What started as just a random collection of junk I was interested in grew into a major creative outlet for many of us. We argued and illustrated and sang our hearts out. We were a community in the truest sense, and in a way I have not experienced in life since.

I am beyond grateful for the happiness and joy Oasisband brought me, and for setting me on a path to learn the skills I still use in my career today.

Happy 20th Anniversary to us!

I wish us all the best!

I was poking around some old data, and found a number of posts that were never ported back in the previous rewrite of 2008. This includes a fair number of game reviews, as well as the entire "Others" section.

They've only been missing from the site since 2008!

In reality there have been a lot of false starts at a rewrite. This time I figured instead of having a moving target of improvements, I would be better off just getting a visually identical version out the door ASAP and then fix from there.

If I've done my job correctly it should be hard to even notice anything is different.

I'm skeptical anyone other than myself is still interested in Oasisband, I've been looking for an outlet for some things I'd like to write that would not fit on my professional blog.

Coming soon:

• Comics
  I have a couple comics hanging out that have never been posted. I'll get those up ASAP
  These are in fact now up.
• Layout Cleanup
  A lot of things with the current design really irk me. Namely text alignment being all over the place.
• Responsive Design
  I get emails from Google all the time about how Oasisband.net sucks on mobile, so I intend to fix that as best I can.
• Better Author Pages
  It's only been 14 years since I promised them.
• Obloglog
  I did not reimplement obloglog. If you'd like to post something, email me.

I'm in a way better place to actually implement fixes now that I'm not working around a rats nest.

Last night I moved it over to a new web server, and in the process upgraded it to sweet sweet Let's Encrypt powered SSL - taking Oasisband.net boldly into the new millennium.

You can probably notice the wonderful new 'https://' appended to the URLs.

We used it to communicate; it drove the word-of-mouth spread around the high school. We would never have reached the heights we did without it.

It was the literal backbone of "Oasisband.net" as a community.

Heck, our AIM usernames are still listed on our profiles on the "About Us" pages.

If not for AIM, we never would have found Joel, who provided us with free hosting for almost ten years. Who later provoked me to pursue programming and my career no less!

We all have a lot to thank AOL Instant Messenger for.

On top of everything else, our dear friend and writer Meka T. Slorne, who passed away some years back, at this very moment still shows as online thanks to never having been signed out by his "dumb-phone". I still connect to AIM, and seeing him in my buddy list every day has stood as a solemn reminder.

Today is truly a time for reflection. I'm sad to see it go.

Oasisband is then a frequency of an oasis. I will later address these two terms separately, but I want to create an image, an image of two almost contradictory ideas existing both at this specific url but also as a point that exists outside of technology a point that exists inside and within communities and individuals. A frequency, an electronic, technological point, position, or flux that brings together the various creatures of the desert into one community.

And yes, community is the word that I am looking for. An oasisband is nothing more, and at its best is a community. A community that is not simply based on geographic closeness or physical/mental necessity, it is a community that can cross a limitless number of boundaries—it can connect concentric and eccentric lines of flight, or it can be nothing more than a beautiful vista, amongst an unfathomable sea of sand.

An oasis is essentially a micro climate, a different climate, full of life and possibility amongst a desert which grows larger every moment. It is a climate that is not simply created by chance nor by design. It can be created by a roaming boar who creates an indent in the sand, a bird who comes to eat the life found in the feces of the boar, a seed brought on the foot or the feces of the bird, and the rain which accumulates in this indent. This can become an oasis, or it can stay the exact same. Whatever happens is always understandable in reverse, looking back at the action, but the possibilities are always open...there is limitlessness in every moment and in every being.

Much has been said about frequencies, about technologies, and much has been said to exclaim and much has been said to defame these frequencies. But in actuality a frequency is a medium, and yes it is a medium to transfer new thoughts, rapidly changing views of the world, create new communities and foster a fledgling oasis, but yes, it is also a medium to transfer images that increasingly lack connection to the soil, create mediocre relationships, and entertain and distract.

What we have then on this site is a possibility for individuals to come together and create images and personifications of themselves and their bodies of work. Through this site and this frequency individuals will be able to come to a common watering hole. A place/a frequency that supports individuals and through that support creates interdependent communities. To share a common resource, whether that be physical or electronic is the basis for community.

So here is the vision for a revitalized Oasis Band. Individuals would use the space to host their own content, i.e. my academic writing, jeff's comics and music, jesse's artwork (and anything else anyone of us wanted to post) on their own portion of the website. We would all share a common homepage, and would be able to find every one's own space through a page similar to the current about us page.

Why O Band? Oasis Band is a beautifully designed website that already has the functionality necessary to be converted into a watering hole. And in the era of social networking where everyone has a page on facebook, twitter, has their photos and so on, there is a complete lack of content and to a greater degree community.

Gaps, openings and possibilities are being opened and left opened in this modern world. Community, which builds on technology, provides a powerful voice in an unsettled, postmodern world, and an Oasis Band can provide that voice if it commands the proper tone, compels the proper audience, and chooses to speak beautifully and softly even in the context of former belches and the constant noise of the current age.

The main character, Keld, is a plumber who is more or less stuck in a rut. When his wife of many years leaves him for another man, unable or unwilling to cook for himself, he begins to eat at a Chinese restaurant near his house every day.  This begins a friendship between Keld and the owner, Feng.  When a pipe breaks in the kitchen, Keld offers to take a look.  Seeing that the kitchens plumbing is not up to code, Keld offers to replace it in exchange for free meals.

When Keld finishes the plumbing job, Feng very happy with Kelds work asks Keld to marry his sister Ling, so she may stay in Denmark with her family, in exchange for 25,000 Danish Kroner (Roughly USD$4,000) Keld contemplates the offer momentarily and then declines.  Keld is then shown at a divorce settlement where he is asked to pay his ex-wife 50,000 DKK.  Keld, unable to pay the amount returns to Feng and tells him he will accept if he would be willing to double the offer.  Feng accepts.

Ling and Keld, after a meeting with immigration officials, hold an extravagant wedding. Keld, a seemingly apathetic, slightly brutish man, is pulled into a remarkable world of subtlety and tradition while living with Ling, growing to appreciate it, and falling in love with Ling in the process.

The movie was quite understated, which I strongly appreciate. It was visually beautiful, whereas Europe was shown with kind of a grey dreary pall, the Chinese figures in the movie, as well as the brief moments in China itself were quite bright and colorful, which helped illustrate the stark differences in cultures the movie was attempting to convey.

Kelds character was very relatable, trying to find meaning to life while rolling with the punches. The juxtaposition of the portly, inelegant Keld to the petite, beautiful Ling was quite striking and in fact made for a wonderfully odd coupling.

I highly recommend this film to anyone who can appreciate subtlety, it being one of my favorites of recent years. As I understand it one of the only places to find this movie in America currently is by Netflix, where it can be streamed or received via physical disc, and this would be my recommendation

During work on other sites the framework has matured and blossomed into something wonderful. Fully encapsulated modules, much simplified image management, clean up of stacks. I plan to open source this framework at some point in the future, the preemptive name being “phrame” with the note that this is just a codename until something more suitable is found.

Also, as a side note I intend to use this framework on my other site as well, PHPStandards.net which is a work in progress.

I’ve mentioned several times before watching a movie strictly for atmosphere. If any move I’ve ever seen has been worth watching for Atmosphere, its Last Life in the Universe. By Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, the director of 6ixtynin9 (Ruang Talok 69), it’s a truly whimsical, slow yet perfectly paced film.

The film revolves around a suicidal, obsessively clean Japanese man working as a librarian in Thailand. Through a set of slightly winding circumstances he finds him self

...tbc

Currently we have no understanding what the media´s role is on the cognitive development of kids. The only studies that are done in this area are studies that attempt to get kids to consume more media and how to go about doing it. But what we don´t know is whether or not kids immersion into the media makes them more or less susceptible to subconsious control through the media.

Does completely omnipresent, unregulated, ever sophisticated, and incredibly addictive forms of media make children better consumers, less like to think creatively and develop resistance and revolutionary attitidues towards our current system of massive thought control...well I would have to think so.

The fear that you might be addressing Jesse is that the government would start playing a role in what kids and others are able to access. Sure, this seems like the common cold war fear that the federal government will be censoring us in order to believe that they are our masters and we should simply lie down and obey.

But on the other hand, what does a completely unregulated media system mean. It means the people that are controlling what we have access aren´t even people that we elected. They are people that are responsible to a system of capitalism that cares not for the individual, cares not for society, but only cares for an increase in the share value for the next quarter.

On one hand we have the federal government regulating, and on the other hand we have a bunch machine like capitalists regulating. It seems necessary that the two forces at least try and balance one another, at least there needs to be some conflict between these two forces. One tries to create new and ever more addictive media, and other tries to think about the consequences and if it believes those consequences are atrocitious they should try and do something.

Rampant government and, or rampant industry provide no hope for a future where the individual is able to think and act freely. Government regulation is a small pebble amongst a massive culture of thought manipulation.

I would call upon the video game industry to give parents better information about programs and video games by improving the voluntary rating system we currently have. Broadcasters and video game producers should take it upon themselves to improve this system to include easier to find and easier to understand descriptions of exactly what kind of content is included. But if the industry fails to act, then my administration would.

And even if the industry does do some responsible self-policing, there’s still a role for the federal government to play. We need to understand the impact of these new media better. That’s why I supported federal funding to study the impact of video games on children’s cognitive development.

Other news, I got my drivers license today, finally. This was my second attempt, the first time featuring me turning from the wrong lane of a one way into a two way... see: here.

Update: Very Rough Version is Online!!!

I am beginning to realize just how poor a medium the Internet is for human emotion, and beginning to question my attachment to it. Questioning if it made me this way, or if I was this way all along. I honestly cannot remember. I am severely detached. I remember events with precision. I remember in exacting detail a look someone gave me at a party, body movements, the feel of a touch, but rarely dialog. More often than not memories are just symbols of the deep meaning I take from the completely meaningless. If I do recall dialog its usually just the general sense of the conversation, although under certain occasions I remember in exacting detail the tone, the pattern of breath, every last detail of what was said. These are the moments on which I base my life.

Lately there are days where I put serious thought into becoming an Alaskan fisherman. Its completely senseless, I would be lucky to survive a day, but the harsh work in the minimalist environment provokes some kind of primeval need deep within me, something sitting in a desk typing for eight hours a day just isn't doing for me.

Well my father is having heart surgery tomorrow, and I am majorly stressed at the moment. Times I feel like this I used to draw, and it was what I consider some of my best. More and more I find my self heading to bed rather than embracing the anxiety for what its worth, and doing something with it.

This is going to sound completely insane, but I miss the depression of unemployment. I miss the creativity it caused. Now that I am gainfully employed, and am not in complete desperation for social contact, I have dulled.

I'm heading to Japan in about a week and a half, I get mixed signals from you on Paul taking the hint. I hope though it will mean huge growth for me as a person, as it will in fact be the not just the furthest, but the longest I've been away from home. I'm homesick already.

Your Friend Always,
Jesse Gordon Donat

As for the few remaining writers, a new version of the Obloglog is heading nearing completion, and you'll be able to post again fairly soon, I can get anyone their login info who needs it.

I'm arguing with my self over if I should, and which rich text editor to use. I built one based on a friend at works, but it has some flaws.

This isn't quite what I had planned, but it is certainly a stepping stone to better things. If anything the new database will empower us to do a lot more. There are several design elements in the works, certainly some art-deco-ing. A prettier footer, and integrating a search box into the header.

Any way about it, things are going to get fixed. I realize I forgot about Omnipresence when my widget broke, hehe. That'll be fixed soon.

