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4 star:
* DENIAL IS A RIVER (Doechii)
Interesting background tale
* Too Sweet (Hozier)
* Paint It, Black (Bishop Briggs)

3 star:
* Love Story Soundtrack - 06 - Search For Jenny (Fracis Lai)
* Supertight (feat. Aldous Snow) (Jackie Q)
* Good Advice (Allan Sherman)
* Say No Go (De La Soul)
* I Can't Give You Anything But Love (Fats Waller)
* It Don't Mean a Thing (Take Two) (Duke Ellington and His Orchestra)
* Escapism. (RAYE & 070 Shake)
* Son of a Preacher Man (with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) (Aretha Franklin)
* Like a Prayer (Choir Version From "Deadpool & Wolverine") (I'll Take You There Choir)
* Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin)

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not to sound ungrateful, but the past few days what is bugging me about this final month until solstice is less the lack of light and more the solar glare. So-so month for new music finds:

4 star:
* Aqua Teen Forever Intro (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
Youtube rip... this show has some fun with hiphop.
* Hot in Herre (The Bosshoss)
"Germans pretending to be American Cowboys" remains one of my favorite subgenres of music...
* Spider-Man India (Pavitr Prabhakar) (Daniel Pemberton)
"India Spiderman" theme from "Across the Spider-Verse" - I always love the instrumentation of India
* Turn It Up (Remix) (Busta Rhymes)
Nice use of the Knight Rider theme...
* Crazy (Gnarls Barkley)
New Old R+B Classic... bless your soul
* Big Spender (Peggy Lee)
Hit me that this would be a good song for JP Honk...

3 star:
* Goodbye Blue Sky (Pink Floyd)
* Flava in Ya Ear (feat. Busta Rhymes, LL Cool J, Notorious BIG & Rampage) [Remix] (Craig Mack)
* Boss (Curtis Cole & Ofrin)
* Sink or Swim (Kris Delmhorst)
* You Feel Me (Otis McDonald)
* Now And Then (The Beatles)
Story of the last last song with all 4 Beatles is amazing
* Love Man (Otis Redding)
* Walkin' After Midnight (Patsy Cline)
* Pregnant Sonic (Omri & Auntie Boy)
I'm almost said to miss the prelude of this
* Wir singen beide Do-do-do (Oskar Dénes)
* Chameleon (Buddy Rich)

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wait so like people are making up breakable 4th wall? that's wild

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Super Mario Bros on all this tuned percussion!

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Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.

So grateful for the app "audio highjack" letting me cleanly rip soundtracks from youtube etc... I mean I always try to buy music when I can but I don't want e-availability to stop me...

★ ★ ★ ★	Everybody Wants To Rule the World Lorde	Good cover right out of the How To Make A Blockbuster Movie Trailer playbook...
	30,000 Lbs. Of Bananas Harry Chapin	Was listening to Strong Song's deep dive into Weird Al's Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota and now I really think of it as basically a parody of this song...
	St. James Infirmary Louis Armstrong & His Savoy Ballroom Five	JP Honk was playing this for halloween and I got interested in different versions... always one of my favorite standards.
	DATURA [paroxysm] Crywolf	via tumblr
	Someday I Suppose The Mighty Mighty Bosstones	I was really getting into the idea of their dancer Benn Carr and wanted at least one song that wasn't The Impression That I Get....
★ ★ ★ ★	Last Wave They Might Be Giants	So I guess this song was originally a bad lip reading of the Run DMC/Aerosmith "Walk This Way"???
★ ★ ★ ★	Lady Mine (feat. Chad Kroeger) Josh Ramsay	My friend JZ sends me songs he thinks I'll like... this is one of the few straight forward rockers that hits, a lot of 80s/90s feel to it.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★	I Really Want to Stay at Your House Rosa Walton & Hallie Coggins	5 star! I really love the juxtaposition of wistful title and great funk tinged percussion...
	Exactly Like You Rebirth Brass Band	Another song JP Honk does.
★ ★ ★ ★	Mind Your Manners (feat. Icona Pop) Chiddy Bang	Forget where I heard this modern hip hop, like the chorus sound.
	Give Me Rain Spoonbill	A fire spinner at a party JP Honk was hired for did some of her routine to this song--
★ ★ ★ ★	Girlboss Tuba Solo Nora Nalepka w/ Lucky Chops	Little excerpt I'm trying to learn from... she really knows how to command a crowd with her tuba...
	Is It Wicked Not To Care? Belle and Sebastian	Heard at "Squealing Pig" after our trip to the MFA.... love the title, kind of like "Is It Evil Not To Be Sure"...
	Like a Virgin - Blond Ambition Tour Madonna	The new Weird Al "biopic" had a weird amount of Madonna... I ripped this fron youtube from her stage performance, on the bed with the male dancers in cone bras...
★ ★ ★ ★	Freestyler 2019 Bomfunk MC's	House music... Another one I had to rip from youtube... kind of a classic, the 2019 version seems pretty close to the original...
	Super Mario Bros. Theme Scott Bradlee	Fun ragtime cover of Super Mario Bros.

