So much for every day

School, work, and life has been rough and busy. It's obvious that I haven't been keeping up every day. I'm still going to try updating regularly, but it probably won't be every day. Once things settle down, I'll probably be able to get on the ball.
Thanks for the love, the few of you who read

Sorry For the Break Again; I look at Planets

I’m in an Astronomy class this year. It’s got me looking into the stars and thinking about things outside of the Earth more than I ever have. The biggest impacts were images my class showed of the surfaces of Venus and Mars. They set my imagination and sense of wonder on fire, and allowed me to tiptoe into the shallow end of the incomprehensible.

Surface of Mars

I’ve seen images of the surfaces of planets; overhead shots from some telescope in our orbit or circling around in space. They give a map view of the planet, showing ravines, scarps, meandering ancient canyons, etc. These are interesting to see, and I’m sure they help scientists who are trying to study topographical features on other planets. However, they still leave me feeling distant, like I’m looking from afar at something I will never actually touch or smell (probably wouldn’t want to taste anything, and what’s to hear?). This is even more the case with the surface of Venus, which can only be seen with radar due to the thick carbon dioxide atmosphere. It seems… virtual? Shallow? Discredited? I’m not sure exactly what word I’m looking for, but there isn’t anything about a God’s-eye picture that is very human to me.

Mars

Then, I saw pictures that the land rovers took. Mars fascinated me; to see rocks up-close, the size of my fist, as if I were standing there looking around. I could imagine my feet gently sinking into the red sand. The white/blue atmosphere forming a very familiar experience. Ironically, the images make Mars seem Earthly, like we’re actually in some desert bordering the southern US.

Another of Mars

And then, just by changing your position on the planet, it suddenly feels very foreign. A red-orange sky doesn’t nearly compete with the blood-crimson rocks and sand. Everything is unreasonably flat, while at the same time rocks dot every square foot as far as the eye can see. Mars has areas that might be hard for the human mind to imagine; the image is dreamlike. Luckily, the rovers have made these surreal places very vivid.
The most amazing picture I’ve seen this year though was a shot of Venus from the surface. Before seeing it, I hadn’t heard about us actually landing anything there. I honestly didn’t think it was even possible; I knew that Venus was the hottest terrestrial planet in our solar system, hot enough to melt lead. We did land, and got some photos.

Venusian Surface Pictures

A hellish landscape with liquid-smooth or crumbling rocks; a bright, acid-yellow atmosphere that turns the sky into something we’ve never seen before. The Venusian surface is something out of a nightmare. The pictures can make us feel like we’re there, like we’re walking through the dark brown plains through the thick yellow air.
Venus is too much for anything except rocks, however. Anything metal that you put on it melts within around ten minutes. Putting a human on its surface would be like putting a napkin on flowing lava. Because of that, we will probably never walk on its surface; never see the sights that the pictures give us.
I find it fascinating that humankind’s curiosity sometimes knows no reason. With millions, if not billions of dollars that could be used on some other facet of our planet, we put these machines into space so that they may see for us, even if it’s just for ten minutes. We are gluttonous with our senses, going way out of our way and using tons of our resources just to experience something, just to see something.
Even in the wake of logical use of resources vs. human impulse, I’m still glad we did it. Not only does it let me geek out a little, but it gives me a small sense of the solar system we live in. I now have a better understanding of our neighboring planets; not just the math, but the views. This planet is getting smaller (not literally), and I think looking to stars and planets is beneficial. Eventually, we will want and may have to go out into space, and it’s best if you can see where you’re going.

