Rare Earth

I have to admit. I'm a dork. I'm a nerd. There is just no way around that. No way whatsoever. It's something that over time I have come to embrace. Something that I've finally come to love. Being a nerd I've always been interested in science fiction. Either reading the novels or watching the movies and tv shows. Yes I did grow up a Star Trek Fan. Yes I am looking forward to the new movie.

Seeing all that alien life has led me to the greatest question of all time, are we alone? I will unequivocably say NO. I do not think we are alone. I've come across that so called Rare Earth hypothesis when reading about life on other planets. That has to be the lamest idea I've ever heard. Ok not lame but the most ignorant idea I've ever heard. The Rare Earth people basically say this, our planet is a rarity in this galaxy. There is no way other planets have the necessary conditions to allow life to develop. We are the fortunate planet in this galaxy.

Really? Do they know more about the galaxy than the rest of us? If so, please share this insider information with us. I'm sure NASA would love to see what the Rare Earth people know. Honestly, how much does humanity know about the galaxy? Maybe about 5-10% in our little corner of the Milky Way. We have not sent any human explorers outside of our solar system, let alone outside of our corner. Who are the Rare Earth people to say we are alone? I know just as much about the galaxy as they do.

How much do we know about other planets in our galaxy? So far only 344 exo planets have been discovered. 344. That is it. Let us look at what we know about our galaxy. Let us use the law of averages to do this. There are millions of stars in the Milky Way. Around those millions of stars circle hundreds of thousands of planets. Of those hundreds of thousands of planets perhaps tens of thousands could support some form of life.

I understand I said thousands of planets could support some form of life. But we really do not know anything about this galaxy and the formation of life. We have only our one planet as a template. That is hardly enough to make an educated guess on.

We know something about 344 out of hundreds of thousands of planets. How can someone say we are unique? How can they say we are alone? The conditions on this planet that led to life could be unique to our planet. Other life could arise under different conditions not found on Earth.

As for the God argument. We don't fully understand or comprehend how God works. How are we to make the assumption that He made Earth unique? Perhaps He made life on other planets too. Perhaps He wanted us to grow and learn at our own pace. We know what outside influence can do to a civilization. The Native Americans and Aborigines are but two examples. This could be but one reason why we have not discovered other intelligent civilizations. Our Creator wanted us to develop on our own. He did not want us to meet other civilizations until we are at the right stage in our development. That, I think is an argument for another day. What is the right stage in development? Or maybe another question is, when is the right stage in development? Perhaps we are already there. Perhaps we almost there.

I end with this: until we have explored our galaxy in full, and by explore I mean sending out humans, no one can say that the Rare Earth hypothesis is true. The Rare Earth hypothesis only serves to further our need as humans to feel superior. Heaven help the first non-technologically advanced civilization we encounter.

Road of Regret part 1

“I’ve been down 20 years, and I’ll be down 20 more

Wait 20 years to see what’s in store

Well I’ve loved and I’ve lost and I’ve fell behind

And I take a drink to clear my mind” – The Grays CT

The alarm won’t stop buzzing. I try to ignore it, but of course I had already planned for this last night and set the volume as high as it can go. This alarm could wake the dead if I kept it on for long enough. I am able to ignore for a short time, but once the neighbors start pounding on the walls I know it’s time to get up and shut the damn thing off.

I walk into the bathroom and take a long look at myself. The five o’clock shadow and bags under my eyes make me look much older than my age. The vomit taste in my mouth reminds me of a long night of trying to drown my sorrows in whiskey and beer. Tell tale signs of attempted suicide are all over the apartment. The bottles of pills littering the counter by the sink, half empty, spilled over the floor trying to convince myself to take a handful and chase it down with enough alcohol to make me forget I even took those pills.

Johnny Cash songs are still on repeat in the CD player. Another night walking the line between life and death, another night one step away from suicide, another night I survived, but at what price? I still have to face another day in my own personal hell.

After a quick shower and a shave I look somewhat presentable. But in my line of work, it’s not that important if I don’t look like a million dollars, just as long as I don’t look like I’m going to steal the customer’s car and sell it for my next high.

Walking into the kitchen I hear my stomach grumbling. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, or that is what the mom’s on TV always used to say, so I walk over to my refrigerator and open it up. I see exactly what I expected to see. On the left there are still a few beers left over from the night before. On the right hand side there is a loaded revolver.

These are the great decisions in our lives, the choices we face everyday. One road leads to intoxication, the other to some sort of salvation. Do I waste my life or do I waste myself? I stand there staring inside the fridge for a few moments, just thinking about my two options.

The worst part about suicide is that you have to kill yourself. You can talk about it all you like, but there is something in human nature, a self-preservation mode that kicks in, and a fear of death even when you want to die more than anything in the world. I think it is a fear of the unknown. So you end up having to decide between the fear and pain you are accustomed to and the fear and pain you don’t know.

