9.21.2008
9.19.2008
9.17.2008
Race and Our Place in It
Is it an any wonder the USA has so many racial issues? We can't even get the terms to identify each other right.
There are black people and white people. A color scheme, yes?
Okay, fine, but then to call an Asian person yellow is derogatory and to call a Native American person red is also offensive. But to describe someone as having olive colored skin is okay. Which kind of olive anyways - Kalamata or Graber's? Nabali or Manzanillo? Mission or Pecholine?
Oriental is out and Occidental (its correspondent term) was never in.
To call a person a European is fine, but to call someone Oriental is frowned up. European cars and Oriental rugs, just fine. Granted no one under 75 calls Asia the Orient, but still...
And European styling? What the @#$@! is that? Italy and Sweden...same style?
Caucasian, or European. Are we using continents or mountain ranges to define ourselves? Hitler tried Aryan, but he probably would have put the real Aryans in his camps.
Are we using colors or names of countries, continents or geographical features? How about all of the above?
And then there's hyphenating. Do we do it from the part of the world our ancestors came from? or just the country? Am I a European-American? Or a Northern-European American? Or an American of European descent? Or to be people first, a person living in American of European descent.
I think this inability for us to pick one spectrum of label ourselves is related to the affirmative action debate, also to the individual vs. group debate. What scale do we use to evaluate applicants for schools, jobs, contracts? When do we say that everyone is finally on the same playing field?
Who knows?
I certainly don't.
I just know that I am a white Caucasian Occidental Polish-Czech-German-Irish-English-Scotch American.
There are black people and white people. A color scheme, yes?
Okay, fine, but then to call an Asian person yellow is derogatory and to call a Native American person red is also offensive. But to describe someone as having olive colored skin is okay. Which kind of olive anyways - Kalamata or Graber's? Nabali or Manzanillo? Mission or Pecholine?
Oriental is out and Occidental (its correspondent term) was never in.
To call a person a European is fine, but to call someone Oriental is frowned up. European cars and Oriental rugs, just fine. Granted no one under 75 calls Asia the Orient, but still...
And European styling? What the @#$@! is that? Italy and Sweden...same style?
Caucasian, or European. Are we using continents or mountain ranges to define ourselves? Hitler tried Aryan, but he probably would have put the real Aryans in his camps.
Are we using colors or names of countries, continents or geographical features? How about all of the above?
And then there's hyphenating. Do we do it from the part of the world our ancestors came from? or just the country? Am I a European-American? Or a Northern-European American? Or an American of European descent? Or to be people first, a person living in American of European descent.
I think this inability for us to pick one spectrum of label ourselves is related to the affirmative action debate, also to the individual vs. group debate. What scale do we use to evaluate applicants for schools, jobs, contracts? When do we say that everyone is finally on the same playing field?
Who knows?
I certainly don't.
I just know that I am a white Caucasian Occidental Polish-Czech-German-Irish-English-Scotch American.
9.16.2008
Carbon Footprint of music
As I write this post, I am listening to the melodius musical styling of Miles Davis et al. on Pandora.com. If you don't know Pandora, get to know her!! Type in a musicians name, or a band or a song and the algorithm or small elves or whatever picks other songs to play based upon your voting yeah or nay on other songs.
But I digress...
As I sit here and listen to this music, I wonder about the environmental impact of listening to music on the internet. Does it take more juice than listening to a cd of the same music? How does that compare to a turntable? If all music in the future is only digital and no physical LPs or CDs are made, would that offset all the energy needed to run my computer, wireless router, DSL system and computers at Pandora's end? No need to drive to a store to buy a plastic disc to then drive back home and stick into my computer to then rip and store on a harddrive that has to be on and using juice if I want to listen to the music.
Maybe the best way, least impactful method of listening to music would be just to make my own music on non electrified equipment...
But I digress...
As I sit here and listen to this music, I wonder about the environmental impact of listening to music on the internet. Does it take more juice than listening to a cd of the same music? How does that compare to a turntable? If all music in the future is only digital and no physical LPs or CDs are made, would that offset all the energy needed to run my computer, wireless router, DSL system and computers at Pandora's end? No need to drive to a store to buy a plastic disc to then drive back home and stick into my computer to then rip and store on a harddrive that has to be on and using juice if I want to listen to the music.
Maybe the best way, least impactful method of listening to music would be just to make my own music on non electrified equipment...
9.14.2008
the true history [is] lost
From "John Adams" the HBO miniseries
"It is very bad history"
"Do not let our posterity be deluded with fictions under the guise of poetical or graphical license."
