I don't know why I am fascinated by these "autotune the news" clips. They're a little more sexist than I'd like for one thing. I think it's just that I'm fascinated by autotune for some reason. Anyway, this one gets good once sean hannity shows up. I like the Katie Couric segment too. Anyway, if you hate autotune, be sure NOT to watch this movie:
Friday, May 29, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Time to Pretend
God I love finding new music.
This album has 3 songs that really hit chords with me.
I like this one because it's sung by guys who are fantastically young singing about what growing up or at least getting famous and growing up looks like to them. They either have a hell of a producer or song-writer or are crazy perceptive for being so young. The music's so good I have forgotten to resent them for being so young, talented and beautiful and instead choose to experience it vicariously. I'm probably the last person to discover MGMT, but hey, there's so much music and only so many hours in the day.
Hell, I'm just going to post all 3.
Second, The Youth jumps out at me, mostly just the part where they say "are YOU starting to change . . ." but I like the whole gist of the song.
Third, I really like "kids" both as a celebration of kids and also for the line "Control yourself, take only what you NEED from it.", well that and I love the beat and music it's put to. Anyway, just sharing.
This album has 3 songs that really hit chords with me.
I like this one because it's sung by guys who are fantastically young singing about what growing up or at least getting famous and growing up looks like to them. They either have a hell of a producer or song-writer or are crazy perceptive for being so young. The music's so good I have forgotten to resent them for being so young, talented and beautiful and instead choose to experience it vicariously. I'm probably the last person to discover MGMT, but hey, there's so much music and only so many hours in the day.
Hell, I'm just going to post all 3.
Second, The Youth jumps out at me, mostly just the part where they say "are YOU starting to change . . ." but I like the whole gist of the song.
Third, I really like "kids" both as a celebration of kids and also for the line "Control yourself, take only what you NEED from it.", well that and I love the beat and music it's put to. Anyway, just sharing.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Because I like to Torture you
A random poem/short story that formed in my head on the way back from the beach.
*******
The kingdom of Sune has a long and proud history of monarchs who believe the stories of their own magnificence a little too much. One such monarch, a king by the name of Harold the 3rd but So Much More Awesome than the Other Two Harolds (sometimes abbreviated as Harold S.M.M.A.O.T.H and later simply Harold Smith) was particularly impressed with himself and insisted that the world bend to his wishes, as soon as he made is magnificent desires known (indeed, he had a hard time comprehending why it WOULDN'T). On a particularly sunny day, in the hottest part of what was known on the Sune calendar as "Harold's 4th least favorite month"*, in a fit of pique, he wrote the following poem and read it imperiously from his balcony:
"Oh infernal orb, that dwells within the sky,
With impertinence and daring, you have burned the royal eye!
Who are you, oh orb, to deflect my gaze aside?
If at noon I wish to stare straight up I will not be denied!
While, oh orb, I must admit, you cause our crops to grow,
Must you do it in such a way that burns our pale skin so?
Orb you must burn dimmer, we could surely do with less,
And while you consider my command I'll take a nap I guess."
Of course, what the sun actually did is now well known to every school child. When Harold woke up from his nap he found his kingdom cloaked in darkness and his subjects in panic. This state of affairs continued for 3 days, at which point a particularly brave advisor to the king suggested a solution. At which point, King Harold Smith wrote a new poem and stepped out onto his balcony at what he guessed to be noon and recited the following:
"Oh illustrious orb, you have honored our request.
Upon further thought, I must admit, this may not be what is best.
Our crops you see are dying, and I cannot see the sea.
Perhaps you would consider, burning as bright as you used to be?
Our advisors, you see, are clever, they think we both can win,
if we wear shades on our eyes, and put cream on our skin.
So, orb, please keep burning, we probably won't get fried,
and next time we feel like commanding thee orb, we'll keep those words inside."
Of course, as we all know, the sun did come back and Harold Smith and his advisors did indeed invent shades for the eyes that protected against glare and cream for the skin that protected against burning, first for his royal majesty and later for the entire kingdom. Which is, of course, where Suneglasses (or more recently "Sunglasses") come from. And now you know.
