Friday, August 29, 2008

Kotaku dan Rihanna



Besok tepat tanggal 31 agustus. Kenapa? Besok adalah hari terakhir di bulan perjuangan. Itu kata orang. Itu kata media. Merah putih di mana-mana. Bahkan sampai ada warnet yang memutarkan lagu-lagu perjuangan sebagai backsound selama bulan agustus ini. Niat banget yah!
Sebagai music addict yang sudah termasuk dalam kategori parah, sikap apatis saya sudah berkembang ke segala lini kehidupan. Kecuali perkembangan track-track lagu dashsyat yang dirilis setiap hari tentu saja. Apatis, kenapa? Karena saya selalu berpikir emang ngaruh kalo saya ikut berpikir? Emang ada yang berubah ketika saya ikut peduli? Selama ini yang menjadi jawaban atas semua pertanyaan itu adalah TIDAK! Tidak akan ada yang berubah. Jadinya pusat dunia saya sedari dulu adalah track-track lagu yang membius yang masuk ke dalam kepalaku dan membuatku berhalusinasi plus mengalami degradasi kenyataan yang terkadang tidak bisa dibedakan dengan drama yang berjalan di dalam kepala.
Saya yang lebih menghapal review lagu Avril lavigne dari album pertama sampai album girfriend yang so-bitchy, saya yang mengetahui fakta bahwa ketika umbrella milik rihanna dirilis, saya adalah orang yang tergila-gila padanya. Saya yang lebih mengetahui track umbrella dirilis dan diremix oleh 11 orang yang tidak bertanggung jawab, mulai dari mandy moore, marie digbie, vanilla sky, swivel, eminem, dan masih banyak lagi. Saya yang dengan lugas berteriak dan menulis mengenai album minutes to midnight-nya linkin park dan cerita mereka tentang global warming. Saya mengetahui semuanya. Sedangkan sejarah?
Terus terang saya adalah orang yang paling tidak senang dengan pelajaran sejarah. Mulai dari jamannya pelajaran PSPB (hahahaha, bahkan saya sudah lupa kepanjangannya!) sampai pelajaran sejarah di SMA. Semuanya menimbulkan trauma tersendiri. Bagaimana kita harus menghapal tahun, tanggal, tempat, nama, dan masih banyak peristiwa penting lainnya. Mungkin bukan sejarahnya yang harus dipermasalahkan, tetapi bagaimana sejarah itu disajikan. Muak! Itulah perasaan yang saya dapatkan ketika harus membaca banyak sekali buku teks dan menghapal nama-nama pahlawan (halah!, bilang aja kalo gak mampu), ditambah lagi guru yang tidak mampu menjabarkan dengan gamblang dan nyaman mengenai peristiwa di negeri kita sendiri.
”baca saja di buku terbitan ini, bla bla bla...”
So last year honey! Coba saja ketika pelajaran sejarah dibuat semenarik mungkin dengan film dokumenter ataupun dengan cara-cara yang lebih bisa menarik perhatian. Dijamin, kita sendiri akan concern dan mau tahu apa sih yang terjadi pada bangsa kita pada waktu yang lalu.
Saya menjadi miris sendiri, ketika melihat keadaan dari museum kota makassar. Bukannya sekedar membandingkan dengan museum yang ada di film national treasure. Gak mungkin lah. Cuman kok rasanya mengenaskan banget yah? Melihat peninggalan catatan kota kita dalam keadaan yang tidak terawat. Bahkan ada ruangan yang sebagian koleksinya harus dipindahkan karena atapnya bocor! Ataukah memang itu yang menjadi gambaran perjalanan kota kita? Banyak tempat-tempat bersejarah yang hilang dan kita tidak pernah mengetahui lagi bagaimana rupa aslinya.

