1.31.2007

trademark recordings

Checkout trademark recordings. I will be working with these guys in the near future on a new band and possibly releasing some albums.TRADEMARK RECORDINGS
Tom who runs Trademark was in a crazy band called JAN MICHAEL VINCENT CAR CRASH, his new band is WHITECHAPEL. Complete different music styles, but both incredible.

jacob's ladder

one of the best films:

1.30.2007

faux sophisticato

you are boring.

the descent

i love good horror films. just because i love good horror films doesn't mean that you will or do. "the descent" is the first horror film in a while to give me a nightmare. it's campy at times, but if you know me, you know i hate anxiety, and this movie made me anxious and is by far the most claustorphobic film i have ever seen. this film is probably best watched with a person of the opposite sex, although i wouldn't know.

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this is not an asian film. it's english.

1.27.2007

pasta sauce

I am watching "A Woman Under the Influence" and just got through with the infamous pasta scene. I grew up on lots of pasta. My Mother's recipe is much different than my Father's. My Mother's resembles something of a hippy stew with a thousand herbs, carrots, god only knows, although it’s really good. I prefer my Father's recipe. It's simple for a poor lethargic person like myself.

Unless you are feeding 3-4, this should leave you with some leftovers.

WHAT YOU NEED:
1 Can of whole tomatoes
1 Clove of Garlic
1 Bunch of Fresh Basil
1 Bag of spaghetti
1/3 Cup of extra virgin olive oil (preferably greek)

OPTIONAL
Greek Olives
Red Wine

WINE CHOICE
Red – Chianti for sure. This is a rather rich meal, and Chianti is dry and won’t seem heavy.
White – Italian Pinot. Very light.

FIRST: open the can of tomatoes and pour them into a cooking pot. Take a press or knife or whatever you may have and smash the tomatoes until they are mostly liquid. Take the pot and put it on simmer. Also add a bit more than a dash of salt.

SECOND: Unwrap the garlic. Take an ultra sharp knive and slice 3-7 cloves depending on how garlic you can handle. I believe garlic is the fruit of the gods so I do around 8. Cut the garlic in slivers. Also you can cut some of the Basil but don’t mix the two.

THIRD: Take a frying pan a pour a liberal about of olive oil in, and also the garlic. Set the burner to Med/High. Let the garlic cook until it turns a light crispy brown. No more, no less.

FOURTH: Pour the Garlic and Olive Oil mixture into the now simmering tomato sauce. You may way to take a bit of water and pour into the frying pan to capture what’s left of the garlic and oil and then pour that as well into the sauce. A little water never hurts.

FIFTH: Now take the frying pan and 1/4 cup of water into it and set the heat to simmer. Throw in the basil. Let it sit until the basil wilts in the water. Now take the water and basil, pour that into the tomato sauce.

SIXTH: Now technically your sauce is finished. Taste it. You may need more salt, it may have thickened from cooking to long. Just add a little water. Also earlier on in the process add some wine if you want and about 6-10 Greek olives, it will give it a strong flavor, so don’t use too many.

That’s it. If you don’t know how to cook the pasta, look it up somewhere else. This sauce is good with mostly regular old spaghetti, but do whatever you want.

getting wet

it's raining. i am alone. typing in silence looking at the rain and smelling the wet dirt. thinking about a certain past love, and like a chemist combining elements of the rain, dirt, and past love to formulate an emotion that is stable and won't fail me for the rest of the day. all suited up in my lab. nothing fancy here.

1.25.2007

For Ladies who menstruate with the moon, you've only got 5 billion years left.

Earth's moon destined to disintegrate

By David Powell

(SPACE.com) -- The sun is midway through its stable hydrogen burning phase known as the main sequence. But when the sun enters the red giant phase in around 5 billion years things are going to get a lot rougher in the Earth-moon system.

During the red giant phase the Sun will swell until its distended atmosphere reaches out to envelop the Earth and moon, which will both begin to be affected by gas drag -- the space through which they orbit will contain more molecules.

The moon is now moving away from Earth and by then will be in an orbit that's about 40 percent larger than today. It will be the first to warp under the Sun's influence.

"The moon's actual path is a wiggly line around the sun, with it moving faster when it is slightly farther out (at full moon) and more slowly when it is slightly closer (at new moon)," said Lee Anne Willson of Iowa State University. "So the gas drag is more effective at the farther part of the orbit and this will put the moon into an orbit where the new moon is closer to Earth than the full moon."

