Existential Punk

Wait For Me

moby's newest album, 'Wait For Me' will release June 30th. i CAN'T wait!

'i started working on the album about a year ago, and the creative impetus behind the record was hearing a david lynch speech at bafta, in the uk.

david was talking about creativity, and to paraphrase, about how creativity in and of itself, and without market pressures, is fine and good.

it seems as if too often an artists or musicians or writers creative output is judged by how well it accommodates the marketplace, and how much market share it commands and how much money it generates.

in making this record i wanted to focus on making something that i loved, without really being concerned about how it might be received by the marketplace. as a result it's a quieter and more melodic and more mournful and more personal record than some of the records i've made in the past.

it's also, for better or worse, all homemade, in that i recorded it at home with my friends and drew the artwork with a black sharpie on copy paper.'

Read the rest at moby's redesigned site.

In Plain English

HT to my great friend, Thomas, who blogs at Heaphonaught's Nanolog, for these 'Plain English' explanations of Twitter and Podcasts:

Lessons Learned From 'Slumdog Millionaire'

We went this afternoon with two of our friends to see the wonderful film Slumdog Millionaire. We all exited the theatre feeling quite touched by the long and arduous journey Jamal Malik, the main character of the film, traversed in his relatively short life. Here is the summary from the IMDb:

"The story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show's questions. Each chapter of Jamal's increasingly layered story reveals where he learned the answers to the show's seemingly impossible quizzes. But one question remains a mystery: what is this young man with no apparent desire for riches really doing on the game show? When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out. At the heart of its storytelling lies the question of how anyone comes to know the things they know about life and love."

Two things that struck me when watching this film that are two big take-aways for me are the themes of perseverance and destiny. Perseverance is defined at Wiktionary as:

1. continuing in a course of action without regard to discouragement, opposition or previous failure
2. persistent determination to adhere to a plan of direction; insistence

Wiktionary also defines destiny as:

1. That to which any person or thing is destined; a predetermined state; a condition foreordained by the Divine or by human will; fate; lot; doom.
2. The fixed order of things; invincible necessity; fate; an irresistible power or agency conceived of as determining the future, whether in general or of an individual.

So, was Jamal's destiny related to his perseverance? i believe part of it was, as we know we work out our own salvation above and beyond the grace extended to us by G-D. Was his perseverance due to his destiny? i believe, again in part, this to be true. i am not a big believer in reformed theology that predetermines who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. i believe there is free will and we can change our stories that we find ourselves in at different times of our life. Yet, i do believe G-D is somehow involved in our lives and an active participant with us. i do not, as deists do, believe that G-D set creation into motion and then ceased to interact with it and with us. i believe G-D has ideas about things but is open to rethinking things. G-D is absolute but our ability to understand G-D absolutely is greatly hindered by our imperfect humanity. i do not believe G-D is static and set for all time over all things. i certainly am not static and ebb and flow throughout my life. i find the old cliche of how it's about the journey and not the destination to be apropos to my own life as well as i to Jamal's life in this beautiful film. As i write these things i am simply processing. i do know this is my state of being at this point in time.

"Curb Your Enthusiasm' Season 7 Returning in 2009

i LOVE Larry David and his HBO series 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'. Katryna and i laugh so hard at all the 'Larry David Curb Moments'! We often find ourselves in similar situations and refer to them as 'Our Curb Moments'! He is a really brilliant, creative and hilarious man. So, i was wondering when the series 7 was going to return and found to my amazement and joy my answer today:

"It's been almost a year since we were last treated with an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO's one-hour mockumentary that stars Seinfeld creator Larry David.  Network president Michael Lombardo has previously hinted that he has every intention of producing a seventh season despite his reluctance to make any promises, but there hasn't been any production update about show until now.

On the other hand, fans will be pleased to know that Curb Your Enthusiasm will be back in production in December, according to Variety.  A source close to the series reveals that the 10-episode season 7 is expected to return next year, though a premiere date or an executive producer lineup hasn't been established yet."

Read the rest of the story here.

Jeremy Piven Quits Broadway For Health Problem

Jeremy Piven, who plays my favorite tough nuts agent Ari Gold on HBO's acclaimed series, Entourage, has been diagnosed with extreme Mercury toxicity and has had to bow out of a Broadway show in New York City. i feel really bad for him as i understand what it's like to live with this. His sounds even worse than mine due to the quantity of sushi he consumed.

As reported at Huffington Post:

The doctor says that Jeremy is suffering from extreme mercury toxicity. Colker tells ET that a major symptom of mercury poisoning is extreme fatigue. In addition, Jeremy began experiencing neuro-muscular dysfunction late last week, which led to extreme difficulty in lifting his arms and legs. Then, this past Sunday, he began feeling dizzy. Now, the doctors have ordered enforced rest. Jeremy spent three days in the hospital recently and the doctor tells us exclusively that he is no longer in New York.

