Understanderstand

• Classic
• Flipcard
• Magazine
• Mosaic
• Sidebar
• Snapshot
• Timeslide

1. Feb

   1

   After some deliberation, I rolled some cigarettes, threw on my jacket, brushed my teeth using Arm & Hammer baking soda, and grabbed my Swiss Army shoulder bag before twisting open the deadbolt on my green steel apartment door. My sneakers I was already wearing as an insulator against the cool stone tiles lining my ground floor dwelling. I estimated that this would be at least my eighteen-hundredth trip to the booze-mart a couple of blocks away since moving into my downtown suite in the summer of 2006.
   
   Do I have a problem? Doesn't everyone? When the urge to drink begins swelling, I know it's simply a matter of time before I make that lonely trek across the hand-railed overpass to 109th & 99 Avenue commercial strip that houses my favorite East Indian family enterprise I lovingly refer to as "The Boozeistan".
   
   Using almost half of the last of the birthday money I'd received from my dear Mother only two days prior, I purchased a magnum of Gato Negro Cabernet Savignon. Several hours earlier, I'd promised her on the telephone that I wouldn't be spending a nickel of it on liquor. Technically, wine isn't liquor, but I still couldn't believe my own audacity. I was compelled - nay, divinely propelled, to imbibe.
   
   I'm drinking it now while I write this piece of self-deprecating drivel. My insurrectionary proclivities are too much for my ping-pong-ing brain to quell. My less than feeble convicting judgments whisper, "Do it Blake" in rasping harmonies. Am I a musician? Am I a writer? How long must I endure this poverty of stimuli? Will I be a capital-'I'- Internet addict forever?
   
   Addiction. Who isn't addicted to at least ten different things? I can name ten substances / stimuli right now: booze, coffee / tea, Coronation Street, weed, bad girls, Internet, driving fast, the opine arts, nerdy chicks, and gourmet cuisine - about in that order. What sorts of things do you fancy, Dear Reader?
   
   Understand that these lusts for life shouldn't necessarily pose a major threat to anyone's functionabili-googie in society. Lots of people smoke weed and watch Coronation Street religiously, I'm sure I am. The thing with me is, is that my folks pay for all my rent & utilities... so therefore, Mom & Dad play the trump card on any of my philosophical leanings.
   
   Am I that bad? I just turned 35 and haven't had a steady job in almost three years. Sure I do odd jobs here and there: dog sit, sweep stairwells, babysit, teach music lessons, run little errands, play open stages... but I don't exactly make a bundle. I spend too much time playing computer games and cleaning up after my malatrose (I don't know if I just made that word up? French?) friends who like to pop-in unexpectedly. It's like a never-ending cycle. A timed, revolving door of eccentric n'aer-do-wells' egos? Where the hell have I been living this last half-decade? One thing's for certain... I've certainly been of course to lead a shortened life of astounding decadence if I keep chasing my own Dragon's spawn.
   
   Making silly songs and embarrassssssssing video takes for Your Tube. Imagining myself as a mucho big-shot, upcoming producer. Spending hours, hacking away at social media sites. Learning the ol' html macro scripting. Learning a great deal about the micro and macro workings of social media. Editing video and audio and recreating the mouse-trap and all. Big money is all I'm after. That... and of course getting closer to Jehova.
   
   Let's say The Blakemeister is visiting one of his friends who happens to be in a drunken-stupor. He's all alone- and this wasted-drunk devil calls you up for a little "face-to-face, let's-share-a-drink-" type chit chat at his place. Still... I never bully too hard... not ever, and try my musician's best to stick-up for my bros. I do my best not to let my ego supersede my observance of others' limits.
   
   Well, Dear Reader, I just so happen to be an "edit-on-the-go" -type of person so there's a high likelihood that I would most definitely concede to my friend's boozing proposition whenever I'm feeling down-and-out, eh? Given the high likelihood that he's holding more booze than he can drink, it might just behoove me to charm him out of it. If this proverbial friend of mine happens to love my company as much as I love booze, then I'm drinking Scot-free tonight. Smokes too... hopefully!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
    
   
     
   
   
    

   Posted 3 minutes ago by Romance Alta.,

   0

   Add a comment

2. Oct

   17

   LINUX VIDEO: ubuntu - Example of live video, sound, and desktop capture.