Willson's idea about the moon's demise, explained recently to SPACE.com, is an unpublished byproduct of her research into Earth's fate in the face of an expanding sun.

Moving away

Today, the moon is on average 239,000 miles (385,000 kilometers) away and has reached this point after a long and dramatic journey.

Earth's moon was born around 4.5 billion years ago in a titanic collision between our planet and a Mars-sized sibling, according to the leading theory. The enormous impact threw debris into orbit around the young Earth and from this maelstrom the Moon coalesced.

For the last few billion years the moon's gravity has been raising tides in Earth's oceans which the fast spinning Earth attempts to drag ahead of the sluggishly orbiting moon. The result is that the moon is being pushed away from Earth by 1.6 inches (4 centimeters) per year and our planet's rotation is slowing.

If left unabated, the moon would continue in its retreat until it would take about 47 days to orbit the Earth. Both Earth and moon would then keep the same faces permanently turned toward one another as Earth's spin would also have slowed to one rotation every 47 days.

Solar influence

The Sun's mutation into a red giant provides a huge stumbling block to the moon's getaway and is likely to ensure the moon ends its days the way it began; as a ring of Earth-girdling debris.

"The density and temperature both increase rapidly near the apparent surface (photosphere) of the future giant sun," Willson explained. As the Earth and moon near this blistering hot region, the drag caused by the sun's extended atmosphere will cause the moon's orbit to decay. The moon will swing ever closer to Earth until it reaches a point 11,470 miles (18,470 kilometers) above our planet, a point termed the Roche limit.

"Reaching the Roche limit means that the gravity holding it [the moon] together is weaker than the tidal forces acting to pull it apart," Willson said.

The moon will be torn to pieces and every crater, mountain, valley, footprint and flag will be scattered to form a spectacular 23,000-mile-diameter (37,000-kilometer) Saturn-like ring of debris above Earth's equator. The new rings will be short-lived. Theory dictates they'll eventually rain down onto Earth's surface.

"Particles of different masses will have different survival times; the smaller particles will be removed first, and the biggest ones last. Most of the ring particles would be gone by the time the Earth reaches the stellar photosphere," Willson said.

If the sun's photosphere reaches Earth, our planet too will experience drag and spiral into the Sun to be incinerated.

Possible out

There are possible natural alternatives, however.

If the sun as a red giant sloughs off enough material before Earth evaporates, our planet will be revealed from its stellar cocoon in a moon-less guise. Earth, robbed of its companion, would undertake a lonely vigil as the sun turns eventually into a stellar corpse called a white dwarf, fading to black over the ensuing trillions of years.

Alternatively, if the swelling sun loses 20 percent of its mass prior to it reaching our vicinity, both Earth and moon could be spared incineration and remain together facing each other for eternity. The actual outcome remains a theoretical uncertainty because no red giant star has been observed during this crucial phase.

1.23.2007

echo park lodge

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quote from mendocino film festival on "calm"

"A brilliantly perfomed feature shot locally in Fort Bragg and around the coast, this film follows the course of a young man who leaves a troubled life in Los Angeles to live with an uncle and family he hasn't seen in years. What at first appears to be a calm and tranquil life by the sea gradually reveals its underside, in carefully crafted scenes that seem unwritten yet subtly underscore the complexities of life. This film shimmers with haunting and unforgettable beauty."

dinosaur oil

i am drinking water from a pink plastic cup which reminds me of the land before time and how little foot and a few other young dinosaurs found the great valley, and how happy i was that they made it there, and how sad i was because i knew those dinosaurs could never be my friends because dinosaurs died such a very long time ago in order for me to drink water from pinks plastic cups.

1.20.2007

hanz zimmer on malick - the thin red line

"I am not saying it is a bad movie or good movie, but it is an odd movie. All of the music was written before Terry would edit a scene. That was just how he wanted to work. It was a very odd way of working for me, because I had to lead the charge up the hill all the time. It gets a little daunting."