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Good Conversations Have Lots of Doorknobs Great reminder to create affordances for your conversational partners!

I was struck by the reference to how "We overestimate the awkwardness of deep talk and so we stick to the boring, affordance-less shallows." I know I love getting into deep conversations- right now I'm especially interested in how people feel about the management of their own emotional landscapes.

(Conversely, and maybe ironically, I have less patience for mutual "well how do you feel about ____" exchanges, like just gauging people's temperature about stuff. I don't think my preferences and opinions are that important for their own sake...)

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Three factoids:

From Cracked:

The show [Thunderbirds] was shot using a technique invented by program creator Gerry Anderson called "Supermarionation," where pre-recorded vocal lines triggered sensors in the heads of carefully crafted marionettes and moved the puppets' lips in sync with the dialogue.

(I had heard of Supermarionation (not to be confused with Super Mario Nation) but didn't know quite what it was.

Then two from Tom White's traditional 52 things I learned in 2021:

Until 1873, Japanese hours varied by season. There were six hours between sunrise and sunset, so a daylight hour in summer was 1/3rd longer than an hour in winter.

Now THAT is a beautiful way of reckoning time!

Short afternoon naps at the workplace lead to significant increases in productivity, psychological well-being and cognition. In contrast, an extra 30 minutes sleep at night shows no similar improvements.

And that one seems like it might be useful... in theory I have everything I need to add that into my life now, I just need to figure out the optimal strategy...

	100 Days, 100 Nights Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings	Great R+B. From my work shared playlist.
	Stress Me Out Pomplamoose	Nice pop. I like Pomplamoose and pay attention when stuff surfaces on my Youtube recs.
	I'm a Fool to Want You Billie Holiday	Soulful. Mentioned in Obama's "Dreams from my Father": I fell back on the couch and lit a cigarette, watching the match burn down until it tickled my fingertips, then feeling the prick on the skin as I pinched the flame dead. What’s the trick? the man asks. The trick is not caring that it hurts. I tried to remember where I’d heard the line, but it was lost to me now, like a forgotten face. No matter. Billie knew the same trick; it was in that torn-up, trembling voice of hers.
	Defaal Lu Wor (Once In a Lifetime) Wasis Diop	Very different Talking Heads cover... My friend Candace mentioned it.
	Gone Babet	Mellow pop. Thought I heard my neighbor playing a song with the line “I’ll pack myshit” on his guitar... not sure if this was it or not.
	Lose Yo Job (feat. DJ Suede the Remix God) iMarkkeyz	musical remix of a meme, talking no crap from the cops via The 5 Most Ridiculously Glorious Memes Celebrating Joe Biden’s Election Win, Ranked
★ ★ ★ ★	Public Enemy Number Won (feat. Mike D, Adrock & Run-DMC) Public Enemy	Awesome homage. Youtube rec.
★ ★ ★ ★	Never Going to Let You Go Madison's Lively Stones	Weirdly I couldn't find a youtube video (and someone gifted me the MP3) but this video gives the spirit of the Trombone Shout Chorus. I played tuba behind a School of Honk trombone sectional and they introduced this one.
	Go Your Own Way The Cranberries	I do like the vocalist's trademark sound. Just browsing for covers.
	Don't Look Back (feat. Kotomi & Ryan Elder) [From Rick and Morty: Season 4] Rick and Morty	End credits, soft pop. Not sure if they're commissioning music for the show or what...
	Seagulls! (Stop It Now) Bad Lip Reading	Strong David Byrne (or in the negative view, Robin Thicke) From a pleated jeans entry.
	Saints Brass Monkey Brass Band	Kind of a more somber edge to this one, a more minor key. My friend Candace mentioned it.
	Send Me On My Way Rusted Root	The old 90s song. from this BoobsRadley tweet "I hate when a car is parked rudely but has bumper stickers I agree with. Taking up two spots? *Not* the way to represent Rusted Root."
★ ★ ★ ★	Bad Guy Too Many Zooz	Very nice cover of the Billy Elish song. Youtube rec.

