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LiveJournal for A Lover of Questions.
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| Thursday, May 8th, 2008 |
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* My father once told me that respect for the truth comes close to being the basis for all morality. "Something cannot emerge from nothing," he said. This is profound thinking if you understand how unstable "the truth" can be. o from Conversations with Muad'Dib by the Princess Irulan I love the story of Dune and I think Frank Herbert is awesome the timeline for the various attempts at taking Dune from book to the screen So this Bad Motherfucker had this totally inspired idea for a movie of Dune: read about it the Dune you will never see more about Jodorowsky, seriously this guy is awesome So now someone else is going to try another Dune movie check it out Jodorowsky's Dune sounds both totally amazing and totally stupid. I'm in awe of his vision and drive, but dont wonder why hollywood pulled the plug on him. However I dont think its at all exagerating to call his failed production of dune as a critical influence on; Alien, Blade Runner, Star Wars, Conan the Barbarian, and Pink Floyds Dark side of the Moon. The actual Dune film that was made I do consider to be a blasphemous failure, and I'm very dissapointed with the sci-fi version, basically because no one wants to make the Dune what it is really supposed to be; a kung fu movie People forget that the whole plot of the book is essentially this: -the Emperor of the known universe is threatened by the growing power of the Atredies family. -The power fo the Atredies family is in the military aptitude of the Duke Leto, and the martial arts prowess oftwo masters, Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck. -The Emperor Maintains his power with his Elite troups, the Sardaukar. To Eliminate the potential threat to his own authority from the Atredies he "awards" them control over arrakis, but its a trap, because the planet had been controlled by their long-time rivals the Harkonnens, who have a right to seek revenge via assasination. -The Emperor then uses the cover story of Harkonnen revenge to hide his own Sardaukar troops among the Harkonnen forces and take out the Atredies in a suprise attack. so basically the Atredies kung fu was almost as strong as the emperors, so he took out a potential rival making it look like the harkonnens did it seeking revenge. In fact the whole Plot ofthe emperors backfires on him, because it drives the young son of the fallen duke, Paul Atredies, and his mother Jessica, who are both masters of the "weirding way", the Elite fighting style blended from Both the martial arts of Atredies Family and the Benne Geserit monastic order, to join the nomad society of dessert-dwelling Fremen and teach it to them. This enables Paul to lead them the newly trained army to overthrow the Emperor in an apocalyptic final battle, which culminates in a duel between Paul Atredies and the Harkonnen Price Feud Ratha, who is a reknowned knife fighter himself. So with all this talk of how the Spice is a metaphor for oil, no one ever mentions that the real resource war in this story is over martial arts knowledge. There are many other fascinating plots and ideas presented in Dune,but all of them are built around a story that is fundamentally about who has the superior fighting style and military culture, or as we say, "kung fu life". and every attempt to present the story cinematicaly thus far has failed gruesomely because think either a) people dont have enough kung fu to recognize this or b) people just dont want to tell this tale, as in the case of David Lynch, who personally dismissed the whole question of the martial arts story in favor of the "weirding module" idea, which was fucking lame. I just console myself with the knowledge that Jodorowsky's divinely inspired failure brought about a revolution in sci-fi movies that produced so many other brilliant bastard children. |
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| Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 |
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now featuring Mountain Dew
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| Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 |
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I'm always fascinated by cultural developments that I cant immediately comprehend. seriously you gotta see this: this is Turisas, one of the band on the Pagan Fest tour |
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| Thursday, May 1st, 2008 |
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paganfest was fucking sweet, of course. Eluvitie is a 3 guitars and drummer metalband + picolos, a mandolin, a violin, and a hurdie gurdie, which I had never seen played before and dont entirely comprehend, but was awesome. Tyr is anthemic viking metal from the FAROE ISLANDS, apparently there are enough people on the Faroe Islands to produce a metal band, who knew? Turisas is all super barbarian drinking songs and battle themed party metal with a dynamic acordion player. Ensiferum has been a band for 10 years, they've got about 4 albums of material, all of it is really good. not just interesting or novel, but really good. This is their emergence in america and everyone knows the words to their songs. They are playing awesome music and they are excellent performers. a new band at the top of their game, a rare show indeed. the tour goes through Denver, check out thebands on youtube, if your even mildly interested you should go. |
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| Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 |
