Periodic eastside KoSho news happy fun time: we still have lots of extra kicking and striking pads to sell for anyone interested, and even some Very Large Mirrors. I'm working on some paralette bars to add to the gym at the back, and we finally (thanks to Wyatt and my dad) have a decent training pistol to practice CDT take-away's with. Our burdgeoning MMA program is still, well, burdgeoning, but hey - that's why we're the eastside pizza delivery people/enlisted Marine or AF or soldier/night-shift cop dojo where we can barely get any schedule settled. But hey, relatively near 24/7 variable amounts of martial arts is a good thing. Yes.
      As for our aiki-jujitsu class the new drills of the day are the Ball Drills (for lack of inventive names as of yet). One involves tossing a medicine ball in any way at all, so long as the catcher blends with the momentum of the ball and uses its energy to keep it going to the next person. Or falls over in doing so and takes a medicine ball in the face. The other involves a marshmallow ball being whipped around the mats, and various airborne or possibly faceplanting on a failed attempt rolls that work on catching or picking up said ball, blending with said ball, and blending with the ground. These drills walk that razor line between genius and stupidity that makes class that much funner.

      Tangentially, I ran into an odd dynamic during kickboxing; the person that walked in the door turned out to be the popular, attractive senior I had sat next to as a geeky freshman in band. She was now fleshier, had a sorority girl tattoo, and didn't know a thing about martial arts, so now all of a sudden (in terms of knowledge/position, I mean) there was almost a reversal from the last time we'd seen each other way back in in high school. Awk-ward, and i'm still not sure why.

Macaulay's "Minute on Indian Education" - okay so I'm just using it for a footnote in my thesis, but it's pretty interesting to even just skim through in terms of historical perspective

henna - Anybody up for it? The last I got at the street fair wasn't worth saving from the quick erasing-by-hospital-soap

Coin Manipulation - Hoo boy...this was probably the worst thing I could look up while doing homework (re: X's scolding), but I'm rationalizing it by claiming that the 'balance toss' is perfect for practicing multiple [Western boxing] jabs (coming soon to a dojo near you)

      An ad hoc analogy for the development of physical intelligence, by Kevin and I...Kevin and me? Stupid grammar. Anyway, we likened the the increased connection between mind and body to evolution of the telephone. A little kid trying to tell his limbs to do something and then having something else entirely happen might be like the oldest-school phones where you didn't dial, but had an operator connect you. Moving up through various degrees, such as rotary phone and speed-dial, the other end of the spectrum would be the Zen end, as it were; the connection is already made practically before the thought happens.

Why is it that the only word Xuemei and I could think of for the male equivalent of "mistress" is lover? Or rather, aren't the connotations of each interesting when compared to each other?

Admiral, I shrunk the spy plane - periodic fun robot link (via Wyatt)

Really dumbed down folklore story of Chang E, the Moon Lady (because Xuemei was confused when I was trying to remember the old yarn about fae on the moon/the moon as Arcadia)

Ultimate Fighter - just a plug for what I originally thought was just another inane reality show but seems to have improved massively since it started, at least judging by the last couple episodes I randomly caught

Fire Warrior, by Simon Spurrier. Much to my dismay, I couldn't put this book down long enough to get any work done on my thesis, so hopefully my advisor will take a good book as an excuse. Yes, it's skiffy fluff, but it's good skiffy fluff, with the solid combination of a fast-moving adventure story, empathy-inducing characters, and cinematographic action. The climax is great, but the resolution after that is a bit of a letdown, though I suppose it is logical enough. There's some layers worth of social commentary in there as well, if I'm not mistaken, though I'm not exactly sure which way they were leaning, I need somebody else to read it to talk about it with.

World City Inventory

Britain for Americans - so much sarcasm...

the Falkirk Wheel - I have no idea; but it sure seems interesting

Sin City, with a helluva lot of good actors. Really...unique. The style was impeccable and true to the three graphic novels the three different stories in the movie are based on, though there were a few points where the actors seemed to be trying a bit too hard to imitate old-school noir. The distinct stories were interesting in that it seems like the movie ends three times over, which is apparently doubly trippy if you don't know it's going to happen beforehand. The subject matter and gore is definitely not for the faint of heart (or stomach), even in its stylized way, and while the nudity or near-thereof is certainly pleasant on a shallow level, the movie as a whole is demeaning to women. So...it was certainly interesting.

Thing With Feathers - art

Hm...Apu is the only one that stays the same...

Apparently, I am not the only one to have been charmed by the squishy intrigue that is the cephalopod -
-Hold the Kalamari - arguments both ways on intelligence, and "Researchers have discovered spines lodged in octopus brains, the result of a meal going the wrong way." I think it's kind of interesting that if you eat pretty much any part of a cephalopod, in a sense you're probably eating part of its brain.
-Cephalopod Research - general information and a few interesting videos from Down Under
-For some reason this reminds me of a zombie movie...with zombie coconuts. And seaweed. They really should have used the seaweed version for an underwater scene in an old Godzilla movie, in my opinion.

It's a good thing all my spare change is stuck in the giant pink fuzzy Buddha

Best. Hypothetical. Question. Ever.

-her name isn't really Jessica, but with that new required privacy stuff I got irrationally paranoid...and yes, it's kind of corny, but, uh.....deal. Or offer suggestions otherwise-

Jessica

The next time you find yourself
alone,
slouched on the couch in the dark,

wait.

Keep your hands still,
away from the tepid water
and the acrid pills.

Ignore the goblin-shrieks
of your flower-named sister,
and her rancid eyes,

Stand up and walk past
the tantrums of your mother
before she peels free of the TV,

Slip past your father,
duck his lecherous sneer
when he turns to cough up tar,

then run -

sprint through the sun -

soak up the warmth outside

that dank web of dark emotion,

let your words blossom

and grow.

Keep writing, Jessica.

      An entirely random martial arts technique just for fun and advertising. Or something. The curving knee, for lack of a better term, is one of those counter-intuitive movements that - unlike most counter-intuitive movements - is actually quite simple. While a good forward/upward thrust or angled thrust to the torso is powerful, and Okinawan knee strikes to the thighs are kind of bitchy, a curving knee is sneaky. If one is clinched with the opponent, and said opponent is slightly to one side or trying to reap you by stepping past, the curving knee strike can arc up and inward, striking with the inside of the knee or thigh. Like a boxing hook, at first it feels like no power can be generated, but with a proper twist of the waist a surprisingly satisfying thump can be had.

if light could be tasty, this would be it; but where has it gone? I would demand it as the secret ingredient in Iron Chef immediately

more fishy fun; that is one thing I have never seen in sushi, swim bladders

Spitwad Sutras, by Robert Inchausti. This book inspired me to be a teacher a long time ago, but upon a recent reading it mostly inspired bitterness in me. In truth, that bitterness is actually a reaction purely from within me, as I can honestly say that the amount to be learned in this book is immense. For teachers or otherwise, the thoughts regarding language and social interaction are valuable in practical, every-day situations. The style of the prose is very down to earth and easy to read, and in the back are sections of interesting maxims and aphorisms, and a wonderfully detailed list of suggested readings.

We used to do this at the diner when it was slow between breakfast and lunch, but with less aesthetic effort and more flavored syrups and stomach aches

sparth : construct - art

article on grip strengthening, which is especially useful to anyone who has come out of a grappling round unable to close their hands properly

headaches, so I've just been copying down stuff lately; more from Spitwad Sutras -
      "He claimed that technology has cut us off from experience. Geometry once linked numbers to shapes. Algebra was a move into abstraction. Calculus abstracted the abstractions. Until now we think in the abbreviated language of technological mnemonics, ICBMs and EIRs. The psychological effect of this move into abstraction has been profound, leading us to seek the displaced concrete in a variety of substitute realities - television, fantasy, magic, and psychosis. What's left of reality now resides in what people call 'bullshit,' dreams, small talk, side issues, private perceptions - literature."

