Some more Artwork

(Horse...and Mountain)

Some Artwork

These are a few pieces of art work (Dresser..., and Swiss Army Knives)

Journal Pages

These are (in order) a few unedited and scanned pages from my journal about American technological expertise and our place in history. (Sorry about the horizontal blotch down through the middle, scanner malfunction)

Silent Running

"Silent Running" is a 1972 science fiction film that takes place sometime in the future, probably within one hundred years. In outer space there is roaming giant American Airline spaceships containing numerous forests from Earth, the last in the solar system. A man (Freemen Lowell) has been involved with the program for 8 years is the only one among a group of 4 that passionately wants to preserve and save the forests, "all that beauty" as he puts it. When I read the blurb on On-Demand I thought it might turn into a sort of action science film movie but it turned out to be more philosophical and about ideals.
In describing Earth and the Universe he says "on Earth it is always 75 degrees and temperate, there are no new frontiers to be explored, it is dull." He exists in a place where he loves nature but is also very technologically satisfied and grows an attachment to two robot drones who take care of the ship, to perform repairs and maintenance tasks. He changes their programming so they respond directly to him, and creates programs that allow them to perform surgery, play poker, and take care of the forest. His names for them are Hughie and Dughie and they sort of act as placements for the other three people he had to kill to save the forest. It is interesting to me how he operates so smoothly in two worlds, nature (the forest) and the technologically advanced spaceship.
Though one of the crew said in the beginning that Earth has "eliminated poverty and everyone has a job" this future can be considered a dystopia as Lowell considers it. When he is leading on a superior officer in the beginning he calls Lowell "one hell of an American" and after the transmission he says to himself, "I think I am." A boring, controlled future would be bad with no more nature and lack of diversity.

Li'l Bush

Li'l Bush is a Comedy Central show which acts as a satirical, animated view of the Bush administration. It is not only funny, interpreting the absurd actions of cronyism advocates but also other members of society not connected to politics get made fun of, such as Al Gore. In the most recent episode Li'l Rummy took the fall for Li'l Bush's actions as the hall monitor, mirroring and particularly criticizing Rumsfield's resignation, “Somebody's gotta take the fall, right?”. I am not sure whether Li'l Rummy has been banished from the show for all time or whether it is yet another show rampant with incontinuity. I am not saying that is annoying, except to the perfectionist, but rather obvious and, at times, distracting. I recommend it on the basis of what Comedy Central has done before with the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, events have gotten so ridiculous, the only opportunity to criticize it and expose obvious flaws and mistakes is through a comedic Television show.

Review (?) of Gilligans Island and Hogans Heroes

This is the first of my articles in a series about Old Television shows

Gillians Island and Hogans Heroes have been pathways to escapism at some point in my life of the past few years. They have provided a unique form of it, one that resides in complete escapism. They donut take place in conventional places and don't revolve around large casts and many areas. They are isolated, the former on a deserted island and the latter in a German POW camp during World War II. Both are comedies, which I have been especially keen on for awhile now, and both frequently explore far-fetched plots and outlandish scenarios, the essence of golden-age television you could say. More recently, my passion for Gilligan's Island has tapered off and I haven been able to finish the most recent season I purchased, but my love of Hogans Heroes has never dissipated and is alive as ever.

On the whole HH is the more quality show whereas Gilligan's Island, most of the time, leaves much to be desired. It has a lot of silly lines and cliché reactions and situations. It may have an imaginative plot, being stranded on a deserted island, but it still manages to fit neatly into a genre. Hogans Heroes on the other hand exploded and broke into genres never before explored. For one, it prominently featured an African American as Hogans second-in-charge, something never before seen. Though it took place in a German POW camp, it was not run by Nazis but by the Luftwaffe, and never mentioned the slaughter of six-plus million Jews and more. Concentration camps were the never the target of sabotage by Hogan and his commandos. Wilhelm, a Jewish actor who portrayed Kommandant Klink, reportedly accepted the role on the terms that Hogan always win their escapades. The actors who played Schultz and Le Beau respectively, were also Jewish. Ironically, Hogans Heroes re-runs have proved to be extremely popular in Germany and included a maid that was mentioned but never seen.