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Emira didn't love doing anything, but she didn't terribly mind doing anything either.

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So (and please, not to be starting in any anti-trans-folks sentiment, thanks) - Elliot Page said his pronouns are "he/they". Took me a second to realize this probably meant "use he or they, either is fine" and not like "use he if subject of sentence, them if object".

I always assumed saying "he/him" was splitting a phonetic difference, shorter than "he/him/his" but less ambiguous / hard to parse than a bare "he" might be.

Declaring oneself as "he/they" is interesting. I'm a fan of singular they, especially when talking about a role that hasn't been filled yet ("when the programmer presses return, they should see ___") etc. I recongize that "they" can used as a tool for a low-key style of misgendering, like when someone is rejecting someone else's correct pronoun but doesn't want to be called on it.

With parallels to people trying to pretend we are in a post-racial wonderland and can stop working to be anti-racist, I kind of wish people weren't so binary, but also respect that some folk- trans and cis alike- want those opposite poles to hang around. But like does that mean well meaning lefties should be careful? Like can saying your pronouns are "they/them" just mean "I wish people weren't making such a big deal about gender" or should it be reserved for people who don't feel comfortable at either end of the spectrum? What A Five-Star song???

★ ★ ★ ★	Whole Lotta Funk (Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars vs. Led Zeppelin) DJs From Mars	Fun mashup. For some reason I've been stockpiling old Best of Booties.
★ ★ ★ ★	Hypnotize Mama (Notorious B.I.G. vs. David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha & Afrojack) DJ Schmolli	Hiphop mash. For some reason I've been stockpiling old Best of Booties.
★ ★ ★ ★	Tempo (feat. Missy Elliott) Lizzo	Excellent hiphop. Wish I could roll my Rs. Caught this on some random tweet.
	Track Suit Kopanitsa Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band	"Track Suit" is a popular song in the HONK crowd- this mixes it East European hardcore. My friend Dave B had a copy of the new ENSMB album when it was still upcoming, we listened to it on the way back from PRONK
	Backatown Trombone Shorty	Instrumental, some sweet horns. My young bandmante Ezequiel loves this song, we might try to work up an arrangement for our group.
	Chun-Li Nicki Minaj	I think there's a Street Fighter backstory I'm missing here... this page on Tik-Toks
	Under the Milky Way Sia	Very pretty and romantic song. Reading up the back story of that old VW "Pink Moon" ad, originally they were thinking of the original version of this, but I liked this better than "The Church"'s original.
	Once In a Lifetime Talking Heads	Kind of a classic... Saw David Byrne live recently! Realized I didn't have much of his older stuff.
	Atheists Don't Have No Songs Rocky Mountain Jewgrass	I think Steve Martin made up this song maybe? But I like this version better. Found a reference to it doing Blog cleanup...
★ ★ ★ ★ ★	To Turn You On Nataly Dawn & Ryan Lerman	This song moved me greatly when first hearing it... it just captures all the energy of every post-breakup person I've chased after. - found doing backlog grooming
	Holy Water Struggle Jennings	Kinda redneck hiphop, and I think Jesus-y? from the end credits of the season finale "What We Do in the Shadows"
★ ★ ★ ★	Super Good Leningrad	Russian song - Melissa look up the translation, about how many of his peers left the country but the singer stayed behind and is doing "Super Good" From "What We Do in the Shadows" orgy episode end music ...
	You Spin Me Round (feat. Silver Letomi) Auralnauts	The old How To Make A Blockbuster Movie Trailer had this song with "Introduce Unexpected Cover of a Classic Hit" (more specifically, 'creepy gal singing...' I'd say) - they released it as a single but honestly they left way too much movie trailer in it - a proper moody female vocal cover of "You Spin Me Round" would be awesome.
	What More Can I Say JAY-Z	Angry hiphop. Seeing Trever Noah live, this was his walk-on music.
★ ★ ★ ★	Stronger Youngr	Beautiful modern stuff. Heard in a New Jersey Old Navy
★ ★ ★ ★	They Don't Make Em Like Me Pigeon John	I adore the Motown sound of this, combined with modern stuff This was background music for a new RAZR phone ad
	A Thousand Miles Vanessa Carlton	What am I, a young woman in the early 2000s? Maybe. Some random Youtube recommendation.
★ ★ ★ ★	The Wire HAIM	Acoustically these folk are doing really interesting stuff, and the breakup theme, but from the breaker rather than breakee, is a good match to "To Turn You On" above. This tweet: "What is the name for the mental disorder where you listen to The Wire by Haim five times in a row" --@bea_ker

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As a liberal, do you agree with Donald Trump on anything at all? An interesting point about how Trump maybe has the benefit of challenging some of the presumptions of the global political status quo. Right now I'm reading "A Warning (by Anonymous)" and I think both that book and the Quora answerer also point out that- he does not study issues nearly deeply enough or listen to enough studied opinions for a person who wields as much power as he does.