james horner doesn't like terrence malick

"What probably seemed a most fantastic and prestigious assignment
soon turned out to be quite the nightmare for Horner. In a recent
interview, the composer recounts at length the situation of The New
World. Horner quite blatantly says that Malick is a great
cinematographer, but is a lousy director. Apparently whenever Horner
wrote and recorded something, Malick would take up his scissors and
change the scene so that the cue would have to be recorded again,
only to have the same thing happen once more. As a means to battle
this climate, Horner decided to compose suite-like movements of the
music to be inserted where needed, but even that was not really
functional. Horner says that Malick had absolutely no idea of how to
properly tell a story, rather just opting to edit one scene to a
completely irrelevant place ("Scene A would be followed by Scene C,
and then would come Scene F, T, Z, G, and then again A and B"). One
tantalising example was when Horner wrote a lengthy cue to correspond
to a particularly impressive scene. After the scene was played out
and the music recorded, Malick thought it sounded great and some of
the musicians were even in tears afterwards, but the director again
habitually took the whole scene apart and threw much of the music
away or placed it elsewhere. The ultimate blow came when Malick
decided to discard considerable chunks of the score and replaced it
with Wagner's Das Rheingold prelude and Mozart's 23rd Piano Concerto,
making the whole thing a musical mess." (Horner's exact words
were "musical mish-mash").

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i'm glad that most of his music was replaced. Hanz Zimmer's score for THIN RED LINE is far superior. james horner is mediocre.

children of men

i usually don't write reviews on films because i rarely go to out to see them these days, and for the most part they are all terrible. last year i saw THE NEW WORLD twice. New World was directed by Terrence Malick and shot by Emmanuel Lubezki.

Terrence Malick and Emmanuel Lubezki devised a series of photography rules or dogma that are to be used in film. They are:
1) No artificial lights. All is shot in natural light.
2) No crane or dolly shots, just handheld or Steadicam shots.
3) Everything is shot in the subjective view.
4) All shots must be 'deep-focus shots', that is everything (foreground and background) is visible and focused.
5) You (the camera crew) are encouraged to go and shoot unexpected things that might happen in accident or if your instinct tells you so.
6) Selective shots: any shot that does not have visual strength is not used.

I really like this Dogma. I am scattered today, and I remember what I wanted to say. CHILDREN OF MEN is Directed by Alfonso Cuaron and shot by Emmanuel Lubezki. I was very hesitant about seeing it, because I really don't like Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN or HARRRY POTTER part 3. I don't know anything about Harry Potter. Anyways. CHILDREN OF MEN is grim and beautiful and amazing and I loved it. The cinematography is mind blowing and Clive Owen and Michael Caine are charming as always. I won't write a review. I am going to go see it again tomorrow. That's all.

1.16.2007

MENTAT

As established by Frank Herbert, following the defeat of the thinking machines by humanity in the Butlerian Jihad, it was forbidden to create sentient machines:

"Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind." — Orange Catholic Bible

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The Mentat discipline was developed as a replacement for computerized calculation, just as the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing Guild took on functions previously provided by thinking machines. For thousands of years, society considered Mentats the embodiment of logic and reason.
Unlike computers, however, Mentats are not simply human calculators writ large. Instead, the exceptional cognitive abilities of memory and perception are the foundations for supra-logical hypothesizing. Mentats are able to sift large volumes of data and devise concise analyses in a process that goes far beyond logical deduction: Mentats cultivate "the naïve mind", the mind without preconception or prejudice, that can extract the essential patterns or logic of data, and deliver useful conclusions with varying degrees of certainty. They are not limited to formulating syllogisms; they are the supreme counselors of the Dune universe, filling roles as menial as archivists and clerks, or as grand as advisors to Emperors.
A Mentat's capabilities can be greatly increased by taking sapho juice, but using it leads to addiction. Sapho is extracted from the root of the Ecaz tree and its use doubles or even triples the Mentat's immense processing power. However, repeated use leaves a permanent "cranberry-colored stain" on the user's lips.

Piter De Vries

"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. "

From the film DUNE.

1.13.2007

Scarificator

Antique bloodletting tools and pictures. Let's party.
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Maybe Logic and Cosmic Trigger

If you haven't seen or read any Robert Anton Wilson, do so now.
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1.12.2007

Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night. Rest in Peace - Robert Anton Wilson

I first read Cosmic Trigger when I was a Senior in Highschool. At this time I was heavily into psychedelic drugs, and RAW became somewhat of a guru, and cosmic father. A Father I never met, but the fact that he lived somewhere on the Earth gave me comfort in day to day life. I am not going to give you a run down of his mystical life, but I will tell you how I feel. Although he left the living as of yesterday, he is only a dimension or two away from me still. RAW has always been one of my heroes, and over the years his writings have kept me positive in the times or "eris" or chaos. RAW turned me on the one of the most powerful methods of living I have ever come across. The actualizing and seeking of Synchronicity "temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events." When life seems mundane I have always turned to Prometheus Rising or any of his other novels, fiction or non fiction. I also learned from RAW to always remain "agnostic" towards the conspiracies, and magickal workings of the world, to spare yourself insanity. It's actually really hard to write this right now.
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He was a great occultist, father, teacher, inspiration, hero of northern california, irishman, and pillar of the 20th century. I only wish I could have met him, but I know him somewhere beyond material worlds. Thank you RAW. HAIL ERIS!