It could be argued that both series's have a fairly equal role in popular culture consciousness, perhaps Gilligan's Island has a slight edge because of the romantic setting and catchy theme song. Also Hogans Heroes is probably more infamous because of Bob Crane's (Hogan) pornographic film endeavors and mysterious murder, a renown Hollywood murder. As I said earlier HH is my favorite of the two. I have always had an interest in World War II, especially Germany.

The idea of Hogans Heroes that has molded itself into popular culture is the use of a secret tunnel. In Family Guy, a popular Fox animated comedy, an episode with Chris, Peters son, involves him having a job at a golfing range and while picking up balls the owner appears out of a secret tunnel from under the ground. He says to Chris, "Yeahs, it a secret tunnel, like in Hogans Heroes, wanna fight about it?" And in The Simpsons Homer envisions in his mind Klink as a gaurdian angel, Wikipedia mentions these as testaments to HH's popularity. I use these shows as examples because they are very popular in American and abroad culture. 

Hogans Heroes (Wikipedia)

Imdb

Our love/hate relationship

Americans have a love and hate relationship with cannabis, it seems, sometimes, in equal measurements. Of course it can be considered to be involving Americans of various types. All people are different, even within their own countries, towns, and villages. This is especially true with the United States of America, whose Civil War took a heavier toll on its people than any other war they have engaged in since. In recent wars the causality rate has gone down, due to advanced technology, body armor, etc. To put it succinctly, Americans differ on numerous topics within. In the case of marijuana, it goes as far back as to its colonial days, in a way even to its first president, George Washington. In his journals he refers to growing hemp, the product of cannabis that has very low THC content. He even encouraged other farmers to grow it, as the rope product is very strong and hemp is easy to grow in many environments. It was not used for psychoactive or medicinal purposes however, as far as we know.

After that, word about cannabis seemed to taper off until it resurfaced in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. It started to appear as an ingredient in various medicinal concoctions going around. It was prohibited by Harry J. Anslinger, at a time prohibited mind-altering substances was in fashion. After World War I America was enjoying considerable prosperity, like it never had before. Perhaps people in power decided what is good and what is not good for the masses, taking it upon themselves to make the decision. It is now understood as a method to keep Mexicans and other immigrants from South America out of our country.

It appeared on the Beat scene, in the early 50's by iconic figures Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, among others. Since the days of slavery, forms of cannabis have been used to help creativity flow. With slaves toiling in the fields, they would smoke cannabis to reduce anxiety, thus the roots of blues music. It is believed one of the first instances that cannabis appeared in the New World, was slaves brining it over from Africa in the slave trade. Along with heroin, the most popular illegal drug being used by musicians was marijuana. Especially in the genres of Blues and Jazz. Later, via the Beats and Hippies, it was used by Rock musicians, strongly influenced by blues music. Allen Ginsberg can be used as a guide to the cultivation and usage of marijuana, and nearly every important anti-war movement, hippie sit-in, and rebellious groups during the 50's and the 60's. Some of his articles are some of the best pro-marijuana documents ever written. Here is an article by Lester Grinnspoon which talks about Ginsberg's relationship with cannabis. And here is the most famous article about marijuana written by Ginsberg.

Key figures like Ginsberg and John Lennon are prime examples of Americans perspectives of marijuana. Despite Lennon being an Englishmen, he was essentially kicked out of America for smoking weed. Ginsberg was kicked out of almost every country he visited in the mid to late 60's, including the former Czechoslovakia and Cuba. Another big figure of the time was Timothy Leary, who was able to convince congress to revoke an old law about marijuana and stamps. It implied that if you want marijuana, you must declare it but in the act of declaration, you can be arrested for possession, Leary said that was unconstitutional and he won. The government has always had a very anti-pot viewpoint, therefore it has been exceptionally popular with counterculture.

Certain Americans passion for cannabis has resulted in the perfection of the mind-altering capabilities of the magical plant. This is evident in its best in Amsterdam, where marijuana has been decriminalized and you can purchase it at places called coffee shops. You can choose from numerous strains, all of which are based on the original strains of sensimilla cannabis developed by Americans, primarily in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California in the late 80's. Once again Amsterdam is the place to be if you have a passion for a particular plant, before it was the Tulip, now it is Cannabis. A marvelous article written by Michael Pollan, a regular contributor to the New York Times, in his book Botany of Desire. America is both responsible for the marvelous sensimilla and its being prohibited in most of the world.