Also, compared to the Neocons, he's less bellicose - GWB nostalgia is kind of weird given that whole Cheney Iraq trumped up thing.

(I am by no means a Trump supporter or fan, and I also recognize that focusing on his global political outlook is neglecting the damage he is doing to so many groups at home.)

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To be an American is of itself almost a moral condition, an education, and a career.

via Eun Kim's "The Ying and Yang of American Culture: A Paradox", a turn of the millennium view of the USA from a Korean lens. (Found in a used bookstore in Maine) A lot of catchy songs in November, including a (relatively rare) 5 star.

5 Star:

• Faith (feat. Ariana Grande) (Stevie Wonder) From the animated feature "Sing" - man, this hits SO many of my musical buttons! Stevie Wonder is just a wonder.

4 Star:

• Bei Mir Mist Du Schon (Means That You're Grand) (Ella Fitzgerald & Her Savoy Eight) I play this one with New Magnolia - super duper catchy, and I like its yiddish roots.
• Pink Moon (Nick Drake) I was confused that I apparently hadn't grabbed this (apocalyptic, beautiful) track back in the days of that old VW Convertible Ad (really, the only ad ever that made me want to actually buy a car)
• Don't Touch That Thing (Sylvia Hall) Loose island funk Melissa introduced me to.
• Hello Sunshine (feat. Memoir) (Dena Deadly) During Friendsgiving we watched "Bad Moms" - solid and sometimes thoughtful movie with a kicking soundtrack. Love the tinkly piano and rollicking beat.
• We Will Rock You (Queen) Despite the criticisms of it, I thought the Queen biopic was good, and pointed out I don't have enough Queen in my collection.
• Desperado (Eagles) Another "I don't have this already?" It's a lovely piece.
• Believe In Me (feat. Armanni Reign) (Artizan) Big sound, a bit of dubstep. (From the sound track for "Just Cause 4" a game coming out this week that I bought a PS4 for)
• Judy in Disguise (with Glasses) (John Fred & The Playboys) We watched "Pirate Radio" - solid flick - and it had a great 60s soundtrack.

3 Star:

• The Name Game (Shirley Ellis) Didn't realize this was an actual studio song! Big motown sound...almost 4 stars maybe almost too polished though?
• I Love It (feat. Charli XCX) (Icona Pop) Another "Bad Moms" piece - maybe 4 stars if it wasn't for "You're from the 70s, but I'm a 90s bitch" :-D
• Woke Up (The Freedom Singers) Played this on tuba, backing black folx asking to change the name of Faneuil Hall and not have the landmark called after a slaveholder.
• Medicated Minutes [Explicit] (Smut Peddlers) Grind-y hiphop.
• The Happening (The Supremes) Catchy + polished
• Sunny Afternoon (The Kinks) Again from "Pirate Radio" - heh, 2:56 has this tableau of naked women that was cut from the version I saw, showing the prowess of the DJ "Midnight" Mark: "So tell us Mark, now at the very end - what was your secret? How did you get all them girls? "Simple. Don't say anything at all." "Nothing?" "Nothing. Then, when the tension becomes too much to bear, you finally, finally, you just say: 'How about it, then?'"
• Elenore (The Turtles) Another "Pirate Radio" 60s song.
• Trampoline (SHAED) genle song, used in an Apple Ad
• Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen) It's funny how little of this song I understood from it's appearance in Wayne's World...
• Remind Me (Radio Edit) (Röyksopp) I found a reference to lookup this nifty humble bit of pop on a circa 2004-Todo list...

Good month for music, 4 star stuff in red, in descending "you should hear this" order.