"I consider the true history of the American Revolution as lost."
Was Tom Hooper, the director of this series, also talking about his own work, this miniseries on John Adams. A visual experience based upon a written experience, the book John Adams by David McCullough. How much has this series deluded our posterity with fictions? How much of what we witnessed in the series actually happened?
What scares me is that in a few years, and maybe this is already happening, films & movies such as these will be shown in classrooms as fact. Easier to watch a movie than to read a book.
The second quote above also relates to art making. I would postulate that art, especially dance is deluded with too many fictions under the guise of poetical license. Too often choreographers are vague about what the point of their work is. Hiding under the guise of poetical license is one thing that brings dance down in terms of being taken seriously, removing it out of the entertainment world.
Too often dance makers bow too quickly to their own aesthetic to make something that is palatable to the audience, rather than following their curiosity to its end - wanting more to please than to challenge. Dance is still stuck in the world of dancing for the court, trying to please the king. Instead of now it is the audience and the grant panels. What logics are hip now? What tools are hip now? What aesthetics are hip now? The true idea of the choreographer gets lost. The work gets lost in poetical and graphical license.
Not many choreographers are accused of being great intellects. Playwrights, composers, yes. But not choreographers.
Why is that?
( I think it has something to with that horrible quote which has been destroying dance ever since whoever said it - "Dance expresses what words cannot" or some such nonsense like that)
9.01.2008
Quote of the day
"Sounds like running down a mountain in the rain towards a deer just killed by an arrow."
from Pandora about a song by the Precious Fathers
from Pandora about a song by the Precious Fathers
8.29.2008
8.28.2008
8.23.2008
Swimming vs. running
Swimming has many different races - different in length and in styles of swimming. Where these styles of swimming come from, who knows? Well, Wikipedia does - The four competitive strokes are the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. Running races are of different length, but not necessarily in style, though the way of running changes depending upon the distance run. The differences in ways of running are not as different as the differences in the ways of swimming.
This leads me to wonder why there are not running races of people running backwards. "That would be silly" you say. Well, what is the backstroke? Swimming backwards, looking where you have been not where you are going.
Comparing the World Records in the 4 styles in the 50 m race, we see that the 50 m freestyle is the fastest.
50 m freestyle 21.28
50 m backstroke 24.47 *
50 m breaststroke 27.18
50 m butterfly 22.96
So why do the other styles of swimming exist? Why are there not styles of running? How quickly could Usain Bolt run the 100 m backwards? Or sideways? Or one one leg? Or while turning in circles? I think the different styles of swimming should be abandoned and people swim however they want to as long as they stay in their lanes. Having different styles of stroke is silly. It should just be getting from A to B as quickly as possible (or A to B to A to B etc. if doing multiple laps) however possible without interfering with other swimmers.
This then leads me to the hurdles. What would the swimming equivalent be? Hoops underwater for the swimmers to go through?
This leads me to wonder why there are not running races of people running backwards. "That would be silly" you say. Well, what is the backstroke? Swimming backwards, looking where you have been not where you are going.
Comparing the World Records in the 4 styles in the 50 m race, we see that the 50 m freestyle is the fastest.
50 m freestyle 21.28
50 m backstroke 24.47 *
50 m breaststroke 27.18
50 m butterfly 22.96
So why do the other styles of swimming exist? Why are there not styles of running? How quickly could Usain Bolt run the 100 m backwards? Or sideways? Or one one leg? Or while turning in circles? I think the different styles of swimming should be abandoned and people swim however they want to as long as they stay in their lanes. Having different styles of stroke is silly. It should just be getting from A to B as quickly as possible (or A to B to A to B etc. if doing multiple laps) however possible without interfering with other swimmers.
This then leads me to the hurdles. What would the swimming equivalent be? Hoops underwater for the swimmers to go through?
8.19.2008
Raccoons in SF
Sunday night, K and I were driving home after participating in a fund raiser for a show of some friends. I was the MC, meaning I drank a lot and tried to get people to laugh. Well also introduced the acts and K and I did some recreations of Allan Kaprow's work.
Anyways, we were on Folsom and 6th or there abouts at the light in the right lane. 11 p.m. @ night A racoon sprints across the intersection. Shock, surprise...a taxi comes up the street and generously rounds the corner hitting the racoon with both right side tires. Somehow the racoon survived. Waddled, scrambled of the street to hide underneath a parked car.
What are you supposed to do in that situation? Is there someone to call to help the damaged animal? Animal control? Human Society?
