Thought We Had 594 Days? Now It's 14.

          Yuuup...there's always going to be someone out there more bizarre and unstable than normal-weird.  I say normal-weird because (as far as I can tell) there's always been a constant median of weirdness everywhere you look.  I've come to expect it.  If I took a downtown-stroll and didn't see at least a couple normal weirdos, I'd feel deprived—like an 'every-predator-asleep' visit to the zoo.  With the population constantly rising, I expect there to gradually be more and more normal weirdos plying their brand of loony in my vicinity; not less....nooope.

          But, these two über-weirdos say that starting on the 21^st of May (in two weeks) the earth's going to begin being earthquaked to smithereens.  Then, according to their interpretation of an ancient allegorical anthology, over the next 153 days the universe crumbles and finally extinguishes on Friday, 21 October 2011.

          Shit!  I was hoping to get my golf game consistently under 90 this summer.  It was already going to be tough—I just got a new putter—but now, with constant earthquakes, it's going to be nearly impossible.  And here I was counting on the 594 more days the Mayan's promised and voting in next year's election as well.

Irishwind: An Amazing Artist

          I have admired Irishwind as an artist for six years.  She lives in Singapore and draws like I wish I could.  Similar to my work, much of her art relies on pareidolia and apophenia, (which happens to be one of my 2009 titles).

          Recently, I learned that some people are either unable or less-prone to seeing "things which aren't there" and, I surmise, that's a primary reason why some don't like abstract art.  When someone says they "don't understand" a work of art—what they mean is they are unable to look at (hear, watch) something that relies upon the "abilities" of pareidolia-apophenia (either or both) to appreciate it.

          Irishwind's art can be seen here.  Go appreciate it!  (Even if you are pareapop-blind.)

MySoLiMo - My Song List Month

In March-April I participated in a month-of-songs.  I began by following someone.  Once I learned it was a meme, *wards evil-claw while hissing* I began creating my own categories.  Listen to the 30-song playlist (2hr 49min) on YouTube Music. Your Favorite Song.  Starship Trooper, YES A Song You Fucking Hate.  Fade To Black, METALLICA A Song That Makes You Happy.  Ooh Aah Just a Little Bit, GINA G A Song That Makes You Sad.  Beautiful, CHRISTINA AGUILERA A Song That Reminds You of Someone.  Canadian Sunset, HUGO WINTERHALTER A Song That Reminds You of Someplace.  Knock Three Times, TONY ORLANDO & DAWN A Song That Reminds You of an Event.  Vincent, DON McLEAN A Song You Know All the Words To.  Man of Constant Sorrow, SOGGY BOTTOM BOYS A Song That Makes You Laugh.  No Children, THE MOUNTAIN GOATS A Song That Describes You.  Poor Boy, SUPERTRAMP A Song You Can Dance To.  Block Rockin Beats, THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS A Song That Makes You Fall Asleep.  Surf Sounds, NATURE A Favorite Song From (Random Year).  True, SPANDAU BALLET (1983) A Song That Reminds You of Elementary School.  Winchester Cathedral, NEW VAUDEVILLE BAND A Song Which Reminds You of a Sport or Job.  D'yer Ma'ker (Jamaica), LED ZEPPELIN The Oldest Song You Enjoy.  Boléro, RAVEL A Fucking Song.  Mia Culpa, ENIGMA Your Favorite Duet.  Under Pressure, FREDDIE MERCURY, DAVID BOWIE & QUEEN Your Paragon of Protest Songs.  Why Can't We Live Together, TIMMY THOMAS Your Favorite Instrumental.  The Box, ORBITAL Your Favorite Foreign Song.  Cose Della Vita, EROS RAMAZZOTTI A Song Which the Color (Random) Reminds You Of.  And She Was, TALKING HEADS (green) Your Favorite Spiritual-or-Secular Song.  The Weight, THE BAND & THE STAPLE SINGERS A Favorite From Your First Compilation Album.  Lucky Man, EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER A Song You Enjoy From Your Least-Listened-To Genre.  From A Distance, NANCI GRIFFITH A Quirky Song You Admire, But Can't Put Your Finger On Why.  The Sun King et al., THE BEATLES A Song That Reminds You of a Favorite Film.  Monsters, CHI-AD A Song Which Reflects Your Opinion On The Weather.  Feels Like Heaven, URBAN COOKIE COLLECTIVE A Favorite Talk Song.  Somewhere Down The Crazy River, ROBBIE ROBERTSON The Newest Song You Enjoy.  Wishery, POGO   other music lists: combat sAd (62 songs 4:20 length)

What The Fuss Is All About Patrick Rothfuss

          About once a decade I "discover" a "new" fantasy/speculative fiction author with sufficient imagination, drive, and wordsmith-ability to hold me rapt for thousands of pages.  Normally, I come upon them—whether stumbling by lucky happenstance or navigating by direction—after their trilogy is complete.  Not the case with The Kingkiller Chronicle, written by Patrick Rothfuss.

          The first 750 pages (The Name of the Wind) were very good.  The next nearly-1000 pages (The Wise Man's Fear) were great-to-excellent and better than the first.  The third is still being carefully crafted.  I hope it's published early in 2012; with sufficient time for me to read it before the end of the world.

          Patrick Rothfuss is on the same shelf as:  Orson Scott Card, Frank Herbert, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Gene Wolfe.

☆☆☆ Ratings—The Forgettable 3+/- Defined

          Dear anonymous (14-year-old-male) commenter who recommended Sucker Punch and questioned my 3+ rating on Source Code here.

          I've previously detailed my unorthodox rating schema.

          Simply put:  The vast majority of everything is forgettable (the mediocre ☆☆☆).

          Over time, we forget things that don't stand-out.  ☆☆☆☆☆ are reserved for the few fantastically-great things we witness, and although we try to avoid ☆, occasionally, we step in something terribly-horrible anyway.

          Normal rating systems fail to address that the majority of things (over 65%) are forgettable.  My system—best visualized as a hyperbolic curve—addresses these bland, middle-range, ☆☆☆, forgettable things by sub-dividing it.  3+ are forgettable with some memorable accomplishments and 3- are forgettable with a few memorable errors.