Sedikit ironis memang, ketika mendengar slogan salah satu kandidat walikota disebut oleh bapak pemandu di museum kota. Sebegitu berharapkah pada janji-janji yang mungkin tidak akan ditepati? Padahal balaikota yang baru dibangun menghabiskan banyak sekali dana untuk dipugar dan dengan alasan untuk memudahkan pelayanan. Mestinya bisa sebanding dengan beberapa rupiah yang dikeluarkan, minimal untuk memugar tempat ini. Hmm, bukankah museum juga berguna agar kita mengetahui bagaimana asal usul kita?
Selama ini saya mengetahui benteng somba opu hanya sebagai tempat bermain saja. Ya, tempat bermain yang besar. Mengingat masa kecil ketika menyusuri tanggul, mencari ikan, sampai berenang di pinggir sungai jeneberang di dekat jembatan. Itu hanyalah sekeping memori tentang benteng itu. Tahu apa saya bahwa ternyata tempat itu adalah pusat kota makassar dulunya? Tahu apa saya bahwa benteng somba opu jatuh ketika peta rahasia kemudian dibocorkan dan belanda mengetahui isi benteng somba opu? Tidak ada. Saya mengenal somba opu sebagai tempat bermain saya dengan teman-teman masa kecil. Ketika jiwa petualang kami lebih besar, kami akan menyusuri setiap jalan di benteng somba opu, naik perahu menyeberang ke gontang, sampai tersesat di tanjung merdeka. Itulah perasaan kami dulu ketika menyusuri setiap bagian dari benteng somba opu. Sekarang? Sepi. Hanya ketika 17 agustusan saja tempat ini ramai seminggu. Ramai dengan stand-stand pameran. Ramai dengan pengunjung, dan ramai dengan sampah. Apakah ada yang tahu, bagaimana cerita benteng somba opu itu?
Apakah perkataan saya sudah terdengar begitu sinis? Saya tentu saja tidak akan membuat pembelaan mengenai tempat-tempat yang kami kunjungi pada blogger peduli sejarah kemarin. Saya tidak akan membuat pembelaan bahwa saya pun kurang mengetahui sejarah kota saya sendiri. Miris memang, ketika sesuatu yang sudah lalu akan dilupakan begitu saja, dan besok tidak akan ada yang mengetahui bentuk kota makassar zaman dahulu.
Semoga rasa nasionalisme dan rasa percaya bahwa kita sadar dan mau melihat budaya kita dahulu tidak akan berakhir di penghujung bulan agustus ini. Bukan hanya euforia sesaat saja. Meneriakkan sejarah, mengibarkan bendera. Tetapi yang lebih penting bagaimana kita menjaga dan mengenang perkembangan kota makassar kita tercinta, agar kelak kita bisa meneruskan kepada anak cucu kita bagaimana hebatnya benteng somba opu. Betapa besarnya karebosi dahulu. Betapa mengerikannya menyeberang di jembatan kayu ke benteng soma opu dulu. Betapa banyak cerita mistis di benteng rotterdam. Dan betapa enak batagor dan es kelapa yang ada di samping benteng rotterdam.
Toh, dikemudian hari saya juga tidak akan bercerita mengenai rihanna, mengenai avril lavigne, dan mengenai linkinpark kepada generasi berikutnya, tetapi cerita mengenai kota makassar kita yang tercinta.

--------
Soundtrack for this memory,,

Love can fade, can break away,
can be forgotten, but not replaced
You might lose hope, you might lose faith
but don't throw it all away, cause your afraid

Jamestown Story – Forgotten

Spesial untuk bangsaku, dan lebih special lagi untuk kotaku. You are not forgotten. Believe me.

Apocalypse Then



Wowsers. File this under "shouldn't we talk about the weather," but we got hammered with a ridiculous thunder / rain / lightning storm. The sky was exploding, grape-sizes ice pellets falling from the sky, the celestial works. Here's a sad attempt at capturing the majesty on digital film (a little less shaky than above):


Cool stuff. I took a little video, and while I recognize that watching a rainstorm on the internet is not exactly, you know, the evolution of dance, it will give you a flavor of the show:


So that was the day AZ flooded. As you can no doubt imagine, the weathermen's heads were exploding. "This is not my beautiful happy sunny face! This is not my beautiful exploding red thermometer! How did I get here?"

Fun times in the valley of the Airborne Thunderstorm Event.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Everything In Its Right Place

Let the record show that on August 27th, 2008, at approximately 7:13 AST (Azzy Standard Time), one Beck aka The Beck aka Fisto Ferro said, "You have to write on your blog."

Um, okay. The record, as it were, now shows that. Imperative and response, accomplished simultaneously! Ha ha, Beck, I just doubled my productivity!

So yep, the first three official on the clock days of Nyetian grad school time have passed me by, so I now feel somewhat comfortable in making some kind of cohesive statement on the experience. The time itself has been dominated by reading a variety of articles, ranging from semi-dense analytic stuff (Causal Decision Theory, essentially a logic-coded evaluation of how rational decisions are made, involving sentences like V(A) = P (C|A) * V (C & A) and the like (rough translation: the value of an action equals the probability of a particular outcome C given that action multiplied by the value of both the outcome C and the action A) ) to USA Today articles on how many scientists are selling their souls to become patent lawyers. Cool stuff, and at this point in the game I have a lot of freedom as to what to pursue, so I finished a book that I had been reading anyways (The Mind's I, a collection of essays / fiction pieces on the brain, mind, self and artificial intelligence, edited by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennet). I've also been quickly accumulating a list of "Oh crap, I need to read that" articles and books, and in a very short time I think I've scheduled the remainder of my time on earth. What is excellent about this is that while it is difficult / challenging and all that, I would be hard-pressed to call it work. Which I think is like, the meaning of life or something. (Licks finger, touches self on shoulder, makes sizzling sound to signify own hotness). So that's sweet. I'm sure things will shift gears a bit as my time becomes more structured and papers need to be written and such, but for now, I'm in a la-la land of "pursue what you will").

As a consequence, though, I'm having a little bit of what I'll go ahead and dub "The Tetris Effect." If you've ever played Tetris, or Rattler Race, or any game that involves pattern recognition for hours on end, you start to see the patterns outside the context of the game. The walls start crawling, and every set of bricks turns into a Tetris block or a maze. This weird-ass phenomenon also happens with games like Grand Theft Auto, incidentally, where you don't exactly see blocks in groups of four, but you do have a creepy desire in the real world to steal cars and murder prostitutes. I may have mentioned a similar academic phenomenon with chemistry - I specifically remember driving around Jamaica Plain during our intensive summer of chemistry up at Tufts, seeing a sign that said "NO PARKING" and thinking "Nitric Monoxide Parking? What the Hell?" It's happening again here, only the consequence is that after reading in a very critically intense fashion for hours on end, you start to pick up on all the little logical flaws and lack of rigor in people's everyday speech. For example, when one of the many scantily clad fleshbots* that ASU seems to celebrate walked by and said, "I don't know if she's like literally a bitch," I immediately start questioning whether it is even logically coherent to be literally like something, like some kind of literal simile.

