The First Days of Spring - Trailer

Caught this from Twitter after a friend posted about her "iPod in San Francisco." I can't see the connection. I don't know what it means but the video made an impression. The use of the seasons, although clichéd, appealed to me (of course it did) and it reminded me of 500 days of Summer - this would best be fitting as a prequel but I'm 99% sure there is no connection.
The beginning dialogue sounds like a dude and his conscience remembering a time when he felt alive, when things mattered, when adventure was the only priority. I reflected on that. Also found the video to be inspiring and become less fearful of change and evolution.

I had a dream last night

I'm in a tropical or sub-tropical climate. My surroundings remind me very much of Miami Beach, city-side. It’s definitely a weekend night because there are people out and in their cars looking like they are going someplace with intentions.

Next thing I know I’m approaching the condo that I was heading towards which faces the beach and has several stories. The city-side lights and noise are drowned out by the building and the only source that guides me through the darkness is the full Moon’s blast of redirected sunlight. As I got closer to the specific apartment I noticed two individuals dressed all in black with masks and bags full of tools looking like they don’t belong. I quickly stepped back and leaned against the corner wall to analyze the situation. I noticed they were thieves, burglars, and possibly even ninjas and understood that I was the person that had to do something about it if good could overcome evil in anyway. This was a massive dose of responsibility I just convinced myself of and sure enough as they began to climb the wall to enter through what appeared to be a second floor bedroom window, I surreptitiously approached.

After I crossed the line of being-10-ft-close, I sprinted hard towards the dude closest to me, pulled him off the wall and body slammed him towards floor where he also connected with the concrete balcony – he was instantly unconscious due to the blow to his head and lungs. The second jumped down from the second floor and crash landed on top of me. Since he had so much weight with the tools and gear for their robbery he was clumsy and made his offense with his gloved hands. We both fell to the ground and I used his momentum to turn him on his back against the floor with my knees against his shoulders providing only a 10% chance of escape. It was either him or I so I made sure to land a few knuckle sandwiches and keep the goon at bay. I got up and noticed both dudes were sluggish, hurt, and only coming back to consciousness.

The next thing I did implicates me as the bad guy but I rationalized it as further punishment for the ninja goons. I took both their wallets and ran. I ran through the boulevard where people began to amass and I reentered the lights and noise that make the night alive. I crossed an intersection and almost got hit by what looked like an x-girlfriend in a red Yugo of a car (reminded me of the Bourne series). All I could think about was the notion that the ninja goons would be getting up soon and looking for me, chasing after me, and that my hands had blood on them. Real, red, krovvy on my hands and clothes. It now became a matter of the police as well as the goons so I fled towards the darkness again and the closest area seemed to be the port so I made my way and found a spot in the shadows where I could use my undershirt to wipe off the blood and then took the undershirt with me by folding it and putting it in my pocket. I was suddenly a twisted mercenary of justice, but why did I take their wallets? Not very heroic or Batman-ny. If I were to become a super hero, that would be the first and only time I would do that as a lesson to myself.

There was a boat about 50 yards away that was about to leave the port. It was about 300ft long and seemed to be a small cruise ship. It looked modern, new, powerful, high-tech, and expensive. I decided to go on and saw most of the passengers sitting on the upper-deck waiting for the captain’s announcement. They all anticipated a great journey. The captain began to mention with excitement that they were the first crew and passengers to embark on a trip of this kind. He reported the ship being the fastest and most fuel efficient in its size and will be the first to travel around the world stopping at every continent and unveiling some of the more beautiful and desolate parts of the wet world where civilization hasn’t yet sprawled.

The boat left the port and I was on it. I was stuck. If I showed myself the crew would call the police and I would surely get into trouble. I could see the city disappearing and I began to think of my family, my job, my loved ones, the unswimmable distance getting larger. I began to think that my life would now change. I would be considered lost. I would have to hide amongst the crew and passengers. Food and shelter would be difficult to find.

The reality in this dream was a parallel universe to our own. It reminded me of LOST, but different. The geography was different. A mere half hour outside of the port of what appeared to be Miami the captain announced that Mt. Lauderdale would be coming up to our left. Beside it on the bay I saw a beautiful arrangement of ships aligned to make a star in the water. The ships towards the inside vertices of the star had the largest masts and they had flags and festive lighting. The lighting was so powerful that you could see a pale blue of the water around them and small jet ski’s and fishing boats cruising around them.

The boat made a U-turn and headed into the deep darkness of the great ocean ahead of us. I understood a new adventure approaching, a life change.

Then I woke up and sent a tweet about this and decided I should get up and tell the story with as much detail as possible. This was it. Now breakfast. I’m off today. Won’t be back at the office till Monday – Cyber Monday.

