I once told my girlfriend that rationality yields to two greater forces - emotions and faith. I think that my need to become more rational has made me numb to both my emotions and my faith. Tonight I had a very had time showing my emotions through to my girlfriend. In honest reflection, I don't think I show my emotions through to anyone. I think I am in such a pursuit of reason that I see emotion as an enemy. However, I think that I need to allow my emotions to be in unison with my emotions. She got me to such a point that I stopped reasoning and I just started feeling (the irony being that I am reasoning right now). But for that brief moment I got a glimpse of a reversion to emotion. I feel numb inside and I think it's because I believe that emotions cloud reason. The other thing that supersedes reason is faith. Many of you see me as a drug addict ("Religion is opium of the people) trying to distort my reality in effort to rationalize or escape the events around me. I have been that person, but I am trying to grow out of it. However, it has made me very cold about my religion. I don't feel anything when I go to mass. I sit there wishing I could get something from prayer, from song, from scripture but it all feels very cold to me. I do not feel the Lord even though I still for some reason believe he's out there. I feel a great pain inside because of this.
I realize that faith destroyed reason because it told people to be satisfied with those things that they could not prove immediately. However, I still believe that there are unexplainable events on this Earth and while I think the Church oversimplifies the complexity of this world so does reason. You can only go so far before you will drive yourself mad. There must be something greater than us, I just do not have the spiritual intelligence to tell you what. I don't think spirituality can be explained with reason, but with a feeling and right now I feel nothing. I reason much, but I feel nothing.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Brooklyn Dodgers
I read about Robert Moses in one my books for Black Music. I find the destruction of the New York area when he was around one of the most interesting parts of American history. He was greedy developer that gave people incentives to stop using public transportation and drive, then they would drive out of the city, and eventually destroyed the communities brewing the city. The loss of community in New York forced the Brooklyn Dodgers out to LA and left Harlem in shambles. Now it wasn't all Robert Moses fault, but the people were pretty ignorant about the whole thing. It was the saddest story I had ever heard when I watched a special about it on HBO and then read it about recently. Does anyone know any more about the story? As I said it really interests me as much as the story of bowling. Catch my drift. Probably not, but that's okay.
Ideal Community
If you were going to create an ideal community what would you start with? How big would it be? What it would include/exclude? Pick and choose what you want to talk about.
Mine would have housing that was close in with lots of shops, but nonetheless not very large. I would want public transportation to take me everywhere. No Wal-Marts or any chains. My residents would burn them down and keep them out. There would be big park spaces where people could reflect, exercise, etc. intersecting the business and housing. Cars would not be allowed and people have to bike or walk into the city from the edge. Cars would have to park on the outskirts. Segways would even have their own lanes. People would meet at cafes and be very politically active. People would also bowl together, drink together, and have their children play together. Honestly I want a community where people are actually respectful toward one another and that only comes from being close to one another. I think I would wall the city and choose my residents carefully. Visitors would need passports badges. If you leave the community then you need to reapply for the town when you leave.
Am I crazy or would this work? What would? What wouldn't? What pisses you off? What makes you happy?
Mine would have housing that was close in with lots of shops, but nonetheless not very large. I would want public transportation to take me everywhere. No Wal-Marts or any chains. My residents would burn them down and keep them out. There would be big park spaces where people could reflect, exercise, etc. intersecting the business and housing. Cars would not be allowed and people have to bike or walk into the city from the edge. Cars would have to park on the outskirts. Segways would even have their own lanes. People would meet at cafes and be very politically active. People would also bowl together, drink together, and have their children play together. Honestly I want a community where people are actually respectful toward one another and that only comes from being close to one another. I think I would wall the city and choose my residents carefully. Visitors would need passports badges. If you leave the community then you need to reapply for the town when you leave.
Am I crazy or would this work? What would? What wouldn't? What pisses you off? What makes you happy?
What color of highlighter is the easiest to read?
I personally prefer orange, but I know it's different for everyone. One my teacher once told me it was blue. The most common is yellow.
