Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Every Sentence Gets a Link

e.comNow I feel kinda bad. Aak's now plowing ahead with honest blogging and I had to go and bring the negativity in.

I'm with you on wanting to be in shape for the health benefits. I think of the body as a machine, and I need to start working on mine because there's just so much that I want to do with it. But the other day after a lifting workout some part of me felt the urge to flex in front of the mirror. Sad, but true. If I were blind I'd probably have the urge to feel myself.

I have made it an annual tradition to watch the Shawshank Redemption on my birthday. I remember once I was watching a sitcom and the character had a tradition where he drank a glass of port (yuck) then went for a walk. This year I completely forgot about the resolution, but ended up doing it anyway out of a desire to see the film. Coincidence, or subconscious remembering? Doo-doo-doo-doo-doooooo-oh-da-da-da, da-da-da, da-da-da, da-da, oh-da-da-da, da-da-da, da-da-da-doo-doo-doo-doo-DOO-doooooo...

When I was a kid and still in play alone phase, when I was in the shower (no, not that kind of play alone), I used to pretend that I was a giant who lived in the forest near a group of villages. In the fantasy I would come out and hang out with them every once in a while. I had the ability to shoot water from my fingertips, doing it for real by letting the water run down my arm and shoot off my fingers. I held this power over the villagers' heads for whenever they pissed me off. If they did I would flood their town as punishment.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Learning To Walk

While Mr. Hatandcoat is learning how to sit, I'm learning how to walk.

One of my new roommates was a dancer in college. Last week she told us that, while she doesn't dance any more, at least she thinks about her body as she walks.

I asked her what she meant, and this is what she told me to do: Sit or lie on the floor, facing up. Put your legs straight out. Really straight. The important thing is that your feet are no more than hip-width apart, and that your hipbones, knees, and feet are all aligned. That's how you should walk. She said that, if you deviate from that straight line, you put undue pressure on your joints.

I read a book in college called White Noise, by Don DeLillo. I once described it as "an important book" to a friend of mine. I wouldn't call it that now, but I still value it pretty highly for its prose, its ideas, and its view of America. The protagonist's wife, Babette, goes to a "sitting, standing, and walking class." The class was made up of middle-aged and elderly people who felt that they walked incorrectly. That they had been taught the wrong way to move and that they should fix it. The protagonist peeked in on one of these classes and saw that the teachers had all of them start at the beginner level: 40- and 60-year-old men and women on their hands and knees, crawling around on the floor.

DeLillo was laughing at these people, but he was also mystified by the way we feel that something is wrong with ourselves, even in the most basic things like walking. He portrayed it as kind of insane that we go and pay money to have teachers teach us the correct way to do these basic, fundamental, human things.

Since my roommate showed me how, I've been walking as aligned as possible. Same while riding my bike. My left knee doesn't feel as bad that way. I guess I was walking and riding incorrectly all along. So there, DeLillo.

Monday, July 28, 2008

A Little Too Comfy

I have been working on my posture lately. Looking like the second ape in on that evolution picture is not a valid way to walk through life. What I have found is that the effort HURTS. If I sit straight up on my spine, it gets a lot of stress. Plus I have to use all sorts of lazy back muscles that just want to hang out. I have intermittently tried meditation ever since college. Every single explanation for how to do it says to sit up straight and relax all your muscles. Well, f$&* you. Sitting up straight takes as much effort as slow burn. Of course, Slow Burn will solve all problems in life, so maybe I should just give in to it.

Where was I going with this...oh, so when I try to sit up straight it lasts for about 2 minutes, then some pretty creative jives step in. My upper body moves from one position to another like a stick shift. I end up slouched waaaay down, so that my ass is pretty close to the front edge of the seat. Today on the subway I was slouched in this way, until my knee was very close to some woman was sitting perpendicular to me. I was reading a magazine, looked up, and noticed her giving me a weird glare out of the corner of her eye. I thought, "what's your problem, you stupid..." then I realized.

This post is in celebration of a new reader. My roommate has actually added this blog and Districted to her rss feeds. Aak and I now have a fan base. God, if this keeps up we might get heads too large to keep upright on a bicycle. One of us might take a dive.

Short List

John, the roommate's boyfriend, is a pretty hard core video game buff. I asked him to come up with a short list of his favorite games of all time. In no particular order, this is what I got:

River City Ransom - NES
Final Fantasy VI - Super NES
Super Dodgeball - NES
Herzog Zwei - Genesis
Jet Grind Radio - Dreamcast
Katamari Damacy - Playstation 2
Vib Ribbon - Playstation (impossible to find)
Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 - Arcade & Dreamcast
Saturn Bomberman - Saturn
Tribes 2 - PC

I have only heard of the first 2. Well, I've heard of Final Fantasy VI like I've heard of Final Fantasy XXV, or whatever number they're up to. Actually, I'm kinda proud and feel like I have a touch of geek cred because I've heard of River City Ransom. It's a relatively obscure one. Really, a friend had it when I was a youngen.

I have only once been fired from a job. When I was in college I was the wieght room monitor freshman year. My job was to post in the weight room and I guess keep everything in order. Like everyone else in that position I left during the shift. I had a paper to write. I got caught. I tried giving the athletic director a line of shit, and he cut me off with "that's bullshit." It wasn't fun. It actually left me feeling pretty bad about myself. Part of me wants to be fired from something nowadays just for a cool story, but remembering that feeling keeps me from the precipice.

Aak, I think the public wants more posts from you. Or at least I want something to respond to.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Ow

I like contrast, or at least contrasting aak. Here's a video of the heavyweight mixed martial artist Cro Cop. He's a Croation special anti-terrorist policeman (hence the nickname) and a former member of the Croatian Parliament (How badass is Croatia?). Really, though, his claim to fame is kicking people in the head. Hard. You too can some day have tree trunk legs that inflict ridiculous damage on other people.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Randy Pausch

I don't like reposting. Here's a repost of a video that was on Neatorama.

You may notice that it is over an hour long. I didn't know that YouTube allowed hour-long videos, but I can see why they made an exception.

Why should you invest over an hour in watching it? Well, the guy talking died today of pancreatic cancer. He was a pioneer of VR and an energetic professor at Carnegie Mellon and a Disney Imagineer and an all-around amazing person. He made this lecture about a month after he was told he had 3-6 months to live. It's about how he achieved his childhood dreams, how he has helped others achieve their dreams, and a few lessons learned.

Other things to watch it for:
-talking about brick walls
-talking about head fakes
-talking about working with Disney
-him being told to talk about "fun," and him comparing that to a fish being told to talk about water: "I'm dying, and I'm having fun."
-the cake




Thursday, July 24, 2008

Hat and Coat

What's "Hatandcoat" all about?

It's a line from some movie that happened to be on when Mr. Hatandcoat decided he wanted to write a blog. Some Cary Grant flick.

But why did it stick in Mr. H&C's mind? He'd probably say there was no reason, that it was totally random. I prefer to think otherwise. There must've been something about the phrase.

Maybe it's about immediacy. Somebody you know knocks on your door, says he needs you to come right away. Okay, you say, I'll grab my hat and coat.

If it's winter. And you're Cary Grant.

Maybe it's about being prepared. People who wear hats and coats like to be prepared for the elements. Even when it's 90 degrees, like tomorrow is supposed to be.

So this blog is supposed to be about immediate needs. Aren't all blogs? But it's also about being ready to go. Perhaps not even removing your outer layers. I like that idea. Which reminds me, I must be leaving. Don't let me forget my hat and coat.