tribal media

On behalf of dead languages everywhere, Old Icelan...

2011-04-07T15:44:28.013-07:00

On behalf of dead languages everywhere, Old Icelandic thanks you for the shout out.

I truly appreciate your in-depth comment, Erika. I...

2010-10-31T16:43:26.908-07:00

I truly appreciate your in-depth comment, Erika. It's inspired a future post about the difference between editorial filters and curation.

I guess with regard to the Middle Way, maybe we should engage the Buddha to create a search function in addition to his discovery function.

To be continued...

Tom, thank you for your kind comment about the pie...

2010-10-31T16:40:21.887-07:00

Tom, thank you for your kind comment about the piece. I guess now I have to actually watch the series!

With respect to behavioral psychology taking us for a ride, try neuromarketing. Once we become willing victims of new techniques like fMRI, Winston Smith's Victory cigarettes will blow up in all our glass teat faces like bad clown cigars...

This is the best and most thought provoking piece ...

2010-10-24T08:57:12.600-07:00

This is the best and most thought provoking piece on the Mad Men/Don Draper phenomenon I've seen.
Having lived through the 60's as a young man in my 20's I remember the atmosphere well...in those days before Fox News.
There have been many who have predicted that Fascism would eventually come to the USA. The findings of the science of Behavioral Psychology should be used to help mankind but I fear they are being used instead to control thought and perpetuate the economic and social status quo which favors a tiny few.
When Winston Smith reaches for his pack of Victory cigarettes does he see the face of Rupert Murdock upon it?

Although I agree that the future (and indeed, the ...

2010-10-03T10:54:56.296-07:00

Although I agree that the future (and indeed, the present*) is "curation,"it makes me fear a little, for the sake of discovery and diversity of thought. I feel like this curation is what allows us to get siloed - not only musically, but also politically, geographically, etc.

I acquiesce, it's difficult to know who to trust - a computer, or a human. But we've seen where the "curated news" of FOX and MSNBC have taken us... and it's not really a place I want to go. At least the Google Search offers up a (it's all relative) democratic search of what people have found useful before. When humans get involved, that's when I feel you get pushed to one extreme or the other. It's this type of polarization ultimately wipes out the serendipity of the search, and only gives us what others want us to see.

Although I welcome, as you do, the convenience of the human filter, I'm also super wary of it. Who's qualified to curate and how do I know they're not a crazy?!

*see Twitter and Parse.ly for examples of how we're headed in this direction right now!

Thanks for your comment, Kevin. It's interesti...

2010-03-13T08:02:35.916-08:00

Thanks for your comment, Kevin. It's interesting that you mention listening to Jimi on headphones since he was one of the first musicians who actually mixed his recordings in 3D and to be heard spatially. This was not just The Beatles putting their backing tracks on one channel and vocals on another as anyone who has ever listened to "EXP" on "Axis: Bold As Love" or "1983" on "Electric Ladyland" can attest to. This post is one of several parts. The next will address conjecture about what Jimi would be doing now.

Kevin, you have touched so many memories this even...

2010-03-13T00:30:38.671-08:00

Kevin, you have touched so many memories this evening as I read your post. I would sit in my room late at night with my headphones on and the music cranked up until my ears were bleeding and could listen to the man all night, taking me to places I could never reach on my own. The one thing that struck me about your post and made me think was the color issue...Hendricks, never Jimi, was an artist, period...I never thought of him as a black artist, but just a cool guy that played music like a god. Rock On!

While traveling across Florida a few weeks back, I...

