The first “real” post

Posted on June 26, 2006 by lion

I have finally joined the blogosphere! This is the first “real” post on this blog which I am considering live as of… (beat) …now!

I’m writing this post as a sort of mission statement and I’m going to try to give a brief outline of how I foresee the site developing from here.

For now the blog is held within my site’s 1999 technology, but ideally my site will eventually be held within web 2.0 technology; I have no timeline for this. Additionally it is my intention to have posts that are “serious” articles as well as casual posts. Some of the topics or sections that I am hoping to populate are:

  • Design – Game Design, General Design Principles
  • SF Mocha – reviews of cafés and, in particular, mochas in the SF Bay Area
  • Philosophy – Zen, Integral, Technology, Consciousness
  • Worth Watching – reviews or lists of media that is worth taking the time to watch (or hear or read or play… or should they be their own sections?)
  • Miscellaneous

To begin I will just be using the wordpress categories and metadata to differentiate the content, but once enough content is amassed I would like to have archive pages for each of these categories and a way of differentiating a random thought from a serious article.

I would also like to invite you to chime in and leave comments or engage in debate with me and the other readers, even on old posts, even on this one.

P.S.
One last note to clear any potential confusion:
There are posts on here that are older than this post. I have been taking some posts that I made on a social networking site as well as some writings and that I had laying around and entering them as blog posts with appropriate or approximate dates.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 4 Comments

Botticelli’s Primavera

Posted on May 8, 2005 by lion

Aesthetics and the Renaissance
Final Paper – Botticelli’s Primavera
Spring 2005
W. Thomas Grové

The Primavera, a masterpiece by Botticelli, is a quintessential illustration of the Neo-Platonic revival of the Renaissance. It is a beautiful image that incorporates and embodies many of the Renaissance themes; love in all of its forms, reason, harmonics, and non-dual direct spiritual realization are all present. The Platonic virtues of The Good, The True, and The Beautiful are created with exquisite techne.

I would like to set forth, as my main observation, that the Primavera is a depiction of a Platonic non-dual realization. It is important that I mention this because there are many who would look at the Primavera and, from a dualistic or ascending perspective, and state that this piece is an example of psychomachia – a medieval notion of virtue being assaulted by vice and prevailing.

Botticelli's Primavera

Why is this piece not a psychomachia and why is it non-dual? “Zephyr, the winged male on the right, personifies human love and the life-force of nature, he seizes Chloris, who is whence transformed into Flora. Venus, the central figure, with the assistance of Cupid kindles this carnal love and guides it, via a process of intellectual sublimation – shown by the grouping of the three Graces – towards a final goal of contemplation, Mercury.” (Newland)

If one were to stop their analysis at this point, they would only be honoring the first half of Plato’s philosophy: Continue reading →

Posted in Articles, Philosophy | Leave a comment

Accelerating Change 2004

Posted on November 8, 2004 by lion

This weekend I had the pleasure… neigh, the privilege of attending the Accelerating Change conference at Stanford University. This is a futurist conference produced by the non-profit organization ISAC – The Institute for the Study of Accelerating Change.

The attendees and speakers represented a wide range of people from many various backgrounds… in summary: interdisciplinary… but futurists one and all.

The highlight of the conference for me was when Doug Engelbart; inventor of the mouse shook hands with Richard Marks; inventor of the Eye-Toy following Richards’s presentation which had followed Mr. Engelbart’s. man…

David Brin was also VERY entertaining.

I was pretty much in amazement the entire weekend… and guess what the overwhelming view of the current political/world situation was by some of the world’s leading pioneers of technology, business, entertainment, and futurism was??? come on… guess! It turns out that intelligent, forward thinking people see the America of today very similarly…

I would like to make a point that Futurists and Integralists are not Democrats, despite that we all voted for John Kerry. Liberalism and Conservativism are really outdated concepts… though very much active today in the majority of the world’s populace.

It is really a question of Progressive vs. Regressive, Pragmatic vs Inane. I have a lot of problems with Liberals, Democrats, and Kerry… but the problems with the Neo-cons and Bush are far greater. I look forward to a day when good ideas can win over more people than outdated ideological/tribal allegiances. A day when someone who is actually qualified for office is able to effectively run for office.

