Feeding My Solipsism

Moving On

2009-02-02T16:24:00.003-07:00

So, after much consideration I have decided that I no longer wish to maintain this blog. This doesn't mean that I am going to cease blogging; it just means that I'm going to be moving to a new home in the blogosphere. Since I rarely have much of anything to say or share, I've decided to move to a mini-blog from the Tumblr service. One way of thinking of this move is that I'm moving from this nice apartment, to a smaller, more efficient studio. The economic crisis hits us in the strangest of ways doesn't it?

Anyway, from now on I'll be updating HERE so stop on by, say "Hi," and stoke my solipsistic ways. And I may twitter from time to time - Let me know if you're interested in following me there.

For all intents and purposes, you may consider this blog discontinued. Thanks to my friends for encouraging me to keep it going this long despite lack of interest and general apathy.

Paix et Amour.

<3
M

Say it: O-B-A-M-A

2009-01-16T16:49:00.001-07:00

Daft Punk vs. Adam Freeland - "Aer OBAMA"

As others have pointed out, McCain would never have gotten a video like this.

Enjoy.

Paix et amour.

Does anybody even read this anymore?

2008-12-02T12:10:00.009-07:00

It's been pretty quiet in this corner of the web lately. This is probably because I haven't been saying anything. Nonetheless, where are my snarky, bitchy readers? Well maybe today's post will give y'all some fodder. Today's post is random and eclectic, kinda like yours truly.

Talib Kweli - Hostile Gospel pt.1

Ghandi described the stages of winning a civil rights battle as:

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

I think/hope that this is the way the GLBTQ rights movement is going and will go. We are going to win our rights; it's just going to take time. We'll just have to outlive all the haters. They can't blame all of the world's problems on us for too much longer, can they? Comedian Oded Gross summed it up pretty nicely:

Oded Gross - It's All Because

And now for something completely different:

A lot of times Japanese culture seems pretty weird to Americans, but I think they're way ahead of us in terms of toilets and toilet training for kids. I think this extremely catchy song exemplifies the training part of my argument.

^_^

Thinking of catchy songs:

Deee-Lite - Groove is in the Heart

It's kind of neat to see a video from 1990 containing everything that hipster/alt culture today contains. Are today's alts ironic or do they secretly want to be Deee-Lite and her friends: the Asian-Johnny-Depp DJ, the blipster guys, the altino, etc?

Is DJ Steve Aoki the natural progression from Deee-Lite's DJ? And is current Alt culture just nostalgia for the early 90s, but with a harder (more authentic) edge to it? Does current alt music need more slide whistles and quirky dance moves?

Thinking of alts and dance music ... Anyone want to go dancing with me? I propose clubbing or dance-party, but we'll have to watch out for those angry white people from Footloose. I could also go for a fast, hard stomp:

Asian Dub Foundation - Fortress Europe

For some reason, I've been hooked on J-pop music today. I don't know why I'm admitting this since I fully expect to receive lots of shit for it, not the least of which will probably come from my boyfriend. Oh well ... :P

M-Flo loves Melody & Yamamoto Ryohei - Miss You

Tanaka Roma - One

Umm ... yeah. Cela est tout.
Paix et Amour.

Perfect post-election music

2008-11-06T22:16:00.002-07:00

"What's Going On?" by Marvin Gaye

I've been listening to Marvin Gaye a lot since the election wrapped up. This song perfectly fits my feelings and thoughts since Tuesday.

Paix et amour.

Vegetarians taste better.

2008-06-26T08:41:00.003-06:00

As any vegetarian or vegan experiences often, last week I once again found myself defending and explaining my choice to not eat meat. But it got me thinking, what is a vegetarian or a vegan? I turned to Urban Dictionary for an answer:

A vegetarian is 1) someone who must constantly justify him/herself, due to the fact that many meat-eaters feel threatened/intimidated by vegetarians and react by making ignorant, offensive comments to make themselves feel better. 2) One who does not eat meat. This includes fish and poultry (chicken and fish are not plants!)

A vegan is someone who slaughters and kills fruits, and vegetables. (i.e. Vegans abstain from eating or using any animal products or by-products, e.g. dairy, eggs, honey, leather, silk.)

Personally I am a vegetarian with vegan leanings - meaning I don't eat meat, and I try not to eat eggs, dairy, etc. very often. I chose to become vegetarian for health reasons; I also keep doing it as part of my environmentalism. I've been vegetarian for over a year now and I'm healthier and happier; I just overall feel better now than I did when I was eating meat.

Andrei Codrescu (author and NPR personality) put it well speaking of the affects on the planet of eating meat and building another Burger King:

"Number one, they kill cows; number two, the cows they kill graze on the sites of murdered forests; number three, the cows they kill that killed the forests are full of hormones; number four, the hormone-filled cows they kill that killed the forests are full of bad-for-your-heart fat; number five, the bad-for-your-heart-hormone-filled-forest-killing-dead-cows are wrappped in bad-for-the-earth plastic."

As the first definition of vegetarian (above) states, we are constantly having to defend our choice to not eat meat. This is similar to constantly having to defend my existence as a queer man, only more couth. It also means that we get to hear lots of stupid comments and questions almost daily. Here's the top ten:

For those who are into name-dropping and star-fucking, being vegetarian puts me into league with many great minds and famous people. There's a list here, and a slideshow below.

There are also many religious reasons to be vegetarian. Many important religious leaders have been vegetarian, including the Dalai Lama and, many believe, Jesus. Check out Jesus was a Vegetarian and the Christian Vegetarian Association for more information, as well as Jewish Veg. Protecting animals and not eating meat is an aspect of compassion, which is an important teaching in many world religions, especially Christianity and Buddhism.

I'd like to share a story about a young man, named Mario. (Thanks mon amour :x) (Sorry the text is small and can be difficult to read):

I'll get off my soapbox for now. I apologize to my meat-eating friends. I believe in the freedom of choice, which I think still exists in this country, so I'll make you a deal - I'll respect your choice to eat meat, if you respect my choice to not eat meat. I'll even try to refrain from making snide comments about meat like "the tears make it tasty."

Enough carnivore bashing, here's Anthony Bourdain on why he hates vegans and vegetarians:

Paix et amour.

I am indeed a Westerner

2008-03-25T09:31:00.000-06:00

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
North Central
Boston
The South
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Procrastination: I want to try this!

2008-02-26T16:58:00.002-07:00

Ok, so maybe I was overplaying my drive to write my thesis ;)

Y'all can call me crazy (or crazier than you normally think I am), but I think this looks like a lot of fun:

Surf Boating, or Surf Rowing

I've always preferred rowing to paddling, though I enjoy both. Rowing is a great workout and very enjoyable for me; I just wish I could do it more regularly.

I don't imagine that rowing against heavy surf is even remotely easy, but I'll bet riding a wave in a boat is about as fun as riding a wave on a surf board.

It looks like surf rowing would add a lot more adrenaline and a definite element of danger. And frankly, I think it looks like a blast.

Don't worry HSBP, it's also a competitive sport. Boats launch from the beach and navigate to a buoy where they turn around and race back to the beach, catching and riding the waves into shore.

This might be one of the few competitive sports I could really get into.

Anyone want to run away to Australia or New Zealand with me to try it?

VD - part deux

2008-02-14T18:02:00.004-07:00

This was cute enough that I decided that I want to share it as well:

From Bishonen Ga Daisuki Desu!!!!

Click on the pic to see it in its entirety.

Je vais aller au Suisse.

2008-01-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

That's it. I'm moving to Switzerland ;)

MySwitzerland
Uploaded by pubzagogo

Also, I love Al Gore. It's hard to express how much I wish he were running for President this time.

I haven't posted any music in a while so, here's a little including a bit of a news story:

Australian alt-pop band Faker made some headlines this weekend when their lead singer Nathan Hudson came out of the closet hoping that his coming out will help to make queer teens feel comfortable with their sexuality.

Here's the video for Faker's single This Heart Attack:

Enjoy :)

The Naked Mile: NSFW

2008-01-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to exercise more. I bought some dumbbells this weekend while I was in Denver. I worked out this morning using the weights and my exercise ball; my muscles are a little sore and I'm feeling good. Over the last year or so I've been drastically improving my diet. Now that I've finally bought some new gym shoes I plan I playing badminton and maybe some other racket sports with the Flock. Of course, my fairly open schedule this semester should allow for some regular snowshoeing excursions, if I can only find someone willing to go with me.

So, hopefully I can keep up this momentum and start to get into shape. My main goals are just to be healthier and more active, and also to lose fat and build muscle.

So here is some more exercise motivation :)

The_naked_mile
Uploaded by shico30

His perky little butt is almost hypnotic.

Another Vid

2008-01-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

I'll write a real post one of these days, I promise.

Until then, though, enjoy this:

Anyone else feel like they really need to go to the gym?

Shift Happens

2007-12-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

Shift Happens by Karl Fisch

Five Questions

2007-11-02T09:36:00.000-06:00

It seemed like everyone in the flock went through this, so I figured I'd better jump on the bandwagon - albeit a little behind everyone else.

The fabulous and beautiful Fleur posed these questions for me:

1. what is you favorite band and why? (i know favorites are hard, so i will give you the leeway of favorite-right-now).

Ooh...that is a super-hard question for me. I love so many bands and so many different types of music.

In the last couple of weeks I've really been hooked on Architecture in Helsinki (Australian Indie-Pop), because their music is really fun and catchy but also quirky and weird. Plus, not very many people have heard of them or like their music, and in case you don't know I have a real affinity for obscure music that most people haven't heard. I'm what you might call an 'indie-elitest.' Don't let my indie-elitism fool you though, I do like popular music too. I just tend to lose interest in most bands after they become well known. (Just to throw out another indie band: in the past week I've been getting into Shout Out Louds - a fun rock band from Sweden.)

To get back to your question, I do have a few bands that I claim as my all-time favorites: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, 311, Lucky Boys Confusion, and RX Bandits. I have trouble articulating why I like these bands so much, but I'll try to express my feelings. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones was the first band I ever really got into, so they hold a special place in my heart. 311's music calms me down when I'm stressed and can put me into a fun mood, ready to go out and party. Lucky Boys Confusion puts on an amazing live show (which I've seen about 5 times), and their music can lift my spirits when I need it to, or it can help me work out some anger or frustration, or get me ready for a good night out with friends. RX Bandits' music is so complex, amazing and socially conscious. They really try to expand people's minds with regards to politics and also in regards to what music can be; they are really experimental and progressive.

2. if you could own any map in the world, price and acquisition being no problem, which one would you get?

Another tough question. There are a lot of maps that would be really cool, and I would like to hang them on my wall. But which to choose?

Would I go with maps of important historical significance? Like the map Lewis and Clark drew upon returning from their historic venture across the American continent, a map which was lost in the archives of the Library of Congress until it was found and identified by my advisor and graduate committee chair.

Or I could go with a map which was one of the first uses of spatial analysis (my chosen field of study). In 1854, Dr. John Snow mapped a cholera outbreak in London and determined which water pump was spreading the disease.

Another option would be to choose a map which changed the way people thought about presenting information. French cartographer C.J. Minard made his historic map of Napoleon's march to Moscow, Russia which shows not only geography, but number of troops, direction of march, temperatures, and time.

One of my favorite cartographic relics is the Leo Belgicus. Leo Belgicus maps were made in the late middle ages and Renaissance of the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) area of Europe. They are just very beautiful and unique to look at.

I really like all of the above maps, but to answer your question (finally): I think I would choose an original map drawn by one of my favorite cartographers, Erwin Raisz (pronounced like royce). He worked at Harvard, and most of his maps were made in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. He created a system of representing physiographic landforms and land covers before any aerial photography or satellite imagery made this task easy. His maps are all completely hand-drawn (like all maps made before the digital age) and very highly detailed. Raisz maps are amazing, beautiful and highly informative.

3. if you could have a super-power, what would it be?

The ability to command sea creatures :P

4. what is you first thought when you hear/see the word "kumquat"?

Um...isn't that some sort of squash, or otherwise a piece of fruit?

5. in one word, describe life.

Beautiful.

Well now I've done it and I'm now part of the cool kids. If you would like to get five questions from me, let me know.