Off-shore Drilling

Lot of complainers but I know everybody's got a brand new car or SUV in their driveway. This fantasyland where we consume probably more than most countries combined, I find it kind of funny that we cry about trying to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. If you want to be a granola move to South America and live off the fad of the land. If you'... See Morere going to have your nice houses, your 6 figure jobs, you killer cars, RV's and so forth quit whining. Many other countries people are simply worried about putting food on the place. I'm from Long Beach and went to UCSB and have seen oil platforms my entire life. Big deal. A few chunks of raw oil on your surfboard isn't going to kill the environment. When you consider the tradeoff of what that Bush mongrel did by killing all of those people, it's a far better alternative.

Compartmentalization

Many years ago, I witnessed a terrible, almost metaphysical ordeal. I couldn't change or even assuage the intense pain of another. I was young, but within 20 minutes, I felt a severe, stabbing pain in my heart. Not just in my chest, but in my heart.

The mind can reveal things that one can never anticipate. I was astounded. I simply knew at that moment, that "heartbreak" or "heartache" or "heartwrenching" were not merely "poetic" terms. They were not merely metaphors, but described truly, real physical events.

I can only speak for myself, but it was nothing like a "panic attack" - which is pretty awful in its own right - or angina, both of which I experienced years later. This was very stark, very definite..

I was young, so never contemplated medical help. But, I never forgot the episode. And, it gave me a renewed respect for poetry which can tell a Truer Truth.

We are simply not divided into little separate compartments without interaction. Teaching is compartmentalized - history, music, science, art, etc - because it is difficult to encompass all in a given course for a given time. There are so many causations and effects. And, stranger things like "referred pain", as I'm sure you know.

But, because we are taught in a pragmatic, compartmentalized manner, we come to believe that is our reality - that is who and how we are. Unfortunately, it is false and, even dangerous.

I'm glad to see some research in this area. I don't sense it's quite as benign as the few studies have concluded. I believe the connection between sudden neurochemical imbalances are somehow relevant and would factor in with postmenopause, especially, early menopause and also, PTSD.

I'm left with the feeling that we are owners of our bodies and minds and lives. Doctors can not be expected to read all of that for all of us. We have a responsibility to pay attention.

Verbavores

Just a few quick corrections:
Humans were never meant to be Omnivores (consume plant and animal foods). The fact is animals who eat other animals have a short intestinal tract, to prevent the flesh they have eaten from rotting in the gut. You can feel free to READ A BOOK about that if you wish. Humans have a long intestinal tract like all Verbavores. Also our “canine” teeth are not infact true canine teeth, as we are not canine animals this is a ridiculous notion. We simply named some of our teeth that for identification purposes, not to represent the actual use of said teeth. True canine teeth are a full mouth of pointed and jaged teath for tearing and killing. Our teeth are useless for actually hunting/killing prey, they are however perfect for crushing/grinding plant foods. As for the claim that drinking animal blood will give us all the vitamins we need, that actually is idiotic. The fact of the matter is that a human can more than adequately sustain themselves without consuming any animal product, and to do so decreases the risks of developing diseases, Cancer and Heart Disease to name a few and is much better for the enviroment, not to mention humane. Lastly I must say that whatever lifestyle you choose, you are entitled to an opinion, however, barely coherent rambling that shifts somehow from admiring a celebrity to consuming animal blood to some strange thoughts about insects (which by the way is not itself a ’species’) is not the best way to get your opinions heard.

Baby Boomers

Your dad is never going to change. My parents had me when they were 40. Trust me that generation stopped learning at the age of 13. They will never embrace anything new. They resent their own children for the life they provided for us. It's a lot of jealousy and a shitload of ignorance.

Conviction

Many miss the point of this piece (IMHO). It is not what Fujita stands for, it is that he takes the stand despite of the peril it may do to his professional image. Regardless of your religious or political affiliations, you have to respect the fact that if we had a few more men and women like him in Congress, the media, private industry, we would all be better off. Far too many try to calculate success rather than recognizing it is a consequence of simply doing what you believe is right. I have to agree with his statement - standing for what you believe to be right is not being courageous, it is merely being a responsible adult.

