Nerdfighters in my pants, that's so jokes!

If you don't get that, check out http://www.brotherhood2.com.

Easily amused

Did Noah do a lot of fishing on the ark??


...hehe...


How could he? There were only TWO WORMS!!!



hahaha!!





Ok, so sue me. I'm easily amused.

Two New Obsessions

OK, this just kicks complete ass:




And these two brothers are insane. And, well, kinda cute, especially since one of them looks like a friend of mine who I used to have a crush on. It's not him, though.

Anyway, they decided to stop all texting communication and only post blogs to converse with one another. It's kinda funny, kinda weird, and really random. Plus, they have the best facial expressions.


http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=vlogbrothers


Brotherhood 2.0...in my pants...

Whirlpool, Two Halves,

(drawing by Kent Mikelson)

I think this accurately describes life. When you're on the outside of the whirlpool, you go slower, have more times to make decisions. The closer you get to the middle the more chaotic things become. You go faster and faster until you're dizzy, until your head is light, until you lose all sense of orientation. It's hard to swim back to the outside of the whirlpool. It's not impossible, but it's hard. Wouldn't it be easier to let go, to let the whirlpool suck you in?

...That's more depressing then I thought.

(two drawings by Kent Mikelson)

This is the connection. The two halves of one. The same, yet different. Different places, different themes, different looks. Soul mates, if you will. Two halves of one, yet two different people.


(part of a painting by Kent Mikelson)

Dorothy enters Oz. What is the humming bird? What is the color after so much black and white? Hope.


To see more of Kent's work, google him.

Live Earth

Saturday, all I did was sit on my ass, stuff my face with Ben and Jerry's best flavor, Half-Baked, talked to all my online buddies, and watched Live Earth.

Yum.

It got me thinking. Other than I think the pop culture world is going downhill with all the crappy music that was featured on Live Earth. Other than there weren't a lot of good artists who also care about the earth. Where was The Who? Bob Dylan? Hell, where the heck was U2?

I won't go on about the music, other than to say the only two people I was excited about was John Mayer and The Police. And, wouldn't you know it, they played together! Forget Kanye, gimme more JM.

Anyway, this who concert event got me thinking. It did it's purpose. It raised MY awareness.

I started researching ways to live green. It's not that hard to make a few changes. I mean, I would rather eat organic anyway, so might as well suck it up and start buying more organic foods. Start using baking soda, vinegar, hot water, and elbow grease to clean things. Stop buying products with a lot of plastic waste or at least start recycling that plastic.

I know I should give up Old Navy and WalMart. Sweat shops are not cool. How about I promise to give up Walmart when I'm not a poor college kid anymore? Unfortunately, things around here are very expensive, so... Ok, I'm making excuses, I know it. I'll just try to go there LESS.

I can do the compact florescent lightbulb thing. That's easy enough. Start shutting off lights when I'm not there.

...Do fish tanks use a lot of energy?

Stay tuned for more information about my descent into green...

Wonder Years...

Last night, I went with my internship program to a play called "Dissonance" at the Williamstown Theater Festival.

The play was ok. Nothing to write home about.

The best part was: I sat behind the dad from the Wonder Years.

Yup. It was a great moment in my life. I loved that show. It totally was part of my childhood. But the actor who played the dad was funny in real life. He started talking to us about how glad he was that there were young people at the show, how much he didn't like "dead white writers" (the play we were seeing was a premier play by some English dude), and then he started making fun of some chicks pants. "It looks like someone shot a couch," he said.



Yes, ladies and gents, that is the Dad from the Wonder Years... I didn't take that picture, though. I found on Google and thought it was funny.

Yup, I meet the BEST stars...

First Three Weeks of my Internship

It's been crazy ever since I got here. But in a good way. I swear.

So, where I am? The Berkshire Cultural Resource Center. Yeah. The organization that B-HIP stems from. Cause, you know, that doesn't make things complicated or anything. It's lucky that I have solid morals, cause otherwise I could turn this program into gossip city. Heh. But I won't. Cause, as Faith as Buffy would say, "Because...It's wrong."

But, honestly, I really do like it here. I do stuff envelopes... but I'm the one who wrote the letter that I stuffed. That's the best part. Being actively involved. And when I get the coffee, I usually get it for myself. And I can run out and grab coffee whenever I want. And I can grab lunch whenever as well.

Perks. They're a good thing.

I like this whole "you're basically an employee" thing. I'm getting actual EXPERIENCE in things I LIKE and WANNA do.