Ha, ha, "like" some kind of literal simile. That was cheesy, I know. But it kinda wrecks your every day and/or academic experience - a more realistic example is when listening to a law lecture, I can't help but notice all the biases and assumptions going into every claim - for example, while we were talking about fundamental aspects of science, the professor stated that "Sometimes when a scientist encounters data that challenges their hypothesis, they'll just change the hypothesis. That can be a pretty slippery move. Of course, sometimes that's legitimate." The problem there is that we're talking about science, a process wholly geared towards proving what's legitimate and what isn't, and we're more precisely determining how exactly that process makes claims toward being legitimate - so you're invoking a kind of mysterious, external legitimation process when you claim that an act is sometimes okay and sometimes not. At the very least you need to define criteria for that. On some common sensical level, it's clear when a scientist is changing their hypothesis within bounds that seem "legitimate," but science is not supposed to be rooted in common sense - in fact, much of the business is challenging common sense. Anyways, this stuff gets particular and maybe boring really quick, but it's a pretty solid demonstration of how I'm starting to hear ideas right now.

* - Quick aside for the Fleshbot Failures: Oh Toto, we are not at Rice any more. For one thing, Toto has a pink tote bag and Ralph Lauren sunglasses on. Damn. Rice was extraordinarily laid back w/r/t style and fashion, a phenomenon that I know aggravated the few on campus who preferred to primp for class. The basic "t-shirt and shorts" uniform was constant, boys did not gel their hair and girls did not where heels to class. Etc. Tufts (undergrad) was a bit of a change from that, as the look at me I'm pretty factor was slightly amped, but really, when a lot of the year is spent in freezing weather, there's still a fair amount of "screw this, I'm going hoodie today." Of course, when the sun came out in spring, the nice clothes (and, er, lack thereof) popped right back out. So imagine, if you will, what it's like to walk around in a place where it's 105 all the time. Where walking to your next class necessarily involves sweat. The strategy appears to be to wear as little as possible, presumably a complex social statement against Victorian norms and/or a sociopolitical effort to help factory workers in Malaysia work fewer hours (because they need to produce significantly less fabric).

I mean, egads, seriously people. And the girls are bad, but the boys are no better, as the posturing and incidental flexing and etc. goes on all day long. It's like a gigantic club scene for a large portion of the student body (I, incidentally, now finally understand where the expression "student body" comes from). I mean, to each his or her own, but given the sweat, the lack of clothing, the high fashion and the general air of asunder looks and howyoudoin, walking around campus is like macheting my way through a phermone jungle. It's intense.

This is all enhanced by the phenomenon of "ASU, brought to you by" that understandably goes on. It's a semi-captive audience with quite a bit of time and disposable income, and the hawks - be they the banks or the clubs or the Burger Kings - descend accordingly. You can't walk ten feet in the general vicinity of the Memorial Union without encountering some kind of corporate booth, free handout, game where you can win a car, and on. I was trying to just get a drink yesterday - a coke zero, you know, just for the taste of it - when a pretty aggressive fleshbot tried to get me to play Plinko to win a free mp3 player with a t-shirt and a bank account. Wha? Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives; I declined.

I've gotta get going here (this post bridged the night and it's now time to get going down to campus again), but this is just the start of the account. I'll write a bit more about the actual goings on of the last week tonight. So you have "Orientation: The Musical" to look forward to. Warning: as you may have guessed, grad students, particularly grad students with any kind of phil bent, can be a little weird. As a consequence, my musical is going to have a selection called "four hours and 33 minutes of awkward silence," which sums up at least the subjective experience of one of my first orientation meetings. Details later.

Have a groovy day, folks. I'm off... to the Ethics Lab!!!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Lacking Content

Nothing to see here. Move along.

The original intent of ye olde Ballad was a rambling account of news and things going on, plus a way to update things on the blog proper. Like reviews I'm going to write and the like. (Note: E, E, and E; The King of Kong, and Drop City all on their respective ways). It just so happens that not a lot has occurred of note recently; I'm mainly counting the days until i get started philosciencing (sciosophing?) and spending quite a bit of time chilling with the dogs. So rather than enlighten you w/r/t today's poop count, or the disemboweled rabbit outside that has been attracting oh so much attention lately, I've neglected to post for the sake of posting. Things are going to change dramatically soon, so I'm sure you'll get plenty of whining, minor key ballads in the near future. Until then, I apologize for the dearth. maybe I'll must on something tomorrow. Maybe not.