Indecision

This is a topic that i discuss quite frequently. In a society where people are continuously barraged with useless information and stimulation(AKA: gazillions of T.V programs, fast food chains, consumer products), it makes sense that the human brain, which unable to process a multitude of information at once, is going hesitate and have trouble making a decision. Living in a fast paced, consumer world where people are exposed to tons of irrelevant matters, it can impair people’s ability to prioritize choices in life and make decisions in our daily affairs. You can thank a ultra capitalist and media driven world, that has made our lives more convoluted, chaotic, and confusing. I can’t stand being blasted with advertisements every time I look at a bus, a candy car, my cell phone, telling me what to think and buy. A slightly simpler life lets your brain focus on thins that actually matter.

John Mayer

He suffers from a very extreme case of what I like to call the "Michael Bolton Effect," which happens when commercial success far outweighs the level of talent. Mayer’s never come off as a very deep person in any of the interviews I've seen, or read, and I have always felt that his songwriting and guitar playing are unoriginal and derivative, and his singing seems fake and insincere. He's more of a craftsman than an artist. Great at writing catchy melodies, hooky lyrics and clever guitar riffs and he certainly has a “radio” voice – but he always seems to be copping somebody else’s music – and at times outright stealing (i.e. Lindsey Buckingham’s guitar riff on Dreams in his latest drivel - Half of My Heart). I may be wrong, but I doubt that his music will hold up beyond a generation (or two) of teenage girls. Though, he does seem to be a much bigger, stronger, and now heavily tattooed version of Richard Marx. And on those occasions when I catch myself humming one of his songs, I hope nobody I know hears me.

Breast Implants

Breast implants. Agh, probably the most abused form of plastic surgery ever. It's a great thing if it's used for good instead of evil. There's a right way and a wrong way. One, you should only go up to a certain size, based on your frame. Both of these women went too big. Second, you need to have a certain amount of body fat to sort of mask the implant. If you're as rangy as blondie here, there's just not enough fatty tissue to mask the outline of the implant. And third, I can't say it enough....DON'T PUSH UP YOUR IMPLANTS! Smooshed-up real boobies look awesome. Smooshed-up fakies? Ick. They look even harder and grosser and faker than they already did due to you violating rule 1 and 2. What's worse, the camera flash makes that nice hard shadow which just amplifies it by 10,000. So, even if it didn't look so bad in the mirror, it's gonna look horrifying in the photo.

Introspection

I'm all for self-examination, but this sounds like bologna to me. The real distinction to be made here is whether you are dealing with a contemplative or active person, a person, in other words, of reason or of will, whether he or she is basically a scientist, who needs to see the entire solution before acting, or someone who not merely muddles through, but elevates questions of esteem and acceptance, jealousy and envy, above those of compatibility and educability. A contemplative will be called a loner, stoic or narcissist (secondary narcissism) for wanting to participate with others on the basis of shared ideas. Actives are concerned with status or relationships, the latter, usually identified with the female sex, being based on conditions and contracts, and instead of giving or sharing, they express love through buying.

Na'vis

What bothers me the most about these movies is that the basis of their allegory isn't exactly real. They're based on a FANTASY spin on actual history.

The history of "European/Indian relations" isn't fully or accurately taught any more (was it ever?): the common acceptance is that the settlers, without provocation, wantonly slaughtered the natives and stole their land.

What is almost completely ignored is that there was little concept of private property, rule of law, justice, and freedom (including freedom from violence) among *nomadic* native tribes. Addressed even less are these tribes' barbaric practices -- cruel rites of passage, slavery, rape, murder, human sacrifice, mutilation as punishment for criminals, abandonment of the weak, torture, cannibalism, "knowledge" and "wisdom" obtained with hallucinogens, and severe punishment of anyone that demonstrated individuality, reason, or disobedience to the authority of witch-doctors. These attributes didn't suddenly vanish when white people showed up.



