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The Orwell Diaries

By on 11 September 2008

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The British group ‘The Orwell Prize’ is now posting the diaries of George Orwell online, exactly 70 years later. So, on September 10th 2008, they posted Orwell’s entry for September 10th 1938.

Fascinating. His entries up to this point have mostly logged the nature and people around him. Little of surpassing genius; just a little diary of weather and such.

Comforting, in a way, to know that such a great writer penned such ordinary diary entries. On the other hand, I fully expect it to eventually tilt towards genius.

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twhirl: Twitter and FriendFeed On Your Desktop

By on 10 September 2008

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If you use the Twitter or FriendFeed services, you know that one of the most difficult things about them is remembering to check the respective websites for updates. They’re all great, as long as you remember to check them.

twhirl is the answer. It’s a little application that sits on your desktop and displays your Twitter and FriendFeed streams, updating them every few minutes. Works on Windows and Mac OS X.

twhirl’s a bit quirky—I’ve had the window jump around my desktop a couple of times—but it’s a perfect way to keep up with Twitter and FriendFeed.

(Side note: Today’s my Reading Day; I’m spending the entire day in a chair in my garden, catching up on magazines and books that I’ve been meaning to read. Will hopefully get through a large percentage of my Media Debt, at least for the printed word.)

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Discover Card’s Hard Sell

By on 9 September 2008

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I have a friend. Her mother, sadly, has Alzheimer’s and lives in a nursing home, so my friend manages her mother’s finances for her. For convenience, my friend often answers the phone as her mother when her mother’s financial institutions call. Otherwise, she spends several minutes explaining the situation to a confused phone rep.

So recently my friend got a call from her Mom’s Discover card about a large charge. No problem; it was a proper charge. But then the Discover representative asked if she wanted to sign up for some extended insurance plan. My friend politely declined.

My friend was then subjected to a hard sell that went on for minutes. The Discover rep kept insisting that she really did want this insurance plan, using phrases like, “You want to be protected, don’t you? You want to keep your money safe, don’t you?”

My friend was frankly astonished at this tactic, which is clearly aimed at preying on old peoples’ fears of losing their money. And it just went on and on. We all know how quickly one can wear down an old person’s resistance. It was remarkably unprofessional, especially from a financial institution.

It’s a terrible discovery about Discover.

(OK, sorry, bad pun.)

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Cool Words of the Month

By on 8 September 2008

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I like to open the dictionary to a random page and note down cool words, once a month. It’s a good writing exercise, and it introduces me to new words. I also rediscover words that just look neat or sound beautiful.

This month’s cool words:

  • Faro – a card game used for gambling, its name probably derived from “Pharoah”
  • Farrago – a medley or collection of miscellaneous items
  • Farrow – to produce pigs
  • Fatigue – military clothing
  • Fawn – a young deer

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Media Fast Reflections

By on 7 September 2008

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I’ve finished my Media Fast, and have caught up on email, blogs, etc. After reflecting on the experience, I’ve come to several conclusions:

  • I consume a lot of media. DVDs, blog posts, music, movies. Hours per day. Even without a TV.
  • There’s a cultural expectation that everyone consumes a lot of media. People are genuinely surprised when I mention that I haven’t watched certain recent movies. Modern Americans naturally hoover up large quantities of media. It’s not just normal; it’s expected.
  • This takes time from other things. I could be drawing, or writing, or otherwise producing something. Or I could be recharging in other ways: talking with a friend, going to a park, or browsing a local landmark. Instead, I pop in a DVD or refresh blogs. ‘Cause there’s always something else to watch or read.
  • That said, I have a lot of media that I’ve committed to consuming, from books to anime to blogs. I call this “Media Debt.” What to do with all that?

My plan:

I’m planning to spend Wednesday on my big to-read pile. There’s just so much there, and I want to finish a bunch of it.

I’m also planning to get through one anime disc per weekday, and several discs over the weekend. I want to be free of my media debt, so that when a new book or anime series or DVD appears, I can get to it. Boom. Get it done.

Other than that, I’m going to consciously restrict the amount of time I spend on media. No more casual relaxation with media, at least not for a while.

