"Art offered as a consumer commodity rather than as a means of training perception is as ludicrous and snobbish as always." - Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
I'm going to play shoreline 2006, and you're invited.
The following is to be an unscholorly account of a few things I think I know. Plato belived in a world of ideas. A perfect world where a perfect idea of a cat, a tree, a chair, and a triangle exist. These perfect ideas were created by God. The things that we have in our visible world, all the cats and trees and chairs are merely imperfect copies of objects which appear in the world of ideas.
The following is from Bertrand Russell's The History of Western Philosophy.
Death, says Socrates, is the separation of soul and body. Here we come upon Plato's dualism: between reality and appearace, ideas and sensible objects, reason and sense-perception, soul and body. These pairs are connected: the first in each pair is superior to the second both in reality and in goodness. Christianity adopted this doctrine in part, but never wholly. there were two obstacles. The first was that the creation of the visible world, if Plato was right, must have been an evil deed, and therefore the Creator could not be good. The second was that orthodox Christianity could never bring itselft to condemn marriage, though it held celibacy to be nobler.
So yeah, I'm thinking that something not good does not necessarily have to be evil. The creation of the visible world is (in my opinion) not an evil act. It allows us to desire things which aren't good, but perhaps these things aren't evil either. Maybe if you spend every day of your life eating as much chocolate as you can then you're not doing anything wrong. Clearly there are better ways to spend your life. There are nobler purposes that you can direct yourself towards. But that's our choice. As long as we make our decisions honestly, and without intent to hurt others, then we're doing okay.
I'm just going to throw something out there. I dont like apologising to people when i had no intention of doing them wrong. If i get angry or jealous, and i treat someone poorly, then fucking right i should apologise. But yeah...
That's all i've got.
maybe i should get high and walk to work for a mcflurry.
The beauty of my life is that i have nothing better to do.
It's kinda funny, but during a high walk there's a few things guarenteed.
1) I will understand everything.
2) I will be angry with myself.
3) I will be reaching as hard as i can at something i can't see.
4) I will become amused with the tempo of my walk.
5) I will become annoyed with my lack of ability to ignore the tempo of my walk.
Not in that order. Usually understanding everything comes after a long anxious time of reaching at things i can't see. Anger is sorta like frustration. It comes with anxiety. And with my annoyance at my inability to direct my thoughts to where i want them.
The silly thing is that i just dont want them. I'd be happier without thoughts. But i can't keep them away, so i try and line them up and understand them. I work so hard at thinking when i'm smoking the reefer. I wish i felt relaxed like most people. Maybe i dont. Maybe i'd relax if that's what i really prefered.
Fuck it. Word, son. I'm out.
I said this while leaving a restaurant, watching a small croud of passer-bys. While saying it, I felt very safe, as though it was being said from within a closed-windowed car.
I don't have any problems with gay people. I just think that fag is a funny word. I do, however, think cowboy hats are a terrible downtown/club scene idea. And Kelowna is covered with people who frequently wear cowboy hats.
I was reminded of saying this on monday, and I was like "woah, that's kinda crazy." Apparently, after my company reacted to what I had said I added, "What? What's the worst that can happen? He'll beat me up? It would probably do me some good. I'm not worried about it. It's just my body."
Later that night I got shot down by a sixteen year old. I know what you're thinking... and yes, we're still friends.
Well, I was reading things and looking at things at deviantart.com and I came across a small article which was meant to be a beginners guide to writing poetry. The second paragraph said that poetry doesn't have to be true. The first paragraph emphasized imagery.
One of the things said in the second paragraph was that if you're dumped on a nice sunny day, it's okay to write in your poem that it was raining, or that it was dark. The author of the article also said that when he's critiquing a poem and he mentions that something wasn't particularly moving, or that it was a dull line or stanza, then a common response is "well, that is what happened". And he grew to dislike this response.
So, does poetry have to be true? When Ben Folds sings "No I don't believe in God, so I can't be saved," does that lose something if we were to find out that Ben does in fact believe in God? I thought about it briefly, and I hope not, but I'm uncertain. I think it's more meaningful if it's true.
I've been aiming for truth when I write. I think there's so much music without truth in it these days. One of my latest least favorite songs is boulevard of broken dreams. It makes me wrech. Too many goddamn songs written for kids who think it's cool to be sad. "this song is about me, i swear 'I'm the only one and i walk alone'"
Immerse your soul(s) in love, people. That's all i'm really trying to say.
