Alright, that made more sense in my head. Also, it wasn’t anywhere nearly as drastic.

At any rate, we ended up stopping by Blockbuster to pick up a rental. Yes, we have Netflix. We LOVE Netflix, but we wanted something now (or then, whatever). After going in and looking around for a bit, we found the 2-for-$20 and 4-for-$20 tables. Jackpot. We put the movies we were going to rent back on the shelves and started looking through these pre-viewed wonders. Luckily, we had time enough to search, because it was at that moment that heaven’s pipes broke and flooded the streets.

Half an hour later, when it stopped raining, we walked out with a handful of movies, including The Golden Compass, Babylon A.D., Inkheart, and some dragon documentary made by Animal Planet. (I can’t remember its name, sorry, but it was this documentary which chronicled what the evolutionary path of dragons would have been if they were real. Very cool, although it had the cinematic quality of the made-for-TV Dynotopia, which we also own, and which I’ve watched more times than I can count.)

It’s lucky for me that my quality threshold is lowered the cheaper a movie gets. While The Golden Compass, Inkheart and the dragon movie are movies I’d pay more than $5 for, Babylon A.D. isn’t. In fact, the only way I can really justify this movie being in my collection is if I think about this as a “buy 3 get 1 free” deal.

Alright, so Babylon A.D. isn’t that bad. In case you haven’t seen it, it’s a Vin Diesel (his stage name; his real name is “Weenie McWeinerton”) sci-fi movie, sort of like Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick but with less space action. (Actually, Chronicles of Riddick is one of my favorite movies, as it ties in a pretty good story with phenomenal special effects and awesome action. In fact, that’s one thing about Vin Diesel movies, they’re usually great for action. But I’m digressing.) It’s about this mercenary, Turop, who’s hired to transport this girl with huge lips and some kind of power into the U.S. Problem is that he’s considered a terrorist, and by this time North America is essentially a fortress, guarded by unmanned jets, jets easily dispatched by Turop on a snow-mobile. (I think it was a Scootie-puff Jr.)

I’d go on with the story line, but… honestly, I’m not sure where the story line went. First there were these guys fighting who look like they came out of Westside Story, then the pair, accompanied by this kung-fu expert nun, make it to New York where a mafia-style religious order starts a massive gun battle with what look like understudies for the part of Skeletor in the 1980′s He-Man movie, all of whom ride bikes. That’s before everything blows up, Turop dies so that he can live, and the Westisde Story gang dips into his brain to find where the girl ran off to.

So yeah, all in all it was a great movie. Really. It was just missing a coherent story line and a good ending. (I blame the writers.) Other than that, awesome. My favorite part? The big Coca-Cola Zero airplane that takes up about a minute of screen-time. I don’t know how much Coca-Cola paid for the spot, but they got their money’s worth, as it was easily the most memorable spot in the film: I laughed so hard and for so long I had to pause the movie. I don’t think they meant it to be quite that funny, however. The next memorable moment was when Turop shot a cute arctic bunny. Sorry, but any film in which a bunny is so hilariously shot is one I can’t take all that seriously. “Oh look, a bunny!” I said. 10 second later, I see a man, then a laser point, and suddenly rabbit brain cells, millions of them.

You’ve probably noticed how incredibly rambling this post is. Well now you know what the movie feels like. I can only recommend this movie if you like Vin Diesel movies, action, special effects, or sci-fi. Actually, for those of you looking for good sci-fi, a couple of cool technologies are featured in this film, and a few anthropological ideas are pushed, but nothing is explored in depth, which was a big disappointment I felt with this film. The concepts they touch on, of a religious order pressing towards the next level of evolution by the creation of a “miracle” combined with the levels of political instability displayed, were topics I would have loved to know more about. Alas, they surrender talk of that for the Coke Zero plane and explosions, lots of them.

In short, the movie was enjoyable to watch, though I think it’s one I’ll feature at my next “Bad Movie Party”. Yes, I’ve seen worse, but this one is good enough to enjoy and bad enough to be made fun of.

Come to think of it, maybe it was worth the $5.

• Contributors: Those who actually contribute the code to the community. They might have ethical reasons to do what they do, but they either enjoy sharing knowledge with the rest of the world, or work on a project to improve on certain skills. These are the guys who usually contribute to or run projects on the side.
• Advocates: Those who don’t code, but push the cause with their action (also known as computer show coordinators for their respective user groups.) These guys spend a good chunk of their time evangelizing open source, much like video game golfers spend much of their time exalting golf and all its wonders and glory. Usually try to cover up their inability to contribute code with their ability to blend in well with society. Sadly, many of these guys need a lesson in hygiene.
• Fans: Guys who don’t really do much for open source other than use it and recommend it to their friends. Ironically, they’ll be both the biggest and least effective word of mouth advertisers.Their main interest is “Free as in Beer”. They’re somewhere between Advocates and Users.
• Capitalists: People who use open source because it best suits their needs. Usually corporate heads fall into this category, and force their employees to become users if they’re not already one of the first three. They’re the least likely to care about the “Free” part of FOSS, and rarely know the difference between Free Software and Open Source Software.

So why did I write this? To show you what type of people you’ll be dealing with. It might be that you’re only writing software because you’re a contributor and you’re trying to help other contributors (e.g., you’re trying to fill a need). Or it might be that you’re a contributor with a dream of reaching all four categories. Or you might be a capitalist who doesn’t see the difference between Open Source and Free Software, and who doesn’t care. In any case, remember that the most successful projects start with contributors who create fans who lure in the capitalists. At last, when the capitalists are lured in, maybe–just maybe–they’ll begin to understand the true value of a contributor to the Free and Open Source Software movement.

I belong to more than a few email groups. Usually, these are for subjects I wish to learn on: psychology, health, writing, philosophy, etc. Recently I joined a particular health group because I wanted to find out more about a particular condition, one that isn’t well studied but which is being revealed as being more prominent than people once thought. I did this in order to learn, and to help others. However, the old adage “No good deed goes unpunished” proved true, as it was my helping others that cost me my ability to learn more about it. I’ll explain:

For months, I had been part of this group. I spent my time in the shadows, reading messages and learning, since there wasn’t anything I could really jump in and teach or help. Frankly, it was a bit of a relief, since I’m used to being the person who steps in and is instantly a factor in the conversation. Don’t ask me why that is, it just is. Probably because I make it a point to learn by teaching.

