Wisdom (and sometimes the cereal guy)

7.10.23

5.10.23

New! High Chaparral Flavor!!

b1-66er: "Amazon MMO Finally Adds Horses, Skyrockets In Popularity"

Special K: Tasty.

3.10.23

Spin the top

b1-66er: Awake after a 75 minute nap.

Ended with a dream where I had woken up and then meditated.

b1-67er: You're right on the edge of inception.

1.10.23

MIssing U - a photo essay

The Dear Hunter in-and-around Tawas and Oscoda

used by permission}

Descriptive Marbeling

b1-66er: Be sure to at least watch the opening video as well as the last one...

The use of the dome as projection is superlative. It's remarkable how good landscapes look on "the screen."

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/u2-sphere-opening-concert-las-vegas-1234836122/

•••

entropy Dave:

Thanks for sending this, it was interesting to see. I particularly liked the optical illusion they created in which it looked as if the concrete segments of the sphere were warping and letting light in through cracks. The still of the quasi-Bosch ceiling of birds, fish and asps was extremely impressive and I am sure would have been quite a spectacle to those in person. Similarly, the scope for 16k-resolution panoramas on the spherical surface made for some remarkable distortions of perceived space.

Another thing that struck me immediately from years of concert-going was how the lighting was done. Gone was the framing of the space by an overhead lighting rig. That completely changed the way you saw the band, no longer enclosed in a presentational frame. (Even outdoor venues with their rectangular backdrops do not achieve this.) Immediately I thought, this would be even better as a venue for a play than for a band. That in turn led me to notice how spare the stage was, with no amps, no monitors (well, two little ones) and almost no gear. They even had the drummer in a shower cubicle--the likely effects on the acoustics of the drums filled me with scepticism. This had to mean the audio had a different quality than a normal concert with its walls of speakers. (It reminds me of seeing Iron Maiden in 1985 when they had assembled the loudest audio system ever--225,000 watts--and the ambient vibration was so great that the music was like a series of footnotes to fluctuating cacophony.)

Second, the thing with which I am most struck when I see any public spectacle nowadays is the way people hold their phones up. It seemed as if fully one third of the audience were holding up their phones to record. This image is itself the mottled skin that marks a symptom of a sickness in our 21st-century consciousness.

Third, when they flashed up the slogan, "Everything you know is wrong.," I almost horked my coffee. That is some smug shit. In that moment, the collusion between band and audience was so great and so squalid that had I been there I would have immediately felt the need to immolate myself with hand sanitiser. Even now I feel a tide of expletives rising in my throat. Loathing to the third power would go some way to saying how I feel.

I love Achtung, Baby and I remembered how much I enjoyed the deliberately dirty production. It seemed to me a real advance on Unforgettable Fire and the Joshua Tree which, while catchy, seemed like deposits in a 401k. I try only to listen to songs from those albums live on Rattle and Hum. I'm curious as to how the performance sounded, not because of the venue, but because of the band. I wasn't feeling much in the videos in that regard. My worry was that the overall experience--disregarding the social element--was of audiophile headphones within an Apple Vision Pro-like curated visual experience. If that were right, it would be interesting to determine how much of that is a consequence of the venue and how much the band. Again, if I'm on the right track with the limitations, then the kinds of acts they can host may be limited. It strikes me that Springsteen and the E Street Band on that stage would be a joke, no matter how much effluent flowing through Jersey rivers you put on screen. Kraftwerk or Philip Glass or Grimes all seem like home runs. Celine Dion, that could work. Oddly though, not Taylor Swift for example.

30.9.23

Drips of Purpose

The Accomplice: <pix, Burbank, CA>

Used by permission)

28.9.23

The purpose of your matter

b1-66er: This is going to end up being a big deal for me, personally...

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/27/well/mind/mental-health-mattering-self-esteem.html

... for sure it was a major contributing factor to my dad committing suicide.

Mom also had a focus on it after pandemic began.

The Accomplice: I've been in an exploratory mode in a similar direction, but focusing on the term "purpose." That's a Blue Zone term. It's close to "mattering" but not quite the same? Or, at least how I'm digging it up...

....I think "purpose" doesn't necessarily mean altruistic interactions with other humans. Or mattering to them? I think it means a sense of self and focus on something you enjoy and/or are good at? So, writing can be a purpose. Staying in touch with friends by phone can be a purpose. Building a comfortable home life can be a purpose...

One shouldn't have one's worth and/or longevity relying on other humans? (Or, I guess, for larger society to rely on a specific human?)¹

I'm focusing on my own interpretation or the concept of "purpose" (but know full-well that community and friendship is also something important and that I love people and "matter" to a few choice individuals.)

So, yeah. I'm thinking about this stuff.

b1: Yes.

I think you've hit a key thing: The personal description/definition of how you internally view it.

(This is that meditation concept of Present Mindfulness ... That is: what actually is happening v. your perception of it.)

¹ (Ed: this paragraph originally had a 'typo of mission,' but TA couldn't immediately recall what she said. The addition was made without reading the broader context.)