tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:51:52 +0000http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)Blogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-1802577531935776130Fri, 19 Nov 2010 03:25:00 +00002010-11-18T21:35:39.080-06:00Like The American, Monsters is forced to market itself as something it isn't: in this case, a horror-suspense, monster-smashing movie. Ignore the bait-and-switched detractors. Monsters is a contemplative allegory, and one of the best films I've seen in a long time. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/dSZEpg6fa7M/monsters.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/dSZEpg6fa7M" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2010/11/monsters.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-2412864463358678337Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:04:00 +00002010-09-08T23:02:59.065-05:00Spoilers ahead!After I watched The American, I made an offhand observation to a friend: the movie reminded me of 2008's In Bruges. I didn't seriously consider the similarities, but the observation stuck with me as I was driving home. Note: I haven't seen In Bruges in over a year, so I've refreshed my memory with several online sites: Wikipedia, IMDB, etc.; similarly, I've only seen The American http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/bS4cAeYbvCw/american-in-bruges.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)4<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/bS4cAeYbvCw" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2010/09/american-in-bruges.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-7697332759567297479Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:25:00 +00002010-07-09T22:41:03.522-05:00In politics and religion [and the two are becoming increasingly indistinguishable], moderatism is en vogue. Contrasted with fundamentalism [or "radicalism"], moderatism is more "tolerant" and pliable: it doesn't necessitate fundamentalist ideology. Moderatism isn't apathetic, in the sense that moderates do "care"--they have opinions, and it would be nice if other people shared those opinions, buthttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/kH-quHX_Sz8/moderatism.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)3<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/kH-quHX_Sz8" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2010/07/moderatism.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-3187116710408935542Fri, 09 Jul 2010 01:28:00 +00002010-07-08T20:29:26.152-05:00twitter.com/somniferouslyhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/3Aezn-jdehs/twitter.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/3Aezn-jdehs" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2010/07/twitter.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-1380012981903208506Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:15:00 +00002010-06-16T04:18:20.796-05:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/_imPqsIrbaU/conrad-brooks.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)1<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/_imPqsIrbaU" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2010/06/conrad-brooks.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-3405712907763615133Thu, 20 May 2010 22:50:00 +00002010-05-20T18:40:00.833-05:00I consider myself a cologne connoisseur; I wear different colognes for different seasons: citrus-tinted ones in warmer months, spice-tinted ones for cooler months; my cologne choice also depends on the time: more noticeable ones for the daytime, more subtle ones for the nighttime. My first cologne was Curve, which I started wearing in grade seven. I continued wearing that cologne until my http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/L96NJC2mQ6w/cologne.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)1<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/L96NJC2mQ6w" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2010/05/cologne.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-8460924582855690677Mon, 17 May 2010 23:28:00 +00002010-05-17T18:48:53.488-05:00New York Times has started a new philosophy section, "The Stone":http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/what-is-a-philosopher/I've always understood philosophy to be an implicit science: every discussion--political, biological, psychological, etc.--is implicitly and necessarily philosophical. Yes, you can have explicitly philosophical discussions [the nature of "good" and "evil", for http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/eJQEKz5NtGw/stoned.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)3<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/eJQEKz5NtGw" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2010/05/stoned.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-1152101440841272705Sat, 08 May 2010 01:10:00 +00002010-05-07T20:11:06.236-05:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/xSdArELl4Dg/no-mas-muertes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/xSdArELl4Dg" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2010/05/no-mas-muertes.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-7361028782475905566Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:41:00 +00002010-04-21T20:08:58.963-05:00Roger Ebert recently posted this blog entry, "Video Games Can Never Be Art":http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/04/video_games_can_never_be_art.htmlI enjoy Roger Ebert's writing on film [not to mention his wonderfully meandering discussions on personal historical minutia] in the same way I enjoy Richard Dawkins' writing on evolutionary biology: when they're writing what they know, they're http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/XlmlAyXfyMw/video-games-can-never-be-art.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)4<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/XlmlAyXfyMw" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2010/04/video-games-can-never-be-art.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-793728772120212351Fri, 09 Apr 2010 02:17:00 +00002010-04-08T22:11:39.487-05:00Cooking is generally viewed as a result of our ancestors' experimentation with fire: after harnessing fire, they developed cooking; stated thusly, this assumes a rather unlikely [and illogical] "creativity": prior to [and even after] cooking was developed, food in any amount was a crucial, necessary resource; to suppose that human ancestors would risk this resource for an unknown reward is http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/oIGNEyYfc-A/cooking-101.