This film was the polar opposite of the first which I reviewed a little over a year ago. Whereas the first was artful and creative with its character construction, they knew with this film that the characters were already built our and despite being put into very straining situations there was very little character growth. Heck, the whole play of how the number 7 connected the two Nana's was almost completely avoided, although I imagine some could argue this is a good thing.

One of the oddities of this film is of the six main characters, three were played by different actors than in the original film. I honestly didn't even notice, save the fact that I was wondering why Ryuhei Matsuda's character had received such a bit part, as he was one of the larger focuses of the first film. This was why I did some research and found out that it wasn't even him. They do their best to mask this by hiding his face for most of scenes he is in, often having his back to the camera, or more creatively having him reading while wearing a baseball cap.

This film, in stark contrast to its predecessor, is largely a series of unfortunate events and ends on an exceedingly sour note. The climax of the film involves the happy go lucky Nana finding out she is pregnant. Having recently dumped the guitarist from Trapnest (whom she only sought in a moment need) for the guitarist from BLAST who genuinely cares for her, she is uncertain which is the father. The guitarist from Trapnest (Takumi) offers to marry her, and after some reluctance she agrees. She moves in with him just in time for him to leave on a 6 month tour. While Trapnest gathers outside, the lead singer makes a comment about how Takumi has a wife in the UK, though this fact is never again mentioned. At the end of the movie, Nana cries while holding the other Nana, realizing she has ruined her life.

When the credits rolled I was genuinely surprised, expecting some kind of at least semi-happy resolve.

Not only for the massive change in direction, but the genuine lack of style which the other film pulled off fairly well, I have to say this film didn't even come close to living up to the first film. I was genuinely disappointed in this film.

As I've told people with the original Matrix, if you liked it, don't see the sequel, the same applies to this, unless you enjoy seeing characters and concepts you've grown to like being terribly abused.

"I seem to be addicted to something that doesn't really exist.
I have embarked upon withdrawal
and I am very fearful of what the withdrawal symptoms will be."

This has been the mantra since I left high school. Religion is a powerful thing and a powerful thing to be with out. Religion is a natural absence a void. Religion ushers creation into being. This is why I am the way I am here. I lack nothing. I, precisely and there is no over stating this, lack nothing. I lack this void, this view that there holes that need filling, or at least I have lost most of the things that used to remind me. Now I have the ideal that we should all be able to know each other (or at least a few of us could know each other). I seem to have lost hope in it, maybe not completely but the meat of it is gone and the bones are brittle. I falsely remember what was. I remember studying film and books and the night. I remember actually being forced a few times a day to be social, though I'm not sure I remember it fondly. And I remember talking, really talking, frequently. That frequency is no longer frequent, it is some static value and, as such, holds no value. I seem to be drawn towards what was (or what I convince my self what was). I'm too obsessive about such things and I fear how these obsessions make me look. I often fear you'll be jealous because she is in my dreams more often. Though I've known you to be stronger and more understanding then that, I still fear it to be true. It's a real shock being here now. Gross's mom said once that all I have ever done was talk and I guess thats strange but thats how I lived for years. Then after grade school I didn't get enough so I turned to books, movies and Andrew to fill the void. . . the Religion I had been all but excommunicated from. Of course this is after being gloriously depressed and starting the cultivation of my (self-reliant/anti-social) tendencies. I learned to wait in jr. high. I found that I could destroy my self with thought, that enough of it would make me ill and that I still preferred it to some people. . . they made me ill too. And after high school it all happened again. It was her again the high-priestess herself excommunicated me this time by handgun and by bloodshed was I excommunicated. Despite my will I could no longer pray in that church. I had no time to, and no willing brothers and sisters. And I can't look back for fear of losing what little of me is normal and turning completely to salt. Not to say I don't dream of it, half (and only half) unwillingly. But that is how we got to talking it was her again. It's always her that knocks me so fantastically off guard and who has convinced me to drop my guard entirely. . . Not that I've managed to implement that conviction. And all my work has done me so little good. It allows me to be wounded by those would-be brothers and sisters who I would give everything for and who seem to have no more then a passing interest in me. And so be it! 'So be it!' I chant again and again. Excommunicated and shattered what else is there to chant? Somewhere I have a brother and I have you. But I still lack that void, I need to be reminded of my Religion and those reminders are few. Sex is one and I hope that doesn't sound crass. But like all too many things there is more in it then there seems to be for other people. The future it rolled up into it and there is something tantric in it. A slightly false religion to be sure but not completely without merit. So forgive me my masculine transgressions because they are few to begin with. Most people have a hard time thinking of me as anything but sexless. Sex is nothing, precisely nothing, and conveys want almost without target for me. So forgive me if I seem depressed or distant. I am void-less and drifting and without Religion. But I am OK I have you, my love who will read my rantings and hopefully understand the sentiment among all the misleading words.

Any feedback is welcome!

6/10/2007 Jeff Forshée
“The Dark Broadcaster.”

I never feel like walking around at night here. I always used to back home. Why am I such a failure as a person? Other people can get along to some degree. From the vary begging though I’ve only been kin to people who turn to drugs, who are just generally unknowable, who are cold, or who (in my mind) have committed acts of horrible violence. The few I’m left with are not enough though I am truly thankful. . . For both of you. . . The night sky seems to hold only sorrow for me. . . Maybe it would be different if it weren’t framed by my window. I won’t find out for awhile its hard to drag myself out side. . . No one interests me out here, they seem hollow. . . Maybe I make them hollow. They don’t seem to think like me. I’m sick of always being the only one of me in a room and I wish this didn’t cause me to think I’m better then these people. How many words do you speak a day? You know I said something to the TV today and then felt horribly depressed. . . It was the third best conversation I would have that day. If it weren’t for Brittany I wouldn’t speak at all. I might through my voice out giving a four minuet speech next week. Even the few people remind me of people I’ve already failed with. I’m not even sure I’ll leave the apartment this weekend. I miss real summers until I think about how it was never really all that much better. People always left me alone never asked me to do anything. . . But I guess that’s my fault. Everything I learned I learned too late. Catholics have it easy you know? I’ve been stumbling around for years and haven’t found anyone new to confess to. If I come down will you have time for me? Or will we push things off like always? God I miss the discovery and the night. Up here all the alternative seem worse then the loneliness I have now. I can’t even cry up here. What’s the point. My emotion has no affect on anyone up here. . . I’m just broadcasting into the darkness. . . As I was born to do. . .

Miserably yours,
The Dark Broadcaster.

6/10/2007 Jeff Forshée
“Someone is receiving.”

Dearest brother,
Someone is receiving. Even when we think we are playing to the night sky, broadcasting into the darkness, someone is receiving. What a glorious revelation, dearest brother. My frequency is much higher here. The highs and lows move quickly. Here I do not dwell, even if I am grief-stricken and joyous in turn I dwell on neither. Maybe some day I will learn to be so perfectly alone, but when I see you next we should raise a glass and hope that skill will be of little use. And raise another to our silent brothers and sisters, both known and unknown, whom we wait for and whom we hope for. Know that someone is receiving, dearest brother. All this force of hope has to go somewhere. Last night I was crushed. My morbid fantasies got the best of me. In my mind I had lost her. . . She was gone. I saw my self at her funeral, dearest brother. I asked “Do you even know who you lost?” not understanding why the world hadn’t stopped. I cried last night in a fit of psychosomatic sorrow. I felt all 150 square feet of my apartment close in on me. I didn’t know what to do I couldn’t weep and I was still unhinged by this imagined grief. At one thirty in the morning I stared at the ceiling with that pain you get in your chest when you cant quite cry and the phone rang. It was her. She couldn’t sleep. Life is the greatest parable, dearest brother. I heard her voice and for a moment night was night again. I talked to her and the sound of each other made us both feel at ease. Even alone as I am, in this plastic night, someone is receiving.

Your brother,
Who Sees Perfection In Coincidence.

This movie reminds me a lot of Install, but it’s a far more serious, far more Korean version.  Lately it seems that South Korea is pushing out far more decent film than Japan. 

This movie starts out with two Japanese school girls, one of which is prostituting herself, and the other one managing the money and getting her men.  They plan on going to Europe, and there’s an undertone that there might be something more there, that they may be in love.  This is indicated at least to me  when Jae-yeong tells Yeo-jin that she thinks she’s in love with one of the Johns, Yeo-jin becomes increasingly Jealous.

Yeo-jin makes Jae-yeong promise not to fall in love or even learn anything about any future Johns and Jae-yeong reluctantly agrees. The next day they go out to the next man, Yeo-jin is supposed to be standing watch for police, but she gets distracted by a man bugging her, and the next thing she knows she sees officers running into the apartment.  Jae-yeong, with nowhere to go decides to jump out the window.  She falls,  lands flat on the ground.  Covered with blood she orders Yeo-jin to carry her.  Yeo-jin runs off with her on her back to a hospital.  There we are told they’ll be lucky if she makes it the night. 

Jae-yeong demands to see the John she was in love with before she’ll give them her parents phone number.  Yeo-jin runs to find him, only to find he refuses to go unless she’ll have sex with him.  She crys and reluctantly agrees, thinking of her friend on her death bed.  When they finally get to the hospital Jae-yeong is already dead. 

This sets forth the plot of the rest of the movie, whereas Yeo-jin in an attempt to understand Jae-yeong, decides to return the money to Johns, and in the process have relations with them.

It should be noted that her father starts out as the perfect single parent, making her breakfast and encouraging her to do well in school, and this is as much a study of the affect on him as the effect on her.

Her father notices her actions, and rather than stopping her, doesn’t let her know he’s on to her, and takes action against the Johns, with increasing levels of violence, first just breaking a bottle and telling the guy to get lost, to humiliating them in front of their family (which they subsequently commit suicide) to out and out murdering them.

It’s no masterwork, but it’s on par with Oldboy for the new kind of Korean ultra violence though not in such a quantity.

Visually, there’s one scene that really struck me and I’m uncertain if its on purpose or not, but her father pulls a car off a side road onto a highway, and there are maybe 3 arrows point left, and he turns right.  The scene lasted maybe 10 seconds, but it was practically silent and something about it just struck me.

Also, this firm features what is certainly one of the worst night filters I’ve ever seen.  I had assumed she somehow ended up underwater until I discovered what was really going on.

One last note, her father is a Christian, so I’m uncertain if they’re trying to say something with that or not, but he’s always talking about Miracles and such.

Hopefully next review will be on the new review system I’ve been building, which should allow us to review almost anything.

The end is certainly bitter, I won't say much more than that, just that despite my feelings that the film was mediocre I certainly don't regret watching it.

Man am I happy I checked digg today. Not only are thoes pigs in all senses of the words going to jail, but two of the three are charged with no less than:

"felony murder, violation of oath by a public officer, criminal solicitation, burglary, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and making false statements"

Man this makes me smile. Not only did they plant marajuana there, but they murdered a 92 year old woman, and they're going away for a long time. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Paul. Straight from the article:

"I'm sorry," the 35-year-old said, his voice barely audible. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter, violation of oath, criminal solicitation, making false statements and perjury, which was based on claims in a warrant.

So one of the three gets manslaughter, other two are looking at murder. Awesome! For once, some good news to put on atimes.

