Saturday, August 12, 2006

Perseids - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Perseids - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"To experience the shower in its full, one should observe from a point far outside any large cities, where stars are not dimmed by light pollution."

Peak should be just before dawn...
wonder how far outside the big city I can get on my bike before dawn...

tonight

speeding motorcycle
whiskey
karaoke
(because it is fun!!!)
and now
to bed
and dreams
of burlap...

M

Friday, August 11, 2006

Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Bones of contention

Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Bones of contention:
"Our other account comes from those who attended Paine. Dying in ulcerated agony, he was imposed upon by two Presbyterian ministers who pushed past his housekeeper and urged him to avoid damnation by accepting Jesus Christ. 'Let me have none of your Popish stuff,' Paine responded. 'Get away with you, good morning, good morning.' The same demand was made of him as his eyes were closing. 'Do you wish to believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God?' He answered quite distinctly: 'I have no wish to believe on that subject.' Thus he expired with his reason, and his rights, both still staunchly defended until the very last."

Elmer Rice started a play about Thomas Paine but eventually abandoned it...
damn shame.
damn shame.
I'd do a play on Paine for sure...
only founding father worth a damn if ya ask me...

new order

been listening to lots of New Order covers tonight...
damn, I love New Order.
Great melodies, great dance music...
and the lyrics ain't too bad either...


Bizarre Love Triangle


Every time i think of you
I feel shot right through with a bolt of blue
It's no problem of mine but it's a problem I find
Living a life that I can't leave behind
There's no sense in telling me
The wisdom of a fool won't set you free
But that's the way that it goes
And it's what nobody knows
While every day my confusion grows
Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for that final moment
You'll say the words that I can't say

I feel fine and I feel good
I'm feeling like I never should
Whenever I get this way, I just don't know what to say
Why can't we be ourselves like we were yesterday
I'm not sure what this could mean
I don't think you're what you seem
I do admit to myself
That if I hurt someone else
Then I'll never see just what we're meant to be
Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for that final moment
You'll say the words that I can't say

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Michael Dirda

Michael Dirda:
"Perhaps the closest we come to understanding the young Spinoza's intellectual restlessness lies in the practically confessional opening to one of his early treatises, On the Improvement of the Understanding . 'After experience had taught me that all the usual surroundings of social life are vain and futile; seeing that none of the objects of my fears contained in themselves anything either good or bad, except in so far as the mind is affected by them, I finally resolved to inquire . . . whether, in fact, there might be anything of which the discovery and attainment would enable me to enjoy continuous, supreme, and unending happiness.' What a dreamer! Who expects 'continuous, supreme and unending happiness' in life? But in his Ethics , Spinoza ends with just such a vision of earthly serenity."

Outlandish theories: Kings of the (hollow) world - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune

Outlandish theories: Kings of the (hollow) world - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune:

"One of the first Hollow Earth theories was proposed in 1692 by English astronomer Edmund Halley (he who discovered the comet), who suggested that the Earth was composed of four spheres, each embedded in the other like so many matrioshka dolls, illuminated by a luminous atmosphere and perhaps inhabitable."

I love the hollow Earth.
I'm pretty sure it's where the reptilians are from.
Not from space.
Not at all...

The Sunkist Utopian

The Sunkist Utopian:
"Sinclair is also the man who, with Jack London, founded the Intercollegiate Socialist Society and, later, the Southern California branch of the ACLU; who met both President Roosevelts, corresponded with Harry Truman and called H.L. Mencken, Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin his friends; who backed Sergei Eisenstein's effort to make an epic film in Mexico and then betrayed him; who ran for governor of California in 1934 (as a Democrat), promising to end poverty in the state; and who dabbled in spiritualism, all varieties of vegetarianism and never met a fad he didn't like."

Sinclair's book on his run for governor
is great.

Cult of impersonality - The Boston Globe

Cult of impersonality - The Boston Globe:
"Critics disagreed about the meaning of Beckett's works, but all agreed that there was something dark and unsettling at their core-and, for that matter, on their surface. Beckett's works are, quite literally, absurdly funny. One laughs and feels suddenly lighter, better, and then, recalling why one laughed in the first place, what dark situation was the occasion for the joke, one is suddenly less sure of the propriety, and even the possibility, of laughing at such a thing-and the laughter fizzles as quickly as it had flared."

The New Yorker: The Critics: Books

The New Yorker: The Critics: Books:
"Beckett was still living at home, lethargic and unhappy, when his father died, in 1933. The next four years were largely divided between the family estate and London, where he submitted to the care of the British psychoanalyst W. R. Bion. In both locations, Beckett suffered from night terrors—he would wake in the dark with a racing heart, in a sort of frozen panic—and from a fearsome array of psychosomatic ailments, including stomach trouble, pleurisy, and recurrent cysts on the neck and anus. The insomniac dread of Beckett’s narrators (“I’m too frightened this evening to listen to myself rot. . . . So I’ll tell myself a story”), as well as their revulsion at the human body, probably owes something to the memory of these afflictions."

