I really hate how I never seem to finish anything I start like my novel, comic book, play, short films, etc. I always have these grand ideas and for some reason or another I abandon faith in them and/or postpone them. It’s no wonder I’m so bitter but I try to look at the bright side, it’s the little things that keep me going. I’ve been writing on tumblr whenever inspiration hits me. Since I can’t work on something that requires countless hours of editing, I like the idea of having short bursts of creativity.

I hope to take more pictures as soon as the weather permits, it’s been raining so much lately, I hate hurricane season but there’s not much I can do about the rain. I started working on a new layout for the site, re-editing one for my purposes, I’ve tried a few whenever I’ve found the time but nothing fits what I’m looking for. I’m sure I’ll eventually get something done, every time I visit my site I get angry at myself because I want to the change the layout. The homepage is pretty but I want to the change the format of the pages.

Oh, there’s some stuff I put on ebay to sell: a 20 channel mixer (Yamaha MG206C-USB Mixer), a synthesizer/vocoder (Korg RADIAS-R) and some psychedelic paintings not painted by me but beautiful nevertheless. It’s been a hectic summer here and school starts soon, I still have to get my daughter new shoes ’cause she’s got big feet like her momma. There’s so much to do but it has to be a day at a time.

Another trip to the beach, my camera didn’t have any batteries so I took pictures with my smartphone. It was a fun walk. I need to do this kind of thing more often, it’s relaxing. More pictures from this set at my Gallery

Details directly from the author: A film by EBBËTO, ANALOG is a 27 minute black and white Science Fiction film made in 2009. It’s the first authentic Brazilian Science Fiction film, in the sense of following traditional genre literature, specially of the 60′s and 70′s. The film tells the tale of a machine traveling in deep-space which has as a primary function the preservation of a living organism: a man. Strange events with biblical analogies begin, disturbing the machine and making it rethink it’s priorities.

Watch:

Eerie? Indeed. Bizarre? Maybe. Excellent? Oh yeah. The main character sort of reminds me of Zordon from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The visuals and monochromatic appearance truly give the film a dramatic and cold effect. This type of visual work is so hard to come by, I’m glad there are still people out there that are producing modern cybernetic visuals with a retro feel. Films like 2001: A Space Odyssey come to mind which I’m pretty sure were among the artist’s inspirations. The soundtrack is especially haunting, utilizing a slow paced beat with deep analog like sounds; mostly saws and squares I believe with a few higher pitched beeps, hisses, and screeches and the like to complete the science fiction/cyber ambiance. The blending of images, rendering, and filming combined truly make the piece a work of art in itself. The beauty of science fiction is that it opens a world of endless possibilities where imagination knows no bounds, in Analog you are transported to a different place where it’s hard to sympathize or comprehend just what it is that you are looking at because it’s so different from our reality.

Every detail is meticulously crafted and well presented, the overall look is consistent and eye-catching. I spent every second marveling the procession of the visual story. It really doesn’t need words, the silence spoke much more to me because the visual impact and sound are enough to convey a message. There are a few Judeo-Christian elements in the story such as the Adam and Eve concept visually represented by a naked man and woman frolicking in nature while the main character watches but doesn’t engage himself even though there is physical interaction. The marriage of science fiction with religious undertones and the macabre is something hard to achieve so beautifully. The film is dark yet not so much in a horror kind of way, just reflecting the duality of human nature and machine. Machines are cold and superfluous compared to the nature of humankind which can be flawed just like any other machine but it is a lot basic in its makeup and essentially carnal.

The end result is a bizarre film that’s interesting to look at from start to finish and leaves you pondering about concepts of creation and/or worlds out there. One thing is for sure, I want the main character’s clothes and goggles. I love the mad scientist look. How can you work with blood and not get stained? You’re obviously very skilled or a machine as is the case of this short film. :)

Ingredients:

3 lbs of potatoes
1 tbsp of adobo seasoning
1 tbsp of garlic powder
2-3 tbsp of unsalted butter
2-3 tbsp of sour cream
2-3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

Peel, wash and chop the potatoes in half and then quarters. Boil or steam them adding the adobo to the water. Cook for 20 minutes or until they’re soft and tender. Drain them and let them rest for 5-10 minutes and then add them to a large bowl. Add the olive oil and start mashing. Once they start gaining some color from the oil add the butter and continue mashing, slowly add in the garlic powder while mixing the ingredients and last but not least, add the sour cream. Taste the potatoes and add more butter or sour cream to reach the right taste and creamy consistency. If you don’t want them to be so thick and creamy, add a splash of milk. Sprinkle some parsley flakes or fresh cilantro for some color. And there you go, delicious creamy home style mashed potatoes, goes great with barbecue, pork chops, steak, steamed vegetables, etc.

