RDTRN Archive - RDT Right Now #2001

RDT Right Now #2001

From: rdtrn@torithoughts.org
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 18:57:31 -0700
Subject: RDT Right Now #2001
To: rdtrn@torithoughts.org

Do not hit reply to unsubscribe. To unsub, send a message to: <rdtrn-request@torithoughts.org> with "unsubscribe" in the subject and body. o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o Really Deep Thoughts Right Now Volume 06 : Issue #2001 . o - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - o . o o . o o O "Thoughts right now... O o What will become of me, o o Become of her, become of we?" o . o o . O O O - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - O o . o o o Tori Amos, "Thoughts" In this issue: o-o-o-o-o-o-o LBW Issue Announcement [ "Angela Reid" <angela.reid@gmail.co ] opus dei and the knights [ "John Bragazzi" <wasserman@operamai ] I'm back! (it's me Simon) [ Simon Booth <phoenyxx98@yahoo.com> ] Missed a digest? Pick up a copy at the RDTRN archives: http://www.torithoughts.org/rdtrn/archives -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o [top] Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 08:09:20 -0400 From: "Angela Reid" <angela.reid@gmail.com> To: rdtrn@torithoughts.org Subject: LBW Issue Announcement The Tori Amos fanzine Little Blue World will be shipping our Spring issue in May. Here's some of what's included: =95=09A Ginger Feast: Our review of the DVD video collection, Fade to Red. Also, two video director spotlights. What have they done, and what are they doing now? =95=09Touring Tori's Wardrobe: the conclusion to our two-part series on Tori's fashions. =95=09The Evolution of the Harpsichord: part 2 of our indepth look at the old-fashioned instrument Tori brought into her repertoire with BFP. =95=09Tapping Into It All: LBW's exclusive interview with singer Charlotte = Martin. =95=09Reviews: Our reviewers cover the FtCH songbook and Beth Orton's album Comfort of Strangers. =95=09The Summer of Original Sinsuality, Part 2. The conclusion of a fan's story of how she found Tori, halfway around the world. =95=09PLUS regular features like News & Expert. For more information about the issue and how to subscribe, visit <http://www.little-blue-world.org> -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o [top] Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 10:46:27 -0400 From: "John Bragazzi" <wasserman@operamail.com> To: "RDT Right Now" <rdtrn@torithoughts.org> Subject: opus dei and the knights Sorry, it's too quiet around here. I'll talk about some things. How about movies? It's been sort of weird that there have been so many cool indie-type movies out in the last year (Capote, Brokeback Mountain, Good Night & Good Luck, Transamerica) and I haven't seen any of them. A few years ago, I would have seen them all, and written reviews. But the only movie I've seen in a theater so far this year (as far as I can remember) is Underworld Evolution. Twice (well, the projector broke the first time, in the middle of a sex scene at that, and it took them a half hour to fix it, so they gave us free passes, so I went to see it again later). And now I'm most excited about the new X-Men movie. I saw a poster of Famke Janssen as Phoenix, and I almost got hit by a car (it was on a pay phone and could only be seen from the middle of the street). I just hope they keep the voice-over about evolution which was in the first two movies. When the first movie came out, evolution was a pretty humdrum scientific fact, but now people are getting all worked up about it. If they cave to pressure (real or imagined) to take it out of the movie, that would be pretty cowardly, since it is pretty basic to what the movies are about. On the other hand, based on a trailer I saw, they are going mega-Jesus with the new Superman movie. There's a voice-over by Jor-El (Supes' dad) about how the people on earth are pretty cool, but they need blahblahblah (I don't remember what) and so he sent his only son (at least he didn't say "begotten") to give them blahblah (whatever it is that they need). Anyway, there was always a little Jesus thing to Superman, but he wasn't sent here (in the comics), he got here by accident. In other news, I finally broke down and got high-speed internet (DSL), and it's pretty good so far. My dialup service was getting flaky, so that's what pushed me to do it. Then it turned out the Ethernet port was messed up on one computer, and other computers had other problems, so I ended up getting a new computer, too, which is also okay so far. How everything with everyone else? As B/4, John -- http://waldo.u-town.com (a writing blog) where you can meet a sane woman, and visit a strange new town. -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o [top] Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 01:34:38 -0700 (PDT) From: Simon Booth <phoenyxx98@yahoo.com> To: rdtrn@torithoughts.org Subject: I'm back! (it's me Simon) Itís been a while, but I am back. Classes this semester have kept me really