October 2006

Paragraph from a New Yorker Will Wright article:

"The problem with our education system is we've taken this kind of narrow, reductionist, Aristotelian approach to what learning is," he told me. "It's not designed for experimenting with complex systems and navigating your way through them in an intuitive way, which is what games teach. It's not really designed for failure, which is also something games teach. I mean, I think that failure is a better teacher than success. Trial and error, reverse-engineering stuff in your mind—all the ways that kids interact with games—that's the kind of thinking schools should be teaching. And I would argue that as the world becomes more complex, and as outcomes become less about success or failure, games are better at preparing you. The education system is going to realize this sooner or later. It's starting. Teachers are entering the system who grew up playing games. They're going to want to engage with the kids using games."

(via Kottke.org)

Glory Days from K10K

Letchworth State Park

Zach suggested visiting Letchworth State Park, so I went this past weekend, and it was great. I really like train tracks and waterfalls, so it was and awesome scene.

I'm not sure it's better anywhere else, but the American education system is retarded.

Despite thaaat, I found out I might graduate almost a year early, which is rad city.

From the director of Run Lola Run

New commercial for Sony BRAVIA (click to watch)

This weekend I went to the Wham City Round Robin, which was a handful of bands set up in a circle with the audience in the middle. There was then four rounds where each band played a song. It was great because the bands really varied in style from one another.

One of the best performances was from Ecstatic Sunshine. Here are a few MP3s:

Little Dipper Big Dipper

Wavechop

Pocketknife

Beetle

Alsoooooo, here is a clip of their performance on vimeo:click. Enough!

From Chuck Palahniuk's Survivor

"We thought all this teaching was to make us smart. What it did was make us stupid. With all the little facts we learned, we never had the time to think."

I'm glad I read it. It get's a 4/5.

GIRL Hey god, wanan smoke this with me?
GOD No thank you.
GIRL You Sure?

GOD Smiles.

GOD Yep.
GIRL Don't you wanna take a break? Kick back a little?
GOD I can't really take a break. The people on Earth need my attention.
GIRL Oh... Well, I guess I'm gonna smoke it.

GIRL smokes.

GIRL Hey, god?
GOD Mmhmm.
GIRL How am I doing?
GOD At life?
GIRL Yeah.
GOD You're doing pretty good. You should visit your mom a little more. She misses you.

Slight Pause

GOD And maybe not drive when ever you smoke, it could be dangerous.
GIRL But it's so fun! I love the little farms and shit! ... And reading the names of all the towns!

GIRL trails off.

GIRL How's my mom?
GOD A little stressed about work.
GIRL She's so fucking strung up on making me someone I'm not.

GOD remains silent

GIRL Is it not possible for her to love her slightly overweight daughter!?

GIRL takes another hit

GIRL I know she did drugs! It was the seventies for god's sake!

GOD remains silent

GIRL Have you heard the way she talks about black people!?

GOD opens his eye for the first time. He looks a little shocked at GIRL's statement.

GOD You know she just loves you. She wants to show you that, but is unsure how.
GIRL It's like she's trying to make up for a time in her life she never had.
GOD Maybe so. Your life is her biggest project. She can't help but want it to turn out well.
GIRL Yeah... I guess.

Slight pause.

GIRL He- Hey, god? Why do you need that telescope? I mean, can't you just sort of see everything?
GOD Oh. Well, this actually does the opposite. My problem is that I see too much at one time. Like you said 'I see everything.' This helps me focus on what needs my attention.
GIRL Oh.

Slight pause.

GIRL Ca- Can I see?
GOD Sure. Come on up.

GIRL climbs the chair towards GOD. When she gets to the top she peers into the telescope. She sees a single car driving on the highway late at night. The vision slowly pulls in closer to the car. The vision becomes perpindicular with the car looking in the passenger window. The window is fogged up and hard to see through. It slowly begins to roll down and she sees a girl at the wheel. The girl's head is nodding slowly.

I went to Black Creek Park today and there was a lot of what looked like wild cotton growing. I don't think I've ever seen cotton before, so I took some pictures. Next weekend I'm gonna take my friend Zach's advice and try Letchworth State Park, which looks massive. Also, can you see the ant in the picture? I didn't notice until I got back!

A high school classmate, Charlie Pate, recorded a couple country tunes:
"Prophecies Fulfilled" and "In The Back Of My Mind" are two current favorites. It's hard to describe Charlie and my relationship, but I often attribute a great deal of how I was accepted in high school to him. Charlie is a really rad dude, and I hope he's successful.