A while back, at the house of a lady friend, i wrote down "why are the words which best describe how i feel always written by someone else?" I guess it's cause it's easier. By alot. Putting feelings into words is a fucking hard thing to do. If someone else puts their feelings into words, and you have similar feelings, then it's easy for those words to apply to you.
Actually, i might even go as far as to say that words always only mean what they mean to you. Words are completely abstract, they can't and dont hold any meaning outside of ourselves. So if someone says something about themself in a very pretty way, then it's very attractive and i might even say fun, to apply those words to ourselves.
Darkness. Smile. Rubber. Sand. Tennis. Work. Effort. Pride. Lust. Math.
Why do these words mean what they mean. Kinda nice to think about.
That's entirely true, but one might argue that you dont get anywhere if you stay on topic.
Grouwff.
Fact 2: I feel that people comment on quality posts in order to show that they recognize a post's quality.
Fact 3: I am embarassed of Fact. And I'd say chances are good that the world does not respond to blog posts in the same way as I do. (see Fact 2)
I wrote a fantastic riff today. That's not so much fact, as it is opinion. But it really is fantastic. It is a correct opinion. I'm going to work on it, see if it turns into a song. It's not nearly as minor as most of the stuff i write. Shit it's good. It's mostly with the A and B strings, i slide my middle finger around the A, and use the other three fingers to hit choice notes on the B string. The G rings out occasionally. The riff dances.
I thought about tabbing it out on my blog, but i decided that it wouldn't be as useful to others as it would be difficult for me. Hopefully i'll get it recorded before i'm off in the woods.
Peace.
On friday I went out with work friends. I had a bit to drink, but nothing serious. I did bring my guitar along though, and i sang a few songs for a small croud. And they liked me. Which was cool. I got game, by the way.
Last night I went to a birthday party, one of Pat's friends. It was pretty solid. Pat and I showed up early, so we drank two pitchers of Rickards Red, and played a little bit of pool, which turned out to be free. Fine stuff. Then people showed up, and a bit of Kareoke got underway. I gave The Turtles - Happy Together a bit of a run. It went off pretty well, i thought. I think getting compliments from strangers is a good sign.
In pre-Socrates philosophy, Heraclitus wrote "To God all things are fair and good and right, but men hold some things wrong and some right."
And let me tell you, this little quote gave my thoughts a good twist. I was a believer that ethics and morals were objective. I felt that there was a definate right and wrong, and that one of our purposes was to find out what was right and wrong, and follow these guidelines. But that's all gone now.
Heh, it really does get easier and easier.
All I've gotta do is follow my own morals. I do what I think is right.
I think we're all the same. I really do. All the same with different backgrounds. Different points of view. Before you're hating on someone for thinking different then you, realize that if you lived their life, you'd think their thoughts. Show a little love, a little repect. And then do what you do; tell them their wrong, punch them in the nose, get hit back. If you express yourself somehow then it's all gravy. Wounds heal, and pain is our best teacher.
Friday, before going out, I did a little bit of boxing with one of my managers in the mcdonalds parking lot. Fuck it was fun. Fun enough for me to strongly consider buying two pairs of boxing gloves.
My ears are full of Danger Mouse's Gray album. He's a dj, and he mixed The Beatle's white album with Jay-Z's black album. It's pretty tight. My favorite Hip-Hop thus far is Exposition though, a crew from boston. God Damn. I've heard Cyne is rediculus though, so I'll keep it spinning.
I haven't written alot of music recently. I've written a bunch of words though. And I've been playing and singing alot. Skills are accumulating. I feel very fortunate to have a goal. Having a real goal has let me work and practice without questioning why. And fuck, I am improving. I'm proud, in a sense. But I know if you were me, you'd have done the same. sizzle.
5... 4... 3... 2... 2... 2...
For anyone keeping track i shucked the corn the past two nights. Not really exciting news, but i didn't want to continue communication under untrue pretenses.
alright. I guess i'm gonna just fuck off then, i work early tomorrow.
My words are trying to keep up with my music. It's fun. I know my music is closer to true then my words are. But words are in motion. It's all just communication.
I'm going to play shoreline 2006, and you're invited.
Is an act which is not Good necessarily evil?
The following is to be an unscholorly account of a few things I think I know. Plato belived in a world of ideas. A perfect world where a perfect idea of a cat, a tree, a chair, and a triangle exist. These perfect ideas were created by God. The things that we have in our visible world, all the cats and trees and chairs are merely imperfect copies of objects which appear in the world of ideas.
The following is from Bertrand Russell's The History of Western Philosophy.