   
   

   Though nothing astoundingly special, the above video was produced start to finish using free open source drivers, software applications, and networking controls - more specifically, the "Ubuntu" v. 10.04 rendition of the Debian Linux-based operating system for home computers.

   The live picture-in-picture video of me was achieved with a Hauppauge brand video capture card's S-Video input which was connected to the A/V output of my Panasonic video camera - giving me a nice black & white video feed right into my computer's video card. Using the free XawTV software, I was able to feed the video image from the camera into a neatly re-sizable desktop display window.

   Now I have the power to make some nice multi-media presentations through the placement of various application windows within the screen capture area provided by the XVidCap software. Computers, being so prone to glitches as they seem to be when you're me, I could hardly believe everything was working as it should; not many tweaks needed to be made., and nothing crashed or spat an error out. I stuck an Audacity sound tracker window in the picture and a gedit notepad window to the east.

   This too can you do with Ubuntu on your computu!

   
   
   
   
   
   
    
   
   

   Posted 17th October 2011 by Romance Alta.,

   0

   Add a comment

Loading

Send feedback

Federal Reserve: No Secrets Here

Tax the rich, feed the poor, etc. Scripted? Aside from the odd clip available on the internet...

I don't routinely watch much mainstream cable news. Love the 3/4 length sleeve "The Who" shirt on Mr. Interviewee. Something I'd definitely want to slip into before shuffling off to the booze store before heading off to the protest to meet chicks and grab a hotdog. Good to see some of the kids still appreciate the great music. The stadium rock pioneers that hailed from a time that I sometimes wish I were a teenager during. Even still I dream of one day playing guitar and singing in a popular progressive-psychedelic rock band who's fan base is comprised mainly by hot MILFs and stylish drug dealers. Maybe we could even convince our favorite news man to have us on one of his broadcasts... we'll raise Cain!



   

Until next time.

More...


More...



ENOUGH!

Western Medicine & Public Death Care

Western medicine seems to put far more emphasis on treating symptoms resulting from poor lifestyle choices and circumstance. Decades of living a loveless life, not sleeping enough, and continually stressing about disease and dysfunction can wreak havoc on the immune system.

Take someone, let's say a man approaching middle age who has worked at a petrochemical refinery for ten hours a day for the last twenty years and whose basic diet is comprised of convenience foods and cheap beer. His exercise is limited to getting in and out of a pickup truck and walking a few steps several times a day. His sixteen year old daughter is dating some drug dealer twice her age, and he hasn't made love to his wife in almost a year. He feels immeasurable guilt about a clandestine visit to a "massage" parlour he impulsively made when he was drunk... six years ago. He has his mobile phone next to his ear for an average of an hour every working shift.

Our candidate goes to the doctor complaining about headaches and gastrointestinal issues, and the doctor asks, "Do you smoke?"

He smokes about ten or fifteen cigarettes a day, has the occasional cigar, and stresses about cutting back. The doctor prescribes a magic quit-smoking-pill and tells him not to make another appointment until he's quit smoking.

Re-Discovering Sir Mix-A-Lot: A short hip-hop / rap / pop music review written by a wannabe rocker.

In considering that my musical tastes lean most hardest toward psychedelic rock music from the 60's and 70's, I am probably not the best aficionado of good taste when it comes to criticizing the hip-hop / rap genre of music out here, but I do love a good song and dance; I know what I like. Sometimes... like after a nice grilled cheese sandwich and some discount brand lager, I crave hearing a bit of Black Sabbath or Captain Beefheart. Often, there are times that I'm feeling a little nostalgic, drunk, and no other singer can fill the void in my heart like Diana Ross. I've always been a tremendously huge fan of those gorgeous and talented ABBA girls:




