Self-Referential

This happens to me all the time, except that it's usually what I'm thinking and I don't eat giraffes. From xkcd.

Thoughts on Star Trek:
1.)I like that after any of the characters have an outburst, they apologize
2.)Apparently being in space for so long has made the crew and captain susceptible to any pretty female who is not in charge of the ship's communications.
3.)Those are really short skirts. The crew is lucky that gusts of wind don't exist on the ship.

This article on memory strengthens the theory of memory connections I mentioned before. There is probably a more eloquent way to phrase the previous sentence.

This article from Jezebel about the abuses of the fashion industry, where young girls are powerlessly in the hands of much older and more experienced men, and citing the prevalence of rape in our society, is devastating and something I would definitely recommend checking out.

Another article discusses the true perils and motivations for mothers who adopt from Africa vrs celebrities like Madonna. It also elaborates on a sentence that I posted yesterday: "I don't think that all people from third-world countries are broken or something similar". There is a difference between feeling empathy for others and portraying them as simple, lower beings needing our mercy. People were whole, complete beings long before electricity was harnessed; I just don't think it's fair that somebody's relative or child could potentially die of the flu or something similar. I could write a lot on this topic, clarifying and clarifying, even putting in my own personal experiences, but I will leave it here for now.

Muhahaha, my picture is the first, second, and third result for my full name on Google. On one hand I want this blog to be the first result, but on the other I have an unusual enough name that it probably would not be hard to find out a lot of details about me, especially since I have mentioned the general area where I live. Perhaps when I need to be hired I will make the switch, as I know potential employers look for web presence. I have deliberately not promoted this blog up to this time.

It's interesting that the first hits for "SchizotypalVamp" are ones which I barely use. I don't particularly comment on io9 or Jezebel. I haven't used Library Thing since I was fifteen or sixteen. My original idea was that a searchable database for our collection would be ideal so that we could confirm if we had a book or not before buying it, since we did accidentally get a few books twice. One hundred and twenty-two books later I realized that if I continued I would never get a chance to actually read anything since there remained many more still to be listed. I have posted once on Twitter. I haven't visited The Planted Tank/Frank's Aquarium/MFK in forever. I haven't used my Flickr in a long time, either. But it's nice that my pseudonym retains exclusivity in a Google search.

Frosty posted about Vermicomposting in her apartment earlier today. My attempts to create a compost pile at home fizzled, and it's always something I wished I could do. There was the slight issue in my last home that my parents would string me up as a warning to other messy daughters. However, looking at the composting bins in the pictures of this article, I could always get a box and put it outside. Heck, I could even pretend it was a table, a table my mom would never, ever sit at.
Now when I mentioned getting more plants to my mom, her answer summarized to "you better not make it any more difficult to move out", a sucky but valid point. However, I live right by a university. If making a few calls does not help, I can always dump the fertilizer in the random nature park.

"Why did you bring a large plastic bag on the bus?"
"Uh...no reason"

I'll figure it out. Meanwhile, I believe they sell earthworms at Petsmart. I'm off to go get myself in trouble. Also some pizza.

This is SO COOL

he

I am in pain and having some trouble sleeping. So I want to rewrite an idea I had a little while ago.

I would, as a reaction to shows such as "Gossip Girl", love to see a film taking the life story of the Buddha and setting it in the modern day, because I feel as if it would not only provide a chance for a unique adaptation but also help to cram some of his message down people's throats.

(Honestly, I personally would be more interested in creating a film about Buddha set in the correct historical time period because of the the beauty of the land and architecture that could be filmed and because I would be interested in researching the aesthetic groups he was involved in before his enlightenment. This film would probably be grittier, though it certainly could be beautiful.)

But anyways, this made me think at the time I had the idea, "Would people be fine with a Caucasian actor in NY playing Gautama Buddha?"

I didn't and don't think so. My reasoning is that I don't think people would be able to accept a white Buddha anymore than an Indian Jesus Christ or a black Confucius. My personal feeling on the matter is that such stories transcend race and time, but the possessiveness cultures feel about their central figures is not to be taken lightly. Of course, Jesus and Buddha have both already taken on alternate iconography in the cultures their religions/philosophy has spread to. Will new iconographies, even in a nonreligious sense, be accepted or tolerated in the world today on a mainstream level? The truth of the matter is that they spring up all the time in microcultures, but could they also tolerate exposure outside of them? This is a different topic, of course.

A culture generally has a large part of its identity based on these iconic figures. I somehow get the impression that the general audience would consider it "theft" of one of their central stories. Of course, adaptations have generally never destabilized the original culture or figure, but the artistic choice by a single person may be looked down upon for this reason(which I don't agree with). I also get the impression, in the case of India, that there are still hard feelings over England taking over the country, which would worsen this feeling of theft.

Part of the problem I have with this notion of theft is that it equates culture with race. If you are representing these figure's symbolic life story, they are just serving as that-symbols which everyone should be able to share a part of, no matter where they originated.

This is a long question and topic, and I feel as if I finally am going to be able to sleep. I may return to this tomorrow, or some other time, for some mental exercise.