This blog has moved

Please visit me at cohoe.net

More than you thought to understanding comics

After watching an amazing Adobe presentation from Dan Bliton on using manga as a training medium, I checked out Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. It's making me look at things in a new way. In Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud talks about how we iconify objects and ideas, and the process of conceptualization (learning) reminded me of On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins (interview) and Ways of Seeing by John Berger (excerpt).

Additionally, McCloud has some great thoughts on how a reader or audience identifies with characters in a book or movie, so distilling the character down to essential elements of humanity in comics and cartoons is more successful in getting the reader or audience to identify with those characters.

Dalai Lama road trip

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is on a road trip and coming to Seattle in April. The five-day Seattle event takes places in multiple locations, including Key Arena and Qwest Field. Check out seedsofcompassion.com for more info and free tickets!

Music for Maniacs

I just stumbled across a great music blog. Music for Maniacs reviews all sorts of off-the-wall stuff and usually includes links to mp3s, so you actually get to listen as well.

There is a fascinating entry on LemurBots, which actually create and play music instead of just playing pre-programmed music.

Persepolis graphic novel makes it to big screen!

Yeah, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis is being released as an animated film! Based on her graphic novels, Persepolis takes place in pre- and post-Shah Iran. It's a very humanizing look at another part of the world. You realize, yet again, that people are the same all over.

NPR has a short audio segment on the release, which won at Cannes earlier this year. The books are among my favorites, so I'm really looking forward to seeing this!

Free college courses - just add elbow grease

Although I suppose I shouldn't be, I am continually amazed by the depth and breadth of high quality learning material that is available for free online.

Let me take a step backwards. One of my favorite (and as usual, cancelled) television shows was American Gothic. This quirky, superbly written CBS series was created by Shaun Cassidy. Yes, the Shaun Cassidy of Hardy Boys and Teen Beat fame. CBS, being CBS, killed the show after less than a year on the air.

Aside from the high quality and uniqueness of the show was the fact that a teen-idol had created it. I mean, how surprised would you be in 10 years if you found that Britney Spears or [insert random pop star here] had created a critically acclaimed TV series? Maybe I'm being shallow, but that's something I just don't expect from a teen idol.

I got to wondering what was different about Cassidy that led him down this path. Turns out that, instead of going to college, he wrote to Columbia University and asked them for their reading list. Then he read all the books on that reading list.

So, with available information, and a healthy dose of motivation, you can learn anything you want.

Which brings me to my point: Whether you want to go to school or not, everyone should *want* to learn more about the world around them. And in the 21st century, lack or accessibility of information is not a valid reason for not doing this.

Got an interest? Google it. Don't trust the internet for accuracy? Limit your results to colleges or government web sites. Better yet, why not formulate a study plan using actual college course lists and syllabi? Many schools have free lectures online, so you still get a lot of that instructor vibe if you follow along. Some schools, like MIT, have a web presence dedicated to free courseware. Use your local library for supplemental reference texts, and Just Do It.

Last post(?)

You never know when it will be your last post. If this was my last post, there are some things I would want to say - especially to my kids.

1. Please, learn from others' mistakes. That includes me. That's why I'm writing this.
2. Despite all temptation, *never* think that you know it all. You might know a lot, and that's good, but there is always something to learn.
3. On the other hand, have confidence in your abilities. Speak up if you know the answer.
   
4. Learn something new every day. Be a different and better person than the one who started the day.
5. Never stop doing these things. In 10 years you'll look back at yourself and say "Wow!"
6. Share something every day. Not everyone will appreciate this, but some will. And some of those you will inspire.
7. Choose your audience. Not everyone will care what you have to say, but some will. If you can't make a change, talk to those who can.
   
8. Choose your battles. Save your strength and your reputation for the important things. Many things will piss you off, but they're not all battles worth fighting.
9. If you really *have to* say something that is risky or might get you in hot water, write it down. Then wait. Read it over the next day. Or the next week. See if you don't already feel better. Or maybe you still feel like you want to send it or say it. And that's fine. This is a good way of weeding out the little things.
   
10. Life may be lonely at times, but don't *ever* feel like you're in it alone. There are people who care about you who you may not even know (yet).
11. Don't take life too seriously. Don't sweat the small stuff. And yes, it *is* all small stuff.
12. When the going gets tough, ask yourself, "will any of this matter in 100 years?"
13. Read "Sunscreen," by Mary Schmich, and then listen to Baz Lurhmann's version (credited to Kurt Vonnegut). Take this advice.
14. Read Kurt Vonnegut. Now there's a guy with a sense of humour.
15. Take time to relax every day. Laugh.
16. Know that life is about disappointment. And every disappointment *is* an opportunity. You just won't know until afterward. Sometimes it may take years to see it.
17. Read Steve Jobs 2005 Stanford commencement speech. Yes, life is about coincidences and connecting the dots.
18. Look back and connect your dots. Find your strengths. Exploit them.
19. When you go through your day, take note of and appreciate the things you use automatically, without thinking. Water, electricity, gas. Think about what you would do if they weren't there. There are times they won't be.
20. Learn the power of silence (also known as "keeping your mouth closed - and your foot out of it").
    
21. Don't blog everything. The internet is forever. When you get ready to post something, ask yourself, "do I want my children and my grandchildren reading this?"
22. Say "thank you." If you really appreciate someone, tell them. Don't wait until it's too late.