ABBA to Zappa. I get off listening to whatever I deem to be a good song or well conceived piece of music regardless of whatever genre it may be classified under. When it comes to classical music, it's in the nuances found betwixt the notes and pauses  of the masterful works of J.S. Bach that charges-up my batteries more than even Mozart of Brahms:



The music of J.S. Bach is complex and definitive. The mediocrity of this particular recitation in comparison to what I've heard out there leaves much to be desired.  I Unless you're playing bluegrass, a song shouldn't be treated as though its a cannonball run. Given the serene complexity of every single one of  J.S. Bach's works that I've yet heard, it's a miracle to me that anyone can even play all the movements through to the finish at all! So I offer a hearty Bravo to the organist above, whoever he may be. Just playing anything on a full console pipe organ is impressive in itself. Being expected to sweep the foot pedals in correct order while noodling about with both hands on the keyboardz in an accurate and timely fashion would astound even the most stalwart of "hey, I can do that" type people. Isn't the pipe organ truly glorious? I thank metallurgy, acoustical physics, and Christianity for the wonder that is the pipe organ.

Hyper-galactic jumping into the century of motorcars and soda-pop, we find "rap" music. Rap music BAD! Church Hymns GOOD!

Just so you know, folks, I grew up fairly non-ecclesiastically. My folks never brought me to any church except for a couple of midnight masses in a couple of modest cathedrals here and there and what not... and yet still they managed still to instill into me some certain and strong sense of the Good Lord or God Almighty or whatever. For me, spending time with biblical passages is far better than spending time with some pseudo-wizened pontificating professor of textbook history: I say, read it (Bible) for yourself. Is it the words of 'GOD' that you're seeing? Since everything we know from history was probably written by our (human?) ancestors, should it not be that the scriptures themselves aren't prone to corruption from the time-traveler component if you believe in such things? Hey... it's all trajectories and velocities... it's all good, bro... just try some of this, Dear Reader....

Sir-Mix-A-Lot is one performer who's deeply etched into in my mind when I think back to the popular rap / hip-hop scene of music I was exposed to in the early-to-mid nineties. It was that Big Butts song that led me to further explore his works. Flashback ten years and I was listening to the Beastie Boys- dropping their needles and busting out honest-to-goodness spoiled-white-kid rhymes. I was about nine or ten back then, and at that age I didn't even know the meaning of Jewish. That is until I really started watching SNL on the furniture-piece television set in Mom & Dad's basement.

Watch this one first:




Warm reception in Glasgow for these innovators of modern American music at the time. The Beastie Boys. Lots of energy, great DJ, and interesting lyrics in a swingin' good performance, I say. So what's Sir-Mix-Alot up to these days?  Check out his slick website.  or just watch this crazy ode to the idolization of pricey performance cars. Sir-Mix-A-Lot pretends to be tough, but I bet I could personally whip him in a one on one fight.  It's hard to tell if he's tongue-in-cheek or not, but either way, I appreciate a good sprinkling of cheese in my pop music, and while this particular number isn't something I'd purposefully represent, it's got clever rhymes and sounds almost like a cross between Duran Duran and Lady Ga Ga:




I'm a white pussy who lives in Edmonton Alberta, and while it may be true that I mainly put the blame squarely on the shoulders  of Canadian immigration policies for most of our emerging problems, I still enjoy a good dose of exotic styles of music now and again, and I never blame the queue jumpers. How about some more music from the United States of America. Ice Cube anyone?





I think Ice Cube would easily see to it that Sir Mix-A-Lot chokes on his own teeth were they ever to get into a serious fist fight, eh? Doubt it would happen. Speaking from experience, musicians usually get tougher guys to do their fighting for them. I just know that I sure wouldn't want to piss the ol' Cube off. He looks like he could open a bag of dog food without so much as a really sharp knife. As a politically correct Canuck, I like how Ice Cube exposes the blame-shifting culture for what it is. Blame gangsterism. Blame your inability to tell the truth and whatnot. I think me and Mr. Cube would see eye-to-eye on a good many things, and I might only hope that he's still rich, reads this blog for himself, and invites me for a shindig at his place someday.