2009-12-13T02:10:02.484-08:00

While traveling across Florida a few weeks back, I had the opportunity to experience the GPS that came with my rented car. Having traveled across Florida many times and for many years, I felt I know my way around the state like a native, but once I turned on the device that had been taunting me for several hours on the road, it was like crack cocaine...I was hooked...there was no turning back. I gave up everything to my new friend...I trusted her with out question...even when I knew she was taking me in the wrong direction. Maybe it was the long drives across the pan-handle in the middle of the night...maybe it was the hypnotic effect of the passing white line on long stretch of Florida back road…but at some point we began to bond…the boundary between man and machine began to blur…I found myself having full length conversations, as well as deep discussion on life, including issues regarding my wife and children…her voice was soothing, confident and so self-assured…but then like all relationships…things began to break down and as quick as I fell in love, it was as quick to end. In the middle of no where we lost the satellite feed…how is that even possible? And then the mis-directions and wrong turns…I started to ask myself…where is she taking me and why? I knew it was over when she began to mock me…I missed my turn, even though she had given me plenty of warning…and there it was…tone… she said “you missed your exit…re-calibrating”. You could hear it in her voice…and that was it…neither of us spoke for the rest of the trip to the airport…I even went so far as to turn the volume down and followed the signs to the rental drop off. On the bus to the airport, I began to think I may have been a little to rough on her and began to miss her voice and guidance and come to think of it her advice about the kids was pretty sound.

It is why I wear the navajo prayer "I Walk in...

2009-11-26T22:34:06.093-08:00

It is why I wear the navajo prayer "I Walk in Beauty" and pray that my words will be beautiful.

If the universe if infinitely large and infinitely...

2009-11-26T22:29:02.377-08:00

If the universe if infinitely large and infinitely small, the center of the galaxy, for me, is my center of gravity. In aikido, we call it our "one point" and answers the question my mother used to ask, "What? Do you think the whole world revolves around you?"

McLuhen's autoamputations of the senses by technological extensions is very Lamarckian. People who travel have a different experience of the world than people who live within the frame of a tribe. Showing the tribesman a GPS and showing the traveler a GPS is the same physical act, but cognitively, the processing is different. I could see McLuhan's point that a GPS to a traveler is a convenience but, for the tribesman, it is a catalyst, his view of the universe changes and he can never go back to thinking the same way again. Still, the traveler is the only one who knows the difference by experience, not through a proxy server. As the world has been mapped and as education goes into virtual experience, I believe it is still a choice as to whether the tribesman or the traveler extends one sense at the expense of the others.

There's a story you would know, K.S., of the tribe that could not "see" the European ship arriving to their island, that only the shaman of the tribe noted its arrival. I've heard this story interpreted that the tribesmen couldn't visually "see" the ship as it was completely outside of reality as they had known it (think of the GPS). I don't know if you would agree that the tribesman had some cognitive deficiency, that they never developed a neural network for things with big, white sails. Rather, I believe it was that they all saw the ship, but only the shaman was allowed to interpret this new arrival from the unknown to his kinsmen.

Back to the center... if your center is always at your center of gravity, the enlightenment doesn't change your circuitry. You are always both coming in and going from the cave.

An environmental writer for the L.A. Times told me that he hated to write stories on the "hidden, unspoiled places left," because he would immediately get bombarded with readers interested in finding, and then exploiting those places.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and don't wonder if the tribesman wouldn't have extended themselves to help the Puritans if they knew what would be amputated in the end.

Thank you, Terry, for your etymological logic comm...

2009-09-20T11:37:09.833-07:00

Thank you, Terry, for your etymological logic comment. Perhaps without more apologia we are heading toward the Logos as Silvanus's comment also would aver.

Kevin, I loved your definitions of "apo"...

2009-09-13T17:40:13.992-07:00

Kevin, I loved your definitions of "apo" logy! Far, away, off --from "logy" or knowlege/reason. Maybe it is important to connect with intuition..."in" --toward and "tuition" --to look at or to look after, and also (archaic)-- custody, guardianship. Knowledge is a wonderful thing especially when connected to inner knowledge! I believe PEOPLE EVERYWHERE KNOW in their GUT what is right...and what is wrong.

Great recapture, Kevin. Had missed your column. We...

2009-09-09T13:49:55.666-07:00

Great recapture, Kevin. Had missed your column. Welcome back.

