Stuff you LOVE, baby

[Syna]

Oh Ron Swanson XD I think that made my life.

[tushantin]

My Youtube Channel's got a now look!

Yes, that's Crono in the background. And Falco / Flea.

[tushantin]

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die

This is a great example of "everything happens for a reason": if life throws a brick at you, don't give up and don't lose faith. Then some day when your efforts take you to a new destination you'll look back at the brick and be glad that it did, because if the incident didn't happen you wouldn't be there in the first place.

It's all about climbing the debris that fate puts in your way. It's all about living your life, seeking your dream, and living like there's no tomorrow. And when you look back yesterday that was your best, you decide to become a better person today than you were yesterday.

<----- Whyyyyy does he look like my late grandpa? (Though he doesn't sound like him)

[Sajainta]

Almost all of my friends here in [big city] are Doctor Who fans and even though I constantly heard them gush over it (as well as hearing people gush over it on here), I never really had a desire to watch the show.

Last Monday night, D and I found the last five seasons on Netflix and D decided to watch an episode of Season 1 and I decided to watch it with him.  Soon after that he went to bed I thought "What the hell, I'll watch some more."  I started with Season 2 'cuz David Tennant is hot (sorry Ninth Doctor).  I ended up watching about eight episodes in a row.

Because Doctor Who is like crack.

I then made it my personal goal to watch every single season so that I could watch the premiere with my friends this past Saturday.  D said I was crazy.

But I did it, because I'm amazing and I win at life and I am an absolute nutcase.  I watched almost every episode from Seasons 2, 3, and 4 and then every episode of Season 5.  (THANK YOU NETFLIX).  I then watched Season 6 online all on Friday night / early Saturday morning.

Basically...I watched five seasons of a television show in just over four days.

So yeah.  I'm officially a fan.  If that doesn't make me a crazy fangirl, I don't know what does.  Like I said on Facebook, you finally converted me Thought.  It took about two years, but you finally converted me.

In summation:: I love Doctor Who.  Whovian 4 lyfe.

[tushantin]

Because Doctor Who is like crack.

I was gonna make a "crack" joke here, but I'm not sure so sure. You are right!

So yeah.  I'm officially a fan.  If that doesn't make me a crazy fangirl, I don't know what does.  Like I said on Facebook, you finally converted me Thought.  It took about two years, but you finally converted me.

8D Time for Act 2!

From the makers of Doctor Who, comes tale so radical, so better and thrilling, it is timeless. The immortal hero and epitome of justice, who's existence thrived on challenging the gruesome evils of the world, and a friend without whom that very hero may have been denied humanity. An extraordinary adventure that defined the powers of mankind and carved the world into something better, bringing victims to justice and facing gruesome, sinister villains, he was but one man who sought answers where truth had a price no sane person would pay. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman,...

...the greatest detective the world has ever seen...

[youtube]m0av4se_430[/youtube]

.... Yeah, I can't wait for Season 2.   Though I really wish John Simm would play Moriarty instead (The Master was based on Moriarty anywhos).

[Sajainta]

Yup, I saw the first season of that show too.  Yay Netflix.

[Mr Bekkler]

The one thing I don't love about that brilliant show: There are only 3 episodes. But each episode is its own feature-length film so I can't complain too much.

[Syna]

God, it makes me want to go back in time to like 1979, pick up a De Lorean as soon as manufacture has begun around a couple years from then, and drive into the night clothed in the classiest of insane 80s style towards a synthpop rave. I would meet Prince during his absolute prime and absolutely thrive on the culture. I would satisfy every inkling of nostalgia, right down to enjoying how TV used to be grainier. And I'd get to experience again life before perpetual connectivity and cell phones, as horrifying as that might be now.

Ahhhh, this is also my dream, I think o_o Now that I think about it, most of the music I love the most - post-punk, punk, New Wave, and even (don't tell anybody!) "goth" type stuff like the Cure, the beginnings of industrial, and hell yeah Prince - comes from 80s subcultures. It's so easy to idolize stuff like that when what we're stuck with a youth subculture too debt-laden to revolt, and dead set, it seems, on not *being anything* while still being something extremely boring (thanks, hipsters).

More than once, I've used the example of 80s fantasy to illustrate what I don't like about modern fantasy: 80s fantasy is self-referential and extremely silly, but it also has this capacity to take itself seriously in spite of all of that, whereas modern fantasy has this need to prove itself as REALLY REALLY REALISTIC AND REAL with lots of jump cuts and grit. 80s fantasy has no self-consciousness about that at all; it shamelessly is all about ~wonder~ and whimsicality.  