Social casualty
What bad habits do you have when socializing with people? If I reflected on my own I would say that I:
1.) have a tendency to look down upon people
2.) feel like people feed me rubbish
3.) feel like people apathetic
4.) feel like people are being defensive to me
That's just the start of my problems, but I'm sure you'll realize you have a few...
1.) have a tendency to look down upon people
2.) feel like people feed me rubbish
3.) feel like people apathetic
4.) feel like people are being defensive to me
That's just the start of my problems, but I'm sure you'll realize you have a few...
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
How do you like your pasta?
If you were going to make pasta using any ingredients, how would you like it? What noodles, sauce, vegetables, etc.?
I would like thick spaghetti with olive oil, basil leaves, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh uncooked spinach, fancy parmesan cheese, and light touch of diced red onions.
I would like thick spaghetti with olive oil, basil leaves, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh uncooked spinach, fancy parmesan cheese, and light touch of diced red onions.
Free Will
I have as hard a time changing someone as they have changing me. It frustrates me. If I think something is a better for a person I really want them to come to that reality. But alas they want what they want and I can only hope that they will be illuminated to that decision. But what if that decision is life threatening.
In the latest episode of Northern Exposure, Maggie has a dream that Joel is going to die in a plane crash. She tells him, but he is cynical of listening to her dreams. He thinks of them as just dreams. Maggie and the rest of town treat Joel as if he is a dead man. They all seem attached to the idea that he will die and try to convince him to change his flight plans, but he persists until the very end of the episode that they are all wrong. He eventually stays not because of the dream but because his substitute doctor upsets so much. How does it make you all feel when you something is right for someone else but they won't listen to you? On the other side how does it feel when someone feels like they know something you don't? How willing are you to change?
I used to take it rather personal when people don't heed my advice. I've become much more apathetic to the whole thing since coming to Madison. In fact I'm now to the point where I am resigned not even give advice because I think "What's the point. They don't care." I think as I go forward I will probably be less forward in helping people and more reactive.
In the latest episode of Northern Exposure, Maggie has a dream that Joel is going to die in a plane crash. She tells him, but he is cynical of listening to her dreams. He thinks of them as just dreams. Maggie and the rest of town treat Joel as if he is a dead man. They all seem attached to the idea that he will die and try to convince him to change his flight plans, but he persists until the very end of the episode that they are all wrong. He eventually stays not because of the dream but because his substitute doctor upsets so much. How does it make you all feel when you something is right for someone else but they won't listen to you? On the other side how does it feel when someone feels like they know something you don't? How willing are you to change?
I used to take it rather personal when people don't heed my advice. I've become much more apathetic to the whole thing since coming to Madison. In fact I'm now to the point where I am resigned not even give advice because I think "What's the point. They don't care." I think as I go forward I will probably be less forward in helping people and more reactive.
Is there such a thing as fate?
A mixture of watching Northern Exposure and watching parts of the Matrix trilogy have led me to this question. What is fate? Is there such a thing? Have we been predestined to do things or are things completely random? Either way, how much control do we have over the forces in our world?
I don't actually know if fate exists? I want to believe that every decision I make is new and unexpected, perhaps many of them are predictable, but I could change them at any more. Bottom line - I have free will.
This is where I probably break with my Catholicism in a bad way. I so strongly believe that I have control over my situation that I'm doubtful whether an overarching force like God even controls the situations around me. I find prayer useless in quite of few situations and I am very cynical of people who pray for things to change in their lives. Am I wrong in this? Is my cynicism getting me in trouble?
Either way a predestined fate nor complete free will can be changed by prayer. Prayer would only work in that way if God could somehow change our surroundings including us. How weird? But is it? Perhaps God actually does change us from time to time. Does God connect with us? It seems preposterous to me on the one hand and scary on the other.
There is this element of fate that is common in our society where we tell people to "find who they are." What does that mean? That means that I already have an essence that I am shaping. That essence was crafted by something. Does this infer a greater being? If I have not been fated to do anything then I am randomly choosing something that feels comfortable. That sounds more likely to me, but I rather like the first idea. It came up in another Northern Exposure episode where the characters were out of character, but by the end of the episode they all returned to their former selves. The entire episode though they were trying to figure out who they are and showing signs of their former selves. It made me feel comforted to believe that there is something that I am working toward instead of forming something out of nothing.