* (which of course was followed immediately by the month known as "Harold's 8th least favorite month" which of course is why it is so hard to accurately date any historical events in Sune as each monarch's first official act was typically to abolish the old calendar and created a new one that accurately reflected their own magnificence. This also explained why official court historians and record keepers were forcibly appointed rather than chosen from a group of volunteers.)
*******
The kingdom of Sune has a long and proud history of monarchs who believe the stories of their own magnificence a little too much. One such monarch, a king by the name of Harold the 3rd but So Much More Awesome than the Other Two Harolds (sometimes abbreviated as Harold S.M.M.A.O.T.H and later simply Harold Smith) was particularly impressed with himself and insisted that the world bend to his wishes, as soon as he made is magnificent desires known (indeed, he had a hard time comprehending why it WOULDN'T). On a particularly sunny day, in the hottest part of what was known on the Sune calendar as "Harold's 4th least favorite month"*, in a fit of pique, he wrote the following poem and read it imperiously from his balcony:
"Oh infernal orb, that dwells within the sky,
With impertinence and daring, you have burned the royal eye!
Who are you, oh orb, to deflect my gaze aside?
If at noon I wish to stare straight up I will not be denied!
While, oh orb, I must admit, you cause our crops to grow,
Must you do it in such a way that burns our pale skin so?
Orb you must burn dimmer, we could surely do with less,
And while you consider my command I'll take a nap I guess."
Of course, what the sun actually did is now well known to every school child. When Harold woke up from his nap he found his kingdom cloaked in darkness and his subjects in panic. This state of affairs continued for 3 days, at which point a particularly brave advisor to the king suggested a solution. At which point, King Harold Smith wrote a new poem and stepped out onto his balcony at what he guessed to be noon and recited the following:
"Oh illustrious orb, you have honored our request.
Upon further thought, I must admit, this may not be what is best.
Our crops you see are dying, and I cannot see the sea.
Perhaps you would consider, burning as bright as you used to be?
Our advisors, you see, are clever, they think we both can win,
if we wear shades on our eyes, and put cream on our skin.
So, orb, please keep burning, we probably won't get fried,
and next time we feel like commanding thee orb, we'll keep those words inside."
Of course, as we all know, the sun did come back and Harold Smith and his advisors did indeed invent shades for the eyes that protected against glare and cream for the skin that protected against burning, first for his royal majesty and later for the entire kingdom. Which is, of course, where Suneglasses (or more recently "Sunglasses") come from. And now you know.
* (which of course was followed immediately by the month known as "Harold's 8th least favorite month" which of course is why it is so hard to accurately date any historical events in Sune as each monarch's first official act was typically to abolish the old calendar and created a new one that accurately reflected their own magnificence. This also explained why official court historians and record keepers were forcibly appointed rather than chosen from a group of volunteers.)
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Buddhism vs Christianity, some thoughts
In reponse to nothing's comment about how hard I'm being on Christianity, I posted a much longer than intended comment back at him. I feel it deserves a post of it's own though so I'm pasting it here. This is kind of where I'm at right now.
*********
I was not dogging on the fact that Christianity has done bad things in the past, I was dogging on its methods of teaching compassion. I understand this is probably not representative of the full depth of Christian thought, but the general teaching I received on this subject was: 1) Submit to God as the source of all compassion (and beg forgiveness for being so naughty as to not be compassionate, i.e. be sure to feel bad about it first.) 2) Let go of your attempt to be compassionate and let God do it through you. 3) Hope this nebulous instruction translates to meaningful action the next time you need to put it to the test.
What I like about buddhism is the emphasis on practical suggestions to cultivate compassion. I like how it encourages you to view your foibles with a sense of humor and compassion for yourself, and gives you meditative techniques to achieve that (ways to breathe, how to deal with your discontent with your lack of compassion when it arises) and then teaches you how to cultivate that feeling, and also how to apply it in the real world. In other words, you get step by step practical advice on how to cultivate compassion within yourself.