The initiative destruction of native peoples by settlers occurred, but very infrequently. In more instances than not, colonists attempted to trade with the natives -- i.e. tried to treat them as equals -- bringing modern technology, conveniences, and Enlightenment ideas in exchange for being allowed to establish towns -- and they were rewarded with unprovoked, brutal, bloody raids BY these natives.

This isn't "white perspective" or even "racism": it's simple historical fact. I absolutely do not condone any form of racism, slavery, genocide, colonialism, Manifest Destiny and the lot -- it's as barbaric in nature as the savages were. I'm not implying that that *all* natives (certainly not their modern descendants) remained savage, nor does it imply that *all* settlers and expansionists were peaceful, Enlightened victims.

Yet, I won't fall for revisionist history and the moral recrimination of centuries-dead Europeans, and I won't be suckered into believing in the archetypal "noble savage" (which is as obvious an oxymoron as they get).

So for once, I'd like to see a "spin" on the "white/human goes native/alien" story: 


A MODERN human (his/her race being completely unimportant) enters a SAVAGE alien society, and demonstrates the value of a civilized technological culture that arose by abandoning barbarism. The film ends with the savages doing likewise, living the longer, healthier, more productive, more comfortable, and ultimately happier lives that can only result when superstition and primitivism are abolished and science and reason embraced.

Cinematography

Cinema is a delicate art form, that can inspire and mystify. While yes my friend, cinematography is an important element to proper film technique, it has turned into a crutch over the last few decades as images can be tailored to wow with more intensity. We find that there is, or was, for the duration of the nineties and into this millenial era, an interest by the average and even rabid fan of cinema to see moving images like never before. But the emphasis has been shifted from a balance of depth and imagery amongst a moving tapestry of emotion and story telling, into a greater reliance on simple images. This though, has been shifting yet again, as the integration of digital mapping and of simulated camera work has come to a fairly level plateau, individuals are in need of other elements to accept a film as proper, and well constructed. We have a generation of film makers who have little to no appreciation of the subtlety that can be executed through cinema, and who were reared on Spielberg, Lucas, Zemeckis, Cameron and the likes. The problem is, is that this generation begat from the afore mentioned trio, were captivated solely on visual progression, and were perhaps unaware of the necessary inclusion of a rich, and layered story to accompany these visuals. Spielberg, Lucas, Cameron and Zemeckis were all masters at developing stories using classic archetypes dating back to Grecian and Roman Epics and placing contemporary figures into the roles of the heroes and villians. These approaches work. They are the most elemental bases to a strong story, and therefor translates into the form of cinema well. Most of these stories resonate with strong imagery, and since technology has caught up to the imaginations of auteurs, the possibilities to meld quality genuine story telling with the images of our dreams has reached the point where film makers could craft incredible works, that stimulate and fascinate all of our emotions and senses. And what are we left with? Film makers like Francis Lawrence, Michael Bay, Roland Emmerich, who are all video directors, with little to no understanding of what quality film making should be. But those hopes for ground breaking cinema lie in the hands of those few talented individuals who understand not only how to merge visuals and story, but to ensure they are both applicable and worthy of one another. Peter Jackson (LOTR, King Kong), Robert Rodriguez (Sin City), Richard Linklater (Waking Life, Scanner Darkly), David Fincher (Zodiac, Fight Club) are all young talent in terms of directors who are crafting spectacular films. And who else? Shocker, but three of the four who inspired the revolution of visual command by directors: Spielberg, Zemeckis and Cameron. And Lucas? Well sadly, he fell into the shallow depths of those directors now despised by true cinema geeks as another vacuous realm that can breed no heart into the visuals. So in summary, particualrly to your suggestion about the understanding of formulaic film making: You are completely uneducated to make such an assumption regarding film technique. Francis Lawrence has little to no talent in cinema, but can have a great career in commercials and music videos, because those two mediums do not require talent beyond by the books technique.