Posted in Events, Tek | 2 Comments

The responsibilities of a game designer

Posted on March 1, 2004 by lion

BACKDROP:

  1. Many people spend a large amount of their leisure time playing video games.
  2. Games, due to their immersive nature, can potentially be a more powerful form of media than film, literature, or television. By powerful I mean the capacity to effect the user on a physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, or social level.
  3. Many games are unoriginal, uninspired, and irresponsible. Like Hollywood, game publishers are interested in producing block busters.

IDEALISM:

  1. We should strive to make games that are not a waste of time.
  2. Games should aim to have a powerful and positive impact on the user.
  3. The user should be inspired to make a positive contribution to the real world.
  4. The art of storytelling must be advanced in story based games. We must find new ways to impart the inherent truths about existence that we as human beings search for.
  5. We should not force games to have stories.
Posted in Game Dev, Philosophy | Leave a comment

Collection of Haiku, 2003

Posted on November 22, 2003 by lion

11-22-2003
Coffee and Zazen
An excellent laxative
Consciously pooping

09-08-2003 – my friend Ed
Everywhere I go
Ed Luna’s name preceeds him
Music man, dancer.

08-25-2003 – my friend Tomo
World domination
Robot spiders spinning webs
Where does your mind start?

08-20-2003 – my sisterin-law Ayumi
A smile and care
My new sister gives to all
A flower blooming.

08-16-2003- my friend Bocci
Making Media
Is the game that Bocci plays
Water falling down.

08-09-2003 – my friend Gill
Gill is on a beach
This sight makes me feel happy.
Don’t cross this Lotek!

08-03-2003 – my friend Disco
He drives a fast car
He knows about computers
I call him disco.

08-03-2003 – my friend Sassafras
I like to hang out
With this friend who knows a lot
About cars and stuff.

07-31-2003 – my friend Monad
Monad writes music
He is also programming
Audio software.

07-30-2003 – my friend Colin
In a kung fu fight
Who would be victorious?
Fun for all who watch.

07-30-2003 – my friend Dehuman
Dehuman travels
Between the fifth dimension
And “reality”

07-05-2003 – my wife Yuki
Yuki is my love
She is like the summer sky
Filling me with joy.

07-05-2003 – my friend Janet
Piano or other
She is a great performer
Where will she be next?

06-24-2003 – my friend Jeff
Jeff has a sweet ass
No really, it is da bomb
Touch it if you can.

06-13-2003 – my friend Eric
A man who sees through
Altered eyes and perception
Where does his mind rest?

06-13-2003 – my friend Justin
My good friend Justin
He climbs rocks for a living
Now his arms are huge

06-13-2003 – my friend AShinn
One man sits in front
Of his computer making
Design for the world.

Posted in Poetry | Leave a comment

Wide Awake

Posted on May 1, 2003 by lion

I can not sleep
though it is night;
my brain is to active
my mind sees light.

Apparently I drank
too much coffee today;
two black, two irish
too much for one day?

My heart pumps strong
each definite beat;
reminds me, soundly
that I can not sleep!

My head on my pillow
my body in bed;
how can I sleep
with this light in my head?

Posted in Poetry | Leave a comment

Dream: 01-25-2002

Posted on January 25, 2002 by lion

I was living in a large building with several flats. Monad, Paradyme, and Tomo, or Jar, were also living there but in different rooms or flats. At some point I was leading the group in zazen or yoga, or perhaps just fucking around. I went to strike my metal bowl-shaped bell but instead of ringing there was but a muffled “thump”. A second try, to no avail. On closer inspection there was a wooden block next to the bell and an appropriately shaped rectangular imprint in the bell’s side. It was as if my initial strike had caused this defect… though I did ponder the possibility of the damage having been done prior to my action.

In attempts to bend the bell back into shape, the all too pliable metal seemed only to expand, unfold, or otherwise flatten until it resembled an oriental rug. In attempts to remedy this situation, Paradyme got out some rubber carpet pads and a measuring tape and quickly went to work.

