Just to put something in perspective here. People believe in romance because, as human beings, we are wired to hate being alone. Better survivability that way, you see. If you have a heart attack in your home and you live by yourself, game's over. You're dead. Chances of surviving go up when you're with someone else. But the fact of the matter is that who that person is doesn't matter. You may think it's about compatibility, but it isn't. Look at it this way. Suppose it was. Naturally you want to choose the most compatible person to marry, because why settle if you're more compatible with someone else? And that's the trap. Because consider everyone you know or have ever met and conversed with to a slight degree. Consider everyone you have on facebook. For this example, I'll use a fairly popular female friend of mine who has 600 friends. Assume, for the sake of simplicity, that you have a 50/50 split in terms of gender. That's 300 people in a perspective pool of people you know.
The kicker? Compared to the world population of almost 7 billion, that's not even a drop in the bucket. For the sake of simplicity divide that number in half for gender difference. 300/3500000000 = 8.57142857×10^(-8), or .00000008571% chance that the person most compatible with you is someone you know. You're looking for 1/3500000000. Your chances of winning the Texas Lottary are 1/175711536. You're twice as likely to win the Texas Lottary as you are to pick the human being alive, right now, who is most compatible. Oh, and if you're bisexual than you're four times as likely to win the Texas Lottary.
There are, of course, other complicating factors. Does that person share your sexual preference, for example. But those don't really matter. Point is, from that small pool of people you know the odds of finding your most compatible match is basically non-existent. And if you do, there's no guarantee things will stay that way. People evolve and adapt. Who you were once most compatible with might not be your match years down the road when you've become someone else.
And that's the simple math behind the illusion. Who you're with doesn't matter. It's just a fear of being alone and a desire for emotional gratification. Seems like a pretty good excuse for promiscuity now, doesn't it?
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Sunday, December 19, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Lack of Posting
I don't post often because, well, I'm busy doing things. But today I'm in a good mood and suddenly remembered I had this silly little blog, so I decided to actually sorta update.
1. Played a test game of Malifaux today. Had a blast doing so. I was using the Hag starter set against proxied Ortegas. Considering those blasted gunslingers are designed to kill Neverborn I think I did alright. Still lost, but I at least hurt them pretty badly. It's pretty fun and plays quick once you know what you're doing.
2. So, I have come to the realization that Cheapo discs is awesome. Found myself a Sisters of Mercy bootleg with a song I love on it. Sadly I can't import the damn cd into my itunes so it's not on my iPod, but just the same it's a great listen.
3. I hate Xmas. I'm a self-proclaimed Scrooge and proud of it. The music is boring, trite, and overplayed. The "spiritual" overtones are nauseating since it's a stolen Pagan holiday anyways. In all honesty Xmas is more of a political holiday than a religious one. Plus the consumerism is sickening. My family's all mad at me because I haven't really shown interest in any presents. I don't want/need presents! I'm content with what I have! Why is this such a source of frustration?! Grrr, now I'm stressed because I don't want anything and they keep bugging me for stuff. Plus they want stuff and I don't know what to get them. I just want this stupid holiday to be done with.
3 (a). As a sub-note I actually had to sign a bunch of Xmas cards today. Xmas cards, and cards in general, are dumb. It's a waste of paper and card stock. They're prepackaged BS that somehow shows you care about someone? Puh-lease. The only message I get when I receive them is "Wow this person cared enough to spend about a dollar for a piece of professionally folded paper."
3 (b). Though as another subpoint, for Xmas I did buy two movies to appease my parents. Got Ingmar Burgman's "the Seventh Seal" and "Scooby Doo on Zombie Island" at the same time. The guy working the checkout counter at B&N looked rather confused. It amused me.
4. You know how hard it is to find a copy of Mage: the Ascension? Here's the thing, I used to see copies of them all the time at Half Price Books. I've gone to all but 2 in the surrounding area and have yet to find a copy. I don't understand. It doesn't make sense! It shouldn't be that hard to find...
5. This is probably my new favorite song in the whole wide world.
6. Watched some old horror movies, including "The Black Dragon" starring Bela Lugosi. He plays a plastic surgeon who transforms 6 members of the Japanese Black Dragon society into lookalikes for six of America's leading businessmen so they can replace them and destroy U.S. economic infrastructure (the movie takes place in, and was made during, the early 1940's). It wasn't too bad, better than most of the bullshit that you'll see on screen today. The acting was a little lower class than I would have preferred, but still not as dismal as, say, Keaneau Reeves or Megan Fox. Still haven't seen Metropolis yet, though I want to. That's going to be fun.
That's all for today folks. As always, Love Under Will.
93/93
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1. Played a test game of Malifaux today. Had a blast doing so. I was using the Hag starter set against proxied Ortegas. Considering those blasted gunslingers are designed to kill Neverborn I think I did alright. Still lost, but I at least hurt them pretty badly. It's pretty fun and plays quick once you know what you're doing.
2. So, I have come to the realization that Cheapo discs is awesome. Found myself a Sisters of Mercy bootleg with a song I love on it. Sadly I can't import the damn cd into my itunes so it's not on my iPod, but just the same it's a great listen.