Thank you.

Cyclecide: Apocalyptic Circus

Rather than bringing to mind a utopian, alternative energy reality, Cyclecide's bicycle circus at Bumbershoot inspired in me post-apocalyptic visions of Bartertown or Piers Anthony's Battle Circle series. Not that that's a bad thing. Those worlds have long been a part of my creative conscious.

Cyclecide creates familiar carnival rides in human powered form. Merry-go-round. Ferris wheel. Octopus-centerfuge. Very cool and very fun. I went on the merry-go-round but thought I might tax the structural integrity of the other rides.

I missed their scheduled performance but was impressed with the double decker and stunt bikes. Check out their bicycle-bullfight with live music. I love to see this kind of alternative energy becomes art becomes entertainment. Way to go guys. And awesome Mad Max outfits - even if that's how you normally dress.

Online sources for new music

Two great tastes that taste great together, KEXP and KCRW. Both radio stations have excellent programs, and both have iTunes syndicated podcasts.

KEXP offers a song of the day and some fantastic in-studio live performances. Check out the Live Performances podcast; the station has fabulous guests weekly and makes most available in MP3 format.

KCRW also offers a song of the day and turned me on to Miho Hatori with their live performance podcast. Morning Becomes Eclectic is a must-listen, and an awesome way to discover new artists.

La Blogothèque's Take Away Shows!

La Blogothèque has an awesome collection of live, impromptu video performances of well-known indie bands. Their Take Away Shows feature bands performing on street corners, in front of cafes, in courtyards and in apartments. It's as if La Blogothèque's crew grabbed the bands from backstage and took them busking. Judging from some of the site narrative, that's probably not too far from the truth. Check out the cool performances from The Shins for a good sample of what you're in store for.

Connexions - Building Communities and Sharing Knowledge

This is an interesting Google video presentation on Connexions that talks about stove piping and dis-integration that prevents collaboration in education. For anyone who has spent over $150 on a textbook, it is revolutionary, and had me saying "a-ha" almost immediately. Folks have been doing this in Web 2.0 for a while, and it looks like forward thinkers in education are getting on board.

Think Open Source textbooks; the subjects are all over the place and include science, math, humanities, etc. I just looked at a great music quiz this morning, complete with mp3 listening samples.

Status Anxiety

I'm really enjoying reading Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton. De Botton presents the causes of and solutions to the anxiety inevitably caused by comparing ourselves with our peers. The whole concept is very interesting, and it rings true; check out the Wikipedia article for a precis. I highly recommend the book, and you can watch video excerpts from the television special on de Botton's site.

[Edit 6/22/07] This article in the Seattle Times is really kind of sad, but it made me think about the theory that the rich support our economy with their lavish spending on non-essential items. Very thought provoking.

More language resources

There is a collection of high quality language resources over at http://fsi-language-courses.com/. Included are links to some great podcasts, some of which are available on iTunes.

Rita Golden Gelman

"Risk-taking, trust, and serendipity are key ingredients of joy. Without risk, nothing new ever happens. Without trust, fear creeps in. Without serendipity, there are no surprises. "

- Rita Golden Gelman
Nomad since 1986

How rich are you?

If you're reading this, pretty rich, I'll wager. Certainly when compared to the rest of the world's population. Take the test, and then think about it.

Pandora and the Mountain Goats

On a recent trip, I had the opportunity to sample some of the stuff on Pandora. Pandora is a customizable internet jukebox/radio station; I'd heard about it on the Inside the Net podcast.

You build it based on your musical tastes; give it the seed of a song or a group, and it will roll your own radio station. As you hear new stuff (and you will hear new stuff), you tell it if you like the new selections or if you don't think they're appropriate for that station. The nice thing is, you can create multiple radio stations, and listen based on your mood. It's all browser based; no need to download a client. Very cool.

That's where I heard The Mountain Goats, and they fit perfectly in with my musical tastes.

My favorite lyrics, from their song Game Shows Touch Our Lives:

Dug up a fifth of Hood River gin
That stuff tastes like medicine
But I'll take it
It'll do...

People say friends don't destroy one another
What do they know about friends?

Folklife and new bands!

More new bands at Folklife! I saw a couple of excellent groups, both local, both blue-grassy.

The first was a tight hippy-bluegrass group from Portland called Cross-eyed Rosie. You can sample their wares at tapers.org.

The second was self labeled "world-grass" band Spoonshine from Anacortes. The have some clips on their site where you can hear their newgrass style played along with a nice African-style acoustic guitar.

Asylum Street Spankers

I've been a fan of Bloodshot Records for a while, even though I didn't know it. Anyway, I just found out about this awesome band on Bloodshot, the Asylum Street Spankers. This Austin group is raucous, funny, irreverant and kick ass. Kind of a country-punk, bluesy, swing sound. Check them out.

The Motorcycle Diaries

Great movie. It has fantastic cinematography and a compelling story. The film moved me to actually read about Ernesto Guevarra, a man about whom I previously knew nothing. Highly recommended.

LingNet Area Studies

Interested in world cultures and religions? Check out the LingNet Area Studies Page. It's run by the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, so keep that in mind regarding possible bias. So far, I've found my reading to be fairly balanced and very informative. Another resource for you to increase your knowledge.

FWIW, the DLI also has some excellent online learning resources for your language studies.