Colker tells ET that Jeremy has been an avid sushi eater for many years, regularly eating sushi twice in one day. He notes that Jeremy has also taken certain Chinese herbs, and that, in combination with the frequent sushi consumption, could have led to these elevated mercury levels. He informs us that a test revealed that Jeremy had the highest level of mercury that he has ever seen, which amounts to six times a healthy amount of mercury, in his system.

i have heavy meta; toxicity, including fairly high levels of mercury for which i am being chelated on top of my treatment for Lyme Disease and Babesia. Listed below are the symptoms of mercury toxicity, of which i expereice most of them.

HIGH MERCURY LEVEL SYMPTOMS

While the high mercury count of seafood is well-known, not everybody knows what to look for. Thanks to the EPA, here are some mercury poisoning symptoms:

* Impairment of the peripheral vision

* Disturbances in sensations ("pins and needles" feelings, numbness) usually in the hands feet and sometimes around the mouth
* Lack of coordination of movements, such as writing
* Impairment of speech, hearing, walking;
* Muscle weakness
* Skin rashes
* Mood swing
* Memory loss
* Mental disturbance

 

'No Line On The Horizon'

U2 will be releasing their 12th album in early March 2009 and have titled it 'No Line On The Horizon'.  Read the rest of the story here. This release will mark the first in nearly 5 years when 'How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb' was released in late 2004. i am REALLY excited about this as U2 are one of my all time favorite bands. i started listening to them i 1982 and feel like i have grown up with them. For me, U2 is like a fine wine because they get better with age!

"Beware Of The Doghouse"

Thanks to my friend Alicia for this chuckle-inducing video. Even if you are not married or don't have a significant other, i think you will have a good laugh!

LGBTQ Blogger Initiative Friday 5 December 2008

Friday night started off with a meet and greet sponsored by HRC and held at their office. We had cocktails and hordeurves. It was a little daunting for me even though i am normally a very outgoing person. Many people were already familiar with one another and i was not in an overly social mood. Yet, i was able to meet a few interesting folks later in the evening when we attended a screening at the Jewish Community Center in D.C. for the brand new Gus Van Sant film, Milk, starring Sean Penn, James Franco and Emile Hirsch.

"After moving to San Francisco, the middle-aged New Yorker, Harvey Milk, became a Gay Rights activist and city politician. On his third attempt, he was elected to San Francisco's Board of Supervisors in 1977, making him the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the USA. The following year, both he and the city's mayor, George Moscone, were shot to death by former city supervisor, Dan White, who blamed his former colleagues for denying White's attempt to rescind his resignation from the board." (imdb.com)

i REALLY enjoyed the film and learned a lot about that time in our community's history. "Milk" comes at n integral time in LGBTQ history for the fight for equality when ou community needs encouragement. The film is a great conversation piece with those on the other side of the debate who are open to dialogue and learning.

i think the acting and direction were top notch and hope to see Sean Penn and Emile Hirsch nominated for Oscars. The cinematography was incredible and looked like art the way it was filmed. It was shot entirely on location and the filmmakers actually recreated Milk's camera shop in the Castro in the original location!

After the film, there was a panel discussion introduced by Rep. Tammy Baldwin with Harvey Milk’s former intern and founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt Cleve Jones, (portrayed brilliantly in the film by Emile Hirsch) (NAMES Project , AIDS Quilt), Dustin Lance Black (Screenwriter), and Bruce Cohen (Screenwriter) where they answered questions about the new film about Harvey Milk. Here's a video clip from the panel. i highly recommend you watch it as it is very interesting!

Post "Milk" Screening Panel Discussion from Nathan Strang on Vimeo.

Prop 8 - The Musical

HT Huffington Post for this HILARIOUS story:

"The hilarious people at "Funny of Die" have put out a new video, "Prop 8 - The Musical." The star-studded participants include Jack Black, Neil Patrick Harris, Margaret Cho, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph and many more familiar faces."

WATCH:

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Sank*tuary

One of my online friends who lives in England, Mark Berry, who blogs at Way Out West, talks about an idea that emerged while sitting around with a group of friends talking and dreaming This is an incredible story. It certainly shows me to dream big! UPDATE: sank*tuary's site is up and running.

"A while back the safespace crew sat around our table chatting as usual... as we talked an idea emerged... the idea was for a chill-out/safe haven for night clubbers - nothing that new but there is nothing like this in Telford/Wellington.  Wellington Methodist Church has an excellent building right in the heart of the Clubbing area of Wellington so we approached the minister Peter Clarke.  His response was fantastic, "I've wanted to do something like that for 2 years" he said "but never really had the people."  So we began to talk and dream... the project we came up with is to be called Sank·tuary, it will run from around 12.30 to 3 am on Fridays and offer a chilled place, real coffee, fresh smoothies, Brownies and bakes etc. and people willing to listen..."

Read the rest of this amazing story here.