nicopolitan.com

No One Left Behind

nicopolitan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:26:00 +0000

Profound proof in my theory that blogging is more about community interaction than self-indulgent individuality, I was delightfully surprised at the comments thread in my previous post! For that, I have Photoshopped a neat little image here for you all to take with you.

All I did earlier in the week was complain about feeling out of it. It’s a pretty basic human feeling, and I’m sure everyone has those kinds of days. Methinks nothing really need be done about it.

But the rest of my bloggy community would not let me sulk alone, and definitely reminded me that although I wouldn’t feel better right away, that the feeling would pass and I’d be back to cracking silly inside jokes and smartass comments with everyone soon enough.

So as a measure of thanks, I’m going to give some link love back. It’s the right thing to do.

Oh! How Lovely! – Jamie gets to be first because she instant messaged me to make sure I wasn’t being a huge ball of life-sucking negativity. Good call, Jamie. As always, it’s good to chat with someone who says “dude!” as much as I do. Fly out to California so we can hang out already!
Deutlich – One of the first bloggers I ever followed religiously, and for a good reason. Very rarely does a blogger have the ability to complain and make you think at the same time — to be able to point out the bad without being whiny — and to talk about all of these things in what is effectively very, very readable prose. A good brain propped up by sass and honesty, and when she’s being funny, she cracks a joke like a bullwhip.
DShan – A veritable team leader as far as 20SB is concerned, DShan’s got this secret weapon in pontification that is loaded with gunpowder that smells like nostalgia and home cooking. You rarely see it coming even though you know it’s there. And when he delivers, when a post is loaded, he packs a punch.
freeandflawed – Known to normal civilians as Awesome Face and our one and only living connection to the elusive superhero, The Googler, she now lives in MY town and you ARE jealous. In seriousness, I really hope she likes this city and doesn’t think Angelenos are bat-shit crazy 100% of the time. And Jenn, I will cook you dinner one of these days. And we will invite other bloggers to eat it with us. And it will be rad.
phampants – If I lived in Chicago and produced video instead of producing music, I might be phampants. Of course, there are differences in our lifestyles. He can run a marathon and I can smoke half a pack of cigarettes, he doesn’t wear pants as much as I do, he’s in a different part of the tech industry than I am, etc. etc. However, over IM conversations, we get stoked about the same things enough that it makes me suspicious of if we might have been part of the same government experiment. Might it have something to do with Asians? Who knows. Time will tell.
blaez – I hear that geminis get along with other geminis as well, and go figure that blaez and I accidentally started reading each other and that that is all it took for me to subscribe. And never once did I consider unsubscribing. There’s gotta be some truth in that there astrology. Additionally, considering how my sufferings are far less to deal with than what she’s been through, her encouraging me puts something into perspective: pain and suffering are related, but independent of each other. You can choose not to suffer.
doniree – Why I hadn’t been reading Doni before the 20SB Chicago Meetup is beyond me, but I dare say that I keep up with her more so than some friends I’ve known way longer. That is a testament to loyalty, for sure, but it’s also a testament to her highly addictive and contagious personality. She’s one of the funnest (shut up, that’s a real word…) persons in the series of tubes, especially if your idea of fun is an examination of fundamental metaphysical and sociological ideas without all the histrionic* fluff that comes with formal philosophy. Incidentally, that is totally my idea of fun.
Angela – Another blogger who was the first in my favorites folder. Her writing style is very distinct to me and epitomizes the “blog ramble” a lot of us think we’re doing but it’s what she successfully pulls off and makes it work oh, so well. Every post is a trip. And since she was one of the first escribitionists I started reading, she was one of the first to inspire me to keep up my own blog. I will even go so far as to say she’s changed the way I talk, because I find myself offering well-wishes to people when I leave them right before they go do something. May she never cease writing – ever.
eshonkwiler – In a past life known as college, I was a highfalutin English & Comparative Literature major (meaning we also studied translations of stuff). There’s a part of me that still craves the deeper layers under prose, no matter how it’s written. I just need to be reassured that there’s more going on than what I can see with my own eyes. When I found Eric’s blog, I found that he would nearly single-handedly provide me my fix of postmodern writing in the practice of Iceberg Theory — and his actual writing is way different from his blogging voice. It’s like his blog is a stout and his writing is a bourbon. I find that to be pretty badass. Plus, he shares my love of post-rock. Bonus points.
writetoreach – I’ve always been subscribed to Ashley and really only started paying attention in the past few months or so, and now I have to backtrack to catch up on what I missed. It seems like she too is going through a busy spell currently, so recognizing that, it was really nice to get a note involving what may have become a “running joke” regarding “punctuation.” She was once an English major like me, and she’s now delving further into deeper meanings via theology; that makes me feel like a zombie because I want her brains. (But, uh, not for eating.) Lastly, it’s fun to watch someone go through NaNoWriMo, which she’s doing RIGHT NOW. (If you don’t know what that is, Google it. I’m too lazy to find the link for you.)
SleepyJane – Most distinctly for me, she lives in Johannesburg in South Africa, so that’s pretty cool to start because it makes her the only buddy I have on that continent currently, let alone that country. I’m actually not sure how I started following her, come to think of it. Maybe she was always in my reader. Definitely a varied escribitionist, perhaps the appeal comes from the idea that there’s a person who is thinking about the same things–about all the different parts of life–from the vantage point of an entirely different hemisphere of the earth–that keeps me reading. Alternatively, maybe it’s not that profound. Maybe we both just love coffee and that’s where the internet-friendship started. :P Oh, did I mention her dachshunds are cute?
f.B – I used to think I had found most of the quirky smartass bloggers I needed, but I was so effing wrong until I found out about this guy. Just the right balance of earnestness, sarcasm, hyperbole, actual working footnotes, and of course, absurdity — all drizzled in eloquence. The drizzling might make him a sort of popcorn, and you like popcorn, don’t you? Of course you do. Oh, sure, he self-denegrates just like any other self-aware blogger, but chances are, he knows some things you don’t. Go get some smart popcorn.
Andrea – Andrea, from whence did you get here, and why hadn’t I subscribed to you sooner? I mandate right here and now that we become friends because you are the 3rd ex-English major on this list (anyone correct me if I missed you), we have been dealing with eye doctors at nearly the same time, we both refuse to wear contact lenses, we were both zombies for Halloween, and… oh, dear. Maybe YOU are my doppelganger!

