Random Stuff
esiegel | November 2, 2014“Once I knew only darkness and stillness… my life was without past or future… but a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the rapture of living.” -Helen Keller
Our tiny, little fingers make all the difference in the world, enabling us the use and manipulation of advanced tools, among many other things. Why shouldn't we use them for luck, as Laura Marling would sing us in her song,
Cross Your Fingers,
or for our own artistic enjoyment wherever we go?
Image credit: Scientista Foundation / Cosmetic Proof, via http://www.…
esiegel | November 1, 2014“Not man enough? NOT MAN ENOUGH? I have three Y chromosomes, six adams apples, pecs on my abs and FISTS FOR NIPPLES!” -Testosteraur
You've been waiting all year for a new Halloween photo (and profile photo) for me, and now that the big day has come, it's time to unveil what I've chosen!
Image credit: Disney channel / Alex Hirsch et al.
For those of you who aren't averse to quality television just becomes it comes in the form of a cartoon, you'll love the phenomenon that is Gravity Falls. And in one of the show's most iconic episodes -- Dipper vs. Manliness -- we meet the mythical creature…
esiegel | October 26, 2014“The trees are man’s best friends; but man has treated them as his worst enemies. The history of our race may be said to be the history of warfare upon the tree world. But while man has seemed to be the victor, his victories have brought upon him inevitable disasters.” -Nathaniel Egleston
When things you've grown to love leave your world, whether they leave of their own volition or they're taken from you, it can be agonizing. Have a listen to Damien Rice’s song,
The Animals Were Gone,
while you consider the following. Imagine that you live along a great, rushing river, with a huge sandbar…
esiegel | October 19, 2014“I would give my life to fly in space. It’s hard for me to talk about it but I would. I would then, and I will now.” -Jerrie Cobb, at age 67 in 1999
Some of the greatest heros of the 20th century are those who were an integral part of humanity taking our first steps into space. Yet not everyone who deserved one got their chance. Have a listen to Railroad Earth's amazing but incredibly sad song,
Bird In A House,
while I share with you a story about NASA's very first astronaut class.
Image credit: the Mercury 7 astronauts, NASA, taken March 1, 1960.
Not the famed Mercury 7, who were our…
esiegel | October 12, 2014“Fantasy is silver and scarlet, indigo and azure, obsidian veined with gold and lapis lazuli. Reality is plywood and plastic, done up in mud brown and olive drab. Fantasy tastes of habaneros and honey, cinnamon and cloves, rare red meat and wines as sweet as summer. Reality is beans and tofu, and ashes at the end.” -George R.R. Martin
But fantasy not only wakes us up to the lavish things in life, it also gives us a connection to our history, to the land and to the thousands of generations that have come before us. Have a listen to Tan Dun and Yo-Yo Ma’s legendary collaboration from Crouching…
esiegel | October 5, 2014“While we do our good works let us not forget that the real solution lies in a world in which charity will have become unnecessary.” -Chinua Achebe
When you think of charitable enterprises, you probably think of things like eradicating hunger, poverty, or disease of some sort. After all, that's what most charity is: helping others who are less fortunate than we are. But there's also another form of charity, where we put our time, effort and resources into improving the world for everyone. This weekend, have a listen to Beirut's song,
Mount Wroclai (Idle Days),
while I share with you a project…
esiegel | September 28, 2014“You can clean your sword as much as you want but the blood still stains it.” -Matsuro
I can't count for you the number of shirts I've ruined through spills and other stains. Have a listen to José González's song,
Lovestain,
while you consider what you'd do if you got a stain on your clothes. I'd run them through the wash, sometimes multiple times, and if that wouldn't get the stains out, that'd be the end of that article of clothing. Some of the worst culprits were fruit, grass, wine, oils, and -- of course -- blood.
Image credit: photo by Andrew Kahn, via http://andrewjkahn.com/2013/07/17/…
esiegel | September 21, 2014“I created this project for fun. Initially, I had no business goals with it. I created this project recently. I was and still am a teenager myself, that is why I had a certain feeling of what other teenagers would want to see on the Internet. I myself enjoyed talking to friends with Skype using a microphone and webcam. But we got tired of talking to each other eventually. So I decided to create a little site for me and my friends where we could connect randomly with other people.” -Andrey Ternovskiy, founder of Chatroulette
You know there's nothing quite like improvising, and there's perhaps…
esiegel | September 15, 2014“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring—it was peace.” -Milan Kundera
Many of you have been along on this journey with me for years now. And one of the great joys in my life that I got to share with you -- at least a little bit -- was that of my dog, Cordelia.
Image credit: me.
You may also have noticed that I didn't do an Ask Ethan this week, I didn't write a Comments of the Week article, and I didn't give you a diversion for this…
esiegel | September 7, 2014“You ain’t supposed to get salmon when they’re swimming upstream to spawn. But if you’re hungry, you do.” -Loretta Lynn
One of the most remarkable stories in the natural world is the end-of-life story of the salmon. After being born in a stream, tributary, or other small spawning ground, baby salmon swim downstream into the ocean, and then back upstream to their original spawning ground -- often many hundreds of miles -- to spawn and die. Have a listen to Leftover Salmon’s song this week,
It's Your World,
while you consider how the advent of hydroelectric dams has changed things.
