To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than Death or Night;
To defy Power, which seems Omnipotent;
To love, and bear; to hope, till Hope creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;
Neither to change nor falter nor repent;
This, like thy glory, Titan! is to be
Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free;
This is alone Life; Joy, Empire, and Victory!
----- Demogorgon, Act IV, closing lines; Shelley
It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul:
Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!
It is the cause. Yet I'll not shed her blood,
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
And smooth as monumental alabaster.
Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.
Put out the light, and then put out the light.
Othello; Act 5, Scene 2
Please visit Zen Bionic at myspace.com/ZenBionic for complete and utter nonsense. Word! From the movie Donnie Darko:Donnie: Dad?
Eddie: Hmm?
Donnie: I'm crazy.
Eddie: You're not crazy; I used to be crazy; but you're not crazy. (pause) Look, you're my only son...
Donnie: I know.
Eddie: No, hold it, I know I'm not the best communicator, but... whatever happens to you, be honest, tell the truth, even if they look at you funny - they will. But what you gotta understand, son, is that almost all of those poeople are full of shit. (they laugh). They're all part of this great big conspiracy of bullshit. And they're scared of people like you. Because those bullshitters know that you're smarter than all of them.
You know what you say to people like that? Hmm?
"Fuck you!"
At present I do research via contractual work and I am working for a major contract with an organisation I can't mention.
I am at a number of institutions as well right now. Doing research across discipline and faculty.
I also do my own personal research with friends. Upon one area, we're doing something of interest to some guys in the US (in reference anthropological literal relevance to modern day) which is also of interest to us as well. Which is generally looking into pre-biblical texts and symbolic and cultural similarities; cross-civilisations. It's cool in reference to how people speak, behave and act today and how major literature: persuasive, influential (nothing critically acclaimed as is the case today, a problem in academic circles who are somewhat obsessive over that) affect a fractalic effect over time towards other writings and therefore influencing society, economy and communication.
Other interests include:
Blondes, Brunettes, Redheads, Funky psychedelic hair types, drinking, meditating, Art (painting, drawing, sculpture, digital 64 bit hi res image production, pastels, charcoal, anything goes), cross legged meditating, sitting with my eyes half closed, photography, ballet, fine wines, travelling in wine countries (napa valley, northern italy, provence, champagne, my backyard etc), Poetry, movies, al pacino, ellen degeneres, denzel (pronounced denzil =oD ) washington, giant haystacks, jo brand, Pascal Cygan etc.
Fly fishing, introduced to me by one J R Hartley.
I like books that are unlike other books. I think too many people read books because their friends read books. It's the last desperate attempt to appear intellectual for the unaccepted at the local pub.I would say, Nick Hornby, Zadie Smith, Kahlil Gibran etc.
I'd like to meet:
Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, David Icke, Trevor Mcdonald, Kirsty Young, Tess Daly and other lesser holy individuals. I would also like to meet Leonardo Da Vinci and Gauguin. I don't think they should be referred to as artists but accurately as Frauds. Right? Right.
In all honesty, if you fit the bill of the following:
Photographers, Artists, Writers, Cinematographers, Directors, Journalists, Musicians, Philosophers, Underground fundamentalist literature writers ( JOKE! :o) ) - So I'm talking people who experiment with their surroundings.
If you say you are the above but your page looks like cr4p, I mean full of videos or music or lots of images and graphics, carelessly but in an immature and attention seeking manner thrown around the place like a monkey on acid, and then which extend over the page (why???), Get a life!!!
(Please, get a life! WARNING, if you see a dodgy page, tell them to, Get a life! The Get a Life campaign; Giving lives to apartment dwelling wannabes in cities everywhere.)
Your talent should naturally exude to everything you create. If your MySpace page is a mess, 100% chance your "work" is too.Someone who I have already met a number of times: The Genius, The Jedi, The Messiah, The Interstellar Burst, The Unique: Thierry Henry
And now, for something, completely; different:
Music:
Tibetan, Industrial Rock, Techno, Progressive house, electro clash, classical, orchestral soundtracks, instrumental electronic music etc.
I listen to everything.
...but, everything sounds the same?
Which is the case. For example, Oasis started off a wannabe route where everyone wanted to learn an instrument because they wanted to have sex with a girl, some girl, I don't know who, but a girl, maybe some girls. Christian groups caught onto this idea as well to repress sexual energy, converted into "a love for Christ Y'all!!! Raise Yo' hands!!" and started to learn instruments. Everyone played is the point because it was fashionable and it was like a fight for alpha male.
So, let's do the maths. If you go into any town and city in this country there will be a live bar where bands play regularly and at that place numerous bands will be fighting for a chance to play. There are also people who play regularly in other places be it at home or gigging in pubs etc. The sales of studio equipment, guitars and everything else are on a mass scale. This has led to numerous copycat bands and numerous people making copycat material sent to record companies that sound exactly the same as someone in the charts, but the crux is, they are not marketable or haven't got that crucial chance to get in.