Wilson's Final Blog.

Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night

Various medical authorities swarm in and out of here predicting I have between two days and two months to live. I think they are guessing. I remain cheerful and unimpressed. I look forward without dogmatic optimism but without dread. I love you all and I deeply implore you to keep the lasagna flying.

Please pardon my levity, I don't see how to take death seriously. It seems absurd.

RAW

past loved hands

My hands are looking old as I stare at them in bed. These aren’t hands that have loved someone from my past. These are old new hands. Hands that want to feel the care that my heart feels for the first time in a long time as if they were truly new and not sleeves of past loved hands.

1.11.2007

1.10.2007

Primer

Primer is one of the most original and creative filmes i've seen over the past couple years. People should see it. Here is the trailer.

the mirror

beautiful sequence from tarkovsky's "the mirror"

1.08.2007

sunday night

hope these help you pass the time for the anticipation of FRIDAY NIGHT GREEK WRESTLING.
Photobucket - Video and Image HostingMendocino Film Fest Promo Poster
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Photobucket - Video and Image HostingPhil dressed like Elton John.
Photobucket - Video and Image HostingAnother picture of me beat up. This time Holloween 2005.
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1.02.2007

kelly clarkson vs. andrew w.k.

uhhh. i think guys win this battle.
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1.01.2007

asshole memories

I just remembered something really funny to me. A few years ago, a time when my grandfather still roamed the earth like a slow leaf eating dinsaur. a time when he used a cain to walk, and lived in a silver jetstream trailer, and watched baseball and ate hungry man microwave meals and had a hidden bottle of brandy under the counter, hidden because my mother didn't allow him to drink anymore. a time when he was in his early 90s and me early 20s. he liked to talk about his past like grandfathers often do. he only lost one fight and he was a legend of a man to me and the local baseball community. he was a scout for the reds and also worked in anaheim in earlier years at angel stadium. he was so old that he worked at both olympics in los angeles. one in 1984 and one so far back in time that I can't remember the year.

one spring i drove up for easter from los angeles to paradise california where my family lives and he used to live before he went away to where grandfathers often go when years become too many to count. i had a funny idea to dress one of the easter eggs with a swastika and red paint. it was a funny egg and i laughed at it. it was a simple joke for myself and it made easter a better memory, for it can be quite a boring holiday. i gave that egg to my grandfather as he was sitting in the backyard of our house watching my little brother shea look for hidden eggs. i wondered many times if he enjoyed watching us look for eggs from year to year to year to year. when i handed him the egg he looked down into his colossal hand to look at the eggs decorations. he was color blind and often described colors in ways that are strange to children. he looked down at the nazi egg and i saw him crack an ancient smile as if he was etched it the deserts of the middle east. he then cracked the egg to eat it, and went back to watching shea collect eggs. not looking me in the face ever he said "asshole" with a grin placed perfectly in my holiiday memories forever.

stoner witches and twitch

I am giving you a picture of Andrei Tarkovsky because I just found my DVD of Stalker. My favorite of his films.
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Here is a picture of Josh Benedict captured somewhere in the late 90s. Probably 97.
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2007, !wandz?, shea is now a man with a mustache.

Happy New Years. I ate potatoes and drank lots of water. The potatoes were greasy and i put lots of salt on them. I also ate a tomato. I put lots of salt on it as well. I drank too much champagne, but there is no such thing as too much on new years eve. That's why I wore my birthday suit from 1am - 5am. I am not sure when I am coming back to Los Angeles yet. Heading to Chico tomorrow to work for a couple days and also record vocals on Josh Benedict's new album.

PS:
Shea, Tyler and I recorded 3 acoustic black metal songs. I sang on two, tyler on one. Shea also wrote the music for one of the songs on his electric piano. It's the bleakest album of the year. The band is called !Wandz? and here is the track listing.

1. If i could trap death in a jar, I would give it to you.
2. edward abbey.
3. funeral nurse.

if I find any pictures i'll post them later. i can barely see straight.