The Tao of Dicky… put all things on levels

Dicky says, “it is best to put things on levels; that way it is clearly understood what is below you.  Do not concern yourself of these things, for they weigh down your job satisfaction.  And though you are paid to perform your job tasks despite your levels of happiness, you are not paid enough to perform job details which are below you.

You might beging to ask how does one know what is truly below him or herself?  The answer is simple, little grasshopper…

That which feels like effort and is unamusing.

Do not forget that a person can be put on a level as well and it is strongly encouraged as well.  Coworkers should be placed according to their use to you.  Supervisors by means of what is gained from being nice to them.”

Remember, levels are placed into nature naturally and therefore it is only natural you use these levels as well.  And although you may have to do tasks which are below you, that does not mean you ever have to smile about it.”

R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut

As a humanistVonnegut will appreciated the saying, “He is in Heaven now.”  He loved that line and even told it himself at his friend’s, Issac Asimov’s, funeral.  He thought it absolutely hysterical…

Whether he believes in the afterlife or not, it is comforting to me to think of him laughing somewhere.

This morning was a sobering moment for me when I checked the news and found that my favorite author, Kurt Vonnegut, had passed away.  And true, he might have been 84, he was well known for joking about the unjust longevity of his life despite his long-term smoking habit.  A brain injury doesn’t seem right.

Yesterday, we were asked to pick our favorite book to put on display for National Library Week in the library and I said to my colleague it would have to be Bluebeard; if only because it made me understand art.

There really isn’t too much to write about though.  Fans of Vonnegut probably understand what I mean.  About the most you can say is, if you haven’t read anything by him, you just have to pick up a book and experience it.

Before today, there was only one other time I cried for the passing of an author; that was Shel Silverstein.  Today makes it two and I cannot think of any other authors that will affect me in such a way again.

Pooteeweet!

Guitar Hero for the Wannabe Rock God…

My nephew, bless his kind heart, wanted to get me a video game for my birthday.  But he’s only three and doesn’t really understand the mind of a thirty-two year old; therefore, he got me Rapala Tournament Fishing.  The thought of spending hours indoors trying to catch fish was about as tempting as the thought of spending hours outdoors trying to catch fish. 

Fortunately, his mom kept the receipt so I brought the game to my pals at EB for an exchange and got a good deal on Guitar Hero II.

To say the game is fun is kind of putting it lightly.  It’s like saying Jeffrey Dahmer was known for his taste in men… sorry, I just couldn’t resist.  Someone had to pick up the slack for Imus.

I brought the game home and hooked it up to the PS2 in my living room.  I played it at a respectable level for about 10 minutes and smiled.  It was fun but I knew what was going to make all the better.  I put it down and made my plans for the following night.

The following night, I brought the PS2 and Guitar Hero down into the basement where I have my surround sound system.  I plugged it in and put the volume halfway up.  A mind numbing crunch flew out of the speakers into the air and forced it’s vibrations down into the very base of my skull… some people might have noticed the noise was War Pigs but I called it pure sonic bliss.

I used to play in a band but I just don’t have the time anymore.  Let’s face it, this is as close to Rock God status as I am going to get for awhile but its pretty darn good!  What’s really nice about the game is how different each song becomes with every level of difficulty; it’s not like they throw in an extra note.  As you level up, you have to start playing bar chords, hammer licks and using the whammy bar is trickier as there is far less time between notes to rack up points with it.

I was keen to the idea of getting this for my library but now it feels like a necessity.  The high I get from playing this is fairly close to that of playing my real guitar.  For most of my teens, they wont have the time, patience or money to learn an instrument…

But that doesn’t mean I can’t give them an opportunity to feel like a Rock God for a couple minutes.

Spanish is the New Latin???

According to the Closed Captioning during American Idol last night, yea!  When pseudo love-god Sanjaya Malakar sang his rendition of Besame Mucho last night, captioning services proceeded to tell listeners he was “Singing in Latin.”

Man, I was so confused because I only know a little Spanish and I could’ve sworn the song was supposed to mean “Kiss me many times.”  Which is pretty close to an exact translation…

I’ve been doing research for Latin translations and I haven’t found an exact phrase; the best I can find is bestia mucro which translates roughly into “beastly sharp point“  of which I would expect a song like that to have far less crooning and much more wailing in a song like that. 

If this is the case then perhaps the song was the ballad of Julius Caesar, I’m not sure.  I guess I have a bit more research to do…

Beck by Harold Sakuishi

I have read plenty of manga and while I have found some series I like, I had yet to find one that dragged me clean down into the depths of manga addiction…

 That is until Beck came along.

14 year-old Koyuki (AKA; Yukio Tanaka) has terrible taste in music.  His self-effacing habits and trouble-making friend, Tanabe, do little to help his loser status.  He has had a crush on Izumi since elementary school but can’t seem to catch her interest… if only he played guitar, then she would notice him.

Beck is a story that finds itself precariously clinging to the threads of reality and the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.  Harold Sakuishi’s ability to capture teen angst, self consciousness and the sexual deviance/ignorance of a teenager make Koyuki a generally likeable character despite his flaws and loser-ish qualities.

One of the many appealing aspects of this series is how Sakuishi has captured the classic attitudes of different musicians.  The singers tend to have all important ‘me’ attitudes while drummers sort of fade into the background.  Regular guitarists have in your face attitudes, but the really good ones are fairly quiet and let their abilities do the talking.  Anyone who has spent a small amount of time around the music scene will appreciate the connections Sakuishi has made between the artist and their instruments along with their ability.

Beck is rated for Older Teens.  Koyuki’s eyes are known for wandering around women’s bodies and his guitar teacher is a middle-aged sex depraved swinger who doesn’t seem to actually be particularily lucky with women.  That being said, Sakuishi does not go out of his way to make the book sexually explicit or verbally raunchy.  Both language and image come from the context of the story and the characters, neither one are driven for the sole purpose of gratuitous affect.

Needless to say, I am hooked.  I am committed to reading the entire series and super stoked to find out that, July 10th, the Anime series is being released in the U.S.

Please allow me this moment to quote Tom Petty to express my excitement:  “Oh my, my.  Oh hell yes!”