So tired now. Had a really great time though throughout, so it was totally worth it. Sitting down now with a slow glass of scotch, just letting myself get mellow before the evening ends for me.

Listening to Simon & Garfunkel. Mmm mmm.

Now to clean and get ready to go home for the holidays, woot.

- Francois Rabelais, Gargantua

I'd like to say first of all that it's a good film. I'm not sure how it would ring with your average audience, but being familiar with the subject matter it was... for the most part, quite excellent.

I'm not sure what it says about me that I am so equipped to penetrate the mindset of these terrorists. For years in my... perhaps stupider... youth, I'd almost count myself amongst those willing to fight to the death for the cause. Nietzsche was not wrong to place his hope against the inevitability of the Last Man in Youth.

And perhaps that's the best way, and certainly the way in which my mind has for the last few years characterized the struggle of not just the RAF, but Terrorism in general. It's something I'm still building on since my (wholly inadequate) essay of last semester.

Without spoiling too much, as the film almost treats it as a minor event (focusing more on the lives of the RAF itself)... perhaps in a way Mogadishu didn't only spell the beginning of the end for European continental terrorism but the end of the hope of Youth. Perhaps... okay, not an end, but as an indicator that perhaps force of will alone will not change the inevitable.

I remain confident in my belief that terrorism is the inevitable counteraction that is necessary to diminish (and replenish) the Standing Reserve. Perhaps therein lies the problem inherent in terrorism itself. It is nothing more than another cog in the machine, the other face of the same coin. Violence and brutality does nothing to extricate one from the bind of the modern project.

I'll have to mull it over some more. I have a ton of homework to do (most of it for German class)...

One other thing: I'm impressed they managed to get talented actors who looked like the members of the RAF. Even the actor who played Rudi Dutschke, who plays a bit part in the whole movie... looked like Rudi Dutschke.

It's probably indicative of the fact that I studied Hegel through the lens of Kojeve that I view such characters as inevitable products of society.

That is not to say that there isn't a tinge of disgust and a taste of bile when thinking about it. The axiom that "absolute power corrupts absolutely" is a vile fallacy that has almost become an excuse to simply avoid having to explain the faults of others. It is a historical fact that many power elites knew full well the responsibility that lay upon their shoulders. The lesson to be drawn from Hegel and Nietzsche, even if Nietzsche seems at times to prefer the Master to the Slave, is that with authority there must exist an equal share of responsibility. (Yes, I'm aware that this sounds a lot like Spider-Man)

Yet the idea that power itself imbues actions with moral rightness is something that has always been prevalent amongst elites. A way for them to justify to themselves their darkest thoughts, perhaps. Yet I cannot imagine that their lives could be anything but an existential nightmare straight out of the pages of Brett Easton Ellis, anesthetized with Zoloft and a healthy helping of Ketel One.

There's a thought... if we took the emotional crutches away from the rich and powerful, would they finally wake up to their own nightmares?

I am not saying that wealth and power are in themselves evil. (In fact, Nietzsche would build a time machine to kick me in the face if I claimed so) It has been quite a long time since I have been that ardent a socialist. But they must be coupled with responsibility.

And now I'm also beginning to sound like Heinlein. I think that's my cue to stop dicking about in my head whilst doing chores and buckle down on an essay. Time for a return to Plato and Aristotle.

Until then, enjoy this photo. I took it last month over Thanksgiving.

It might appear that I dine on oysters every night and live a life of profound excess the way I talk about good food all the time... and while the idea I could possibly afford to do so is kind of nice... it really isn't the case. More often than not, I go out for cheap asian food or I make food at home or... most often... when I'm lazy as I am right now, eat something that requires minimal preparation time (but is delicious and healthy).

Right now I'm just eating a baguette I bought locally ($2.25), some organic cherry tomatoes ($3.25) and I should have enough left over from it to get another meal, if not two, from it. The bread I'm just dipping in a mix of equal parts olive oil (spiced) and balsamic vinegar I had kicking around the pantry.

It's a simple, cheap lunch, it's bloody delicious, and it fills you up for the day. There's never any good reason to eat poorly. And sometimes... of course, when I can afford to, there's no reason not to skip over and buy a dozen oysters for the night, shuck them, and have them for dinner. =)

That's all I wanted to say.

It was a fucked up time in my life, but man, they're pretty good. Especially since they were my first couple tablet drawings. I seem to have lost that spontaneous emotion over the years in my drawings and in my writing. Maybe I've lost interest, or maybe not being so emotionally unbalanced causes it to suffer.

I suppose it's all well and good that my photography seems to have done nothing but get better. Else I'd be panicking right now.

Anyway, I say all of this... and I'm not sure where I'm going with it. I mean, it's been said and done. However, I have spent most of the last few months playing indie games that try to close the gap a bit. Mostly, I'm making this post to say: these games are friggin awesome. I'll just rant about one for now... this isn't a video game blog, so I won't get all crazy about it. But buy it. Seriously.

I was showing the Osmos demo to a friend today (I intend to pick it up this weekend off the internet, it's only $10) and playing the level "force reception" in which you're set in orbit, music playing, slowly absorbing smaller motes, whirling around in a cosmic wheel like so many planetoids, and it occured to me... I could stare at this all day. It's just really, really pretty. Take a look for yourself below, or just get the demo here.