I think we’re as close now, despite any physical distance, as we ever were; I’m a hard person to know, certainly.  I think events to me have deeper meanings to me than most people, possibly because I have so few. Having a job and being around people has certainly helped settle my restlessness, but its still there.  I’m no advocate of organized education either; I believe it has a more of a uniform-ing, dulling effect on a persons mind than anything else.  That’s not to say I don’t like education, it’s just that I prefer self-education.  My job is basically PHP and MySQL Did I learn either of those at Brown?  Didn’t touch them.  I learned those from my own endeavors.  For Oasisband.  Joel has certainly made a huge impact on my life.  Its strange how searching shoutcast for “They Might Be Giants” and stumbling upon a station called Edogg can change the course of a person’s life so drastically.  He’s hosted Oasisband graciously for years now.  He’s been there whenever I had questions, logical or philosophical.  It was he responding “Learn PHP” to my bothersome “I’m Bored…”’s combined with him giving me my internship that no doubt got me my job.  How can I repay such a man?  That bugs me actually. 

This next thought I’ve been meaning to get out there for a while, but didn’t have a proper medium, so I figure now is as good a time as any.  I’m not happy unless I’m sad.  When I have no reason to be down, I don’t know what to do with my self.  I’m not sure if it was the stress or the vicodin or some combination thereof, but one of the strongest memories I have are the few weeks after I got my wisdom teeth yanked in September of 2004.  There was such a strong sense of hopelessness; I had been shipped out to the middle of nowhere, all my friends scattered around the country, I hadn’t been accepted into any of the schools I applied to and was getting yelled at constantly by my mother about it, and to top it all off the constant physical pain.  It’s just a part of my life I think about every single day.  The only up side to it was we still had Voom then.  I miss Voom.  It’s strange.  I used to love Aqua Teen.  I watched a few episodes yesterday on DVD before I went to sleep, and it did nothing for me.  I literally sat there thinking “How could I have liked this, its stupid” They made the same joke three episodes in a row, where meet wad just wanders off, then says “Staring:” some random movie star as though it were the title of a movie.

I still dream of High School.  Its for this reason I’ve bought all this Penny Arcade memorabilia, the books, this cup, the shirt over there.  Penny-Arcade to me represents something to me.  A good time in my life.  My mind connects everything though.  I connect Mountain Goats with Chipolte with Oblivion all because of that day after Gross’s appendix blew and you guys came to my house.  Its crazy too, where there are no connections, my mind needs connections and draws false ones. My verbal memory is fantastic actually, one of the best things I have probably, and I can remember almost every IM conversation I’ve ever had. My brain though doesn’t connect these to where I was at the time, but rather I for some reason connect completely unrelated places.  There are many conversations I had on AOL back in seventh and eighth grade that for some reason my mind has connected with West Jr. Highs library.  I can think of several right now that are connected with that small section of Paul’s House between the stairs and the Pool Table.  As I stated though earlier, everything means something to me.  Not in the crazy sense of someone else I know, but in more of a crazy sentimental way.  I take deep meaning from Parties large or small.  Most of the things I’ve bought on my spending spree of late, excluding the DS and Games, have been more for sentimental value than actual want/need. 

Well I’ve rambled on enough for now I suppose.  I always feel like an egomaniac when I write these… Its all I I I, Me Me Me…  I’m really the only person I know though.  I feel as though I should mention you more, perhaps we are drifting. I haven’t mentioned everything I wanted to, but its getting to the length where if I hadn't written it I might not read it, so it’s a good point to end.

Your Friend Always,

Jesse Gordon Donat

Yours in truth,
Jeff Forshée

Let us be realistic its still February. My false spring explodes into tinny white flakes. Things are slow and lonely, sometimes I still see my self as that fool on the hill. When you become a wise fool like me atop your own mountain you will learn that you only want to come back down. . . Where the people are. But you have been there before we may even have climbed a few of those mountains together. I thought of a false parable to admonish you slightly for not writing but I’ll let it die. I’ve lost the want of little bouts of anger its hard being this level headed. Its Sunday and already I’m waiting for the weekend. Are you coming back for break. In my mind I wont see you for a year or so. Sadly not that much different then what its been in the more present past. I dream recently:

A childhood friend and I prepare for a long journey. We sit on the step near the front door. She is a frozen soft drink. She whispers “Do you want to know me?” from somewhere in her plastic body. I say that there will be time for all that later.

I awake knowing as much as when I fell asleep. I feel hollow after dreams like that as I stumble for my notebook in a painful half strong resolve to record my own hollowness. At least I am actively sleeping. Perhaps that’s all I ever do. I am truly obsessive and tether myself to the past. Only the women haunt my dreams though. You know in a desperate moment I wanted to drink deep from her? I hesitated. I faltered. How do you tell someone you want to drink deep from there being? How do you say “Yes, I want to know you” and have them understand? How do you get them to ask “Do you want to know me?”? It only seems to happen in my dreams. . .

Eternally Thirsty,

Your Brother

Adobe is terrified at the prospect of Photoshop becoming genericized.   So much so they actually released this insulting sheet (Thanks for the link, Alek) [link] on how the term “Photoshop” can and cannot be used.   I quote now from this sheet

CORRECT: The new features in Adobe® Photoshop® software are impressive.
INCORRECT: Photoshop's features are impressive.

“Trademarks must never be abbreviated.” Do they honestly expect people to say Adobe every time they refer to Photoshop?  What right do companies have to control how we refer to its products?  Could I make a product whose name took half an hour to pronounce, and then be upset when people don’t bother to use its full name?  This is completely ridiculous. 

As a side note I’ve been meaning to write a post for a while now on how Copyright should be subject to genericide.  Lets look for example at the Birthday Song.  It was copyrighted in 1935 and not set to expire until 2030 (thanks very much Sonny Bono). Anyone who had any legitimate reason to gain from that song will be, and probably already is long dead. You have to admit that the song is part of our culture.  How can someone own and profit from our culture?  That’s just wrong. I argue that when something becomes part of the culture, part of how we live, and so common that a thought is never even given to where it came from, its copyright should be null and void.

Secondly and even more pointedly, it’s a 4-line song, 3 of the lines are identical.  How can that even be copyrightable?  It’s literally a copyright on two sentences, one of which is missing a word i.e.: Insert Name Here.   There should be a minimum length on what is copyrightable. How can you copyright that, it’s a common saying.  If anything has ever been disserving of ridicule, this is it. 

Time Warner, it is your turn to step up to the plate.  Don’t be a dick, let “Happy Birthday To You” go.  Uhoh, I just posted 3/4ths of the song by saying the title, fuck... Its in quotes though, I should be fine.   Thoes of you curious to the full lyrics can find them here: [link] .

One final note, this is the first Oasisband post of 2007. Heres wishing this year be better than last! Godspeed.

Pros: I love the dashboard, not only can you listen to your own music at any point during a game, but its actually somewhat intuitive. The 360 can finally rip music off burned CD's which was a major reason xbox 1.0 never really saw much use as a music player. The Controller is comfortable as heck, and the wireless thing is really nice and so far the battery life (the wireless controller uses 2 AA's) has been great, but I'm probably going to invest in some rechargeables. All in all, I do like that Microsoft decided to use AA's instead of some proprietary battery, far cheaper and easier to replace them that way.

The graphics are great, I've played Gears of War and the graphics are a deffinete step up from xbox 1.0, ps2, etc. Not only does the console have plenty of speed, but loading times are minimal compared to xbox 1.0. I also like the fact the 360 will have an add-on HD player, because i don't have or need HD-dvd, nor do i want to spend another $200 for one.

Cons: The HD is a bit small, while 20 gigs seems like a lot for a console, once you start ripping your own music onto the thing, it starts to pile up. I'm not anywhere near running out of room yet, but I can definitely see it happening to those with more impressive media collection. I'd like to see either a larger HD available, or an adapter allowing you to use a regular computer HD which would see storage capacity limited only by the size of the HD's available. I'd also wish they'd left the start and select buttons where they are on the xbox 1.0 controller, never realized how nice it was having them to the side till now. While in general I do like the dashboard, it'd be nice if you were able to customize the button settings for entering information. It'd also be nice to be able to fast forward and rewind within songs.

Nitpicking: I wish the controller was just a tad larger, like the size of the S controller that is standard with xbox 1.0, It's not that the controller is too small to use, but would be nice if they beefed it up just a bit.

BBC article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6212430.stm

The Eternal Recurrence

“Two paths meet here; no one has yet followed either to its end. This long lane stretches back for an eternity. And the long lane out there, that is another eternity. They contradict each other, these paths: they offend each other face to face: and it is here at this gateway that they come together. The name of the gateway is inscribed above: ‘Moment.”
“All that is straight lies,” the dwarf murmured contemptuously. “All truth is crooked time itself is a circle.”

This excerpt from Zarathustra is Zarathustra’s first encounter with what he and Nietzsche will later to refer to as the eternal recurrence. What is incredibly interesting about this section is that not even Zarathustra, the one who is great heights from the rest of humanity, is able to understand the message behind what the dwarf, the proclaimer of the recurrence, is trying to say. Zarathustra is unable to hear the eternal recurrence and he tries to dismiss it, he feels that this dwarf is a bad omen, preaching to him something terrible that must be rejected. The Dwarf explains to Zarathustra, that time is not a linear pattern, a history with a beginning and end. But rather time itself, is like the Overhuman, in that it is a process, in which we must both engage in this process as well as accept it. But at the outset, though, we can see that Nietzsche realizes how difficult the eternal recurrence is, and is probably admitting that he himself, although presented with the notion many times, was not at first able to understand it. Thus, the readers must be very careful when trying to understand this philosophy—it is one so delicate, yet intricate, that we can not afford to mishear Nietzsche when he speaks of the eternal recurrence.
The eternal recurrence effectively serves as the opposition to hedonism and nihilism in a world without repressive, dogmatic morality and the absence of God. Richard Avramenko argues that once Nietzsche created the eternal recurrence as an opposition to repressive notions of truth (specifically, Christian notions of truth), there becomes a large void. In Avramenko’s essay he is specifically referring to a void of friendship in that Nietzsche effectively denied any sort of ground in which friendship can form. As Avramenko says, “The whole of Thus Spoke Zarathustra can be understood as Zarathustra’s quest for a type of friendship that can grow out of this groundless ground.” I agree with Avramenko here that Nietzsche both created a void with the eternal recurrence and also tried to fill that void with the recurrence. So, when Nietzsche chooses to deny the conceptual truth of good and evil, it leaves a huge vacancy for what humans should do. Nietzsche fills this void with the eternal recurrence. The idea is that every action, or every way that we live our lives will occur over and over again, eternally. This serves as Nietzsche’s beyond-morality moral system—if we are truly able to joyously say ‘yes’ to every action we take, then we are headed towards the overhuman. Essentially then, the eternal recurrence serves to give a path for humans to try to become the overhuman—to understand the process of subversion and creation, which is the overhuman, without falling into nihilistic despair.
As Avramenko points out in his essay, the eternal recurrence is not exactly something that westerners are easily able, or even willing to accept:
“With the declaration of the eternal recurrence, Nietzsche is introducing uncertainty and unpredictability. It would thus be better to refer to the eternal recurrence as a flavor. It is a flavor for which we must develop a taste. The eternal recurrence, as Nietzsche well knows, is a tough pill to swallow and this is precisely why he calls it ‘the greatest weight.’”