Christianity ALMOST gets it right. The part about letting go and letting God do it is almost buddhist. The part I don't like about modern Christianity is the concern is mostly with the submission to authority part. LIke I was telling my mother how much I like buddhisms practical techniques to be more compassionate and her first and only question was "but you still believe compassion can only come from God?", as if it matters less that I am compassionate, more that I constantly reassure God that he created everything.
I think the insistence that we constantly submit to God's authority has far less to do with what God's actually about, than what the church is typically about, which is making sure the congregation is submitting to the church's authority. I think the patriarchal church structure is inherently unstable and relies on constant reaffirmation that the lower ranks are indeed submitting to the appropriately designated authority figures. Children must submit to their elders, wives must submit to their husbands, husbands must submit to the pastor and other males higher in the pecking order than they are, and so then, of course, it is only natural to assume that God requires everyone including the pastor to submit to Him lest he feel all smitey and vindictive, in the same way that men feel all abusey and vindictive if they don't get their "due" respect. I've just painted a caricature of course, and I know the modern church isn't 100% like this, but this is the framework modern christians are trying to twist into something more egalitarian and I think it's an exercise in futility. The framework is ABOUT not being egalitarian (as evidenced by the church's continued insistence that women can't be ordained as pastors. Submit directly to God without submitting to a man first? Unheard of!)
I . . . just think God knows what he did and probably has a strong enough self esteem that does okay without us reassuring him all the time. Nor do I think he really wants to do all the heavy lifting in terms of teaching us to be compassionate. If there are easy and fun ways to train yourself to be more centered and more compassionate, why not do it ourselves rather than turn it over to God and say, "here, you do it, I'm going to get a soda and play video games for a while"
So the letting go part that Christianity teaches is good. What it's missing is the mindful letting go. The part where you watch how your emotions move and change, and practice acknowledging your negative emotions and where they come from with compassion for yourself and then letting them be what they are, which is basically the same thing as letting them go. In short, buddhism encourages self-reflection and wrestling with your problems, rather than happily putting them out of mind, and I find this strikes me as the only way I'm every going to really change.
*********
I was not dogging on the fact that Christianity has done bad things in the past, I was dogging on its methods of teaching compassion. I understand this is probably not representative of the full depth of Christian thought, but the general teaching I received on this subject was: 1) Submit to God as the source of all compassion (and beg forgiveness for being so naughty as to not be compassionate, i.e. be sure to feel bad about it first.) 2) Let go of your attempt to be compassionate and let God do it through you. 3) Hope this nebulous instruction translates to meaningful action the next time you need to put it to the test.
What I like about buddhism is the emphasis on practical suggestions to cultivate compassion. I like how it encourages you to view your foibles with a sense of humor and compassion for yourself, and gives you meditative techniques to achieve that (ways to breathe, how to deal with your discontent with your lack of compassion when it arises) and then teaches you how to cultivate that feeling, and also how to apply it in the real world. In other words, you get step by step practical advice on how to cultivate compassion within yourself.
Christianity ALMOST gets it right. The part about letting go and letting God do it is almost buddhist. The part I don't like about modern Christianity is the concern is mostly with the submission to authority part. LIke I was telling my mother how much I like buddhisms practical techniques to be more compassionate and her first and only question was "but you still believe compassion can only come from God?", as if it matters less that I am compassionate, more that I constantly reassure God that he created everything.
I think the insistence that we constantly submit to God's authority has far less to do with what God's actually about, than what the church is typically about, which is making sure the congregation is submitting to the church's authority. I think the patriarchal church structure is inherently unstable and relies on constant reaffirmation that the lower ranks are indeed submitting to the appropriately designated authority figures. Children must submit to their elders, wives must submit to their husbands, husbands must submit to the pastor and other males higher in the pecking order than they are, and so then, of course, it is only natural to assume that God requires everyone including the pastor to submit to Him lest he feel all smitey and vindictive, in the same way that men feel all abusey and vindictive if they don't get their "due" respect. I've just painted a caricature of course, and I know the modern church isn't 100% like this, but this is the framework modern christians are trying to twist into something more egalitarian and I think it's an exercise in futility. The framework is ABOUT not being egalitarian (as evidenced by the church's continued insistence that women can't be ordained as pastors. Submit directly to God without submitting to a man first? Unheard of!)