      "The left side of the class decided to create the Octopian Civilization, an undersea world populated in the year A.D. 3333 by a crashed spaceship from the planet Hardon.
      The right side of the class was going to create the Artesian Civilization, a primitive, ethnically mixed culuture located near San Jose in the year 1000 B.C. The inhabitants of this lost civilization wore disco clothes, rode in vehicles resembling '57 Chevys, and were destroyed in the year 700 B.C., when a race riot at a local dance set off an underground neutron bomb placed there by a group of time-traveling Ku Klux Klan members from Turlock, California.
      It became clear to me that my students saw their world surrealistically. Civilization to them was a hodgepodge of images and entertainments arbitrarily organized around the most fantastic premises....This project was teaching them a lot about the way my students sorted through culture. What they noticed, what they neglected. How they saw parts but missed the whole. How their lives were littered with cultural fragments and semiotic smudges that have value primarily as consumer items and status symbols. It was as if they saw every instant as a cinematic moment; every fact, a quiz show answer; and every past deed, an old movie."
--------
"...the impious man is not he who denies the gods of the many, but he who attaches to the gods the beliefs of the many." - Epicurus, Death Is Nothing to Us

"Where is that leaf?"
"On the tree."
"Wrong - look again."
"Okay, it's on the end of that Y-shaped branch."
"Wrong again. It's in the air." And holding up his two fingers as if he were holding a grape floating in space, he enacted tha miraculous feat that leaves are literally suspended in midair. "And that's where ideas come from," he said. "They are in the air. Of course, when you write, you organize your papers the way God organizes a tree - you attach the idea to a branch of thought, and that branch adheres to the more solid trunk or discipline, which is rooted in the earth of our shared experience. That's what writing is all about: linking the miraculous perception to the material universe." - from Spitwad Sutras

Alien Apocalypse, with Bruce Campbell and Renee O'Connor. The only rational explanation I can think of for us watching this is the entirely depressing end to the UA game. It at least had the legendary Campbell, and O'Connor is oddly familiar (ah, she played Gabrielle in Xena). The only explanation we could think of for the pathetic mess this movie made of itself was that it was being conscious of messing itself. Like a drunkenly incoherent combination of The Postman, Planet of the Apes, and Battlefield Earth, possibly made by SciFi just for drinking games. Or something.

      I recently read an interesting argument for bodyweight exercise (which I am a proponent of) over weight training. Basically, it said that in weight training some portion of one's attention is concentrated on something external - i.e. the weight. But with bodyweight exercise one's full attention can be concentrated internally, on the self. I would add that a similar benefit is found in yoga (when are weights used in yoga?), but qualify that weights have their own purpose and advantages, such as speedy gaining of large amounts of muscle mass for one, but also disadvantages to health and otherwise. But I could go on. In other news, J.J. Abrams is probably going to direct Mission Impossible III, which will also have Carrie-Ann Moss in it, both things generally labeled as awesome.

Modern Art - I don't really understand it at the moment, but maybe the DC trip will make the difference in that regard...but on the other hand maybe modern art is there just so people can pull off stuff like that

Xtreme Martial Arts - frankly, I think it would be immensely better if it was less Wushu or even if they acknowledged how extremely stylized it is, but it's really pretty, so they've got something going I suppose

ilani ilani - cute language blog (" Putting the 'sin' back in syntax and the 'ho' back in phonology")

"Of all the world's wonders, which is the most wonderful?"
"That no man, though he sees others dying all around him, believes that he himself will die."
-from the Mahabharata

"The yolk of a bird's egg is connected to the shell by albumen 'ropes.' During incubation, these ropes break and the mother bird must rotate her eggs to keep the yolks in the center while the chicks are forming." --- but how does the bird know to rotate the eggs? Yes, yes, biological imperative and what, but for me there's some interesting thoughts that could spiral off from that...

      In the Daily Wildcat's 'fast facts' section there was this bit about the esophagus of an octopus going straight through the middle of it's brain. I mean, that in and of itself is enough to boggle my mind, but as Xuemei pointed out, "Maybe the octopus's mind is boggled that your esophagus doesn't." But I'm more inclined to believe that the octopus' mind is boggled by the fact that food is passing through it. Spinning off from that, Wyatt and I watched a documentary a while back that claimed that if all the higher order animals were killed off the next kind of animal to gain higher intelligence/sentience would be squids/octopi..octopuses...octopoids. Anyway, not really much to say except that I think it's interesting to really consider an animal so entirely different - the esophagus thing, eyes that evolved totally separately from any other animal's eyes, the whole neural net thing, using ammonia for bouyancy, &c.

Rotor Script - I have no idea.

Matt Dixon - art

Worst Jobs in (British) History - You can hear the accent in the writing style, it's funny.

I met someone in the ER that this actually happened to, for similar reasons as that guy; he lost an arm when he did it, though... (via Wyatt)

Fish! - there are some truly funky ones in there, though I wish there was a bit more explanation for why some of the weirder ones have the features they do

'Action vs Reaction in Grappling' (or why Yogi Berra was right) - long title for a short, funny column

Xuemei's Nice Meal of the Day:
-red miso with nori
-eggplant and minced pork with green onions, in sauce spicy enough to "clear your sinuses even if they aren't clogged"
-rice

Maxx Soul - art

S1m0ne, with Al Pacino and Catherine Keener. This is another one of those stories that I might reference back to that William Gibson novel (I remembered - it's Idoru!) that explored the nature of celebrity, and interestingly the movie is almost a direct parallel of some of the novel's plot in some ways. It is, however, in being a movie much more simplified, and beyond that ventures into the more blatant rather than subtle satire. It was interesting, but there seemed to be something that made the movie unsettlingly disjointed; maybe how it was edited? I'm not sure.

The Devil's Advocate, with Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino. I'd seen this movie a long time ago, but wasn't disappointed by a second showing. In truth, although the path of the story's progression may become more and more transparent to those people out there who try to pick movies apart, the layered meaning of a huge portion of the script at least adds a counterweight to that. I remember the scares being effective enough the first time I saw it, and though this time they were more amusing than not I still looked forward to them as functions of the development of the two main characters. And I really, really want even a small copy of the statue behind Milton's desk.

Delivery - eerie short film, provokes a lot of questions about its internal logic

Massive Attack - the ambient, ethereal, and at times slightly creepy third of the bands-no-one-has-seemed-to-have-heard-of-triumvirate, along with the more playful and poetic Splashdown and the more hard and raw Kidneythieves. Splashdown we heard of thanks to Michelle's 'Bitter Hermit' compilation, Kidneythieves was featured in Invisible War, and Massive Attack had a snippet of an uncredited song in The Matrix when Neo's computer wakes him up near the beginning. (thanks to Carolyn for the m.a. songs)

Witness - photography by James Nachtwey

      I haven't thought of what I learned growing up Catholic in a long while now, but I think something just finally clicked. I never really understood what the teachers meant when they mentioned fearing God; I thought that that ran counter to the more benevolent qualities that were emphasized, so the best I could do to reconcile the contradiction was to read 'fear' as 'reverence' and change it to a sort of respect. But for whatever reason today I remembered being berated in literary theory for not remembering that according to some psychoanalysis for every emotion one has, the opposite also exists in the subconscious (ie, morbid fascination, love/hate relationships, &c). So now I'm pondering, was the suggestion to fear God a recognition of that in some way? But then, what does that mean?

Buddy Rich vs Animal - I like how the muppet blurs

Keep the Ball Alive - I once went to a rugby game and saw a man limp to the sideline with a bleeding bite mark on his calf

Everyone's probably seen it by now, yes, but Episode III is coming. I'm looking forward to it personally if only on the basis that it looks much darker than the previous episodes, as the fairy-tale/myth/black+white archetypes episodes I and IV were based on did nothing for me; at least V, VI, and II were moving towards more complex characters and issues. (via Wyatt)

Parelette exercises - I can do some of them on just my hands, but I'm not sure how effectively as my attempts were after working out already; as it was, I'll estimate a still 'just barely' for future attempts, and hopefully my abs will strain less. Which leads one to the conclusion, of course, that these are probably something I could stand to do a lot more.

Pimp vs dude. Knifehand to the neck is what it looks like to me, anybody else see anything different?

-another nicely written bit, haven't really applied any but aesthetic thought to it yet:
      "What is man?
      A creature of dust; a thing of transience whose days fly by faster than a weaver's shuttle; a fragile being, crushed sooner than a moth; a body, sustaining and reproducing itself after the fashion of beasts; a vessel filled with shame and confusion, impelled by pride and self-love, driven by passions.
      All these, says the Tradition, is man.
      But he is also more and other.
      The handiwork, the child, the mirrored image of God, fashioned after and instinct with Him, he displays, though in infinitely lesser degree and with innumerable flaws, the powers ascribed to and associated with Divinity: the ability to think and create, the awareness of the good and beautiful, the capacity for love and compassion, and the freedom of the will." - Milton Steinberg

"But an abyss, no matter how broad and deep, is a cleft in the earth's surface. The walls to either side will be of similar composition; they will be joined by common ground below and may be even further united by a bridge from above." - on the word 'abyss' being used to describe differences between nations and ethnic groups

Laws of Attraction, with Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore. Much to my chagrin, this was the pick of the night over Garden State and Easy, basically on the premise of girls wanting to gaze in idolation at Brosnan. And, at least in my opinion, that was pretty much all the movie was good for; it did have its requisite romantic comedy cute moments, and scenes of will-they-won't-they tension, at least. It also had rampant product placement and the depth of a puddle, unfortunately.