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)5<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/oIGNEyYfc-A" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2010/04/cooking-101.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-7642405921607984193Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:18:00 +00002010-03-23T22:36:33.793-05:00So, it's come to this: Discovery is buying Sarah Palin's new "reality show" for upwards of one million dollars per episode*; Sarah Palin's Alaska, shot in the style of the wonderful Planet Earth , will take viewers on a tour of the state's natural beauty.I have nothing against Alaska, the environment; I have an issue with a Palin-ized Alaska. I still cannot understand this ignorant bitch's http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/0QlQeC03T78/wild-america.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)2<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/0QlQeC03T78" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2010/03/wild-america.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-8641084963552567438Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:41:00 +00002010-04-10T04:28:38.451-05:00From A.J. McClane's "Song Of The Angler" [Field & Stream, 1967]: Who but an angler knows that magic hour when the red lamp of summer drops behind blackening hemlocks and the mayflies emerge from the dull folds of their nymphal robes to dance in ritual as old as the river itself? Trout appear one by one, and the angler begins his game in movements as stylized as Japanese poetry. Perhaps he willhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/qlczzZTOlYc/ataraxia.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)1<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/qlczzZTOlYc" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2010/02/ataraxia.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-1830887224343668216Sun, 17 Jan 2010 08:56:00 +00002010-02-26T20:11:35.488-06:00 Watching Avatar, I felt the same way I felt when I was six, staying up late to read [and reread] Dinotopia; Avatar evokes the soul of biology: the primal, overwhelming wonder of the living world.[collected essays]Luminous, Vibrant Fantasy World Has Science At Its Core:Inventing Pandora's Flora:On The Rationalism Of The Na'vi:Avatar's Animated Acting:http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/7aJcrayaCbc/pandora.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)0<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/7aJcrayaCbc" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2010/01/pandora.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-6546152964814917431Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:19:00 +00002009-11-11T18:30:47.267-06:00NASA has released an image of the Milky Way's center region:Click the image to view a larger version--you owe it to yourself: technological advancements have saturated us with impressive images from space, diluting the cosmos' ethereal reality; but this image [how silly, using such a "human" word], this infinity is staggering in its beauty.http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/iJvFeARMOcQ/infinity.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)1<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/iJvFeARMOcQ" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2009/11/infinity.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-5598863365393065230Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:47:00 +00002010-02-10T22:52:38.078-06:00Two weeks ago, Yahoo shut down GeoCities: a web hosting service that provided free or inexpensive hosting for over thirty-eight million user-built pages; one might consider this the first digital extinction event. An era ends with a whimper, and the show goes on.Digital archaeology already exists in a rudimentary form: prior to the shutdown of GeoCities, the Archive Team took to preserving this http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/mq0KFIKsKZw/digital-archaeology.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)1<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/mq0KFIKsKZw" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2009/11/digital-archaeology.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-4754234597942225769Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:53:00 +00002009-11-06T17:16:55.757-06:00Courtesy of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE [High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment] camera; click the image for more photographs. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/acLv-e_q-E4/mars-big-picture.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)1<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/acLv-e_q-E4" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2009/11/mars-big-picture.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-6085566683086121391Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:33:00 +00002009-11-06T16:53:18.449-06:00Establishing that the self exists--"cogito, ergo sum", though "I am" is sufficient--establishes the dichotomy between the self and the non-self, which subsequently establishes the reality of the self: the self and the non-self, combined; from there, it's a matter of examining that reality via the hypothetico-deductive model. Questioning the self instantiates the self, thereby providing the http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/7sATkJWoHYM/splash-quite-unnoticed.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)2<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/7sATkJWoHYM" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2009/11/splash-quite-unnoticed.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247545438457762754.post-2347193797092930549Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:37:00 +00002010-02-17T22:43:26.036-06:00Embryonic debris drifts across my vision--eye floaters, they're called; I try to focus on one, but the attention causes the floater to vanish. When I was little, I thought I was seeing paramecia crawl across my eye.I should apologize to Sable Salieri: I've imagined your story, but I'm unable to produce it on paper. Countless others have suffered a similar fate [Eli Drake, Briar, et al.], but yourhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~3/axxwkcxJ9nU/long-now.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Somniferous)1<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PandorasBasement/~4/axxwkcxJ9nU" height="1" width="1"/>http://pandorasbasement.blogspot.com/2009/11/long-now.html