Death, says Socrates, is the separation of soul and body. Here we come upon Plato's dualism: between reality and appearace, ideas and sensible objects, reason and sense-perception, soul and body. These pairs are connected: the first in each pair is superior to the second both in reality and in goodness. Christianity adopted this doctrine in part, but never wholly. there were two obstacles. The first was that the creation of the visible world, if Plato was right, must have been an evil deed, and therefore the Creator could not be good. The second was that orthodox Christianity could never bring itselft to condemn marriage, though it held celibacy to be nobler.
So yeah, I'm thinking that something not good does not necessarily have to be evil. The creation of the visible world is (in my opinion) not an evil act. It allows us to desire things which aren't good, but perhaps these things aren't evil either. Maybe if you spend every day of your life eating as much chocolate as you can then you're not doing anything wrong. Clearly there are better ways to spend your life. There are nobler purposes that you can direct yourself towards. But that's our choice. As long as we make our decisions honestly, and without intent to hurt others, then we're doing okay.
I'm just going to throw something out there. I dont like apologising to people when i had no intention of doing them wrong. If i get angry or jealous, and i treat someone poorly, then fucking right i should apologise. But yeah...
That's all i've got.
I just had a pretty good guitar session. Those always cheer me up. Cause i was feeling lousy. That last sentance was a lie. I felt fine, and currently feel better then fine. This weekend is going to blow, cause i work alot. But next weekend is scheduled for sweetness, cause i've bought some drugs, and i have plans to use them.
maybe i should get high and walk to work for a mcflurry.
The beauty of my life is that i have nothing better to do.
It's kinda funny, but during a high walk there's a few things guarenteed.
1) I will understand everything.
2) I will be angry with myself.
3) I will be reaching as hard as i can at something i can't see.
4) I will become amused with the tempo of my walk.
5) I will become annoyed with my lack of ability to ignore the tempo of my walk.
Not in that order. Usually understanding everything comes after a long anxious time of reaching at things i can't see. Anger is sorta like frustration. It comes with anxiety. And with my annoyance at my inability to direct my thoughts to where i want them.
The silly thing is that i just dont want them. I'd be happier without thoughts. But i can't keep them away, so i try and line them up and understand them. I work so hard at thinking when i'm smoking the reefer. I wish i felt relaxed like most people. Maybe i dont. Maybe i'd relax if that's what i really prefered.
Fuck it. Word, son. I'm out.
I was slightly on the drunk side of things last thursday, and while walking around downtown I happened to let out, "Nice cowboy hat, fag."
I said this while leaving a restaurant, watching a small croud of passer-bys. While saying it, I felt very safe, as though it was being said from within a closed-windowed car.
I don't have any problems with gay people. I just think that fag is a funny word. I do, however, think cowboy hats are a terrible downtown/club scene idea. And Kelowna is covered with people who frequently wear cowboy hats.
I was reminded of saying this on monday, and I was like "woah, that's kinda crazy." Apparently, after my company reacted to what I had said I added, "What? What's the worst that can happen? He'll beat me up? It would probably do me some good. I'm not worried about it. It's just my body."
Later that night I got shot down by a sixteen year old. I know what you're thinking... and yes, we're still friends.
Poetry. Does it have to be true?
Well, I was reading things and looking at things at deviantart.com and I came across a small article which was meant to be a beginners guide to writing poetry. The second paragraph said that poetry doesn't have to be true. The first paragraph emphasized imagery.
One of the things said in the second paragraph was that if you're dumped on a nice sunny day, it's okay to write in your poem that it was raining, or that it was dark. The author of the article also said that when he's critiquing a poem and he mentions that something wasn't particularly moving, or that it was a dull line or stanza, then a common response is "well, that is what happened". And he grew to dislike this response.
So, does poetry have to be true? When Ben Folds sings "No I don't believe in God, so I can't be saved," does that lose something if we were to find out that Ben does in fact believe in God? I thought about it briefly, and I hope not, but I'm uncertain. I think it's more meaningful if it's true.
I've been aiming for truth when I write. I think there's so much music without truth in it these days. One of my latest least favorite songs is boulevard of broken dreams. It makes me wrech. Too many goddamn songs written for kids who think it's cool to be sad. "this song is about me, i swear 'I'm the only one and i walk alone'"
Immerse your soul(s) in love, people. That's all i'm really trying to say.
A while back, at the house of a lady friend, i wrote down "why are the words which best describe how i feel always written by someone else?" I guess it's cause it's easier. By alot. Putting feelings into words is a fucking hard thing to do. If someone else puts their feelings into words, and you have similar feelings, then it's easy for those words to apply to you.