Oh, gosh, into the abyss, it seems. Hold onto your love.

As always, I appreciate your interesting and stimu...

2009-09-07T12:06:09.589-07:00

As always, I appreciate your interesting and stimulating comments, Alexandra, especially as they shedadditional details of how a naval blockade could have worked as well as about how the Japanese fleet had been defeated before the atomic bomb attacks.

Tom, I appreciate your comment and also the link w...

2009-09-07T12:01:46.977-07:00

Tom, I appreciate your comment and also the link which I urge all my readers out there to check out. The Reverend Moon's unspoken legacy as a behind-the-scenes mover in US policy certainly warrants attention. And no matter what his auspices, his flunkie's quote which you cite is ironically on the money--so to speak.

Thank you for your comment, Pete. Clearly, the US ...

2009-09-07T10:51:52.279-07:00

Thank you for your comment, Pete. Clearly, the US emerged from the bombings as the world leader of the non-Communist world. Churchill also famously spilled the beans about the atomic bomb development to Stalin and it is also well known now that the Nazis were pursuing atomic weapons as well at their secret base in Norway.

Based on the length of the Cold War, I guess we really scared Stalin and them damn Russkies some with Hiroshima and Nagasaki? I guess that the statiscal mean would arrive somewhere between how close we came to nuclear blows during the Cuban Missile crisis and Dr. Strangelove...

I also believe that Einstein added to his brief comment, the following quote: "I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed."

Reminds me of Henry Kissinger's infamous comment about testing of the Hydrogen bomb in the Pacific and collateral damage among islanders (including Japanese fishermen for whom reparations and apologies were made) during the 50s: "There's only 98,000 people out there..."

Rhodes account of Japanese attempts to negotiate a cease-fire through Soviet backchannels is compelling--perhaps the Russians had their own reasons to mute these overtures. When Emperor Hirohito finally acquiesced and surrendered unconditionally--which was the sticking point--the Japanese wanted to protect his honor--the Emperor said he did it "to save humanity."

Sure, there are more cynical takes one can speak to, but I was taking a more measured route given how controversial the atomic apology still is in Washington.

Kevin, I loved the Yogananda quote. “The human mi...

2009-09-07T09:16:13.623-07:00

Kevin, I loved the Yogananda quote.

“The human mind can and must liberate within itself energies greater than those within stones and metals, lest the material atomic giant, newly unleashed, turn on the world in mindless destruction.”

As Moonie flunkie Bo Hi Pak stated during The Frasier committee hearings in the '70's..

"The 3rd World War is going on right now..it is the battle for the hearts and minds of men..and in this war all means will be used..military means, financial means, propagdistic means".

It seems that all means are constantly being used to deflect mankind from the truth..which is that we are capable of so very much more as a species. It is not, however, good for business!

Let's direct our thoughts to the goal of liberating those energies of mind so that it may come to pass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oePY_MH3mqk

Very well written & very moving piece. As I re...

2009-09-07T09:12:13.002-07:00

Very well written & very moving piece. As I read about Yr guest's macabre recollection of the charred running body of mother & child, I thought of Pompei and Herculaneum. Perhaps a sick joke by whoever had come up with the 2 Japanese cities to mimic the gods of antiquity with equally cruel folly & conceit of modern man?

From my readings this was an unconscionably brutal, politically motivated, opening salvo to the Cold War between the USSR and USA, the remaining super powers jockeying for world domination. The USSR had just moved its troops to its Far Eastern borders. Had either/both super power(s) had any serious intentions to bring up VJ day, a naval blockade would have forced Japan to the negotiating table tout de suite. Probably without a single shot being fired. After all, at the time Japan had been at war for more than a decade and hardly in any position to threaten a million... men well-equipped with the most up-to-date toys of war. Lastly, the US had a short time earlier put the crown jewels of the Japanese navy at the bottom of the Pacific.

Well now. I had come to understand "awe&qu...

2009-09-06T14:56:36.415-07:00

Well now.