To begin with the notion that time is anything but linear is problematic for the Western ear. Avramenko places Nietzsche in a debate with Augustine who argues, referring to cyclical theories of time, “even when it [the soul] has attained wisdom; it must proceed on an unremitting alternation between false bliss and genuine misery. How can there be true bliss, without any certainty of its eternal continuance?” Augustine’s reaction to cyclic notions of time demonstrates a very Christian and western understanding of how time functions, and furthermore, a reality that is dependent upon having God and a heaven to obtain when time has ended for a specific human being. Yet obviously, Nietzsche rejects the Christian morality and God himself. Not only is Nietzsche creating a philosophy to fill his ‘moral hole’, he is also directly responding to and refuting typical Christian understandings of time, existence, and ‘right’ action. The eternal recurrence seeks to dislodge the authority that Christians have assumed and display a direct contradiction of it, both to fulfill his own philosophy and to engage in irony. To argue that Nietzsche believes we need to authoritatively accept his eternal recurrence and abandon the ‘inferior’ Christian notion, is completely outside of Nietzsche’s project. Instead of choosing one over the other, Nietzsche asks us to develop a taste for the eternal recurrence. Whether or not the eternal recurrence is ‘true’ or ‘better’ is of no real consequence, but by developing this taste, or ability to hear the recurrence, we are able to see the ironic nature in all human things and head up the mountain towards the overhuman.
The eternal recurrence serves not only to disrupt a Christian notion of time, but it also serves to disrupt any sort of linear, rational, or higher truth. The eternal recurrence renders it impossible for there to be definitive truth or a values system that transcends time, space, geography or even relativity because the eternal recurrence exemplifies a system with no actual truth, but rather truth as a process, something that must be constantly created and destroyed in order for the elimination of repressive notions of truth, and leave the Dionysian, or the positive, liberated aspects of mankind in their wake. Truth, value, and morals can not be habitual or long-lasting under this system; as the Earth itself does, they must be always changing, engaged in a process of creation and destruction—plate tectonics. In the Genealogy of Morals Nietzsche warns us of any words that do not take part in this process of creation and destruction because they will try to lead us to single goals, aims or meanings. “The whole surface of consciousness must be kept clear of all imperatives. Beware even of every great word, ever great prose! The organizing idea that is destined to rule keeps growing deep down . . . it prepares single qualities and fitnesses that will one day prove to be indispensable as means toward a whole.”
After looking closely at these words and trying to understand what they mean, we now must ask the same question that Nietzsche asked himself towards the end of his second essay in the Genealogy of Morals, “What are you really doing, erecting an ideal or knocking one down?” And Nietzsche responds to this question:
Have you ever asked yourselves sufficiently how much the erection of every ideal on Earth has cost? How much reality had to be misunderstood and slandered, how many lies have had to be sanctified, how many consciences disturbed, how much “God” sacrificed every time? If a temple is to be erected a temple must be destroyed: that is the law—let anyone who can show me a case in which it is not fulfilled!

With this we can now look at the rhetoric of Zarathustra and Ecce Homo and look for the subversive and ironic process in which Nietzsche tries to both create and destroy systems of values, truth, rhetoric, and inquiry. But we must listen closely, and dissect with delicate fingers as to not try to find the new idols and ideals that Nietzsche is creating, but to look to see how he moves outside of the truth-game altogether. Nietzsche’s divergent rhetoric is arguably the most difficult part of Nietzsche’s works to truly understand, but by not understanding this essential quality of Nietzsche, it is not possible to hear Nietzsche.
Before we move away from the fundamentals of Nietzsche’s words and concepts, and move into his rhetoric in general, we must take into account the Overhuman and the Eternal Recurrence and their affects on language in general. For Nietzsche, language can have no transcendent truth, but truth in language is similar to the Overhuman and the Eternal Recurrence in that it is able to obtain some form of human truth through a process of creating and destroying. Essentially then, language is not transcendent, and as Tuska Benes argues, it is only adequate if we forget that we created language and that we created truth. “Accepting the illusion that words referred to things allowed early humans to live in mutual trust. The invention of truth thus had ‘pleasant, life-preserving consequences’ Society, however, had thereby exchanged a set of lies for the truth.” So with a language that humans have created they were able to become social creatures, they could move away from, repress, basic primordial desires. But for Nietzsche, this conversion from the base creature to the social creature brought with it inherently negative, inherently repressive, and inherently forgetful forces. In the Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche allegorically compared this social change of human-creatures “well adapted to the wilderness, to war, to prowling, to adventure,” who had to repress those instincts to effectively live socially to sea animals coming out of the water who had to “walk on their feet and ‘bear themselves upright’” —the skills that the sea creatures had developed for marine life became unnecessary. This shift from primordial language to a socially ‘meaningful’ language helped humans to adapt to their new surroundings, but it also meant that humans forgot that there was no truth, and instead believed that the truth and language that they had created was somehow transcendent. “Faith in truth depended for Nietzsche on a process of forgetting. People had to deny and repress the actual origins of language in order to believe in the accuracy of its representations.” Society, today as we see it, is fundamentally established on the fact that we have forgotten that we have created truth, language, and god, because “acknowledging the rhetorical foundation of words would have automatically destabilized the edifice of truth built upon them.”

Works Cited

Avramenko, Richard. “Zarathustra and his Asinine Friends: Nietzsche on Post-modern, Post-liberal Friendship.” American Political Science Association. Chicago, Annual Meeting: np., 2004. 1-30.

Benes Tuska. "Language and the Cognitive Subject: Heymann Stienthal and Friedrich Nietzsche." Language & Communication Vol. 26 Issue 3/4 (Jul 2006): 218-230.

Nietzsche, Friedrich. On the Genealogy of Morals. Trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Random House, Inc., 1967.

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for None and All. Trans. Kaufmann. London: Penguin Books, 1978.

• Police arrive at a 92 year old woman’s house, in plain clothes rather than police uniforms.
  • For all I know, Sting may have been out there.
• They yell through the door “Open up, it’s the Police.”
  • I know that I see a bunch of people with guns, who don’t look anything like police outside my door, the last thing I’m going to do is open up, not to mention this woman had people pretending to be police try to break in before.
    
• The police, not dressed at all like cops, break down the door.  The woman opens fire, and hits 3 of them, before getting shot down.
  • As far as I’m concerned, if the police had no reason to be there, which they didn’t (they didn't find any drugs) , the woman had no reason to believe these were real police.  You break into someone’s house, not at all wth the appearance of police, with your only proof of being the police being claiming to be the police vocally, as far as I’m concerned the owner of the house has every right to defend their property.

I’d also like to add some comments from a digg.com post I found highly insightful.

Comment by anonymoustroll

Yeah... that's pretty funny... she tagged each one of them (and I bet they took a good long pause trying to figure out "what the hell?" before gunning her down)... too bad she wasn't a better shot.

...but here's the thing: this stinks to high heaven; here's why:

> had a legal warrant and "knocked and announced" before they forced open the door

1 - every last one of us knows that "knock and announce" means "knock with the door breacher" and "announce your presence with a flash-bang". Perhaps it need to be "knock, announce and identify yourself to the upstanding citizen that you're prepared to shoot" (and give the citizen time to verify your credentials). Innocent until proven guilty pretty much ends when the warrant is served.

> Kathryn Johnson, was the only person home at the time, and had lived there for about 17 years.

2 - cops need to be less tactical and more strategic. Perhaps if someone had done their intelligence homework and looked at the power/phone/water/gas/cable/etc. bills they'd see *WHO* they were about to take into custody. Seems to me that they just don't know what the fsck is going on and prepare for the worse (and guess what... they get the worse outcome... surprise). You know, those warrants for paper searches aren't as sexy as the "real thing", but maybe there'd be three cops without bullets in them and one grandma who's still alive if they'd taken the time to do their homework.

> Neighbors and relatives said it must have been a case of mistaken identity.

3 - well, you know what they say... hindsight is 20/20. Good thing they had the "right" address. This is what happens when good people live in bad neighborhoods, etc. etc, cliches ad infiniutum.

> I'm sure she panicked when they kicked that door down

Don't discount the possibility that they may have been fed incorrect information (never actually trust anonymous/CI intelligence sources... always verify, cross check and do your due diligence). Obviously they weren't going off any type of reasonable intelligence. So, gun nuts beware, if I want you out of my neighborhood, all I have to do is dime you out for some heinous crime from the anonymous comfort of a payphone and a pseudonym.

Comment by theblooms

don't blame her for shooting back at all. She had been on the receiving end of criminals posing as cops many times in the past. Your home is your castle, and in America (at least in the majority of states that respect the Bill of Rights) you are allowed to defend your castle by any means necessary.

This whole thing with cops executing warrants like this has GOT to stop. Cops are supposed to be civilians. In this day in age, they are not. They are paramilitary with fully automatic weapons and tanks. Yes, tanks. We have all seen them. Police departments in the US have more tanks than most nations. Fucking ridiculous. If a situation is so god-damed dangerous that you need a tank to serve a warrant, you need to call the National Guard in. Seriously.

In even the WORST possible situation, you can always surround a house and wait for the bad guy to come out. He WILL come out eventually.

These 3 cops need to be prosecuted for murder. Mistaken identity is NO excuse for busting down someone's door and shooting them. I GUARANTEE if someone busts down my door, they will be met with a hail of lead. How the hell do I know who they are? People impersonate cops all the time.

May this lady Rest in Peace. I will pray for her and her family.

I’d just like to start this review saying I got this movie because it has Ryuhei Matsuda ( 松田 龍平 ) in it, of Blue Spring and Collage of our Life fame. Some of you may know he is my favorite Japanese actor.  He had a strange part in this film, managing to be a major character, but having perhaps four lines.  Also, I’d like to note the way he held the guitar seemed awkward in such a way as to seem almost identical to something straight out of Guitar Hero.

This movie is apparently based off a popular Japanese Manga, and in fact made for a extremely popular movie in Japan.  I had no idea of this while watching it.

This movie focuses on two women named Nana, who though complete opposites, through anomalous circumstances became very good friends. [Back Story Explanation for those of you who are lacking in Japanese:  Nana while being a Japanese name is also Japanese for the number seven.  Hachi is Japanese for the number eight, and also a common name for dogs.  The gothic Nana renamed the other Nana “Hachi” informally to keep them from getting confused and because she said the preppy Nana acted like a puppy.]  They meet on a train to Tokyo, which becomes stuck for several hours due to high snow.  Hachi is heading to Tokyo to be closer to her boyfriend who is going to art school in Tokyo, Nana is moving to Tokyo to pursue her dream of being a famous singer.  After reaching Tokyo they head their separate ways, only to meet up again when looking for an apartment when two real estate agents show them the same apartment.  Number 707 nonetheless.  After some arguing about who should get the apartment, gothic Nanas friend who is with them suggests they live together, and with little ado they agree.  

The movie ends up first going off first into Hachi’s immediate romantic life with her boyfriend, and then moves on to Nana’s past and her coming to terms.  Nana was in love with Ryuhei’s character “Ren” when they were in a band together “Blast”, but they separated when Ren joined a new band “Trapnest”, which we latter find out has become a huge hit, whereas Nana’s band has only met with marginal success, and the man they got to replace Ren looks like a Japanese Bob Dylan no less.  From reading about the original book Blast was supposed to be extremely punk whereas Trapnest was supposed to be more mainstream rock.  They both in the movie though come off as very generic soft rock though, which is kind of lame. 

From the visual side of things the movie had a very romantic feel; for example nine times out of ten when someone is outside it was snowing, and flash backs always happened to be in the winter (though this is quite possibly because the movie was filmed in a short period of time).  The inside of the Nana’s house was white.  White and snow are a recurring theme to the film.

The songs they sang were cheesy at best, mixing Japanese and english in the same sentance, as I described to kern “Blah blah blah I love you blah blah blah baby!” as it would be to the casual listener.

Overall the movie was decent for those of you saps who like pointless foreign romance/lost love flicks.

