The Cookie Test from Mark Pearson on Vimeo.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
wow.
This is incredible.
http://gizmodo.com/5682758/the-fascinating-story-of-the-twins-who-share-brains-thoughts-and-senses
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Being green
I know the It Gets Better Project was created to support the gay community through what was a harrowing number of cases of suicide and bullying. However, I think this project speaks for anyone being bullied and I think that people with mental illness definitely fall in that category as well, young people especially.
So thank you Kermit for your message about being green, we would not have you any other way!
I could not think of a more appropriate message for this blog where I strive to show the common ground we all have, the crazy things we all do and the reality behind a very stigmatized and dramatized population.
Cheers to being green!
To being different and fabulous in whatever beautiful way you are!
So thank you Kermit for your message about being green, we would not have you any other way!
I could not think of a more appropriate message for this blog where I strive to show the common ground we all have, the crazy things we all do and the reality behind a very stigmatized and dramatized population.
Cheers to being green!
To being different and fabulous in whatever beautiful way you are!
Beetlejuice... Beetlejuice... BEETLEJUICE!
Okay so I'm a little late on the mandatory Halloween related post but I can not let this go by. Halloween has always been and will always be my favorite holiday for the one reason that it involves mass communal dress up. Slutty costumes/silly costumes I don't care as long as I get to walk down the street in full out face make up and in character and it is widely accepted I am DOWN!
I don't think I have ever not dressed up, even when it was so not cool in middle school, social standing be damned, I was dressed up. When I was reaaaaally little I was a major girly girl and I remember my costume at age 5 as a Fairy-princess-queen-ballerina-mermaid.... I was seriously ambitious. Then as I got older, age 9-10-11 I got into be scary. I mean I may have thought I was scary, correction, I KNOW I thought I was scary but come on, when you are 70 pounds of tiny blonde freckled child, there is only so much some plastic fangs can do for the cause. Still, kids love being scary and kids love being scared. Now you will be hard pressed to get me into a horror movie but when I was little I was all about it. I remember watching The Shining, when I was 11 from behind my grandfather's big leather chair who didn't know I was there or he would have obviously kicked me out of the room. I know there are exceptions on both sides here, but generally speaking, I wonder why we lose our love of fear?
You may be thinking, oh hell no, when I was little I was SO not into scary stuff but come on, did you ever play light as a feather/stiff as a board? The game where one person is "dead" and you tell a story about how they died and then everyone puts two fingers underneath the person on all sides and start chanting "light as a feather/stuff as aboard," while raising the person up until they allegedly, levitate. I never had the levitation thing happen but come on.. that is kind of creepy shit for a bunch of 8 year old girls in floral pajamas to be into after watching A Little Princess, on VHS... right?
I remember after the first time I saw Beetlejuice I lied in bed at night once the lights were out and I whispered it.. "Beetlejuice"... "Beetlejuice".... (squirm with anticipation) "BEETLEJUICE." I did this many times after that and it was almost a bed time routine. I was always a little afraid he would pop into my room and then I'd be in trouble.
Or Bloody Mary! Did you ever hear that one? That if you look into the mirror at midnight and say "Bloody Mary," three times she (I don't even know who she really is.. I just pictured something like Carrie...) would come through the mirror and kill you and then drag you with her back through the mirror into... I don't know really... but it wouldn't be good. Well I tried it, multiple times, no luck.
When I was in 3rd grade my friend told me that if I said "hell" three times I was going there for SURE. So of course, I said it, waiting to be whisked off the playground by some demon but again no go. Maybe that one only applies after death... so if I end up in some fiery Bosch-like afterlife I will surely curse my daring 3rd grade self.
Kids are often really fascinated with death. As much as I tested the waters with all this superstition, I was also terrified that I would die in my sleep. Children don't really understand the concepts of consciousness and this is a common fear. I had those little Mexican worry dolls and every night I would put one under my bed and tell the doll my worry, that I would die in my sleep, and she would keep me safe.
