I just read through the war of art by Steven Pressfield in one sitting. An hour even. I think that if I am capable of this, you are too and if you have ever had a feeling that you were not doing what you should be doing with your life, you are doing yourself a disservice by not reading this book and learning why.
For real.
Resistance killed my push up test. Along with everything else I have ever truly wanted to do in life. I feel like I have finally been given a weapon in a war I didn't even know I was fighting.
Even within part three, for all it's posturing about angels and God as the source of creativity in all human beings, there was a wealth of information about how failure is in a way ingrained within our dna and within the social constructs that we have evolved as human beings. Are you your Ego or your Self? Are you the lone coyote with dominion over all that your will encompasses or the pack dog begging for scraps from the alpha dog and growling at those who would try to take your barely earned scraps away? Point being, it's a great book, beginning to end. I hate religion but thankfully the spirituality that Pressfield espouses never resorts to doctrine or religion. So go read it.
9.08.2008
8.06.2008
Push up test
So I am going to try this. I have been doing some push ups every monday and wednesday with some regularity after each kung fu class anyways so I think this will be a good intensive way to help build up my upper body strength and hopefully build my endurance up a bit more anyways. I'm not in terrible shape but I'm not in great shape and there's no such thing as too good of shape right? I just did my initial test and was able to do 19 push-ups. not the 60+ I was hoping to achieve but hey, it's a good solid number to work from. I plan to go friday sunday and tuesday. I wonder if I'll have any of my comics scripts finished before I can do 100 push ups? :D
What has religion done for you lately?
Okay, so I was talking with Justin today about religion and atheism and there's a few things I want to clear up for anyone who reads this and anyone who may have a misconception about what an atheist is.
First of all, an atheist does not "believe" that there is no god or supernatural power. There is no room for something like "belief" in the mind of an atheist. All a belief does is allow your mind a shortcut to thinking about an idea in a particular way and maintaining that it does not require any further investigation; that it is what it is. I "know" that there is no proof of a higher power existing because of the fact that all of the so called proofs for said higher power existing have been explained with only a little scientific investigation.
Second of all, that faith exists and that religions (any religion at all!) exist is definitely in no way, not even one fucking iota of a shred of proof that God or any semblance of God exists (except in the way that ideas exist if you want to get technical you dick). You think that people are incapable of putting trust in the unknown or having faith in the absence of God? Even I do it more than I'd like to admit. It doesn't mean that a single one of the Judeo-Christian mythologies or any number of other polytheist mythologies are anything more than fanciful what-if tales written by people that had nothing better to do than sit and wonder about such things. And they're great and fun to read (when they aren't tedious and boring). You may even learn something from them (when they actually have something to teach).
But this brings me to my final point. If the lessons you are taking away from religion or your spirituality are that it is right and noble to commit yourself to some unknowable or even knowable higher power and that you are made even more holy by yielding unquestioningly to the words of such a power that have only ever been interpreted and presented by other men...
The fact of the matter is, you are a slave.
And you're not a slave... are you?
I forgot though! You don't 'believe' in all these religions, of course they all are getting it wrong. They are interpretations by men of something that is unknowable and undefinable! Faith is an ongoing battle and it's natural that it should be tested by the acts of wickedness that surround us all but is that not just the devil trying to convince you to give up? You think you've come to spirituality on your own terms but you really haven't. Instead you are now subscribing to the raving lunacy of your own mind instead of that of another's. I guess that's kind of mean. But I'm allowed to be mean cause I'm an atheist. I don't have to worry about any repercussions due to this. Unless you want to try to test me physically. Be satisfied in your knowledge that I am spiritually bankrupt because I revel in it. I party as hard as I can in it. Because I know there is no such thing as hell and that all the evil in the world is simply the cruel acts that we perpetrate on each other in our endless struggle to survive and be one better than those around us.
Justin made a good point in response to this:
"You might point out that the only thing atheist readily agree on is 'there is no god.' Beyond that: questions about morals, ethics, science, taste in music....whatever, that is open for debate...atheism makes no such dogmatic claims."
And this is true.