I, as well as many gamers world wide morn the loss of Lik-Sang where savings were king. I my self had meant to purchase Xbox extensions cords for pennies on the dollar, but have been denied this at Sony's hand. This is one gamer who will never purchase a Sony console. Heres a link to Lik-Sangs Out of Business Notice

This movie is hard to describe.  It has five main plots, hence the name, that in the end work them selves together.  One interesting aspect of the film is that as it introduces plot lines, it visually numbers them on screen.  It begins with a man burying his wife, his wife being played by the beautiful half Japanese, half Spanish Reika Hashimoto.  He returns home to find his wife sitting at his kitchen table, which sets up what is to become a pattern for his plot.  Next we are introduced to a woman who works in advertising and a hypnotist who are in bed together.  Throughout the film the advertising woman has a number of "Visions" of commercials.  Some are quite humorous while others just make you say "What!?"  The next plot is kind of a comic relief plot… do you really need a comic relief plot in a comedy?  I don't know, but it basically involves a group of friends, where a Japanese man is terrified of the prospect that his really ugly, male, friend is in love with him.  Next we are introduced to an English hit-man and his Japanese assistant on an airplane on their way into Japan, whereas he causes quite a ruckus on the airplane harassing a flight attendant about her purpose for living.  The last plot involves a man who visits the hypnotist, is hypnotized into believing he is a bird, and the hypnotist is killed by the hit man before he is un-hypnotized.  This was my favorite plot, and the way in which it connects to the first is pure genius. 

The imagery and colors of this film were beautifully intense. It felt… surreal.  They do an amazing job though of making you not realize how strangely colored things are, which the end result gives the film just an amazing feel.  For instance the airplane the hit-man came over on was bright pink, but I don't believe I noticed until reviewing the film just now. 

The soundtrack includes some interesting choices, all very rhythmic, sometimes with the scene seemingly moving to the beat.  There's an amount of western music I haven't seen in any other Asian films.  The soundtrack adds greatly to the feel of the movie.

Overall I recommend the movie highly.  It was greatly entertaining and beautifully composed.  It was a distinct comedy, which I see few of, but I found it highly enjoyable.

Poet and philosopher George Santayana's quote: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" seems especially applicable to the current state of world affairs.

While the vast majority of Muslim's are logical, understanding, rational people; there exists within Islam (as with every religion around the world) those who refuse to honestly reflect upon their faith. In Christianity those who spew such nonsense and urge blind devotion are kept well outside of the mainstream. However for reasons I do not yet understand, the media and the world at large give those who spew such nonsense their 15 minutes of fame again and again and again. It is about time that the rational majority of Muslim's take their faith back from the radicals who tarnish their faith. Christianity has already walked down the path of blind devotion; I can only hope that it is not to late for Islam to learn from Christianities mistakes. ]]> http://oasisband.net/Section/BRICKS forshee@oasisband.net (Jeff Forshee) Fri, 15 Sep 2006 00:52:45 +0000 https://oasisband.net/Section/BRICKS
Just one quick letter and then I’ll start. It’s been two weeks and I still haven’t started. . . Its been longer three maybe is more accurate. This place feels better this year the trains don’t weep like I remember they did. I am settling into my own but the change needs to come faster than its coming. I always have a hard time studying I just can’t start. Tomorrow I’ll start. Tonight I have work to do. I’m going to be broke sooner then later but I can see what I want in this place and I am left inspired to no subtle degree. I live on my own I bake my own bread and cook my own food I wake up to a woman I love at least a few nights a week. If not for the damned university I am a farm house and a walnut grove short of . . .(We need a word for this and for some reason Heaven seems to come up short like you said its impossible) ‘The Walnut Farm’ and I’ll readily defend that it is here on earth. Its not so far from where we are now. I am thinking of doing an English paper on The Great Tower and the Debasement of Language. I don’t know if this is a good idea. It’s far to much for what he’s asking but I don’t know what else to do it on. It has to be personal And what’s more personal then how two people interact? Heh. The radio show is actually going to happen. Far less effort then I would have thought. Friday 4-6 AM. I need a name for the show if you have any ideas. Seems like I can see gleaming of something in the distance but the hurtles don’t seem to be any shorter or fewer then they were. How are you? And I mean how goes it? Seems the closer we are the more we (at least I) worry. Everything else is, for the most part, static. I’ve written a few songs in the short time I’ve been here and am finishing up a few more: Weekends(written in all of ten min about Fargo and drinking), Atlas revisited( you heard this one ‘all the good Christians’ (I can’t not say Chris-Tions hope fully its idiomatic(that’s the right word right?)))*Ah nested parentheses*(at least they are idiomatic) Lullaby No. 1 (for an unborn daughter) Lullaby No. 2 (electric) (this one might need your help its. . . Maybe ‘brooding’ is the word like your on the edge of tears). I tried to write a song about the tower didn’t take. But there’s Art in there somewhere I’ll find it sooner or later. Where are you going to grad school (or working when your done)? Too early to think about these things maybe. But I’m in a planning mood. I imagine a porch some where and all things falling in place. . . Magic until science explains it.

May the vast open horizons great you as pleasantly (I like that),
Your Brother.


-------------------

"The ice is near, the solitude tremendous -- but how calmly all things
lie in the light! How freely one breathes! How much one feels beneath
oneself!"

"He believes neither in "misfortune" nor in "guilt" : he comes to terms
with himself with others; he knows how to forget -- he is strong enough;
hence everything must turn out for his best."

"It also seems to me that the rudest word, the rudest letter are still
more benign, more decent than silence. All who remain silent are
dyspeptic. Rudeness is by far the most humane for of contradiction and,
in the midst of effemincacy, one of our foremost virtues."

"Oh, I found it, my brothers! Here, in the higest spheres the fount of
pleasure wells up for me! And here is a life of which the rabble does
not drink."

Brother, the sweetness in your verse swells me. You have already seen
with the greatest of solitude and I rejoice that you are able to look
with a gay heart. Don't remeber one or the other but forget both as it
is often hard for us to do. If Heaven is as easily found in the coldest
of days and the darkest of skies as it is in the Sun at self, only then
could I call that porch Heaven. Brother, I have binding myself and then
unravelling myself, I have been making circles but only escaping into
greater ones. I reach clarity everytime that I have completely missed
it. I have despised words and then I make love to them. But I think I
have come to terms with my own happiness, it is the same as my own
defeat, but still I look forward to a day of rest. I wish to drink from
the water that runs from the highest mountains and the from lowliest
caverns, and even I find my stream I don't know if I will find a place
to drink from it - I am sick of creating worlds, thoughts and grammars,
I simply want to dance with the ones that will always be there.

Work hard brother, we are but clay - we can only be molded until we are
too hard to feel.
Andrew.



Every Brick Independent or Answer the Damn Questions

Our letters don’t seem to follow each other I’m going to have a hell of a time trying to put them in order(and I will try). I find it odd that you never answer my questions. I know you must read every line several times. We both must. Your Nietzsche (I assume) has me still worried. His thinking seems flawed to me but I am no expert. It has been my experience that it is not the cave that creates the new ideas but the act of rushing down from the mountain in itself that calls the Muses. Well I must remember to be more artless. Do not forget the people, the real ones I mean. And maybe I mean everyone by that. I will have my first radio show on Friday at 4AM. My attempts to try and reach out have crammed me into a tiny room at 4 in morning with no one else around or even awake. I am enjoying this in the fullest. In the end I think people need to find me. The resistance the other way is almost too much to over come. I think the Catholics have ruined heaven for you. What’s the point of having a word for something no one can have or visit? It is only on cold dark days that your Heaven exists, dear Brother. On warm days we have God’s green earth and no Heaven can compare to that, to what is. . . Hmmm but we argue semantics and definitions. We should start a film or some other grate work. I feel that at least this is coming closer to poetry. I’m tempted to try my hand.

“Every brick Independent” The Mason said.

“How do you mean?” The Brick responds.

“Close proximity is a fault. Mortar makes the wall.”

“But ‘close’ is relative is it not?”

“Symmetry,” He said to the Brick “We both shaped and set that president long ago” as another layer compounds the other.

“So I’m bound to they that I can never touch” The brick said realizing his situation for the first time.

“You sound sad for someone surrounded by bothers” the Mason quipped, grinning and content.

“I guess it is my lot to accept but tell me” the Brick said “what’s the wall for anyway?”

“Every brick Independent” The mason said.


Heh. . . Well what do you think? Crappy little story but it shows my faults quite well. I like the idea but my skills are dull oh well.

Waiting for answers to my damned questions,
. . .



----------------------

I wish I had a sentence to describe how a sentence will never quite
express what I want to say . . . I guess this sentence is the best I can
do.

To answer your questions: I am doing, I do not want to say to much,
because I know that if I write the feeling down that feeling takes on an
appearance to be much more concreted and real that it actually is. But
as the ash falls from my cigarette, I am tired, the only rest I get is
to read Nietzsche, but even doing that is becoming difficult. I am tired
of listing in my mind and on paper all the things that need to be
ACCOMPLISHED, the list perpetuates itself and it wants only more.

I know why you don't get Nietzsche, you read pieces, excerpts, quotes,
or maybe even full books. You need to drive w/ Nietzsche around the Lake
as we do. You need to drive around the Lake with everything that I send
you. It makes no sense, it has no purpose but it is something beyond all
of our descriptions.

My point on Heaven . . . we can use the term Heaven, but why use a term
that has been beaten, molested and torn apart to express
(_____________). Why dont' we call it the porch, that is all I need to
to be anyways.

I like your poem - but I don't have much to say, I have lied to you too
much already today.

I don't know what I will do or where I will be after I graduate Jeff,
but I hope I will never be here again. And if I must stay here, in this
physical spot, I hope that I will have a porch here.

"May the vast open Horizons greet you pleasantly" (I like that too)
-From an inscription on my wall]]> http://oasisband.net/Section/Forshizzle_In_The_Hizzel_For_Rizzel forshee@oasisband.net (Jeff Forshee) Thu, 14 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0000 https://oasisband.net/Section/Forshizzle_In_The_Hizzel_For_Rizzel Listen to me screw up should be fun! Also I need a name for a show, so any ideas get them to me!]]> http://oasisband.net/Section/Feed_Me donatj@oasisband.net (Jesse G. Donat) Tue, 05 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0000 https://oasisband.net/Section/Feed_Me link Also, if you're using Firefox, but wish to use an external reader, Feed Your Reader is a great extension, available here.]]> http://oasisband.net/Section/Dear_United_Nations_We_Need_Freedom_of_Thought_as_a_Human_Right donatj@oasisband.net (Jesse G. Donat) Mon, 04 Sep 2006 12:47:31 +0000 https://oasisband.net/Section/Dear_United_Nations_We_Need_Freedom_of_Thought_as_a_Human_Right "British historian David Irving has had his conviction for denying the Holocaust upheld by the Austrian Supreme Court... The historian was also on trial for claiming the November 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom, when Nazis attacked and torched thousands of Jewish businesses and synagogues, was not the work of Nazis but of others who had dressed up as stormtroopers."(Cite BBC News)

I've talked about this before, but making it illegal to question history is THE MOST fascist thing possible. I don't agree with this mans views, but imprisoning him simply because he doesn't believe something is completely ridiculous.

Love and Kisses
Jesse Donat

Wishing you the best,
Jesse Donat

As long as there are terrorists who desire the US?s demise and countries that harbor and promote terrorism against the United States, we are a nation at war. Diplomacy must always be the first recourse when dealing with a dangerous regime but the 1990's were proof of Iraq and Afghanistan's refusal to deal the US and the UN in good faith. Approximately 10 different Security Council resolutions (I have an earlier post documenting this) were passed during that decade that called for negotiations and then military action should Iraq defy the resolutions. Each time Iraq violated a resolution, instead of taking the promised action, the Security Council simply passed another resolution telling them they had been "bad." In the case of Taliban ruled Afghanistan, they simply refused to negotiate in good faith all together. Diplomacy was given 10 years and nothing in the way of progress was made. The world simply has a weak stomach for leaders who follow through on their promises. This is why the world hates President Bush, and why I have no regrets about voting for him.