1. Michael Pollan, Botany of Desire (book, specifically sections titled "€œTulips"€ and "€œCannabis")

2. Lester Grinnspoon, Allen Ginsberg and Mary Jane (article, Marijuana Uses)

3. Allen Ginsberg, The Great Marijuana Hoax (article, Marijuana Uses)

4. Carl Sagan, Mr. X (article, Marijuana Uses)

5. Erowid Cannabis Vault (good overall web resource)

Lo's business

Victoria crater, credit NASA

Mars, former alien civilization?

Scooter Libby

This whole scooter libby thing is not very good. Everyone is covering it. I hope this marks a drastic way in coverage by the media and action by the powers that be in order to protect the freedom of future generations. I admit I am not the most informed but I desire to be. I have everyones good will at my heart. I am thinking about the us and not the me. Their is no I in teamwork. I implore everyone to spread democracy in its purest form, whatever way possible. Lets restore the checks and balances of the system and re-establish true democracy, the one that has worked so often in the American past. Now we must progress to "connecting the citizenry" using the Internet. Create a true democracy, not a "representative" democracy or actually republic, but one where everyone participates, not just those who were voted in to reperesent but all people, to have their so. Only recently has this ability been realized, achieved technologically, and we should embrace it and prevent wrongdoing in the future. 

"The future is what you make it"     - Doc, Back to the Future III

Plumes of smoke from the WTC on 9/11

From the slideshow photos that changed the world at Slate.com

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

I visited the MFA (Museum of Fine Arts) in Boston today, got a nice print of Cape Cod Evening(>) by Edward Hopper from his exhibit, which lasts until August 16. The description under it observed the unhappy couple and the dog hearing something off in the background. Something about the seemingly stillness of the dog brings out emotion in me. 

Cyber-war

Here is an interesting article (requires registration) about potential cyber-war with China. That is the situation right now, our enemy over the horizon is China and our current opponent is terrorism, also a War on Drugs is being waged. In airports and the Boston subway system, announcements come on warning travelers and commuters to not take packages from strangers and to not let luggage and out of your sight. I was in the mall connecting with the Prudential center building in Boston earlier and it reminded me of Total Recall, from scenes of the shopping center on Mars.

Griffey's return

I didnt watch the game as I'm currently in Boston but I did see clips of the pregame ceremonies honoring Griffey Jr. They were showing posters and signs from the crowd, among them saying things like "we want Griffey back" and "welcome to the house that Griffey built." Now thats interesting, Griffey is on the trading block and the Mariners are in relative contention, its possible that Griffey might return to Seattle, though unlikely in my opinion because our [Mariners] outfield is pretty solid right now, especially in center (Ichiro) where Griffey would likely occupy. A snippet that sums up the game "The 46,340 came early to honor Griffey and stayed to watch his team demolish the hometown squad." Many of my fellow Seattlites attented the battle, the sixth-largest crowd in Mariners history. 

Freedom

People who dont fullfill freedom despite ones goodwill or intentions should stop using that word in disgrace, for it will become what Communism has entered into, inability to use because it now means, pretty much, a dictatorship. If it is not legal for someone to smoke a marijuana cigarette, then you cannot justifiably use the word "freedom." That is what America has done to that word, it now requires qoutes to refer to it, american-style. 

Oriole Tejada

Miguel Tejada is suffering from a purported broken wrist, which is expected to end his 5th longest consecutive games played record. He has already passed a few hall-of-famers this but it is now expected to end. It has always been said that no one will pass Cal Ripkens record, one that is a couple hundred games higher than baseball's former "Iron Man", Lou Gehrig. I think this occurence is unfortunate, I have been aware of Tejada for a long time because of what his A's have done to my M's. He was awarded as the MVP when he was flourishing with the Athletics, therefore I am very aware of out of respect and thereafter extreme envy and jealousy, of both him and his former franchise. The Orioles started well this year but have since tapered off, resulting in not only Sam Perlazzos, the managers, job but also the refusal of  great unemployed manager, Joe Giardi, to accept the vacant job. Tejada is expected to be out for a few months if this injury is for real. Too bad, it was a challenging of the most unbreakable baseball record, Ripkens Jr's. I'll be pleased to see his return to begin a new journey to break Cal's. 

