2:37 into Bloc Party’s song This Modern Love from their 2005 Silent Alarm release is one of my favorite moments in music from the past couple of years. There’s just this massive wave of sound and emotion coming through the speakers when the melody is torn down to it’s essentials; the whirlwind tour through major chord harmonies by overdubbed voices sends chills down my spine every time I hear it.
Now we travel to this link: MoCo Loco: Anti-Theft Bike/Car Device. There, you’ll find that you can prevent theft of your new mode of transportation by applying fake rust, scratch, and dent decals that are stunningly realistic.
But then your new mode of transportation appears to be rusted, scratched, and dented.
VideoETA says that The Namesake will be released on November 27, 2007. When that date comes, you should see this movie. For those who have no idea of what I am talking about, the Chicago Sun-Times had a good review when The Namesake was first released in the US.
Less sweet than sugar, but still usable on food: erythritol.
From the article: “It is 60-70% as sweet as table sugar yet it is virtually non-caloric, does not affect blood sugar, does not cause tooth decay, and is absorbed by the body, therefore unlikely to cause gastric side effects unlike other sugar alcohols. Under U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeling requirements, it has a caloric value of 0.2 calories per gram (95% less than sugar and other carbohydrates), but some countries like Japan label it at 0 calories.”
Nils wrote this comment in January of this year. Given our recent discussion about life choices and comics, I think it’s appropriate to bring out his well-articulated viewpoint:
I think that we have to learn to deal with uncertainty for the time being. We’re 21 for christ’s sake, the possibilities and choices that lay ahead of us are virtually endless. The problem is that high school and college have not primed us to deal with the unknown. There has always been a set track that we have been required to follow and that track pretty much ends with college, I think. We should all be prepared for unforeseen conflicts and always have back up plans because you never know how things will turn out. I’ve been thinking a lot about post graduation lately and I have thrown together a few scenarios for myself: stay with TV and pursue jobs in TV market, move to LA and attempt the film industry, join the peace corp, or move to Norway and do something (read: I have no clue). I think can live with those options.
In the past five years or so, I have experienced a recurrent and surprisingly urgent need to “figure it out.” It must be that the changing scenery and conditions of my young life cause me to attempt to assure myself I’m on the “right” path. As a result, I’ve taken a simultaneous keen yet shallow interest in philosophy: as if a cursory overview of the topic would yield the viewpoint for which I search. The Weepies sing that, perhaps, “this is not your year.” However, if I was to take guidance on life from media, it would not be that particular song (great though it may be). I would, in fact, take inspiration from the most profound (and, incidentally, most existential) comic I have ever read. That would be this strip of Zippy the Pinhead published on my Mom’s birthday, the 16th of September:
While slightly fatiguing to read when directly quoted, I’ll nevertheless reproduce Zippy’s conclusion here: “It’s not th’ journey or the destination that matters most — it’s th’ thrill of not understanding th’ paradox!” So, I’m where I started, but better equipped to move on: you figure it out for yourself, don’t you? I believe that doing so can be enjoyable. Let’s make it so.