• Feel It Still (Portugal. The Man) Probably the best sounding song this month... great mix off old R+B with more modern stuff.
• Never Be Famous (Hussalonia) "They're not brilliant, they're just burning brilliantly, and there's a difference, don't you know..."
• Pinball Prison (Puddles Pity Party) "Pinball Wizard" sung to "Folsom Prison Blues", by a giant sad clown, is brilliant on every level. (My cousin Bill saw him, which made me look into his stuff beyond his cover of Royals)
• Praise You (Piano Version) (Hannah Grace) One of those "soft lovely acoustic covers of a more pointy song".
• I'm a Stupid Cat! (Mike Polk Jr.) Melissa's favorite! From the guy who brought you those hastily made Cleveland tourism videos...
• Stagger Lee (Lloyd Price) In the 80s McDonalds had some 60s compilations ("Shake Burger and Fries" or "Shake Rattle and Fries", one of those) that were influential to me, but I can't find any mention of online. Anyway this was on it. I love the long history of the song and its variations and possible historical roots
• You're Out of the Computer (Bingo Gazingo & My Robot Friend) Bingo Gazingo was an amazing spoken word style poet singer - you should check him out (thanks Bill)
• I'm Moving On (Chyvonne Scott) Lovely moody R+B from that weirdly backfiring Samsung Ad.
• The Littlest Birds (Jolie Holland) Soft and sweet
• Radioactive (Josh Knowles and Aaron Fried) MP3 link 'cause I couldn't find the album "Heartstringz" online (cello/violin covers I think I bought from Boston buskers)
• Hush Your Mouth (Bo Diddley) Been thinking about the "Bo Diddley Beat". Kind of weird the chorus to this one sounds like "Hershey Mouth"
• Game Time (feat. Sage the Gemini) (Flo Rida) My company used this for an in-house promotional video about the IPO process... love how it music-ifies the basketball "sneaky squeaker" sound.
• Honey Bee (Zee Avi) Saw her live once upon a time...
• How Many More Years (Howlin' Wolf) Looked up "power chords" on wikipedia, this song came up
• Rumble (Link Wray) Another early "power chords" song. Turns out it's just "a fifth"!
• Heaven Is a Wonderful Place (Psalty & Ernie Rettino) Way back when my mom used this cheesy sunday school song as an example of combing multiple melodies...
• UNGA BUNGA BUNGA G (Flavor Flav) Despite the dominance of his hype man role, Flav is a crazy talented musician on a ton of instruments. I think you hear a bit of that in the vibrato on the "ring ding doOoOoOoOoOng..."
• Girl Anachronism (The Dresden Dolls) Got to see them live, great show
• Ruler of My Heart (Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Norah Jones & Robert Randolph) Simple and lovely
• Not a Virgin (Poe) Sexy in a young people figuring out sex kind of way.
• Die Young (Sylvan Esso) It's no "Coffee" but still pretty good.
• Get Loud For Me (Gizzle) Rockin'

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Republicans are so full of shit. Even when they said they cared about the deficit. Not as much as sucking up to their corporate backers! (LOL Democrats opposed the bill because it was "too good" and they wouldn't get credit. Trump uses delusion the way a carpenter uses nails)

When every non-partisan group tells you your economic ideas are full of shit, that's not a bias in the groups, that's the bias of reality. A shorter than average list, sadly I didn't hear much new music in Malaysia. 4 stars in red, check out the video for Carment

• Carmen (Stromae) Oh man this video is brilliant! I was just enjoying the song.
• Play It Right (Sylvan Esso) I dig the intensity of the dancing.
• Birds (Thomas Sanders & Dodie Clark) Cute little duet.
• Get Ugly (Jason Derulo) I watched "Absolutely Fabulous the Movie" on the plane back from Malaysia... it opens with this song. Fun video here.
• The Jeffersons Theme Song (Janet Dubois) Ripped this off of youtube... man is it fun to sing along with. I think I'd like to try to arrange it for band.
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Opening theme (Fox) Only 20 seconds, wish it was longer.
• Black Beatles (feat. Gucci Mane) (Rae Sremmurd) The background for the mannequin challenge.
• Black Hole Sun (Ramin Djawadi) Player piano cover from Westworld.
• Cariñito (Los Hijos del Sol) School of Honk plays this song.
• Paint It Black (The Rolling Stones) There was a great orchestral cover of this in Westworld, but I decided I like the original. Another candidate to do in band.
• Smokin & Drinkin (Danny Brown) Fun hiphop, infectious chorus.
• We Shall Not Be Moved (Mavis Staples) Old protest song.
• How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (Al Green) I think I actually heard of this in in the Sex in the City movie... his "lalalalalalalalala" is crazily sensual.
• Rise Up (feat. Tom Morello) (Cypress Hill) Kind of goofy 90s hiphop but I like the Donkey Kong reference.