An Act of Real Courage - short opinion piece

Ong Bak, with Tony Jaa and Pumwaree Yodkamol. Basically, a hell of a lot of violence and stunts mixed with a nominal amount of plot. Which worked, actually, because of the fairy-tale-esque cum riff-on-Bruce-Lee-movie thread of the story. The fight scenes were amazing - mostly modern Muay Thai, with a liberal mixing in of classical techniques (banned from the ring in real life) and acrobatics (also, an as far as I know unique Krabi Krabong scene). In my opinion, the wonderful skill displayed in this movie, along with the rare display of arts that aren't kung fu, TKD, or Western boxing, marks it as an instant classic of a martial arts movie. As a sidenote, this was one of those movies that turned the audience into a small, vocal community, with many gasps, sympathetic groans, and surprised curses abounding. (also, Tom-Yum-Goong) (double tangentially - sorry Kevin!)

Chocolate Deities - spiritual and tasty, and with some fun trivia

Science Fiction Citations - a project for the OED, anyone might be able to contribute

Earth Language - kind of a symbol-based indie Esperanto

The 40 Language Dash - quick opinion piece

another poem rough; supposed to be right justified, but hey-
Red Lament

He sits alone in the kitchen
twisting the knife in to the hilt
groping further with the tip,
desperate.
Everything is red, now-
the table, the tile, his hands around the
handle of the blade, slick with color
spilling from the other wounds
he has made, but he is
numb.
The white pills he painstakingly
placed on his tongue have
calmed his nerves, long enough,
he hopes, for him to find his
remaining
lung.

He wakes, staring into light,
feels bandages holding his life in,
and cries.
Again, the poison in his vein.
Again, the scalpels along his spine.

Power Yoga: Flexibility, with Rodney Yee. All in all, a nice sequence, but not really spectacular in any way. Generally I enjoy Yee's direction, and this was on par with my past experience, though at times (I suspect to fit into the compressed time frame) he moved a bit too quickly for my taste. I'm not sure exactly what makes this sequence more about flexibility than any other sequence, besides some variations in the downward-dog asanas in the Sun Salutations, but on the other side of things there was a bit of a nice workout in the small muscles of the shoulders.

4-D Polytope Viewer - honestly, I don't get it; but it seems interesting (via Kevin)

eyeball jewelry - eep, eep, eep; it also made Xuemei angry (via Kevin)

Shape Challenge! - well, it made me smile (via Phil)

Easy - with Marguerite Moreau and Naveen Andrews. Finally, another solidly all-around good movie. While the chronology and pacing might be a bit tricky to keep up with, that would only be if you weren't really paying attention, at least in my opinion. It was nice surprise to see my favorite actor from Lost (Andrews) playing a quite similar, but quite different role (soldier:poet, but with little personality difference). Moreau filled out a role that basically had most of the movie based around her charm quite nicely, as well. One of the most interesting aspects of the movie for me was how it created a community of characters, such that the layered variations in relationships could play out with little reliance on setting, or even backstory excepting plot-related detail. So, maybe like theatre, I guess? I'm hesitant to make a comparison with little knowledge in that regard. I will, however, make (yet another, out of the many) comparison to Evolution's Shore, in that the pattern the main character's development follows is almost identical between the stories.

Shaun of the Dead - with Simon Pegg and Kate Ashfield. Dumb, but not in a bad way. There were a good deal of genuinely funny parts, though the beginning was a tad slow. But hey, what would be looking for in a parody of Romero flicks (besides a lot of small references)? And there were cute English women.

Futurese - looking at the projected trends might be fun to play around with, that is, in trying to say it out loud (might be a vaguely fun way to learn phonetics symbols, too)
---also, Xenolinguistics for anyone who couldn't get over the Star Trek everybody-magically-speaks-English schtick (which, I feel compelled to note, Farscape at least made a decent effort towards)

Snow Sculptures

phrase of the day: "causally inert"

Be Cool - with John Travolta, Uma Thurman, and the Rock. Which seem to be the three main reasons to go see this movie. The metafiction was interesting, as it was in Get Shorty, but was just on the wrong side of tasteful at points, probably half because they already did that in Get Shorty. Travolta's Chili Palmer is my new hero, Thurman is great as usual, but most of the other characters were clever only in their characterization or stereotypes, and Vince Vaughn's character was annoying before his first scene was over. So, some good things, some bad things, but not quite balanced.
      Tangentially, I think this movie might be a good deal more interesting if one were to read it as a riff on one of William Gibson's novels (not sure which, it might be Neuromancer), at any rate the one that is centered around the idea of considering celebrity status as having reached a certain critical mass of attention and information output, after which one is a celebrity regardless of what happens next.

Hockey badass-ery

more random quotes (almost all from different sources) -
"Is the drama of time meaningless as a tale told by an idiot? Or is it not meaningless? And if it is not meaningless is it a comedy or a tragedy, a triumph or a disaster, or is it a mixture in which sweet and bitter are for ever mixed?"

"...he must reflect what is projected upon him. And he must have a strong sense of the sardonic. This is what uncouples him from belief in his own pretensions. The sardonic is all that permits him to move within himself."

"In War and Peace Pierre's 'mental change' is a coming to have (a learning how to have) peace of mind, not a matter of acquiring new information, new dogma."

"Seeing the chattering faces, [he] was suddenly repelled by them. They were cheap masks locked on festering thoughts - voices gabbling to drown out the loud silence in every breast."
------
Comics by Jess Fink (I liked 'The Beachcomber')

Voices - Ow be knackin' vore?

      After reading Young's Postcolonialism, I've been doing a lot of random thinking. Which, all things considered, is the usual way of things for me, but anyway here's a (small for the moment) list of texts off the top of my head that I think have postcolonial aspects that mix with science fiction. Dune, of course, I am doing my thesis on; there is a somewhat obvious analog of empire and indiginous response, though I am focusing more closely on the language and translation issues involved in that. Evolution's Shore is based entirely around a setting wherein the Chaga (for those who've read it) becomes the ultimate postcolonial tool and expression, which is especially interesting when considered in light of the role of the UN/politics and AIDS in the plot and story. Star Trek: Voyager could have been an interesting play of stranger-in-a-strange land or a reverse-orientalism, but the Feds were still pretty much superior everywhere they went. Deep Space Nine is interesting in its frontier-ish setting, not to mention the Dominion-Federation conflict and the newly ex-colonial Bajorans. Farscape did what Voyager couldn't, as it was initially based almost entirely around an inverted orientalism of the main human character; also, the backstory of the Peacekeepers holds some resonance.

Postcolonialism, by Robert Young. This is a great book which does exactly what it says it's going to - it introduces the reader to the complex idea of postcolonialism in an interesting and refreshing manner. I say refreshing because rather than devote the book to abstract theory, Young uses almost exclusively examples from history to illustrate aspects of postcolonialism. That being said, I would have actually liked some theory along with stories about Phoolan Devi, Frantz Fanon, and Che Guevara, so I could get a better handle on how those real stories and events relate to texts.
      Also, in my opinion Young seems a bit too idealistically devoted to some of the political views espoused in what he describes, though as Said pointed out in Orientalism, "...the general liberal consensus that 'true' knowledge is fundamentally non-political (and conversely, that overtly political knowledge is not 'true' knowledge) obscures the highly if obscurely organized political circumstances obtaining when knowledge is produced." Everything's political, right? In any case, if you want to learn more about a burdgeoning genre that is a wonderful aid for learning about the world and practicing thinking in shades of grey, Postcolonialism is great; since my first pass through, the nightly news and articles on World News have taken on whole new meaning, and I even realized my favorite novel Evolution's Shore might have been perfect for a thesis after all.
-----
"Literally, according to its Latin etymology, 'translation' means to carry or to bear across. Its literal meaning is thus identical with that of 'metaphor,' which, according to its Greek etymology, means to carry or to bear across." - just another interesting quote

Natural Selection As We Speak - on the evolution of languages (thoughts on clicks near the end)

Mightier than the Sword - articles on and examples of Arabic script and calligraphy, which in my opinion is an augmenting of how suited Arabic is to poetry; its meaning-by-connotation basis extends into the natual aesthetic development of the alphabet (tangent: fonts)

Listen to your elder-folk

Once more, another ready-made science fiction topic/setting

"The value of having two egg rolls on one's plate is less than the sum of the values of having one or the other of them; and the value of having one egg roll and a dollop of plum sauce is more than the sum of the values of having either an egg roll or plum sauce alone." - that argument is actually just a flippant part of a much larger logic-argument, and that is part of a very...dense existential article, but hey I thought it was funny out of context

"In the 19th century, the west considered the wearing of clothes as the mark of civilization; it was the 'savages' who went naked. In the 20th and 21st centuries, however, semi-nudity became the signifier of western superiority." - just thought this was an interesting quote, haven't put that much thought into it

The Four Essential Travel Phrases - question, though: how do you understand what the response is?