Made me think of the frozen burgers in our 'fridge? Made me think of the time my dog Blackie was run over and died. Made me hate cities and cars. Why are national parks enclosed and roped off? It should be the other way around. Cities, places of human habitat should be sequestered and scrunched together in "national parks" As the human population becomes more urban hopefully that will happen. Restricted zones where we can build, kinda like Portland.
I wonder how long the raccoon lived.
Anyways, we were on Folsom and 6th or there abouts at the light in the right lane. 11 p.m. @ night A racoon sprints across the intersection. Shock, surprise...a taxi comes up the street and generously rounds the corner hitting the racoon with both right side tires. Somehow the racoon survived. Waddled, scrambled of the street to hide underneath a parked car.
What are you supposed to do in that situation? Is there someone to call to help the damaged animal? Animal control? Human Society?
Made me think of the frozen burgers in our 'fridge? Made me think of the time my dog Blackie was run over and died. Made me hate cities and cars. Why are national parks enclosed and roped off? It should be the other way around. Cities, places of human habitat should be sequestered and scrunched together in "national parks" As the human population becomes more urban hopefully that will happen. Restricted zones where we can build, kinda like Portland.
I wonder how long the raccoon lived.
8.16.2008
Sport vs. Art
This is a list of all the Summer Olympic Sports
Archery, Athletics(or track and field), Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Canoe/Kayak Flatwater,Canoe/Kayak Slalom, Cycling BMX, Cycling Mountain Bike, Cycling Road, Cycling Track, Diving, Equestrian, Fencing, Football, Gymnastics Artistic, Gymnastics Rhythmic, Trampoline, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Softball, Swimming, Synchronized Swimming, Table, Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball, Water Polo, Weightlifting, Wrestling
Some of these sports have judges, determining which participant did the event better, a subjective event one could say. Sports in my mind are not subjective. Well, they are subjective in that some people enjoy some sports and not other. Some people enjoy them not at all and are rather proud of that fact (like that mother on Mommy Swap or whatever it's called. Man, was she a nut case.)
Sports are objective - who crosses the line first, who gets the ball from A to B more times, how much did this person lift. It's not about how, but about what. I would remove - Synchronized Swimming, diving and all forms of gymnastics. This not to say that those events are not hard. They are quite hard. What those gymnasts can do is #$#@! amazing. But just because it is physical and hard does not make it a sport. I would say gymnastics and synchronized swimming are really physically challenging art forms.
Giving birth is really hard to do, why not make that a sport? Making a nice soufflé is really hard also. Why not have cooking in the Olympics? There could be a panel of judges who then taste the soufflé and give the cook points for style, presentation and taste. They could even have cook offs with special ingredients. Oh wait, that sounds like Iron Chef.
How about writing, poetry or otherwise in the Olympics?
People get 15 minutes to write something. Give them a topic and off they go. At the end, judges read it and give a grade, I mean a score. Points for difficulty of topic and points for execution.
Ridiculous, if you ask me if cooking or writing made it into the Olympics. Those are clearly not sports. But still hard to do. So is it amount of calories burned that are a requirement for an event to be considered a sport? I'm sure that training for diving takes a lot of calories, but each dive itself can't burn many calories to do. So if it is caloric output, I vote for sumo squats.
So is it physical difficulty that makes an event a sport? Caloric output? What?
Archery, Athletics(or track and field), Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Canoe/Kayak Flatwater,Canoe/Kayak Slalom, Cycling BMX, Cycling Mountain Bike, Cycling Road, Cycling Track, Diving, Equestrian, Fencing, Football, Gymnastics Artistic, Gymnastics Rhythmic, Trampoline, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Softball, Swimming, Synchronized Swimming, Table, Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball, Water Polo, Weightlifting, Wrestling
Some of these sports have judges, determining which participant did the event better, a subjective event one could say. Sports in my mind are not subjective. Well, they are subjective in that some people enjoy some sports and not other. Some people enjoy them not at all and are rather proud of that fact (like that mother on Mommy Swap or whatever it's called. Man, was she a nut case.)
Sports are objective - who crosses the line first, who gets the ball from A to B more times, how much did this person lift. It's not about how, but about what. I would remove - Synchronized Swimming, diving and all forms of gymnastics. This not to say that those events are not hard. They are quite hard. What those gymnasts can do is #$#@! amazing. But just because it is physical and hard does not make it a sport. I would say gymnastics and synchronized swimming are really physically challenging art forms.
Giving birth is really hard to do, why not make that a sport? Making a nice soufflé is really hard also. Why not have cooking in the Olympics? There could be a panel of judges who then taste the soufflé and give the cook points for style, presentation and taste. They could even have cook offs with special ingredients. Oh wait, that sounds like Iron Chef.