I just really love how uninhibited we seemed to be. So many music videos, for instance, look so goofy to us because they just cheerfully do and wear whatever looks cool to them. (Like the Eye of the Tiger video. I watched that for the first time and laughed at how the freaking drummer is wearing the most dorktastic, huge glasses AND A WHITE SWEATER. In the EYE OF THE TIGER video. And those ridiculous Prince videos when they first started using green screen..)

[Shee]

Exhausted.  Crazy day, multiple auditions, first of which was for Shameless.  It was on the Warner Bros lot which for me was a treat.  Was absolutely the lost asshole for a good 90 seconds, and contemplated wandering in through the "artists' entrance" door for Ellen DeGeneres talk show, but opted out.  Hilarious mix of people but a small group (yikes!), and the sides we read from contained some awfully foul shit.  In a funny way though.  Went well enough, so let's see. 

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

God, it makes me want to go back in time to like 1979, pick up a De Lorean as soon as manufacture has begun around a couple years from then, and drive into the night clothed in the classiest of insane 80s style towards a synthpop rave. I would meet Prince during his absolute prime and absolutely thrive on the culture. I would satisfy every inkling of nostalgia, right down to enjoying how TV used to be grainier. And I'd get to experience again life before perpetual connectivity and cell phones, as horrifying as that might be now.

And then it would end. It would only last a few years, and then time would catch up to you. Alas! Time catches us all. Always.

[tushantin]

Ah, Ganesh is back. The Lord of Wisdom, Universal Love and Prosperity. Festivals held all over the country in all the glory and spirit it can muster, bhajans held and pooja's commenced, while the children plead to their parent, "I wanna go see the Lord too! Please, mommy!"

It's been a while since I went out to actually enjoy the festival deep into the city; when I was a kid, mom and dad used to take me and bro all over the place to subliminal admiration beyond reality, a world of art, music, culture and classics, where... well, it's gonna take me a whole day to describe it. But I tell ya: free sweets! 8D It's the actual reason us kids usually stood for the Pooja without understanding what the hell it meant, coz we got to stuff our faces with sweets. Then Mom told me what the pooja signified. That's when my sincerity towards the festival grew.

Thing is, mom yearns to go to the city again, but dad's too busy and my bro won't come unless his friends do (his friends are stuck playing DOTA... LOL). So I vow that this year, before I leave for Aus, I'll show her around the city, to the Ganesh Festival, and thank her for taking good care of us, loving us, putting up with our relentless assholery, and giving bro and me so much freedom that no other mother ever would.

I may not be a believer of personal Gods like Ganesha, but I do respect and idolize the spirit of this God as a symbol for society's collective wisdom, prosperity, empathy and good-will. To me, my parents are my universe; my mother and father are my true Gods, and all my life and consciousness came from them.

[tushantin]

[youtube]qF6Awr38GLQ[/youtube]
Nothing to say. This music speaks everything.

[ZeaLitY]

Reading about Sikhism. So many religions and philosophies I've studied all seem to be attached to some form of oblivion. The Stoic Sage reduces emotion in pursuit of virtue; the Buddhist or Zen master abandons attachments and strives to embrace emptiness, lacking concepts or perspectives; the Hindu connects Brahman and atman, realizing the unreality of this life; the archetypal ascetic in human tradition abandons common life and lives in poverty and seclusion. (Of course, these are all generalizations that don't cover nuances or the innumerable sects and differences of doctrine.)

It's hard to accept that as any kind of victory, or end. I feel like I always go back to absurdism. Though this universe is meaningless; though there are no Gods or supernatural forces; though basic human psychology involves attachments, pleasures, and pains, I consider victory much like Camus's absurd hero. I don't want to withdraw from life, achieve some kind of inner tranquility or Nirvana, and then die with no emotions but a slight, happy peacefulness. There are absurd wars to be won; there's a love to be cultivated, a path to be hiked, a poem to be written, a species to be enhanced, and a planet to be illuminated. It is no doubt healthy to build a true appreciation for the absurdity of the human condition, and there's a lot of ideas about that in Zen and so on. But I want to keep going. Victory just doesn't seem like withdrawal.

I can really see how it was an attractive option in history, though, when life was even more of a constant struggle and mortality was much, much higher. Becoming a monk probably had incredibly more allure back then. I'm thankful to be living in an age where all the collected extant philosophies of the world are accessible with a few hand motions.