busy this semester, but for once itís all worked out great. I mean, Iíve gotten decent grades in past semesters, but there was always something making things more difficult beyond the workload of the classes, like having to be up and out the door 3 or more hours before I actually needed to be there for class because that was the only time the van service could reserve for pickup on those mornings. Classes are very important, but itís still asinine to expect someone to get up at 4am to be ready to leave by 6 when class iisnít until 9. That 3 or 4 hours I could use the night before working on something and not feeling like the day is shot to hell by 6 or 7pm because Iíve got to head off to sleep early to be up at 4. Itís also harder for me to work on a project when over the 2 or 3 weeks alloted to complete it I only get to dabble a little here and there over that time and hoping to get it done on time. Crazy as it sounds, itís been much easier for me to get a lot done uninterupted in a shorter period of time, and use the rest of that time the instructor has alloted to spend more time doing whatever preliminary work is required. Keeping weird hours and being tired all the time and not getting anything done because most of the day is wasted is somethng I wanted to avoid this time around, and this semester I was very lucky to be able to avoid most of the hassles and distractions. Itís actually easier to get an early start one day during the week and spend hours processing film and making prints, than if I were working a little at a time over several days. One of my classes is a photography course, and I have to say I got so much more out of it than I had expected. My major is computer graphics, so I was honestly not sure what one could learn about working with film and darkroom printing that would be applicable to the work I want to do later on, but it turned out to be a blast. Thereís the challenge of going low-tech when youíre used to more sophisticate ways of doing things, but thereís also finding out the cool effects you can get shooting with black and white film, plus the sheer fun of learning to process your own film and making prints in the darkroom. I used my fatherís camera from 1971 for my work in the class, and I was getting good enough at using it that when I picked up the digital camera to snap off a quick pic, I spent a few seconds looking for the manual controls. Point and shoot is very anticlimatic ;) Photography is something Iíd really like to pursue later on. Even without a direct connection to the graphics work I want to do, it still is just something fun and creative to do as a hobby. I might just take pictures, build up a collection of negatives, and make prints when I can afford my own darkroom setup or have access to one later on. The other class is digital imaging, the class I took last fall but re-took this time to aim for a better grade, and it looks like this time Iím on track for at least a high B. One of these days I need to get a site set up so I can show people all these projects Iím talking about :) Not to turn this negative, but- I really miss the days when this list was really active. Waning interest in Tori is unthinkable- my interest hasnít wavered in the 8 years Iíve been listening to her. I canít imagine every losing interest-quite simply, I wouldnít be here if I hadnít really gotten into her music back in ë98. So, how can we get things going here again? I mean, I know Iíve been kept away from regular posting because of my recent schedule, but in the past couple of years or so so many people seem to have left, and it saddens me that things have slowed down so much. Despite the conflicts, overall it was always a lot of fun, having so many like-minded people coming together here. anyway- Chernobyl- 20 years later (April 26, 1986): Ukranian womanís motorcycle tour of the ìdead zoneî around the nuclear plant. Very errie! http://www.kiddofspeed.com/ weird feeling when things and events from your own liftime slide further and further back into the past. 1986 wasnít so long ago- and in January it hit me, the 28th was 20 years since Challenger. Last week I finally got to see ì2001î in a theatre- worth the 90 drive to Austin. My friends and I more and more are seeing older film screenings like this. Thereís been a push in the past few years to have theatres that arrange things like that, so if youíre in the San Antonio or Austin area, check out the Alamo Draft House theatres (4 in Austin, one in SA). Neat concept, a mix of new and older films, and you can actually order food at your seat, and the selections go beyond candy and popcorn. ì2001î has always been one of my favorites- itís sci fi anyway so thatís a given, but itís also one of Kubrickís works, so that too makes the experience cool. Is that movie the first example of product placement? On the big screen, all sorts of small details are visible, including a certain food company logo on a food dispenser. This is in addition to the obvious Pan-Am markings on a