Filed under: Arthur C. Clarke, Artificial Intelligence, movies, Music, Science Fiction, Space
I haven’t written about it a lot here on the blog, but I have discussed the matter elsewhere: Communion of Dreams is, in many ways, a retelling – or an homage – of 2001: A Space Odyssey. I have always loved the movie, Kubrick’s ambiguous ‘message’, and the implications of what was behind the discovery of an alien artifact on the Moon.
So, when I saw this today, I had to share: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Here’s the one that most resonates with CoD.
But check out all the images – wonderful!
Jim Downey
Fun:
töken experience from yöyen munchausen on Vimeo.
Here’s their site directly: http://www.tokenexperience.com/en/
Sorry I can’t get it to embed – my own future is suffering from ongoing lung gak and reduced clarity of thought. But it is a fun glimpse into the near future.
Jim Downey
Well. Fans are one thing, but the very Not Safe For Work video below the fold is something else altogether. And pretty damned funny.
But hey, it’s about Ray Bradbury, so cut her some slack.
Whew – long Skype session with my co-author today. Almost three hours. But very, very productive. We got a little less than halfway through Her Final Year, but were able to work through all the issues up to that point. This will be the last major editing that this part of the book will get before we’re ready for submission. Yeah, there will be tweaks and changes still, but this will put us on the other side of the hill. We’ll finish this tomorrow afternoon.
Interesting process, using the technology this way. Working with a document jointly, in real-time, discussing as we went – pretty cool. And those who know how much I hate telephones will take it as a real measure of just how much John (my co-author) and I are alike, that we were able to do this. That’s easily the longest phone conversation I’ve had this century, perhaps in my life.
So, a bit of a break, then see if I can finish up the tweaks needed on the proposal, so we can send that off.
Jim Downey
*oh, there’s a reason for the reference beyond the content of the post. This is post #910.
Preparing to leave Salt Lake City this morning, drive over the mountains by the scenic route to Loveland, where we’ll spend the day tomorrow relaxing with friends and recovering for the long haul home.
It’s been a good trip – scenery gorgeous, the performances of the Choir excellent and well-received.
As for Salt Lake City, and the pervasive influence of the LDS church here, as in so many things I think Mark Twain said it best. I may have some more to comment on the topic later, once I am safely distant.
For now, time to schlep the bags down to the car and get on the road.
Jim Downey
Well, I’m in Salt Lake City.
Yeah, for this thing my wife has going on.
It’s actually been an enjoyable trip, though not without mishaps. We drove over to Loveland CO on Monday (13 hours – thank gods for audio books). Spent the day with friends there on Tuesday, then headed off yesterday morning for the 8+ hour drive to SLC.
And the A/C died just outside of Cheyenne, WY.
I looked, saw the belt had broken. But it did so just as I had turned the A/C on. And we’d had problems with the A/C not being fully functional on Monday.
Made arrangements while on the road for an appointment to get the car looked at in SLC this morning, since we wanted to just get here. This morning I took the car over, while Martha went to rehearsal. After a few minutes, I got the verdict: dead compressor. Not too surprising, given what had happened.
So, I told the guys to fix it. They’ll have it done later today.
Then I walked back to the hotel – about 20 minutes. And I was in a good mood.
Why be in a good mood in reaction to car problems and a $1200 bill?
Well, why not? We’re where we need to be for the time being. The car will be ready for the drive home. I can hang out with the choir on a city tour this afternoon. And it was a pretty day for a walk – which felt good after a couple of days of driving.
All in all, things could be a hell of a lot worse.
Enjoy the day.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Aldous Huxley, Augmented Reality, Government, Health, Music, Psychic abilities, Science, Science Fiction, Society, Synesthesia, Writing stuff
Almost 30 years ago I took psilocybin for the first time. I repeated the experience several times over the next couple of years, and have largely spent the time since making sense of the whole thing. Some of this is reflected in Communion of Dreams: descriptions of synesthesia in the book were based largely on my own experiences while under the influence of ‘shrooms, and the use of ‘auggies’ (drugs designed to increase neural processing) were also inspired by those experiences.
But the use of psychedelics was largely from another time. Not the first instance of my having been out-of-phase with the rest of society.
So it’s somewhat surprising to see new research being conducted using these drugs. Research which really should have been conducted decades ago, were it not for the paranoia of the “Just Say No!” years. This weekend’s edition of To The Best Of Our Knowledge provides a nice insight into this:
It’s taken decades for study of mind-altering drugs to be taken seriously. Now a handful of scientists are at the forefront of new research. One of them is Roland Griffiths is a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins. He’s just turned his attention to psilocybin, a classic hallucinogen commonly known as magic mushrooms. He tells Steve Paulson about his findings.