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so I've been listening to this band: einsiferum, for the past few weeks, and they're awesome, my favorite right now. So since my computer is working I decided to look them up, and it seems they are playing here tomorrow night, at the I-roc, for 15$. Man, what are the chances. check em out(and every awesome scene from lord of the rings): Additionally, you should probably watch this: I think I need a good show |
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| Sunday, April 27th, 2008 |
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I realized after I was about 45 minutes in to the Star Wars Holiday special that I felt like my torso had been stomped on for a while. one fo the realy amazing things abotu the copy I was watching is that it also had the commercials that it originally aired with. I get the feeling that someone recorded it on a VCR. Pretty good for 1978. |
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| Thursday, April 24th, 2008 |
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I'm going to see the the wrath of god tonight at the DFT, anyone else is welcome to join. In the mid-1500s, a large Spanish expedition searching for the mythical lost city of El Dorado sent an advance party to explore a tributary of the Amazon; they never returned. The brilliant Werner Herzog has extrapolated this obscure historical incident into Aguirre, a spectacularly horrifying chronicle of imperialism gone amok in other news, this is my new favotire Iowa City Band: |
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| Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 |
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| Like other times when I've been of Detroit for extended periods I return inspired. Thats good because theres a lot that needs to get done. | ||||
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| Friday, April 18th, 2008 |
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Fell asleep at my brothers place watching the sci-fi channel dune series. Woke up sometime in the a.m. with the feeling that the whole bed was rocking back and forth. It was powerfull enough to cause me to spring to my feet in the middle of the room and stand there wondering if the whole building whoa its happening right now no shit, still going smaller now... man I love the apocaplyse. no shit there I was typing about having felt an earthquake and I felt another earthquake. It was pretty shocking at 4:00 am though. I kind of thought I was dreaming or it was the wind. yeah, earthquakes are not normal in Iowa. |
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| Thursday, April 17th, 2008 |
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thanks Mike Shaw |
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| Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 |
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the travel adventure is getting quite extended, I'm in iowa city now for the ICC seminar this weekend. Denver was very relaxing. I've just arrived at Ely's apartment on the ped mall, the greyhound trip to get here from denver took a ludicrous 19 hours. Its wasnt a bad trip though, I've read most of "the elegant universe" during the drive. Easily the most profound and straightforward descriptions of major physics breakthroughs I've yet encountered. |
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| Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 |
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I can get down to buisness:        |
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| Monday, April 7th, 2008 |
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Thursday started with a hike up the mountain from the chalet while it snowed very lightly. Then shifted gears as we went back to the hostel to meet the navajo medicine man Tyrone, and experience the sweat lodge. Its something I feel was very valuable, but not something I would be in a hurry to do again. I probably will do it again. Basically the idea of a sweat lodge is to push the limit of human endurance, inducing a seriously altered state of being, then engaging in prayers. I think most people know this, what most people dont know is that it happens in 4 cycles, each cycle more intense than the last. Its a grueling purgatorial process, very liberating, and totally traumatizing at the same time. the process was exhausting, afterward there was a feast. Friday I woke up feeling relaxed and invigorated and amazingly healthy and clean. We all went Skiing. The realy amazing thing about skiing that I hadnt ever realized is that while you do it your up on a mountain surrounded by some of the most epic scenery you the planet has to offer. friday concluded with movies. Taos has a small coffee shop/video rental place that is without a doubt the best selection of movies I've ever scene. Saturday morning started with breakfast, then a workout into the afternoon that covered several of the topics i found so gratifying in Richmond, but in greater detail, and more hands on training with Moy Tung. Issues I've seriously been struggling with since the second year of my training are continually opening up. Very rewarding. Later we went out to the Rio Grand valley and did some hiking around. We returned to the chalet, made an excellent dinner and had an intense evening of discussion with Tyrone and his life-partner girlfriend who runs the public defenders office in Albequrqe. One of the only people I met who actualizes one fo my favorite passages form the Tao, number 15; The sage of old was profound and wise; like a man at a ford, he took great care, alert, perceptive and aware. Desiring nothing for himself, and having no desire for change for its own sake, his actions were difficult to understand. Being watchful, he had no fear of danger; being responsive, he had no need of fear. He was courteous like a visiting guest, and as yielding as the springtime ice. Having no desires, he was untouched by craving. Receptive and mysterious, his knowledge was unfathomable, causing others to think him hesitant. Pure in heart, like uncut jade, he cleared the muddy water by leaving it alone. By remaining calm and active, the need for renewing is reduced. (not my favorite translation but you get the idea) I was not previously aware: navajo is a derogatory term coined by the spanish that means savages. They reffer to themselves as the Deneh. Hanging out with the Medicine Man is almost exactly like hanging out with an old kung fu master, so we treated him like one and everything went very smoothly. Sunday has consisted so far of more hanging out with Tyrone. Making more food, and finally a trip with Guy up the mountain at night so we could sled down the ski trails on plastic tobogans, which was good for a cheap thrill but ended up with some hitting trees, then watching more movies, tomorrow I'll head back to Denver. |