Copper - another oldie, but a favorite

      I think bonsai are interesting in that in creating them one is compelled to think in terms of years, if not decades. Whether it's my dad collecting trees from the canyons (which, incidentally is a whole other angle of naturalist skill required for the art), which can take several years of preparation before the tree is ever dug up, or the tags at a show listing how many years a tree has been stylized (for example, the annual SABE show which just finished), the art or cultivating plants that are already hundreds of years old is measured in appropriate terms - not very much instant gratification involved, I guess.

words I just understood today:
-algebra (yeah I knew it was Arabic) ---> Al-gebra. Yes, yes, obvious, &c.
-geurrilla ---> from "little war." I know, like geurre in French. The double-l threw me off, so neener.

Xuemei's (and sous-chef Magda's) Nice Meal of the Day:
-miso soup with nori
-pork and cauliflower (with many and sundry spices)
-Orangina

Calvin and Hobbes - and lots of it

The Awakening of Consciousness - a short film starts out hauntingingly surreal, then just gets silly

      I'm not sure if it was my post-exercise endorphin rush or not, but I got a real kick out of two shows tonight. One was Stargate Atlantis, in that the fight scenes were all jujitsu. I mean, basic, clinch-->flying armbar-->cross-body armbar kind of stuff, but the thing was, it seemed to fit into the ambience of the show because it's so rarely used in fight choreography that it looks exotic, and yet at the same time is practical rather than fantastic. The other was Battlestar Galactica, of which there seems to be a growing fanclub of across a few different cities, because the episode was based around complexly written theistic discussion which circled a main ontological issue of the show (what is it to be human/what qualifies as human?).

Guys are only allowed suits, but women get to dress up; but that's cool, it's kind of interesting to have a Secretary of State like that

See, personally, I'd be more worried about the basement

      So I went back to meditating. I haven't really meditated at all for a couple (or a few? not sure) years, partly because my headaches weren't as severe as they used to be since I started doing yoga, and partly because of little white pills each morning. But, alas, those silly little blood vessels seem to have their hearts set on constricting (how's that for mixed metaphors?), so back to meditating each day I go. Anyway, the point to all this is that I realized there are a lot of birds outside our house; I guess usually with all the noise of the construction, traffic (local and Speedway), cooking, my own thoughts, music, &c, I just didn't notice the birdsong,or even the rain and wind, not in any real way anyway. It's nice.

Chaos Theory - simple, kind of clever little game

Fasting fakir flummoxes physicians - not sure if I believe it, but I really can't argue with that alliteration

poem rough -
And Aphasia

What is in your blood?
We need to know.

What do you see, before your eyes roll back?
Is that fear, or wonder beneath that sheen of tears?

What is crawling under your skin
that makes you writhe and arch?
What crystal demon have you taken into yourself?

I need to know.
What is in your blood?

What is happening to your mind?
Every moment, a coma shattered,
bolt upright with eyes wide -

what dream are you trying to give me,
that fits in your hand, and makes you cry?

What is in your blood?

Well, I think I understand on some basic level...sort of...mach diamonds (via Wyatt)

Anybody have any more information about this new ice on Mars?

Skillz (via Phil)

Fun immersion dealy from some game

Barefoot and Pregnant - minicomics by Erika Moen. An oldie, but these are some of my favorites

Fearless Little Love Poems - freaky, but some of them are almost sweet (via Phil)

Chain & Jane - art

If someone builds one of these, I will be their superfriend

"There were caves whose walls and ceilings are covered with soft light. As one gazes in wonder in the stillness of these caves it seems that the Creator has reproduced there in microcosm the ehavens themselves, until one scarcely remembers the enclosing presence of the walls. As one looks more closely, however, the scene is explained. Each dot of light identifies an ugly worm, whose luminous tail is meant to attract insects from the surrounding darkness."
      To that speaker, that image along with the knowledge that the worms are carnivorous and even cannibalistic "epitomizes pointlessness." To the author of the article that is using that quote, however, a similar experience with the glow worms taken in with his wife is indicative of how "meaning is what the phenomenon symbolizes to the viewer." He attributes meaning to the being in the moment and in love with his wife and in awe of the image before them, rather than looking for the image to have its own inherent meaning. Existentialism with Zen slipped in, interesting.

Shuai Chiao Takedown Tactics for Grapplers - Yes, Matt Furey goes just a bit overboard in his advertising, and we catch him sometimes stealing exercises from yoga and then turning around to decry the source. But he does seem have a good few undeniable good qualities in each of his products. In this case, credential-wise he is the first and only Westerner to win the world chamionships in shuai chiao, and his experience in wrestling helps with his explanations of techniques. The principles used are the same as in the Kodenkan's and Ko Sho's judo and jujitsu, and so as far as has been told by our initial tests the techniques on the video integrate quite well (one would hope, of course, considering the historical connections between the styles). While the variations on single-legs, hip throws, and foot sweeps aren't omega-be all-end all techniques, they work well and are decent enough for catching opponents unawares just because of their different-perspective nature. The real gem of his instruction is the conscious connection of just about every technique given to every other technique in terms of shifting between them as needed, enough to be worthy of rivaling a TKD stylist's flow in their kicking routine.

      I was flipping through an old Anne McCaffrey book, and something occurred to me - her series of books set on Pern might be a riff on the utopian genre that science fiction came from. The spacefaring colonists initially set up a technologically, environmentally, and politically idyllic settlement in Dragonsdawn, which is interestingly only marred from within by those who want to leave it. The only other threat is the later-ubiquitous Thread, which is a mindless, weather-like danger whose origin is extra-planetary in any case. Even during the later books where there is little widespread knowledge and less technology, there is little to no interpersonal or territorial conflict - which seems to be in one sense an assumption of the author about the nature of humanity, and in another enforced by the strain of surviving in a periodically hostile environment (the latter of which I never found entirely convincing in terms of it being a roundabout cause of utopian qualities). Another thing I find somewhat questionable is that there is never any mention of a character having any spiritual or even existentialist thoughts. I could lean towards the first part of that, as one of the main points of the original colony was that religion would be a frivolous historical note to the intellectual nature of the settlers, but that's ignoring any of my own bends towards that topic. For the setting being as rich as it is, I would hope that there would at least be an interesting take on the descendants of the colonists wondering at their origin or their existence in a world that is constantly under threat from the skies, but considering some of the assumptions made about gender roles in a stark environ, I'll go with taking what I can get.

Constantine with Keanu Reaves and Rachel Weisz. This was the first movie I've seen in the theatre in a while that spurred me to comment on how good it was immediately after the credits started to roll; in truth, that seemed to be true for Wyatt and several other people in the theatre as well. Weisz was beautiful - both in her appearance and her acting - and Reeves filled out the attitude of his role quite well, and still moves like a martial artist during the fight scenes to boot. The movie's cinematography and sheer style were impeccable, as well. And mind, me doing my best not to promote a story just because it deals with one of my favorite themes. Tangentially, that they got the same woman to play an androgen as was in Orlando is kind of funny, but kind of cool.

      Incidentally, it also made me think of a possible advantage of dark settings such as Constantine's, Shadowrun, In Nomine, and the World of Darkness. When the setting is that bleak, anything heroic that there is is enhanced by the comparison (sorry/poor syntax). Moreover, the hero is naturally bent towards either a seriously flawed or an anti-heroic nature (aka more interesting), which might otherwise come off as over-the-top or contrived in other contexts.