Sikhism already seems pretty cool, though, for renouncing asceticism or other such popular ideas about mystics as a way to self-realization. (Still, all religions and supernatural claims are ultimately specious.) I wish I had more time to study this all. This lull in the job-hunting process has let me fulfill in part my goal of being more worldly by studying a lot of histories and philosophies in brief. I wish I had time to go further, but there are too many absurd triumphs in wait. I know the Western concept of happiness is somewhat flawed (whether in human psychology or flawed attitudes like the Christian heaven), but I guess I just see more happiness in staying in the game and riding the ups and downs with a healthy attitude like that of Epicurus to moderate the bumps.

[tushantin]

It's hard to accept that as any kind of victory, or end.

Dude, there was never "victory" (I don't know about "end") in the first place, not science not religion (or at least the religion I'm familiar with). The "victory" factor is an illusion most people chase after for the sake of defined purpose; not that it's bad in any way, but yes, "victory" is absurd as what the practitioners strive not to win anything but simply being a better, capable person, even though their practices are found on certain goals. Although clarify on what you mean by it and we can discuss further.

I don't want to withdraw from life, achieve some kind of inner tranquility or Nirvana,...

That's all well and good, but how do you define Nirvana? Oh, and for my own personal amusement, how do you pronounce it?

...and then die with no emotions but a slight, happy peacefulness.

There are absurd wars to be won; there's a love to be cultivated, a path to be hiked, a poem to be wrote, a species to be enhanced, and a planet to be illuminated. It is no doubt healthy to build a true appreciation for the absurdity of the human condition...

Note: A poem to be written.

Becoming a monk probably had incredibly more allure back then.

Indeed. The definitions for Monk, Priest, Guru, Teacher, Elder, etc. were interchangeable back then. These monks and sages weren't really bullshiters; rather they were brilliant people who mastered science, art, philosophy and survival. There's a good reason why Sage often goes well with the term Wise, even today. But when certain Pakhandi Babas (False Prophets) appeared in the equation, all hell broke lose and many tried to separate science from art and religion. The progress was a good choice, though.

I know the Western concept of happiness is somewhat flawed (whether in human psychology or flawed attitudes like the Christian heaven)...

It's neither. The source of that flaw is in the ill-structured English language.  Ah, hell, it's our job as writers to fix it, like Shakespeare and others did.

...but I guess I just see more happiness in staying in the game and riding the ups and downs with a healthy attitude like that of Epicurus to moderate the bumps.

You're getting closer to the truth by the minute. When you get to it, I'll gladly welcome you.

Good luck on your job search, self-development and World development! May the force of Torvalds, Vidocq, Augustus and Mitsuda be with you!.

[Syna]

I want to sing a small paean to Burner Culture: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Burning_Man. I just returned from a regional burn, and while it was on many levels a trying experience - burns are always very intense, and that means miserable as well as ecstatic - it was utterly worthwhile.

There's just something about the fact that these people go out in the middle of nowhere and build a this city where nothing is sold and cultural conventions are dispensed of with such ease, and where people can commit themselves to the mutual goal of play and art. And knowing it's completely transient. I love that it's an intentional community created around concepts designed to preserve the liberty and freedom of expression, and that there is a strong countercultural philosophy behind it, without getting so abstract that it's inapplicable: in the end it's all about the experience itself, what you do, what your projects offer the community, how much fun you have and what you learn. No one preaches: the proof of the principles are right there.

It's so easy for people to feel like they've made a difference there, artistically and practically. If you're an artist, you have hundreds of people in an open frame of mind to experience your art. If you're not an artist, you can make breakfast tacos one morning and people will be imminently grateful. Everyone can and must contribute in some way, and in our consumerist culture it's very powerful how immediate your contributions are (you see the faces of the people looking at your art, or eating your food), how necessary and how gratifying it is. 

It's pretty culturally uniform in some ways; a lot of it is just white hippie types (and ravers... augh). But I love that people of all skillsets do go there and learn to work together. I love that it reminds you that given the right environment, people can and will help each other without question, take strange behavior in stride, celebrate the individuality of others, and play tag with strangers like they did as kids.  I've never been to Burning Man itself, and I've read a number of powerful critiques of what goes on there. But I believe there's something hopeful and constructive about the subculture and I hope that we can create less culturally specific events that bring a similar environment to a broader range of people.

Also: I have also started learning a bit about the Sikhs, and I must say, for their uncompromising position, devotion to humanity, lack of exclusivity, and commitment to being a faith of action, they are motherfucking badasses. I can't believe their males transcended cultural norms to the point where they believed in the full equality of females, and were so devoted to this that they _codified it as part of their religion_. I'm sure Sikhs have done shitty things, but man. That's inspiring.