The music of the movie maintains a strangely upbeat and strongly Japanese form, even at some rather akward for the situation, very much adds to the style of the film.
Overall the movie was decent, featuring a number of amusing moments, though I wouldn’t put it in the top 10 of last year by any means.

As the films rolls on, the mind travels to thoughts more relevant to daily existence. More specifically, the role of technology in creating the great divide in interpersonal relationships. The duality of the situation cannot be missed, where on the one hand communication is increased yet true meaningful discussion drowned out to be replaced by talk of absurd and meaningless daily activity. The golden age of knowledge, and the dark age of wisdom. The alienation of one human from another, as well as a human from his own humanity. The contemporary ritualistic tribulation of finding a path for existence in this newfound post-modernist condition now becomes the new daily game. The quest for meaning never ends, as there is no meaning to be found. Like a blind man in a cave we stumble until we reach the limits of our mortality and leave this place. How funny, stupid and worthless this journey is. A journey mirrored in this cinematic work. A work not to be missed and that can be views for free by going

here

Quoting The Superficial (link) (not the best source, I know)

Democratic Assemblyman Ted Lieu has introduced a bill that would prohibit the selling, leasing, or distributing of an ultrasound machine by California manufacturers to anyone other than licensed medical professionals, after it was publicized that Tom Cruise had purchased one for use at home with Katie Holmes.

"If someone sees Tom Cruise buy one, they think this is the thing to do," Lieu said. "This is a public safety measure. There's really no medical reason for an untrained person to use this machine."

Despite this, quoting Wikipedia: "There are no substantiated side-effects documented in studies."

Why make something illegal that has no harm? That?s not freedom, that?s not capitalism, that?s totalitarianism. Laws are to be kept to a minimum, and there to protect us, not there to keep us in our place. They want to take away our rights, one by one.

On Of fear and the golden rule, for me it wasn’t a fear of pushing myself upon people perse. I guess I just always valid humbleness. I always liked just solid color shirts myself. During high school my mom would go to the store and come back with shirts with skulls and shit on them (I’ve no idea why she thought I liked that), but now I wear just solid colors. Yesterday I was at target wearing red shirt, khakis, and got asked “do you work here?” twice. Today, blue shirt, khackies. My fear of color is gone, I don’t know what happened. Its reflected in my art, in what I wear. Etc. There’s still no excuse for the color yellow though, ever.
It’s more of a tendency to think everything I ever do is a mistake, especially in a social context, rather than to think I’m forcing myself upon people, though I have to say I agree completely on the point that the people who isolate themselves, myself included want things thrust upon them. As you know, I am completely indecisive. This too roots from my complete fear of mistakes. I don’t make the mistake, its not my fault. And yet theres part of me that wants to take charge, like in a group, people argue about who does what, I just want to yell ‘shut up, I’ll do it all myself’ I dislike working in groups because it never fails that someone isn’t going to pull their weight, its just the entire basis of groups.

The concept of work is something that drives me insane. What is life really other than a period of time we get to exist, and we trade portions of it to someone else, for things to keep us existing.

Now for just a random whine. Deviant art’s gone completely to hell, no? There’s an option now to disallow critique. What’s the point of posting your art on the web if you’re not trying to improve, if all you want is praise because you believe yourself perfect. I take offense to the pure idea of this.

In response to of school and educators, if not teachers, perhaps instructors.

As for questions of you, I have no idea. This is another one of my weaknesses. An x-girlfriend who shall remain nameless during the processes of dumping me informed me that I knew nothing about her, which was true, she asked me what her favorite color was, I had no idea but I wondered at the time why that was even relevant.

What do I want of this open letter writing experience? More than anything just a place to vent I suppose. I don’t get to talk to people much. I don’t get to converse. I go to school and the only people I really have any kind of conversations with are the instructors and that’s only ocasionaly. Then I come home where my mothers idea of a conversation is her whining on and on, everything having to do with the context of her. Having a conversation with my dad is little better because hes stubborn as a mule, if he has an opinion on something he sticks to it, you argue otherwise and he basicly just says no, this is how it is, which can be very frustrating. Then I get on AIM to have a conversation, and It ends up usually as an argument with Borne or just a lame ‘Sup? Not Much’ conversation, or lack thereof as it were.

Well this was completely randomly tossed together at 4am this morning. I’m not sure who knows this, I know Borne does, but I have a lazy eye and when I get tired it becomes increasingly hard to control. My eyes right now are looking in two completely different directions and neither in focus. On the love at the end of my previous letter, it was more along the lines of uncertainty as to the spelling of something more extravagant such as ‘Sincerely’ but it was not overly uncomfortable to use.

For Christmas this year, I got a wired Xbox 360 controller. I had asked for it, so it was not unexpected. I do not own an Xbox 360, but the controller is usable with a pc. I have been meaning to write a review for a while, so here it goes. Microsoft is trying to push the Xbox 360 controller as the new "Standard PC Controller"

Pros:

• Most Comfortable Controller I've ever used.
• Works great with a Dreamcast emulator.
• Supported by newer games with zero configuration necessary. (Marc Ecko's Getting Up, support expected for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion with first patch)

Cons:

• *With Microsoft's driver, the same axis is used for the L and R analog triggers, making using both at the same time impossible.
• *Also, with Microsoft's driver, they use a new system for programs to use the controller, only allowing the newest games to use its force feedback function. So far the only game I've found where the vibrate works is Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure.
• The D-Pad is lame, not good for SNES/NES games that need any level of accuracy.
• The Four button arrangement rather than 6 as the N64 controller, makes playing N64 games awkward.

Note on *: There is a 3rd party driver which fixes these problems, allowing older games with Force Feedback support to use the vibrate and mapping the controller differently. It though is simply a hack of a driver for the original Xbox controller, and at least last time I tried it was exceedingly buggy.

Honestly, most computer games are designed to be played mouse and keyboard. I've tried a number of FPS games with it, and quite honestly I won't be trading in my mouse and keyboard anytime soon. However I am looking forward to trying it with Oblivion.
Overall, I give the controller an 8/10 rating. (BTW, new rating system on the way)

Brick is an oddity as it?s a sort of film noir revolving around a group of high school kids. The dialog of the movie is the sort that smacks you across the face and leaves you either loving it or hating it, in that it is stunningly out of place for high school students, and would be far more fitting in a 1950?s crime drama. For about the first third of the film I was sitting there thinking "What the hell is this I'm watching?!" but I soon realized to just flow with it.

The film began with this perfectly fitting kind of indistinguishable yet completely coherent clanging music unlike anything I think I've heard before, as the main character, Brendan, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt of "3rd Rock from the Sun" fame, standing over a dead body in a culvert, who you soon find out is his ex-girlfriend Emily. The film flashes back to two days earlier, where he learns she was in some kind of unknown trouble. He spends the next portion of the film trying to find out where she is and what kind of trouble she is in, until ultimately coming across her deceased body two days later. He decides to get vigilante justice against those who set her up, working his way into a drug ring and putting himself in grave danger on several occasions.

The movie was quite enjoyable overall. As mentioned previously, the language takes some getting past, there are several spots of "extreme emotion" where I couldn?t help myself but laugh at what ends up being very inappropriate times to laugh, similar to that found in the movie Saw

As a side note, the only other song I remember throughout the rest of the film sounds awfully similar to a Joanna Newsom song with a note extended for dramatic purposes, and bothered me throughout.

I'm here today to speak to you all fine citizens about the banes of my existence: Mr. Bill O'Riley of Fox News and Lou Dobbs of CNN. I understand and respect the desire both of these men have for bringing important news topics to the attention of the American public. Each of these men speak of topics that often will have substantial impact on the way you and I live our lives, and they believe in what they do.

This being said, Lou Dobbs and Bill O'Riley have come to embody the essence of all that is contemptible about 24 hour "news" networks. I believe it was the great man Louis Black who put it best when he said: "it takes these guys a month to bring you 24 hours of news."

And this all brings me to why Lou Dobbs and Bill O'Riley are the banes of my existence. Each of these gentlemen in the hopes of diffusing their respective viewpoints into the American consciousness literally dramatize issues to the point at which I just can't take it any more. Of the endless news stories these fine gentlemen present to you, many are very important and need to be discussed. However Bill O'Riley and Lou Dobbs would rather do that discussion for you. Almost without exception, 24 hour news network hosts cant seem to find more than 10 minutes of actual news to report so it'd be a grand idea if everyone became so paranoid about a particular issue that they never went outside, as opposed to giving people the information and letting them make up their own minds in a calm, rationale manner. While most network host do this, Bill O'Riley and Lou Dobbs are especially guilty parties. I challenge any one of you to try to sit through an entire broadcast and one of three things will happen. One, you physically won't be able to watch an entire show (personally I'm lucky if I last five minutes). Two, you will notices how ridiculously overdramatic these gentlemen are. Or three, you will get incredibly bored and change the channel after 20 minutes of mind-numbing analysis by these two fine gentlemen. (Note: It is entirely possible one or more of these things will happen). In the unlikely event none of these things happen than I strongly suggest you take a vacation and lighten up. About the only news network host I enjoy is Keith Oberman on MSNBC. His show is both informative and enjoyable, probably because he's not trying to shove his point of view down your throat (see Bill O'Riley and Lou Dobbs). Keith is what a news anchor is supposed to be, Bill O'Riley and Lou Dobbs could do well to take pointers from him.

Now I don't see the world through rose-colored glasses. We do live in a incredibly complicated world that has grown ever more connected through our advances in technology. Much of our world is deeply troubled and there is nothing worse than sweeping the bad news under the rug. That being said, how bout coming up with some reasonable solutions instead of doing nothing but repeating what's wrong with the world for an hour. Or better yet, maybe take five minutes out of an hour-long program to show people where progress is being made. I mean is that too much to ask, five minutes about where things are coming together, and I don't mean the kind of 30-second spots that you have at the end of local news broadcasts. You know, the kind about fluffy the surfing squirrel. I mean take five minutes or so at the end of the broadcast so people realize that not everything they hold dear is going to hell in a hand basket as the 24-hour news networks would have you believe. Heck by putting it at the end of the broadcast, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, etc. could still make sure that, 'if it bleeds, it leads.'

I've had a number of conversations on the topic and here is what I can say for sure. Whether or not you believe the phone line to be an extension of the home owners property (Which I personally do not believe,) the Fourth Amendment allows for unwarranted search of "any open space other than the land immediately surrounding a domicile" (wiki quote) which the phone line at the phone company could easily be considered. The obvious thing here though is that they still should either need the consent or a warrant for the phone company unless that has become public domain which I do question.

I welcome talkback on this, as I am not even sure on my stance any more.

Firstly, in order for accuracy, there could be nothing else in the universe, not even the device for measuring the data, as the gravity of such object would offset the object. Moreover the act of measuring the object would infact alter the objects positon.

Well this was the first official post for the new 'Insight' page.

In both Stereo Future and Garden State the main characters are aspiring actors, who have girl friends with mental issues. Moreover they have friends making money doing illegal things.

Both movies also have a similar kind of laid back feel and both have great music. Despite the really utter lack of plot, this film did have a great atmosphere.

The movie follows several people including an aspiring actor, Keisuke, a television reporter and a few others lives for the length of the film with the connections not becoming apparent until the last few minutes.

In all honesty it was beautifully done, but came off kind of preachy at times and went nowhere.

If you've got nothing to do, its not bad, its just not good.

On an interesting side note the one American in the film "Dr. Danny Moreno" is in fact the man who choreographed 'Earth Girls are Easy'

And as if that wasn't bad enough, they decided to add insult to injury. They took down all the widgets I had programmed.