Bob's Tropicals - not quite as neat a name as Kabloom, but they have leis (via Carolyn)

mmm...genetic imperatives and compliance; something sounds kind of sketchy about the whole issue (via Kevin)

Omai - art + history

An Eye On I - art; he did some for White Wolf, but it doesn't seem to be on the site, unfortunately, but there are other nice works

      The other moonless night I was talking with my dad outside; in our field of view were five different blinking lights of aircraft. It reminded me of a daydream I had when I was really young of a future-Tucson with all sorts of aircraft in the sky, as if Tucson International were a science fiction spaceport or what. In any case, the slow, smooth movement of the planes in the sky was a graceful sight; similarly, the A-10's that buzz the university - though painfully loud - are beautiful in their long arcs.

DrumLab - what I'm wondering is what is that thing in the middle?

Back in the day we used to play a great game called Earthsiege, which has apparently expanded into a meta-epic story (nice snippet here)

In the haircutting place, I think it's funny because with all the mirrors everywhere and the client's usually facing away from the hairdressers there's a unique dynamic for interaction. Most of the eye contact made is only through reflections, or there is a complete lack of eye contact with the clients hair down; when something is being emphasized, then there might be a turn for some real eye contact, or the there's a wait until an opportunity for eye contact for an important point. Anyway, the point of that was the affect of the mirrors on the dynamic of communication in the room. Yes.

It's a ball. Which is theoretically kind of cute. But the whole cornering-people thing is pretty creepy, if you ask me.

Kogepan - something about the main issue being whether or not one is appealing for the eating...yeah...

the Octopuses are being all smart again; something about the whole comparison to humans thing seems a bit off in the article, though

"Immortality, or a state without death, would be meaningless, I shall suggest; so, in a sense, death gives meaning to life." - from Bernard Williams' "The Makropoulos Case: reflections on the tedium of immortality." That sentence is the little simplified bit of what is a lead-dense essay otherwise, but one little thing that clicked in my head as I read the counter/arguments was that the White Wolf Publishing people who redesigned their vampire line seem to have (at least to me) developed much of their setting based around if not this essay, then one that is very, very similar. So, kudos to the writers for making a point of bringing in higher-end philosophy, if that's the case. Basically it helps the reader/writer/game player or whoever is using the resources they make to not just discuss the philisophical questions involved, but to really engage them in it by providing a forum and parameters (the setting and rules).

I think I just might be able to get a VHS of White Dwarf. I saw it a long time ago on television, but unfortunately I think I was too young to really understand it. In any case, a nice plot summary is in the link, but the actual production of it was definitely a nice mix of SF and fantasy. At least in my memory at any rate.

How many I's and you's in Japanese? (because I'm a linguaphile)

Missile Command - one of the original bestest games ever

Something seems vaguely unsettling about using a computer to predict this; also, Kevin's questions: If all songs will be as good as Stairway to Heaven, will Stairway to Heaven be any good anymore?

And do you think that machine is just calibrated to Western music or do you think it's universal? I can't imagine Arabic, Chinese or Indian music would have the same asthetic variables as Western music. Then again if Linkin Park and Norah Jones are in the same statistical group then maybe it applies to all music. I wonder how that Tunak Tunak Tur song would score on that damnable machine. Or Splashdown for that matter. (via Kevin)

Ohh, this is just funny. (go UN go)

Uncle Sam - the music really makes it, I think

Good postcolonial joke - took me a bit to understand because at first all I recognized were the pronouns, but it's understandable (now with the proper link, thanks Carolyn!)

   One thing I like about jujitsu and yoga that clicked the other day is that they have been around for hundreds or thousands of years, so I've been applying myself to practices that have been taught and applied for that long. Not exactly in the same form, of course, but very close in certain respects. Yogic practices and philosophies stretch back through many a century, and the kind of jujitsu that we practice at Ko Sho is an extension of the shuai chiao that extends through Chinese history (which, as Xuemei can attest, is quite long). Similarly, while the Baha'i sort of spirituality I ascribe to is relatively new to the world, the source of the beliefs at its core stretch even past Zoroastros, thousands of years back. I'm not quite sure why I like the idea yet, except maybe that it gives me a similar sense of place as when I unexpectedly see the mountains ringing the city and inherently know from that for a brief moment exactly where I am within the basin; I think it grounds me, somehow.

Until Then - wonderful. (via Wyatt)

Rabbit Linguistics - can anybody with a bunny verify this? Or, if anybody wants a rabbit there's a customer at the diner that breeds them. Either way, this site seems pretty in depth, without being too sugercoated.

Interesting report on the damage wrought on the sea floor by the tsunami quake.

-another poem rough
Mojave

I walk in the middle
of a bare, salt plain,
the soft crust breaking
beneath my weight.

The white stretches all the way
to the base of mountains,
a wall
like a dark sky themselves.

The metal of far gantries
and bunkers stops glinting,
subsumed subtly
by a dimmer light.

By the time I step back
from the foreboding shadow
I'm already in it, so I stop
and tilt my gaze

to the storm building over
Olympian peaks,
like another earth itself.
Something rumbles within, alive.

The dark stone
in its epic proportions bows
before the weight of dark,
heavy vapor; and I kneel.

I feel small,
a speck on a dry frozen sea
of dust, staring up
at the ephemeral that is greater than mountains.

This parched earth will no longer crack
for want of moisture,
but drown
beneath the ocean of airy water above.

I measure the distance back
while wind cools the sweat
trickling down my spine, and thunder booms.
I stand, and run.

Printculture - Now this is my kind of website. Basically, my thesis advisor and a few of his friends got together to put their random thoughts down. The topics range from politics to superbowl commercials to teaching to, well, one gets the idea. For example, one of the more probably generally accessible bits is this article on videogames such as Grand Theft Auto.

Total Yoga - with Tracey Rich and Ganga White. A bit longer than most yoga tapes, Total Yoga is probably not the best tape for a beginner (not because of it's length, correct that poor syntax, but because of its pacing and sequencing). The beginning is a nice introduction to ujjayi breathing, which is unusual for a video to concentrate on at all, and most of the rest of the session is a progressing series of sun salutations that are centered around a varying asana (ie lunge/twisted lunge; cow's face/half lord-of-the-fishes). The asanas themselves are fine and sequenced nicely, but the instruction and general appearance leave something to be desired; I think memorizing this one and not using the tape might be more beneficial, at least for me at any rate. Sidenotes, the introduction has some advanced asanas in motion that are great fun to watch, and several of the names assigned to things were just plain unfamiliar or odd to me, though I'm not sure of the significance of that.

Another practically pre-made skiffy setting; I could see writers using that as a basis for intergalactic travel; that, and it seems like it might explain some of the vague concepts from David Brin's Uplift trilogies and Babylon 5.

Dissonance: A God Amongst - pretty poorly written (or translated, maybe?), but in that it seems to take on a kind of myth quality. Or maybe they were going for that? I can't tell. But it's funny, because of the way Baha'is are used in it. (+ concept art)

Periodic military tech news (via Wyatt)

NinjaCupid (a game within tokidoki) - yes, it's cute and mindless, but it's got kind of a nice modern art thing going in the changing backgrounds

Splashdown is my favorite band right now. Though it's somewhat difficult at times to catch the words through the occasional undulations and trippy cadence of Melissa Kaplan's voice, it's worth it to listen to the songs while glancing at the lyrics. So far I've realized one of the songs is a series of almost-haikus, another is an odd Adam and Eve parable, another is a cover of a World War I Maori love song in the original language, and another sounds really innocent but is dirty enough to widen my eyes. Basically it's one of the few bands where I enjoy reading their lyrics in the same way that I enjoy reading a good of book of poetry, in that there is the same sort of depth. (via Michelle originally)

      I was struck by how much is communicated by body language today while dealing with an overdose patient in the ER. He was seeing who knows what when his eyes weren't rolling back, scratching at bugs all over,going from fast asleep to bolt upright awake, and was trying to scream (as best as we could tell, he had aphasia, so communicating was not going to happen much from his end). He wasn't understanding me either, at any rate, but I tried to change the tone of my voice as best I could while gauging his reactions, which seemed to work a little. But during the moments when he was in the land of the real (real for everyone else anyway), I got his attention best with hand gestures that became signals for movements, conspiratorial winks, and changing the level of my eyes to meet his. For whatever reason, it feels like it's something that bears more thought.