Clearly this would not do anything to get my bell back and I began to suspect that Paradyme had brought my bell to the laundry instead of cleaning my bell! At any rate, the others were loosing interest in the whole affair and decided to retire to their rooms.

In a last ditched effort to revive my bell, Paradyme and I began to fold the corners of our new rug, which was changing from Persian to a plush sleeping bag-like material, towards the center a la origami. This seamed as though it may just work. An “as seen on tv” enthusiast and a small audience—who had to this point been so well behaved that their existence in the corner of my flat had been completely unknown to us—agreed. The enthusiast, or spokes lady (I was not too sure), took control of our efforts and like a practiced professional, began to fold and roll around in our plush wonder; showing off its versatility in its many transformations.

I wondered if perhaps this might have been the bag for the bell, but you can not be to sure which is real when immersed in a horde of screaming, enthusiastic members of a studio audience.

At any rate, I returned without my bell—but with some amazingly versatile sleeping bag as its stead—to round up my hommies from their comfort of slumber. We all convened, as we had before, in order to practice yoga or screen a recently created piece of programming or video art. It was 4 in the morning, vision was blurry, and most agreed that this* would be something better accomplished at a more reasonable hour.

Alas.

* Note: I’m not sure if I meant zazen or folding up my bell.

Posted in Dreams | 1 Comment

Ryokan

Posted on December 1, 2001 by lion

Ryokan,
Lived his life without possessions;
but in the end, possessing love.

Posted in Poetry | Leave a comment

Gone, gone, gone, to the other shore

Posted on September 12, 2001 by lion

This was an email that I sent to my family after September 11th:

I am far from home, working hard every day on my documentary, having computer problems, and am not doing as much Zen/kung fu training as I'd like to, due to the fact that I'm exhausted. Yuki has said that she's not sure why I'm sending this… I'm not either… guess I just wanted to share some thoughts that I had today with those I love:

Dear family,

I'm sure that in times like these it doesn't take a yoga master to feel the strange energy… or chi in the air. For myself, I have been feeling lots of this strange chi ever since I arrived in Sri Lanka. A friend of ours who is very spiritual says that it is from all of the fighting in the north of Sri Lanka. Actually, I believe her. Negative energy (and positive energy as well) have infinite chain reaction effects. In addition to this, televising negative or angry emotions actually amplifies the effects of this kiai. I have, in truth, been almost unable to eat. I also feel a very hot … or angry chi through my whole body.

As I had mentioned to my father this morning, although this act of violation is media worthy and poignant to the status of the world view of westerners, this tragedy is not as big or any more important than the many sufferings that go un-noticed throughout the world… ethnic cleansing in Africa for instance. Yes, I feel an unbearable compassion for this tragedy… but such an act also serves to bring to my awareness the suffering happening all over the world. Suffering and images we usually try to block from our minds.

Yesterday's events on American soil are not unique. In fact tragedy is as much a part of life as joy. Indeed it can even be stated that tragedy is joy and that joy is tragedy and that these are constructs of our minds… unable to exist without one another. But for us who are unenlightened to this truth (me included) it is clear that our perception of tragedy and joy have noticeable effects on our lives.

Even though thousands of lives have been claimed by this terrorism, how many more lives will be claimed by malnutrition, cancer, aids, and car accidents? Indeed suffering is all-pervasive. But just as there is no end to suffering, there is no end to joy as well.

I would like to end by quoting from the Hagakure (a samurai manual):

It is a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream. When you have something like a nightmare, you will wake up and tell yourself that it was only a dream. It is said that the world we live in is not a bit different from this.

There is nothing outside the thought of the immediate moment.

A famous Chinese monk is said to have awaken from a dream where he was a butterfly. At that moment he was unable to say whether he was a Butterfly dreaming that he was a Monk, or a Monk who was dreaming that he was a Butterfly.

Posted in Philosophy | 1 Comment

Stop Here

Posted on July 1, 2000 by lion

left… right…
without exception
all directions are beautiful

Posted in Poetry | Leave a comment