The cultural outings, which are exactly what they sound like--events the interns go on for FREE!--are a lot of fun. Well, the last one was a bit of a bummer. 3rd Thursdays in Pittsfield. I get what the town is trying to do, and I think it's great. But it's like the Thursday at Hyannis in the summer, only not as good. I think 3rd Thursday would be great if they had more vendors, performers, etc. I feel like there should be less searching for the events. The events should come to us.

Other cultural outings in teh past three weeks were: Philadanco at Mahaiwe Theater in Great Barrington, the Gallery 51 opening, the Aviary opening at the Lichtenstein Gallery in Pittsfield, seeing two performances at Club Helsinki in G. Barrington, and the Mass MoCA Netherlands opening.

Whew. We've been busy little interns.

Philadanco: the Philadelphia Dance Company. Wicked awesome. Highly suggest seeing them. I never saw a DANCE show before that didn't involve a college or high school of some sort, so this was a great intro to the world of dance. Especially one where they slid across the floor. They looked like molecules!!

Gallery 51: This is where BCRC is located. So I see (and hear) this art everyday. I can't wait until the new show, because the soundtrack to one of the film instilations makes me want to stab a knife into my ear. Anyway, the opening itself was fun, even if I can't spend an hour in a small gallery without getting bored. I can only look at art for so long. This show is called "Sister City First Five Years" or something like that. The pieces are from the first five years of the Storefront Artist Project in Pittsfield. More on Storefront later, most likely, as we have an intern there.

Aviary: Lichtenstein Gallery. I still can't pronounce it for some reason. Anyway, the show is really neat. There are two paintings that I want to buy, but I can't afford to spend like 10 thousand dollars on anything.

Club Helsinki: It kicks ass. It's a hole in the wall club that barely seems to fit one hundred people. It's like the Iron Horse in Northampton, only smaller. And without a balcony. The performers... well, I LOVED Gloria Deluxe. That band totally kicked ass. The lead singer has an AMAZING voice. The bassist (who played the stand-up bass, not an electric) was very entertaining with his bobbing up and down, pouty lips thing. His neck must hurt by the end of the night... Oh, and there were TWO fiddles. My love for fiddles is ever growing. The second performer, Matty what's-his-face? Not so much. Every song sounded the same, and not in a good way. And he was weird. He said something about how he was drinking his own piss to wuit smoking. Joking? I wish. I hope. *shudders*

Netherlands: Mass MoCA is not my favorite place ever. My love for contemporary art is...small. The performance at the Netherlands opening was awesome, though. A string quartet named Zap! performed. One of the violinists was cute. The viola player (violaist? I was trying to figure out what to call him through the entire show) was funny and made great faces. He also busted out into random songs. The other violin player was awesome. The celloist did a fun little dance. After Zap was some weird techno-digital-artist thing. I left during that. Me and techno are NOT mixy objects. It gives me a headache...

Hmm... I think that's about as good of an update as I can give.

Other things I have gone to outside B-HIP include: a storyteller show at Lichtenstein (my roomie interns there. The storytellers were very entertaining, especially the first man... his son's favorite color is pink... he wears playdresses... his wife is a New Ager... HILARIOUS!), West Side Story @ Barrington Stage in Pittsfield (eh, it was ok. I forgot how ridiculous that show is. Maria and Tony, I mean, that actors that played them are freaks of nature. Like Idina Menzel. Crazy voices...), and Midsummer Nights Dream (technically B-HIP related... wine and cheese thing before...schmooze-fest...TERRIBLE casting, except the mechanicals and puck, but I'm also picky because I was in that show in high school...oh, and WTF with the random song at the end?!!?! Second to worst professional show I have ever seen...).

(the first worst was FAME in London. The movie is great. The show sucks...)

Overall experience to date: awesome. Best decision ever...

...except for West Side Story...

Just a Bumble of Stuffs

My room is filled with my other room. The other room being the dorm room. I can barely walk in my bedroom, because my dorm room stuff is in the way. Dammit, i just realized that I need a new wheelie-drawer thing... And I was just at WalMart, too. I know, I know, I watched two movies over the course of the year of how bad The Wal is. But I am a poor college kid and The Place is cheap. Anyway, I'm looking at all the stuff around me and I realized that I don't need a good 3/4 of what I own. And I am too lazy to do anything about it... le sigh.

At least Chuck Norris hasn't died yet. I'm worried that in the small tank, he will suffocate, but he's swimming around like a happy gold fish and plays with that little plastic puffer fish that came with his big tank. Fernando, on the other hand, is not happy in his wicked small tank, so even though he looks cute in it and it has a nice set up, with the rocks I got from the Brighton, England and a piece of the plant from Chucky's tanks, I will put him back in his 1 gal. tank as soon as Dad makes the cover for Chucky's tank... Well, I can't very well put a Betta and a Goldfish together, right?