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The phoney electoral college made a laughing stock out of our nation. The loser one!

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Very mixed feelings about Trump scotch taping his tie.

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advent day 2

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Ugh, vague feeling of remembering "Oh I should put this down someplace where I'll remember it" followed by less vague feeling of being pretty sure I didn't.

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The 52 Things I learned in 2016. Whoa.

advent day 2

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Looking at the book "Full Catastrophe Living", about mindfulness and meditation.

Folks who have some kind of meditation practice, or have embraced this stuff in general, I have a question...

So I can think of around 4 states of mind I could have during meditation, or even just in general
1. Blank
2. Weirdly detailed study of the immediate surroundings and/or body
3. pleasantly wandering
4. fretfully wandering

No of these, I'd only know for sure that 4 is discouraged.

In general I assume 1 and 2 are more promoted, though in at least one session, 3 seemed to not be discouraged. And I dug that, I think purposeful tangential musing is a pleasure I indulge in too rarely.

Anyway, which do you think most practices of mindfulness would have us aspire to? Of course the "Blank" is kind of interesting when applied to what's going on as we do another activity... sometimes it can be mean "so focused we're totally into what we're doing at the moment" and other times "so unfocused that we're just letting the subconscious processes run the show and are mindless rather than mindful"

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If videogames were just meant to inject the greatest enjoyment at the lowest cost per unit, they would just be inefficient, unintuitive narcotics.

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An oddly large amount of "spoken word" last month along with the usual abundance of tuba music- sometimes it almost seems to tell a story
Highlights include Cora saying "Car" on the 7th (which was my first word, actually), a boogying bee on the 9th, slow mo jenga on the 12th... a journey to a family funeral and Montreal included as well.

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on the internet of things
From my dev blog, thoughts about a future with a ton of smart devices....

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Artistically not so great, but a fun try out of my new iPhone's slo-mo.

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(Elio shared this editorial about how Star Wars was terrible for Sci-Fi, with a comment saying he kind of agreed. I started a comment but it kind of turned into a 5 paragraph mini-essay so I'm promoting it to this...)

Kindred is certainly an excellent book, but a LOT more literary and less what most people think of as "sci-fi", despite time travel elements; not that I'm the "sci-fi" police, but it feels a bit more like real-history-centered fantasy.

Star Wars brought a lived-in future look that nothing else had before; even 2001 was a bit sterile (though still astounding in its world building.) Alien/Aliens probably duplicate that feel best, later. It also had a sense of myth making, and that was a (semi-) conscious attempt to give culture epic stories to refer and relate to. And it worked.

Yeah, RotJ got back into duplicating the points (daring rescue, big death star destruction) of earlier stuff, and the prequels horribly shrunk the galaxy even more than it was when "oh btw Luke Leia and Darth are family". Still the core movie brought something new.

I think the main problem with it is that it hurt a 70s culture of smaller, less noisy and more personal films. I'm reading "The Secret History of Star Wars", and it talks about how desperate the studios were, how Easy Rider pointed the way to cheap films that could appeal to the new cultural sensibilities, but that stumbled, and then Star Wars and Jaws introduced the concept of giant blockbuster.

The other thing that book mentions is at one point Lucas had the idea of semi-annual Star Wars films, with a variety of directors and stylistic imprints. Empire happened, but was a combination of so fraught for Lucas, or something, that he retook control, and then started making his own "oh yeah I had this planned out all along" BS-myth. I have hopes that this JJ Abrams-led thing, and some set of spin-offs, might actually be more true to this spirit of neo-serials than what Lucas came up with later.

advent day 2

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Interesting seeing Twitter's design evolution over time, especially the changeover 2008-2009.

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Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue... Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say, Napoleonic times.

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'You're like an onion--so many layers'
'Yes, but you peel off one layer and you find another very similar layer'
-@improvboston Jam

advent day 2

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The All-22 View of the NFL, where you can see all the players (albeit as stick figures) -- annoying that its kept so secret, I always thought some of the promise of HD TV was allowing multiple viewpoints, including presumably that one.
--"Stairway to Heaven Climbing Towers" from 5 4 insane videos that will freak you out if you're afraid of heights

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Ah sweet old Republicans: "Screw bipartisanship; we're playing hardball until we get what we want on tax cuts for the wealthy." They are so unfit to govern -- actually, it's more like they just refuse.