Untitled or 'Blogging again is like trying to start a chainsaw that's been in the garage for 3-years without turning once.'

In the spirit of proper blog ejaculate on the internet backbone where we all connect, collaborate, and calculate, I’ve regurgitated a consecrate post. It’s been many months since I’ve blo-argh-gged. Nonetheless, I’m in a different dimension and the plow of life, thankfully, has provided a sturdy transmission.

That means its been a hard year but collapsaform will help defibrillate creativity outside of all the routine cycles. What's absent in my current existence is an outlet for words (new blog?), a hands-on hobby/craft, a muse, superhero powers, a cave I can call my own, and large sets of academic and complex mathematics. Sometimes a few good math problems do generate happiness and clarity (I'm serious). There is always a way.

More than just a stack of words, I've brought some goodies:

• Some music: The latest Flaming Lips record, which I happen to appreciate - Embryonic. Available here for your downloading pleasure via Rapidshare. Go buy it if you really like it.
• Some vids: This guy Alex apparently really likes Wes Anderson - and so do I. This project/video seems like it must've been a lot of fun to make. Here is his site. The video below shows what would've been a trailer for a mock-Wes Anderson film festival.
  
  
  
  
• Wallpaper: A link to my current desktop background.
• An illusion: A photograph or a painting? A painting I thought was a photograph.
• I call this talent: Some inspiring and kick-ass illustrations of Thor, Loki and Odin.
• Hotness: A cool photograph featuring Sasha Grey. (above) Gratuitous? Perhaps, and not very "in-line" with my standard posts but I wouldn't be honest if I said I didn't want to share it online. it's also part of an experiment.

Writing a post on an a blog that is clearly undefined is like being handcuffed to a toboggan on a clear day with no brakes or means of escape - live or die the journey will happen and the post will go live. Only after its been done will I know if it was the right thing to do. I need to take in any feedback, rewards and consequences and then learn.

Anyway I think its important to document what music I've been listening to these past few days, iTunes says my recently and most played are (in no order): Charles Mingus, Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue, Clinic, Clint Mansell (MOON soundtrack), Weezer, and Russian Circles.

Phantom Residual Conciousness

This picture was taken from a random generation of the past 7 days of Flickr photos.

Remember when you were young? When you were really young? I'm talking 16. That was 1995 for me. I was moving on from comics to the internet. I think that may have been a major turning point for me. It wasn't an abandoning by choice. It's just that Marvel, Image, and DC, weren't pumping out anything that spiked my interest and I always felt I'd get lost if dove into the independents. I had very few independants - the one in particular that I miss greatly was a black & white Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles whose content was anything but what you'd see in a weekday afternoon special. The turtles were vicious. They took on enemies with serious martial arts and blood would spill. They were ripped but not cheesy. They had a code and a sensei. They were fuckin' ninja turtles! I'd sit for hours beside my bed taking care not to crease any of the pages because my comics were so cool and valuable that they were under the highest level of security. Still, if anyone finds this comic please contact me and return it for a large reward.

In 1995 a lot of paths began to open. I heard Fugazi for the first time. I was in a mosh pit for the first time. I had sex for the first time. I rebeled against my parents for the 84th time. I was taking my first physics class. I bought a quart of Mickey's from the Citgo on 87th ave for the first time. I'd leave the old man my change for posterity generated from the understanding that he knew I wasn't of age. Poor bastard. Who knows how many bad seeds he'd watered. How many car accident's he instigated.

There was nothing to encourage the deployment of a text message then. There weren't personal GPS's. I may have had a beeper. There was no sense of tracking of anything. No social community status updates. Today there are all kinds of tracking devices. Back then I think moments were better developed and decisions were more carefully executed. I think we would all think more often.

People would chill out and deal with things. They'd have more time to think about the situation. Today a text comes in and the normal response is to reply right away. A status update may be posted and you may be tempted to reply, repost, or make your own commentary. People use the words "link me" in their dialogue. The all-caps abbreviations - like LOL - make it to some people's daily vocabularies. I'm just as guilty.

This note is to tell everyone that its important to invest a little more time, think more, share more, and to communicate more. I want to tell You that you should actually dial and memorize someone's phone number. Talk to your friends and family for a few extra minutes when your'e about to hang up. Give your friends and family the time you think you don't have. Share things, with the internet and with your hands to their physical hands. Shoot them the latest YouTube video. Show them a shell you found on the beach shore. Hand them a photo. Tell them about something you love about them of which they're not aware. Walk with them. Think more about what you did and didn't do.

This post was written under the influence of Andrew Bird's Noble Beast and Angels of Light's Everything is Good Here/Please Come Home.