I'm bored. And tired. I'll let this post end randomly.

Holy Logic

So, I have this annoying Logic professor who thinks his shit smells like flowers. I know he's going to hate my paper, because, well, I could do better if I cared more about his class, but I am interested in knowing if any of you out there think my argument to be valid:

Three-Fold Deities and the Holy Trinity

Religions have often borrowed ideas from one another. Christianity, as a young religion in comparison to many others, borrowed heavily from the ideas around it, especially from the pagans, a simpler term for believers of polytheistic religions, Christians wished to convert. The symbol of the Holy Trinity began with the three-fold deities of earlier religious traditions.

Three is an important number in many religions, because the number is a lucky number and it is also a symbol for wholeness. One is unable to multiply, and two creates the opposite forces, but there is nothing to balance them. Once three enters the picture, not only is there cause for more multiplication, but there is also a balance of the opposite forces. As the first prime number, three represents perfection. One is good, two is better, and three is best (“Three”). In the bible itself, there are numerous references to the number three: three wise men bring gifts for Jesus, Peter denies Christ three times, and three days between Jesus’ death and rising.

Since three is so important to many people, many gods’ and goddesses’ symbols had three faces or forms. The oldest reference to this is in the Hindu religion, where Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are worshipped as one, though they are in fact three separate deities. When Sir William Jones, a philologist who documented Sanskrit in the late 1700s, went to India, he surprisingly noted that the worship of the three gods were much like the Trinity, and that converting them, in that respect, would be simple, although the idea of Christianity did not catch on in India (“The Idea of Trinity”). Another pre-Christian example of three separate deities worshipped as one is the Egyptian Osiris, Isis, and Horus, worshiped as father, mother, and child (“Three”.) The Romans and Greeks, since their mythologies are so interwoven, also had many deities with three forms: the Fates and the Furies, to name two.
“The pagan Romans worshipped a Trinity. An oracle is said to have declared that there was First God, then the Word, and with them the Spirit. Here we see the distinctly enumerated, God, the Logos, and the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost, in ancient Rome, where the most celebrated temple of this capital—that of Jupiter Capitolinus was dedicated to three deities, which three deities were honored with joint worship” (“The Idea of Trinity”).

In the Celtic religion, Brigit was a goddess of poetry and wisdom, medicine, and smiths. Because of her three manifestations, she is considered a threefold goddess. In Celtic traditions, a god or goddess with three forms depicted their divine powers. It is also interesting to note that Brigit also manifests herself as St. Brigit, a midwife to the Virgin Mary, and also credited with many miracles. Interestingly, the feast of St. Brigit falls on February 1st, which is also Imbolc, the pagan festival which honored the goddess Brigit (“Brigit”).

The Holy Trinity itself is a three-fold example. The Trinity was created by early Christians who had once been Jews, so they were taught that there was only one god. Yet, there was Jesus to consider, whom they thought was the Messiah and the son of god, and there was also the spirit of god, which was always with them. Putting the three together, they came up with the Holy Trinity and, despite much speculation and outcry, in 381 AD the Trinity finally became recognized by the Council of Constantinople (“Three”). The idea also came from the Phaedo, written by Plato around 400BC. The first part of Plato’s Trinity was Agathon, Greek for “the supreme God or Father” (“The Idea of Trinity”). Then came Logos, or word, and lastly Psyche, or soul, spirit, ghost. This follows with the Holy Trinity: Father as the Supreme God, Son as the bringer of the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit as the spirit for which god lends himself to everyone (“The Idea of Trinity”).

When Christianity came in existence, some people followed the pagan ways. When a person believes something very strongly, it is hard to break his faith. Faith is to a single man complete fact. Pagans believed in the power of the number three. In order to accept the concept of only one God, man had to make the argument logical. By instituting the Holy Trinity, God’s power made more sense to the pagans. Three faces made a god strong and powerful, so adding a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to Christianity was a useful marketing tool. Combined with all the other pagan beliefs (adaptations of festivals to Christian holidays among that), it became easy for the pagan to switch religions.

To connect the symbolic power of three to both the Holy Trinity and to the pagan religions is not going against Christian belief. Humans created religion. They also borrow from each other to perfect their cooking, their machinery, and their language. As such, they borrow ideas to perfect their religion, to gain mass appeal. If past beliefs did not influence the creators of the Trinity, then the Trinity would not exist. The Holy Trinity represents the power of God.

Bibliography:
Man, Myth, and Magic. 1985, vol. 10. “Three.”
Man, Myth, and Magic. 1985, vol. 2. “Brigit.”
“The Idea of Trinity.” The Book of Threes. April 10, 2007: .
The Encyclopedia of Religion. “Trinity”.