Gramophone Recorder

Make yr own records,
and the play them on
yr homemade turntable.

these are both via the Make:Blog.

Music Notation Modernization Association (MNMA)

Music Notation Modernization Association (MNMA)

Welcome to the MNMA!

We are an international nonprofit organization dedicated to exploring ways to make reading, writing, and playing music easier to learn and enjoy. Our members include musicians, teachers, composers, and notation inventors from around the world.

this is very right on! music notation is not impossible to get but it is unnecesarily complex...
I'm all about alternate notation!

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Lance Mannion: Independent Man

Lance Mannion: Independent Man:
"In 1998, Joe Lieberman went onto the Senate floor and single-handedly set out to legitmize the Impeachment-Coup."
and he failed.
he then failed at becoming VP.
and now he's failed in the primary.
and soon he'll fail as an independent.

How can he say he's not like G.W.?

BBC NEWS | Health | Drug 'treats depression in hours'

BBC NEWS | Health | Drug 'treats depression in hours':
"Many antidepressants target levels of brain chemicals, such as serotonin and dopamine, and, over time, the accumulation of these chemicals can affect a patient's mood. But this can take several weeks.

But the team believes ketamine is having a faster effect because it is targeting a different brain-protein, called the NMDA receptor, which is thought to play a critical role in learning and memory.

The team says ketamine, in its current form, would not be appropriate for medication because of side-effects at higher doses, which include hallucinations and euphoria."

and yet my vet friend refuses to give me any.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

peekaboo

When I'm down, really down,
Nothin' matters. Nothin' does.
I close my eyes, go to sleep.
But I can't sleep. I can't sleep.

Please hear my cry for help, and save me from myself.

Junior High I lost my mind.
I don't know why. It's a terrible thing.
Since that day it's been a struggle
Trying to make sense out of scrambled eggs.

Please hear my cry for help, and save me from myself.

I painted a bar and I never got paid,
In a town where everyone was on foot.
I was locked in on Easter day.
All I had to eat was a piece of bread.

When I got home my mother said
"You're a lazy bum and that's how come
You suffer like that and you'll starve
All your life. All your life."

Spoken just like it was a curse,
But it didn't really sound so bad.
I like to make things up,
It's the healthiest thing that I do.

But I'm tired
From being kidnapped
By a dark wolf that would
Do me in.

Please hear my cry for help, and save me from myself.

I'm just saying how I feel.
Maybe you could try to understand.
I'm a man who needs you.

When I'm down, really down
Nothin' matters. Nothin' does.
I close my eyes to go to sleep,
But I can't sleep. I can't sleep.

You can listen to these songs,
Have a good time and walk away.
But for me it's not that easy.
I have to live these songs forever.

Please hear my cry for help, and save me from myself.


- d. johnston

"Speeding Motorcycle" reopens Thursday.
Make yr reservations now.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Conflux, NYc festival for psychogeography

Attn - to my NYC peeps and bright idea folks everywhere:

Conflux, NYc festival for psychogeography:
"Conflux, the annual New York festival for contemporary psychogeography, will take place in Brooklyn, NYC, September 14-17.

At Conflux, participants turn NYc into a playground, a laboratory and a space for the development of new networks and communities. All events are free and open to the public. They include walks and tours, lectures, workshops, street games and tech-enabled expeditions, interactive performance, public art installations, movies, etc."

Niagara Falls Reporter

Niagara Falls Reporter:
"Extensive research (i.e., Web-surfing) has revealed that comic Joey Faye claimed authorship of 'Slowly I Turned' in its many formats. Born Joseph Palladino in 1909 on Manhattan's Lower East Side, he appeared in burlesque and vaudeville shows, usually as a sidekick to the star, often Phil Silvers. He was in 36 Broadway shows, including Man of La Mancha as Sancho Panza, and dozens of movies. He had his own series, The Joey Faye Frolics, in 1950, and appeared as well in other television shows, such as The Real McCoys, Perry Mason and Maude. His most recent claim to fame was as the green grape in the Fruit of the Loom underwear commercials. He continued to work until well into his 80s and died in 1997."

I'm going to have to steal this bit eventually...

Sunday, August 06, 2006

This! This I've seen...

The Visit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"In 1988 a TV movie titled 'Bring Me The Head Of Dobie Gillis' was a version of 'The Visit' adapted to the characters and world of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis."