Assuming assumptions August 1, 2007
Posted by whatacharacter in just my blogs, mind, useful.2 comments
One key to educating yourself is UNlearning as much as learning. An important lesson for me in personal growth, is observing how so many people have set sincere beliefs in something which are either misguided, out of focus, or pure delusion. Self-deception is amazing and rampant. Me included.
Also amazing is how my work assignments often reflect these topics.
Below are 2 Flash pieces I did on Freud’s ideas and influence on society …
Freud was revolutionary in changing how we see ourselves, our thoughts, and behaviors – not that he knew or figured out everything . . .
But we are only human, so patience, and a sense of humor is required when turning on a healthy skepticism within our critical reasonings, and self examination.
Plus, as I often suggest, keeping a zen-approach by quieting the over-reaching, sense-of-it-all-making rational mind, while pleading to the heavens for guidance, seems to help . . . somewhere a lock clicks open.
BloodSunEarth July 25, 2007
Posted by whatacharacter in body, just my blogs, mind, spiritual, useful.add a comment
Heart Mind Body. Does anything else matter?
unfinished oil painting (with photoshop)
“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”
from the Bibles’ Ecclesiastes “She who gathers”, written about 250 BC.
“All things are full of labour.” Everyone and all things work – have activity – have occupation – over and over – there is no end. This is noble, This is true.
Let’s get working.
… but first get educated.
Basic Training July 17, 2007
Posted by whatacharacter in body, just my blogs, mind, spiritual, useful.3 comments
Life is full of wonder. I wonder why we easily fill up our lives with needless schtuff, and quickly forget or take for granted our key essentials. It’s a wonder how helpless and defenseless we can be in the face of the cultural conditioning onslaught we receive from our parents, peers, and society’s media which allow us to “fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.”
Sex, eating, breathing, thinking, feeling, imagining and sleeping reveal more about our shared human condition than we might give credit to. I’m attempting to re-capture a big picture sense of the commonplace universal essentials of life, and elevate them to their noble, sacred positions for re-consideration and re-integration.
This is said to simply re-dedicate this blog. Where I am coming from is to offer an artist/philosopher’s insight, for what it’s worth. I can do no less, given the weight years of experience and contemplation have given me. I am eager to offer these ideas, and discuss them whenever possible. These blessays (blog-essays?) will become my personal record of thought ether and techno pixels, to live and stand out here in cyberspace on their own merits. I’ll attempt to order them in a sort of sequencial revelation of relevance and importance, hoping that helps.
The “Heart” page tab above will become archives for these “thinking points” which I’ll try posting once a week (along with other blog stuff). Unless I get comments, I’ll just remove them from my home page and list them down in chronological order on the Heart page.
Never stop learning, expanding, growing, sharing, giving …
Like Erasmus once said “The more I learn, the less I know.” He carried it to its logical conclusion in that he learned so much that he recognized that he knew nothing. There it gets down to simply being – a fully integrated, fulfilled creature of Life.
Turn it on. 
Uncut Crystals April 6, 2007
Posted by whatacharacter in humor, just my blogs, mind, spiritual, useful.add a comment
While attempting to shine on my crazy diamond, it occured to me that rare flawless clear perfection is not always the order of the day. Diamonds are quite commonplace. In fact, the production of gem-quality diamond exceeds sixty million carats. This equals twelve metric tons and would fill about 145 bushel baskets ( could be more, but market production is closely regulated). The diamond is more of a McGemstone, really … consider that the next time you pony up a few thou’ for yer girl’s best friend.
Unless you are some “fancy” diamond, there are gems more valuable – and precious. Per carat pricing show Sapphire, Emeralds and Rubies have all out-priced diamonds at different times in history. Even pearls, a looongtime ago. Current claims today are made that actually Emeralds are most valuable by weight, Rubies by rarity, and a Jade necklace was the most expensive market jewelry of all, selling at auction for a cool 9.3 million USD.
It just shows that a little rare brilliance, color, softness and fire is sometimes preferable to the hard cool common diamond. Variety out sparkles conformity.
Remember this as earth’s pressures squeeze you into a molecular configuration you never dreamed possble, and shine on you crazy aluminum oxide, with trace elements of chromium oxide (ruby).
Alias:Jaggy September 2, 2006
Posted by whatacharacter in Art, humor, just my blogs, life, mind.4 comments
A true moment of creative fun occured at work last week. I made a small animated GIF illustrating the natural conditions for Lightning. 
I haven’t made an animated GIF since unleashing animated hobbits upon an unsuspecting world 5 years ago, and am extremely grateful the process has improved. Using Adobe ImageReady for the first time, it enabled me to keep the anti-aliased (smoothed) transparent qualities of Photoshop, which was hard do do way back when. Photoshop used to be the last choice. In the dark ages, a jagged aliased edge was required for a good transparent background, otherwise some color, usually a default black or white, would bleed into the image edge, creating a fringe, known as the dreaded “jaggies” as can be seen around the dancing Hobbit lass. 
Since I was too lazy to pick off each stray pixel, I aliased her against the purplish Hobbitdance background, which is probably why no one ever stole my dancing hobbits to use in Myspace … the jaggy purple fringe looks terrible against any other background.
On a personal skew, the same analogy applies (or is it a metaphor/ alliteration/simile?) : by smoothing out life’s unwanted jagged edges – and there are many – I can better fit into the scene. This means that spiritual, professional and financial laziness, and unhealthy habits, I think, are creating an unattractive, badly-animated, me. Unfortunately no Photosoulshop exists. I must rid the jagged pixels one-by-one. Tedious, but there’s no easy way that I know of … the self-examined life is full of jaggies.
I’m weak, what can I say? April 8, 2006
Posted by whatacharacter in Art, humor, just my blogs, life, mind, music.4 comments
Okay I promised myself I would cool things off here so I can get some major LIFE/ART work done … but I can’t help it. Magic, Music, Time, Internet, Comics … it’s heading somewhere!
Heard a song “Steady, as she goes” coming back from yet another friend’s 40th birthday – a sober reminder there’s no time to mess around, especially with the Mayan Calender is ending in just 2012.
So …had to check out The Raconteurs website – which everyone into cool websites, must see! It’s the coolist. A Jack White project … and he’s certifiable genius.
Then I surf over to Key 23 and this article. Talk about Big Picture thinking! Reviewing the book “The Singularity Is Near” by Ray Kurzweil, the writer links modern psychology, nano-science, spiritual transcendence, and comic’s potent use of sub-symbology, in maybe the bestus Magnus Opus manifestus on the future I’ve ever seen!
Hopefully once my grey matter wades through it more, I’ll still think so! What do you think, anyone?
Comics help get in where pure symbols can’t go. Sub-symbolic sets are communicated through the non-textual clues. Comics are high-speed seepage from the collective cultural construct to the staging area for the subconscious ….
Comics transcend written text. The sketch of Wonder Woman, or Batman, or whatever underwear pervert you choose, thier existence is obvious even if you don’t have the capacity to understand the english in the text balloons. They are showed in situations identifiable based on visual elements as much as by the accompanying text. They exist as entities of information, with a medium complex enough to generate an environment where they can change and grow.
… but read the whole article. It could be valuable! It sounds a lot like TM, but could it help change the world as we know it????
Human Potential April 4, 2006
Posted by whatacharacter in Art, just my blogs, life, mind.add a comment
As I prepare for 2006 to be the watershed year for career building, gathering the streams and rivers of my life events, talents, and education, recent events bring to focus the issue of human potential, and how our life’s decisions have great impact.
Last Sunday’s Seattle Times article on the tragic murders at a post rave party, pretty much mirrors what I summed up here at {He}art + Mind + Body a few days ago:
The killer couldn’t seem to connect, went into “slacker mode” after High School, and smoked a lot of pot and drank a lot. The article – which I couldn’t find published online – also makes the startling revelation that the arsensal the killer carried in his truck, was nothing out of the ordinary for the average western country kid, i.e. it wouldn’t have suprised the Whitefish, Montana sheriff, from his hometown!
One online ST article does say
Experts say mass killers — those who kill four or more in a single spree — are rare and fit a common profile: A history of failure and frustration. Anger. Poor self-esteem. Little social interaction. And a fascination with guns
The killer made his decisions in a steady stream, which led to a twisted view of reality. Ultimately 7 lives are taken away – another decision made. What a fucked up terrible terrible waste!
Now it’s obvious we all can’t be Leonardo DaVinci’s, and knowing we all slack at times, keeping in mind we are literally asleep 1/3 of our lives, doesn’t mean we can’t make the decision to make life meaningful … or somehow appreciate and respect life for what it is: infinite potential! Learn from mistakes. Find love in your heart before you expect it of others.
- For the love of God, make watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” a required school assembly!
- Gear up every Politician for combat and put them in a war zone, for annual weekend duty!
- Once a year send the people in the top 1% income bracket to clean their maid’s home!
I have a new motto/mission statement of sorts, but I haven’t figured out the proper syntax – if anyone wants to help, feel free to use it yourself as well – anyhoo it goes something like:
ART: because life is greater than we can imagine
Inspirationships February 20, 2006
Posted by whatacharacter in Art, humor, life, mind, useful.4 comments
In the effort … more like an heroic struggle … to find … or, well, “quest” really … for that heart stopping moment when the muse of inspiration nibbles on your ear, I have found … actually profoundly discovered (like Columbus) these momentous life-changing epiphanies – 2 vehicles of transport to that land of “some pretty good ideas”:
1) Showering.
2) That sleeping word-thing … I can never remember what it’s called. I keep thinking “Parasomnabulance” but as we all know that’s what picks up crashed sky divers. It’s the state between “wakefullness” and “sleepiheadedness,” before one actually “sleepinates.” … I’ll just look it up again, hoping afterwards I will finally remember it, as I recently triumphed over the word “Dissemblence!” (to dissemble, or cover/hide ones feelings/emotional state)
okay, it’s … “Hypnogogia,” and I have enjoyed some of my best creative ideas in this condition of semi-lucid dreaming. This state is difficult to attain, and is best done when there’s no alarm clock ready to chase away the good inspiring spirits.
The Shower however, is a good all around good idea getter, when searching for any elusive solution. In fact I had to write an ode to the Shower, called:
Ode to the shower:
Oh Shower in mine shower stall
Thou fountainhead of washful thinking,
Rain forth the effulgence of your fluidic inspiration
And cleanse mine hair of coconut conditioner
And mine mind from harmful buildup.
Restore the shine and fullbodiedness
Of this questing cortex and let flow once again
silken tendrile tresses of freshly shamoo’d imaginations.
… one rarely takes the opportunity to use the contracted form of “-ed.”
I imagine there’s a name for that, but I’m too busy trying to remember “hypnogogia.”
heART, mind, body January 21, 2006
Posted by whatacharacter in Art, just my blogs, life, mind.4 comments
As the lofty name might indicate, I’d hope to occasionally blog blathers concerning art and new media art, especially 3D art and animation, and its connection with my personal progress of schooling and job search. In addition, I’ll post blog-worthy thoughts, events, and updates of my physical being, as I get off the couch and begin yet another new career. Hopefully this time I have focus.
Even now I’ve painfully divorced myself from my “wretched muse” of painting and her lofty aspirations and capricious inspirational antics. This Fall I began a new relationship with the younger vivacious commercial world of 3D art, animation and video game production. I can’t decide if it’s brazenly shacking up, or just finally settling down and getting my shit together. So far this muse has put up with my lack of employment 😉
I must admit I have mixed feelings about this Blogging stuff. On one hand I’d probably be a natural at it, having delved into the relatively anonymous world of forums participation for years, but this more naked world of blogging seems kinda crazy, self-indulgent (present blogging company excepted), and time consuming. As a family guy, I doubt I’ll get into some of the more probing introspections of the single blogger, but believe me I could be tempted … there’s fewer life issues more in my face than having a wife and kids! However I would be loathe to air ALL my dirty laundry before friends and family, and well, strangers too I guess … but it all could be apparent by reading between the lines to gauge my current sanity level!
I’m the oldest blogger that I literally know, and I think the only one of my group of friends & family to get beyond email. I’d encourage anyone I invite or who stumbles across here, to please post a comment at least once. I’d be encouraged by your participation.
Thanks to all the bloggers out there whose posts I have enjoyed. Here’s your payback!
{He}art + Mind + Body 