As I read, I learned. A lot. More than I could have ever learned by reading some web page (and I read a lot of them). More than I could have ever learned by listening to a lecture. More than I could have learned by asking a doctor during a visit. I learned about the personal struggles of some, their victories, and their frustrations. Their world became real to me, not because of knowledge, but because of emotion. I finally understood their pain, and I knew that, at least as far as I was concerned, they weren’t alone. Turns out many people with this condition are, and they’re afraid because they don’t know what life now holds in store for them.

Yet, I never pitied them. Never. I empathized, I felt for them, and I prayed. In fact, with the knowledge I’d gained in this group, I started helping others in different forums, helping them see that their diagnosis wasn’t the end of the world, just the beginning of a challenge, that there was still good to come. And it felt good when someone would come back and tell me “Listen, your information was spot on, and I’m now on the path to feeling better because I followed your advice.”

That’s a really, really good feeling. Times like these make me wonder whether perhaps I should indeed go into the medical profession. I’ve certainly considered it more than once.

A few months after I joined, a message came up in the group: one of its members was having a problem with her daughter. The girl had gone off her ADHD medications and was engaging in self-destructive behavior, causing her mom to worry and the condition to worsen.

Now it was my time to give back to the group, even though it was off-topic.

I wrote her mom in order to talk to her about Dabrowski’s theory of positive disintegration. Based on what she had described, it seemed her daughter was at Level II, spontaneous disintegration, espressed in her case by both prurient behavior (possibly due to sensual and emotional overexcitability) and self-destructive tendencies (drugs, alcohol, and very likely suicidal thoughts; possibly psychomotor and intellectual overexcitabilities). Many of these overexcitabilities often cause people to be labled as ADD or ADHD, and stuck on medication to suppress these symptoms, when in actuality it’s just the mind screaming for proper stimuli. I explained in my letter that her daughter would do well to be evaluated by someone familiar with TPD, and bore my soul as I told her, in very detailed terms, of my own experiences.

The email never made it through the filters.

Don’t get me wrong, the reason was very valid: the email was not within the scope of the group’s intent. No problem, totally understood. It was the next part of the letter that floored me.

See, it was with this letter than I introduced myself to the group. I told them that while I was not diagnosed with the particular condition, I had stuck around in order to learn. I thanked them for the knowledge given me, since I’d been able to help others with what I learned. The response I received from the moderator was essentially this: You don’t have the condition, therefore you shouldn’t be in this group. If you want to learn more and raise awareness, here’s a website.

Turns out I had seen that website before, and read it in about six minutes. It gave me a great intellectual overview of the condition, but it was devoid of all emotion, the root of all desire to learn. Then I was kicked out of the group.

I couldn’t help wondering about this, couldn’t help questioning when I should start caring. Seriously, when is it OK for me to get into learning about issues on the personal level instead of the intellectual? Should I be as selfish as most people generally are (including myself) and be concerned only with conditions which affect me directly? Too often, wealthy folks and Hollywood elites are lampooned for caring about causes only after something affects them: autism, AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis… They’re called selfish and self-serving because they didn’t put their face out for that or some other issue when they were healthy. Yet, when someone genuinely goes out of their way to get to the personal level with an issue, trying to not just learn about the issue, but also to care enough to be stirred to action, should they be shunned?

This morning I was watching the news, and a commercial came up about a walk to raise money for research into the causes of premature births. The organizer? A local news anchor whose twins were born four months early. How would she be perceived if she gave more than a passing rip had her babies been born at 9 months? Would she be seen as someone who truly cared, or seen just as another celebrity looking for a cause in order to get more of the spotlight?

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that some may fear that their suffering is being exploited for someone’s sick form of entertainment. You’re going through something completely life changing, possibly life threatening. You don’t want someone there gawking, offering nothing more than their pity, or even worse offering bad advice which makes you feel weak or like if this is somehow your fault. But do you prevent that by shunning both the good and the bad, those who would gawk as well as those who could potentially help?

I realize the answer to this is very personal, and I don’t expect there to be a universal response one way or another. Still, I can’t help wonder: if you want people to really get emotionally involved in your cause, why wouldn’t you let them see the human side of things? Do the benefits of secrecy outweigh the risks? Consider also whether you really expect people to be inspired to action by a pamphlet’s worth of information on a condition that’s little understood.

So here I am, left wondering. I still help those I can with the information I gained, but the loss of that resource was cataclysmic; sadly, I now find myself being less able to help those who come for help regarding that particular condition, not the least of reasons being because I no longer have a teacher, and frankly, I don’t have the time to do a ton of my own research. Maybe the onus is on me to go out and read up on this. (To a certain extent, I thought I had.) I haven’t seen any local support groups, so that’s out of the question. And if I’m left to be a one-man army on this, without getting any sort of personal experience, would my help do more harm than good? That strikes at the heart of my fear.

For now, all I can do is pray. Maybe I can start something, start an organization or a web group, but given I don’t have the condition, would anyone really take me seriously? Probably not, and for good reason. It reminds me of a story wherein a pig and a chicken are standing on the side of the road and see a billboard which reads “Bacon and Eggs: America’s Breakfast.” The chicken says, “Wow, isn’t it inspiring to be a part of that.” The pig responds, “Sure, it’s easy for you to say. For you it’s merely dedication. For me it’s total commitment.” The selfish passion of someone who’s in the trenches, battling the monsters themselves will always be greater than that of someone whose only passions spawn from a non-selfish desire to help. One person’s fighting for their life while another is fighting for what the perceive to be a good cause.

For now I’m only truly welcome to learn if I’m committed, instead of just dedicated, which leaves me wondering when I should start caring.

After seeing as much as we’ve seen, as as many prices as we’ve seen, I decided to walk to the local Walmart (which is in the same strip as a used furniture store and a Goodwill) to remind myself what crap looked like, and how it was priced. (This way I could get my bearings again.) Now, I know that going to Walmart is bad for your self esteem: when you go in, demons land on your shoulders and begin feeding on your soul. But walking around the store I saw signs which made me think that Walmart finally came clean, after a swift double-take. Compare the pictures and see if you can spot the similarities.