These same thoughts passed through my mind last night, when I tried to take that handful of pills, when I tried to drink myself into a coma, when I tried to blow my fucking head off. So of course, just like last night I opt for the pain I have grown accustomed to. I grab another Pabst to clear my mind and to help relieve the hangover. I chase it down with a few sticks of gum and head out the door for another exciting day at work.

Like the Angel

I've often thought about writing a short novel or screenplay based on themes in music. After seeing Across the Universe last year I contemplated creating a similar story based on Weezer songs entitled "Only In Dreams." While many of the basics have never been fully developed, I've never closed the door on such a venture.

A friend of mine had a band in which several of his songs made up a story arc. I had originally planned to connect them via a short story and have a draft saved of the first "chapters" of what I refer to as Road of Regret This story combined my passion for bands like my friends, Johnny Cash and for the writing of Chuck Palahnuik and a few personal tidbits. I still think it is one of my finest works to date.

The next few posts will be a series of portions of this. I hope to get a bit of feedback and maybe some inspiration to help me see this project to a close.

Flight404 ( or Things Found On Sleepless Evenings)

Found on some restless evening, wandering through Vimeo, looking for interesting things to watch while sleep remained elusive, Flight404's homemade video for the song "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" off of Radiohead's "In Rainbows" dazzled with it's pulsing, water submerged orb, seemingly on the brink of supernova, while a school of eel-like fish swim around, enraptured, as if their long lost god had returned to them. Created with Processing, an open-sourced programming language and environment that seeks to place powerful, non-proprietary and graphically capable development tools into the hands of the not so graphically capable, it's a visceral interpretation of Thom Yorke's lyrical plea for escape.


Weird Fishes: Arpeggi from flight404 on Vimeo.

Also of note, Flight404's take on "Sons of Light and Darkness" by Helios, an artist I'll get into at a later time.


Nova (audio by Helios) from flight404 on Vimeo.

Sleepercar

I really don't want to make a habit of doing music reviews. I'd rather save that for Kowalski. He'll do a much better job than I ever will. I love music. I just prefer to stay away from the review writing. I'd probably do a pretty shitty job of getting the point across on how great a band or album is. But i'm sure from time to time, some album or band will strike my fancy. Or more than likely that band or album will just be stuck in my head. Don't you love how easy it is for a new album to get stuck in your head? Next thing you know it takes days upon days for it to finally leave your head. Just like a cheesy pop song.

I think i'm getting just a bit off topic. Wait that reminds of Harry Doyle from Major League, "just a bit outside." That's for another day. I am no country fan. I have never liked it and don't think that I ever will. All that twanging and hick crap doesn't interest me. It's like fingernails to a chalkboard. However I will put country higher than a shit band like Limp Bizkit or an overrated band like Coldplay. Thanks to a wonderful music blog, http://canyouseethesunset.com/, I discovered the band Sleepercar and their debut album West Texas.

I listened to the two tracks put up and I was hooked. I imagine making long desert drives with this as my soundtrack. It's perfect for those wide open spaces in the Southwest. Taking Highway 40 across to Ash Fork or Williams, Arizona? The sky clear blue with a smattering of clouds? Put this album on. You won't regret it. It is absolutely perfect.

Ok not absolutely. I take that back. West Texas would have made a good debut EP. I can't get enough of the first 5 tracks. I've been listening to those on and off, mostly on, since I found the album. Once track 6, Heavy Weights, starts the album just goes dowhill. It sounds like mostly filler.

Who is Sleepercar? They are the side project of Jim Ward, the lead singer from Sparta. You want to know more, go to Wikipedia. Like I said, West Texas would make a great debut EP. Start with, A Broken Promise. As Frank Catton once reminded us, "Nuff Said."

Welcome

Hm, looks like I get the honor of making the first post, on this, our new blog. I just have to start by saying that no, none of us our Canadian. We are all gol' darn Americans, as those die hard American rednecks would say. But in this politically correct world we live in I must say that we have nothing against our neighbors to the north. They don't seem as fucked up as we are. And hey I do believe they have free health care. You can't go wrong with that.

Now you may be asking, what is this blog about. Well even if you aren't I'm going to tell you. There is not a theme to this blog. It is not about anything. All of us contributors will have write about different things. From diverse subjects ranging from a review to Sleepercar's debut album to an opinon on the Theory of Relativity. We like the randomness of it. It makes each post interesting. After all you'll never know what to expect. Never.

Okay you might guess what to expect after we make our numerous posts. Each of us has our own writing styles and at times differing ideas. I only say at times since all of us contributors are friends in the real world.

Well I think that's about all I have to add for this intro post. Maybe I'll get resourceful and put up my real first post today. We'll see. Until then I look forward to reading what my fellow contributors will be putting up. That means you Kowalski!