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Time exists in order that everything doesn't happen all at once...and space exists so that it doesn't all happen to you.

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http://www.slate.com/id/2236563/ - philosophic rambling of the day. I think the "something rather than nothing" quandary is worthy, but I don't think the questions on consciousness are well-formed.

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Your name must be Citation, 'cause baby, you're needed.

So yesterday I got around to putting a couple of hundred bucks in Beau's Virtual Christmas Kettle, for twitter I even made a tinyurl: http://tinyurl.com/beaukettle.

You can pick if the money goes to Beau's neck of the woods (and I think the Harbor Light program work he's involved in) or something local to you. I kind of wish they didn't offer the choice, both locales have their points and needs, and I kind of prefer to think of it as one big fund...

So like I've said... this year, donations are at risk of going down, and the need is way up. These days everyone feels that they might be somewhat at risk, but I hope everyone who isn't experiencing work issues tries to be as generous as they can without impacting their Plan Bs and Cs.

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Story of the Moment

One day, lumbering up from the ocean, a tortoise passed by a well.
"Hey, come on and sit for a while!" said the frog.
"Do you live in this well?" asked the turtle.
"Sure! And I live like a king here! When I leap into the water, it supports my weight and keeps me afloat. And when I dive beneath the surface I relax and let the mud massage my legs. And in the evening if I don't want to stay in the well I jump up here. I stretch out a chink in the side of the well, where I sleep and dream curious dreams. And in the morning I jump down and play all around the well. I am happy like this every day. I see crabs and tadpoles in the well, too, but I don't think they are as happy as I am. Well, go in and take a look."
"I can't fit, your well is too small."
"But it's so big, how can you say it's small?"
"If you want to talk big, the Eastern Sea is big."
"Bigger than my well?"
"The Eastern Sea is so big, that a thousand miles isn't enough to measure the distance across, and a thousand yards isn't deep enough to describe its depth. You know, there was a time long, long ago when nine years out of ten there were continuous rains and floods, yet the Eastern Sea didn't get any bigger. And another time, seven years out of eight, there was a continuous drought, and yet the Eastern Sea didn't get any smaller. Now THAT is big. Your well is nothing in comparison."
"Liar!"
Zhuangzi says: "The frog was limited by his well just like people are limited by knowledge. Knowledge can make us great, but it can also make us small; so we have to go beyond mere knowledge."

Borrowing the book from EB, lots of classic Taoist naturalist lessons.

I'm not sure what to make of this story though. Maybe the frog is right; maybe he doesn't need that knowledge to live his happy frog life, and the turtle is wrong to show a sense of scale that just doesn't matter. Or maybe it's the frog who is the blissful idiot?

Some other translations make it clear it is the frog who should be abashed, but to my thinking, the frog has a more Taoist outlook. He does what comes naturally to his froggish ways, he seems in harmony with the Tao, and his environment provides for him perfectly. So I like that this translation turns it into a bit of a warning against knowledge for its own sake.

I think that the secret is the frog should know about the ocean but still be content in the well.

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Just put a few hundred to my buddy's Salvation Army virtual kettle: http://tinyurl.com/beaukettle . *Rough* season; give if you got it. Still Rockin' the Port, tearing down walls with EB.

Meanwhile, here is an animation of Superman drinking whisky:



Oy, the weekend. I'm in Delaware the latter half of next week, so this weekend I have to find that difficult balance of preparation for the trip next week and that big category of "anything that isn't damn work related".

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IM of the Moment
FoSO: is delaware worth visiting?
kirk:let me ask you this: do you like the business sense of connecticut, the small-shore state feel of rhode island, and the black urban sensibility of the non-political parts of washington dc?
FoSO: wow, yes! sounds really nice...
kirk: huh, that sounds a lot better than I meant it to now that i read it

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Toy of the Season

--I linked to this snowflake construction kit toy before, but it bears repeating. Still has some oddities, every once in a while you'll be making an elaborate creation, then go to cut off a little near the left-edge center, and then suddenly everything drops off except for that little bit you meant to remove... fortunately there's an Undo button. (Be warned I had poor results with the "Email This Flake" function.)

FoSO also pointed out Zefrank's Kaleidoscope-y variant

Funny of the Moment
On Fri, 21 Oct 2005 Dhubghall wrote:

Of course that's one reason they were so effective as martial instruments [...] They could be heard above the battlefield noises. I got to expereince this a few years back at the big celtic fest/highland games in Phoenix. They were doing a demonstration of various heavy weapons fielded by various scots regiments and even when the gatling gun was on steady fire you could hear a pipe band performing.