The hardest part of losing weight is not the process of shedding pounds, it’s keeping them off. Let’s be realistic, it’s a lot easier to gain weight, you can starve yourself for a week and maybe shed a few pounds if any, but you can stuff yourself with food for a week and gain like 10 lbs easily. The key is changing the way you look at food and the things you do on a daily basis. Technology has made us lazy because things are so accessible. The majority of developed towns and cities have running water and electricity, so when you want a glass of water you typically head to the refrigerator, serve yourself a glass, and continue whatever it was you were doing or if you have to go somewhere you usually take some form of transportation instead of walking  the whole way there, even shopping has become the easiest thing to do thanks to the internet. What does this have to do with being fit? Simple, if you can’t burn the extra calories from what you eat, your body stores that unused energy as fat, and that fat is hard to burn off. Most of us aren’t blessed with a high metabolism and skinny bone structure, so have we to try our best to figure out what works best according to our body type. But there are simple steps that anyone can take to have a better quality of overall health. If you apply these little tidbits responsibly, you could eat whatever you want IF you can burn the excess calories. I’m not a doctor or a dietitian, but I read a lot and research and engage in topics of food and health with people that are professionals or are avid health advocates. I know better than to let myself be informed by just one source when the science of health is something that is constantly changing therefore I am constantly reading and keeping up with the latest news.

Exercise dammit! The only way to stay fit is to move your fat ass. If you can walk, then walk, even chewing gum while checking your email requires muscle movement, doing anything that requires physical strain is beneficial for your health. Rome wasn’t built in a day and defying gravity is impossible, work it work it work it, the modern human is lazy as fuck and we need to set the example for future generations. The truth hurts and even though it’s great to have to things get done for you there’s a little bit of satisfaction when you work hard and see results. My favorite hobby is probably sleeping yet I force myself to get up and engage in an activity besides sit all day. I do chores, cook, clean, walk, etc. If you have all your limbs fully functional then there’s no excuse for not doing anything because people with less limbs engage in extreme sports. Exercise doesn’t necessarily mean working out, it can also be doing any sort of physical activity such playing a sport or doing chores. There are many hobbies that are great for the body and mind such as gardening, cleaning, playing with your pet if you have one, etc. Take a walk at the park, the beach, the mall, the supermarket, anywhere. What many people seem to forget is that part of being healthy is not just about eating right, but also exercising.

Keep yourself hydrated. When you feel thirsty, it’s because your body is already dehydrated and it’s giving you a sign that you need to attend to. It’s like when your car is running almost on empty and then the light goes on and you know you need to run to the nearest gas station to fill up. You should know better than to drive around with an empty gas tank so why would you treat yourself the same way? A good driver fills up their car before it reaches the empty mark, well typically a person should drink water before they get thirsty. It might be hard getting used to but it’s pretty easy once you embrace the routine. How do you know if you are dehydrated? Easy, look at the toilet after urinating, the yellower the pee, the more dehydrated you are which makes your kidneys work harder. When you wake up and go to the bathroom, it’s normal for the urine to look yellowish, but throughout the day it should look almost clear or with a yellow tinge, unless you ate asparagus which makes your pee look greenish, haha seriously, it does, leafy greens can also do that. So, here’s a trick to get you to drink water and possibly burn some calories while doing so. No matter where you are, there’s usually some way to drink water, whether you’re at your house, your job, or anywhere. When you’re at the comfort of your home, you have the luxury to drink water whenever you want so here’s a tip, instead of serving yourself a full glass of water, try a smaller cup, around 8 ounces, go back to whatever you were doing and if you’re still thirsty, get up and fill the cup again. Stretch those legs! Sitting for long periods of time is not healthy. Depending on where you work or study you can try something similar, keep a bottle of water somewhere and whenever you need to drink, walk to wherever you left the bottle, take a few sips and repeat again after a while. If there’s a water fountain around, use the small cup, fill it, go back to whatever you were doing, drink, and repeat if necessary. Drinking smaller of amounts of water throughout the day is much more efficient because your body will use it when it needs it, when you drank large amounts of liquid you typically absorb less and flush out the rest, meaning more trips to the bathroom. Remember that urine is simply liquid your body doesn’t need, when you drink large amounts of liquid at any time, you will most likely pee just as much. When you work for your thirst quencher, it’s more beneficial so try to walk as much as you can, your bones and joints will thank you.