(On the left, a sign I saw all over Walmart. On the right, the Chinese flag.)

Yes, China’s prices ARE unbeatable. Thanks for telling us, Walmart! Thing is, it’s easy to be unbeatable when you artificially devalue your currency and peg it to that of your biggest potential economic competitor, thereby ensuring a price imbalance. But hey, at least Walmart’s finally being (mostly) honest as to where their loyalties lie. Has the company finally (un)officially admitted to becoming the commercial wing of the Chinese government? The signs point to yes.

As the title says, I just finished watching Happy Feet, a movie which some believe to be part of the whole global warming propaganda machine. While I didn’t exactly see where any of that really came to play in the movie, watching the film made me feel all warm and fuzzy about using Linux. Of course, the point of this review isn’t to tell you how much I love penguins or penguin-related software. The point is to tell you whether this movie gave me (and I can only presume, will give you) happy feet.

Happy Feet chronicles the story of Mumble (Elijah “Frodo” Wood), a developmentally retarded, deformed, mutant emperor penguin who, unlike other penguins, can’t sing, but instead prefers to tap dance. (Wait… penguins sing?) These penguins are apparently up to date with all the latest in pop music: the first 30 minutes of the movie consists of mostly regurgitated radio station top 40′s, strung together in a fantasia which makes them very enjoyable. Or very annoying.

Mumble, who apparently never quite makes it to puberty, eventually leaves the emperor penguin colony (not entirely by choice) and finds his way over to other penguins. Mexican penguins. Who are all smart-mouthed. And short. (Get it, because Mexicans are short! Err… what?) Of course, those penguins love his dancing, so he hangs around them instead, collecting pebbles, and once in a while torturing them with his singing.

Anyway, his new posse takes him to go see Lovelace (Robin Williams), a penguin guru with a plastic 6-pack holder around his throat. (Hurray for environmental lessons!) After that, there’s something about aliens and battling killer whales and getting to heaven… or the zoo… or something… Whatever, I don’t want to give any of it away. If I start telling you what happens then I’ll just ruin it for you, and I don’t like doing that. I’m sure you’re not too keen on it either.

Eventually Mumble, through his dancing, is able to convince the leaders of the world to stop fishing in Antarctica because they “don’t want to live in a world without [tap dancing] penguins.” (You have to listen closely to catch this line.) Also, all the other penguins learn how to tap dance.

Am I making any sense here? Probably not, but that’s the point. The movie, while incredibly entertaining and super fun to watch, completely falls apart towards the end. While I highly recommend this film for kids of all ages, I don’t recommend anyone watch past the part near the end where the humans fly with helicopters over the penguin colony. Please, for the love of Lovelace’s mystic beings, turn the movie OFF at that point! The ending takes an otherwise phenomenally entertaining movie and turns it into a total nonsensical mess which tries to cram all sorts of lessons into about three minutes. Three non-CGI minutes. With live acting. Which was best forgotten.

Anyway, that’s about it. The movie was great fun, super enjoyable, extremely entertaining, and probably something your kids (or the kid in you) would love, but it had a horrible, horrible ending. There’s a lot more to the story than what I’ve mentioned here — like the mandatory love interest and the father/mother/son reconciliation moment (Mumble’s parents are Wolverine and Poison Ivy! Err, I mean, they’re played by Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman) — but this isn’t a synopsis, it’s a quick and dirty review. Go ahead and add the movie to your Netflix queue or pick it up at Blockbuster and have an environmentally friendly popcorn night with the kids (or as in my case, with the spouse). You probably won’t regret it. Unless you watch the ending.

Babel

Genesis 11:9 — Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Babel tells the story of four separate events. One involves two Arab kids who end up shooting someone with their dad’s gun, not quite by accident, but not on purpose, either. The second involves the story of a couple who’s on vacation, trying to settle some marital difficulties. The third involves a deaf Japanese girl who’s father is being sought by the police for questioning. The fourth involves a Mexican nanny who’s been taking care of some American kids, and who wants to go to see her son’s wedding in Mexico, but is unable. The movie’s conflicts all revolve around language barriers, but emphasizes and explores how our actions can affect or be affected by others, no matter the distance or time between us, across the globe.

The film is shot in a very similar fashion to the first few episodes of the television series Lost, in that the events portrayed are disjointed and tell a story in a non-linear fashion. (I’m not talking here about jumping from one scene to another, but jumping back and forth between times as well as story lines: where an event you just saw may have happened days before the event you’re seeing now, and the next event presented may have happened before or between the events of those two scenes.) This type of story telling method is used extremely effectively in this film, and helps create a level of tension in the film which carries through to the last moments in a way that most suspense and action films dream of doing. Indeed, the film’s most tense moments had nothing to do with violence (which was almost nonexistent), but instead with how characters would act in certain situations, what choices they would make, and how those choices would affect how the film progresses, ends, and even how it starts, by changing your perception of everything you’ve just seen.

Babel is by far one of the most thought provoking films I’ve seen in years. It does a phenomenal job at taking the viewer on a tour through various points of view, and successfully gets the reader to care about and empathize (if not sympathize) with every major character in the movie by showing that things are not as black and white as they might seem when you distance yourself enough. As in real life, this film doesn’t easily distinguish between good and evil, or right and wrong. The closest thing to any sort of moral compass the film offers is between what might be foolish and what might not be, what might we wise and what may be simply serendipity, and how even good people with good intentions often make very foolish choices.

Throughout the film, I couldn’t help but think of something written by Anne Frank in her diary: “I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” Indeed, the belief that no one does evil believing what they are doing is evil is very prevalent in this film. This, however, makes the film a target for those who would think themselves wise by pronouncing that following one set of principles in some book or by adhering strictly to a particular belief system would have avoided all of this mess. While they may be right, and by following one strict set of guidelines many of these problems would have been avoided, the statement ignores the reality of human individuality and impetus (with an emphasis on “imp”) which moves every individual. Indeed, the ancient books of myth and the books of faith prevalent today all tell tales of human folly and foolishness, of strife, of growth, and ultimately redemption.

