Anti-paranoia

 If there is something comforting—religious, if you want—about paranoia, there is still also anti-paranoia, where nothing is connected to anything, a condition not many of us can bear for long. 

...

Either They have put him here for a reason, or he’s just here. He isn’t sure that he wouldn’t, actually, rather have that reason…

 - Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow 

Quote: Yano Kentaro - On dedication to the craft

KENTARO:  Furthermore, let me ask you... What will you do if you can't become a manga author?

HONOO:  I'll become an assistant for Mr. Ishimori, and help complete the unfinished Cyborg 009 Angels arc!

KENTARO:  Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, ha!

KENTARO:  Anyone who considers what will happen if they can't make it...

KENTARO:  Won't make it!

KENTARO:  Listen well. I am the president of CAS, Yano Kentaro... Age-wise, I'm 22 and should be a fourth-year...

KENTARO:  But I've really repeated 2 times in a row, and am still a freshman!

HONOO:  What!?

KENTARO:  Do you have that kind of resolve, my boy?

KENTARO:  For you see... if I can't become a manga author...

KENTARO:  I am completely doomed!

- Aoi Honoo - Episode 2

The Creation - James Weldon Johnson

 I remember a book my parents bought us when I was very young, probably right around 1980 of the creation, with lush photos of astronomical and geological processes to the very edge of each page.  And a few lines of the poem it contained stuck with me over the years, though I had no idea where it was from.

Recently occurred to me to try and track it down.  Turns out James Weldon Johnson wrote it.  And here it is:

AND God stepped out on space,
And He looked around and said,
“I’m lonely—
I’ll make me a world.”

And far as the eye of God could see
Darkness covered everything,
Blacker than a hundred midnights
Down in a cypress swamp.

Then God smiled,
And the light broke,
And the darkness rolled up on one side,
And the light stood shining on the other,
And God said, “That’s good!”

Then God reached out and took the light in His hands,
And God rolled the light around in His hands
Until He made the sun;
And He set that sun a-blazing in the heavens.
And the light that was left from making the sun
God gathered it up in a shining ball
And flung it against the darkness,
Spangling the night with the moon and stars.
Then down between
The darkness and the light
He hurled the world;
And God said, “That’s good!”

Then God himself stepped down—
And the sun was on His right hand,
And the moon was on His left;
The stars were clustered about His head,
And the earth was under His feet.
And God walked, and where He trod
His footsteps hollowed the valleys out
And bulged the mountains up.

Then He stopped and looked and saw
That the earth was hot and barren.
So God stepped over to the edge of the world
And He spat out the seven seas;
He batted His eyes, and the lightnings flashed;
He clapped His hands, and the thunders rolled;
And the waters above the earth came down,
The cooling waters came down.

Then the green grass sprouted,
And the little red flowers blossomed,
The pine tree pointed his finger to the sky,
And the oak spread out his arms,
The lakes cuddled down in the hollows of the ground,
And the rivers ran down to the sea;
And God smiled again,
And the rainbow appeared,
And curled itself around His shoulder.

Then God raised His arm and He waved His hand
Over the sea and over the land,
And He said, “Bring forth! Bring forth!”
And quicker than God could drop His hand.
Fishes and fowls
And beasts and birds
Swam the rivers and the seas,
Roamed the forests and the woods,
And split the air with their wings.
And God said, “That’s good!”

Then God walked around,
And God looked around
On all that He had made.
He looked at His sun,
And He looked at His moon,
And He looked at His little stars;
He looked on His world
With all its living things,
And God said, “I’m lonely still.”

Then God sat down
On the side of a hill where He could think;
By a deep, wide river He sat down;
With His head in His hands,
God thought and thought,
Till He thought, “I’ll make me a man!”

Up from the bed of the river
God scooped the clay;
And by the bank of the river
He kneeled Him down;
And there the great God Almighty
Who lit the sun and fixed it in the sky,
Who flung the stars to the most far corner of the night,
Who rounded the earth in the middle of His hand;
This Great God,
Like a mammy bending over her baby,
Kneeled down in the dust
Toiling over a lump of clay
Till He shaped it in His own image;

Then into it He blew the breath of life,
And man became a living soul.
Amen. Amen.