How about writing, poetry or otherwise in the Olympics?
People get 15 minutes to write something. Give them a topic and off they go. At the end, judges read it and give a grade, I mean a score. Points for difficulty of topic and points for execution.
Ridiculous, if you ask me if cooking or writing made it into the Olympics. Those are clearly not sports. But still hard to do. So is it amount of calories burned that are a requirement for an event to be considered a sport? I'm sure that training for diving takes a lot of calories, but each dive itself can't burn many calories to do. So if it is caloric output, I vote for sumo squats.
So is it physical difficulty that makes an event a sport? Caloric output? What?
8.15.2008
It's been a while
Back home for a spell.
Getting back into the rhythm of home (married!) life. So far not so different. Except for the ring finger on my left hand is a little heavier. But it doesn't really fit. When the ring was purchased it fit fine. My ring finger was still slightly swollen due to a torn ligament or tendon. It had been that way for a long time so I thought it was thicker permanently. Now that I have been eating Aleve like it's candy due to my knee, my finger is back to normal. Go figure.
Anyways, go see the film Tell No One. Good stuff.
Getting back into the rhythm of home (married!) life. So far not so different. Except for the ring finger on my left hand is a little heavier. But it doesn't really fit. When the ring was purchased it fit fine. My ring finger was still slightly swollen due to a torn ligament or tendon. It had been that way for a long time so I thought it was thicker permanently. Now that I have been eating Aleve like it's candy due to my knee, my finger is back to normal. Go figure.
Anyways, go see the film Tell No One. Good stuff.
6.28.2008
Blue Tooth
Yesterday*, or was it the day before?, K and I went to the AT&T store near us to get a hands free device to comply with the law that will be coming into effect July 1st. Being the law abiding citizens that we are, we want to comply. So we purchased two of those clip on blue tooth hand free gizmos. Went home charged it up, synced it with the phone. Carried it around with me. After returning home, I promptly put it back in the box and returned both the devices today.
Returning them in SF cost me 20 cents as the sales tax is greater in Oakland than in SF by .25% Go figure. Maybe lower taxes really do stimulate the economy. Ha ha ha.
I must say those blue tooth things are lame...one more thing to keep track of, one more thing to charge, one more thing to lose and have to buy again. And I question the findings that people who talk on phones are as bad as drunk drivers. I mean, will the hands-free devices enable people to drive better? They will still be engrossed in a conversation with someone who is in another location. And as for the argument that hands-free will prevent people from looking at their phones and pushing buttons while they drive...the radio!! Hello, who doesn't look at the radio while driving or the A/C, pushing buttons and not paying attention to the road.
I think it's just a scam foisted upon us by phone company lobbyists so that we have to buy more s#$t.
Reminds me of the switch to digital TV broadcasting.
"What is the TV Converter Box Coupon Program?Congress created the TV Converter Box Coupon Program for households wishing to keep using their analog TV sets after February 17, 2009. The Program allows U.S. households to obtain up to two coupons, each worth $40, that can be applied toward the cost of eligible converter boxes."
Why are we wasting tax payer money on coupons for people to convert their TVs? TV is not a right, it is a privilege. Maybe if people watched fewer hours of TV, they wouldn't be so fat. Less of a drain on health care.
I guess what it comes down to is that I do not want to have my tax dollars going to coupons so people can buy TVs.
*if there is a yesterday, is there a noterday?
Returning them in SF cost me 20 cents as the sales tax is greater in Oakland than in SF by .25% Go figure. Maybe lower taxes really do stimulate the economy. Ha ha ha.
I must say those blue tooth things are lame...one more thing to keep track of, one more thing to charge, one more thing to lose and have to buy again. And I question the findings that people who talk on phones are as bad as drunk drivers. I mean, will the hands-free devices enable people to drive better? They will still be engrossed in a conversation with someone who is in another location. And as for the argument that hands-free will prevent people from looking at their phones and pushing buttons while they drive...the radio!! Hello, who doesn't look at the radio while driving or the A/C, pushing buttons and not paying attention to the road.
I think it's just a scam foisted upon us by phone company lobbyists so that we have to buy more s#$t.
Reminds me of the switch to digital TV broadcasting.
"What is the TV Converter Box Coupon Program?Congress created the TV Converter Box Coupon Program for households wishing to keep using their analog TV sets after February 17, 2009. The Program allows U.S. households to obtain up to two coupons, each worth $40, that can be applied toward the cost of eligible converter boxes."