Sport

Sport is a microcosm of the cut-throat society embodied and encouraged by unbridled capitalism and individualism. It's pathetic. No honor; little honesty; and rare dignity. Win (kill, steal, lie) for any reason to "succeed". Greed and selfishness are now "virtues" of the highest order. This was not the case when excellence was tempered by more noble goals. Nostalgia? Maybe, but it would be nice to see the French admit error and travesty and at least possibly offer to play the game over before the entire game (sport) is lost to shame.

Handballs

To all those saying get over it.....yeah fine but its four more years to make amends, too late for a number of Irish players who really merit a chance at the world stage

To all those comparing the injustice of Henry's handball to that of recent league games i once again refer to my earlier point, there's a big difference between four years and next week

To all those saying that Ireland are not good enough and probably wouldve lost on penalties or shouldve sealed the deal before the handball incident....fine but anyone who watched the two games can hardly say France merited victory,an own goal and this 'strike' in this second leg?!

To all those who are being racist leave it out....My disdain for French people is justified and i can back it up, I'll keep my counsel in this case because its not a suitable forum

To those English fans who empathise with us because of Maradonna in 86, take solace in the fact that he rounded half your team to score an excellent goal later in that half....France never had a serious chance of note tonight

To any French fans who had the cheek to celebrate that 'victory' tonight....we'll break your hearts one day, maybe when you can do nothing about it, maybe when we're in a qualifying group together and you need a favour from us, see what happens

To Thierry Henry everything you've ever done in football up to tonight has been diminished, the rest of your spiralling career is going to be an uphill struggle to regain any sense of self respect, it'll eat away at you gradually, knowing that you couldnt get over the fiish line without cheating

To Ireland the country that for better or worse has been my great supporter I thank you for everything, for giving me pride in the face of such pathetic deception shown by France. Our fans have travelled the world and shown great sportmanship, it is South Africa's great loss and FIFAs shocking lack of foresight that next summer will be deprived of their joviality

And finally to football, that most cruellest of Mistresses, Trappatoni and his charges tonight brought flowers of passion and chocolates of good taste, he tried to woo you with old fashioned charm but instead you went for the guy with the flash car....dont be surprised if he breaks down on the way home having run out of petrol va va voooom indeed.

Race-neutrality

re: “race-neutral roles”

Are there any race-neutral roles? I feel like this is an impossiblity (at least right now and in history leading up to now). I agree that getting outside the box of White assumptions is difficult for white writers, directors, and producers right now (and even for some non-white writers, directors, and producers, because these narratives are harder for everyone to tap into when they are suppressed and not as widely disseminated), but I feel like opening people up to the idea that they are making more assumptions about their characters than they realize is the better strategy. I think some of these writers, etc. don’t even realize how their creativity is restricted by their presumptions about the human experience. The creative people I know are generally all about innovation and pushing boundaries, but it’s hard to surmount an obstacle or challenge an assumption you aren’t acknowledging exists. (Of course, I’m sure a fair number just don’t care, but screw ‘em.)

I would love to see fewer “neutral” (e.g., white, straight, cis, TAB, middle-class, male) roles out there, especially when plots focus around identity struggles. I am immensely bored by them, and I think that the potential power of many of these stories is totally undermined by how over-played these identities are. (Also, I may have recently watched WAY too many movies about the midlife crises of exactly these kinds of characters.) I am all for A) more POC involved in the creative processes (without being forced to conform to the current standard or being devalued and marginalized), and B) more white people getting a clue, and learning how to apply their critical and creative thinking to the White default.

Grunge

Grunge was not born out of naivete or nihilistic apathy. Gen X is not apathetic; that's what the Baby Boomers like to say about us. A more appropriate description is we were truly cynical -(def. Believing or showing the belief that people are motivated chiefly by base or selfish concerns; skeptical of the motives of others...) After growing up listening to the self-indulgent, self-congratulatory, navel-gazing me, me, me tones expressed by the Baby Boomer generation in the late 70s and throughout the 1980s, of course, Gen X had to vent and thus, grunge was born. Unfortunately, it has left a bitter aftertaste of cynicism that is still lingering in our mouths. RIP Kurt - It was cynicism that took you...