I don't actually know if fate exists? I want to believe that every decision I make is new and unexpected, perhaps many of them are predictable, but I could change them at any more. Bottom line - I have free will.
This is where I probably break with my Catholicism in a bad way. I so strongly believe that I have control over my situation that I'm doubtful whether an overarching force like God even controls the situations around me. I find prayer useless in quite of few situations and I am very cynical of people who pray for things to change in their lives. Am I wrong in this? Is my cynicism getting me in trouble?
Either way a predestined fate nor complete free will can be changed by prayer. Prayer would only work in that way if God could somehow change our surroundings including us. How weird? But is it? Perhaps God actually does change us from time to time. Does God connect with us? It seems preposterous to me on the one hand and scary on the other.
There is this element of fate that is common in our society where we tell people to "find who they are." What does that mean? That means that I already have an essence that I am shaping. That essence was crafted by something. Does this infer a greater being? If I have not been fated to do anything then I am randomly choosing something that feels comfortable. That sounds more likely to me, but I rather like the first idea. It came up in another Northern Exposure episode where the characters were out of character, but by the end of the episode they all returned to their former selves. The entire episode though they were trying to figure out who they are and showing signs of their former selves. It made me feel comforted to believe that there is something that I am working toward instead of forming something out of nothing.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Certainly Dan P
Anyone can come watch Northern Exposure with me when they want to. I just have never had anyone want to watch them with me. That's why I just started to post the gems from the episodes on this blog. Saves people the time.
The only people who have watched them with me have been my roommate and my girlfriend (watched more out of compulsion than desire:)
The only people who have watched them with me have been my roommate and my girlfriend (watched more out of compulsion than desire:)
The Trouble of Politics
In this other episode of Northern Exposure, the town has its first election for mayor. The town is in turmoil over this new found right that they have seemingly always had, but never directly associated with their community nor been able to use for their own politicians. The most interesting element of the episode is the reaction of Maurice. He is upset that this whole process has occurred. He calls it a Pandora's Box. He chides his friend Edna for opening the box by contending the current mayor for the spot. Though he admits had it not been her then it would have been upset by. What I think he is most upset by is the fact that the neighbors can no longer resolve their own issues. They now need representatives to resolve their issues. These shows that the community is growing more complex than Maurice desired. He says, "I wanted development, but not the consequences." This scene still confuses me because I've never grown up in a community where our elected officials weren't resolving something, but for the frontiersman this was not always the case. Have we taken our leaders for granted? Has this system made us used to others resolving conflict for us and making decisions for us? I think so. I sort of sympathize with Maurice. At least I think.
Names and Nurturing
So I watched an episode of Northern Exposure last night that had to do with nurturing. I was left absolutely puzzled not by the theme of the episode (obviously) but by the insertion of Chris (the radio announcer) with a commentary on the importance of names. Is there some connection between nurturing and names? Is the name a reflection of the parents, of the community? Chris brings up in the episode that it is a claim on another human being. The right to name something offers you some authority over the child. Then he diverted into some talk about a girl he had a crush on in sixth grade and how he was obsessed with her name because he identified it with her and her alone. So it is also an identifier. Well now this makes naming very interesting. An identifier for ourselves that we do not choose, yet we ascribe to and others label us by. Is my name arbitrary or does it help better define me? You tell me.