The thing that is most frustrating is that people will read this with the mindset that I am a hypocrite because for all my noise, I certainly "believe" pretty firmly in what I am saying. I can't tell you how nonsensical that is. These ideas and thoughts are like water flowing through my consciousness and open to be modified whenever there is some new bit of knowledge that presents itself in spite of what I think. People with faith on the other hand... The ones who think that faith somehow proves the existence of god and brag so loudly about their 'faith' proves god exists... well look, here is definition number 2 for faith from dictionary.com
2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact. (this is kind of funny because as I said before, even the scientist participating in the scientific process of proving his hypothesis can be susceptible to faith)
Well how the fuck can you say that your faith proves god exists when the reason you have to resort to faith in the first place is because there is no proof? The thing is, it automatically is no longer faith at that point. You're basically saying you "know" god is real, negating any amazing power that your so-called blind devotion to a mysterious unknowable entity provides you. I'm not going to talk about the people who seem to actually "know" god is real. They have spoken for themselves throughout history through the many atrocities committed in his holy name.
The point at the end of all of this i suppose is that, you can believe whatever you want because your mind developed the ability to extrapolate upon the sensory data that it receives. If you want to believe this is a magical ability granted to you by an omnipotent and omniscient being with a vested interest in your future, that's fine. But personally, as an Atheist, the quest for knowledge and understanding about life and everything will never be satisfied by such a mundane answer as "God did it."
http://www.godlessgeeks.com/LINKS/Dragon.htm
http://www.400monkeys.com/God/
First of all, an atheist does not "believe" that there is no god or supernatural power. There is no room for something like "belief" in the mind of an atheist. All a belief does is allow your mind a shortcut to thinking about an idea in a particular way and maintaining that it does not require any further investigation; that it is what it is. I "know" that there is no proof of a higher power existing because of the fact that all of the so called proofs for said higher power existing have been explained with only a little scientific investigation.
Second of all, that faith exists and that religions (any religion at all!) exist is definitely in no way, not even one fucking iota of a shred of proof that God or any semblance of God exists (except in the way that ideas exist if you want to get technical you dick). You think that people are incapable of putting trust in the unknown or having faith in the absence of God? Even I do it more than I'd like to admit. It doesn't mean that a single one of the Judeo-Christian mythologies or any number of other polytheist mythologies are anything more than fanciful what-if tales written by people that had nothing better to do than sit and wonder about such things. And they're great and fun to read (when they aren't tedious and boring). You may even learn something from them (when they actually have something to teach).
But this brings me to my final point. If the lessons you are taking away from religion or your spirituality are that it is right and noble to commit yourself to some unknowable or even knowable higher power and that you are made even more holy by yielding unquestioningly to the words of such a power that have only ever been interpreted and presented by other men...
The fact of the matter is, you are a slave.
And you're not a slave... are you?
I forgot though! You don't 'believe' in all these religions, of course they all are getting it wrong. They are interpretations by men of something that is unknowable and undefinable! Faith is an ongoing battle and it's natural that it should be tested by the acts of wickedness that surround us all but is that not just the devil trying to convince you to give up? You think you've come to spirituality on your own terms but you really haven't. Instead you are now subscribing to the raving lunacy of your own mind instead of that of another's. I guess that's kind of mean. But I'm allowed to be mean cause I'm an atheist. I don't have to worry about any repercussions due to this. Unless you want to try to test me physically. Be satisfied in your knowledge that I am spiritually bankrupt because I revel in it. I party as hard as I can in it. Because I know there is no such thing as hell and that all the evil in the world is simply the cruel acts that we perpetrate on each other in our endless struggle to survive and be one better than those around us.
Justin made a good point in response to this:
"You might point out that the only thing atheist readily agree on is 'there is no god.' Beyond that: questions about morals, ethics, science, taste in music....whatever, that is open for debate...atheism makes no such dogmatic claims."
And this is true.
The thing that is most frustrating is that people will read this with the mindset that I am a hypocrite because for all my noise, I certainly "believe" pretty firmly in what I am saying. I can't tell you how nonsensical that is. These ideas and thoughts are like water flowing through my consciousness and open to be modified whenever there is some new bit of knowledge that presents itself in spite of what I think. People with faith on the other hand... The ones who think that faith somehow proves the existence of god and brag so loudly about their 'faith' proves god exists... well look, here is definition number 2 for faith from dictionary.com
2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact. (this is kind of funny because as I said before, even the scientist participating in the scientific process of proving his hypothesis can be susceptible to faith)
Well how the fuck can you say that your faith proves god exists when the reason you have to resort to faith in the first place is because there is no proof? The thing is, it automatically is no longer faith at that point. You're basically saying you "know" god is real, negating any amazing power that your so-called blind devotion to a mysterious unknowable entity provides you. I'm not going to talk about the people who seem to actually "know" god is real. They have spoken for themselves throughout history through the many atrocities committed in his holy name.