To whom would I recommend this film? Everyone whose brain and heart work, and who can step back from their own reality and look, with an open heart and without judgment, upon the various trials and tribulations of their fellow humans. I emphasize here the “without judgment” part, because it becomes very easy for a viewer with a very well developed moral compass but who is unable or unwilling to view people both as they are and as they see themselves, unable or unwilling to see their actions as they see their actions, and unable or unwilling to discard the extraneous information they’ve gained in order to see things as the characters see things to enjoy this film in a manner properly befitting the subject. Indeed, such person should avoid this and all films which successfully offer any form of moral ambiguity, for the sake of their own Socratic cave prison.

The Wife and I both agree that this film is one we’ll be adding to our collection, probably springing for whatever multi-DVD or extended edition is offered, since I’m a big fan of the documentaries and extra features. This is by far one of the best films I’ve seen in years and if you haven’t seen it yet, you owe yourself a night in which to watch it. The film contains some material which some may find objectionable (non-gratuitous nudity which actually moves the storyline, some light violence), but the film’s message is so strong that the decision to have kids under 16 watch it (with you, the adult) would be up to you. I don’t often call films “important”, but that label is certainly befitting Babel.

• Eww!
• Cool!
• Fap fap fap!

Seriously, this is it. Want more? Here’s the rundown:

The movie is basically a two hour battle scene where armies of arab fighters, samurais, orcs and ogres fall at the spears of an impenetrable army of Spartan supermen, with blood exploding from the bodies of the dead and dying like water from a balloon, blood which seeps into the ground, never to be seen again. (Seriously, where did all the blood go? The ground’s as dry as ever.) This carnage is interrupted only by intermittent scenes of sex and politics so graphic that at a few points during the film I leaned over to The Wife’s ear and asked “so, are we seeing a battle movie or a porno?” Mind you, the sex isn’t limited to us of the heterosexual persuasion: there’s some girl-on-girl action, and beautiful girl-on-deformed talking mutant squash-thing action, These, however, pale in comparison to the appearance of the homoerotic Spartan army, 300 men in superhero capes and skin-tight speedos, flexing their muscles like bodybuilders in a competition. Apparently, these Spartans did away with armor in lieu of nearly impenetrable pecs and abs so perfectly sculpted they are sure to make all but the most physically fit of us at least a little self conscious.

(To be fair, this movie was based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same name, and the movie was spectacularly true to that vision. Don’t mistake my rants with someone who thinks this movie has anything to do with actual history.)

So who’s this movie good for? If you liked the battle scenes in the Lord of the Rings movies, this film’s for you, especially if you don’t care to be burdened by a story line. (Not that the film doesn’t have one. In fact, it has a pretty good one, just not one you really have to bother with in order to enjoy the movie.) If you like watching movies based on comic books, this movie’s for you. If you like watching muscle-bound men running around, flexing their guns, and kicking ass, this movie’s definitely for you: not one of these guys would have looked out of place as an evil sci-fi lord, especially since they all looked like rejects for the role of Superman. If you like watching movies with impractical large holes in the middle of the city, then this movie’s for you, but only for the first 15 minutes or so.

And who’s this movie not good for? Unless you fit the aforementioned categories, this movie is not for you. If you’re looking for a movie to take your kids, this is definitely not it, no matter whether the guy sitting next to us with his 8 year old daughter would tell you otherwise.

Finally, did The Wife and I enjoy the film? Yes. Would we watch it again in the theater? No. Will we buy it when it comes out? Maybe, but only if we find it in the 75% off rack at the local Best Buy.

Edit: Check out this 9Rules note on 300. (“300 Offensive to Iranians?”) The best quote relating to the movie I’ve heard so far appears there:

If you’ve seen the movie you’ll understand that the main body of the movie is told from the perspective of a Spartan rallying his troops for battle. You too would exaggerate to pump up your troops.

Why else would Xerxes be a 10 foot tall beast of a metrosexual?

(H/T RightOn.)

Recently someone asked that very question in the 9Rules Notes section (Your Life’s Theme Song) and I thought that to be one I would ask you. To be fair, here’s my response:

It depends at the stage in life at which I find myself. When I was young, Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nacht Musik could have been considered my “theme song”, as could have the Hungarian Dance #5 by Johannes Brahms, What a Wonderful World by ol’ Sachmo, and Mi Viejo San Juan, which I suppose is still somewhat applicable.

Of course, if you consider my marriage, then Aerosmith’s I don’t want to miss a thing (a Country version of which was done before and I can’t for the life of me remember who it was by) and Fly me to the moon by… just about everyone.

While there are other pieces I could mention having been descriptive of me during various stage in life, I would have to say that currently that “honor” goes to Sinatra’s Young At Heart, Lee Ann Womac’s I Hope You Dance and to a certain extent Blasphemous Rumors by Depeche Mode.

(By the way, the links open to a clip of the song mentioned.)

Here’s a little extra background (not included in the thread) on each:

• Eine Kleine Nacht Musik: When I started playing violin, this was it: the song to learn. I don’t know when I first heard this song, but knew I loved it ever since, and if I had to pinpoint one reason why I started playing the violin, this would be it. After a few years of playing violin, I could finally play this song, and a few years after that I could finally play it well.
• Hungarian Dance #5: This was one I fell in love with after I started playing, and was for years my “signature piece”, the piece of music which showed of my best skills. For years, whenever anyone asked me to play for them, this is what they would hear.
• What a Wonderful World: As a kid, I watched a lot of television, especially Nickelodeon. At nights, they would give this 2 minute cartoon, about a little creature who turned on a radio, then floated down a stream in a spaceship (or something like that). This was the song that played in that cartoon. A few years later, after I got to the US, I heard this song again in a movie and finally learned that it was by Louis Armstrong. To this day, I still sing this song when I’m relaxing at home or driving down a dark road.
• Mi Viejo San Juan: The first time I heard this song it had me in tears: it was the saddest song I had ever heard. It is a song about a man who leaves Puerto Rico, vowing he’d one day come back, but never being able to make it back. When I moved to the US, for a long time, this song was all I could think about.
• I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing: A few days after I first met The Wife (at that time she was dating someone else and marriage was not even in the radar), we went to go see the movie Armagedon and it described how I’ve felt about her from the moment I met her. This was one that made a very prominent appearance during our wedding reception.
• Fly Me to the Moon: This actually became an accidental theme song. My favorite version was the version used in the closing credits of the series Neon Genesis Evangelion , but it didn’t become a “theme song” until The Wife and I were planning our wedding. The song, it seemed, followed us around everywhere. It was the song playing when we decided to start dating, and when we would go on a date, somehow this song would always end up playing: over the intercom at a store, in the radio, in a movie… you get the picture. Obviously, we’d always hear a different version — Sinatra, Torme, Harry Connick Jr., etc — but the version didn’t matter. The song did. We ended up dancing to this during the bride/groom dance (or whatever’s called) during the wedding reception. The Neon Genesis Evangelion version.
• Young At Heart: “Fairy tales can come true, it could happen to you…” I had always loved that song, but it wasn’t until recently that I truly got its meaning and realize that it applied to me. To stay young at heart means to stay innocent of things, to stay excited about life, to never close yourself to such things as love and friendship, and to never worry or give up and be willing to laugh when your dreams fall apart at the seams.
• I Hope you Dance: If you’ve heard this song, you know it’s about one thing: never being afraid to going out and doing something, even if you look foolish to others; never being afraid to follow your heart wherever it leads you; never forgetting that there’s a huge world out there, and there’s nothing you should give up on so long as you’re still breathing; and never ever ever passing up a chance to “dance” when you’ve got the chance.
• Blasphemous Rumors: (Interesting that I should be ending on this note). This song has become a bit of a theme song in that it points out how God’s machinations and control of the universe may just be part of his sense of humor. “…and when I die/I expect to find him/laughing…”

Alright, so there you have it: now it’s your turn. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, or if you just recently started reading, I’d like to know about your life’s soundtrack. Who knows, maybe I’ll grab a copy of the song(s) and maybe get to know you a little better.

P.S.
If you can, provide a link to a sound clip of the song. Amazon has sound clips for some of their CDs, so you may want to check there. Thanks.

I’m in the process now of evaluating a number of things about my life. If, in fact, Socrates was right when he stated that “a life left unexamined is a life not worth living,” then I suppose now is one of those times I’m making sure this life has been as continues to be worth living. The following BSG scene hit on a few important points for me:

Adama: It’s a hard thing to say, but it’s seems like don’t know my son any more. Same goes with the crew, the ship… I feel pretty much alone. Except maybe for you.

Boomer: *slight laugh* I wish I could come back a year and tell the other Admiral Adama about this conversation.

Adama: A year’s a long time.

Boomer: Can I ask you something… very personal?

Adama: [Silently looks at Boomer]

Boomer: Do you feel guilty about leaving the people behind on New Caprica?

Adama: [After a pause] I don’t do guilt.

Boomer: You know, a year ago, when you put me in this cell, I was at a crossroads. I sat in here for weeks just consumed with rage at all the things that had happened to me. And at some point I realized it was just guilt. I was angry at some of the choices I’d made.

Betraying my people, losing the baby…

So, I had a choice: I could either move forward or stay in the past. But the only way to move forward was to forgive myself.

I don’t think we can survive– I don’t think the fleet, Galactica, or the people on New Caprica can survive unless the man at the top finds a way to forgive himself.

Adama: [Thinking. Looks at Boomer. Pours himself and Boomer some tea. Or coffee.]

When the student is ready…

Last night, before watching the episodes, I asked The Wife to tell me what she thought my biggest weakness was. She said I tended to be too hard on myself.

While I’d never really thought about that, I immediately agreed. I, like many people, have a natural tendency — one I’ve been fighting — towards replaying the worst moments of our lives over and over, as if looking at a picture book with all of the worst pictures we’ve taken. We beat ourselves up and then expect to miraculously be able to uplift others and be positive, constructive people. While we may look for constructive criticism from others, often times we’re harder than anyone on ourselves. What’s worse is that we then try to justify it by judging ourselves by our intentions while others have no other choice but to judge us by our actions.

The fact that she me doing that wasn’t what really got to me. It was that she wasn’t the first to ever point this out. It was the fact that I already knew I did that… and I was doing it again.

… the teacher shows up.

As a side note, here’s a little (insignificant) spoiler for those of you who haven seen season 3: Major Lee Adama, the son of the Admiral who some of us hate due only to his outrageously good looks, becomes a fatty — gut, double chin… the works. At one point Admiral Adama calls him out on it, telling him, after Lee’s been whining that his pilots are working too hard, to “Get your fat ass out of here.” As a fatty, this moment kind of hurts. As a fatty who’s slimming down to non-fatty, this moment is… priceless.

What I find interesting in this scene, aside from its obvious comedic value, is how the Admiral calls out his son out for being too weak on himself, mentally and physically. Contrast that with the quote at the beginning of this post and you see where some of my internal struggles lie.

As I listen to this music I can’t help but think how important the role of movie scores is in both contemporary music and how this era will be judged, insofar as what music historians label this age. True, the age of individualism in which we live seems likely to expand, meaning that the music we hear today, especially in films, will likely be the most unified and conservative music most of us hear during our lifetimes. (Ironically, music, when you think about the global view, is more unified now than it was 200 years ago, since cultures are converging and the musical tradition of smaller cultures are either fading away or being assimilated into the popular music styles.) But when I think about it, I can’t help but wonder by which standard this era will be judged, since styles all around us, even when we narrow it down to what’s being done with an orchestra these days, diverge so much from each other. I find it interesting that quite possibly the most conservative, almost neo-romantic styles are coming out of Asia, with composers like Tan Dun leading the way.