Why are we wasting tax payer money on coupons for people to convert their TVs? TV is not a right, it is a privilege. Maybe if people watched fewer hours of TV, they wouldn't be so fat. Less of a drain on health care.
I guess what it comes down to is that I do not want to have my tax dollars going to coupons so people can buy TVs.
*if there is a yesterday, is there a noterday?
5.27.2008
Is McCain trustworthy?
Can John McCain be trusted to be in charge of the nation's checkbook? I say he is not to be trusted with money. His own wife of 28 years does not trust him with money.
from Wikipedia - "they made a prenuptial agreement that kept most of her family's assets under her name; they would always keep their finances apart and file separate income tax returns."
So if John McCain is not trusted by his own wife with her money (estimated to be $100 million), can the American people trust him with their money ( estimated to be a lot more than $100 million)?
from Wikipedia - "they made a prenuptial agreement that kept most of her family's assets under her name; they would always keep their finances apart and file separate income tax returns."
So if John McCain is not trusted by his own wife with her money (estimated to be $100 million), can the American people trust him with their money ( estimated to be a lot more than $100 million)?
5.24.2008
The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways
Could this be the work of Satan, or the Lord's punishment for homosexuality? Well, since no one died, maybe just punishment for a fleeting homosexual fantasy. Or maybe someone in the van said abortion. Who knows? Lord knows!
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A mishap involving a church van during rush hour on Friday evening injured five people and shut down the highway.The wreck happened between Taylorsville Road and Interstate 64. Sources told NewsChannel 32 one of the van's tires had blown.The 15-passenger van was from the South Jefferson Christian Church in Louisville and showed it had flipped onto its side on the northbound Gene Synder Expressway.Vince Luney of MetroSafe said the injured passengers were taken to University Hospital. Officials said the wreck closed the two northbound lanes and forced the closure of one of the southbound lanes.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A mishap involving a church van during rush hour on Friday evening injured five people and shut down the highway.The wreck happened between Taylorsville Road and Interstate 64. Sources told NewsChannel 32 one of the van's tires had blown.The 15-passenger van was from the South Jefferson Christian Church in Louisville and showed it had flipped onto its side on the northbound Gene Synder Expressway.Vince Luney of MetroSafe said the injured passengers were taken to University Hospital. Officials said the wreck closed the two northbound lanes and forced the closure of one of the southbound lanes.
5.22.2008
US strike on al-Qaida kills children
So, how is Iraq better off now than it was when Saddam was in power?
Instead of Saddam's henchmen making folks disappear, and holding them indefinitely while torturing them, the CIA or some contractor outside the rule of law (whatever that means now!??!?) does that. We have stepped in and filled the power vacuum...
Instead of Saddam's henchmen making folks disappear, and holding them indefinitely while torturing them, the CIA or some contractor outside the rule of law (whatever that means now!??!?) does that. We have stepped in and filled the power vacuum...
Officials say Obama looking for a VP
"Likely Democratic nominee Barack Obama has begun a top-secret search for a running mate..."
Anything wrong with that statement?
Anything wrong with that statement?
5.14.2008
Outdoor Stop Motion Animation
A friend, V, sent me a link to this video. Don't know much about it other than it is #@$@!! cool. Can't imagine how much work it took. How many hours and gallons of white paint. What pigments did they use? Interesting obsession with heads opening up. How much was set beforehand and how much did the idea evolve as the film was made?
MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.
MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.
5.07.2008
Classifications
Thought of a way to classify dance companies into classical, modern, post-modern:
Classical - named after a place -> Ballet Russes, American Ballet Theater
modern - named after a person -> Martha Graham Dance Company, Paul Taylor Dance Company
post modern - named after anything else -> Lower Left, Body Cartography
Is this true for every case? No, but I think there is some truth to it. Takes us back to the question of what defines classical, modern or po mo. Is it the tool, the aesthetic or the logic? See picture below for relationship. Much work done now is still modern in terms of logic but the tools are different than the tools of traditional modern. Maybe that is what contempory work is - modern/classical logic with post modern tools.
Classical - named after a place -> Ballet Russes, American Ballet Theater
modern - named after a person -> Martha Graham Dance Company, Paul Taylor Dance Company
post modern - named after anything else -> Lower Left, Body Cartography
Is this true for every case? No, but I think there is some truth to it. Takes us back to the question of what defines classical, modern or po mo. Is it the tool, the aesthetic or the logic? See picture below for relationship. Much work done now is still modern in terms of logic but the tools are different than the tools of traditional modern. Maybe that is what contempory work is - modern/classical logic with post modern tools.
5.02.2008
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