The Steel Drivers & the Punch Brothers
What happens when Borders has a sale on CDs? I'm called to (sort of ) impulsively buy new music. I bought the Steel Drivers and the Punch Brothers today for roughly $12 each. I thought it a fair deal. I do not like every song on the SD album, but it is a great album hangs together on masterful writings, excellent vocals, and instrumentals. As for the Punch Brothers, they are playing the great Chris Thile and performing mostly his new material, which is really long bluegrass instrumentals with well written poetry (almost prose). Also worth a listen. Though the first track "Punch" is annoyingly complex. I'm not if it is suppose to sound like rubbish and then recover into beauty. Probably.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Creation through destruction
I was watching an episode of Northern Exposure yesterday - no surprise. Somehow the episode meant so much more to me than it did in the past. In the episode Chris wants to fling a cow using a catapult. At the same time Maggie's mother is coming to town to visit her. Her mother burns down her house accidentally in the same day that she tells her that the parents are getting a divorce. There seems to be some symbolic correlation between the two events. Simultaneously Chris discovers that Monty Python flipped a cow and he must stop work on his "living art" project. Depressed that he can't think of anything else to do, he finds inspiration out of Maggie's situation. He quotes Picasso, "Every act of destruction is an act of creation." He is smitten with her situation. He tells her "You are at ground zero of creation." She cannot see this, but just agonizes over the destruction of her house and her belongings. Chris eventually decides to take Maggie's burnt piano and fling it over a lake in front of the community. The "living art," while environmentally disturbing, showed symbolically that art has multiple meanings and that something that was once constituted as destroyed has now been used anew.
The part of the episode that grips me is the connection between Maggie finding out that her house has burned down and that her parents are getting a divorce. Both events seemingly caused by her mother. I would not be so smitten as Chris was seeing that some act of creation could flow from this destruction. I would be more akin to Maggie who is tied to the fact that her family life as she knew it is destroyed and her house has burned down. But Chris is right. If you extend the metaphor, then her house representative of her family had many issues, some beyond repair, and in burning down, while it may be painful may have been better for her. But as she disagrees in the episode, "It was my house, my house!" Much like it was her family life that was destroyed here.
I really feel for Maggie. I think about my own life, how painful the end or destruction of something can be and yet the creation or new beginning that generally comes of it can sometimes be more plentiful. What significance should we take from the fact that we always want things to be the same, but that they are destroyed in preparation for something new?
The episode really shook me up in that light. Beyond that it had some really interesting questions like - what constitutes art? Is flinging a cow or a piano art? Is art in the hands of the audience, the maker, or a shared medium? Do both have to enjoy the experience for it to meaningful?
Again Northern Exposure shrouds me in reflection for a few days. Reflect with me:)
The part of the episode that grips me is the connection between Maggie finding out that her house has burned down and that her parents are getting a divorce. Both events seemingly caused by her mother. I would not be so smitten as Chris was seeing that some act of creation could flow from this destruction. I would be more akin to Maggie who is tied to the fact that her family life as she knew it is destroyed and her house has burned down. But Chris is right. If you extend the metaphor, then her house representative of her family had many issues, some beyond repair, and in burning down, while it may be painful may have been better for her. But as she disagrees in the episode, "It was my house, my house!" Much like it was her family life that was destroyed here.
I really feel for Maggie. I think about my own life, how painful the end or destruction of something can be and yet the creation or new beginning that generally comes of it can sometimes be more plentiful. What significance should we take from the fact that we always want things to be the same, but that they are destroyed in preparation for something new?
The episode really shook me up in that light. Beyond that it had some really interesting questions like - what constitutes art? Is flinging a cow or a piano art? Is art in the hands of the audience, the maker, or a shared medium? Do both have to enjoy the experience for it to meaningful?
Again Northern Exposure shrouds me in reflection for a few days. Reflect with me:)
New Artist: Ane Brun
I'm not sure if I have recommended Gillian Welch* on this blog, but I will along with Ane Brun. Ane is a bluesy pop singer out of Stockholm, Sweden. She sings like Gillian Welch, but sings to melancholy ethereal melodies much akin to Imogen Heap. You should especially "To Let Myself Go" on her MySpace spot. It is delicious. It will also be playing on Late Junction's Thursday show until this Thursday.
Keep me in the know on stuff you all like.
*Gillian Welch - I bought her album "Soul Journey" two weeks ago. She would be the female Bob Dylan sporting Midwestern folk rhythms and tenuously charged lyrics. Check her out also. She gets a thumbs up from Dan Rowan:)
Keep me in the know on stuff you all like.
*Gillian Welch - I bought her album "Soul Journey" two weeks ago. She would be the female Bob Dylan sporting Midwestern folk rhythms and tenuously charged lyrics. Check her out also. She gets a thumbs up from Dan Rowan:)
Favorite Places in the World?