Those guys on the gatling gun must have been bad shots.

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Link of the Moment
Boingboing linked to Happy Palace... a journal of unadorned but thoughtfully selected images from various sites, just the images and the links. Oddly compelling!

Quote of the Moment

Some oxygen molecules help fires burn while others help make water, so sometimes it's brother against brother.

That's a great geek poetic thought.

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Martini of the Moment
This might be making the rounds, I think I heard it mentioned on the radio this morning, but the Algonquin Hotel's $10,000 Martini is...well, about what you'd expect a $10,000 Martini to be, I imagine. (I.e. mostly a publicity stunt, but an entertaining one.) I wonder what the "round table" woulda said...

Feh. I can't stand gin anyway. Maybe I've never had the good stuff but it always ends up tasting like pinesol to me. Working from home today...got a nice early start for an 8:30 meeting, and wham...in 7 1/2 years of New England driving, I have not seen 128 this bad. Well, maybe once, during a evening rush hour blizzard, but that's it. There wasn't much snow at all, but admittedly it was very slippery. 128N 1 mile per hour, absolutely literally (I clocked .3 miles in 20 minutes at one point.)

Pulling off to a McDs/Mobil rest station was a mistake...trying to get out of there, my speed was literally measured in yards per quarter hour. (On the other hand, 128 South was clear.)

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Quickies of the Moment
Wouldn't the web be better if you had to dial it up with a rotary dial? I think so. Very retrogeekchic. For more minutes of retrogeek entertainment, check out the pixelated Flash adventures of Captain Lowrez.

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Quote of the Moment

It is only with the heart one can see clearly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

Someone posted this quote at work, in the original French and then with the English translation, and I posted a sticky: "You mean like Oxygen?" Shortly thereafter the sticky was removed. So I got back from Cleveland and my ten year reunion pretty much intact. It was great seeing people.

Hey Rosser-man, drop me a line, wouldya? Your sister mentioned that you like this site, and I see you have a link to it. Sounds like an interesting time you're having...and you beat my SAT score, you little brat. (Doesn't matter, in a few years they'll be scoring out of 2400 instead of 1600, and we'll all sound like a bunch of morons to the kids..."no, really, sonny...that was a good score back then!" "yeah, right, gramps".)

Speaking of Ross's sister, Marnie...she and I dated in high school, and a bit beyond. And one of the games you play at reunions is, if there's an old romantic interest present who is there with their current spouse or S.O., you're likely to kind of stack yourself against that person. Probably not the healthiest game to play, but it's pretty much inevitable. So not only is Marnie's husband a very sweet seeming guy, and one who lived up to the shorthand description "short but built" that Marnie once used (given that Marnie makes Mo look tall, that isn't at all a bad thing)...he's a friggin' Cancer Researcher at the Cleveland Clinic! GAH! Whatamatter, she couldn't find an astronaut-novelist who runs orphanages and rescues puppies at risk and finds a cure for AIDS on the side?

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Quote of the Moment

There are answers in this book that I wish there weren't questions for.

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Disgustingly Cuteness of the Moment
You know, I used to get irritated by this one small elmo doll some of the women in Tufts Wind Ensemble promoted as a mascot...especially when he started getting credited as a musician in the prgorams. Dang it, until we could hear him play, he shouldn't have gotten credit. Plus the thing's pupils got rubbed off, so for the longest time it had the creepiest blank stare, until they fixed it with a black Sharpie. But I have to admit... this game/video is about the cutest thing I've seen so far this month. I dunno why they were talking about in during a promo for some Cleveland shock jocks. Request of the Moment
Brooklyn Girl has secured the domain PaulReubens.com to get Paul Reubens' attention. So Mr. Reubens, if you happen to be Googling your name and this page comes up, please contact her at her site. (Incidentally, the front page of her site is probably a parody of Art Frahm's peculiar artistic themes.)

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Criticism of a Past Moment

Let us be blumbt. Try reading English literature...

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I am sorry, Kirk, I can not find any susbstance in your writing.

Forgive me if I am to direct. If one squezes your bla-bla, the juice that one gets is quite unfulfilling. You try to give drama to it, Where is the drama? You try to create a scenario, where is it?

One may speek of many things and say nothing.

Taken from my original Loveblender comments page, probably concerning some of the writing on this page, especially Cafe at Night.

I just like the idea of somebody squeezing my bla-bla to get juice.