I will throw out there that I played Ultimate on Wednesday morning and had a blast. A dad named Kevin brought his four kids, aged 14, 15, 16 and 17 (all blond, home-schooled, and the oldest is going to BYU in a couple of weeks. Name that religion!), out to play, and it was just awesome. They were all skilled, knew not just basics but some finer strategic points, and brought a lot of energy. Big fun, and at the end of the morning (we play from about 6:45-7:50 for work-related purposes), we had about seven "Last Point!"s. "No, this is the last one, we swear." "Okay, just one more, but THEN we really have to go." Felt like we were all twelve on a sandlot somewhere, in some made up golden era childhood that none of us had. FUN. Great to see younguns with throws and layouts and all that. And they were competitive, no goofy stuff. Perfecto. On that note, I'm going to go play a night game in a few hours which will hopefully match the experience. I doubt it, but we'll see.

Like the rest of America, Beck and I have been plopping on the couch and watching Michael "Overrated" Phelps et al in China all week. Good times. I made some baked eggplant and French bread pizza last night to enhance the experience. Yum.

But really, that's about it. Oh, I'm listening to "The Dismemberment Plan Is Terrified" right now, an all time album. Highly recommend it. Beck is obviously not home from work yet.

More coming, I swear. Entire posts on the joys of home ownership. It's gonna be SEXY.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Triforce!

First off, check this! Some profanity afterwards, but the first few minutes of this video contain blindfolded shreddage from famed Bonnie Situation lead guitarist Aaron Alonzo. Yeah, you can get this at Christastrophe, but I just wanted to have electric ambrosia dripping from my blog, too:



Morel links:

International Baseball is Not Actually Baseball.
The Complete Calvin & Hobbes! And you can search the text! (Please Note: That is obviously a severe violation of copyright, and could disappear at any moment. So, yeah: that'll teach you to type in 12 years of C&H strips by hand).
For iPJ, we have: Calvin & Jobs. And another!
Serious NerdFun: try to name the 100 most common words in the English language in five minutes.
This is simultaneously dumb and awesome:



Microbes 1, Humanity 0.
A pretty solid history of internet memes. (This just in: lists of memes is now a meme).
Pretty ridiculous account of plagiarism.
A reasonable attempt at humor with regard to our dying culture.
It was 20 years ago today a few days ago.
Beautiful pics of the Olympic CHINA IS A GREAT COUNTRY I LOVE IT Opening Ceremonies
Get yer SLIMEBALL on.
This is a headline.
Georgia's always on my mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mind.
ESPN went all crazy and actually analyzed something. And then used it!
Remember MLR's perfect 10? No? Well:



Some others can be found here, too.
Oz, Oz, Ozzy or Ozzie?

Monday, August 11, 2008

¡Hombres Enojados!

Beck and I started watching a new television series called ¡Hombres Enojados! And I'm having real trouble understanding it! It's a Spanish television series without subtitles, and man do they say some funny things. I mean, "hola" instead of "hello?" "Musical" instead of "musical?" "Las vidas del pendejos" instead of "American Consumer Culture?" Oh, that crazy moon language.

What's worse is that the show is all about Spanish conquistadors and their boats. And how they were constantly trying to make their Spanish items marketable to a mass audience, like, "Hey everybody, buy our armored breastplates and matching helmets, they're bueno!" And they constantly mistreat their ships - I mean, really, it's like they don't even know that the ships are what keeps them afloat! Crazy! Loco! Mad! I mean, Enojado!

Now, I took Spanish in high school, and a little in college, so that's not the problem. The problem is that I have never been a conquistador, and I didn't live in the 15th-17th centuries, so I have no hope of possibly comprehending anything that's going on. It's like there's a wildly different social dynamic than the limited one to which I have become accustomed, and as a consequence, their plot elements baffle me. I mean, take the pilot episode, for example. Ponce de Leon is all walkin' around, saying woah, I don't know if I should sleep on this ship or that! What's right, what's wrong? And I'm all, "Dude, why don't you just take an airplane?"

I will say that it seems that the show sometimes makes it point a little too overtly. Like, we all know nowadays that chewing gun powder is bad for you because it can blow your face off. But, in like every scene, all the conquistadores chew gun powder! Man, they were so stupid back then. The ships chew gun powder and drink arsenic, too, even when they are carrying smaller ships. Stupid ships.

Beck has a somewhat different viewpoint on all of this. Allow me to try to represent it pictorially:



I think she might be onto something there. Then again, I can't relate to or comprehend this show, so it would probably behoove me not to comment.

So, I guess I recommend checking out ¡Hombres Enojados! Maybe if you are a conquistador, or a ship, and you lived in the appropriate century, and you speak the language, you'll enjoy it.

Back Whence We Came:

Azzes to Azzes, Dust to Dust.

After an excellent stay in Flagstaff this weekend, we're back in The Valley aka the Innie of Satan. It's still hot as all get out here, nothing new under the sun, so to speak. We're surviving.

Our last hours in Flagstaff, though, were quite nice. Went on a quick hike through the recently drenched forest Sunday morning, dragging the W-D along with us. Took a little while to get her revved up to go:

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And we're off! Note that this is a fairly typical Wrigley-gets-off-the-couch routine; we highly suggest that you try it at home, too!

Woods were gorgeous; I'll let the usual picture table do the talking:

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Those last couple of the toadstool were actually shot in Katy's parents' backyard. Increible! I was looking for smurfs:

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One pill made me bigger, one made me small? Yeah. We followed up the hike with some brunch at a local restaurant; hit the spot. Packed up our stuff, bid Flagstaff adieu and watched the Prius's external thermometer creep from the low 80s to the high 100s on our way back. Sigh...