The point at the end of all of this i suppose is that, you can believe whatever you want because your mind developed the ability to extrapolate upon the sensory data that it receives. If you want to believe this is a magical ability granted to you by an omnipotent and omniscient being with a vested interest in your future, that's fine. But personally, as an Atheist, the quest for knowledge and understanding about life and everything will never be satisfied by such a mundane answer as "God did it."
http://www.godlessgeeks.com/
http://www.400monkeys.com/God/
7.25.2008
Thursday
So Thursday was a busy day. The morning saw information imparted by some independent creators about an organization they founded and how forming such an organization has helped them realize a success in comics that they otherwise might not have found. It was called the Antidote Trust and I will look into it some later.
From there it was to the Doctor Who panel (sans Russel T Davies who is apparently 'hard at work' writing Torchwood) in which we were treated to Stephen Moffat telling about his enjoyment working on the show and his new position as showrunner. We got to see some clips from his episodes, listen to him be hiliarious and hear some good and terrible questions from the audience. At the end we got to see a trailer for the christmas episode that comes out this year. It involves Cybermen and it is set in Victorian England. And having Stephen Moffat in charge is going to make this season give Russel T Davies previous 3 a serious run for their money.
Next up, the Torchwood Panel began with Jason Barrowman leaping up onto the stage and the very table like a rockstar at his introduction. He was joined by David Gareth-Lloyd and Naoko Mori for what was a very entertaining about working on the show. We weren't treated to anything new really here but I did leave early so it may have come at the end. I did get to hear John Barrowman express his desire to play Captain America though in response to a fan question about it and apparently he's a contender. A good one in my oppinion.
Next came a panel that Entertainment Weekly put together featuring Grant Morrison, Jim Lee, John Cassaday, Mike Mignola, Robert Kirkman and Matt Fraction. It was interesting to hear them all speak about comics, the impact of hollywood on comics, the impact of comics on hollywood. The nice thing is all of them are very down to earth and it was just cool to see these people that could be you or I (except for Grant Morrison who we all know is an alien) sitting up there talking about the future of comics. It was at this point that I started to really get a feeling for just how possible it is to be a comics creator. We also cut off about a hundred other people to be in this panel. It's funny all you have to do is act bewildered and innocent at all times and then the end of the line is anywhere you choose for it to be.
Next up, Richard and I skipped next door to the Afro Samurai Panel and got to hear the man himself, Samuel L Jackson express his liking for the character of Afro and his excitement at being involved with this creation. The RZA was running late but he made it still. I enjoyed hearing him talk about the creative process for the music of the original series and the new movie coming out. He said he was trying to essentially capture the spirit of a crazy bitch in his sound this time since the antagonist is a woman in the movie. We then got to see a trailer and also got to watch the producer for the new video game play some of it. They did an excellent job capturing the feel of the show in the game. and the music is all by the RZA and the voices from the original show returned for the game. It looks really slick production-wise with tons of stylistic blood and samurai action. Worth a rent at least.
The last panel of the day was one about creating a graphic novel. A lot of people were there, the only name I really knew was Stephen Grant but there were some others that I'm sure I'll be embarassed later at not knowing. At any rate, it was interesting enough but mainly amounted to the same advice anyone can give. Create what you want, don't compromise your art for the sake of being adapted to another medium and if you are a writer and want actual good art, be prepared to pay for it. sigh.
The feeling of walking through the exhibit hall is something that can only be expressed through pictures. I'm sorry for not having uploaded them yet. I haven't really had the opportunity but if I can tonight, I will. I've been trying to get as much free shit as possible but so far i've been beaten by the early risers. Today will be no different I'm sure but tomorrow...
From there it was to the Doctor Who panel (sans Russel T Davies who is apparently 'hard at work' writing Torchwood) in which we were treated to Stephen Moffat telling about his enjoyment working on the show and his new position as showrunner. We got to see some clips from his episodes, listen to him be hiliarious and hear some good and terrible questions from the audience. At the end we got to see a trailer for the christmas episode that comes out this year. It involves Cybermen and it is set in Victorian England. And having Stephen Moffat in charge is going to make this season give Russel T Davies previous 3 a serious run for their money.
