Need

ryan mentioned this anti-ipod campaign the other night. i just found a picture of it.

brilliant.

Something Real

"From now on, I'm only concerned with things that are real"
--Russell Hammond, Almost Famous

Great movie if you haven't seen it. In it Russell Hammond is a rock star who is fed up with the "industry of cool" that is rock and roll and wants to get to what is real in life.

We discussed yet another chapter at the book club tonight. The book has got me thinking of how we could be doing things different, how we could be living different, thinking different, be doing any or everything different. Its led me to start thinking of what is reality and what is the perception of reality that we operate under. Another great movie, Sneakers, had a line in it about this. "Everything operates, not on reality, but on the perception of reality."

So this is the mental exercise... What is real? Question everything. Question the big things, question the small things, question the day to day things and the things the day to day things are based on. What's on the list? To me, the list is quite small.

Is where I live real? The physical structure of my house is, but the borders of the property I claim to own is not. California is not. America is not. We create these borders, these lines in the sand and adhere to them, protect them, fight for them.

Is money real? No its a perceived value that we adhere to and operate business and market rules by.

What about love? Fear? Being a good person? Being cool? Being smart? Paying taxes? Eating at McDonalds? Going to church? Going to work?

What are the things we live our lives by that we think are real, have always thought are real, and have been taught to never questioned otherwise?

Why don't we think of a better way to do things? Why can't we think of a better way to do things? How would we live if we didn't believe some of the things we belive? Why is our imagination held captive by the belief, "because that is the way it is"

How much better could we live with a new imagination? What things could we live without in this new imagination. What new things could we invent? Where would we live? How would we live? What would happen?

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possessions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.
--John Lennon

Think about those words, but don't think about living for today, but living for forever, one day at a time. What would that look like? What would that feel like?

I'm trying to imagine.

Ben...

it's party time..

our good friend heath is being deployed in 7 days.. and we are devastated..
he'll be gone for the next 6-8 months, missing all the good holidays.. so we decided to throw him a surprise halloween/thanksgiving/christmas/new years/valentines day/birthday party..
the party went great.. heath was totally surprised... which was amazing considering the fact that his wife, rhianon is not a great liar.. and for that matter neither is ben.. but we pulled it off..
we had a fantastic time.. and everyone dressed up.. and we ate very well.. and enjoyed spending one more night with the amazing heath.. goodbye heath.. we are going to miss you.. stay safe.. and we can't wait to throw you a welcome home party..

the scooby gang, and pals..

fred flinstone, cookie monster, and friends..

ben and heath deep frying the turkey

the gang

matt lost his doughnut.. while drew is winning the game

mental patient ben setting up to the doughnut game

rhianon and chara setting up for the party

What this country needs

Now I don't normally get very political on this blog (or at least havent yet), but you know what this country really needs?

More cowbell



http://walken2008.com/

thats right, Christopher Walken for President in 2008 people!

finally a candidate that everyone can get behind.

lets reunite those red and blue states people!

Ben...

Sharing photo's and video's

I still plan to get some videos up on this blog someday soon, but untill then

there is a new program out that i am helping work on. It allows you to share your photo's and videos and such with friends and family

its called Project Neon (temporary name) and its free

download it and check it out. (windows only)

search for my contact name on it and you can see some of my Thailand photo's and some of our scuba videos. My username is cote289.

let me know how you like it

Ben...

worse than being sick

so i found out whats worse than being sick

being sick and going to costco and not being able to taste all of the good samples they offer

so sad

Ben...

money for nothing...

what a very very long, unhappy day..
"what's that san diego state? you want 300 bucks for school supplies???? sure.. let me just write you a check.."
"what's that san diego state? you want 700 more dollars for books???? sure.. here's a credit card?? oh.. and if i spend more than 250 bucks i get a 25 dollar star bucks gift card.. well.. that makes the 700 dollars worth in books (books alone people) totally worth it... "
that's not even the tuition...
i could have spent more... they tried to sell me a 'fanny pack'.. all that peer pressure.. and i still said no..

being sick...

being sick is the worst...

Great visit wth Jeff and Amber

Just returned home from heading up north a bit to Thousand Oaks area to vistit Jeff and Amber. We did a bit of biking, saw thier new house and just had some good time and good food. Why don't we have a wood ranch down by us???

It was sad we had to leave, but we had a fun time. see the pictures of us biking below

Ben...

Chara helping Jeff mount the bikes

Jeff going to show us how its done...