---

Well that's all for the music review tonight.  For the life of me I cannot remember whatelse I was going to write about, and I'm far too lazy to start importing pictures right now, so I'll just call it a finish and would like to offer a little reminder to you, Dear Reader. Dear Reader I would ask for you to go ahead and cherish every good moment you have and to celebrate your loved ones. We are all but the frayed ends of a flash of light in the great cosmic scheme of things, Go boldly forth in your life's quest, Dear Reader, and whatever you do.... don't forget to bookmark my blog!



    

Paying Last Respects on Live Streaming Video

Just listening to Dave Breakenridge filling in for Dave Rutherford on local A.M. talk radio station 630 CHED. On this fine morning in Edmonton, he was discussing the transparent political opportunism behind the outpouring of words in the media regarding Jack Layton's recent untimely passing. Now of course political hacks and charitable organizations are going to capitalize upon something as capitulating as the death of a... wait for it... an enigmatic and charismatic career politician; the whole issue vaguely reminded me of a segment from America's Finest News Source:

Excitement Growing Among Beatles Fans For Paul McCartney's Funeral

I understand Jack was really a musician at heart. Playing eight ball and doing music... sounds like my kind of guy. Sitting down with my bowl of my morning oats in front of my computer, I decided to head on over to the CBC's website to get the latest on the late Jack Layton whilst shoveling down my daily ration of porridge. Much to my morbid delight, they had a LIVE video camera aimed at a closed casket, draped over by Our Own Canadian flag.

While there was also streaming audio to accompany the picture, aside from the appreciably low and sombre murmur throughout Toronto City Hall on this day, all that I could hear through my PC's Cambridge Soundworks speakers were the occasional bursts of rapid-fire automatic shutters admitting light through their zoom lenses- photo journalists hoping to capture those elusive instances of immensely genuine sorrow to replay on the evening news.

Groups of three to five mourners at a time were corralled into the peripheries of the live streaming video camera to pay their last (or maybe their first and last) respects to good old Jack before shuffling off to the job postings board or heading out to a demonstration or whatever. Each group had a good twenty seconds or so to stand in quiet contemplation... fellow politicians, friends, strangers, families, old grannies, union guys... even Olivia Chow was there.

Twenty seconds to stand there, pray, bow the head, drape scarves over the flags in the background, whatever- before filing off... just enough time for a quick once over from the biometric scanning hardware that we can only presume the evil "Harper Government" insisted be covertly installed for the event. Why? I tell you it's elementary, my Dear Reader, the scores of minority government supporters gathering in one place presented an irresistible golden opportunity for our Canadian Department of Immeasurable Doom to mine some good image data on minority government supporters, and to possibly help identify those few renegades who might not have a profile on Facebook yet. City Hall was a proper hotbed of folks who might be potentially threatening to our Majority Conservative Empire today. Sign the book, stand by the coffin, and move on through. Anyway, you could sure hear those cameras going off every time one of the more expressive mourners in the crowd shed a few crocodile tears as they all lined up alongside the coffin to pay respects.

While naught could I afford at this time to fly out East to share this outpouring of grievous emotion in person with my fellow Canadians, at least I could indulge my own voyeuristic self for a while from behind the computer screen and take a few "pictures" (screenshots) of my own thanks to CBC's coverage of this sad event. It was almost like being there in person, but without having to engage in idle chit-chat with anyone stinky, and while enjoying the sort of comfort only a steaming bowl of cereal in front of oneself can provide. Somehow I doubt they'd allow me to bring an open bowl of hot porridge through Toronto's City Hall?

Between big spoonfuls of oats and brown sugar, I would hit the [Prt Scr] to capture the following images from this mournful promenade of people from all walks of life. This impressive turnout could only be a testament to Jack Layton having truly been a man of a certain kind of people:

Click Here To See More Screen Captures

R.I.P Jack Layton - July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011.

Thinking About Jack Layton

Well folks, I didn't even properly finish my last article and here I am already writing another on-line journal entry.

While I can't say that I've ever had the pleasure of meeting the man- the legend, I would like to say little more on the matter than to offer my sincerest condolences to his family and friends in their time of grief and mourning. I'd wish them all well, and wonder to myself if the old man would have liked listening to uplifting songs such as the one following:

I know you'll be dearly missed in these interesting times.