3. I hate Xmas. I'm a self-proclaimed Scrooge and proud of it. The music is boring, trite, and overplayed. The "spiritual" overtones are nauseating since it's a stolen Pagan holiday anyways. In all honesty Xmas is more of a political holiday than a religious one. Plus the consumerism is sickening. My family's all mad at me because I haven't really shown interest in any presents. I don't want/need presents! I'm content with what I have! Why is this such a source of frustration?! Grrr, now I'm stressed because I don't want anything and they keep bugging me for stuff. Plus they want stuff and I don't know what to get them. I just want this stupid holiday to be done with.
3 (a). As a sub-note I actually had to sign a bunch of Xmas cards today. Xmas cards, and cards in general, are dumb. It's a waste of paper and card stock. They're prepackaged BS that somehow shows you care about someone? Puh-lease. The only message I get when I receive them is "Wow this person cared enough to spend about a dollar for a piece of professionally folded paper."
3 (b). Though as another subpoint, for Xmas I did buy two movies to appease my parents. Got Ingmar Burgman's "the Seventh Seal" and "Scooby Doo on Zombie Island" at the same time. The guy working the checkout counter at B&N looked rather confused. It amused me.
4. You know how hard it is to find a copy of Mage: the Ascension? Here's the thing, I used to see copies of them all the time at Half Price Books. I've gone to all but 2 in the surrounding area and have yet to find a copy. I don't understand. It doesn't make sense! It shouldn't be that hard to find...
5. This is probably my new favorite song in the whole wide world.
6. Watched some old horror movies, including "The Black Dragon" starring Bela Lugosi. He plays a plastic surgeon who transforms 6 members of the Japanese Black Dragon society into lookalikes for six of America's leading businessmen so they can replace them and destroy U.S. economic infrastructure (the movie takes place in, and was made during, the early 1940's). It wasn't too bad, better than most of the bullshit that you'll see on screen today. The acting was a little lower class than I would have preferred, but still not as dismal as, say, Keaneau Reeves or Megan Fox. Still haven't seen Metropolis yet, though I want to. That's going to be fun.
That's all for today folks. As always, Love Under Will.
93/93
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Saturday, December 11, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
In Sickness and in Health
Rather than complain about being sick all day (I'm looking at you Kal) I've decided to be someone productive today. Then I realized I was sick and in no mood to do involved research about occultism and such, so instead I figured I'd talk a little about goth rock.
Goth rock is probably my favorite genre of music, much as I love horror punk and black metal. It's a wonderfully sweet melancholy that isn't overplayed like modern day emo music. And by overplayed, I don't mean "hear it too much on the radio." My problem with music like Linkin Park and Evanescence is that these bands make this music that tries so very hard to sound epic and depressive at the same time, and their subject matter is usually actually just personal relationships and romance songs, things of that nature. These bands (Linkin Park, Evanescence, etc) are writing these songs that have super "epic" soundscapes trying to make their mental break downs about losing their girlfriends/boyfriends/whatever sound like super hard core world shattering events. Which is kind of sad, but I won't get into it. Point is, goth avoids those pitfalls by making them melancholic without dipping into self-pity. It turns the personal angst into an artwork. Rather than screaming at the audience to understand it, goth rock frames those feelings and puts them on display. It captures that essence musically rather than forcibly trying to fit it into a cataclysmic sound scape that more narcissistic "artists" prefer to do. Wait! Bad Damien! You promised not to rant about trite emo bands!
Anywho, figured I'd post some of my favorite goth rock bands. If you know of any, please hit me up with recommendations.
1. Sisters of Mercy
2. Christian Death
3. Fields of the Nephilim
4. The Mission UK
5. Bauhaus
6. Ghost Dance
7. Rosetta Stone
8. Garden of Delight
9. London After Midnight
10. Corpus Delecti
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Goth rock is probably my favorite genre of music, much as I love horror punk and black metal. It's a wonderfully sweet melancholy that isn't overplayed like modern day emo music. And by overplayed, I don't mean "hear it too much on the radio." My problem with music like Linkin Park and Evanescence is that these bands make this music that tries so very hard to sound epic and depressive at the same time, and their subject matter is usually actually just personal relationships and romance songs, things of that nature. These bands (Linkin Park, Evanescence, etc) are writing these songs that have super "epic" soundscapes trying to make their mental break downs about losing their girlfriends/boyfriends/whatever sound like super hard core world shattering events. Which is kind of sad, but I won't get into it. Point is, goth avoids those pitfalls by making them melancholic without dipping into self-pity. It turns the personal angst into an artwork. Rather than screaming at the audience to understand it, goth rock frames those feelings and puts them on display. It captures that essence musically rather than forcibly trying to fit it into a cataclysmic sound scape that more narcissistic "artists" prefer to do. Wait! Bad Damien! You promised not to rant about trite emo bands!
Anywho, figured I'd post some of my favorite goth rock bands. If you know of any, please hit me up with recommendations.
1. Sisters of Mercy
2. Christian Death
3. Fields of the Nephilim
4. The Mission UK
5. Bauhaus
6. Ghost Dance
7. Rosetta Stone
8. Garden of Delight
9. London After Midnight
10. Corpus Delecti
Previous/Next
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