Who else is qualified? - my favorite is Inigo Montoya I think

The bottom is the hottest part. This is an established fact.

wonderful quote:
"The division of one day from the next must be one of the most profound peculiarities of life on this planet. We are not condemned to sustained flights of being, but are constantly refreshed by little holidays from ourselves, always falling to little ends and rising to little new beginnings. Angels must wonder at these beings who fall so regularly out of awareness into a phantasm-invested dark."
-Iris Murdoch

Three Tissues - I really liked this article; it's short, sweet and simple

minipoem!

Clinch

Close the eyes, and
feel
an osmosis
of tension, and will.

At equilibrium,
pause.

And go.

Release the muscles,
whips cracked
into liquid tension

to fill the void
between bodies:

momentary violence,
released.

---
Xuemei's Nice Meal of Yesterday:
-honey-garlic chicken breast
-orzo with spinach
...in less than ten minutes - take that, Iron Chef

Indian arms and armor - some of these are truly odd (all the images are at the bottom); everything from katars from India to jambiyas from the near East to kukris from Nepal, and all sorts of other weird axes, swords, cudgels, &c

Tucson article; interesting outside perspective, I guess (via Carolyn)

Skinjet? (via Wyatt)

Xuemei's Nice Meal of the Day:
-potato and green pepper stirfry with garlic
-beef and spinach soup
-rice

      I think that (if it were possible, mind) philosophy should be more encouraged as a subject of study. Not so much for any high falootin' (which I incidentally hear is a good restaurant) reasons about learning the actual philosophy per se, but for the aspects that involve ideally doing well in the class. For example, at some point or another one will be forced to understand someone else's point of view that they disagree with; I say forced because basically what one is graded on is proving comprehension of the material. Also, one has to really listen (to the teacher and the text) to really comprehend - for example, when a teacher has the opportunity to remind a student, "That's not what I asked. Answer the question I asked," so the student doesn't spout off something complex sounding and then sit pretty thinking they're intelligent. Lastly - clarity, conciseness, simplicity.

      In other news, the parking at Tucson International got all tricky. There's a little parking lot for people to wait in, instead of waiting in front of the building, but the parking lot is hidden in a tiny little nook. So basically people try to be sneaky and wait in random lanes, hoping cars won't pile up behind them, all because no one tells them there's a parking lot, and there's no signs to it. And there's no way to feasibly walk from said lot without getting yelled at, so they keep you from using that to avoid the short-term parking (and assume that you have a cell phone your pick-up-ee can call you on). I narrow my eyes at thee, airport.

Peter Hönnemann - photography

Japanese corpse names - I like the comparison between the characters, and the trivia

World's Smallest Pacman - =)

Arcipello - art (and a mean Ghost in the Shell tribute)

another rough poem (with help from crits from Scott) -

Exalt, and forget.

Exalt, I tell my body;
I arch my back to the ceiling,
open my mouth to the rain
of a stormy sky
in my mind's eye.

Forget.
Fire, ignite in my legs and hips,
in my nerves.
Burn, and cleanse -
exalt.

Breathe, I tell my body;
Stretch the skin,
flex and relax into the pain.
Let it go.
Let it go,
and forget.

Elongate, I tell a wet, bony chain -
my spine.
Tip my face back
to a dusty ceiling
and imaginary rain.
Free my body,
and exalt.

Free my breath, I tell my lungs,
and they glow, like embers.
Ground through my feet,
I tell my nerves,
electric.

I feel my heart beat.
I open my eyes to clouds,
and forget.

Exalt.

The Boondock Saints, with Willem Dafoe, Sean Flanery, and Norman Reedus. Clever, clever movie. Also very, very violent. Something about the style reminded me of Ghost Dog, though I'm not sure why; in any case, the continuous shifts back and forth of perspective and odd story certainly hold one's attention. My favorite aspect of it was that it had an undercurrent that was key to the entire movie, but never explicitly stated - just expressed in indirect, awesome lines or visual cues. Not really sure how to explain the movie, though; Alan and Wyatt said that nobody they knew who'd seen it had said anything bad about it, and Carolyn said it speaks for itself, and Bridget (looking at the cast list) said why haven't I heard of this movie?! So...that works for me.

The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett. Well, it wasn't particularly to my liking, but it was fascinating, I suppose, in a biographical sense. Part of the trouble was that I have no idea what was historically true and what wasn't, so I was continuously wondering; another part of the trouble, which shouldn't really count, was that this was one of those movies that was like doing my job at the hospital for the length of the movie, and not on a particularly pleasant day. The acting was great, but just because it was quality doesn't mean I wanted to watch a slow, downward spiral over three hours; I mean, it wasn't even like a tragedy, where it might have blossomed into an ending, rather than shrinking back into a corner.

-Logos Universal Conjugator - simple, useful

-Feng Zhu Design - some interesting concept art

No, I wasn't scheduled for Monday.
So why had I walked with my hood pulled low,
still stiff with sleep in the predawn black?

I wondered as I left
the permanent fluorescent day
and found myself in the sooty gut of a parking garage,

so I went up.
And began to cross the
concrete badlands, top floor.

At the edge, I waited.
I stood still, hood pulled back,
watching.

The sky was big -
everything earthbound seemed the minority,
even the mountains being bathed
in their first shadowed texture.

I wasn't really still, though;
even when the glow in the clouds began to blush,
I was impatient, caught up
in twilight dreams, and the stories behind headlights below.

When the sun bloomed inside the blush,
it caught me shifting my feet, fidgeting, but
my breath was not stilled.
I bowed my eyes to the glare,
but it was no different than what had come before.

I waited.
But when the blush cooled to blue
and the cloud's glow to gray,
it was another sky.

-Well, I think it needs revision; of what kind, i'm not sure. I think it needs to be smoother, and I'm not sure I've figured out exactly where I'm going with it. The trouble is, I got zero help from class, because reading the bloody thing seemed to nix any criticisms people had (they suggested I just send a cassette with any copy); I think that's just because I and the other guy who read it managed to smooth over the awkward parts with our intonation, but I don't know. So, any thoughts? And I need a title, we couldn't come up with anything good in class, either.

      From zero to infinity is infinite; but there are infinite divisions (decimal/fraction) between zero and one, so that's also infinite. So there are infinite infinities contained within infinity. Which sounds horribly inane when I say it like that, but in class it was profound, for a moment at least (we were getting into a discussion of the possible existence of a soul, and whether an afterlife is logically possible). Either way the idea of infinite is interesting to me because it has been an important part of what I believe spiritually for a long while now, and apparently it is an integral part of some philisophical ideas. Not in the same way, of course, but I'm down now for some healthy disagreement.

      The other recently new development at the Ko Sho dojos has been our communication with the Rincoln cage-fighting group (re: trained by UFC people, generally for the more local Rage in the Cage I believe). So far the relationship has seemed to be working out ok, in my opinion. Some of them come to us for experience training with different people, and to refine certain things like their throwing techniques. Trouble with that second part is that they don't seem to really want to actually listen for the most part, and then are confused when some of their stuff doesn't work. On our side of things we've gotten the same different-training-partners benefit, and some techniques from other martial arts (for example, augmented kneeling pins - my face hurts, like ow - or practice with the (half)guard). We get some odd mixes of people, though - kenpo/Brazilian jiujitsu versus aikido and wrestling versus Japanese jujitsu. And that's already added to our internal mixes like taekwondo versus karate and kung fu (wing chun and tai chi) versus kickboxing. We are diverse, let me tell you.

20Q - at first I thought it was a gimmick, but then it quickly guessed pangolin - I mean, whoa.

-the periodic can't-generalize-for-a-billion-people plug

      An article the other day gave me a nice opening in regards to asanas. Just like we're always looking for connections within texts in English classes, and between martial arts and techniques at the dojo, there are connections between various yoga poses. I'd had some inklings before, mostly in regard to what poses would help the development of other poses, but nothing so explicit as what this article pointed out. That is, take downward dog - on one's hands and feet, the body is held at a ninety degree angle, basically making an upsidedown "V" with the center of the body at the apex. In staff pose, one sits upright with their legs straight out in front of them...but in that regard the body is in the exact same position as downward dog, same ninety degree angle, just sitting down instead of balancing. Then there is a basic legs-up-the-wall pose just for relaxing - same thing as the previous two, but with the butt against the wall and the legs going straight up. So each has the body in the same position, but the dog pose really focuses on the back and calves, staff pose is a lighter stretch of the back and the hamstrings, and the last isn't so much a stretch as purely for relaxation. Anybody got anymore? I'm certainly going to be on the lookout now.