1.) Copenhagen, Denmark
2.) San Francisco, CA, USA
3.) Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
4.) London, England
5.) Chicago, IL
What would be your top 5? Why? Are there things WI could learn from foreign lands? Damn right:)
2.) San Francisco, CA, USA
3.) Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
4.) London, England
5.) Chicago, IL
What would be your top 5? Why? Are there things WI could learn from foreign lands? Damn right:)
My Own Grammys...
I want to hear from people as to the song with the...
Best Lyrics - "When in Rome" by Nickel Creek
Best Melody - "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin
Best Vocals - "Slumber My Darling" by Alison Krauss
Best Instrumentals - "Bigfoot" by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
Best Beat - "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson
I want to hear what people think about these categories and what others you would like to see on this list. How are songs rated?
Best Lyrics - "When in Rome" by Nickel Creek
Best Melody - "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin
Best Vocals - "Slumber My Darling" by Alison Krauss
Best Instrumentals - "Bigfoot" by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
Best Beat - "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson
I want to hear what people think about these categories and what others you would like to see on this list. How are songs rated?
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Guilty Pleasure
In response to post from Dan J:
Driving a car is a necessary evil in the U.S. Our government nor the people of our country do not yet have the insight into transportation. Ideally people should ride public transportation to get everywhere in a city and surrounding country side. For further journeys you should have a car. For those other treks you should share as a community transportation vehicle. If a community shared bigger vehicles then you wouldn't need it to drive to work in them etc., but who in the US wants to share. That's absurd:)
However, if I'm going to drive rather than use public transportation, shouldn't it be a guilty pleasure? I will grant you there is nothing alluring about driving a big SUV unless you are serious off roader. However, get behind the wheel of a sport tuned turbo engine and suddenly I yearn to drive. Slicing through curves, aching for the accelerator, feeling the gyrations from the lag. It's enthralling. Almost erotic. Ooh lah lah.
There are many guilty pleasures in life. Most likely I shouldn't drive. I feel guilty when I do it, but if I'm going to do it then shouldn't I do with a pleasurable ride? Maybe maybe not. Most likely I'll get something above 25 mpg if not 30 mpg so don't think I'm crazy.
Driving a car is a necessary evil in the U.S. Our government nor the people of our country do not yet have the insight into transportation. Ideally people should ride public transportation to get everywhere in a city and surrounding country side. For further journeys you should have a car. For those other treks you should share as a community transportation vehicle. If a community shared bigger vehicles then you wouldn't need it to drive to work in them etc., but who in the US wants to share. That's absurd:)
However, if I'm going to drive rather than use public transportation, shouldn't it be a guilty pleasure? I will grant you there is nothing alluring about driving a big SUV unless you are serious off roader. However, get behind the wheel of a sport tuned turbo engine and suddenly I yearn to drive. Slicing through curves, aching for the accelerator, feeling the gyrations from the lag. It's enthralling. Almost erotic. Ooh lah lah.
There are many guilty pleasures in life. Most likely I shouldn't drive. I feel guilty when I do it, but if I'm going to do it then shouldn't I do with a pleasurable ride? Maybe maybe not. Most likely I'll get something above 25 mpg if not 30 mpg so don't think I'm crazy.
My Role Models/My Heroes
Role Models
1.) My Father
2.) Dan Rowan
3.) Leonardo Da Vinci
4.) Benjamin Franklin
5.) Ghandi
My Heroes
1.) St. Ignatius of Loyola - Catholic Church/Jesuits
2.) Rudy - Notre Dame
3.) James Madison - United States Govt./US Constitution
4.) Dick Bashaam - Marquette High Hilltopper Football
5.) Curly Lambeau - Green Bay Packer Football
Honorable Mention: L.L. Bean
I wanted to differentiate between heroes and role models. A role model, in my belief, is someone that you look up to/admire, but a hero is someone who embodies the principles of an institution. If you feel strong about a hero then you feel strongly about the values of an organization. The people as heroes are different than the people as human beings. Heroes are more representations of an institution and their stories may not actually reflect how they acted, but more help transmit a certain culture.
