You Say Soup, I say RAMEN

Went for a run this morning before work and it was inspired thanks to the views and the music. Taught 2 classes today and feel a little tired. Was almost too tired to wash my face and apply my night cream, but I rallied in the name of saving face.

I am in the market for DVD's now that the portable DVD player from work has been hooked up to my 60 inch Hitachi. Went to YAHOO to browse news and such and was amazed by floods in Australia and also the fact that the earth's 'wobble' is being treated like a new thing. Learned that chestnut in my astronomy class at UVA 14 years ago. Yahoo kind of creeps me out. It feels very big brother to me...like it changes noticeably every 2-3 days. At times all the headlines are patriotic and US politics focused. Other times it's all natural disasters all over the world. And still others it's feel good stories about local do-gooders and 7 ways to shop smart at the grocery store. I'd be curious to know what those internal meetings are like for the big boys like MSN and AOL and MOBILE ME.

As for Google, I'm not sure I want to know. They know everything about me from my emails, from this blog, and from my google searches. I wouldn't be surprised if Google announced a new service called "Online Therapy Session," where you have a live 'chat' to talk about your problems, fears, concerns. It'd be a computer, but they'd do everything they could to make it feel like a real person. And they'd already know all your vices. That being said, I'm impressed by Google. What a big idea that was. Talk about a genie in the bottle. "Your wish is my command..."

This just in: My face is about to be on 28 billboards in Tokyo. As an advertisement for the school. In addition, most of the train stations have video playing inside the train car (does NYC have this yet?). To boot, as you walk through the train station, there are many screens that play ads or privately created commercials for whatever it is you want eyeballs to see. My video, that I shot last week, is going to be the featured 'ad' on these screens. I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's good -- but it's not one of my characters, and it's not something I wrote...it's a pretty well shot infomercial for the school -- and for my class in particular. We'll see if it increases attendance. In the meantime, I will be sure to take a picture in front of the billboard and place it here, for your loving eyeballs to see.

Did I mention there wasn't this much technology 15 years ago, when I was a teenager? What would Fran Liebowitz say about Japan? If you haven't seen the documentary Marty (like I know him) Scorcese did with Fran Liebowitz entitled "Public Speaking," you can find it on Netflix or HBO. I want her to be my Yahoo. But perhaps she'd say: "that's the problem. You should want yourself to be your own Yahoo." -- Or not.

Started looking for good character actor clips on youtube today to share with my students. Found a bunch and am compiling a mental list even as I type -- more to search. That is one of the beautiful things about technology -- so many resources at your fingertips. It's created a new breed of professionals well epitomized by Lisbeth Salander in Stieg Larsson's trilogy. She knows how to splice and dice that knowledge for what she needs. So frustrating to search through all those clips and keep finding people doing montages with their favorite songs. That's like doing a mix tape to no one in particular. It's not going to mean anything to a stranger -- even though it means so much to you. Better to let the original work live there -- let other people get something from it in its original form. Like Meryl Streep in the scene from Sophie's Choice when she must choose. Oh lordy. There I was like a fool tonight at work, earbuds in, crying. I spent a while in that era, watching clips from the 80's and early 90's when so and so would win an oscar for their performance. There was one year when Sissy Spacek was up for the Oscar along with Debra Winger, Julie Andrews and Jessica Lange. That was the year Meryl won for Sophie's choice (1983 I think). I noticed that everyone's attire seemed more like a function at Lincoln Center than the fashion show it is today.

Talked about Emoto Masaru today -- the Japanese scientist who did experiments with water that were featured in WHAT THE BLEEP do we know...how when you play Mozart and place the speakers in front of a glass of water you get beautiful designs and how when you yell at water you get something like looks like a disease under a microscope. I tried to convey that human beings are 98% water -- and that we carry those energies, received and also felt, around with us.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaru_Emoto

Our thoughts have an energy to them -- but not only that, they have the ability to change molecules -- especially water molecules.

Watery (and Deep) Thoughts, but Regina Taufen.