-Koo-ki Sushi - yes, yes it looks dubious but click on the 'if you knew sushi" part....so tasty...

-I love Nike commercials; now we just need to throw that gal in a capoeira roda

-Prometheus Spawning Grounds - some fun retro game art among other images

"We are all of us beginners and the knack of making an uneven wad of earth into a smooth shape while it's centered on a turning wheel - it's not the sort of task they're used to learning. They are intellectuals, used to mastering spreadsheet programs or new marketing paradigms, and to apply themselves to something that will not listen to reason...it's hard, frustrating."
      This passage really clicked with me. Not so much because I feel that I get frustrated in that way, but in that I get frustrated by the opposite. I enjoy martial arts and yoga and poetry and little crafts because in some way or another I enjoy working with the things that I feel don't listen to reason in some way or another. Of course reason is there on some level or another, but there is always some point for each of those things where to really get it one has to step outside of logic to some degree. Conversely, I have tried to work with some horribly intelligent people who have been intensely frustrated by martial arts because they are so used to just applying their mind to something and having it instantly work. I think that's also part of the reason that the existential philosophy class I'm in is rubbing me the wrong way; religion is included in the list of things outside of reason for me, and the class' (in my opinion narrow-minded) insistence upon pure rationality is beginning to chafe.

Power Yoga: Stamina with Rodney Yee. Sonuva....I got just one of the tapes for $5 at Bookman's, and now I find them on sale for even less? Ah well. Yee does a great job as usual with very clear, pleasant instructions. The sequence is a cycle of Sun Salutations that progresses steadily in depth and speed, and introduces some variants near the end. It's worked well as a kind of warm cool-down after a regular calisthenic workout for me.

-Army robots? - if I didn't know better, I'd say there's a Harry Potter reference right in the middle of that (via Wyatt)

-Fried Wontons - some cute art and comics

-yum. (via Scott)

-apparently the force of a nuclear weapon coming out of the same stuff that made up most of the solid propellant in the Precision 1 (via Phil)

-hey, if it tastes as good as the MRE's we had in Alaska, cool (via Scott)

      Aikido is often derided as being too passive to be called a martial art, and about that effective; the angle on that being that many aiki stylists push their 'nonviolent' path as a selling point. But here's the new local angle, as opened to the class's eye today: it's not that aikido is passive or nonviolent, but rather that it doesn't give the opponent anything to fight against. Now, to clarify. If a clinch or grapple occurs, the natural reflex is to tense up, to keep from getting thrown, brace for blows, &c. But aikido training focuses on staying relaxed - except for the moments when tenseness is needed - and flowing with what happens, or to put another way, accepting what the opponent does without second-guessing and blending to be part of it, to be a bit more zen about it. If an opponent tenses up before striking - they're nixed, they telegraphed. If an opponent tenses up, like the built-like-a-fireplug weightlifter the other day who lived in a state of perpetually flexed muscles, they get picked up and thrown in a feather-like manner. Except they hit the groud harder. That's also not to say that an aiki stylist has to be passive and wait to be attacked, as they are sometimes denigrated for; part of the training is exploding into movement for an opportunity that arises, and linking into jujitsu principles of flow between techniques. The trick is, developing that kind of mental/physical state means a lot of neuromusculature has to be rewired, to break old and make new reflexes.
      Which brings us to our (old) new friend - repetition! The Tucson Ko Sho dojos seem to have gotten into an odd place. We were teaching techniques, and lots of them, but only to the point where we would just get the idea of them. So we'd have a plethora of techniques, but not amazing skill in any particular area, unless we individually worked at it. But now we're getting back to old-school repeat everything a hundred times, and then a hundred more, damnit. Practice makes perfect after all, I suppose.
      The other thing that we've been incorporating specifically into the jujitsu classes on the east side is (what we call anyway) Session. It's kind of like sticky hands/chi sao, but there's no requirement to maintain contact between limbs. The targets (with any kind of upperbody strike, though usually no contact for elbows) are the side of the head and the torso. The strikes are almost secondary, however, to flowing into joint locks or manipulations, which is where the real difference from sticky hands is; upping the ante means attempting to chamber throws. That being said, at a basic level Session just means both people in firm horse stance - any large movement from that to create distance turns it into striking-sparring. With more joint locks small angling steps and foot replacement come into play, but usually no kicks, as that isn't the real point of it.

A Hunger Like Fire, by Greg Stolze. They're back, baby. White Wolf Publishing was starting to get a little to cornball for even me to get into, or rather away from anything that could be called horror, but after a suitably apocalyptic ending to their old lines - voila! And by horror I don't exactly mean modern slashcore, as it were, but something more approximate to gothic horror in a contemporary setting - cell phones and AIDS and all (with a delightful twist around focus on moral conundrums and consequences). The story for the most part seems to be an oblique introduction of Persephone Moore, a character who as far as I can tell will probably appear in more novels; in that, it rotates through the main characters' perspectives, each perspective subtly distinguished from the others, and opening up a wholly different chunk of backstory at a time. Unfortunately, however, there is a wealth of characters to keep track of, which is a bit daunting at first before they are each fleshed out and as the byzantine manipulatons develop. That's a minor issue, however, compared with character development based on what their perspective brings to the story and the moral choices they face and make.

-I can't figure out whether twinkie sushi is gross or not; which of course means I'll have to try it (via Scott)

      A long time ago I read an article that described using one's martial art every day. Basically, a student asked his teacher whether he had ever used his martial arts training; the teacher replied that he had only once used it in self-defense, and in that case it was only to restrain a mentally ill person - but he still maintained that he used it everyday. The perplexed student questioned him in this regard, whereupon the teacher responded by saying that he used the principles of his art in every day social situations (the article went on to describe specific examples of conflict management &c). So the reason I thought of this was because in the middle of philosophy today (which can basically be characterized here) I realized the teacher was kind of doing it. I seriously doubt he does any martial arts, but I recognized him blending with what people were saying by repeating their arguments in different words, then turning it around on them. Or, if someone just wasn't getting what he was saying, he flowed from the example he was using smoothly into another.

      Somewhat tangentially, the head instructor at the dojo used an interesting analogy today: the ABC's. When one learns them, one sings them in their specific order, and then learns to put them together to make words, and words to sentences, &c. So kata/forms are kind of like the original song; then you take the component parts out as needed. The words in this case are variously, say, boxing combinations, or karate hand/foot combinations, or counter vs counter in jujitsu. Then, stringing the words together forms conversation, which is another common analogy. Or this could be taken through many threads, that's one right there at any rate.

House of Flying Daggers, aka Ambush from Ten Sides in China, aka Lover in Japan; with Ziyi Zhang, Kaneshiro Takeshi, and Andy Lau. The martial arts were top notch, and even the sleeve thing which vaguely irritated me at first had its own sort of consummation. Kaneshiro was a pleasant surprise, and interestingly his Mandarin was also surprisingly skilled. In that lingual regard, apparently the inherent meaning of this movie wasn't so lost in translation as in Hero, but just some shadings of the flirtations and lovers' proclamations were distorted. The consensus in regards to Ziyi was that she wasn't even so annoying as the normal distractingly irritating; she didn't even flare her nostrils once, but Michelle did note some twitching of the ears. *spoiler* I thought it was interesting that Lau's character was the only male associated with a seemingly all-female society, in that if you took the thready thread of that making him obliquely feminine, what does that say about the feminine in the movie? Though I suppose I should probably stay away from any genderific pondering; I mean, hey, I still like and enjoy Kill Bill ;).

Xuemei's Nice Meal of the Day:
-tofu noodle, chicken, mushroom and cabbage stirfry
-firm tofu and broccoli stirfy
-wonton, mushroom, and cilantro soup

-some useful tips on yoga-style bridging, well at the beginning and end, basically; now I'd love it if someone found something similar for me for a wrassler's bridge

-what a great setting for a skiffy story; tangentially, I hope someone can come up with a simple, non-physics way of explaining to me what happens when a singularity falls into a singularity - there seems something kind of boggling about the idea of that

-cavemen vs dinosaurs: round one! - okay yeah that is entirely misleading but there are mammals involved

-I demand there be more research on sprites and elves (via Wyatt)

-it probably doesn't help that I'm hungry (and they're from Belgium! crazy.)