What would it be like to be granted infinite knowledge?

I think if you were somehow granted infinite knowledge of the world and our existence, that it would be difficult situation. I imagine a lot of people's initial reaction would be to tell everyone about what they had learned. To go out and inform others of their potentially incorrect beliefs.

This task would prove to be frustrating, as most people are unlikely to be swayed simply from someone telling them what is or isn't so. This effect is magnified if you were adamant to say that they were flat out wrong or stupid for feeling or believing a certain way.

Additionally, if you were in fact granted infinite knowledge, I'd imagine you'd be pretty enthusiastic about it. It would be difficult to not come off as mildly insane as you frantically raced around trying to convince people of their wrongdoings.

It seems that, given the responsibility of infinite knowledge, it would prove more effective to stay a little low-key about it. Avoid shouting the truth at people, but, if they should seek your advice, help guide them along the path to their own self-realizations.

The following is a conversation my brother and I had via text messages.

Brother "The only thing that really bites me about girltalk is the lack of originality...anyone who knows their way around a sampler could duplicate his work."

Me "Yah. Anyone could do what Warhol did but it still takes the insight he had to do it."

Brother "Well let's look at Mr. Warhol's achievements; in addition to creating his famous artwork he founded an art studio, created and published a magazine, owned an operated a nightclub, wrote and published his own book, and also shot over 300 experimental underground films. The Andy Warhol museum in Pittsburgh showcases these accomplishments... I'm not so sure just anyone could do all these things... Will the work of DJ Girl Talk one day be displayed in a museum for the arts? Or will it instead be celebrated in the highly choreographed routines of high school dance squads for years to come? I suppose only time will tell..."

Me "My comment was hardly comparing Girl Talk to Warhol, but rather implying that technicality isn't the only criteria for great art. The context and reason behind art sometimes surpasses the technical aspect of it. Girl Talk, unlike most dance squad top 40 'mega mixes', samples from a wide variety of genres."

Brother "Exactly! His decision to work beyond the top 40 barrier and incorporate a wide array of songs from many different genres is precisely what positions him for success inside all competitive dance circuits; In fact I couldn't agree with you more, for years many cheerleading and dance squads have had to structure their routines around the all too common 'mega mix' as it were, until now! Girl Talk has introduced his vast new arrangement of songs stitched together with unorthodox methods of production. His radical new interpretation of the traditional megamix concept stands to create improvement among teams and squads all over the world. Promoting diversity throughout the dance community and encouraging all its participants and spectators to increase their perception and explore these new and different avenues of sound. The groups who are successful in their efforts of doing so will be able to achieve a new level of performance, enriched directly by this progressive advancement in mega-mixology!!! Honestly, can you think of a more appropriate application? The fact of the matter is the earnings girl talk currently makes from his gigs and album sales would pale in comparison to the amount of revenue that can be made with the right proprietary licensing and distribution of his work (which is largely made up of other artists work) for use in dance competition..."

Me "I disagree. I think the main genre's he draws from, southern rap, indie rock, and 90's alt-rock, are musical tastes that strive from their exclusiveness. I don't see why you're forcing the idea that Girl Talk is mega-mix music. His demographic seems to be the indie rock scene, not high school dance squads. I hardly think he's a musical genius, nor in the future will his art be looked upon by the masses as generationally profound. However, I think it warrants the attention for signifying an important point in time. The rights and ownership of music are being tested more than ever. I think your sentiment about his music's potential to make more money is flawed in that he would never be able to clear all the samples used. As things are now, he is able to slide by, however if music corporations have their way, who knows if this sort of music will be able to exist in 5 or 10 years."

Brother "*laugh* man I don't really believe that. I was just clownin' dogg... Pretty much the whole dissertation. I just like fuckin' with you kid, u oughtta know that"

Me "Well duh - just seein' if I could justify my own enjoyment of the music - holla"

Brother "Don't play, i totally had u..."

Me "Prolllyyy"

My brother, who always had a knack for grammar and writing, ironically sends me grammatically flawed and l33t-speak filled emails and text messages. So, it was fun to get this little "debate" going. I did indeed have a hunch that he was just gassin' me up, but I wanted to try and keep it going, so I intentionally tried to play it straight.

I didn't realize how rediculous his second, long discourse was until I was typing it up.