Lately — well, within the past year, anyway — I’ve been really starting to notice movie and television show soundtracks. For years I ignored these, mostly because 9 out of 10 times the music in movies is either really bad, badly placed within the film, or both. (In television the ratio is much, much worse. Some of that stuff is just sickening.) Now, if you’re wondering what I mean by “bad”, think of the movie What Dreams May Come. Do you remember the scene where the main character, Chris (played by Robin Williams), got in the car crash, then got out of the car to see how he could help others, then ends up getting flattened himself? (If you haven’t seen the movie, don’t worry: I didn’t spoil anything for you.) The music right there is the definition of bad movie music. In fact, for the most part, all the music in that movie is mediocre at best, being entirely full of clichés and playing to the detriment of the film. Other examples can be found in just about every sci-fi and military movie and television show from the 1980′s, where rehashes of the Mars movement of Gustav Holtz’s The Planets are played over and over again, with power chords blazing. (A perfect example is the 1990′s short-lived show Space: Above and Beyond, which while enjoyable to the sci-fi crowd, tears at the ears of this musician with its laughable clichés). Thankfully, minimalism in films (especially the Phillip Glass kind) still hasn’t gotten old in films. It’s getting there, though. It’s getting there.

In short, here’s how you can tell whether a movie has good music or not: do you notice it right away? If you do, the music is probably bad. Unless the music becomes (comfortably) a part of the story, the composer hasn’t done his duty.

Conversely, more recent movies (and even some television shows, of the few that I watch) actually pay attention to the music in such a way that they make sure not to fill it with clichés, but to actually engage the listener is enjoying the music as an integral part of the moment within the film. Movies and shows like the Matrix trilogy, Unbreakable, A.I., Firefly — and to a certain extent Battlestar Galactica, the Star Wars series, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy — are all generally good examples of this aspect of film music. (I would include the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the main list, but the songs at the end of the second and third films didn’t quite fit the rest of the music in the film, or the film itself, for that matter. And yes, they were out of place enough to be memorable in the not-so-good way.)

Note: I hesitate to include films like 8 Mile, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? simply because I’m trying to limit the conversation to the orchestral music in films, as well as films in which the music isn’t the main focus (ie. films about music or musicals, even though musicals are an important part in this conversation: so sue me).

The level at which I’ve been paying attention to soundtracks these days easily outstrips the level of my engagement in the movie music scene while I was in college. This, of course, was to my detriment, since I was working on my BM in music composition. (Of course, what I wanted was to do music for video games, but one would have led to the other, I guess. Maybe I really should have gone to Full Sail.) Because of this recent interest, lately I have been looking around in Amazon in order to buy some these soundtracks. I already have a few of the ones I like, such as the soundtracks to The Matrix trilogy and I Am Sam, but I’m also looking to acquire soundtracks by the likes of John Williams and Hans Zimmer, instead of just Don Davis in collaboration with Rob Dougan and Juno Reactor. At this rate, I suspect the names of composers with scores as memorable as those in many of the Hitchcock films (Bernard Hermann, for example) will soon become rather familiar to me. This, of course, peaks my curiosity once more, insofar as music composition is concerned. Should I start writing music again?

(For the record — no pun intended — most of the music I wrote in the past was for smaller groups: a couple of voices, piano and guitar; a string quintet; a viola trio. I think this had more to do with the availability of musicians than anything else. Needless to say that if you can’t find a musician in a music school, you’re probably in dire need to networking skills. God only knows how badly I needed them.)

All of this newfound attention has been due to my listening to the online radio station StreamingSoundtracks.com, which plays soundtracks from all kinds of films. If you’re interested in learning more about yet another aspect of your movie, check out the station. (You know, I never understood why such little attention was paid in the “extras” disk in most DVD sets to the music scores. Really, it’s a shame, since the music is such an important aspect of films.)

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite soundtracks. Some of these I own, some I’m simply waiting to acquire. I’ve linked to their Amazon page since you can get a taste of what’s there. (If you scroll down about half way through the page, most have 30-second clips you can listen to and get a taste of.

• The Matrix: Original Motion Picture Score
• The Animatrix: The Album
• The Matrix Reloaded
• Matrix Revolutions (Score)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (for the full score, check out The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring – The Complete Recordings)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (for the full score, check out The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – The Complete Recordings)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (I wasn’t able to find a “complete collection” to this one. If you do, drop me a line.)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
• Firefly (Original Television Soundtrack)
• Battlestar Galactica: Season 2
• Battlestar Galactica: Season One
• Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
• Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
• The Incredibles (Score)

By the way, I had mentioned Juno Reactor and Rob Dougan before, and couldn’t finish this up without pointing out their CD, Labyrinth. No, it’s not a soundtracks, but it has a couple of the pieces I find most appealing in the Matrix soundtracks (Navras and Mona Lisa Overdrive), plus a few more which are simply incredible. Definitely check it out.

Alright, I’m at an end here. I know almost everything I mentioned here is either sci-fi or fantasy. Sorry about that. Call me an ultrageek if you’d like, I don’t care. Still, if you have any recommendations in terms of soundtracks, I’d like to hear them. (As you can probably tell, I’m interested in the orchestral soundtracks, but any good soundtrack recommendation is welcome.) I’ll look around in my movie collection and update this list a bit later.

I spend a good amount of time — a really, obscenely good amount of time — listening to the Jpop stations in Shoutcast and other services. (JPopSuki TV being my biggest source of J-pop music videos.) Artists like Morning Musume, Sakamoto Maaya, and Utada Hikaru have become to me what 50 Cent, Trisha Yearwood, and Dave Matthews are to most everyone else around here. (Not that Morning Musume, a collection of teen-aged Japanese girls singing happy pop songs, sounds anything like 50 Cent, a 30-something muscle-bound black guy rapping about inner-city problems, but that’s beside the point.) Eventually, this got me wondering if there are any Japanese pop(ish) artists planning to tour the US any time soon.

(FYI: “Musume” means “Daughter.” Frankly, I don’t know what “Morning Daughter” is supposed to mean, but I think this qualifies as one of these cultural things you’ve just got to be there to understand.)

Mind you, I’d expect tickets to be fairly pricey, at least if concerts around here are any indication, but frankly I’d love to see one of these bands live. The funny part is that other than the local orchestra and small performance groups, I don’t really go to concerts. (Unless it’s a punk rock band in some park somewhere.)

