Rain

Guess who is working on a fiction film based on Herzog's Little Dieter Needs to Fly, starring Christian Bale? Herzog. According to the Hollywood matrix.

(My bro, Zentrout, clued me in. He also said I have to see the new Batman movie.) (Although I'm waiting for a Batman that takes place in the 30's.)


Incidentally, Bale will have to fatten himself up for the beginning of the movie, and then make himself all emaciated-like all over again for to make the POW segment realistic-- just like he did in The Machinist. (I guess because nobody saw The Machinist he wants to make a big hoopla about getting dangerously thin again. Or maybe they'll just intersplice segments from The Machinist into the remake.) At any rate, Herzog might want to change the name to The Little Flyer Doesn't Need to Diet. You heard me.

(What is this whole blog/life about?)


It's raining.

Travesty of an Eyesore

Space Needle Part II

Click on the slide show just to see how ugly and spaceneedlesque the new "Freedom" tower will be. Why don't they call it the Cool Tower. Or the AWESOME tower. Or the OUTERSPACE Tower from the FUTURE. I swear if they actually build this thing I will move away from New York.

And what makes it uglier (as if that was possible) is that they don't even need it. Nobody wants to move into it. So they are building an ugly thing that has no practical use. Ahhhh....I see their game now. They were looking for a building so ugly and useless to deter anyone from blowing it up.

I guess Ayn Rand was right.

(By the way, I haven't read the book, but the movie was objectively terrible.("A culture is only as great as its dreams and its dreams are dreamed by artists." Wow! That's almost as profound as Herzog! Or Ayn Rand!(I'm getting confused about what I'm being sarcastic about(I want to read one of this guy's books.)

Torture and its defenders

Good post about Andrew Sullivan, via Atriososo, with quotes I like:

THE ANTI-WAR DEMOCRATS: They’re not exactly shouting from the rooftops.

“One of the overlooked aspects of the war we are now fighting is the awakening it has spawned on the left,” Sullivan wrote in The Wall Street Journal on Oct. 4, 2001.

Quest for Light

Maybe there is something to that whole Scientology thing.

Better Homes and Gardens

Now, I know that Werner Herzog says that I have to let go of this idea of order and harmony in the universe, except when you are in the Jungle, and then there is only the harmony of overwhelming and collective murder, overwhelming misery, overwhelming fornication, overwhelming growth--but that's the Jungle mind you. I'm just in my apartment in Queens, on the internet. A very Un-Lion like activity. But lion or no lion, I want to keep my den in order. (Well, not really, my den is a mess.) But still, I got to start my housekeeping somewhere. So, I present to you--for reference purposes--the other Daniel Jacksons of the web, sans SG-1, in the order of their appearances on google:

Daniel Jackson #1 (Note: seems to be someone involved with software and MIT.)

Daniel Jackson #2 (Note: a software person, has pocket pc games that he wrote that used to free but are now for sale. One is Ratsplat, a simple yet addictive 'Whack-a-Rat' style game. Rats pop out of holes, and you have to whack them with a mallet using the stylus.")

Daniel Jackson #3 (Note: seems to be a software engineer. My favorite sentence from his resume narrative: Robert O'Callahan has developed Lackwit, a successor to Chopshop, that employs type inference in place of dependence analysis." I'm wondering if Daniel Jackson #3 might be the same as Daniel Jackson #1)

Daniel Jackson #4 (Note: Is a scholar who studies media. On top of that, is a keen sportsman.)

Daniel Jackson #5 (Note: A painter. His paintings are hyper-pseudorealistic--though that makes them seem more interesting than they are. No David Hockney or Gerard Richter. Though, I like that the flower is in a post-apocalyptayuppie plastic water bottle.)

Daniel Jackson #6 (Note: I can't figure out what sport he plays, but expect to see more of this youngster.)

Daniel Jackson #7 (Note: In Japan teaching English. Here's his resume.)

Daniel Jackson #8 (Note: San Diego Jazz musician.)

Daniel Jackson #9 (Note: This is me. I don't appear on google. But I get to be number #9 on my list because the number nine is my favorite number.)