I am horrified at these turn of events.

Update - It's not as bad as I thought

As a side note this is one of several reasons why we must not give the reigns of the internet over to the EU, along with the fact that we spent billions creating it, If Europe wants control they should first pay off their billions in trade deficit, and then purchase the internet from us for complete development cost.

I was going to stretch this on into covering how Germany is not a democracy because of their complete lack of free speech, but this sentence should do.

The movie starts out with a man, Dae-su, who has been out for a heavy night of drinking. He?s at the police department, taken in for public drunkenness. His friend comes to pick him up and take him home, but before he can get home, Dae-su vanishes. The next thing he knows he?s in a prison without knowing why or for how long. He stays in prison for 15 years until he mysteriously was released. He then finds out he has four days to find out who imprisoned him and why.

The movie gets a ten for style in my book. It steals a concept from Pulp Fiction in a scene and draws a dotted line between a hammer and where it is aimed. The fight scenes are decent but the ultraviolence is not quite up to par with Audition for instance. With this said, onto the plot. The plot is lacking in the extreme sense, and what plot there is, honestly, is stupid. Overall, it was entertaining to watch, but beyond that not much else.

Sidenote: I recently discovered they are making an American version. Yuck.

This movie had everything, zombies, baseball? wait, not everything, just zombies and baseball. Remember something cheesy you saw in a movie once upon a time? More then likely, it was used in this movie. Cheesy sound effects, breaking out into song, someone punching someone and crappy looking dummy goes flying, the list goes on.

The context of the movie is basically this: a high school baseball team is trying to make it to the finals, they find out they have to play "Gedo High School" in their first game. They are a team of zombies that instead of playing baseball just kill everyone. The principal is not going to let them play, but then sees a new student playing "Baseball Fight" with a local bully, and begs him (Jubei) to play so they can beat Gedo High School. After much begging by the principal and players on the team Jubei breaks into song and tells the tragic story of how he once threw a baseball so hard it went through his father and killed him. He then agrees to play. At the first game, he Jubei does not show up until after the entire team has been killed because he had to break out of prison. They proceed to kill him, but the best part is how they kill him. A bomb explodes; his fake body goes flying through the air, lands, and a tomb stone pops up. Several months later, he comes back to life and seeks revenge. He comes back just in time for the team which is dead to fight them Gedo High School again. He shows up at the game, and they mock him for not having a team, but then about half the dead team comes back cyborgs thanks to as they put it "advanced technologies." Other random people fill the rest of the team and they go on to fight the Gedo High School. They fight until once again no one is left but Jubei and the coach, and after a huge fight Jubei decides to show the coach mercy. But then one of the Gedo high school kids shoots the coach with a machine gun for being weak. Jubei is so pissed off that he hits the kid so hard his skeleton flies out of his body, and then he beats up his skeleton. He then looks around and notices that everyone is dead including the audience, and says some cheesy words about how it is all his fault and he should never have played baseball again after killing his father. He then cries and his tears bring everyone back to life. The End

Besides the fact that this was quite possibly the stupidest movie I have ever seen, it was actually somewhat entertaining. I think it would make a decent party movie as its short, only 1:20 long, and has quite a few things you would only laugh about with other people around. Overall it was OK. I wouldn't watch it again, but I don't necessarily regret watching it.

The movie is about a guy who has been overmedicated, by his father who is a psychiatrist, for something he did when he was nine. The drugs have kept him numb his entire adult life. On returning home he visits all his old friends, makes a new one, and realizes what's important in life. Overall, the plot was somewhat lacking, but there was much detail in the plot there was. I need to name a genre for this along with several other films I've seen as of late that are very realistic and yet not realistic at all. Surreal kind of, but not precisely.

The cinematography and camera work was pretty good actually. There was one scene in Sam's back yard where the camera flies outward into the sky, which was reminiscent of the final scene in the version of 'Much Ado about Nothing' which features Keanu Reaves.

My one major complaint about the movie, this is probably just me though, is that throughout the entire thing Zach Braff appeared to be wearing large amounts of eye shadow. It was distracting. Also, from a scene where he goes to have a talk with his father until the end of the movie he seems to act overly effeminate, especially when he's saying goodbye to Sam.

Probably my favorite part of the film was the sound track. It was almost as though they took what I was listening to at the time the film came out and used it all in the movie. The Shins, Frou Frou, Iron and Wine all featured.

Don't get me wrong, this is no shallow movie, indeed it is far from it. The script seems to effortlessly timely in its use of humor and drama while avoiding the timeless pitfall of becoming bloated with unnecessary scenes or details. Instead each scene has a clear purpose and every line is used so well that that movie is so clean of wasteful material its nothing short of a breath of fresh air from the often cookie-cutter productions of the major studios.

The story centers on a struggling contemporary artist and a recently divorced shoe salesman who meet due to a chance encounter at the local mall. While some reviewers have come to the conclusion the movie seeks to portray how the difficulty of establishing meaningful relationships in an increasingly "me centered" world, I came away with a different impression. Instead of becoming overly engrossed with the effects of the emerging relationship on the two people involved, the movie also underscores that no relationship exists in a vacuum by using a series of side plots to show just how interwoven our lives are with those of "Me You and everyone we know." From beginning to end, "Me and You and Everyone we Know" remains refreshingly on track, coming together despite a number twists and turns, that... well that to be honest it caught me off guard.

So much of independent film is so artistically focused it becomes more of a chore to watch that few people can relate to or understand it. "Me You and Everyone we Know" skillfully walks the line between art and entertainment resulting in a must-see finished project that leaves you hoping its not the last of its kind.

-paul

Last time I checked, employers are allowed to ensure that they're employee's are getting their jobs done, not to make sure their employees have the same sense of humor, laugh at the same jokes, etc. Websense does help keep employees on task by enabling employers to deny access to messaging programs and in all fairness to BAS it's probably in their best interest to keep its employees on task and away from ebaumsworld while they're on the clock. However the idea of simply blocking it as "distasteful" is such a very flawed way of doing that has managed to go unchecked by flying under just under the radar of logic and public outrage.

Flawed you say? Well yeah, for every site Websense blocks, a bored employee will simply find something else to keep them occupied and as far from their actual work responsibilities. I mean hell they might even be so inclined even surf the hell outa CNN.com or something (though I hear there's a movement to get CNN branded as

distasteful too) like barneyandfriends.com (truly a website designed by Satan) that Websense hasn't managed to get offended by yet. And in should a company like BAS be using Websense to filter out ?distasteful material? to help keep its workforce ?pure,? what?s to stop any employee from going home and looking at it anyway. I mean it's like the Great Firewall the Chinese Government set up to keep their billion strong populace under control by denying them access to "objectionable internet content." For every loophole the Chinese Authorities close, the Chinese people just find a new way around the firewall. The human brain is probably the greatest unsolved mystery the world has ever known, and one way or another it will usually get what it wants or something damn close, and just like "the people's republic of China" (so much irony in that I can't even begin) has failed to eradicate content it finds counter-productive to China's future, Websense is doomed to fail as a means of ensuring Employees are on task. It might make it more difficult for them to "go astray" but it's sure as hell not going to stop them from getting off task.

Second what freaking right does Websense have to tell me what's distasteful. I'm the first person to admit America could sure as hell use a "do-over" for plenty of things in the past 226 years but one of things we got right was guaranteeing the right to freely develop one's opinions, and to me it seems very unfortunate that Websense. I am of the camp that believes it's a good thing for people to be exposed to things they might find "distasteful." All too often the things that make us uncomfortable are all too often times the very things that are most important to see. Being uncomfortable leads us to question our existing opinions and views, which in turn causes us to develop more educated opinions and beliefs.

Based on personal observations, there are three reasons any living thing exists. One, to have sex or (insert your favorite euphemism for reproduction here); two, to think about the first reason to exist; and three, to achieve a complete understanding of the world around us. If mankind ever achieves the third one the global population is going to up faster than the population of New York City did about nine months after the 1975 blackout. (For those of you not paying attention, a lot of people had sex? a lot)

The story begins with an actress that suffers a nervous breakdown while on stage and subsequently enters a clinic for treatment. A nurse is assigned to care for the actress so that she may return to the stage. Since her breakdown the actress has completely stopped talking. In the entire film she will only speak once despite being the inadvertent protagonist in the film. Like any other film with two hot Swedish women, they have to go to the countryside to relax with each other, and of course the nurse has to confess her first sex orgy as a teenager. Nothing special about that. The two start off polite, with the nurse very envious of the actress?s big screen life. The nurse, feeling as though she has made a personal connection with the actress, confesses to her a dark secret that she has hid from her husband that is connected to the sex orgy. When the nurse learns that the actress failed to keep her secret confidential, there is a shift away from the polite relationship. The nurse no longer holds the actress on a high pedestal of perfection and innocence. The nurse then goes through a range of emotions from sorrow to rage then to sadness in which she seeks for forgiveness from the actress for her violent outburst during her state of rage. However, this is not the final resolution that one might expect. Another secret is revealed that is equally as dark as the nurse?s secret. It is during this revelation that the audience learns of the actress?s major faults, and through a series of events you learn that while in their public life the two are total opposites that in fact that they are one and the same.

The film starts out with a serious of short clips of seemingly unrelated and confusing events that add the atmosphere and a feeling awkwardness and discomfort that lets the viewer know that all is not well. It also acts as an early hint of the actress?s dark secret, although you are not aware of it at the time thus adding some mystery to the film and makes the latter half that much more magnificent. The true success of this film is that despite taking place in a single environment, with primarily only one character doing all the talking, it still manages to remain a fascinating and engaging experience for the viewer. Furthermore, that the only other character never speaks yet we are still able to get into her personal life and that she still remains a major player in the drama just further illustrates the great skills of Bergman.

-Paul Johnson will return...

Also, in my opinion, her husband has no business speaking for her on two points. Firstly, he has had anther family for over a decade, of course he wants her dead. Secondly, if the rest of her family is pleading otherwise and here he comes trotting out saying ?Lets throw the bag in a bag? how accurate can his opinion be?

There is nothing in the film that connects these scenes. If one tries too hard to elaborate on the inner meanings of the scenes, they will be sorely disappointed. The title itself has little meaning. Andalusian is just a type of Spanish horse and the dog is self explanatory. Although there is little to ponder in the scenes, the reason for the chaotic nature has a bit more possibilities. Either it was created purely for the confusing effect that it would inflict on the viewer’s pre-conceived reality, as is the objective of the surrealists. It could be trying to hold on to some of the Dadaists ideals, which by 1929 had already died. More likely it could have been a new director just beginning to grasp his new medium, and Andalusian Dog being the product of his experimentation.

Whether you like it or not, in the end, it still worth watching for its historical value.

This is a very entertaining South Korean movie (they're rare). It starts out with a girl and her sister coming back from what you assume is a mental institution to rejoin their family. Their step mom though seems to be pure evil. Soon after returning, the older daughter, Soo-mi, has a strange dream where she is in a forest of bamboo and her sister is dead, she then wakes up to something crawling on the floor. It stands up and is a dead girl, similar to that of the ring, except it has a broken neck. Soo-mi sits there in sheer terror as it climbs onto the bed. Blood starts dripping down its leg, and all of a sudden from between its legs (its wearing a skirt) an arm shoots out and grabs her leg. She then wakes up and assumes it was all a dream.

It seems as though the step mom and the daughters just can't get along, until eventually it builds up to the step mom locking Soo-yeon (the younger sister) in a wardrobe. Soo-mi comes in and lets her out, and when the father comes up to investigate, Soo-mi tells him how the step mom locked her in the wardrobe. Now here's where it gets interesting, the father replies something to the extent of 'Quit these games, Soo-yeon is dead' This is very confusing because you have seen Soo-yeon interact with a number of people(?) Especially the step mom who had locked her in the closet.