space shuttle. A nightmare vision of the future would of course have the same shuttle flying by- only itís from Southwest Airlines ;) One thing though- I read the book when I was 11 and just assumed that all that would come to pass between 1982 and 19 years in the future. >From what I know about the space program, things falling far short of predictions was always more of a political problem than technological. Theoretically we do have the technology to accomplish what was depicted in the movie, we only lack the political will to set things in motion for things to be brought together to make it reality. It has been pointed out to me that in a way, the advances in computer technology that have occured in real life surpass what was predicted in fiction of that time. While thereís no artificial intelligence, miniturisation and conectivity might be seen as a great trade off. At the time Clarke wrote the book (mid 60s, film was released in 1968) computers were large, sometimes filling up a whole room, so Clarke simply extrapolated from that, that computers would still be big, just getting more advanced over time, leading up to the HAL series. No one could have predicted the different direction things went, like individuals having their own computers or at least easy access to one, as well as the evolution of the internet. And am I the only one who thinks the name ìHALî is not a coindcidence? Move each letter back one. And look at the nameplate on the hatch to the computer core on the ship when Bowman is heading in there. bethey wrote: ìAlthough my life is going well, I find myself single once again.î Iíve been single for a long time, and just figured that it was the ethical thing to do, stay off the radar and *not* subject someone to my situation. More recently though Iíve started having second thoughts about that, and Iíve started thinking that perhaps being in a relationship is something Iím ready for, but still, I have to honestly ask, how delusional would be be to think someone would actually accept me, disability included. Never mind the prospect of the depression and mild bi-polar condition, albiet under control, still being enough to scare someone off. Thereís also an undercurrent among persons with disabilities that basically makes the whole notion of a disabled person seeking a relationship into something negative- person seeing someone in a wheelchair but not being phased by it is seen as a lie, and that the person really has some ulterior motive (some weird control thing or something), and the person in a wheelchair who *does* find a partner is seen as merely taking advantage of someone, wanting someone to take care of them basically. Both concepts are the epitome of bullshit, but itís a widely held notion in certain circles. It pisses me off that I canít prove that my motives are sincere, that the last thing I want is to be seen as tricking or manipulating someone, nor do I want to meet a woman who might only want to be friends but somehow feels obligated to go out with me. Recently Iíve gotten a lot more confident, and while I donít make a big deal about it, Iíve let myself be more open to possibilities, and with the classes I take there are many opportunities to meet interesting people, so a potential girlfriend with similar interests to mine doesnít seem so farfetched. Still though, itís hard to shake off the idea that I might inadvertently push someone away or else give the wrong impression that Iím all about me and the wheelchair looking for attention. And beyond all of that, would a woman not want to date someone whoís not date much since the early 90s? re:passions and looking for a challenge. I get like that too- even as hectic as things get and how relieved I am when a big project is finished, I end up feeling bored and looking for the next project at the same time Iím trying to enjoy the between-projects downtime. This semester is almost over (one more week, finals on May 2nd) and as mentally and physically exhausted as Iíve been, Iím excited at what Iíve acomplished- and having mixed feelings about the summer since Iím not taking classes again until the fall, and trying to figure out what to do- enjoy that downtime and stay busy at the same time. Iím already looking at continuing to take pictures, and I definite want to improve my web design skills to hopefully be able to make some money on the side doing web work for people. And of course practice with Photoshop and Illustrator. john b wrote: ì and I've discovered netflix, so I'm catching up on a lot of DVDs.