Clean your colon. Everybody poops, we just don’t talk about it because it’s not an appropriate topic for discussion but when it comes to health, what you poop is extremely important because it can show you what nutrients may be lacking in your diet. There’s a reason why there are plenty of products that help with constipation and people are too embarrassed to admit and discuss rectal malfunctions. But even if you poop once a day which is normal for most people or several times a day, every once in a while (6 months, a year, whatever) you should do a colon cleansing. You see, processed foods and even non-processed food particles can accumulate in your intestines and this can lead to sluggish digestion or blockage. There have been documented cases where people lost 6 lbs after a colon cleansing. What is a colon cleanser? It depends, there are plenty of products out there that help clean your bowels but you should try something that’s 100% natural and do plenty of research before buying one. Generally they are a set of capsules made of several fibers, vitamins, and minerals and sometimes there are tea versions made with senna leaves. Read and choose what’s best for you.

Eat less more often. Food is energy, once your body processes what you ate, it uses that energy and then stores what it doesn’t use. Some kinds of food take longer to break down and keep you full a little longer. When people mention “empty calories” what they mean is that they’re less filling because you eat them and you’re still hungry, like when you eat a bag chips and dip vs a burger, they could have the same amount of calories but they don’t fill you the same way. It’s pretty common to be taught that we should eat 3 meals a day and maybe a snack but what if you took those 3 meals and break them up? Having micro meals is a great way to train your body to only use the energy it needs and lower the chance of  storing  the unused portion that eventually turns into fat. Depending on your lifestyle and sleeping patterns you should assess which foods you should consume and when. All carbohydrates no matter how simple and complex are metabolized as sugar (energy) and when you don’t burn that fuel your body turns it into fat, once it turns into fat it’s a lot harder to burn because your body prioritizes the following way, what you eat is what it uses and what you ate is only used when there is no immediate energy available. When your tummy rumbles it’s asking for immediate energy even though you probably have stored energy it can use, but it’s hard to trick yourself into burning fat without actually exercising. Breaking up your meals throughout the day takes careful planning at first because you have to adjust your lifestyle accordingly. Be sensible and try to eat things that you know are healthy: oatmeal for breakfast, baby carrots, pistachios, apples as a snack, plenty of greens, citrus fruits, lean meats for lunch, potatoes and carrots, hearty vegetable soups, etc. When you think you don’t have enough time to cook and you spend money on microwavable meals you need to discover that learning to cook something quick and easy is possible. I’ve been watching cooking shows since I was a little girl and I know a thing or two about making dinner in 15 minutes if I’m in a hurry. You can even recycle left over food and cook something delicious. I’m no chef but I’m a capable cook, I fuck up every now and then but that’s because I experiment in the kitchen, sometimes it works out A-OK and sometimes my daughter tells me I got an F, LOL. Anyway, eating less and more often is a choice you can make, when you eat more frequently your metabolism is constantly trying to process the food making a bit harder to store fat, just remember that you also have to take into consideration the caloric content in the liquids you consume (juice, smoothies, lattes, alcohol, etc).

The most important tip of all is to not buy into marketing scams. What do I mean by this? You know how many products claim to help lower cholesterol or boost your immune system? Well, it’s a well conceived lie to trick you into buying their products. The NY Times has an article describing the matter and I’ve read plenty of articles that describe the phenomenon as nutritionism. Nutrionism is a term used to describe that the individual nutrients in food can determine its value of health. For example, baked chips vs fried chips. You’d think that baked chips are healthier right? Wrong, baked chips usually contain higher amounts of sodium than fried chips. Here’s something you have to keep in mind, the food industry will do anything to make you buy their products and there are plenty of legal marketing strategies that they use to do so. When a products says it contains 0g trans fat it means it might not have or the amount is less to account for 1 gram per serving, how to check: read the ingredients listed and if  ’partially hydrogenated” is mentioned anywhere, it probably has trans fat per the recommended serving, do you really eat the recommended serving? Probably not. Certain cereals claim to lower cholesterol or boost immunity but the amount required to actually achieve these claims is unhealthy because the nutritional value in 1 serving is not enough. There are plenty of examples available at the supermarket, pick up any product that claims to provide something healthy and compare it to a brand that doesn’t, read the nutrition facts, become a label reading expert and do your research online about what’s healthy and what isn’t. My post about healthy tips for healthier eating can be a start point. It’s like when diabetics buy sugar free cake and cookies and stuff themselves (eat more than the recommended serving size), well guess what? Those excess carbs metabolize into sugar and most low fat products have higher sodium levels like yogurt and crackers. When something is fat free, sugar free, or cholesterol free, compare it with the regular stuff and check the ingredients, thekey always lies in the ingredients, certain preservatives, emulsifiers, and starches are worse for you than eating the fat, sugar, or cholesterol. You just need to learn which fats are better than others (unsaturated and naturally saturated like those found in meat or cheese), what sugars are better (they’re all bad in excess but the more natural the better), which cholesterol is ok to eat (HDL is the good cholesterol and diets high in carbohydrates increase the amount of bad cholesterol), and what amounts of these are within a healthy range according to your height, weight, lifestyle, and metabolism.