Daniel Jackson #10 (Note: Daniel Jackson number 10 is not the Daniel Jackson of the Stargate movie or TV series, but rather in honor of the collective spiritual energies that are directed towards a fictional characted by thousands of his admirers. These energies, I dare say, make him something more than a 2-dimensional depiction. Daniel Jackson SG-1 seems to be a sort of Christ for some people. How else would you explain: "I don't quite know what this post is about, i just thought I needed more topics but Daniel seems like a good person to waste time on. Ohhh what I wouldn't give to be his glasses! What they're always close to him and necessary for his correct functioning. A lot like he is to me!!!")

In the future I will do a survey on the Dan Jacksons of the web.

You can't handle the ecstatic truth

The REAL reason we went to Iraq.

Science Fiction Fascism

What is the connection between fascism and Science Fiction? I was wondering, in response to this post on the James Wolcott site. Right-wing blogger instapundit quotes Robert Heinlein, "An armed society is a polite society."

50's sci-fi is an idealistic sort of view of the universe--one that accords with the Herman Kahn worldview (the man who was the inspiration for the character of Dr. Strangelove, see this week's New Yorker.) In other words, space is the place. We might fuck up the earth--we and the Russians may blow each other up, but that doesn't matter because we have rocketships and we have the whole of the universe to pursue our happiness within. Now, I love Heinlein. But mainly early Heinlein. The stuff he wrote for kids. It's great fun (Hole in the Sky, Double Star). Starship Troopers is pretty fascist, I have to admit. Supposedly, the 60's changed that. (Read Harry Harrison's Bill the Galactic Hero as an anecdote to Starship Troopers.) Though, truth be told, I don't think 60's Sci-fi is as great as 50's because the form didn't match the content as well--the emerging criticisms coming out of the 60's were too (subtle? intricate?) for space-adventures to articulate. The great science-fiction is escapist, told in primary colors. There are exceptions--but in my mind those exceptions are not very readable and one's time is better spent reading other types of fiction. But maybe we must separate our judgements into aesthetic and political. Fascism makes for the best Sci-Fi reading. One of the best SciFi books I've read, The Stars My Destination by Bester I think is pretty fascist. Maybe that's why Philip K Dick went crazy. He made SciFi work, but only a couple times out of a hundred. Despite his brilliance, Delaney never really wrote anything great; Zelazny never did...the only great post 50's sci-fi writer was probably Stanislaw Lem. And I don't know why. The greatest was Welles, and he was majorly fascist. If it was so terrible, why did I read so much of it? And why do I find it ALL unreadable now? I guess we go through phases.

One thing I don't want to ponder at the moment is whether or not Herzog is a fascist. I'm afraid to ponder it. (BTW, what is Fascism?) As he said in Werner Herzog eats his Shoe..."WHO is society?"

As if we needed it

But more proof punk truly is dead.

Comic book covers

This site is really really great. The comments are worthless. But it's still great.

This site.

Shoes/Toast

It always pay to watch what you eat.

That's not an ironic comment. I swear.

Speaking of which, I'm back on netflix, though I'm only getting one movie at a time. First movie was Burden of Dreams, by Les Blank, about the making of Fitzcarraldo (Herzog of course.) It comes with two extras--I watched both. One, Dreams and Burdens--a recent interview with Herzog, and another, Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe. I haven't watched the main movie yet, but I've seen it before. I've seen the shoe movie before, too. The interview was new, and it had some great Herzogian lines, some I've never heard him say before. For instance, he swears he doesn't know what color his eyes are because he can't stand to look at himself in a mirror. The Shoe movie has some really choice quotes, mainly about how TV is killing images. About how civilization will die if it has no new imagery. It actually is one of his more compelling arguments. Some of aspects of the Herzog-worldview only seem applicable to the World of Herzog. But the idea that the conventional, mindless imagery of commercials and dramas and comedies is destroying our ability to appreciate images is something that I can relate to. He also said that TV and especially Talkshows have ruined the word. (BTW, the shoe movie is about how Herzog told Errol Morris that if Morris actually ever made a movie Herzog would eat one of his shoes. A man of his word, Herzog follows through with the pact.)

Proven.

Communism is good for you.

The old man said he never had any wives or childen. He also said that he it probably helped that he quit smoking at the age of 110.
(Grandma, do you read my blog? Never too late to quit. Never too late to smash the state.)