1.) My Father
2.) Dan Rowan
3.) Leonardo Da Vinci
4.) Benjamin Franklin
5.) Ghandi
My Heroes
1.) St. Ignatius of Loyola - Catholic Church/Jesuits
2.) Rudy - Notre Dame
3.) James Madison - United States Govt./US Constitution
4.) Dick Bashaam - Marquette High Hilltopper Football
5.) Curly Lambeau - Green Bay Packer Football
Honorable Mention: L.L. Bean
I wanted to differentiate between heroes and role models. A role model, in my belief, is someone that you look up to/admire, but a hero is someone who embodies the principles of an institution. If you feel strong about a hero then you feel strongly about the values of an organization. The people as heroes are different than the people as human beings. Heroes are more representations of an institution and their stories may not actually reflect how they acted, but more help transmit a certain culture.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Greatest Symbol of the Green Bay Packers
As Brett Favre steps down it makes you wonder he fits within the realm of the Packers...
Is he the greatest symbol of the Packers? Is Bart Starr? Vince Lombardi? Don Hutson? Curly Lambeau?
I would probably shoot for Lambeau being the father of it all, Lombardi as the Godfather of the organization, and the rest of the players as kings and judges if we want to get all biblical here.
Every organization has its heroes. I think the Packers are no different and I admire how well they cultivate them. Our world needs more heroes. People we can admire and look up to. People of honor and virtue. I find it one of the compelling reasons to belong to the Catholic Church. As part of its organizational strucutre it provides me with a myriad of people who ruminated and deliberated about the existence of God. To be part of a tradition and to feel part of something larger than yourself is a wonderful feeling. It was the same feeling I had playing Marquette High football. This sincere connection to the people who had played before me and the meaning behind the horns on the helmet.
Who are some of your heroes? In what traditions do you follow? How does it make you feel?
Is he the greatest symbol of the Packers? Is Bart Starr? Vince Lombardi? Don Hutson? Curly Lambeau?
I would probably shoot for Lambeau being the father of it all, Lombardi as the Godfather of the organization, and the rest of the players as kings and judges if we want to get all biblical here.
Every organization has its heroes. I think the Packers are no different and I admire how well they cultivate them. Our world needs more heroes. People we can admire and look up to. People of honor and virtue. I find it one of the compelling reasons to belong to the Catholic Church. As part of its organizational strucutre it provides me with a myriad of people who ruminated and deliberated about the existence of God. To be part of a tradition and to feel part of something larger than yourself is a wonderful feeling. It was the same feeling I had playing Marquette High football. This sincere connection to the people who had played before me and the meaning behind the horns on the helmet.
Who are some of your heroes? In what traditions do you follow? How does it make you feel?
Control
I think one of my big beefs with alcohol is that it would hinder me being in control. I always want to be responsible for what I say and do, but more than that I want control over situations. That's the dark side of my need to stray from drinking..
Trio Medieval
I'm not sure I have ever advertised this group on my blog, but they are excellent. I found them on BBC's Late Junction. They are a group of Norwegian women who sing medieval chant. It's gorgeous how they mix their voices to sound like instruments. I wouldn't recommend listening to it for too long straight, but in the mix of a playlist, it's really amazing. Tell me what you think if you find them.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Alcohol
I've been wondering lately how much "drinking" effects my life. I feel that the people I know who drink do not have positive experiences. Furthermore, the experience itself feels rather arbitrary. I am suppose to drink something that inhibits my abilities and kills off brain cells with only have the slight effect of making me feel relaxed. Aren't there better ways for me to relax/socialize? The only two good reasons I hear for drinking. I feel no compelling reason to drink except the social aspect. I somehow feel left out if not a part of the madness. That being said I do not think I will ever have more than a drink, but I wouldn't mind having one. I just still feel so arbitrary in the action, but many things are - drinking coffee, watching sporting events, etc.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Car Comparisons
Audi A3 or Volkswagon R32
Honda Civic Hybrid or Toyota Prius
Mini Cooper S or Acura RSX Type S
Porsche Boxster or Honda S2000
Honda Odyssey or Dodge Caravan
Toyota 4Runner or Nissan Xterra
Acura TL or Infiniti G35
Ford F Series or Toyota Tacoma
Subaru Outback or Volvo V50
You choose a comparison and explain why you like one over the other.