R.I.P. Mr. Jack Layton.

It's a shame you died so young, Sir. Now I'll never have the chance to introduce Mr. Jack Layton to my school of pool while we talk shop. If our nation's politics are something that interest you, might I suggest  you go ahead and click here to check out the website for the national political party this popular politician managed to elevate to the status of official opposition in Canada's House of Commons. I must doubt that everything about the NDP is necessarily wrong-headed idealism masquerading as good will.

As you may or may not be aware, Dear Reader, when it comes to matters of national importance, more often than not, my thinking tends to be aligned with conservative schools of thought. At least when it comes to fiscal planning and less government intrusion into private lives. Still, I appreciate that Canada has so many social safety nets in place for Her Citizens, fought for and won by opponents of The Crown's authority. Remember that trade unionists stopped the practice of sending mere children into coal mines and introduced the concept of days off and benefits. I feel that trade unions and tempered socialism still play a valuable role in keeping the so called establishment and corporate monopolies in check- even if they are somewhat bloated and cumbersome after generations of that inevitable state known as corruption. I think greed and corruption walk hand-in-hand, and are but irreconcilable aspects of the human condition by and large. What do you think?

Recently, our Canadian Military have arrived at the decision to revert to calling themselves The Royal Air Force / Army / Navy. A good number of opinionated Canadians will say it's a tremendous waste of funds to pay for such a reversion, but I say good on them. Bring on the fascist regime for all I care!

The iconography surrounding The Crown and it's related symbols: art not they lasting historic reminders preserved in form of precious metals and ribbons? Such medals awarded on behalf of His or Her Majesty do provide all manner of interesting decorations for serving members to display when attending formal  functions. I'm inclined to think that such minted pieces would serve as good conversation pieces among brothers and sisters in arms, as well as being family heirlooms to remind surviving relatives of their loved one's courageous deeds while away from home.


"

Since these awards for bravery and other noble deeds are not easily earned by the men and women in uniform, I say good on them. Army, Navy, & Air Force. Police. It's my sentiment that the divisional categorization of our Air, Sea, and Land forces might have spurned healthy competition and so made our Canadian Forces more efficient as a whole. Decentralize and optimize the three branches. Make no mistake: while many of the roles are basically non-combat support roles in technical or clerical fields by nature, war and defense are ultimately the business of effectively killing or paralyzing threats to our sovereignty and freedom we enjoy, and I should hope the folks willing to put their lives on the line would at least enjoy the infinite outpouring of support from the nation's very people they're sworn to protect. As we all well know, the best deterrent to war is a massively powerful defense force.

--- )-( ---



There goes my telephone... leaking again. I feel like I need to be left alone when I'm producing content for this big writing project of mine. I'd like to now present to you, Dear Reader, a few pictures, links and whatnot for your mental digestion. Now, I know I'm the type to go and on about whatever comes to mind, I've been meaning to share my thoughts about a subject that is very near to my own heart, and that is a fairly recent discovery to me.

Yes folks, I'd like to share with you today my thoughts about a most uniquely delicious berry I've found myself snacking on for the last few weeks. They're these potentially astringent little clusters of black fruit that grow abundantly around my neighbourhood. I hear they can be used to make a most delicious wine, and I must say, I can hardly pass up picking at least a few of them when I cross the these old trees with their wine coloured leaves while out on an August stroll through the park. Of course, one should always be prepared when picking these shiny little cherries that the bitter taste of this varietous species will sometimes live up to its' name- and then some. It'll have you puckering like a prim and proper fuddie duddie shaking his tired old head in disapproval of some fag bumming hangabout who's been loafing about in front of his quaint curiosities' shop since before noon.

"If you don't hurry up and scram... you, you cretinous, good-for-nothing layabout, I shall be inclined to call the authorities! Scram you urchin, before I lose any more custom thanks to the likes of you, you useless get! Scram I say!"  

