If Only Space Were Closer To Home

Recently my friend Andrew Kappas (Writer/Director) made a comment about Obama's plans for NASA and the space program. You may recall my stand on the Ares. What follows is my response to the situation:

Normally I'd agree that this was a stupid move... but this situation is very iffy. I've been following the Ares program for a while and must say, have been very underwhelmed. The thing was so similar to Apollo that it didn't even really make sense. The reason Obama's pushing to cancel this particular program (instituted during the Bush administration) is because NASA wasn't given a chance to think radically about the new technologies they could pursue. Now we have a chance to focus on technology that can actually help us... it doesn't help anybody if we just go to the moon and come back... it doesn't help anybody if we just go to mars and come back. It helps everybody if we institute a social progression plan that leads to new homes for people and advanced travel techniques etc. etc. NASA'll figure it out. They're pretty smart over there. I think in a very short time we'll hear some interesting and exciting news from the spacehouse.


Find more on the subject HERE.


If Only Space Were Closer To Home:


1. Satellite - Dave Matthews Band
2. A Better Future -  David Bowie
3. The Sky Is Broken - Moby
4. The Water - Feist
5. Wire To Wire - Razorlight
6. Weird Divide - The Shins
7. We Need Love - Hard-Fi
8. We Used To Know - Jethro Tull
9. It's Not Enough - The Who
10. The Gallery - Muse
11. Dark Center Of The Universe - Modest Mouse
12. Nightmare Part II - The Zutons
13. The Eternal - Kings Of Convenience
14. Tina - Louis XIV
15. I Don't Know - Lisa Hannigan
16. Eet - Regina Spektor
17. Forever Changes Everything Now - Moonbabies
18. Gravity - Coldplay
19. The Abandoned Hospital Ship - The Flaming Lips

Favorite Films: Tarzan, The Ape Man

If you ever get a chance to see the original MGM flick Tarzan, The Ape Man... take it. This movie is so much fun. It’s quirky too, but that’s not a bad thing. Most interesting to me is how real it looks when he fights with a lion. I was very impressed with the quality of such a primitive movie to make something so dangerous look that good. Obviously he didn’t fight a lion, so how did they do that??

In the end some of the film’s plot breaks down, but this doesn’t take away from the fun. No sir, it actually opens things up. What is that creature in the pit? Why does it look like a gorilla? Why does it have such sharp teeth? 

And that little monkey is awesome.

I definitely understand why this flick spawned umpteen sequels. Check it out.

The List So Far:

1927 - Metropolis - Fritz Lang

1928 - Steamboat Willie - Ub Iwerks

1931 - M - Fritz Lang

1932 - Tarzan, The Ape Man - W. S. Van Dyke

O God Of Chaos, O God Of Love

It feels like it’s been a while... I recently started a new job and around the same time, online classes. So my schedule is very much less free than I am used to. 

Sometimes, life is so overflowing with varying energies. It feels so chaotic. It feels like nothing makes sense. But it helps to breath, take a step back, and look at how everything works around and with everything else. There’s a balance to the world that we as humans often miss and never truly understand, but it is there. It’s all connected. It’s love:

1. On Your Wings - Iron & Wine

2. Light As A Feather - Norah Jones

3. God Has A Voice, She Speaks Through Me - CocoRosie

4. Living In The Past - Jethro Tull

5. The High Road - Broken Bells

6. Runaway - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

7. Impossible Germany - Wilco

8. Everyday It’s 1989 - Moby

9. Walking On My Feet - Moonbabies

10. Little Angel - Hard-Fi

11. Atoms For Peace - Thom Yorke

12. Worried Shoes - Karen O and the Kids

13. Marooned - Pink Floyd

14. The Age Of The Freak - Stardeath and White Dwarfs

15. Chaos Engine - Pinback

16. Fitzcarraldo - The Frames

17. The Meeting Place - The Last Shadow Puppets

18. Outside - Tiny Vipers

I recently had a conversation with a new friend (I always like saying that ‘new friend’) about a very serious subject. If you’ve ever seen the film Serenity (the finale to the show Firefly) you’ll recall Shepherd Book’s words “It doesn’t matter what you believe in. Just believe.” It’s a powerful scene, and a very important idea... and I’m definitely not talking about religion here, quite the opposite in fact. The universe is a fascinating place. And the little we know of it seems to imply a sense of greatness. There is something behind it all. Some tiny spark. Some tiny anything... and everything. And people often lose sight of that: what’s important. The simplest thing we know about the universe is that it is all around us, in us, an axiom almost. The universe is the universe. That is all that must be said for a person to understand the size of what they are dealing with. But the universe is confusing.... more so than my pros. The universe is made of the same stuff as we are, and vise-versa. There is an intense connection, a bond, between life and existence. That tiny spark. And if we could only believe in it, understand it without the necessity of actually understanding it, we may all be better off. I think it would lead us on a path toward love.

I’m not saying be ignorant. I’m not saying be lethargic. I am saying learn to find contentment in every part of your life. Develop a sense of peace. I think it will help.