î I subscribe to Blockbuster online which is similar, and itís really cool being able to rent DVDs like that. While itís not at all impossible for me to get out places, thereís never been a video shop that I could easily get to or that I could get to where it was covenient to my schedule. Getting the discs by mail and being able to watch them and send them back is something I wish they had come up with years ago. great to hear that people are reading your novels. Iíve been trying to write for years but I just canít get past the concept stage- got great ideas, but itís so damned hard to *do* something with those ideas. Iím actually thinking that graphics work might turn into an alternative to that- I really like sci-fi and futuristic conceptual art and Iíd love to get into doing that. funny (or not so funny) thing: last fall the asshole drawing instructor on several occasions, when commenting on my interest in technological-themed and inspired art, would talk about how historically such works have been the domain of fascist or totalitarian cultures. a) in general, I find it offensive that mine or anyone elses works could be dismissed like that and b) itís ironic as hell, considering that Italian futurist artists didnít last long under Mussolini, and in Nazi Germany all artists were persecuted, except a select group whose work was in line with the neo-Classical style Hitler was into. The Russian Constructivists, who ironically were true-believing loyal Communists, also didnít last long after Lenin died and Stalin took over in 1924. Some of the photographs Iíve taken were inspired by the photos of the Russian artist Alexander Rodchenko- purely because of the effects achieved with black and white images photographed at unusual angles, and sharp contrasts between light and shadow in outdoor shots. No political undertones to my interest in Rodchenkoís work. and oh yes- persons with disabilities were among the very first to die at the hands of the Nazis. So why the hell would I be a proponent of anything with such an evil history? The futuristic and conceptual works Iíve seen are far from that, usually depicting imaginative images of future technology, such space-themed art. pardon the rant. moving on- happy birthday Mikewhy (9 years on the run!) and say it ainít so- the dent falling silent? cyndi wrote about gathering tori footage- Iíve had an idea for a while now about somehow getting all the TV appearance footage and creating DVD complilations, and passing them among the fans in a similar manner to the way the boots are passed around. Iíve got a DVD burner on my iMac, but I need to get the hardware that converts analog video to digital to feed it into the computer. And thereís also the compatibility problem with some material, the whole NTSC/PAL/SECAM thing. but I still think it would be a cool thing to try at least. happy birthday Suzie and Amanda! 4 years to plan to run! john b wrote: ì1. Identity theft sucks. I speak from experience.î sounds like a stupid question, but are people who have been the victims of identity theft ìtargetedî or do the criminals just hit people at random? cyndi- sorry to hear about your dog *hugs* happy birthday violet- many years on the run :) welcome sophia! megan- bizarre story about the rape victim being forced to watch the video- wonder who got to the judge to get him to back off on that demand? and I thought Vegans were the people who Jodie Foster met in ìContactî ;) beth- the dearth of people bidding on tori collectables- a minor abberation, or a sign of something far more unthinkable? from estraven: ì I hope Brad Shultz is satisfied. Just wait until November.î has he left the service or is he still working at Stalag 13? happy birthday Maryam and Michela! Only 2 more years to go before itís time to run! thatís it from me, for now. Hoping things pick up here again. Simon We live for The One, We die for The One __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com o-o-o o-o-o o-o-o o-o-o o-o-o o-o-o o-o-o o-o-o o-o-o o-o-o *** Subliminal Day Off digest *** To POST messages to this list: <rdtrn@torithoughts.org> Can't figure out how to SUB, UNSUB, or CHANGE ADDRESSES? Send a message to <rdtrn-request@torithoughts.org> with "help" as the subject. Digest PROBLEMS or QUESTIONS? Contact: <admin@torithoughts.org> Want your BIRTHDAY announced on RDTRN in 2005? Visit the registration form located at http://www.torithoughts.org/RDTRN/birthday.html RDTRN SITE AND ARCHIVES: http://www.torithoughts.org/rdtrn RDTRN'S SUBLIMINAL THOUGHTS (you can't see this): http://www.torithoughts.org/rdtrn/subliminal/ For information on joining the TORITOUR list: Send a blank message to <tour@torithoughts.org> and you'll receive an instruction file. Any self-respecting Toriphile is on The Registry. (That means you!) http://thedent.developium.com/ _ . /\ , _ _ ( _ )_ {Oo\{o\ .=. ( ` )_ (_ _(_ ,) {o: \:.\ / \ ( ) `) | {O:' \:.-'_.-\_)____ (_ (_ . _) _) \ _ / {o:. /`~('-./-----.\ -= (_) =- }o: // /| `/\ ( ) / \ {O:'// /-' /\/\ ( ` ) . ) | }o-/( <___ \'/ /\/\/\ (_, _( ,_)_) /o./ ;--._)====* -\/\/\/ `"`\ \ /.\ `""` \ \ \ \ wWWWw wWWWw /`\ ) vVVVv (___) wWWWw (___) vVVVv |/| | vVVVv (___) ~O~ (___) vVVVv ~H~ (___) vVVVv _// \| (___) ~H~ \| ~U~ (___) |/ ~T~ (___) | / || \~T~/ \| \ |/ \| / \~G~/ \| \ |/ \~S~/ |/ / | \\|// \\|// \\|// \\|/// \\|// \\|// \\\|/// \\|// ` `\| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ` thanks for visiting this pretty garden

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