Kate, Dusty and I have started a brand new blog on the topic of the technological singularity. It’s just getting off the ground now, but I hope it can very quickly become a real time capsule of this dawning of a new era. Or whatever it turns out to be.
The singularity is coming: do you know where your children are?
Could you imagine?
Someone secretly living in your closet…for a year!
How did this man, in Japan – a space cramped country, have a closet that he never opened for over a year?! This is going to be the plot of the next Japanese movie to come here, I guarantee it.
For awhile now I’ve been quietly dealing with a nihilistic quality in the very core of myself. Maybe I was consciously aware of its presence and maybe I wasn’t, at least not entirely. This little voice deep down inside has been there, always causing me to negate the value of things I really want to hold valuable. For example, I may think “Man, that is a truly beautiful Mercedes…the lines, the color, the presentation of the design language!” but my personal Nietzche will then counter with “Think of the resources depleted to build it and the money required to buy it…it’s destroying the world! How dare you care!” I get really, really excited about art and design and purpose-built beauty – but then find myself feeling guilty because of the impracticality of these things, or the attention they may draw away from what I perceive to be bigger concerns.
Of course, some things fall outside of this sphere. Love, friendship, family, humor, sadness, sex, achievement and learning are just a few “pure” elements that cannot fall victim to my analytical dissection. They do, though, occasionally get lost in the silt clouds as I muddy the waters with near-constant mental struggles.
How sad, right? How utterly ridiculous…how arrogant to think that it’s my sworn duty to worry about “the BIG picture” at all times.
Well, enough is enough. I can’t be rid of my nihilism – indeed, I think it’s probably one of my most important characteristics, one that creates a tension that’s extraordinarily valuable for viewing my world – but I can decide that some things are worthy of passionate exploration, devotion and interest. I think I’m going to start listing these things as they come to me and I’m not going to allow myself to question them.
Today’s items that matter are:
Since I’m at work, I should probably stop and, you know…work. But, this list had to come out this morning while it was still fresh and felt important.
Frankly, I feel better already. 🙂
I just saw Dusty off, on his way home from a totally excellent visit to Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Well, that’s how I’d describe it, anyway…I hope he’d tend to agree. This weekend was the Lit House’s “Literature at the Margins Festival” featuring two webcomics, Jeph Jacques and Aaron Diaz, as well as the H.P. Lovecraft scholar, S.T. Joshi and a local science fiction author, Peter Heck. It was two days of readings, panel discussions and general geekery. Very fun, overall, though poor Kate had to work herself silly to help the students pull everything off. But, we all did get to hang out with the honored guests on Friday evening and she made it over to spend time with us last night after the events. Dusty picked a rather excellent three days to spend here, as far as there actually being things to do in town goes.
When not listening to smart people talk about their incredibly clever lives and works, we spent our time eating huge amounts of Mexican food, drinking lots of the Easter-appropriate Awesomer Than Jesus cocktails and listening to excellent music. Dusty discovered he loves “Xavier: Renegade Angel” and I rediscovered how fantastic Hard ‘n Phirm really is. We played a bit of Mass Effect (read, I played) this morning while Dusty alternated between napping and reading his first few pages of “Transmetropolitan.” Then it was time for Easter dinner with Tara (aka: Shannon) and Kate. I experimented with making a vegetarian moussaka…and was told it actually turned out quite well. This impresses me because it was a complete leap of culinary faith.
And then, just like that, the weekend was over. Dusty departed, Kate went to get some groceries (maybe…if the store is open) and Tara went back to her own tiger cat. So here I sit, in the dark because I’m too lazy to reach two feet to turn on the office light, listening to MGMT and drinking my second cup of coffee. But, it was a great last couple of days and makes me look forward to the next time I have a visitor! Dusty, you may bring yourself back anytime you so desire. Hoover, you are next!
An item I forgot to mention!: The name of this design shall henceforth be known as Florence: End of Days, Sunrise. That is all.