Vegetarianism

I think we should follow the sensible advice of science writers like Michael Pollan, social critics like Eric Schlosser, nutritional experts who are not in the pockets of agribusiness like Marion Nestle, and food writers like Mark Bittman. They all concur that our dietary choices should NOT be dependent on the ever changing result of study after study - many of which that are flawed and biased by being sponsored by the food industry (continued).

What all the above mentioned people agree on is that a sensible diet that promotes longevity and good quality of life can be found by looking at the world, and which cultures tend to have vitality and long life spans. It turns out that in terms of longevity countries like Japan, France, and Italy top the list. None of these countries have large segments of the population that are strictly vegetarian or vegan (continued)

(continued from previous post) What these countries did have in common is a diet low in processed and refined foods, high in vegetable content, and meat consumption that is maybe 40 percent lower than Americans. If all it took for people to live long and healthy lives was a switch to vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, then India and China should have the healthiest population, because they have the largest vegetarian populations. This is simply not the case (continued).

(continued from previous post) So we can conclude that it is not a diet that excludes meat entirely or includes lots of it that is the best path to a healthy and long life. What facilitates a long and healthy life to is follow the lead of Japan, France and Italy. Consume 3 to 4 times more vegetables and fruits than the meat you consume, use meat sparingly but dont eliminate it, and stay away from overly processed/refined foods, and most importantly, EAT SMALLER PORTIONS.

U2

Spiritual enlightenment? Is that a joke? Come on, they're rock stars. I was at the concert last night, too, and had a great time. Poor sound quality though. I saw the rebroadcast on youtube. I prefer the energy of a live performance, but if you're more interested in the musicianship and lyrics, youtube was a much better option. Show had a good mix of songs. I thought the new songs were much better live than on the CD.

Staging was very cool, but "breaking down the 4th wall?" I don't think so. I was on the floor, but not in the "circle." From where I was standing, you still had to watch the video monitors if you actually wanted to see the band. Basic stadium show.

Another solid U2 show, no doubt. They're true professionals, but enough with "transcendence" or "meditation on space" or, my favorite "the infinite journey of a prayer hurled into the air." It was a rock concert.

The author would better serve the public by being a critic and not a fan.

Disobedience

Not sure it's that simple. Civil disobedience connotes disobeying laws that one perceives to be unjust (Thoreau, ML King, Cassius Clay). Not just f'g around as if whatever rules you don't like don't apply because you feel like "expressing yourself."

Anyway, not sure how much you can read into these things. Kind of like those bumper stickers "Dissent Is The Highest Form of Patriotism." Equally at home on the rear end of a Olbermanish Bush-hater in 2005 or a Limbaughnista birther in 2009.

Millenials

I was in the generation right before Mtv Trl. The one where they would beat you up if you were ugly, awkward and gross. The heathers generation X. Now, Generation Y comes along and cause of liberal PC brainwashing they made it seem okay to be ugly and gross. Then all of a sudden you'd see a ocean of ugly gross pubescent nerd kids everyday with braces and acne just lollygagging into the camera shouting shit to their friends as if anyone cared on what they voted on as #1 even though the show was totally rigged and bought for with payola. Inhuman beings without shame, angst, self introspection or any of the shit that john hughes and cameron crowe inculcated into us. Then the aftereffects of TRL happened and they were bad side effects. Paris Hilton, Soulja Boy, hell the entire reality television fad can be blamed on Mtv. How the hell did we let the innocence of Adam Curry introducing a Dire straits or information society video morph into subliminal pederasty and the de facto cultural bankruptcy of mankind?

Men

No coincidence methinks that both the researchers conducting the study and most of the commentators below a) are men and b) believe these results are not only plausible, but even obvious. Men have always enjoyed ascribing to women opinions that are not actually our own...

FYI, a personality trait that is actually generally going to give both sexes an advantage in sex is confidence. Given that society encourages us to believe that men with muscles and money are going to be more attractive to women, these men are likely to be more confident - and therefore more successful in love.

Personal opinion: on a purely aesthetic level, the golden medium is best - not too skinny and not too muscular. But any bias based on looks can be overcome by a winning personality.