I suppose what I'm getting at is: Indie games are awesome.

Osmos Trailer from hemisphere games on Vimeo.

Woof.

I'm rather looking forward to this year. After the last year... where I finally made my peace with being an academic and wrapped my head around some crazy German idealists... I'm finally sailing on by, loving the idea of just being there. I might even be sad for it to end.

Well, no, I probably won't be. I'll move on to other things, I'm sure.

The summer in review. Photography business is picking up nicely, I've pretty much perfected my martini, and I feel like life is just getting better every day. Awesome.

And nothing is as awesome as a bride happy with your handiwork after a wedding. After a day of just stressing over being at the right place at the right time, and just making sure everything is as perfect as I can possibly make it... having someone tell you that they loved the photos of their big day... it's awesome.

I really do love my job.

Also: finally saw Elbow live. *swoons*

Not yet, anyway.

The problem with video games as being art is that to be art, there can exist no other function than to be art, to connect you to something beautiful. As much as people may argue otherwise, video games simply don't fit the criteria.

I'll use an example. Max Payne 2 damned near made me cry... and I won't deny that there are elements within the game that are artistic. The graphic novel storytelling style, etc... it's honestly better than most noir tales I've ever set eyes upon. However, at its heart it's still a game... the core mechanic of the game is a whole load of jumping sideways and firing guns. The way I primarily interact with the game doesn't connect me to anything but.... shooting things.

And that's the problem... games may have many artistic elements to them, they might tell amazing tales, have fantastic pieces of design in them, but unless a game does nothing but connect me fundamentally to the human condition, to some kind of beauty that stirs me deep inside, then it's not art.

That's not to say the possibility doesn't exist. From what I've seen of Flower, though I haven't laid my hands on it yet since no one I know owns a PS3, it doesn't seem as though your hands manipulating the controller really does anything significant but to show you something beautiful. We can do these things with video games... we have so many possibilities if we could just break out of the genres we have grown up on as the 'hardcore' crowd, and do something that just speaks to us.

I'm not saying we should make all games like that, obviously. I derive countless hours of enjoyment from my shooters, my RPGs, all that good stuff. It's like movies... sometimes I'm just not in the mood for something deep, something that speaks to me... sometimes I just want to see shit blow up, watch a crappy ass summer blockbuster and turn my brain off for a little bit.

That's fine. But we can do so much more, so why not, sometime, give it a shot?

Time for me to grab a late lunch and shake off this hangover.

(EDIT: There's a pretty decent debate about this on my facebook import of this blog post, if you have me on Facebook, come and join in. If not... oh well.)

But what's happened lately? BMW's new look is maturing nicely. Porsche's 911 models are starting to grow on me (gross) even though it's evident their design studio's made up of people better at designing shoes and fashionwear than cars (honestly, the Cayenne and the Panamera are hideous, but if they were sneakers, I'd probably buy a pair). Mercs are getting nicer by the moment, getting some of their visual cues from the absolutely stunning SLR. Audi came out with the absolutely gorgeous R8, the new TT looks amazing, and the new designs on all their sedans... wow. And Volkswagen!

I mean, I love Volkswagen, always will, but they've always designed boxes. But the new Golf? Looks great, an understated, sensible hatchback. And the CC? Oh my god that's a fantastically sleek sedan. I mean, the pictures are nice but I saw one in person when we were looking at the GTI and I was sooo impressed. And don't get me even started on the new Scirocco. My god do I want that car over on this side of the puddle.

I mean, obviously in terms of style, I'm not saying the Germans have gotten anywhere near the Italians, not even close. But they're German. Unless they're holidaying every day by the Med, designing cars on the beach, you can't expect them to have the same passion and flair the Italians do. They still make some pretty hideous cars, now that they're breaking out of the whole "draw a box" thing and experimenting... they're bound to hit some snags. But they're getting better.

And being German, they won't break down on you, or burst into flames like my neighbour's Ferrari did. That's nice.

Seeing Elbow was quite similar to being a religious experience.

Lykke Li still managed to kick some ass despite technical issues causing her to go on quite late.

Much as I didn't really care to see Coldplay, they do know how to put on a good show.

What I saw of the Girl Talk crowd this year before I left to check out a bit of Coldplay, there was a surprisingly low amount of people there compared to when I saw him a couple weeks prior. I guess most everyone was at Coldplay.

Long journeys are one of the few times I really really appreciate having a big soft American sedan. Parking it when I get where I'm going is a little less fun.

The lighting people at Bluesfest could learn a thing or two from the Osheaga lighting crew. White light is good, kthx bai.

Rain sucks.

Vampire Weekend is disappointing on a big stage.

Cursive was awesome, and now I'm listening to them again. Mud pit @ Cursive = awesome.

Seeing Hey Rosetta on a smaller more intimate stage is so much nicer.

Driving in the 2-4AM period is nice... not many people on the road.

Though... those that are on the road at that time and doing 80 on the highway need to get off the highway and take a nap. And turn off their fucking highbeams when I pass them.

That is all.