All was not lost, though, because we headed over to D&C's house last night to eat some excellent Xtina made spaghetti and meatballs. I especially appreciated the uniform thinness / smoothness of the homemade pasta. Great food, wine, and times per usual; after dinner we kicked it on the couch awhile and watched miscellaneous twelve year olds perform gymnastic routines. Looking forward to moving closer to Dan and Christina, indeed.

Side note rant of the day: WHAT THE HELL IS UP with the now ritual / habitual / obligatory "Can you describe the emotions you felt just then when that thing there happened?" questions? Sports coverage generally makes me want to perform a self-lobotomy with chopsticks poked above my eyeballs, but this has taken it to a new level. Is there any way we can abolish this line of questioning? Every one is answered with "Great" or "Happy" or something equally predictable/moronic/meaningless. Just once, I'd like someone to say "No, I cannot describe the emotions, because I have spent years honing only this skill and lack the oratory practice to convey them; besides, emotions are ineffable, and despite our vicarious attempts, we'll spend our entire lonely lives trying to know make real contact with another person and failing miserably, limited to our own hollow skulls. I'm going to go cry into my gold medal now."

Saturday, August 9, 2008

The Best of the Fifty Nifty

So, Texas is up to its bad guy killin' ways. Only this time it's a criminal from Mexico.

No ethics of the death penalty commentary here; I just wanted to comment on this:
The world court again last month ordered the United States to do everything within its authority to stop Medellin's execution until his case could be further reviewed.
The governor of Texas responded with something to the effect of this gem:

"Texas is not in the world court's jurisdiction."

Now, that might be technically true, in that the "world court" referenced is the International Court of Justice whose function is to resolve international treaty disputes. The dispute is between the United States and Mexico, but the U.S. Federal government does not have authority over Texas's capital punishment practices. So yes. But you didn't say that, did you? You merely confirmed what we've expected all along.

Texas is out of this world.

Consider my childhood explained.

Rainy Azz

Greetings from the midst of a rain / hailstorm in Flagstaff, AZ:

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Many thanks to Beck's colleague Katy and Katy's out-of-town-going parents who were nice enough to let us hang out in their beautiful home this weekend. That pic is a shot out their front door; this one is a view out the back of their yard which abuts a National Forest. Nice:

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It's quite beautiful; even though it's been raining off and on the past couple of days, we've managed to take the dogs on a couple of walks through the woods, and I went for a quick run in the rain a little earlier today. Currently both Beck and Sparkle are asleep on the couch next to me. The house has a soporific quality similar to that of the iPLakehouse, and Beck has succumbed accordingly. I think Sparkle is more just afraid of the thunder / hail sounds and is seeking refuge by burying her face into my thigh. So pretty low key times here: we've got the Olympics (Now in HazeVision!) playing on the TV - a guy from España just took the gold in the cycling road race, tres exciting - and are otherwise lounging, reading, generally having a grand break from the 110s and humid of home.

Speaking of reading, I just finished my advisor's Embryology, Epigenetics, and Evolution: Taking Development Seriously. I'll write a full review later, but the skinny is that it's a very lucid argument against gene-centric reductionism. There's a pretty common metaphor within biology circles (and, for that matter, high school classes, common discussions, etc.) that genes constitute a program that instruct the cells how to behave; for something new and different, things turn out to be far more complicated than this, and though a large deal has been learned via the gene-as-end-all-be-all approach, true understanding is undoubtedly going to involve a more complex, more encompassing account of all the factors involved. Again, I'll treat this more thoroughly soon, so if you're interested you can get a flavor for the argument, but it was very interesting to see some fundamental assumptions of much of biological investigation exposed so thoroughly.

(I've also been meaning to mention that Christastrophe recently inspired a good discussion of the merits and detriments of Guitar Hero. I heart the Christastrophe blog, and continue to recommend it to all).

And I'd be entirely remiss if I didn't mention the spectacle of spectacles, the Olympics Opening Ceremonies. I'm sorry, that's The Spectacle of Spectacles. I hate Olympics coverage as a rule, and often find the surrounding pageantry unbearable, a sort of Super Bowl idiocy to the nth. But China, neglecting all surrounding considerations, did it up right - if you're going to go over the top, go Over the Top. So I appreciated the hyper-cinematic scale and approach; if you've got the most people and the highest GNP or what have you in the world, then by all means, you SHOULD be doing it up in an epic, never been seen by humanity before way. But also, again with all surrounding considerations neglected, I appreciated the over the top message, the one of welcoming, harmony, peace, a looking forward instead of looking back. If mass-produced government sponsored messages are capable of ringing with any kind of sentimentality, this one did, if only a little bit, and that's certainly more than can be said for similar bombast in other settings.

Beck and I lived in Arlington, MA in 2001-2 when China was awarded the '08 games. Our landlords, two of the sweetest people on the planet (who, among other things, excused Wrigley's habit of stealing their shoes with smiles) and Chinese immigrants who barely spoke English, were UNBELIEVABLY ECSTATIC. Out of their heads. I'm having a hard time remembering if I've ever seen anyone so excited about anything in my life. I couldn't not smile, cheer and laugh along with them. It was some definite, real pride, and seemed every bit a sincere desire to celebrate their homeland with the rest of the world as guests.