________________
* okay, that one IS a real word:

histrionic |ˌhistrēˈänik|adjectiveoverly theatrical or melodramatic in character or style

One Of Those Days

nicopolitan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:14:16 +0000

Feeling down.

Feeling even more tacit. This post is a struggle to write. Write about feeling quiet? Ridiculous.

Dunno what’s up. No good reason to feel this way. Will get over it soon, I think.

Or not.

Not giving a goddam, either way.

Dancemosis

nicopolitan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:06:06 +0000

Pictures of the Halloween party to be aggregated and then placed on this blog. In the meantime, here’s our word of the week which came from the weekend:

dancemosis n. |dans ‘mō sis|

Process by which dance moves are transferred via the a dance floor.

Sociological conditions must be met for dancemosis to take place. Skilled dancers are more attracted to groups of people having fun. The fun group needs not to have any prerequisite dance skills. Once the skilled dancer has attached their respective self or selves to a fun group, aforementioned control group thus has a higher likelihood of picking up dance moves from the skilled dancer(s).

The base formula is popularly known as: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Product Placement

nicopolitan — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:12:45 +0000

Dear George Foreman,

Because of the industry in which I work, I tend to be brand-neutral to be able to give all products an equal chance to compete against one another. I even have a disclosure policy that states very clearly my position on which products I can or cannot endorse.

You’ll notice that there is a line that says that I “will only endorse products or services that [I] believe, based on expertise or experience, are worthy of such endorsement.”

This is one of those instances. This time, your groundbreaking product, which I will call by its full and proper name:

The George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine, colloquially known as simply the “George Foreman Grill,” has no competition. It is in a class of its own.

I had toyed with the idea of getting one of these grills sooner or later as I do not own a microwave and prefer the stove or the pan, but when one of my relatives had gifted me an extra Grilling Machine, I had no idea I was about to have a life changing event. I am excited about what it will cook, and even more excited about what I will eat, because food kicks ass.

But here’s also why it changes my life: I am not of stereotypical male breed. I do know how to cook. I know how to make things like improvised stuffed tomatoes*, shrimp scampi in garlic butter, and I can even make a killer croque-norvégien. This means that I can take advantage of this product in ways that many might not have even dreamed, and I look forward to doing so.

Sir, you have created a product that is the motherfucking king of household food appliances, the goddam kaiser of the kitchen. And for that, I salute you.

Sincerely,

nicopolitan

PS. Apologies for the explicit language. But it’s not like you’re going to use this for PR anyway.