I guess the question is, when did I start listening to J-pop, and why do I prefer it over Pop music from the west? (Daing it, Mana, why did you have to give me those Japanese music CD’s?!)

One answer: It’s a fad; the Japanese language (at least in the US) is mostly a fad. (I’ve wanted to learn Japanese since I was 6, when my uncle would go to business trips, but that’s beside the point.) And I can’t understand what they’re saying so it sounds more intellectual than American or British music. It’s not, and I know it, but it’s in another language, one I can’t understand, so it’s cool and mysterious. (Why don’t I put a few more commas there: ,,,,,,,,,,,,,. Ok, now it feels complete.) To be honest, if it was in English, I probably really wouldn’t like listening to most of this stuff.

Except, of course, Morning Musume, Ayumi Hamasaki, Maaya Sakamoto. Oh, and Utada Hikaru; she’s a definite.

Heck, while I’m at it, maybe even Koda Kumi. This one mostly because I used to have a cat named “Koda.” This was before I knew Koda was a person’s name, apparently. As a side note, at that time there was a store called “Coda”, and although wanted to name my cat after the music symbol “coda” as in “Dal Segno al Coda,” everyone thought I named it after the store. That annoyed me, since everyone then thought I really liked that store (I actually hated it), so I named my cat with a “K” instead of a “C.” But I digress…

…to the point of Alzheimer’s.

The point of this story is simple: I’d like to see a Japanese artist touring the US. Miami and Orlando are big enough venues; I don’t see why they couldn’t make it all the way out here. Well, other than market share. I’m sure I can scrounge up enough Japanese-language students who want extra credit for this to happen, though.

Edit: I just saw the video “Hot Stuff” by Koda Kumi. She’s off my list. Too much Lil’ Kim. The spirit of my dead cat is not pleased.

If you haven’t heard about the movie, it seems to be doing rather well. I am not too familiar with the storyline, but I believe it is about a man and his son who are overcoming life’s obstacles after having suffered some kind of loss. I really can’t get any more specific (or generic) than that.

Now since I haven’t seen that movie, I can’t write about the impression the father made upon the son in his ability to always look ahead and set an example for the young one to follow. Instead I shall talk about the movie I did see when this one became unavailable the first time: Rocky Balboa.

Now don’t consider this a review so much as it is a commentary on some of the lessons brought about from this movie. I’ll try and keep the spoilers down to a minimum but will give some warning if I reveal something crucial to the plot. Though to be honest a lot of the movie was rather predictable. The beauty of it all was that it’s this little bit of predictability that further enhanced the viewing experience.

I will start out by saying that this was a far more satisfying conclusion to the Rocky series than the fifth movie. Something about the fifth one just seemed sad and depressing despite the ending. When Rocky Balboa ended however, I couldn’t help but feel that the series had been put to rest in a classy way and stayed true to the Rocky image.

One of the interesting dynamics that appeared in the movie was the ever developing relationship with Rocky’s son. Now here is a fair warning. Below this point the article will have scattered spoilers. If you haven’t seen the Rocky movies and wish it all to remain a surprise, then just scroll to the bottom and write a comment about what a fantastic article I wrote. Come on, spread the love.

There have been many great men in our history who have done things that were nothing short of extraordinary. However what of their children? Have the mother and father cast such a great shadow that the child cannot hope but to only measure themselves against their parent’s peak? While it wasn’t the main focus of the Rocky movie, it certainly did play a role in it.

When the father is a great businessman who has affected many lives, the eldest child often feels that it is their duty to follow and build upon the legacy left behind. Yet often times it is still true that the eldest feel they cannot compare and thus pursue a different walk of life altogether.

Now in this movie the son of Rocky decided to have what looks like your average humdrum job working at a firm he could care less about. The dissatisfaction upon his face regarding the work was rather obvious. But even more obvious than that was how distraught the son felt about living in his father’s shadow. Rocky Balboa remained a respected man of the city even after he lost his money and retired from his profession while the son was merely nothing more than ‘the son of Rocky.’

In a previous article I mentioned how easy it was to blame ones problems on someone else and use them as the scapegoat for their ever growing misery. I was pleasantly surprised when this movie developed a sub-theme around this topic.

A conversation come up when Rocky’s son blamed Rocky for all the problems and inadequacy he felt in his life. It even went so far that the son called Rocky an embarrassment for pursuing his passion at such an old age and because of it, it was hurting the son’s life. What happened next inspired me for days to come. I will post a quote from the movie that truly got me thinking and had inspired me. It has become the topic of discussion with my visiting family members and so I thought it would great an interesting discussion here.

Now before I post it, here is another spoiler warning. If you didn’t believe me the first time, you should believe me here lest I spoil the dramatic climax of this conversation. Seriously, if you don’t want me to ruin it, stop reading. Close your eyes and open them again when I tell you to.

“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!”

Wow. It gets me every time. Personally I think it is true. No matter what you do and who you are, life is always going to come at you with full force and fury. This phrase reinforced my belief that you cannot change the events that brought you to your present course of life but you can control your attitude and response to them.

Sadly I think too many people believe what they have is the best that they deserve. For myself at least I know this is not the case. I can’t tell you why. I have no witty response or joke to explain my confidence in this manner, I just know something better is there waiting for me. I just have to work towards it.

My favorite part of this particular quote is “But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done”

The reason for that is so many people tell you to get back on the horse after falling down. I find that to be a dangerous and incomplete quote. You can get back on the horse and never do more than just sit on it or perhaps take it for a little gallop since you are still held back by your own fear. But the point I think Rocky was trying to get across is that when you get back on the horse, you have to fly like the wind and truly prove to yourself that your mind holds no limitations set by your own fears. In my opinion these are the people who truly think. But my opinion only matters so much.

Usually when I want other people’s opinion I give it to them, but in this case I shall ask for it. Is this how you view winning? Do you feel that not everyone who stands back up ever lives up to their full potential? Do the children of great men truly have bigger shoes to fill or just a different set of challenges to fill? Enquiring minds want to know what you think. Mainly mine.

By the way, for those of you who have closed your eyes, now would be a good time to open them.