Another Story

"Wake up," said the Ape. "I want to tell you another story. But first, give me a drink. I am exhausted."

 - The Arabian Nightmare, Robert Irwin

The Road of Kings

 I took a deep breath and stood up.  Turning to Boltar I said, "How do I find the Road of Kings?" He smiled at me and said, "You have just set your foot upon it."
   - The Road of Kings, John Boyle (Gloranthan Visions)

Mobs Inc.

Mobs, Inc. is a beautifully crafted little brawler where you play a minor dungeon baddie hopeful of quick promotion. As with most brawlers, game's a little frantic for my general tastes, but the pixely aesthetics are beautiful.

Spoon of Prosperity

Princess Bubblegum:  (deadpan)  Peeps will never starve in my eternal empire.

- Adventure Time, Red Starved

The food that's meant to suck

CXK:  (mouth full) Rasch umor shukenugets please.

Mom:  You want some more chicken nuggets?

CXK:  Yes.

Me:  Heh!  Sounded like he was asking for "Suckin' Nuggets".

Mom:  Suckin' Nuggets are getting to be pretty popular among foodies these days.

CXK:  Also can I have some of those suck things?

Avant Gardener

The paramedic thinks I'm clever cause I play guitar.
I think she's clever cause she stops people dyin'.

-  Courtney Barnett

Temporarily embarrassed

“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”
 - John Steinbeck

Punchy

Charles: When will my medicine punch? 

Adrienne:  You mean "kick in"? 

Charles:  Yah.

Loading the Language

Apparently Robert Jay Lifton came up with the term:

"The group interprets or uses words and phrases in new ways so that often the outside world does not understand."       (Loading the Language)

See also"thought-terminating clichés".

Meanwhile back at the sportsball club...

Not my entire feeling on sports, but kinda fandom in general.

Moral Injury

So came across this today.

In other words war is evil and full of inherent sin, even when it seems necessary/justified.

Personal Uniforms

Few thoughts:

1. I have considered something like a "personal uniform" from time to time.
2. This article has some good and relevant thoughts on the subject.
3. Although I'm not in to dresses, I like the roll-up sleeve and neck of the dress depicted.
4. The graphic itself is also pretty neat in general.  Made me think of this post where David Malki points out Aaron Draplin's discussion of logo (and product) design inspired by old time design principals.

On video games

Feel like this can apply to a lot of forms of expression:

Fuck Video Games

The Look(s) of Success!

The Seven Strong Men

 . . . the stone pillars were once an entourage of Samoyeds giants walking through the mountains to Siberia in order to destroy the Mansi people. However, upon seeing the holy Mansi mountains, the shaman of the giants dropped his drum and the entire team froze into the stone pillars.

- Manpupuner Rock Formations, Wikipedia

Locally, the Seven Strong Men have adopted a legendary status, especially considering their location just a hair below the Arctic Circle. Adding to their legend are reports of a feeling of contentedness when visiting the towers. According to some visitors, all desires seem to float away during a visit to the area and local lore claims that spirits gathered in the area during ancient times.

- Atlas Obscura

Mathematical!

Katherine:  I know 2+2 is 4, and 4+4 is 8, and 8+8 is 16.  But what's 16+16?

Adrienne:  32

Katherine:  But why!

Adrienne:  I don't know love.  Daddy says that numbers might be just concepts that we made up that may or may not accurately represent reality.

Katherine:  Okay. (promptly falls asleep)

Thanks Wookiefoot!

Dredged up by chance from the memory hole:

These spiritual window-shoppers,
who idly ask ‘How much is that?’ Oh, I’m just looking 

. . . 

Even if you don’t know what you want
buy something 

. . . 

Start a huge, foolish project,
like Noah

It makes absolutely no difference
what people think of you 

- Rumi (filtered via ia Wookiefoot)