Have you ever found yourself sitting on the couch, holding the remote for your televiewer, absent-mindedly flipping through the channels when the thought “see what’s on MySpace” pops into your head? Do your fingers frantically stab at numbers on the keypad before your brain makes the connection that you can’t, in fact, google “Chinese nuclear power” on this device? I’m not sure if this makes me strange, marks me as an interwebs addict or is a sign of what technology should become. Hopefully all three.
In music: Yeah, I’m listening to Ghostface Killah with my over-40 coworker, Brett, in the room. What are you going to do about it? I mean, really.
I wake up
And the day feels
Broken
I tilt my head
I’m trying to get an angle
‘Cause the evening
I’ve always longed for
It could still happenHow do I master
The perfect day
Six glasses of water
Seven phonecallsIf you leave it alone
It might just happen
Anyway“It’s Not Up to You” by Björk
I think these lyrics are telling me something pretty important. What it is, I’m not sure, but I do honestly believe there is a lesson there and dammit all – I’m fixin’ to learn it! Actually, that’s an interesting statement. I’m also trying to figure out some fundamental things about Nick right now. Chief among these is why I don’t feel like I deserve for anyone to be nice to me. Why don’t I want gifts or help and why can’t I take a compliment? Socially, too, why is refusing a compliment rude if you honestly don’t feel as though you’ve earned it?
Danger: much pondering ahead.
Talked to Lindsie last night and I’m happy to report that she’s doing really well in her new city. I knew there was a cosmopolitan girl in there (probably a Cosmopolitan and a rum & coke, too.) Now, if I could come up with a justification for being her butler in a one bedroom apartment…
…and I’m back. I just spent the last five days of my 8 day break from Centre County at the New Media Consortium conference in Cleveland. Until I arrived, I really considered Cleveland to be a complete void. I mean, it’s the Midwest. There can’t possibly be anything there. However, the Crocker Park shopping center in West Lake (first stop) quickly changed my mind. I spent a ton of money on clothes and got to hit up Trader Joe’s…all on foot. Fantastic. The NMC closed down the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for us to have a party, I attended a gallery opening at MOCA, hung out at B-Sides in Euclid Heights with Brandon and got to tour The Cleveland Institute of Art…where I’m applying for a job tomorrow. I mean, like any city, there are ghettos and littered streets…but it’s a city. And that equals wonderful in my book.
So…the conference itself was actually a lot of fun. I attended some interesting workshops and hands-on sessions. I learned that Aperture is one of the best programs Apple has released in a long time. Hannah and I won a gong for presenting about the Studio at “Five Minutes of Fame” and then schmoozed like fiends at the reception after. Met all kinds of interesting people from literally everywhere imaginable. Yep…good stuff. A+ Will Attend AGAIN.
Now I am home. I took about 145 trips up and down the stairs tonight, glared at my landlord, cleaned my car and my home and now I’m fighting off the sleep. It’s going to be a losing battle, that I can assure you.
…Mamie Van Doren’s Website, you can take a look at something very special she has just posted. Scroll down the page and you’ll see the vector art tribute that I made with her image…she liked it so much, that she added it to her site.
*chuffed*
Do you use Mac OS X? Have you ever made the mistake of believing the Weather Widget? Ever fall for the trickery of AccuWeather? Well, here’s a helpful illustrated PSA for you:
I want a job where I can just roll out of bed, write down whatever assinine predictions strike me as possible, phone them in and go back to sleep. What’s particularly insulting is that there is an AccuWeather office right here in State College. Like, if they wanted to ‘forecast’ accurately, they could just look out the window.
Thanks…that is all.
Normally I find this ad campaign nonsense entirely creepy – he fucking freaks me out – however, this is pure, unadulterated genius. Gawker’s title “The closest Kate’s ever come to a Burger” makes it wondrous.
Gawker via Media Orchard