I . . . just think God knows what he did and probably has a strong enough self esteem that does okay without us reassuring him all the time. Nor do I think he really wants to do all the heavy lifting in terms of teaching us to be compassionate. If there are easy and fun ways to train yourself to be more centered and more compassionate, why not do it ourselves rather than turn it over to God and say, "here, you do it, I'm going to get a soda and play video games for a while"
So the letting go part that Christianity teaches is good. What it's missing is the mindful letting go. The part where you watch how your emotions move and change, and practice acknowledging your negative emotions and where they come from with compassion for yourself and then letting them be what they are, which is basically the same thing as letting them go. In short, buddhism encourages self-reflection and wrestling with your problems, rather than happily putting them out of mind, and I find this strikes me as the only way I'm every going to really change.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Focusing on now
While Mike and and Eric and I were grabbing lunch/dinner at new seasons today. While we were walking into the store mike and I were talking buddhism and christianity and the relative merits for each (mostly praising buddhism and dogging christianity). Shortly after we get in the store, Eric passes us and says "While you two 'philosophers' were debating you passed free strawberry shortcake samples." Which made us stop and laugh and blush a little bit, because we had before discussed how much we liked Buddhism's teachings on being fully in the present and aware of the present moment. While returning for said strawberry shortcake samples, it occurred to me it was a very buddhist lesson.
Monday, May 04, 2009
Thing to remember when going to a new gym
1. Don't assume it will be exactly like your old gym, where they give you towels and a lock for your locker, otherwise you have to stand under a very tall air dryer for 10 minutes to get dry and rent a lock at the steep, steep price of 50 cents.
2. Be sure to get prescription goggles so you can speak to people with less confusion. I have not done this yet so tonight was very confusing.
3. Don't be confused at the presence of lifeguards, even though your old gym didn't have them it doesn't mean they don't exist.
And a special note for the kids: Your urine donations to date are sufficient. Please don't feel obliged to donate more. Which is to say, I hope to hell the kid play pool water is separate from the lane pool water.
Really liked the new gym. Not too busy and the water is much less abrasive because they use less chlorine (which they can use because they partially sterilize the water using ultraviolet light).
2. Be sure to get prescription goggles so you can speak to people with less confusion. I have not done this yet so tonight was very confusing.
3. Don't be confused at the presence of lifeguards, even though your old gym didn't have them it doesn't mean they don't exist.
And a special note for the kids: Your urine donations to date are sufficient. Please don't feel obliged to donate more. Which is to say, I hope to hell the kid play pool water is separate from the lane pool water.
Really liked the new gym. Not too busy and the water is much less abrasive because they use less chlorine (which they can use because they partially sterilize the water using ultraviolet light).
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Reasons why I love my new office
1. Eric is a cool landlord.
2. The beautiful tree that leaves all the pink blossoms everywhere just outside the front door.
3. How there are so many good places you can walk to to eat nearby.
4. The fact that if I want a cheapo office chair I can walk 5 blocks and roll one back to the office while enjoying the day and the city.
5. Whether I'm taking bus or car, the commute is super fast and easy.
6. Working in a refurbished industrial building that looks like it was, once upon a time, used to manufacture tiny Zeppelins feels very anime.
6. It's in Portland!
2. The beautiful tree that leaves all the pink blossoms everywhere just outside the front door.
3. How there are so many good places you can walk to to eat nearby.
4. The fact that if I want a cheapo office chair I can walk 5 blocks and roll one back to the office while enjoying the day and the city.
5. Whether I'm taking bus or car, the commute is super fast and easy.
6. Working in a refurbished industrial building that looks like it was, once upon a time, used to manufacture tiny Zeppelins feels very anime.
6. It's in Portland!
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