No-spin Zone...my ass

I was traveling through Maine via automobile and I was listening to the Bill O'Reilly show talking about the situation in Iraq. He says that he has been honest with this viewers, that he has been aware of the problems we are facing in Iraq since day 1, but does not advocate troop withdrawl. He sees it that as long as we are there we might as well try to win it. This is a direct qoute from his show, talking to the Iraqi people "we will install freedom and democracy, if you cooperate." If you cooperate? Thats not what freedom is, they should have the choice to install whatever form of government that they choose, whether that be theocratic or a dictatorship, we dont have the right to tell them how to run their own country. Though we may think that our form of representative democracy is the best, we dont have the right to force that onto another people. We need to stop acting as the world police. I dont believe in isolationism but we shouldnt constantly interfere in other countries affairs. 

Resume'

The Mariners have resumed their winning ways. After a long overdue break spending time with their famalies, they have thankfully appeared to relax and have started to play solid ball in all aspects. The last two wins over the Pittsburgh Pirates have exhibited the offensive and defensive skills that the Mariners have this year so often showed to their opposition. Felix threw 8 shutout innings and Ichiro has been electric during the Pirates series. Tonight Ken Griffey Jr. makes his return to Seattle and to the park that wouldnt exist without the revenue he created for the team. Its possible that Seattle might not even still have the Mariners at all without him. He pretty much saved this franchise. He is on the trading block this year due to his mighty return and his Reds stinking up the NL Central. However he doesnt seem to want to go to a contending team like the Yankees or anything. The Mariners have begun another winning streak which I'm sure is to continue tonight. We have pitched back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 2004 (courtesy ESPN).

Oh My Poor Mariners, Home Sick they are!

Heres a qoute from Mariners first basemen "We have been on the road a lot, and maybe guys are [tired] at this point. "We've had two tough road trips this month," he said, referring to the current four-city trek that ends Sunday afternoon and an earlier 10-game journey through four cities and three time zones. "We have been on the road a lot, and maybe guys are [tired] at this point." Damn right my man. THEY WANT TO SEE THEIR FUCKING FAMILIES! Baseball is a peculiar sport as these players sometimes have no time to get back into reality, what truly matters. When these unfortunate incedents happen, a much needed break needs to be scheluded somewhere. I realize they are being paid a fortune but on the backs of many a poor Seattle person they are riding on, and they matter too, perhaps most.

It was unfair what happened with all those delays in Cleveland and Boston, etc. However I have noticed both teams [Indians and Mariners] excel since that "breaking" point. Struggle makes an impressive group of guys more powerful. I hope that someone reads this "article" because I want them to know that I have faith, I really do. I will have faith until the day I die. Like my out-of-state friend said that I have "Seattle vibe" and damn fucking right I do. I want these hard fighting boys to know that I BELIEVE IN THEM no matter what. Keep on battlin' my friends, I'll be watching.

Superstition and losing streaks

So the Seattle Mariners are on a losing streak, again. I say again because last year when I went on holiday to the East, they embarked upon a losing that effectively ended their season. Before I left they were still in reasonable contention and whenever I had access to wireless internet I would check their progress. However, for nearly two weeks after my debarkation all I would see as I gained access to the Information superhighway were losses. Checking the box scores I would nod my head in disappointment. 

I am not a very superstitious person by nature but due to these latest developments, I am beginning to have my doubts. My mother is very superstitious, probably due to her South Carolinian upbringing so growing up around her I would notice her idiosyncrasies, from not wanting to drive across a stretch of road if she saw a black cat cross it to knocking on wood whenever someone said something they didn't actually want to happen. Now with these losing streaks coinciding with my departure from Seattle I am rethinking all of this. Not that I'm going to become a neurotic about black cats or anything but I'm starting to think there might be something to it after all. When something you care about a lot is all of a sudden not being as successful as they were, anyone can begin to have doubts.

The night I left the Mariners won against the Cubs in extra innings in Chicago and they then lost the next two games. I thought it might just be a fluke since the Cubs are hot right now, ever since Lou's choreographed outburst, and won against the Padres which are one of the top teams in baseball currently. So I thought things would turn around when the Mariners faced the Astros tonight, unfortunately they did not, losing to a bad team and our so-called ace King Felix blew another game. He has a 6.00 ERA since coming of the DL, are those ace numbers?