Next up, the Torchwood Panel began with Jason Barrowman leaping up onto the stage and the very table like a rockstar at his introduction. He was joined by David Gareth-Lloyd and Naoko Mori for what was a very entertaining about working on the show. We weren't treated to anything new really here but I did leave early so it may have come at the end. I did get to hear John Barrowman express his desire to play Captain America though in response to a fan question about it and apparently he's a contender. A good one in my oppinion.
Next came a panel that Entertainment Weekly put together featuring Grant Morrison, Jim Lee, John Cassaday, Mike Mignola, Robert Kirkman and Matt Fraction. It was interesting to hear them all speak about comics, the impact of hollywood on comics, the impact of comics on hollywood. The nice thing is all of them are very down to earth and it was just cool to see these people that could be you or I (except for Grant Morrison who we all know is an alien) sitting up there talking about the future of comics. It was at this point that I started to really get a feeling for just how possible it is to be a comics creator. We also cut off about a hundred other people to be in this panel. It's funny all you have to do is act bewildered and innocent at all times and then the end of the line is anywhere you choose for it to be.
Next up, Richard and I skipped next door to the Afro Samurai Panel and got to hear the man himself, Samuel L Jackson express his liking for the character of Afro and his excitement at being involved with this creation. The RZA was running late but he made it still. I enjoyed hearing him talk about the creative process for the music of the original series and the new movie coming out. He said he was trying to essentially capture the spirit of a crazy bitch in his sound this time since the antagonist is a woman in the movie. We then got to see a trailer and also got to watch the producer for the new video game play some of it. They did an excellent job capturing the feel of the show in the game. and the music is all by the RZA and the voices from the original show returned for the game. It looks really slick production-wise with tons of stylistic blood and samurai action. Worth a rent at least.
The last panel of the day was one about creating a graphic novel. A lot of people were there, the only name I really knew was Stephen Grant but there were some others that I'm sure I'll be embarassed later at not knowing. At any rate, it was interesting enough but mainly amounted to the same advice anyone can give. Create what you want, don't compromise your art for the sake of being adapted to another medium and if you are a writer and want actual good art, be prepared to pay for it. sigh.
The feeling of walking through the exhibit hall is something that can only be expressed through pictures. I'm sorry for not having uploaded them yet. I haven't really had the opportunity but if I can tonight, I will. I've been trying to get as much free shit as possible but so far i've been beaten by the early risers. Today will be no different I'm sure but tomorrow...
7.24.2008
Preview Night
so it's only been one day and not even a full day and already my eyes have seen more than my brain wanted to bother processing. At the Marvel booth, we saw a mock up of the iron-monger. Ed Brubaker and Humberto Ramos stood idly around chatting with people while Matt Fraction and others signed autographs off to the side. The DC booth was a whirlwind of activity that I barely spent any time in but will definitely check out more later. DC Universe Online was on display in pre-alpha stage and the rest of the exhibit hall was awash in color and light. So many artists are there and so many writers. The Spirit is the theme as everything from busses to bilboards are advertising the movie. I imagine only during comicon will you see something like the stargate MMORPG advertising covering an entire bus in downtown SD.
Today I will simply have to take pictures of everything. And try not to go crazy spending money...
There are so many panels I want to go to yet so many that conflict with each other. Plus with the number of people that are there it may be a matter of not even being able to fit into the rooms. I guess I haven't been learning kung fu for nothing.
Richard and I got to have a special studio pass and sit in a mostly empty reserved section for the screening of Fringe. It looks interesting, already we have a sort of Lost like conspiracy-mystery and drug induced science. Which is the only kind of science if you ask me. The show takes it's name from the idea of "fringe science" which you may know as pseudo science or crap. However, the premise is one of science fiction and once the mysterious Massive Dynamics corporation rears it's ugly head as a result of an investigation into flesh devouring chemicals you quickly get a sense of the kind of show you're watching. Ultimately it's a question of where the show is going and what it will be about as it goes on. Thumbs sideways I say so far.
Today I will simply have to take pictures of everything. And try not to go crazy spending money...
There are so many panels I want to go to yet so many that conflict with each other. Plus with the number of people that are there it may be a matter of not even being able to fit into the rooms. I guess I haven't been learning kung fu for nothing.
Richard and I got to have a special studio pass and sit in a mostly empty reserved section for the screening of Fringe. It looks interesting, already we have a sort of Lost like conspiracy-mystery and drug induced science. Which is the only kind of science if you ask me. The show takes it's name from the idea of "fringe science" which you may know as pseudo science or crap. However, the premise is one of science fiction and once the mysterious Massive Dynamics corporation rears it's ugly head as a result of an investigation into flesh devouring chemicals you quickly get a sense of the kind of show you're watching. Ultimately it's a question of where the show is going and what it will be about as it goes on. Thumbs sideways I say so far.