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Osamu Tezuka’s Brilliant Buddha

By on 6 September 2008

Osamu Tezuka's "Buddha"

Osamu Tezuka's "Buddha"

I recently finished Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha, a manga adaptation of the life of Buddha. It’s about 3,000 pages that focus on the historical man, and the evolution of his philosophy, as opposed to attempts to teach you Buddhism.

I had to be careful when reading this book, as I couldn’t simply pick it up, then put it down; I’d get sucked in and read through to the end. This is partly due to Tezuka’s unique style: he likes to mix up a dramatic story with occasional sight gags, and keep things moving with action scenes. He had a tremendous gift for pacing and entertainment.

So the story moves quickly, and presents Buddha’s life with sympathy and directness. Again, this book doesn’t try to teach you Buddhism; it chronicles Buddha’s life. However, one can’t do that without exploring Buddha’s philosophy.

I learned that the great spiritual teachers of Buddha’s time mostly taught asceticism—that one must forego the pleasures of the world and punish one’s body so as to free oneself from earthly desires. While Buddha agreed with the importance of discipline and abstinence, he rejected the idea of inflicting pain or otherwise hurting oneself.

In fact, he believed in hurting nothing. Radical for the time. He really wanted to achieve enlightenment, and he struggled to achieve it.

Now, the manga glosses over a lot of Buddha’s later religious teaching, which gets pretty extreme by non-Buddhist standards. He claimed to perform astral projection every day, and that he could teleport.

But the manga cares less about that than about Buddha’s moral journey. I gained a nice understanding of Buddha’s teachings; how they evolved in response to the events around him.

So, in all, I’m thoroughly glad that I finished this. I learned a lot, and in a way that kept me entertained throughout.

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Polymeme – Unusual News

By on 5 September 2008

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Polymeme is a website devoted to “intelligent content that lies beyond the usual echo chambers of tech news, celebrity gossip or American politics.”

This doesn’t mean off-beat stories; Polymeme specializes in articles about subjects we care about, but from perspectives we don’t normally see. For example:

The only drawback is the sheer breadth of subjects—much of it is bound to appeal to only a relatively small audience. But it’s a great opportunity to broaden one’s mind.

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How Can I Draw Better?

By on 2 September 2008

I love to draw. I can’t draw well, but I love doing it and coming up with something that satisfies my (very low) standards.

Tonight, I spent a couple hours drawing hair, using Mark Crilley’s YouTube videos. And I’m very happy with some of the results.

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Of course, they have plenty of flaws. But I’m learning, and my flaws shrink with each drawing.

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Media Fasting: No Media for a Week

By on 1 September 2008

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Today begins my week-long Media Fast, my twice-a-year vacation from all media. I avoid anything that was produced for an audience. No books, magazines, newspapers, movies, DVDs, TV, music, or blogs.

I stay reasonable about all this. If I walk into a coffee shop in which a TV sits in one corner, blaring CNN, then I don’t run out screaming. I just ignore it.

I use my time this week in 4 ways:

  1. I visit local gardens, parks, and museums.
  2. I work. The Fast lets me focus on my projects more than I otherwise “can.”
  3. I try odd, fun little projects I otherwise “wouldn’t have the time for.” I might try to write a song, or make a puppet, or cook something exotic and time-consuming.
  4. I observe my reaction to my Fast, and others’ relationships to media. I’m always shocked at how much I crave a movie or book by the end of the week, and the vast quantities of media that we all consume.

And at the end of it, I’m glad to go back to my beloved books and anime, but I’m always glad I fasted. And I always think, “I should do this more often.”

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Record Your Family’s Stories With Famento

By on 28 August 2008

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Genealogy‘s a big hobby. Today’s site lies on the lighter end of that hobby, for those who just want to keep track of their close and extended family.

If you sign up at Famento, you can create pages for members of your family, upload photos, and write biographies for each of them. There’s also a guestbook where friends and family members can leave comments. The site is entirely free.

Famento was created by two Asian friends, one who wanted to build a permanent memorial of her grandmother, and the other who wanted to record her family’s histories.

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