Image…
esiegel | August 31, 2014“If you can’t share, we’ll have to take it away.” -Myla Hendricks, age 4
One of the most difficult things for any creative person to do is to let someone else into their creative space, into their projects and into the work that they're most passionate about. But sometimes, that's really the best thing you can do. Have a listen to Jack Johnson remind us of this with
The Sharing Song,
while you take a look at what happens when an artist who really focuses on sketching detailed faces...
Image credit: Mica Hendricks, of her best friend Christine, via http://busymockingbird.com/.
Gives her…
esiegel | August 24, 2014“I’m coming back in… and it’s the saddest moment of my life.” -Ed White, at the conclusion of the first American spacewalk, June 3, 1965
Adventures are funny things: we look forward to them, we enjoy them to the fullest while we're on them, and then we revel in the experience of having had them once they're behind us. But there are some adventures, as Steve Earle would sing you, that are
Somewhere Out There,
that we'll never experience for ourselves. I'm talking, for the most part, about the far reaches of deep space.
Image credit: Hubble Heritage Team (AURA / STScI), C. R. O’Dell (…
esiegel | August 17, 2014“I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy was locking the front door. I said, ‘Hey, the sign says you’re open 24 hours.’ He said, ‘Yes, but not in a row.’” -Stephen Wright
It seems like there's a sign for everything, from warnings to advisories to just plain good counsel. Have a listen to the Kelly Bell Band perform their entertaining song,
Must've Bumped Your Head,
while I share with you the most ridiculous sign ever discovered in all of internet history: a sign that warns you against banging your head on the sign itself.
Image credit: flickr user Lush, via…
esiegel | August 10, 2014“I’m just thankful that I’m still here. I hope I’m still relevant to somebody. I don’t trip on all that icon stuff. I’m still that down-to-earth girl I was all those years ago.” -Martha Wash
Everyone has their own unique set of contributions that they can make to the world: some do it scrupulously, and others less so. But I always admire the people who do it right, succeed, and then turn right back around and help the same community that helped them achieve that success. Have a listen to Martha Wash's greatest hit,
It's Raining Men,
while you take a moment to learn about her story and her…
esiegel | August 2, 2014“Everybody wants peace. That’s a truism. There is no point in accomplishing through war what you can accomplish through peace.” -Norman Finkelstein
Say what you will about this world, and there's an artist out there who can say it more effectively without needing to use a single word. For those who can do that, I tip my hat and express my admiration. When it comes to social justice, we're often promised, as KT Tunstall will sing you,
Change,
but things still seem to remain the same. Well one artist -- Pawel Kuczynski -- seems to have simply nailed that without the need for a single word.…
esiegel | July 27, 2014“General Kenobi. Years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to convey my father’s request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack, and I’m afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.” -…
esiegel | July 20, 2014“I’m not playing a role. I’m being myself, whatever the hell that is.” -Bea Arthur
It isn't often that someone becomes both a legend and an inspiration simply by being themselves, and it's even rarer in the world of entertainment if that person doesn't just happen to be stunningly beautiful-or-handsome as well. But a certain Golden Girl did exactly that during her life. Have a listen to Art in Manila's interesting indie song,
Golden Dawn,
while I share with you Mike Denison's art project, "Bea A Day."
Image credit: Mike Denison, via http://mikd33.tumblr.com/image/77592856619.
Each day,…
esiegel | July 13, 2014“I’ve learned what ‘classical’ means. It means something that sings and dances through sheer joy of existence.” -Gustav Holst
There are some great, creative works out there that take their inspiration from the amazing natural phenomena of this Universe. While perhaps Gustav Holst's suite, The Planets, is best known for translating the celestial wonders into terrestrial ones, I'd like to share with you the less-well-known song of Ferraby Lionheart,
Small Planet,
while I take you through this weekend's wonder.
Image credit: author WP, via Wikimedia Commons uploader Kwamikagami under c.c.-by-sa…
esiegel | July 6, 2014“Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed.” -Bob Riley
But we all have our heroes, for a myriad of reasons. Perhaps it will serve you to think of them as you listen to Dropkick Murphys singing about the
Heroes From Our Past.
But heroes exist as much in our minds as they do in real life, and so I'm pleased to share with you the amazing imaginings of Alex Tuis!
Image credit: Alex Tuis, via http://a.tuis.free.fr/SuperHero.html, of Rutger Hauer as Thor.
By combining a number of Hollywood legends (and rising stars) with a selection of…
esiegel | June 29, 2014“Catch on fire and people will come for miles to see you burn.” -John Wesley
There's nothing quite like a fire on a temperate summer's night, as John Fahey will play for you in his rendition of a Mississippi Fred McDowell classic,
Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning.
But I bet you never thought of combining the biggest burning festival with a 100% flammable astronomical observing party.
Image credit: Tom Varden “Major Tom” of Black Rock Observatory, via http://www.blackrockobservatory.com/.
That's exactly what the folks at Black Rock Observatory are doing, however, with their plans to…