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| Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 |
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things are getting more interesting. the altitude issues make training fascinating. being slightly oxygen deprived at all times makes everything even stranger, and relaxation comes easily. somehow we've become involved in the local native american religious activities. the path has taken some strange turns, as usual. The ski season ends here this weekend and its a very transitional period for the whole area. Seriously; Moy TUng + the locals, we could have some heart of darkness scenario by friday. now; without cell phones I'm going to try to encounter the mad doctor wicker. |
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| Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 |
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we're all at a hostel in taos. It cool. the place is inexplicably weird, I've never encountered the southwest rural style firsthand. On the way down from Denver we almost hit deer, elk, and we seriously almost hit some wild horses. I think I may not have ever seen stars like this in my life. |
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| Sunday, March 30th, 2008 |
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well, the mercedes made it as far as western Illinois. I was more than wiling to let the thing die there, however my mother has decided to revive the vehicle. It died in the midst of a failry dramatic ice storm. Fortunetly we were within range of iowa city and our distress call got us there within a few hours. Iowa City was a blur of ferocious haggling and finesse, and now its sunday and I'm in this rental car withh Ann, Yvette, Matt, and Julia (the crew from richmond) posting via computer with a PCS card as we drive through Omaha on our way to Taos. We will be stopping in Denver some time in the wee hours to crash for a bit, and estimate our arrival in Taos sometime tomorrow afternoon. At the point I'll be training with Moy Tung through next monday. After that I'll most probably head back to Denver, the final phase of this plan, the part where I get back to Detroit, isnt developed. Lack of communication has been kicking everyones ass however. Anyone with any suspicion at all that they should call me please do so. And please, be explicit. I'm estimating right now that my total losses due to lack of sufficient communication in the last week has got to be close to $1000. seriously. The next official adventure is the 18-20th in iowa city. We need more planning for this. BTW natalia, we had to leave your Ski's w/my mother in IC. They could stil be shipped to Taos, we couldnt fit them in the car. |
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| Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 |
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Its almost too late. my travel plan for getting out to Taos has just fallen through completely. Something else will have to be worked out tomorrow. in the mean time; seminar in iowa 5/18-5/20, the first 2 weeks of June we have Moy Tung here with a major seminar 6/6-6/8, we are seriously behind the curve at this point. I'll need to be in NYC the last week of June the Virginia Beach Event is happening the 23rd through 29th of July, we need to start making arrangements for this ASAP the 15 yr anniversary in Iowa will be "in the fall" and it will be awesome, but not terribly demanding on my end. the next omaha seminar in Nov, also not terribly demanding The next chinese new year will also be the next kwan seminar and possibly brooklyn workshop. this might be intensely demanding. |
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| Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 |
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Taos ski valley, 4 bedroom 2 bathroom with a full kitchen and multiple living room areas with fireplaces, 40 ft from the ski lift. 2 through the 7th of april. dont worry its cheap, cheaper than I could have hoped. Moy Tung will be there the whole time. Hopefully we can work some serious hookups for ski rental/lift tickets. this doesnt even touch the serious action I've been talking about, however its probably the last chance for some low-key face time with the man before things get crazy(er). |
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| Thursday, March 20th, 2008 |
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http://www.altertube.tv/view_video.p "rabbits" by David Lynch |
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| Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 |
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And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time. Theres a lot politically that causes me to dissagree with Obama. This however is one statement I've struggled to succinctly make myself again and again. I guess thats why he's running forpresidentandI'm not |
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LiveJournal for A Lover of Questions.
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