7.23.2008
Wednesday
Alright so today has been okay so far. I went to the zoo for a while and took pictures before my camera finally said "FUCK YOU GREG, I'M DONE." and promptly turned off. I then remembered that with these new fangled technological devices it generally helps to charge them. Seeing as how I haven't since I got it, I suppose it's to the camera's credit that it lasted this long.
I'm off to downtown to the convention center to pick up my badge. Still haven't decided how badly I want to see fringe.
I'm off to downtown to the convention center to pick up my badge. Still haven't decided how badly I want to see fringe.
7.22.2008
Comicon 2008 - The Prequel
Well I am sitting in here in the hotel. The wireless is up and running so hopefully I will be able to diligently record the events of the coming week for you all here. My companions and I are going to chill here for a bit before heading to downtown and getting an idea of where everything is at, the layout of the convention center and all. Once I have it set up, I will post a link to a public place where you will be able to view pics as I upload them. The flight out here was very smooth with plenty of alcohol imbibed beforehand and just enough time in the air for a viewing of harold and kumar escape from guantanamo bay. With not much else to say, I'll leave you with a quote from Robert Kirkman:
“I wouldn’t feel creatively fulfilled if I was 40 and still writing Spider-Man and hadn’t done anything on my own.”
It's comicon baby. Let the madness begin.
“I wouldn’t feel creatively fulfilled if I was 40 and still writing Spider-Man and hadn’t done anything on my own.”
It's comicon baby. Let the madness begin.
4.14.2008
In real life, there are no winners or losers
In real life you just have to make do with what you're given and what you take for yourself. I don't enjoy taking things and I hate being given them even more. The color of the sky has been unnaturally blue lately. Where has all the pollution gone? I've been seeing lots of beautiful days lately and I'm not happy. It must be the weather. It must be the environment. They found a lot of plastic and trash in the pacific ocean apparently recently that is the accumulated refuse of 3 continents pooling together to form a new landmass, thanks to the energies of our hard working oceans. The trash has been swirling around and combining and breaking down into it's base molecules. The trouble, so everyone says is that those molecules are unnatural and will end up lodging themselves in fish and other marine life, thereby slowly eating away and destroying the ecosystem. What people fail to realize is that there will be creatures that adapt and will learn to exist in our trashy oceans. There will eventually even be a landmass that will probably form on the surface if this continues, one that life will be able to start breeding and existing upon. Just like this place.
To be honest I've been in a pretty down sort of mood lately. I've been finding myself actually reading comments that people leave on websites at the end of articles that I subscribe to. I find over all, when they aren't completely unrelated or misunderstanding the intention of the article that they follow, they are insulting at best, vapid at the least. I'm amazed based on some of the responses that these people had the cognitive ability to string together sentences of words at all. That they are not only capable of doing so, but seem to actually believe or stand behind the horrible things that come out of their mouths speaks to a much darker truth I think we're only beginning to get a glimpse of. The internet is the tired worn face of a humanity that has stayed up too many nights drinking. It's the shock of seeing the exposed and rotted arm of a heroin addict on your best friend. I really love humanity a lot. I see a lot of potential and a lot of hope for the future. It's just hard sometimes not knowing if it will ever really amount to anything. I guess ultimately I'm okay with that. It is what it is after all and no amount of blogging will change that.
To be honest I've been in a pretty down sort of mood lately. I've been finding myself actually reading comments that people leave on websites at the end of articles that I subscribe to. I find over all, when they aren't completely unrelated or misunderstanding the intention of the article that they follow, they are insulting at best, vapid at the least. I'm amazed based on some of the responses that these people had the cognitive ability to string together sentences of words at all. That they are not only capable of doing so, but seem to actually believe or stand behind the horrible things that come out of their mouths speaks to a much darker truth I think we're only beginning to get a glimpse of. The internet is the tired worn face of a humanity that has stayed up too many nights drinking. It's the shock of seeing the exposed and rotted arm of a heroin addict on your best friend. I really love humanity a lot. I see a lot of potential and a lot of hope for the future. It's just hard sometimes not knowing if it will ever really amount to anything. I guess ultimately I'm okay with that. It is what it is after all and no amount of blogging will change that.
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