_____________________

*Nicopolitan Tomatoes

Difficulty: Easy

Some Items Needed:
Cupcake Baking pan
Paring Knife
Cutting Knife

Ingredients (proportions are up to you):
Tomatoes (1-6 usually works)
Cheeses (feta, mozzarella, ricotta)
Herbs/Spices (many optional, but preferred are: cilantro, parsley, paprika, pepper, salt)
Onions (red or yellow)
White Mushroom
Green Onion
Garlic Clove(s) – (honestly one is fine)
Olive Oil

Using a paring knife, cut top of tomato at an angle (point of knife towards the center) near the top, and continue around in a circle, creating a somewhat cone shaped “hat” that can be replaced on the tomato after it is hollowed out with a spoon.
Alternatively, if you are uncomfortable getting the tomatoes to cut correctly, slice them in halves and empty out the centers with a spoon
Dice onions, white mushrooms, green onions; mince garlic cloves
Shred the solid cheeses
With the exception of the ricotta, combine cheeses with veggies in bowl with relatively small amount of olive oil
Sprinkle herbs / spices on top to create the “tomato stuffing”
Fill tomatoes about 1/4 with ricotta
Insert the filler items into tomato, evenly distributed, to capacity, replace tomato hat
Place tomatoes “hat” side up in a cupcake pan (this way they don’t tip over and barf their filling all over the pan)
Heat oven to 350° F / 175° C and bake for about 10-20 minutes or until aromatic

PermaMonday

nicopolitan — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:23:36 +0000

Looking back over my past year of blogging, give or take some months, I realize that I say I’m busy a lot, and only recently have stopped apologizing for it. Apologizing to whom? you say, because you know how to use the word whom. I was probably apologizing to myself. This is a blog, after all.

To the matter at hand, I am what I believe people call a “workaholic”, because I get “drunk” on “workohol.”

In the distant future, when I look back on this period in my life, will I be considering it “that time in my life I was busting my ass”?

If many nights are like the one I’m having currently, then the answer is “yes.”

Every once in a while, I skip sleep to get work done. I’m doing that tonight. It’s around 4:30 AM where I am. Interestingly, I do not feel all that burned out quite yet, and I hope that stating such will not jinx the hard part: the next day.

What I’ve noticed that is different about tonight, however, is that my all-nighter is a carry-over from a Monday. I don’t think I really know this sensation as of yet. Mondays kick my ass just like any other office worker, but to have it not end is an entirely different brain state than working for a couple of days and then pulling an all-nighter.

We’ll probably have to see how bad the effect is on a human by the time the Monday doppelganger known as my Tuesday rolls around. I have a suspicion that it will not be fantastic.

A case of the Mondays? I’ve got a whole damn industrial refrigerator full of it.

I <3 Collaborative Projects

nicopolitan — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:58:07 +0000

So this is only a very brief plug and not a post, but I love community projects.

Inadvertent Accomplishment

nicopolitan — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:13:18 +0000

Setting: Interior, nicopolitan’s bedroom, late at night. Low light.

Muse: What are you working on?

nicopolitan: Music! And it feels great. I think I’m done with this track.

Muse: It sounds done. How many others have you finished?

nicopolitan: I have no idea. When you told me about a year ago to work on music for 7 hours spread over 7 days a week, no matter if I was having writer’s block or made insignificant changes, I had stuck with it ever since. I started with an empty file folder and now it’s about… [checks folder size] Wh-… 30 gigs of data???

Muse: But how much finished music have you written?

nicopolitan: I dunno.

Muse: Import the finished ones to iTunes and see what it says.

nicopolitan: [imports songs] Wow. Uh. 74 minutes.

Muse: You can release an album now!

nicopolitan: I can release three EP’s at this rate — some of them still need polishing, but the end is definitely in sight.

Muse: Feel good?

nicopolitan: Feels weird! Good, yeah, but it makes me kind of antsy.

Muse: Why?

nicopolitan: Well… now I have to figure out how to play these songs on stage.

Muse: Do you have stagefright?

nicopolitan: I’ve never played a solo act before. Oh-

Muse: Oh, shit!

nicopolitan: Stop putting words in my mouth.

Muse: Stop putting your mouth on my words!

nicopolitan: …What does that even mean?

Muse: ……

nicopolitan: ……………

Muse: …so, book a rehearsal space?

nicopolitan: Uh, yes, book a rehearsal space.

The Revenge Of Karma

nicopolitan — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:25:11 +0000

Accompanying recent karma themes is this recent story from today.

I’m not doubting that there are some outright shitty things I have done in my life, and today that all the recent sins have piled up into one big mess.

To be fair, it’s only one big mess, but that one incident has definitely given my checking account a swift roundhouse in its proverbial nads.

Some jackass got a little too close to my car while it was parked on a nearby street at work and broke off my driver side rear view mirror. No note was left, which means this was a hit and run.

I took a very late lunch today which brought me out to where I usually get my car tuned up, but this time I needed repairs. Since the car is the last of its line and came out the final year of production, 2006, the part my poor car required needed to be ordered. I have to return to the shop once it arrives, but I paid for the order to get there.

