Enjoy the Silence

It has been a busy week, with things going on, on a lot of different levels. I also have not posted anything in exactly one week. This is not a coincidence (the classic problem of the more you have to write about, the less time you have to document it).

Here's some of the running plotlines of the past week (there was plenty else going on as well that falls outside the boundaries of this space is meant to convey!):

Academia

Of course it is finals time, which means many people are spending so much time reading and writing that a large number of grad students now think that they are hummingbees, and spend their few breaks from their laptops doing frenzied dances meant to show their honeycomb bretheren how to get to the life-giving flowers of insight. Also they spend so much writing that they can't write a simple sentence without running on forever and shoving metaphors where they don't belong. But then again, I always write like that (because my guilty conscience knows I always should be writing more??).


As for moi, I've been in better shape than most semesters. For the first time ever, I'm going to war with detailed outlines for papers that have been actually run by (and heartily approved by) professors. A major realization I've had is that professors don't give degree of difficulty points. I've always refused to write about any of the major issues dealt with in the class. If Sallis spends 95% of the semester talking about Fichte, there's no bloody way I'm writing on Fichte (of course, this is also because I can't read more than one page of the Wissenschaftslehre without immediately losing consciousness). But just because I have contempt for anyone who uses any paper suggestion that the professor would make, doesn't mean that professors are going to shared my admiration of taking the rogue route. I still tend to write about strange themes, but I have gotten a lot better about writing to my strengths. My "areas of interest" have become clearer and clearer, and I've gotten a hell of a lot better at sticking to those. For my Husserl paper I'm writing on his potential contribution to Judith Butler and Levinas's ethics...and in my ancient greek knowledge class, I'm looking at the Gorgias (which is tied with the Symposium for dearest Platonic dialogue to my heart). Doing secondary reading and having outlines and quotations ready and running proposals by professors...are relatively new for me, so I feel more confident about my ability to produce great work on time...but that is still a long way from actually writing the damn papers! So we'll see how that goes over the next two weeks.

Music

I haven't posted any album du jours, but I have kept up my listening duties. I might retroactively go back and post some of these, but I've listened closely to a bunch of albums that are new(ish) to me: An older Fila Brazilla album, a Dom um Romao, a particular Fleetwood Mac song, Mocky, Beck's Guerro, etc. I still like writing up reviews - and will try to do so as much as possible - but the biggest goal is to ensure that I don't fall into the easy trap of getting "stuck" on something and not forcing myself to diversify, and thus far that has been a smashing success.

In other music news, I went to see Amon Tobin play last night. The thing about electronica shows is that you're never really sure what you're going to get, and how it will relate to the album stuff. "DJ sets" are often VERY different from what they do in the studio. When I saw Jamie Lidell a while back, it was far more "techno-y", because he was showing off his impressive capacity to create beats and music on the fly. Wasn't nearly as polished as Multiply, but a different kind of excellence. Likewise, Amon Tobin, who I love for his combination of jazz and latin rhythms with dnb and other interesting beats, lost almost all of the jazz, and ended up sounding like a dnb and IDM producer. Still some interesting stuff, but not near up to the level of his albums. Still worth checking out though!

Basketball

Wow. No one thought that these playoffs could hold a candle to last year's, but they seem to be shaping up to be just as epic, if not more so. Here's a breakdown of all of the series in increasing order of interestingness:

- Washington v. Cleveland. Lebron and the Cavs aren't playing inspired ball, but with the loss of both Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas (who is going to be gracing the cover of the next NBA live!) had no chance, and lost in 4 games. I watched none of them.



- Detriot v. Orlando. Orlando started as one of the hottest teams, but levelled off in a big way, and were guaranteed fodder for the Pistons. Another sweep.

- Bulls v. Heat. The third eastern conference series that already went down in 4 games. This was a good deal more interesting than the previous two, however, because it was a rematch of the second round series from last year, and also the first time a defending NBA champion had ever done so poorly in the next year's playoffs. I watched one of these games, just to revel in the Heat-embarassment.

- Toronto v. New Jersey. This is the only eastern series still in question. New Jersey has looked like a lame duck all year, but really turned it on for the playoffs. I hope the Raptors win though. They're pretty kewl.

While the East has been pretty ho-hum thus far (Pistons/Bulls is going to be a real exciting 2nd round, though), the Western playoffs have been RI-FUCKING-DICULOUS.

- Phoenix v. LA. You know it is pretty absurd when a rematch between the most mind-blowing playoff series from last year is the least fascinating one this year. Part of that is just because the Lakers have taken a few steps backwards while Phoenix has gotten Amare back and healthy. Incredibly fun to watch, but never much in doubt.

- Houstin v. Utah. The only first round series that is tied 2-2 (game 5 going on right now, and tied at 79 all!), this is a tough series for me, because I really like both teams. Yao, McGrady (Rip Van Winkle!), the role players the Rockets have (and their coach, Dr. Katz).


And on the Jazz, Deron Williams, ex-Piston Okur, the trials and tears (and extra-marital allowances) of Kirilenko, the power of Boozer (a terror in HD)


- San Antonio v. Denver. The Nuggets, with my new favourite non-Blazer or Piston player Carmelo Anthony, really shocked the Spurs in game 1 to make this a fascinating matchup. They'll try to even out the series in game 4 tonight...this is the nearest and dearest series to my heart, because it is the only one in contention where I can strongly root for an underdog that is going against a monolith that has already won a ton of championships recently (the Spurs).

- Dalls Mavericks v. Golden State Warriors. So much has been said about this series. I can't do it justice. The astounding Warriors, the 8 seed, have just utterly stunned the Mavericks, which were the unquestioned top team this year. It would be completely unfounded in history for a team with such an epic regular season performance - nearly up to the level of the greatness displayed by the 70- win Bulls - to fall apart in the first round to this extent. Just read FreeDarko.com if you want to see thousands and thousands of poetic words on the sublimeness of this subject.

Other stuff

I typically don't like flash games. I can't exactly play games at work, and if I'm going to play a game in home, it is going to be an indepth one (CivIV). I haven't been able to play any video games in awhile! But my friend sent this to me, and I have to say that it is the best flash game I've ever seen.

The Last Stand

You fight off zombies, and then use the daylight to find better weapons and more survivors to help you out. If it were just a shooting game then it would get real boring real fast, but I'm a sucker for any kind of game where you improve as you go along (due to being raised on RPGs), and combining the two makes for a great effect, I think. Which begs the question: why are there no really good zombie games where you have to defend a fortress/mall/whatever, and have to spend your time fighting, scavenging for supplies, and building defenses??? Seems like that would be a big hit.