As we grow older fears like this subside as we begin to understand our conscious existence and the idea that we continue to exist even when not fully conscious. With more life experience we also become aware of the fragility of our existence and grasp the permanence of death that is incomprehensible as a young child. Some researchers have shown that children do not fully grasp the permanence of death until about age 11. As we grow older we try and integrate our lives into something bigger and more lasting than our mortal selves. We strive to leave legacy, have children, develop faith, connect to a god, connect to our communities to become something larger and more lasting and more resistant to our mortality. This is all part of a theory called Terror Management Theory that was actually pioneered by one of my professors. I recommend you look it up if this interests you. The main point is I think there is less of love of fear as we age, because that fear holds more meaning as we become more aware of our own transience.
But let's not get too morbid shall we? I still do the Beetlejuice thing sometimes...
I don't think I have ever not dressed up, even when it was so not cool in middle school, social standing be damned, I was dressed up. When I was reaaaaally little I was a major girly girl and I remember my costume at age 5 as a Fairy-princess-queen-ballerina-mermaid.... I was seriously ambitious. Then as I got older, age 9-10-11 I got into be scary. I mean I may have thought I was scary, correction, I KNOW I thought I was scary but come on, when you are 70 pounds of tiny blonde freckled child, there is only so much some plastic fangs can do for the cause. Still, kids love being scary and kids love being scared. Now you will be hard pressed to get me into a horror movie but when I was little I was all about it. I remember watching The Shining, when I was 11 from behind my grandfather's big leather chair who didn't know I was there or he would have obviously kicked me out of the room. I know there are exceptions on both sides here, but generally speaking, I wonder why we lose our love of fear?
You may be thinking, oh hell no, when I was little I was SO not into scary stuff but come on, did you ever play light as a feather/stiff as a board? The game where one person is "dead" and you tell a story about how they died and then everyone puts two fingers underneath the person on all sides and start chanting "light as a feather/stuff as aboard," while raising the person up until they allegedly, levitate. I never had the levitation thing happen but come on.. that is kind of creepy shit for a bunch of 8 year old girls in floral pajamas to be into after watching A Little Princess, on VHS... right?
I remember after the first time I saw Beetlejuice I lied in bed at night once the lights were out and I whispered it.. "Beetlejuice"... "Beetlejuice".... (squirm with anticipation) "BEETLEJUICE." I did this many times after that and it was almost a bed time routine. I was always a little afraid he would pop into my room and then I'd be in trouble.
Or Bloody Mary! Did you ever hear that one? That if you look into the mirror at midnight and say "Bloody Mary," three times she (I don't even know who she really is.. I just pictured something like Carrie...) would come through the mirror and kill you and then drag you with her back through the mirror into... I don't know really... but it wouldn't be good. Well I tried it, multiple times, no luck.
When I was in 3rd grade my friend told me that if I said "hell" three times I was going there for SURE. So of course, I said it, waiting to be whisked off the playground by some demon but again no go. Maybe that one only applies after death... so if I end up in some fiery Bosch-like afterlife I will surely curse my daring 3rd grade self.
Kids are often really fascinated with death. As much as I tested the waters with all this superstition, I was also terrified that I would die in my sleep. Children don't really understand the concepts of consciousness and this is a common fear. I had those little Mexican worry dolls and every night I would put one under my bed and tell the doll my worry, that I would die in my sleep, and she would keep me safe.
As we grow older fears like this subside as we begin to understand our conscious existence and the idea that we continue to exist even when not fully conscious. With more life experience we also become aware of the fragility of our existence and grasp the permanence of death that is incomprehensible as a young child. Some researchers have shown that children do not fully grasp the permanence of death until about age 11. As we grow older we try and integrate our lives into something bigger and more lasting than our mortal selves. We strive to leave legacy, have children, develop faith, connect to a god, connect to our communities to become something larger and more lasting and more resistant to our mortality. This is all part of a theory called Terror Management Theory that was actually pioneered by one of my professors. I recommend you look it up if this interests you. The main point is I think there is less of love of fear as we age, because that fear holds more meaning as we become more aware of our own transience.
But let's not get too morbid shall we? I still do the Beetlejuice thing sometimes...
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