And:
We hear a clip from Annie Levy who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. In the late stages she took part in an experimental study designed to see if taking psilocybin could help with the fear and panic about dying. In her case, taking a single dose was a life-changing experience in her final months.
It’s a shame, really, that the therapeutic use of hallucinogens has been stymied for so long. There is such a long tradition of using these drugs to access deeper insight and spirituality in many cultures that one is almost tempted to say that humankind’s evolution has been influenced by psychedelics as much as learning to use fire. That we have cut ourselves off from these natural psychotropics is a shame – and again is reflected in Communion of Dreams in how we have artificially lost part of our natural birthright.
Jim Downey
*From the Moody Blues, of course.
A bit of spring cleaning.
Last weekend I started in on a long-delayed project. Honestly, it’s probably been delayed at least a decade. Maybe longer.
I started cleaning the windows.
* * * * * * *
I’m almost done. Well, with the current phase of work, anyway.
I’m talking about Her Final Year. I have one more ‘month’ to go through – doing simple editing, checking for typos, familiarizing myself with the material again. I should finish that today or tomorrow.
This is how I work. It’s something like loading data into a computer. I did it with the revisions to Communion of Dreams, as well. I go through everything, carefully paying close attention. And when I’m done, and have *all* of the material fresh in my memory, I can see connections and linkages that are harder to understand when you only read it a piece at a time. With CoD, it was how I was able to keep track of the minor tweaks and changes, and how they would play out in this or that plot twist or character development – you basically see the entire text at once, almost as some kind of three-dimensional construct or sculpture. Then it becomes easier to understand what to trim, what to smooth – the classic “remove everything that isn’t the sculpture.”
But it takes an awful lot of concentration to keep it all ‘alive’ in your head like that.
* * * * * * *
I’ve mentioned before how our home is a “notable historic property.” It was built in 1883, and while it has been through a lot of changes in that time, I think the bulk of the windows are original.
Most of them on the ground floor are tall – 8′ or thereabout. With 12′ ceilings, they fit the style of the house. So cleaning them is a bit of a chore. Particularly when you’re talking about cleaning the storm windows, as well.
Here’s how it works. I have to unlatch the bottom of the window. Undo the turn buckles about halfway up. Then pull out the bottom of the frame, and lifting the window at an angle so that the top part will unhook from the hangers which support it. The storm windows are made with stout wood, and heavy glass – about 2′ wide and 8′ tall. They weigh a ton. They’re subject to getting caught by the wind. And it has to be done outside, in places where you’re lifting the thing from about shoulder height or from a ladder.
And there’s something like 30 of them.
* * * * * * *
Had a good chat with my co-author yesterday, about how progress is going on the book. He’s doing the simple edit/review of my material, as I have been doing the same of his. The next phase is to go through and identify what entries or excerpts we don’t need. Because I’ve got more time than he does currently, I’ll be doing the bulk of that, moving things into a holding file if I don’t think we need them for the correct tone of the book.
Once that is done, then we’ll go through and make sure each entry is assigned to the proper ‘month’.
Once that is done, then we’ll go through and arrange the entries within each month so that they all connect to one another in a smooth way.
Then we’ll generate the additional material we need (chapter introductions, explanatory references, et cetera).
After that, a final read-through for editing to get the manuscript in shape for submission.
We both figure another 6 – 8 weeks should do it. Maybe less.
* * * * * * *
Once the storm window has been removed, then everything gets cleaned. First, extraneous splatters and swipes of paint are removed – over the years, there has been a fair amount of this. Then thorough cleaning with a towel and glass cleaner, inside and out. Do this for the actual window, as well as the storm window.
Then remount the storm window, reversing the process described above. It takes 45 minutes to an hour to do each one, and it is somewhat physically demanding.
Ah, but the difference it makes! I’ve done half the windows in the last week, doing two or three a day unless it is storming. Now, half the house is significantly brighter, almost rejuvenated. And I can look out and not feel like I am peering through a veil, or trapped inside.
All things are becoming clear.
Jim Downey
brighten your morning on this first day of spring (which, here, means sleet and snow and a winter weather advisory):
Love the finger stylings the guy uses.
Jim Downey
(Via MeFi.)
Filed under: Art, Health, Humor, Music, Pharyngula, PZ Myers, Rube Goldberg, YouTube
Sorry, been sick with the latest viral lung thing going around *and* trying to get a lot of spring cleaning and minor home repair stuff in prep for this Open House tomorrow night, so I haven’t had much in the way of energy to do any writing. But just found this over on PZ’s site, and for the two or three people who check out my blog and haven’t seen it, had to share:
Inspired madness. Discussion of it, how many takes it took, et cetera to be found here (and probably elsewhere).
Jim Downey
Communion Of Dreams 