Now, of course, that pride could be argued to be just a product of the Chinese propaganda machine, the very machine that put on that show last night. In which case however authentic the low-level enthusiasm seemed, it was still ultimately constructed from on high by experts of manipulation, and almost implicated our landlords as suckers at the hands of their government. As could all the citizens of China be implicated - at least the ones currently flag-waving - sucker enthusiasts without the capacity to realize what their country represents on a grander scale. Of course, similar statements could be made about fanatics of Team America, too. Or Cubs fans. Or... anything.

So with the whopping authority bestowed upon me by having been acquainted with a couple of genuinely enthusiastic Chinese people, I watched the opening ceremonies with what I hope was a healthy mix of the usual cynicism (this is propaganda! China = War Crimes! Chinese Citizens = suckers!) and respect for people and a government trying to have a genuine moment. And again, in terms of production values and conveying their message, I'll join the rest of the planet in giving an A+, beaten protesters outside the stadium notwithstanding. There's a lot about China that I, given a fairly limited historical and otherwise understanding, think is terrible: the whole Tibet issue, the suppression of anti-government thought, the limitation of informational access, the religious oppression, etc. I'm not thoroughly informed, but the popular version of the story being propagated here is not a pretty one. That said, "The Chinese Government" is not "The Chinese People." I think there are even some arguments that "The Chinese Government" does not equal "China." So I prefer to ingest this scene holistically, not in the "Should China be hosting the Olympics? First caller..." method I hear so much of. There's good, there's bad, and maybe for once Bush has it right: there's certainly more to be gained by being to peer into the country and talk with its leadership than the closed doors approach of decades past.

Beck just said it well, something to the effect of "I thought the spectacle was great, but I still don't necessarily think China is great." This neglects whatever subconscious, mass effects the opening ceremonies accomplished, but I think it captures as much of an objective take as you can have: you may not buy the message, but its delivery wowed.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Yummy Lentils

The Clarion was recently quite delighted with a new lentil recipe that a dear friend made. The party in question has a big family and typically prepares meals in quantity so as to be able to store freeze and reheat. This batch of lentils was probably made to triple the proportions that are shown in the recipe that follows below.


amateur lentil photography

#1----2 tsp good olive oil
#2----2 cups of yellow onions (large dice) approx 2
#3----2 cups carrots (large dice) approx 3 to 4
#4----1 tbs minced garlic approx 3 cloves
#5----1 26 oz can whole plum tomatoes
#6----1 cup french green lentils (approx 7oz)
#7----2 cups chicken stock
#8----2 tsp mild curry powder
#9----2 tsp chopped fresh time leaves
#10----2 tsp kosher salt
#11----3/4 tsp ground pepper
#12----1 tbs good red wine vinegar

heat #1, add #2 & #3 cook on medium low for 6-10 minutes until the onions start to brown, add #4 cook for 1 more minute, meanwhile food press #5 until coarsely chopped, add #5 thru #12 to the pan, raise heat to bring to a boil, then simmer for 40 minutes, let set for 10 minutes.

Our friend's version is light and sweet, but still hearty. There are layers of background flavors, first you taste the salt and the sweet, then there is a musky richness and finally the hint of curry. Complex, satisfying without being overwhelming, or ultimately too forceful; it was a very good meal. The first night it was served with a cast iron skillet of cornbread and orange-apricot marmalade.

In the Clarion's less than humble opinion it tasted even better day two and three, like so many gravies and soups. The second time it was served with a crumbled sour Pecorino Romano cheese.

Paris Hilton is running for President

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Iklan 3 Versi Perluasan Jaringan


Satu hal yang menarik sewaktu melihat iklan ini adalah,

”yang ini kesebelasan mana lagi mempromosikan dirinya?”.