So I like everything. A lot of stuff is so well produced it sounds great but a lot of it sounds the same too - it generally sounds the same (e.g going into a jazz bar and hearing the same thing wound over and over again while people look cool) - so in this day and age to listen to something unique, musically amazing, I mean shifting abstract chords and dynamic melodies is where I feel good music is.
Where some actual work has taken place.
It's great we have so many musicians out there but it's a bit like travel these days - everyone does it. So what if you went to Taiwan?
Yes?
Movies:
Anything other than east is east. What a pile of rubbish. That's the crux of what I will say.
Who am I to argue with creativity? A large group of films are not manipulative and do not aim to play with your emotions, like East is East wanted to. If there is any film that does so, that does try to be manipulative, usually post-modern documentaries then I have no time for it. I think it's insulting and only serve the aims of the director.
So, I'm saying pure creativity is show what "is" on film, not showing what you want to. It's more so difficult to show what "is".
There is a surge from the new digital age of wannabe directors who want to work in Hollywood to gain popularity via publicity, by making controversial films and then taking the money from it. Now, that's just an entrepreneur, a c4nt, but an entrepreneur all the same but importantly, it's not film making. Just some people who want some fame.
So, I like, great narrative, dynamic but seamless multiple plot/sub-plots and well, most films but something unique, in a world of copycat (as with music) is what I prefer.
It's back to the point of living in times without creativity.
I do like all kinds of films though. I have met most noteworthy directors via my photographic/cinematographic work.
Television:
Generally what most people watch but I like Newsnight too. Although I don't watch TV much. Who has time for it? It's like MSN and chatting on the internet and forums. Where have all these people popped up who have time for it?
I think internet communication is easy, as it serves a quick purpose and we're running away from humanity because alienation is rife. It's not a nice place overall and away from networking it can be used to serve the needs of people who live alone but a desperate and manipulative enough to get and control any attention. I mean it's a mess.
I do wish there was more cultural programming on TV. Yes I do I do I do indeed. Culture. Bring it back and stop people viewing conspiracy sites on the net and thinking Orwell was right. It's a work of fiction you muppets!! Read some Economics!
Books:
Big ones, not small ones. Deconstructive Aesthetic works. I'm talking Lost in Translation meets Monet?
If they write like the hand moves; GodSpeed. Most of them don't. They write in the most popular way and the way publishers want them to.
As I say elsewhere in my profile, literature is purely great works and therefore the effects on society and what we can do thereon. That is what literature is about but recently it has become fashionable to be different in academia and analyse deviance in literature than what people are truly affected by.
That's not progressive but these guys have to be so alien and unorthodox so their true failings as a school of thought aren't known.
A lot of the more acclaimed works today, (acclaimed by an incrowd, elitist who critically acclaim these works via their position to critique; these books, contemporary and post-modern) are not influential to society because not everybody reads them so, why are they important? They're not. It's the influence of an incrowd.
They are written differently, yes, but so are many other books that are popular and are on best seller lists. Readers are tuned in to what is great so, they make the best sellers so, why acclaim something people can't relate to? It's fashionable and therefore to critique something popular and written for the masses and loved by the masses isn't fashionable amidst academics who are fighting a losing battle as the book is no longer the chosen form of modern communication.
So the truth is, books aren't as influential anymore. Media has changed and the influential medium has as well and threfore, we have.
The people who choose the prize winners at Book awards and Universities (who popularise works that are akin to their syllabus or their own weak and feeble knowledge) are to blame for that.
We need writers to come forward and break the norm and break through and get critiquing a great piece of work instead.
There is more to this and I'll write more at a later date.
Heroes:
The enlightened beings, we buddhists rarely talk about. Anyone fighting for people with less in life. People in poverty. People who can't feed themselves daily. People beyond the ability to be vain, that many do so with petty accolades in lesser interests.
Who? Camilla Batmanghelidj, Andrew Linzey, Thom Yorke, Bruce Kent, Anne Owers, Peter Tatchell, Benjamin Zepheniah, Bob Holman, Shami Chakrabarti, Gordon Conway, Indarjit Singh, John Harris, Justin Forsyth, Jon Snow, Gareth Pierce, Donald Findlater, Gee Walker, John Sulston, Niall Fitzgerald, Ann Pettifor, Martin Dent, Bill Peters, Richard Adams, Lionel Blue, Kevin Watkins, Ken Loach, Jean Vanier, Richard Curtis, Robert Chambers, Sheila Cassidy, Tom Shakespeare, Tariq Ramadan, David Attenborough..
and; her:
The Future