“Uh,” I say to the service rep, “What should I do about the mirror in the meantime?”

He shrugs and pragmatically says, “You gotta use tape.”

He was kind enough to tape the mirror up for me while I ordered the part at the cashier, but I can’t help but feel that I drove out to the other side of town for a $200 strip of packaging tape.

Now, one has to consider a deeper understanding of the karma principal in order to deduce what exactly caused the world to shit on me. That is, it’s not the sins I’ve committed having an indirect yet proportional influence on my misfortune. Rather, it’s an unfortunate event in my present that is shaping my past. Say what? Yes, cause-and-effect work both ways temporally. If you’d like to discuss that idea further, I recommend consulting Doniree.

My point is, shitty present circumstance is not making me shrug it off and say “well, I deserved this.” I’m supposed to look at where I screwed up, learn from the experience, and to NOT SCREW UP in the future. Will that prevent future misfortune? Probably not. But it will probably nudge me out of being an lazy omissive ass so that I have less shitty things to consider when I look back on recent past.

Philosophy aside, this does make me temporarily broke. So, in lieu of going out and adventuring in the behemoth that is Los Angeles, I have tended lately to stay in and focus on writing music, because that’s free and easy and I already know I will enjoy myself.

Maybe I should consider the role of the starving artist. Only, I can still afford groceries and I know how to cook, so that would probably make me a mildly peckish artist, at most.

Point Of View, Point Of You.

nicopolitan — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:15:25 +0000

Refresh Me, Replenish Me!
by мυτάѕїм вїŁŁάн ρяїтάм

This recent post by Courtney903 reminded me of an also very recent, drawn-out conversation I had with some of my friends.

Courtney's point on her post explores karma and how optimism can affect* karma. For the most part, it reminds us that having a positive disposition will prepare you for the good things karma returns to you.

You are all probably aware of the basic principles of karma. What goes around, comes around; you get what you give; you reap what you sow.

My friends and I discussed this at length the other night and came to some interesting conclusions not only about being positive and negative, but also how karma, as a metaphysical abstract, can be known. It turns out modern humans have a highly intelligent and post-modern understanding of karmic principles without even being aware of it.

The Cosmic Method, as we'll call it, is mostly for "feelers" -- people with good imaginations, high senses of empathy, and an appreciation for the unknown in a very spiritual way. They are prone to sensing things like bad energy, auras, and probably even ghosts. These people are going to see and appreciate karma as a metaphysical force. That is, they'll see karma as an "energy". As much as that might seem to be too New Age for some, I'm finding a it tends to work for a lot of people.

The Scientific Method, as to be expected, is mostly for "thinkers" -- somewhat averse to seeing the karma idea as something metaphysical or spiritual, this doesn't actually dissuade them from supporting optimism as having an effect on one's life. The idea is that if you project positivity into the world, this reflects inwardly just as much. If a person has an optimistic outlook, then they are more inclined to perceive positivity in their interactions. Good friend and once-psychology-major Tek Support (or... wait was it philosophy? I forget.) illustrated this with a good example:

If you're a person who is helping an old lady cross the street, an optimist is going to think, "This is a good thing, I am going to bring positivity into the world, and making a positive impact makes me feel good, too. Everybody wins." Someone who thinks negatively about the situation will roll their eyes and say to themselves, "Oh, GOD, why can't this lady just cross herself? This wastes my time and I get no monetary reward." Good fortune: it's all perspective.

We all probably knew that subjectivity has a lot to do with how people perceive fortune and misfortune.

But now, with the surprisingly post-modern understanding of the world, karma is compatible with logic as much as it is with spirituality.

Trip.

Something to think about as we head into the weekend, nay?

_____
*GRAMMAR POLICE NOTIFICATION: OK you guys, I should explain something to you if you aren't already aware of it. "AFFECT" is a verb that signifies a difference being made to the object of the transitive verb, as in it changes the condition of that something; "EFFECT" is usually a noun ("side-effect"), and when it's a verb, it doesn't connote change, it just means to cause something, like to put it "in effect". If you punch someone in the face, you AFFECT their face because you EFFECT a black eye.

Yes, I am a red pen. Sorry, I get riled up about grammar.

No Ordinary Social Media Genius

nicopolitan — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:31:38 +0000

One of my favorite parts of being a blogger is watching your colleagues (buddies? comrades? inter-friends?) pull off something that brings web communities together with fun little projects. Granted, I try to do this myself but don't get a lot of time to follow through (see the unfinished Geo-Blogroll).

But you know who follows through? Ben does.

And here's my evidence.

NOR Video for Nicopolitan.com from Benjamin Boudreau on Vimeo.

Viewers: Yeah, you're welcome. ;)