I had come to understand "awe" as a more reverent sense of fascination. From the etymology you describe, including as it does the component of fear, I would have to say that I will now officially declare myself as a recovering user of both the terms "awesome" and the now-ubiquitous "F-bomb".

Unlike most casual F-bombers, however, I have an excuse for my use of the term: four years of enlisted service in the US Navy in the early 1970's. The combination of "yes, officer, I DID inhale" and the pervasive use of the F-word...I never really recovered from the trauma. Call it linguistic PTSD if you will.

While there are some situations in which there seems to be no other adequate expression of outrage or hyperbole, these terms come to mean mostly nothing, degrade the sensibility of ones speech, erode the credibility of the user, and so forth.

So hat's off to the both of you and Kevin Henry - the point is well made and well taken.

It is interesting to me that the discussion doesn&...

2009-09-06T13:34:01.386-07:00

It is interesting to me that the discussion doesn't seem to include the more cynical aspects of why we actually bombed either of those cities at all. Japan was no further threat. At the time the two cities were bombed, as an alternative strategy the American military could easily have simply pulled back from any further aggression and Japan would have simply continued its free-fall into economic ruin; it's subsequent surrender inevitable.

The reason the bombs were dropped was more realistically that the US needed to intimidate Stalin.

However there are many other aspects of this and certainly none of us will ever know the facts.

Einstein, upon hearing of the destruction wrought by the bomb which would not have been possible without his seminal work, famously uttered, in possibly the most heartbreakingly pithy understatement in human history:

"oy vey".

Anyway, thanks for the post, very good of you to remind us.

Kevin, as always, some of your questions are bigge...

2009-08-11T19:01:59.163-07:00

Kevin, as always, some of your questions are bigger than the answers! Certainly, the gradual, but inexorable infiltration of the "F" word into public discourse is the subject for a future post methinks. However, if I were to guess right now, it's a generational thing where the original highly-charged cast of the word has diminished in the ears of some due to more casual overuse--that said, I know it still does not go over in high places or high society as an adjective--witness Bono at the Golden Globe Awards Ceremony and the subsequent six-figure fine of the network--or in the halls of our nation's capital--unless, of course, you're Dick Cheney! I guess we can still call it the "FCC" Word.

Bitch'n blog man! And when did swearing...espe...

2009-08-08T23:27:32.641-07:00

Bitch'n blog man! And when did swearing...especially the "F" word replace punctuation ?

Silvio, your comment is truly dudesome, awe!

2009-06-21T10:19:56.330-07:00

Silvio, your comment is truly dudesome, awe!

Another truly 'awesome' article, Kevin (wi...

2009-06-18T15:51:38.358-07:00

Another truly 'awesome' article, Kevin (wink). No, really. This is Time or Newsweek worthy (well, better). We zip from the late great Terrence McKenna to your scary pal at Concepts Something analyzing how to help studios create yet more soulless, fail-safe films, all the while wondering where this acid trip of a modern culture is going to land us.

Anyway, enjoyed it so much, and, as usual, learned a lot. No, I'm not of to Twitter, even though I'm glad the Iranians have it.

Oh, I would vote "cute" as the next most annoying, overused word.

Thanks for your comment, Brian. Based on your pers...

2009-06-14T11:56:37.143-07:00

Thanks for your comment, Brian. Based on your personal tale of following a musicological genealogical path Capt. Beefheart and Ornette Coleman, we will need to revise our theory from my "first" record to first RECORDS--admittedly, I didn't really know where buying "The Twist" put me on any track at 7 years old when I couldn't drink martinis at the Copa Cabana.

As far as "Love Is Blue" goes, I think that it's safe to say that we all can confess to guilty pleasures--after all, that's the beauty of music to begin with--it's subjectivity is uniquely based on how vibration interacts with personal frequency. I guess where it gets interesting is when it starts to manipulate genetic structure and creates new forms like Polka, Punk, and "Progressive Rock"...

And I kind of like "Classical Gas", myself...