After this point, it looses all sense. I still have not quite figured out what was what, because it gets very complicated. Here's the gist of it though as I understand it (skip this if you ever plan on watching it) The step mom kills Soo-yeon (who's supposable already dead) Soo-mi goes looking for Soo-yeon and finds her dead in a sack (we don't see it but we assume its her) Then Soo-mi assumes that she actually is insane, and asks the step mom for help, at which point the step mom agrees to help her and smashes her with a statue, killing her. Then the father comes in, finds Soo-mi and the Step mom, but, now here's where everything goes to hell, the step mom comes in the door, and for a second there are two step moms in the room. It is then that the first step mom, the one who's gone on the murderous rampage realizes that in fact she is Soo-yeon (the one who the father said was dead) It then cuts to her in a mental institution again.

After this there is a flashback (I assume) of their original mom hanging her self in a wardrobe, and then the wardrobe falling on Soo-yeon and crushing her to death?

I really suggest watching this film with someone else because it is so confusing you will want to discuss it. I do believe I have done a horrible job hacking together the plot for you, so watch it and prove me wrong.

The movie starts out with Bobby Darin filming a movie, about his life none the less. A reporter comes up to him and asks him "Aren't you too old to be playing this role?" He responds something like "Who better to play the role?" He never actually filmed a movie of his life, and it puzzled me why they would include this the first couple days after I saw it.

After this there is a flash back to when he was a young boy, the doctor was there, and told Bobbies (Not his real name) mother that he would not live past 13. It then goes through him learning music while growing up, and eventually leaving to go into the music business. He changes his name to "Bobby Darin" based on a sign he saw on a Chinese restaurant.

It occurred to me that, the movie he was filming in the beginning was not actually a movie, but a representation of him, playing Bobby Darin. The reporter asking aren't you too old for this role asked that because he was supposed to have died at the age of 13, but he went on to be 37 years of age. This actually seemed really cleaver to me when I first figured it out, which is funny because before I understood it I thought it was just really stupid.

The movie goes through his life, his marriage, the troubles with his marriage, and how he spent very little time with his son, and his eventual death, which many points where he will randomly break out into song and dance, such as when he is romancing his woman. We had planed on seeing something else, but we arrived late and it was the latest showing, and felt very out of place because most of the people seeing the movie were in there 50's or so. At the points where he broke out into song, I often found my self laughing uncontrollably at the sheer akwardness of the abrupt change of style.

Overall it was a decent movie, though I feel bad about paying 8 dollars to see it.

The movie starts out with him (Ryuhei Matsuda) explaining to an American on the phone why he has a woman’s name. It then goes into a flash back:

He is a boy, studying to be a photographer when he meets a girl, the girl of his dreams nonetheless. He tries to teach her how to take photos but she cannot learn for the life of her, her pictures always end up unfocused, etc. They both submit photos to an art exhibition, and hers wins. Unable to suck up his pride, Ryuhei (his real name, cannot think of his name in the show) breaks up with her, and she leaves for New York to pursue a career in art.

Years pass, and at a school reunion he hears a rumor that she is dead. He becomes distraught and decides to leave for America to find his long lost love. He gets beaten up by a gang, and would have ended up dead if not for a magical black man who saves him. And by magical I mean he has the magic power to find things by urinating? (You’ll see what I mean) Well anyway, it ends up by some stroke of crazy unlikeliest the black man “found” Ryuhei’s dream lady’s camera with undeveloped film in it.

The undeveloped film when developed leads him to a shipyard where he finds her friend who happens to be waiting for him to kill him for some reason? Ends up she killed his lady friend for some unknown reason, and then they have the cheesiest gun fight ever. He ends up getting shot in the leg or something and the black guy pops out and saves him. Then he is at a photo shoot with the person from the beginning explaining that he took her name after all this so he could get her recognition? Seems cold hearted to me, but they are Japanese?

excuses excuses?

The film is broken up by a number of beautiful, metaphorical(?) not actually happening events, as was the case with Ping Pong as well. It was worth watching just for the scene with the flying orange?

This movie deals with a number of things, one of the main topics being racial tensions between Japanese and Koreans. Sugihara is a Japanese born Korean whose father and mother were both from North Korea.

He attends a North Korean school in Japan because apparently (I was unaware of this) Japan is quite segregated between the Koreans and Japanese. Their teacher is quite the Nazi and punishes people for speaking Japanese. One of his classmates was caught purchasing a porno magazine and asking for it in Japanese the student asks "How was I supposed to say 'I want a porno mag'?" and it is quite humorous when the teacher responds, "I would please like an adult magazine" in Korean.

One of his peers reveals that Sugihara is attending a Japanese Language school. The teacher goes to punch him and he evades it. He basically then denounces North Korea and takes up a "Life of Crime" which doesn't last long when he's caught by the police after trying to "out run a subway"? Either way this part was very entertaining. They take him back to the police station whereas when his dad comes to get him he beats the shit out of him then and there.

The tension between Sugihara and his father builds up to the point where Sugihara challenges his father to a boxing match where his father once again beats the shit out of him.

At some point, maybe earlier then this he is playing basket ball at his new Japanese school and they make fun of him for being Korean, and then using a style I've never seen before (using soft of a throw your whole body (both) feet first into their chest) he single handedly takes out the entire basketball team, and some of the teachers.

Sugihara goes to a party for his best friend, who was there for the subway out-running. At which he meats a girl with whom he falls pretty much instantly in love.

His best (and pretty much only) friend, who is somewhat of a nerd, is getting on the subway when a girl is un-wantingly being hit on, he goes and tells the guy to leave her alone and he accidentally stabs him (you'd have to see it to understand, its hard to explain how it happened) Well long story shot he dies.

Sugihara is crushed, and he seeks comfort in his newfound girl friend. They are about to do the nasty when he decides its best to be honest with her and tell her he is Korean. She gets all pissy and leaves because she does not want to do the nasty with a mud blood or something like that.

He realizes he has nothing left, he cannot go back to his family because he has shamed them, he cannot go to his friend because he is dead, and he cannot go to his girl friend because she does not want a mud blood. He walks past a police officer who wants to talk to him, and since he realizes he left his Foreigner ID (all non-Japanese, even those born in Japan are required to carry a special ID) at his girl friends house and he could be thrown in jail for not having it, he knocks out the police officer and runs away. Then feeling bad about what he has done he goes and helps the police officer up, and they talk. He apologizes to the police officer, and the police officer tells him he was just going to ask for directions.

His girl friend comes to her senses and decides to accept him even if he is Korean. He goes back to his parents and his mom hits him and his father with the broom for being so dumb.

In the end it is revealed that his father, by claiming to be of South Korean heritage instead of North Korean in order to go on vacation to Hawaii, he has lost his ability to return to North Korea and will never see his family again. This explains some of his grumpiness.

The movie begins with a boy contemplating suicide on a bridge, and a cop is trying to talk him down. The cop tells him to be careful but the boy says “I can fly” and the police officer thinking he’s giving him positive reinforcement yells “You can fly!” and the boy jumps into the river.

The movie then goes through how that boy (Peko), and another boy (Smile) got to be friends, how another boy got to be Peko’s sworn enemy, and how both Peko and Smile leaned the way of Ping Pong.

Its years later, Smile, and Peko’s team have just lost badly in the year’s championship. Peko gets depressed, quits the team and tries to kill him self (beginning of movie). He washes up on shore, goes back to the woman who taught him Ping Pong, and practices his ass off to fulfill his dreams of going pro.

While this is happening Smile is challenged by Peko’s enemy (can?t remember his name) because he saw Smile beat Peko, and because of team rules, if there is a non-organized challenge as such and you lose you are kicked off the team. Smile kicks his ass, and whatshisface is kicked off his team, wanders around pissed, and beats some guy up.

Championships come around again, and whoever wins has the chance to go pro. Smile and Peko both fight their way to the top, and in the end Smile lets Peko win though Smile is actually the much better player because Smile doesn’t really like ping pong and knows that its Peko’s dream to go pro. Smile has only played to be around Peko.

The movie had great cinematography, oh and there were some VERY AWESOME metaphorical scenes that I do not want to get into. Overall, it was an excellent movie.

The movie is based around these people being locked in a room chained to pipes. They?re supposed to work there way out, and the room is like a giant riddle. There are numerous flash backs, and lots of forced looking crying. And then everyone dies (spoiler).

I would compare the actors to the soap actor “Calculon” from Futurama. “I am feeling a wide array of EMOTIONS!?” The Doctor from the movie had a strong Irish accent he tried his best to keep hidden but there were parts where he was trying to show “emotion” and he let it slip, and I laughed at very inappropriate times. In addition, there was this hilarious car chase. They show no road, no nothing, just cut back and forth from one guy wiggling a steering wheel to the other guy wiggling the steering wheel.

The movie did have a number of scary parts, the thing that rips a persons head open made me fidget in my seat. Also, I am quite sure most of the budget went for the awesome masks/puppets the guy had.

Overall, the movie was Ok. The dialog was awful, but seriously, who sees a horror movie for the dialog. Had some fear, much unintentional humor, and the stupidest car chase ever.

Beginning of the movie they had just moved in to a new neighborhood and his father is introducing his family. When his dad stats asking, “Where’s Ludovic?” he walks out all dressed up in makeup and a dress. His father, looking for words says, “This is my son Ludovic, the Joker”

The conflict starts when he thinks he is in “love” with his father’s boss’s son, and is caught by his father’s boss’s wife wearing their dead daughter’s clothes. Then after much arguing, and the father's anger, Ludovic is forced into therapy.

During a school production of Snow White, Ludovic locks the girl to play Snow White in the bathroom, and takes her place so he can get a kiss from the boss’s son. The boss’s son does not go through with it, and the family is shunned out of the theatre.

Then the boy loses the support of his mother and father, both becoming much angered at him and he leaves to live with his grandmother. While he is gone his father loses his job (for obvious reasons), and they are forced to move. The son decides to go with them rather then staying with the grandmother.

Ludovic goes to a girl’s birthday party at the new house and she forces him to switch from his pirate costume into her dress. Then his mother sees him and chases after him yelling. She loses him, and in some kind of hallucination (there were also many other cool dream sequences I forgot to mention thus far) she decides to climb up a sign for his favorite TV show/doll and has a beautiful hallucination where he is running off with the doll. She falls off the sign, and in the end accepts her son, though he seems, to me at least, to be growing out of it.

I'm told that we should use a legal download service to solve this predicament. However legal downloads are almost always heavily ladden with copyright protection making it difficult or impossible to enjoy the music as you would normally, either by downloading a copy-right free illegal version or by ripping it off of a legally bought CD.

I'd also invite the RIAA to accurately report its figures regarding CD sales. Its simple supply and demand. The demand is low because the product often is not worth the steadily increasing asking price, and often the consumer can't afford the luxury of paying for an entire album for the ability to listen to a few songs. Once upon a time every artist took pride in putting together an Album that was great in its entireity, those days are gone and in the world of big music business, putting out singles is the new priority. I ask someone to prove me wrong that this single handidly explains the initial success of file sharing, to which the RIAA's suing of Napster exposed to the general public as a logical alternative to getting ripped off.

The latest casuality of big business music, is the trashing of great music by some kind of compulsion to remake great music. I mean anyone should have the sense to know that no one really wants to hear Mary J. Bliege sing "Walk this Way" or be subjected to Christina Agulara recant "Car Wash." To those with this "George Lucas" type need to re-do great works all I can offer is some advice from what seems to be "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away..."