that you visited?
*shameless self promotion*
this incredibly sagacious site about yoga
*/shameless self promotion*
by the time i got home last night at 9pm i was FAMISHED. had a bagel and a banana for breakfast. then a very late lunch - had a lot of irons in the fire, so couldn't eat until 3pm - veggie quesadilla - then on to class - was able to grab a small snack (hence the hershey bar wrapper), but the class went t abit long (we were designing cereal boxes) and got out at nine. i called my wife on the way home to see if she'd order a pizza - she was in the middle of something - so i ordered it from my cell. unfortunately, we miscommunicated and she ordered one as well - from the same place - well, we figured pizza doesn't go bad (at least where i'm around) so we called them back and told them we'd take them both but please bring them in one trip. anyhow, i could have eaten the whole darned thing myself. i cut myself off, but never has a pizza tasted so good. can't wait til lab is done today - we're going to grill veggies for a delightful samich for lunch...
i think there's more but i forget...
1. What was the last TV show you watched?
hmmm - i dozed off watching tv last night - forget what was on - the last thing i paid attention to was monty python's flying circus - most notable skit - john cleese as the uk's great boxing hope - funny stuff - he was boxing a ballerina
2. What was the last thing you complained about and what was the problem?
the friday five. it was craptacular
3. Who was the last person you complimented and what did you say?
i complemented a photo of someone - said it was pretty
4. What was the last thing you threw away?
a hershey bar wrapper - with almonds
5. What was the last website (besides this one) that you visited?
*shameless self promotion*
this incredibly sagacious site about yoga
*/shameless self promotion*
by the time i got home last night at 9pm i was FAMISHED. had a bagel and a banana for breakfast. then a very late lunch - had a lot of irons in the fire, so couldn't eat until 3pm - veggie quesadilla - then on to class - was able to grab a small snack (hence the hershey bar wrapper), but the class went t abit long (we were designing cereal boxes) and got out at nine. i called my wife on the way home to see if she'd order a pizza - she was in the middle of something - so i ordered it from my cell. unfortunately, we miscommunicated and she ordered one as well - from the same place - well, we figured pizza doesn't go bad (at least where i'm around) so we called them back and told them we'd take them both but please bring them in one trip. anyhow, i could have eaten the whole darned thing myself. i cut myself off, but never has a pizza tasted so good. can't wait til lab is done today - we're going to grill veggies for a delightful samich for lunch...
i think there's more but i forget...
Thursday, April 24, 2003
the new matrix reloaded 32 oz bottles of powerade rock. it is tasty, looks cool and is chock full o' vitamins and other good things...
the ad they played for it at the movies was cool too (btw, when did they start having commercials at the movies, i thought that was what tv was for)
the ad they played for it at the movies was cool too (btw, when did they start having commercials at the movies, i thought that was what tv was for)
ok - now they're plaing "the lunatic is in the hall..." in it's entirety and it sounds perfect - perhaps it's just the novelty - but the arrangement may make more sense than the original - given the subject material... i can't stop grinning...
perhaps celebrating the 30th anniversary of dark side of the moon and all dub version of the record dub side of the moon has been released by the easy star all starts...
wow bbc6 just played samples of a half dozen tunes - anunlikely combination to be sure, but don't laugh til you hear it...great stuff...but the bigger question is "does it sync up with the wizard of oz"
wow bbc6 just played samples of a half dozen tunes - anunlikely combination to be sure, but don't laugh til you hear it...great stuff...but the bigger question is "does it sync up with the wizard of oz"
i am kind of tired today, and i have kind of a long day. i'm not complaining cause things could be worse. i think i am starting to babble. i better go now.
Wednesday, April 23, 2003
ok - between classes flicking thru the tv and what do i see? manchester united playing real madrid in football (soccer to you yanks) - so, anyhow, earlier this week, i probably wouldn't have cared, but after seeing bend it like beckham i realized man. utd. is mr beckham's team so i watched. a few observations:
- they didn't play beckham until late in the game. the announcers were questioning this much of the way. what gives? when he came in, he scored two goals, one of which he "bent" around the wall of defenders in a free kick or something (oh, i get it now...) anyhow, my guess is if you're a soccer player and you have a movie named after you, you are probably pretty good - not to mention, being able to marry one of the spice girls - so why not play him - geesh - watched only one game and already questioning the coach
- i swear moby was playing goal for man. utd.
- geesh, soccer games are long - i turned it on, watched some, did some household chores, relaxed, did some work, ate and the game was still on - perhaps it fills the void of sports background noise that baseball does for us.
- that being said, the fans seem to be watching something else, they sing, cheer, boo, etc...with no seeming relation to what is going on in the game - one funny thing - everytime this one guy from madrid got the ball the crowd started booing - apparently he played for liverpool, apparently a rival of man. utd. for many years - that was kinda funny - sports fans don't forgive nor forget
- for some unknown reason, man utd had to win 2-0 or by 3 goals to advance in the tournament - making the nfl wildcard tiebreakers seem straightforward.
- man utd won 4-3 or something like that
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
i think a recent post of mine requires clarification. a few posts ago i told of a guy who said i always walk past him without saying hi. that post was meant to be a self-indictment - perhaps at times i get too focused on what i am doing and don't have the basic human decency to say hi or chat for a moment,,,
i can't stand eminem's new song. this in itself is not news. frequent readers know i am not a fan of the man and am clueless why he receives the critical acclaims he does. and i pretty much don't like anything i've heard that he has done (ok, i'll admit, in a weak moment, i find the "this looks like a job for me..." song mildly amusing - the video a bit more amusing still) - but anyhow, the reason i don't like the new tune especially is that it includes a clip from aerosmith's dream on - a favorite chestnut from my high school years...so anyhow, i'll be flicking around the radio dial, not paying attention to the station and think i've stumbled across dream on on a classic rock station and just as i'm getting into it - and am reaching into my ripped jeans to extract a bic lighter to light and wave, old slim shady starts whining about how terrible his life is, how terrible his childhood was, how the music is all the kids have, how he needs a gun to defend himself - blech - note to slim: haven't we heard this, about a bazillion times before - we get the idea... how about another topic - and next time, if you're going to sample a classic rock band, sample rush or something - which i'd turn off even if it were the real thing...
as i walked thru the mail room the other day a guy grabbed my arm, introduced himself and asked my name. he stated he has passed me and said hi on a number of occasions and i always blew right past him. i heard him say hi, but thought he was speaking to someone else. as god is my witness, i swear i never saw him prior to yesterday, which probably was his point...
on the other hand, the song of yesterday was a tune on the bend it like beckham soundtrack - don't know the title - kind of a goofy tune - wordless vocals - i think it's been on a commercial - i looked at the soundtrack and couldn't place the title - any clues?
song of the day: the beatles - tomorrow never knows - it's been a while since i heard the original - i'm prob. more used to michael hedges cover...
they picked the 5 finalists in global extremes. the prize - a chance to climb mt. everest! they started out with 50 - narrowed it down to 9 - and yesterday's show eliminated 4. i correctly picked 3 of the 5 finalists. good luck to the finalists. they will be broadcasting live from everest on 5/12 - i have a final then - wouldn't you know it?
Monday, April 21, 2003