This is a trailer for the Dixie Chicks’ new documentary, Shut Up & Sing, which chronicles the hostile and sometimes threatening conduct directed towards the Dixie Chicks after one of the group’s members criticized President Bush during a 2003 concert. It even features John McCain at his best. (You know, when he still had a backbone and still fought against torture instead of condoning the administration use of it in interrogations.)

Still the biggest problem with the Chicks was that their statement came out at a time when the people in the US were still buying the WMD line with Iraq (you know, at about the time it became popular to hate the French for disagreeing with us) after they had just taken the bait for invading in Iraq, hook, line, and sinker. The strongest support for this, of course, came from the same crowd that made up most of their fan-base. Needless to say, it offended more than a few people, so while the freedom of speech which they were exercising — as is their fundamental right to do so — is fine and dandy, that freedom of speech doesn’t also entail freedom from consequence (so long as it’s not the government doing it). If your fans love Bush and his war and you go speak against him, then you better be ready for the fallout.

This whole thing reminds me of the saying “I don’t agree with a word you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” I wonder if any of the people who protested against them ever uttered those words. Probably not. It also reminds me of the quote by Hermann Goerig, Hitler’s Reich-Marshall at the Nuremberg Trials after WWII:

Naturally the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.

(Emphasis added to specify which parts I was reminded of the most.)

Let freedom ring, indeed. Personally, what I’d like to know is how you reading this felt at the time this was said versus how you feel now. As for me, while I didn’t agree with the reasons for the invasion — I always felt them to be circumstantial at best — I believed that we wouldn’t go out and invade a country, risking American lives, unless it was absolutely necessary. (For example, Afghanistan was, I still feel, a necessary war.) In other words, I believed in Bush, Powell, Rice, and even the ever-so-creepy Cheney. I didn’t agree at the time with what the Dixie Chicks said — I thought they said it for the wrong reasons, out of trying to be Hollywood-chic without going over there and becoming human shields for Sadam — but I knew they had a right to say whatever they wanted to, just as I had a right to not like them for it. I can’t really say anything here other than I was on the wrong side, fooled like every other American and willing to allow things I wouldn’t in the specter of 9/11. (This is why I now fight so hard against the fear-mongering the Republicans are doing and the ignorance it preys upon.) While I didn’t think we were being told everything, the fact that Colin Powell was in front of the United Nations making the case for this was enough for me to think “Well, I guess if Powell says it, there must be a real threat.” Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.

(Props to CrooksAndLiars.com.)

By the way, this documentary is only being shown (as far as I know) in New York and L.A. Too bad I only live close to this backwards little podunk town, Miami. I wish we gots them big city girl documentaries here once in a while, instead of the incredibly crappy What the Bleep Do We Know About Quantum Physics which qualifies as quite possibly the Worst. Propaganda-posing-as-a-Documentary. Ever. I would’ve liked to have gone see it.

If you haven’t seen the video, you can catch it over at Weird Al’s MySpace page. (If you haven’t been to a MySpace page, you’ll want to stop the player which automatically starts up. Scroll down a bit on the page, just past the Straight Outta Lynwood picture, and click the Play button on the first video player.) It’s hands down one of his best songs ever, since it’s not just funny, but actually really good. If you liked Amish Paradise you’ll definitely love this, which all by itself pretty much pwns anything in his previous CD, Poodle Hat.

Anyway, go and watch it, then vote for him, capiche?

By the way, if you like the video, and you support artists who arent self righteous and pompass about their celebrity status, grab yourself a copy of the Straight Outta Lynwood CD. After all there aren’t too many artists that will go as far out of their way for their audience as this guy will. Might as well vote with your dollars, right?

Finally, I’ve decided to put this video up for all of you thinking of not buying this CD, instead choosing to go the LimeWire or Gnutella route. Enjoy.

Edit: I didn’t know this before, but MySpace gives you the code to put the video on a Web page (like, say, this one). Here’s the White and Nerdy video. Still, head over to Weird Al’s MySpace site to listen to a few more of his songs. And remember, BUY THIS CD (using this link, please).

Searching for Free Music with Google: Using this page, look for any artist or any song and with the help of a special a Google search query, this site may well just find it for you. Heck, I even found stuff by Sun Yan Zi, which is almost impossible to come by in this side of the world.

Strangest grammatically correct English sentence: Really, if you’re into grammar and the weirdness of the English language then you’ll love this short article on the strangest grammatically correct sentence in English. After reading that, I thought of my own: “Dogs dogs dog dog dogs dogs dog,” which translates to “Dogs other dogs chase, chase dogs other dogs chase.” Can you come up with others?

Drivers! Glorious Windows Drivers!: There’s nothing I hate more about software than having to find drivers. The problem is especially bad if you’re using Windows, since the OS is pretty much useless unless you have the drivers needed for it to work properly with your computer. (In Linux this isn’t much of a problem.) Anyway, if you’re stuck for drivers, this site may just have what you need.

Hope, Despair and Memory: An essay by Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel discusses why for him, hope without memory is like memory without hope. “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” This essay is especially powerful given recent world events.

Ubuntu System on a Memory Drive: The coolest thing about CD-based Linux distributions is the fact that you can have your Linux distro just about anywhere. The bad part is that with those distros, you really can’t save anything so you’re pretty much relegated to single session computing. Sure, you can set up printers, have programs load up at lightning speed, and even download stuff off the Web. But if you’re the type to tote your OS around on a CD for use in different places, you’re also probably the type that likes to customize his environment, and that’s where the problem is: one reboot and it’s all over. Well now, if you use Ubuntu, you can save your system settings (and other items) on a memory drive! Just plug this baby in and you have YOUR computer with YOUR stuff back, with just a CD and a memory card. How cool is that?!

Alan Watts MP3′s and Podcasts: If you enjoy eastern philosophy, but don’t have the time to read a bunch of texts, then the downloadable Alan Watts lessons are definitely for you. If you know who Watts is you’ll know the value of these recordings. If you’ve never heard of the guy, click on one of the links and find out a bit about him.

Online Game: Proximity: This game’s pretty simple: Place your pieces in such a way as to make most of the board yours. What gets complicated is the strategy involved in order to make it happen. Very addicting, fun game.