Chara ready for a serious ride... armed with her horn

Amber and Chara

The group of us at the start of the ride

Chara riding through some water. she is so hardcore

a look from the top of the black b@#ch

Amber and Chara riding up the appropriatly named black b@#ch

This is my utopia

we'd gather around all in a room fasten our belts engage in dialogue
we'd all slow down rest without guilt not lie without fear disagree sans judgement

we would stay and respond and expand and include and allow and forgive and
enjoy and evolve and discern and inquire and accept and admit and divulge and
open and reach out and speak up

we'd open our arms we'd all jump in we'd all coast down into safety nets

we would share and listen and support and welcome be propelled by passion not
invest in outcomes we would breathe and be charmed and amused by difference
be gentle and make room for every emotion

we'd provide forums we'd all speak out we'd all be heard we'd all feel seen

we'd rise post-obstacle more defined more grateful we would heal be humbled
and be unstoppable we'd hold close and let go and know when to do which we'd
release and disarm and stand up and feel safe

--Alanis Morrisette

this weeks goal: pick any line and live it out.

Ben...

family day

eeewww.. mom.. not infront of the camera

deborah napping on dad

isaiah eating chips and salsa..

Lost in Translation

One of the great things we saw in Thailand were the poorly mistranslated American t-shirts, films, posters, signs etc...

they always provided with a great insight into where our languages break down

Here is a funny post about a poorly translated from English, to Chinese, then back to English subtitle for the latest Star Wars movie Revenge of the Sith, or as it was translated, Backstroke of the West.

enjoy

Ben...

Happy dogs at the park

who i want to be..

isaiah 1:17
say no to wrong
learn to do good
work for justice
help the down and out
stand up for the homeless
go to bat for the defenseless..

my friend holly read this verse to me.. and i realized.. this is what i want my life to look like.. i think this verse encompasses what it truly means to be a christian... this is who i want to be..

seriously.. how cute is my nephew?

Floating in a postmodern disquiet and looking toward the good in cybernetic global optimism

We are just starting up a new book discussion group and going through Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire, a great book.

We are on the first chapter which begins to deal with a couple modern perspectives, The postmodern disquiet and Cybernetic Global Optimism.

I was re-reading the first chapter while listening to Green Day's new album American Idiot, a great album also.

They both deal with the Postmodern Disquiet as it invades, and permeates the postmodern person and those disillusioned with the American myth that has not come true as promised. The book begins to deal with the "Empire" and show what the Globalization and Captalism of is really after.

"Globalization isn't just an aggressive stage in the history of capitalism. It is a religious movement of previously unheard-of proportions. Progress is its underlying myth, unlimited economic growth its foundational faith, the shopping mall (physical or online) its place of worship, consumerism its overriding image, "I'll have a Big Mac and fries" its ritual of initiation, and global domination its ultimate goal"(1)

"globalization wants more than your pocketbook, it wants your soul" (2)

Its this "Empire" that we call by another name that hides its presence from us, its power over us and intertwines its goals with our dreams. Or to quote a wise kung fu hacker,

"It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you to the truth. What truth? That you are a slave, born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind."(3)

But there is an optimism subverted within this globalization. The technology that gives us hope is the same technology that will feed the machine of the Empire. But the hope is still there, and I believe it still provides something to hope toward.

I believe two things will happen within the next 5-10 years as this cybernetic hope of technology progresses. First is The Long Tail (4) (Read this article if you haven't, its amazing) which details that any product/content will be available at any time to anyone anywhere. As the technology progresses it will be economically viable to produce/store/sell any and all content at any time to anyone anywhere.

The second doesn't have a singular term that I know of yet, but its this same technology that allows people to create/produce content/products/services and allows them to be more than just consumers that fuel the Empire's machine. Its this democratization of content/media the ability to let the news/content/music/art be from the people, by the people, for the people with no notion of heavy branding, icons, monitization, etc. As you look back on the 10 years(5) that made up the beginning of the internet you can see what the hopes, beliefs, fears would be of this "new thing" called the internet. Some where right, some where wrong, most had no idea. No one could have imaged we'd be where we are today 10 years ago. What about in 20-30-40 years... Who knows? Who can dream that far? Who can dream that big?

The amazing thing about these two trends is that they will happen simultaneously, and work off of the same technology and same momentum. They both point toward different goals and work toward different directions, but it will be the feedback loops inherent within each that drive both of them simultaneously.

This gives me hope. This makes believe technology can provide some hope in the future if its imagined toward something good. This makes me want to create, to produce, to build, to inspire and be inspired. If there is hope for the future, there is power in today.

Ben...

I'll close with some lyrics from Jesus of Suburbia from Green Day's American Idiot Album

Everyone is so full of sh--
Burn and raised by hypocrites
Hearts recycled but never saved
From the cradle to the grave
We are the kids of war and peace
From Anaheim to the middle east
We are the stories and disciples
Of the Jesus of Suburbia
Land of make believe
And it don't believe in me


Sources:
(1) Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire, pg 30
(2) Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire, pg 29
(3) The Matrix, Morpheus
(4) The Long Tail, Chris Anderson, Wired Magazine
(5) We Are the Web, Kevin Kelly, Wired Magazine