I would choose all of the choices on the left over the ones on the right.
Honda Civic Hybrid or Toyota Prius
Mini Cooper S or Acura RSX Type S
Porsche Boxster or Honda S2000
Honda Odyssey or Dodge Caravan
Toyota 4Runner or Nissan Xterra
Acura TL or Infiniti G35
Ford F Series or Toyota Tacoma
Subaru Outback or Volvo V50
You choose a comparison and explain why you like one over the other.
I would choose all of the choices on the left over the ones on the right.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Most Attractive Women/Men
Who do you think are the most attractive men or women? You choose. Living or dead. I'll do both.
Women
1.) Rory Raasch
a.) No women can beat the beauty of a girlfriend;)
2.) Rachel Weisz
3.) Julie Delpy
4.) Maria Sharapova
5.) Audrey Hepburn
Men
1.) Chris Thile
2.) Harry Connick, Jr.
3.) Cary Grant
I can't come up with other men:) Maybe because I am one. O well.
Women
1.) Rory Raasch
a.) No women can beat the beauty of a girlfriend;)
2.) Rachel Weisz
3.) Julie Delpy
4.) Maria Sharapova
5.) Audrey Hepburn
Men
1.) Chris Thile
2.) Harry Connick, Jr.
3.) Cary Grant
I can't come up with other men:) Maybe because I am one. O well.
Friends or Lovers?
An eternal question. I was having the conversation with Rory yesterday. Is it better to break your friendships for a lover or not have loved for the support of your friendship? I really think this would come down to individual cases. A relationship fulfills you in ways that a friendship never can and vice versa. In all efforts try to maintain both, but you can certainly mess up one with the other. Word?
New Trend
On some reflection I think the new trend is not moving toward people working as a community, but in networks. Instead of being bound to someone for your livelihood, you are bound to someone for some specific purpose(s) and then you move on to the next person. There are advantages and disadvantages to this. The advantage is that your potential to grow as individual is great because the greater quantity and quality of people you have in your network the more you can understand and more opportunities you can receive. The disadvantages are that you are not bounded to anyone in your network like you would be in a community. If Joe cannot offer me what I want then the logic stands that I no longer associate with Joe. I feel torn on which I prefer. Most likely an ideal combination of both. A community that is bounded to each other, but well connected through networks with the rest of the world.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Greatest Presidents
1.) Franklin D. Roosevelt
2.) Abraham Lincoln
3.) James Madison
4.) Theodore Roosevelt
5.) John F. Kennedy
Tell me who you think should be in the top five and why.
2.) Abraham Lincoln
3.) James Madison
4.) Theodore Roosevelt
5.) John F. Kennedy
Tell me who you think should be in the top five and why.
Greatest Musical Performers & Songwriters
Rowan showed me during a conversation that musical artist are two types of people...performers and songwriters. I will name my favorites of each to reiterate my point.
Performers
1.) Elvis Presley
2.) Michael Jackson
3.) James Brown
4.) The Temptations
5.) New Kids on the Block
Songwriters
1.) The Beatles
2.) Bruce Springsteen
3.) Billy Joel
4.) The Eagles
5.) Chris Thile
Performers
1.) Elvis Presley
2.) Michael Jackson
3.) James Brown
4.) The Temptations
5.) New Kids on the Block
Songwriters
1.) The Beatles
2.) Bruce Springsteen
3.) Billy Joel
4.) The Eagles
5.) Chris Thile
Favorite Baseball Players (In Order)
1.) Hank Aaron
2.) Willie Mays
3.) Robin Yount
4.) Jackie Robinson
5.) Ken Griffey, Jr.
Disagree with me as you will:)
2.) Willie Mays
3.) Robin Yount
4.) Jackie Robinson
5.) Ken Griffey, Jr.
Disagree with me as you will:)
More on Wailin' Jennys
I probably should have explained why I find them appealing. They are three female performers who write all of their own music. A trend seen quite a bit in the bluegrass genre. The songs show the signs of young group. While they bring together some very beautiful lyrics matched with wonderful music they seem to miss a certain something that I'm sure will come over time. That being said they are certainly worth a listen.
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