Actually, i might even go as far as to say that words always only mean what they mean to you. Words are completely abstract, they can't and dont hold any meaning outside of ourselves. So if someone says something about themself in a very pretty way, then it's very attractive and i might even say fun, to apply those words to ourselves.
Darkness. Smile. Rubber. Sand. Tennis. Work. Effort. Pride. Lust. Math.
Why do these words mean what they mean. Kinda nice to think about.
That's entirely true, but one might argue that you dont get anywhere if you stay on topic.
Grouwff.
Fact: Upon getting my internet back today, i was disapointed to find that nobody had commented on what i thought was a good post.
Fact 2: I feel that people comment on quality posts in order to show that they recognize a post's quality.
Fact 3: I am embarassed of Fact. And I'd say chances are good that the world does not respond to blog posts in the same way as I do. (see Fact 2)
I wrote a fantastic riff today. That's not so much fact, as it is opinion. But it really is fantastic. It is a correct opinion. I'm going to work on it, see if it turns into a song. It's not nearly as minor as most of the stuff i write. Shit it's good. It's mostly with the A and B strings, i slide my middle finger around the A, and use the other three fingers to hit choice notes on the B string. The G rings out occasionally. The riff dances.
I thought about tabbing it out on my blog, but i decided that it wouldn't be as useful to others as it would be difficult for me. Hopefully i'll get it recorded before i'm off in the woods.
Peace.
The internet in my home is not working. I'm at the school right now. I came to campus in hopes of getting my hands back on a Wilco cd that i leant a friend of mine, and hopes of getting my hands on some mushrooms of the hallucinogenic type. I was unsuccesful on both fronts. I also hoped to play a little of the table tennis at the gym, but there wasn't any one playing. There was a chick's highschool volleyball tourney going on. I tried to be interested, but i wasn't.
On friday I went out with work friends. I had a bit to drink, but nothing serious. I did bring my guitar along though, and i sang a few songs for a small croud. And they liked me. Which was cool. I got game, by the way.
Last night I went to a birthday party, one of Pat's friends. It was pretty solid. Pat and I showed up early, so we drank two pitchers of Rickards Red, and played a little bit of pool, which turned out to be free. Fine stuff. Then people showed up, and a bit of Kareoke got underway. I gave The Turtles - Happy Together a bit of a run. It went off pretty well, i thought. I think getting compliments from strangers is a good sign.
In pre-Socrates philosophy, Heraclitus wrote "To God all things are fair and good and right, but men hold some things wrong and some right."
And let me tell you, this little quote gave my thoughts a good twist. I was a believer that ethics and morals were objective. I felt that there was a definate right and wrong, and that one of our purposes was to find out what was right and wrong, and follow these guidelines. But that's all gone now.
Heh, it really does get easier and easier.
All I've gotta do is follow my own morals. I do what I think is right.
I think we're all the same. I really do. All the same with different backgrounds. Different points of view. Before you're hating on someone for thinking different then you, realize that if you lived their life, you'd think their thoughts. Show a little love, a little repect. And then do what you do; tell them their wrong, punch them in the nose, get hit back. If you express yourself somehow then it's all gravy. Wounds heal, and pain is our best teacher.
Friday, before going out, I did a little bit of boxing with one of my managers in the mcdonalds parking lot. Fuck it was fun. Fun enough for me to strongly consider buying two pairs of boxing gloves.
My ears are full of Danger Mouse's Gray album. He's a dj, and he mixed The Beatle's white album with Jay-Z's black album. It's pretty tight. My favorite Hip-Hop thus far is Exposition though, a crew from boston. God Damn. I've heard Cyne is rediculus though, so I'll keep it spinning.
I haven't written alot of music recently. I've written a bunch of words though. And I've been playing and singing alot. Skills are accumulating. I feel very fortunate to have a goal. Having a real goal has let me work and practice without questioning why. And fuck, I am improving. I'm proud, in a sense. But I know if you were me, you'd have done the same. sizzle.
5... 4... 3... 2... 2... 2...
Took a little look down the sidebar. Thought i'd let you know that i am not reading any of those books. I've got crime and punishment on the go. I'm dawdling in a richard bach book. And i'm absolutely loving the Buddha comic series. I've read 3.6 out of at least 6. Damn they're good.
For anyone keeping track i shucked the corn the past two nights. Not really exciting news, but i didn't want to continue communication under untrue pretenses.
alright. I guess i'm gonna just fuck off then, i work early tomorrow.