Hehehe. Konsep yang sangat menarik memang. Mengingat masyarakat kita memang masih menjadikan sepakbola sebagai komoditi tontonan. Apalagi kalau mendengarkan siaran sepakkbola dari radio, ada excited tersendiri yang bisa di dapatkan. Konsep inilah yang kemudian diadaptasi oleh iklan baru provider selular 3. Kehebatan dan keseriusan 3 dalam dunia selular indonesia rasanya juga patut diacungi jempol. Satu setengah tahun termasuk waktu yang lumayan cepat untuk melayani 2000 kecamatan. Yah, kalo misalnya mau dibandingkan dengan provider besar yang udah main di lahan ini selama puluhan tahun, jelas gak bisa lah. Masih lama perjalanan 3 untuk bisa kuat seperti raksasa provider selular yang lain. Tapi salut dengan komitmen 3 untuk memperluas lagi jaringan dan memeriahan peta perebutan konsumen dalam lahan bisnis selular.
stucking point yang dimiliki oleh iklan ini, ya itu tadi. Sebenarnya ini iklan produk apa sih? Ditambah lagi dengan penjabaran beberapa ”lokasi” yang menguatkan daerah-daerah yang disebutkan dalam iklan ini. Semakin membuat kita bertanya-tanya. Ini iklan menyambut 17 agustusan? Well, untuk beberapa momen, rasanya feelingnya dapat. Mulai dari orang-orang yang terjebak kemacetan, suasana perkantoran, art galeri seorang seniman, sampai pangkas rambut madura (gak kebayang kalo pisau cukur itu berada di depan leherku!) semuanya mencerminkan wilayah-wilayah perluasan BTS dari 3. mulai dari wilayah Jawa (which is kenapa semua daerah jawa dulu yang diprioritaskan yah?) sampai ke Sumatra. Semuanya tercover dengan jelas. Euforia kesenangan masyarakat pun rasanya bisa kita nikmati. Bagaimana kesenangan mereka bisa mencoba dan merasakan apa sih yang dijual oleh 3 ini. Karena kalau mengingat konsep iklan sebelumnya, promo sms yang ditawarkan juga cukup menggiurkan. Alur cerita yang runut membuat kita harus mengikuti iklan ini sampai selesai. Supaya tahu, oh ini iklannya 3 toh.
Cuman, yah satu aja ganjalan saja yang saya dapatkan. Apakah memang 3 ini dikondisikan dan ditujukan untuk segmen kelas menengah ke bawah? Karena dari penggambaran talent dan konsep yang ditawarkan, semuanya mencerminkan. ”inilah indonesia”. Inilah gambaran masyarakat kita. Tapi ya itu tadi, emang sesuai nggak dengan target pasarnya?
Yah, sesuai atau tidak, mudah-mudahan bisa masuk di Sulawesi secepatnya sehingga kita mempunyai perbandingan, seperti apa sih promo yang ditawarkan oleh 3 ini?
Eh ada yang perhatiin nggak? Warna ikon 3 berubah yah? Dari orang dan putih menjadi biru tua cenderung gelap. Ada strategi lain mungkin yang akan diluncurkan?

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Updating the Blog Fantastic

So I'm officially on break from reality: not teaching, just reading and watching the occasional baseball game. Classes start in three weeks (orientation in two), so I'm focusing a little bit on school subjects, trying to get myself in gear for the upcoming read-a-thon. That and selecting classes, getting stuff organized for the upcoming semester, and generally getting excited about having a purpose again.

(Okay, and I recognize that I helped a lot of kids while tutoring blah blah blah, but this little multi-year adventure represents a career-directional step, the likes of which i have not taken in quite some time. So the personal significance, and my corresponding excitement / anxiety, is how-do-you-say OFF THE CHARTS).

In other news, despite our better efforts to keep things quiet until things became official / set in stone, news leaked that Beck and I have been house hunting and have found a place. And made an offer, and received a counter-offer, and accepted a counter-offer, and written a check to a title company. So things are in motion. I stress that I do not and did not want to talk about this until it is/was finalized because there are approximately a billion things that could go wrong before we are actually moving our stuff into the new abode. But apparently people have an undying need to live vicariously, and other people, let's call them "Dr. Vet-Wife," let the news slip recently. Alas. Anyways, here's a pic of the house-as-currently-lived-in; you can click it and view other shots. We are obviously excited but reserving our partying until everything is complete; this whole process just makes me nervous (not to mention there's a blatant discordance to having the "yay I'm starting grad school" and the "yay we're buying a house" sentences in the same post. Pardon me while I vomit a Hot Pocket). Anyhoo, here ya go, enjoy:

DSCF4511

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Impending doom?



Is it a sign of impending doom? Five cloned puppies made by a South Korean company for (go figure) a Californian are about to be the first commercial canine clones sold in the United States.

The Californian, a screenwriter named Bernann McKinney, brought her dog's frozen cells to RNL Bio in Seoul, South Korea. The company cloned McKinney's beloved pit bull terrier, Booger, in conjunction with a team of Seoul National University scientists. McKinney will keep three of the five cloned dogs and donate the other two to work as service dogs. McKinney already has five other dogs and three horses. She paid an estimated $50,000 for the procedure. However, it has been reported that this was a cut rate price for the work, available to her only as the first customer and because she has agreed to do promotion work for RNL Bio.

Should you be worried? The Clarion isn't sure, but certainly it seems like there are a nearly unlimited range of unknown possibilities related to cloning.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Hey Baby - Stephen Marley Feat Mos Def

I've been gone a while away from you
and I hope you overstand
that I've got to do what I must do
to be a better man
Cause if I was just to act a fool
do nothing with myself
that all my blessings would be a curse
my world would crumble in
it's a joy when I sit down and
think of the good times that we have
and what we do to make it through
when the good turns to the bad
well I hope you'll find it in your heart
and know these words are true
and please don't fuss
because I must go to do what I must do

(Chorus)
Hey baby don't you worry
even though the road is rocky
I'll be coming home to you again
Cause if you thought that I was lost
I had to bare my cross
now I'm free from all these chains

A time, a space, a different place
how perfect we might be
I would be the wind that blows
you'd be that Willow tree
and I could never bare the thought of you not by my side
so I would be the warmth of day
you'd be the cool of night
and everyday I pray to Jah that one day you will see
and overstand the fact that I must full fill my destiny
I hope you'll find it in your heart and know these words are true
and please don't cry you know that I must do what I must do

(Chorus)

Well and it's not easy
Jah knows how I try, I try
so don't you get weary
Jah knows how I try, I try

(Mos Def)
and God Knows...
Life is one big road
with a lot of signs and turns and twists and curves
even though the road is rocky
my main thing to rock and keep on rockin'
from city to city, backyard to yard
and we be seein' the sights, standin' under the lights
and the spot is hot, it's cold and lonely at night
and im feenin' and I'm dreamin' and I'm holding you tight
but hold on, every single road I roll on
comes to an end and I'm back home again
so baby please don't cry, there's no valley low and theres no mountain high
and our love don't die with the passage of time
it just grows more,
and just keep strong
and even though I'm gone, I am never too far
you're the light through the dark, shining right through my heart
so my journey must start

(Chorus)

Cause if you thought that I was lost
I had to bare my cross
now I'm free from all these chains...