      So why do they bother teaching people English? People know their own language, right? They know how to read, yes? I'm sure there are many answers of the patently obvious sort to respond to that, but one that I hadn't thought too much about till recently was that the English subject is partly about teaching critical thinking (the sad trick of it being that many English teachers don't seem inclined to teach that, apparently, which is what the new "AIMS-centered" class is ironically set for fixing). So, besides the patently obvious again, why bother with that skill? Because in order to have critical thinking, one needs to recognize one's own perspective as only one upon many perspectives - sometimes simply in different registers, sometimes in a hierarchy - but that's why English also teaches rhetoric and argument. But, the value of that baseline skill of critical thinking is, hopefully, patently obvious.

Battlestar Galactica, (of which I saw my first couple of episodes today) seems to be very mature and promising show. They bill it as an 'adult show with adult themes,' which doesn't mean sex or gore in this case, but complicated characters and a pretty heavy storyline. I was hurting for backstory, however, but the show's website fixed that with a glance. Not bad for a remake of something from the seventies.

Elektra - with Jennifer Garner and Goran Visnjic. I thought it was okay, just really underdeveloped. I was disappointed by the lack of visible martial arts, especially considering how good Garner usually is in a fighting role, but mollified by the fantastic nature of what there was. I was confused a few times in watching Garner, because angst plus her usually equals Alias. I was also a little disappointed by how little some of the secondary villians were used, though I think that having Bob Sapp in any movie is hilarious. So, hey, it was alright - girl power!

-finally, Titan; been waiting for this

-in middle school they had us write letters to random companies to ask for free samples

-old school Old Main; that is amazing, I tell you (via Scott)

(a bit odd because from a scifi novel, but...)
"I know you can learn to read."
"But what if I can't?"
"If it'll make you feel better, you don't have to. You can learn a few key words, a few symbols. Few people choose to read these days. They watch the trid and the flat for news and entertainment. They use icon and voice-based computers to move data around for their employers. Programmers are literate in the comp language, but not much else. The only people who have to worry about reading are the ones that make it all work. They have to know how to read to keep things going, to improve the tech. But it's rare. You can get by without reading if you want. You'll learn a few words, like STOP, and you'll see them just like icons, and that'll be that."
      So basically the author was getting that maybe there isn't a sharp black and white distinction between literatacy and illiteracy. That and more interesting ideas in Changeling, by Chris Kubasik. This novel takes basically all the things other Shadowrun novels take for granted and explores them in-depth, which makes a better straight up skiffy book, but less of a Shadowrun story in some ways. While piecing together some of those ideas for the plot, however, Kubasik strays into something of the pedantic at times. The ending is a little too pat for me, but the heavy/raw feeling at the beginning makes up for that.

Shhhh.... - just like in Deus Ex; does that vaguely creep anyone else out?

McShuarma - on that razor edge between disturbing, sad and funny. An edge can have three sides if I say it can.

-ahh, the "land tank;" I think the redundancy of that lends itself to the article

-great cause, kid, but now I have to fear for my life if this spreads

      Xuemei said an interesting thing - that when learning some things, sometimes it is better to not think, and sometimes it is better to think too much, than to only half, distractedly think about it. She was knitting at the time, but another good example I think is martial arts (natch). Sometimes it is better to not think at all, and just let your body do it (you performing the action, as opposed to your mind telling your body to perform the action). And sometimes to learn you have to have complete focus. But too much thinking can hinder the body from doing its thing. Either way, only half-thinking about it never gets the job done.

The Phantom of the Opera-with Emmy Rossum and Gerard Butler. For the most part, I liked this version better than the original. I definitely liked Rossum over Sarah Brightman, in any case. I wish I was still taking literary theory at the moment, as there are so many things going on in this musical that deal with the uncanny and the abject, not the least of which being the Phantom and Christine's reciprocal identifications (tied in with so many mirror motifs!). Carolyn even noticed a narcissistic catch in the song with 'the point of no return' line in it, in that that might be the point where the Narcissus-figure (practically tripled in this case) realized it can't have itself, as it were. And then there's the whole mask motif, I mean....yes, well, I could go on.

-The Free Fall Research Page - possibly silly, but I like the line, "Mount it and ride, cowboy!"

-Tucson Roller Derby - Rollerskates. Violence. Yes.

-Eric Kellerman Photography

-Varieties of English - probably better with some linguistics knowledge, but still kind of fun

2XS - by Nigel Findley. While there have only been a couple Shadowrun novels I didn't particularly like, I can't decide if this one fits into that category or not. On one level, I really did end up caring about the main characters, and that along with the wealth of description provides a nice depth to the writing. Sometimes, however, the amount of detail just becomes tedious, and while I usually enjoy the darker endings and characters this author creates, they are kind of mood-dependant as to whether they end up depressing the reader, I think.

Xuemei and Magda's Nice Meal of the Day:
-breaded pork chops
-zuchinni and garlic stirfry
-rice
-orangina
--ladyfingers, double fudge ice cream, topped with berry mix
--vanilla cinnamon tea

      The sky was red tonight, from the city light on the clouds. It reminded me of California. Trees were silhouetted black, clearly so, and every light had its own cone of existence. And the plume of steam down the way is towering, rather than enveloping. Interesting night out. There's no horizon, like a foggy sea-no horizon.

Code 46 - with Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton. There's a huge amount going on in this movie, but it's kind of hard to tell without a good deal of attention paid. It seems based around a whole bunch of different SF ideas, but never explicitly defines any of them. A healthy knowledge of Spanish, French, Arabic, and Mandarin might be useful, as they are mixed pretty freely with English throughout. One might say it was a twisty tangent of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Gattaca, with something of a less lurid William Gibson or Peter Watts novel thrown in.

Garden State with Zach Braff and Natalie Portman. A wonderful, quick movie, and not just because I'm that much of a fan of Portman. To me it seemed deceptively simple, that is, without ostentatious acting and complex enough underneath to warrant a repeat viewing, like a novel where you miss things the first time through. I particularly enjoyed how the story repeatedly blossomed in scope from a single, well put sentence.

Moving Towards Stillness, by Dave Lowry. A fomer columnist for Black Belt magazine, Lowry put me off a bit in the first several essays of the collection by being so over the top Japan-o-philic, but as I got further into the book there was less of that and more thoughtful discussions of various concepts. One off the top of my head was just a pointing out that as much as the analogy of bamboo bending to survive where more brittle plants wouldn't is used a great deal, it forgets that the roots of each bamboo plant intertwine to support each other, making a strong foundation where otherwise the tall stems would just tip over. Or, an essay based around a statement by a famous potter, Shoji Hamada: "There are two kinds of people: those who make themselves the center, who live as though their ancestors lived only to create them; and those who make themselves as low as possible, consider themselves nothing in relation to the whole, live in order to protect and cherish what their ancestors lived or and who bear children in order to pass on that idea of protecting and cherishing. Most artists fall into the first classification. Most artisans in the second one."

Filthy, Gorgeous - because drag queens rule. I remember the interesting posit from that arts class I took that a crossdresser can be more masculine/feminine than the sex they're impersonating could be, because in not being that sex, they are able to understand it in a different way.

Kingdom of Heaven - looks to be the movie about the Crusades I've been waiting for; I just hope they show the Muslims in a fair light, that would be nice.

      In the imagination-full Vampire: the Requiem book that I've been savoring, in the section where they define what a vampire is for their purposes they pulled an interesting thing. That is, at the point where a person is made a vampire, they stop growing emotionally or maturing. They might gain immense amounts of knowledge or be that much smarter over years of unlife, as it were, but will never go beyond the emotional maturity at which they died. That, and the emphasis on what suddenly becoming an out-and-out predator might do to the psyche are just a couple of the interesting implications in, as the authors point out at the start, is supposed to be an exploration of one's self as much as the story or characters in question.

my parents' Nice Meal of the Day:
-spicy chicken and green bean stirfry
-rabbit tempura
-rice

-quantum darwinism - very interesting article, kind of reminds me of Mage: the Ascension, Kevin said it made him think of the novel Starfish (via Kevin)

Music to Slay By - fun site for Abigail Whistler fans (via Scott)

-phonetic symbol guide - kind of fun to play around with

-scrambled course catalogs - well, I actually thought it was a real catalog before I read the top (via Kevin)