What I want to know

Is WHO is the popCORN Maker!!!!

Dangerous Times

Call for Dangerous Music.

Religion is Evil

when put into practice. Via atriosman. For whatever reason this one thing pisses me off bad.

Got into an interesting argument tonight about Michael Moore versus Noam Chomsky.

Who, in YOUR opinion, is doing more for the revolution. The Theorist or the Populist?

(Well, geez, maybe we need both.)

Dog and Pony Show

1. Fingerprinting technology on washing machines in Spain.

2. Poets policing poets.

My Hero

This blog is about many things. The number of things it is about is not innumerable, but it now includes one more. One more hero to my pantheon. Maybe ARon Ralston and the other two are sort of greater in the physical acts they committed, but this guy is an important, crucial crucial prophet. A talisman of a man. I will cling to his ideas.

I don't know why

But my internet connection suddenly got better. I can post again. Even though I'm really tired. My job is a real job. Maybe if you've been reading my blog, you are getting sick of me saying that I have a real job. But it has been years since I have had one. Last one was the stint in a tax-accountant's office in The Hamptons. Tonight the boss made me and my coworker stay until 8--the horror! Simpsons is on at seven, and my commute home is an hour long; do the math. I have remind myself that the end result of what we're doing is good, even though it is all just mind-numbing and at the furthest reaches of my comprehension. (At least I don't feel like it's all totally beyond me. Let me get a beer and continue.) I haven't even got a paycheck yet. But my Dad always said that the best part about getting a job is that you get to complain about it. I know why my boss wanted to get those damn Memorandums of Understanding perfect. But when it's at the end of the day, you just want to go home. Who cares? He just wants to make sure that the other executives in the other non-profits see that we have perfect little Memorandums of Understandings. Not that they need to be perfect. In one week we have to turn in a grant to the Department of Health.

God, this is terrible Blog-fodder.

In better news, I got a return email from Dr. Orrington (see previous post). He sent me a pdf of the plans to his airship. He didn't make any conversation in his email--I was hoping to get a conversation going, and thought maybe I could get Herzog's email. No dice. But I will have to follow-up (and perhaps change my tact in approaching the good, mad doctor.) If you are interested in the plans, email me and I will forward them along.

Before my connection got better I updated my friendster profile, then I started searching for people I knew in High School. Seeing faces aged by 10 years is a sobering experience.

I have something I've been meaning to link to. It's such a great thing that I will start a new post about it.

Update

Haven't been able to blog for two (2) reasons (1) I have a job now and (2) my internet connection at home suddenly went really bad and I can't even log onto blogger anymore.

I saw White Diamond last night and it is so beautiful I wanted to cry. It is not a perfect movie, but it is more perfect than so many other things that it doesn't matter. This period of Herzog (whether it will be deemed Late or Middle depends on whether or not the man dies sooner or later) will probably not be fully appreciated at this moment--if ever. The MAN Herzog kind of gets in the way of his movies. That is not a problem too much because the man is so fascinating, but his movies are so much dominated by his personality that it is hard to know how to gauge them. The man is great, no doubt. In White Diamond he originated the term Dignified Stupidities as opposed to Stupid Stupidities. There are dignified stupidities and stupid stupidities.

Last night I emailed Dr. Graham Orrington, the designer and pilot of the airship featured in the film. I found his email because he posted on a blog that I found by googling White Diamond. He said on the blog that he would mail a pdf explaining his research to anyone who was curious. I hope he gets back to me.

Never hurts to bring myself that closer to the Herzogian epicenter of ecstatic truth.

Job keeps me busy. I am learning how to write grants. I feel completely in over my head. Things that are very sober and precise.

Cascadia

It could happen. Here's why.

I got a JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

with these people

i can't believe somebody might think I could be useful to them and that they would pay me money.

the mad fools...

This is

unbelievable.

Marvels of the New Age

(You'll have to excuse me; it's as if I'm new to the internet. Maybe you've all already seen these. Grand Theft Auto they are not.)

Something gratifying about this. Especially the random button.

And this lets you relive a famous scene from a famous movie. Actually, it kind of scares me.

And this looks interesting, but I guess you have to get to it when it's not busy.

Everyday is Halloween

On my blog now. I like how the letters glow. Don't stare too long, though.