Sorry For the Long Break; I watched Falstaff at the University of Kentucky

This past weekend, I went to visit my girlfriend in Kentucky. I also went to support her during her debut, leading-role performance in the opera Falstaff. I saw the show three different times; I now know it like the back of my hand.
Falstaff was written by Giuseppe Verdi in the late 19th century, and was inspired by Shakespeare’s characters in The Merry Wives of Windsor. It follows Sir John Falstaff, a fat, greedy, gluttonous lecher. In an attempt to sate both his lust and his greed, he sends two letters to two rich, beautiful women in the area: Alice Ford and Meg Page. The women, being friends, quickly put together Falstaff’s idiotic plan, and rather than immediately exposing him for the creep he is, decide to punish him themselves with a series of schemes. With the help of Quickly and Nannetta, they devise a plan to humiliate Falstaff. Ford, Alice’s husband, also finds out about Falstaff’s plan, and decides (completely separately of his wife) to trick Falstaff as well. In an intricate web of events, everyone gets their revenge on Falstaff, but everyone also learn that life is one big joke. My girlfriend played Nannetta, Alice’s daughter. Nannetta is in love with Fenton, a suitor who doesn’t meet the requirements of Nannetta’s father, Ford. Instead, Ford wants Dr. Caius to be Nannetta’s future husband. Ultimately, this is also wrapped up humorously with Fenton and Nannetta being happily married. I don’t want to give away the story, but if you want to spoil it yourself, you can find anything you want to know about the opera at the following link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falstaff_%28opera%29
Before I say anything else, I very much liked the nature of the opera. When I think of opera, a tragedy comes to mind, usually with a less than happy ending. Falstaff, however, was so humorous and happy that almost none of the show could’ve or should’ve been taken seriously. In fact, the point of the story was that life is one big joke.
As a result, on-stage mishaps usually just blended in with the rest of the story. For instance, in act 3, Fenton has to put on a monk’s robe on-stage. During cast A’s performance, the robe was put on backwards with the hood draping down Fenton’s chest. Whereas this kindof mistake would’ve certainly taken away from a more serious play like Romeo et Juliet, Falstaff was so ridiculous that I would’ve just thought it was part of the story had I not already seen it twice. In that way, it took a lot of stress away from the actors, and allowed them to have way more fun with the show than a more somber opera would’ve.

There were two casts. I saw cast 1 on Friday and Saturday; I saw cast A (not sure why it’s A instead of 2) on Sunday. Overwhelmingly, I liked cast 1. Jonathan R. Green was terrific as John Falstaff (right in the picture below). He perfectly depicted a greedy, immoral lecher, and had the comical faces and behaviors that compounded his already very humorous role
My favorite character though was Cast 1’s Mistress Quickly, played by Holly Dodson (far left in the above picture). Dodson’s Quickly was a tad girly, overwhelmingly mischievous, and undeniably in-control. I had the idea that she was the mastermind of the characters, with only Alice giving her a run for her money in ruthlessness. Dodson clearly displayed this faux-innocence while at the same time making Quickly an utterly likable character. I was in love with her by the last act.
Another notable character was Ford. Michael Preacely’s (left in picture below) wonderful, deep voice conveyed power and danger, much like Ford’s character.
Finally, cast 1’s Nannetta (Far right in picture above). When she sang, the atmosphere in the room seemed to lift. People around me seemed engrossed and distant, as if captured by some surreal power surrounding us. Surely, I thought, I was just biased. Of course she sounded good to me. I noted the relatively large amounts of applause she received, both after her aria in act 3 and at the conclusion of the play. I don’t think I imagined the significant amounts of hoots and hollers.

Falstaff was a wonderful story, and UK put it on brilliantly; I found myself liking it more the third time I watched it than I did the first. With an even mixture of high-brow puns, burns, and slightly raunchy innuendos, it appeals to all kinds of humor. The engaging story and uplifting conclusion also puts you in good spirits, and may possibly even teach you something about life and how to live it humorously.

Minecraft; I look a little into life-consuming games

I just spent 4 hours on Minecraft. My brother bought it, gave me the password. I started my own world. It wasn’t even on survival; I just dicked around on creative mode for 4 hours. Found magma, underground rivers, deep dungeons, and I also found out about the void under it all.
I usually play video games. Call of Duty, Halo, Battlefield, Resident Evil, Legend of Zelda, sometimes games like Super Smash or Doctor Mario. These games enter my life and I find myself engrossed in them for a little while. Only priorities like eating or sleeping can peel me away from the TV. This usually isn’t detrimental though; I can be finished playing these games within 2 or 3 days, either because I’ve beat them or I’m bored with them.
Then a game like Minecraft comes along; a game that prides itself on thousands of options, hours of building and roaming and surviving and playing. In one 4 hour sitting, I’ll have scratched the surface of what the game has to offer, and I probably won’t be done with the game for hundreds of hours more. Games like the Assassin’s Creed franchise (1, 2, and 3 only) or anything by Bethesda also do this to me. First Fallout 3, then a short relationship with Oblivion (still many hours of my life gone), then New Vegas, then Skyrim. I’ve probably literally lost a year to the 7 games combined.
It makes me wonder where it comes from. I’m not the only one who lives in games like this. Thousands of people are lost in games like World of Warcraft, Maplestory, Runescape, and yes, Minecraft, Skyrim, and New Vegas. Star Wars: The Old Republic is probably stealing people from their lives as we speak, and will become a massive force in that regard within the next year.
What causes people to cast themselves entirely into virtual worlds? No matter what the individual motives are, I believe everyone does it to escape something in their lives. Some people may do it to escape their constantly depressing realities. Others may do it to escape their mundane and routine lives. Maybe it comes in waves, and they only engross themselves when they're angry or sad or alone. Me? I always justify myself by saying I want a good story, but they're never really good enough to hold up my justification. More likely, I play when I'm alone or bored in order to distract myself, and the overwhelming irony is that the time away from friends and family makes me more alone, more bored, and more likely to continue playing.
The cycle continues.