I wouldn't want you upset with me, Dear Reader, and most certainly wouldn't want you blaming me if you ever were to find your taste buds to be in "Agony City" over allowing me to inspire a berry hunting outing. One should always exercise extreme prejudice when selecting any sort of wild berry, as we know certain poisonous varieties are often, I think, highly indiscernible from their safe to eat relatives and all. While I'm sure that my readership will surely know better, I'd like to offer a disclaimer. Just in case I've inspired you to go out looking for edible treats in the wild, might I suggest that you please employ extreme prejudice toward wild berries, and exercise the utmost of due diligence while mingling about in the kingdom of plants. Novices should consider bringing a trustworthy field guide or some notes along to help make a safe and sound selections of any flowering or fruit bearing plants. I believe the rule of thumb is that if there's any doubt whatsoever as to whether you're about to eat something harmful, always err on the side of caution and not risk having some awful kind of reaction to the plant. Picking mushrooms or skateboarding on the steps of something, please be careful out there, folks... whatever your endeavour may be! (I think I used at least three Canadian spellings: neighbourhood, coloured, and endeavour.)

Thoughts on Glenn Beck?

It's no secret to my close friends that I'm obsessed with current affairs and spend a great deal of time doing things like listening to conservative talk radio while perusing the mainstream media via cyberspace. Often times when my chums call to ask what I'm up to, the answer is: I'm seeking out the prevailing winds of public opinion on the Internet from the sanctuary that is my walk-in-closet-office, or maybe working on some writing of my own. While I'm now trying my best to focus this blog more on my artistic pursuits, the call to decry the overwhelming ignorance and astonishing hypocrisy so frighteningly prevalent in North American society these days often wins over. There are some instances, Dear Reader, that I hear a media tidbit and simply cannot shake the compulsion to voice my own opinions about the escalating stupidity of people in general.

"You do support freedom of speech, right?"

"Yes, but...."

There are no "ifs", "ands", or "buts" when it comes to freedom of speech, folks. I think I've touched on this before, and nothing spells hypocrisy like someone trying to impose conditions to a concept like freedom of expression. The key word here is freedom. Slanderous attacks are one thing, but either you have freedom of expression and freedom of speech, or, you have a state of censorship. It's really that simple.

We should hope that anyone making any statement in public would demonstrate enough sensibility to exercise at least a modicum of prudence and decency, but as we know, not everyone measures their words as carefully as a bought politician. Still, if we as a society are to see it fair to impose limits on something as benign as say, the level of vulgarity in someone's words, might this not prevent certain people from expressing the true nature of their beliefs in the court of public opinion? In other words, the mere fact that someone's at a lack for appropriate and polite adjectives doesn't necessarily invalidate their concerns. We're all adults and should be quite capable of critical thinking, so leave the idiots and hate mongering fools among us to expose themselves as such. I'm a grown-up and I'll decide who and what I deem worthy or not of listening to, and I firmly believe that everyone should in the least retain the basic right to have their say.

If for any reason you ever feel inclined to spend some time mingling with the dumbest of dumb-dumb dummies in the land, might I suggest you go and spend a little time at any college campus in whatever city of the United States. The wrongheaded thinking of the typical, almost invariably leftist-thinking college student is completely bewildering to anyone capable of even the simplest mental acrobatics. I can't help but to LOL over how fucked these self-entitled brainwashing victims are going to be once they collect their useless diplomas and have to contend with the real world under their self-imposed mountain of personal debt. My attention was drawn to a particular website after hearing its' founder interviewed on the Charles Adler Show this morning- please check out the following clip. It effectively exposes the sort of compartmentalized and hypocritical thinking you're likely to encounter when speaking with those of us who are in pursuit of "higher learning" these days:




Since I rarely bother too much with mainstream media these days, I haven't really formed much of an opinion about this Glenn Beck fellow, but after watching the above video, it's pretty obvious to me that the man has effectively entrenched himself as the premier whipping boy to more than a few of the brainless, welfare collecting university bums out there. I'll bet most of these "academics" are more familiar with the television series Friends than they are with Arthur Conan Doyle or Ernest Hemmingway.