Belly of the Web

Ballardian Picture Set (Ballardian means this)
Non Delillian White Noise.
A solid Dinosaur Comic. And another.
Cool cartoon called Minus. Here's the original.
A slew of links via MetaFilter on the Josh Hamilton story.
The Nietzsche Family Circus.
George Bush would have remodeled Monticello, it seems.
Also from Metafilter, some interesting articles on Martin Luther.
Abstract Satellite Art.





Organize the Cute.
If anyone ever asked, "what's the best Cosby Show segment ever?," here is the answer (and it's from the pilot!).
Saber-analysis on why Oakland traded Harden to the Cubs.
Possible explanation of why the senior circuit is now the little league.
Cool piece on SF pitching phenom Tim Lincecum.
Why the Cubs might win this year.
If you haven't tired of these baseball links yet, here's what it sounds like when the Cubs win.
Art Garfunkel reads a lot. But where are the pretentious reviews, Art? Where?
Art Concept: Deleted Images.
Be sure to read the explanation (click more) at the right: Jay-Z covers Wonderwall. And critique.
Funny.
Warning: NSFW language, but woe unto he who deletes an the article sans permission.
Pretty lights. More pretty lights.
This is pretty heart-wrenching.
Waffle House after at a wedding? Noooooooo!!!
Okay, Waffle House Wedding doesn't look so bad any more.
Insect photos!
Tarantino's Mind: Great indie short film.





A different way of looking at baseball stats.
G-minus-G and Postmodern Anxiety in Late Capitalism.
Toyful art exhibit.
Together Again: Brian Eno and David Byrne.
Best auditory illusion... ever?
Brilliant Letter to a Library Patron.

Set aside because it's just so... yeah: CHS is not the best, oh no. Courtesy of Christastrophe and the decline of everything.

Egad. Let's lighten things up, eh?



And finally...


Reunion Fallout

As mentioned here, Beck headed up to Rochester last weekend for the annual family reunion while I stayed at home to care for the pups (and gloriously win a glow-in-the-dark hat tourney, Yeah!). More than one family member has pointed out that ever since I made the back of the shirt, I have skipped the reunions.

Oh no. My evil scheme has been uncovered. I. am. ruined.

Since I am in the East Coast Family Dog House, the Beck and I thought it would be a good idea to make penance for my actions (or lack thereof) and have a little family reunion down here in Sunny Azz. Turns out Beck's Aunt Jane's (no relation, aka aunt by marriage) nephew Kevin is finishing up his first year as a Econ grad student in good ol' Tempe. He's Beck's cousins' cousin, which for some reason compelled Beck to repeatedly mention that they could legally get married, current husband notwithstanding. Ouch. After weirding Kevin out with a phone call that started thusly:

"Hi, you don't know me, but we should have dinner!"

We met up with him down at his apartment in Tempe to check out the summer college scene and grab a bite to eat. Smart, nice guy who did his undergrad in Bentley College in Waltham, MA, so we had not only the expected stuff to talk about:

"You have family in Buffalo? I, too, have family in Buffalo!"
"You're in grad school at ASU? I, too, am in grad school at ASU!"

But also the shared experience of driving on the 128/95 nightmare on a daily basis. Beck also indirectly - by virtue of her having sent rogue bikers to his house - steered his life towards Bentley, so we were more closely linked than we thought. Sounds like his undergrad experience was pretty similar to ours (though I don't recall rioting at Rice after Red Sox wins), so conversation was easy. Indeed, props for that, because such situations have all kinds of potential for awkwardness, but we had a great time. We grabbed supper at an Irish Pub and predictably downed some Guinesses. Good times.

Beck also made the hard sell on the Giant Panda:



And gave Kevin a copy of Slow Down, so hopefully he'll make the trek up to Flagstaff with us in a few weeks to see the show. That's right, GPGDS in Sunny Azz!!! Shall be sweet.

So Aunt Jane, your nephew is doing well and now knows at least two more people in this silly city. Good luck to Kevin on his upcoming do or die econ finals, and we hope to see him around soon.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Ru-Roh



Canada lost an ice sheet seven square miles in area last week. The ice sheet broke off from the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf off of the north coast of Ellesmere Island in Canada's Qikiqtaaluk Region. It was the biggest piece of ice shelf to crack loose since 2005. However, before you panic and start moving back from the coasts in anticipation of rising sea levels, note: Ellesmere Island was once encircled by a single huge ice shelf that broke up in the early 20th century. And according to Derek Mueller, a research at Trent University, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf has been steadily declining in size since the 1930's. The time scale in question here (as with much of the Earth's warming issues) is geologic.