I try to look at Clips of Faith. No details for my area yet.

Just heard about this film expo from my friend Ryan. Since I'm pretty into films, I think I'm gonna try it. Anyone out there with a camera and editing software should do it too. Its free to enter, and I know these guys give prizes.

The closest one to us is in Bloomington. The site says no details yet, so I'll update when more info is available.

Website: http://www.newbelgium.com/clips-of-faith.aspx

Post plasma donation; I look at phobias a little

Yesterday, I donated plasma. It was my first time, so the process took about two hours. It was all fine at first; I was weighed, pricked and tested. I gave my basic information, answered questions about my medical history and listened to one of the Octapharma employees (don’t know whether she was technically a doctor or not) ramble on about AIDS and HIV for about 15 minutes.
I sat down on one of the wavy U-shaped beds, watching “Don’t Mess with the Zohan.” A larger woman with a lab coat pushed a cart next to my bed. I didn’t catch her name. She quickly set everything up; I didn’t watch cause I didn’t need to see the needle. I saw it anyway. Without my command, and against anything reasonable in me, my legs were moving, popping up and down on the bed like a continuous cold chill. The woman asked if I was cold, actually, and I told her no. She asked if I was nervous, and I told her I’d be fine. I’ve always had an aversion to needles, but I've always chalked it up to the human’s normal, natural tendency to avoid being punctured by sharp things. This horrible feeling taking my legs was something new to me. I looked away as she jabbed it in one of my “good veins.” The prick on my finger had hurt worse.
After she left, I noticed myself actively avoiding the needle in my arm. I continually reasoned that this was nothing; I’d had splinters larger and much more painful than this, and I wasn’t hesitant to walk on a deck or to grab a piece of plywood. With that, I glanced down at the metal prong jutting from my arm. It bulged where it was tunneled under my skin. A liter of red fluid moving out of my body into a spinning, whirring machine next to me. Neo pulling the life-support tubes from his awakened body came to mind. My stomach made a noise I’d never heard before. My head could’ve floated into the sky. I looked away half a second after, focusing on the TV at the Zohan’s fearless antics.
Dictionary.com defines the word phobia as “a persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid it.” Miranda White, in her essay “Phobia’s and the Brain,”*claims that there not a universal agreement about where phobia’s come from or how they occur. Several theories have come forth, but the only certainty is that it obviously comes from the brain. After my little encounter, I wondered how human evolution lead to the development of such a flaw in our collective psyche. Sure, it’s most of the time healthy to avoid heights, snakes, spiders, and skin-piercing devices. I find it odd, though, that rather than acting in a cool, collective manner in the face of these hurdles, our mind will revert back to animalistic panic, which is most of the time more detrimental to our health than the perceived “threat.” It doesn’t help anyone, especially you, when you scream and flail in an airplane in response to acrophobia. It didn’t help me to become queasy, or to virtually pass out while getting my plasma drawn. These kinds of responses probably just make the entire situation more traumatic, and intensify the fear later on.
Yet our bodies and unconscious minds insist that we behave this way. Rather than work it out in a reasonable way, we sporadically change our behaviors, avoiding the nonexistent threat like the plague. Even as I sit here, I get queasy and shudder a little as I think of the needle in my vein. It must come from some vague wiring in our brains, like emotions or fetishes, that are caused by the vast intricacies that make up the human mind.
*White’s essay can be found here: http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web3/mwhite.html

Hi

My name's Myles. I'm a 21 year old electronic media major currently attending Indiana State University. My focus is in writing and film-making.
I'm also a midwestern kid with a very limited view of the world. I often ruminate about various occurrences and ideas that come upon me. I'm not limited to writing and films though; this blog is for everything.
Ideally, I'll be updating this blog regularly with whatever. I may write in the more professional newspaper, inverted-pyramid style, a short-story creative writing style, or both. I haven't decided yet.