Mark Twain's Fish

Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted;
persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished;
persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.
By Order of the Author per G.G., Chief of Ordnance

—Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn


ohmygod! IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!

may the fish be with you

so what if i missed the original theatrical release by just over a year? star wars has lived in my soul for just about as long as i've been alive. i used to make the neighbor-girl be princess leia and sit under a table in her cell while i ran around the house shooting storm troopers. she was a sport and played along like any five year old with an imagination would. my x-wing's s-foils were juryrigged open with twelve-cord (which my father had in abundance and also provided the ziplines for my gi joes, the pliable bastards) because i'd put it through the trench run so many times that, nevermind the force, luke just had the law of averages against him.
it was a yahoo article giving me happy news during these dark times. a 3-d animated expansion on the clone wars, which is the best bit of star wars to come out since empire in 1980, and a live action tv series which i was a little apprehensive about upon first reading. what made me excited about it was reading that lucas plans to just get the bowl rolling and then step away. it will focus on the events between revenge and a new hope. to top it off, there are plans to release all six movies in '07 on imax. that kinda makes me tingle.
revenge of the sith is less than a month away and i'm getting the itch. i haven't had a trilogy day for 5 years. episode's 1 & 2 made me put star wars down for a while. there's a cool kind of anticipation just chillin in side of me cos it knows what i know. that this final movie is really going to kick ass.
when all is said and done, i think that 3-4-5 will be looked at as the core part of it. the rest is just exposition and resolution.


Obi-Wan, my Numbah One


the close second


lando calrissian, the baddest mofo in the galaxy.

i could go on, but the only other character i'd like to touch upon is han solo, and his unfortunate emasculation. it's bad enough that the badass smuggler we all knew and loved had turned into leia's bitch by the time jedi rolled around, but the special edition of a new hope just killed me. han shot first because he got the drop on greedo, the rodian bastard. he was a bloody pirate, and that's what pirates do. bad form, mr. lucas. the only other gripe i've got with the special editions comes from empire, and that's luke's enhanced scream as he falls through the bowels of cloud city. my response to the original - wow, luke would rather risk almost certain death than join vader. response to the special edition - oh look, luke slipped and now he screaming like a pansy. huge difference.

and finally, just cos it's the coolest Corellian freighter in the universe


the millenium falcon

inspirational fish

my fish may not have mottos exactly, but it sure likes to talk

Do one brave thing today... then run like hell!

Do something that scares you everyday.

...the adventure may be mad, but the adventurer must be sane.
-G.K. Chesterton

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
-Dylan Thomas

May you live all the days of your life.
-Jonathan Swift

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
-Isaac Asimov

Never knock on Death's door: ring the bell and run away! Death really hates that!
-Matt Frewer

Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow.
-Oscar Wilde

I am not young enough to know everything.
-Oscar Wilde

The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is at all comprehensible.
-Albert Einstein

I am here by the will of the people and I'm not leaving until I get my rain coat back!
-Dream Years by Lisa Goldstein

A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats.
-Benjamin Franklin

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
-Mark Twain

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
-Mark Twain

I am very gullible. I believe everything I say, even though I know I'm a liar.
-Lord of Light by Roger Zalazny

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.
-Cyril Connolly

Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.'
-Kahlil Gibran

How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?
-Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The difficult I will do now; the impossible might take a while.

We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, with so little, for so long, we are now qualified to do anything, with nothing.
-The Metro Para pledge

Be as radical as reality.
-Lenin

I learn of other people's thoughts to ultimately understand my own.

Ok, that's probably more than enough for today. If I didn't attribute the quote it's because I didn't know who to give the credit to. I welcome anyone correcting me on my attributions. And perhaps next time, if you are good little fishies, I will add links...

Turtle Tuesday and other things you find around the house

Well, I'd like to thank all you little fishes for bearing the brunt of my outbursts - I will aspire to continue with my chin up, my feet on the ground, my nose to the grindstone and other such cheerful daffodils... in the meantime, maybe you could help me with some dream(imagery) images.

First and foremost, I find it insufferably apropos to wake with Dali on the brain and melting clocks following me all the way to the bus and into work. So now I bring them to you to dance merrily in your head for the rest of the day:

This painting called the Persistence of Memory has significant meaning for me, especially at the advent or cessation of sleep and dreaming.

There was a creature in my dream last night - I'm pretty sure I was sitting on its back while it flew over the city (I think it was taking me to Jersey for some reason) - and when I woke up I couldn't remember the name of the creature.

I found it though - I was riding a Manticore. Yay Internet!

This Huge mythical beast was a lion-like creature with the head (or just ears and nose) of a human, leather wings like those of a bat and the tail of a scorpion (though sometimes it is depicted with a tail that either shoots fire or spines). Here's a few examples:
This is an early drawing of the manticore - notice the tail and the head.

This is an artist's rendition of a greek manticore by Red Scharlach.

More often though, the modern age has changed the manticore as it has changed the unicorn and many other mythological creatures. Often the human features are dropped (perhaps because that's too disturbing, or just not aesthetically pleasing). This last image from The Last Unicorn movie, which has been referred to elsewhere in this blog.


My #1 result for the SelectSmart.com selector, Which Last Unicorn character are you?, is Molly Grue.

Ok, so I seemed to have gotten off on a tangent. I'm not sure what the manticore in my dream could mean, except possibility that I've been playing too many video games.

I promised turtles in the title of this post so turtles ye shall have: check out the catch of the day, but as for the rest of the title - I never promised to be a sequitur.

rainy mangy monday fish

So it's Monday and rainy and cold and above all - Monday. I fell asleep on the couch (way past my bedtime), over-slept, missed my bus and had to stand in the misty-rain stuff for a half-an-hour(without a morning cigarette to smoke), until... I almost missed the next bus because I realized I forgot my keys. Not just the keys to my house but the pass keys to both my jobs and I didn't even get to have a cup of coffee this morning.

I hate being late to work. Most of the time, I'd rather call in sick (or dead), than late.

and mysfit sings:
"We’ll be sleeping in the flowers/
Tell my boss that I’ve been fired/
We'll be sleeping in the flowers/
Tell my boss that I'm Fiii-rred"

All right, I'll stop - I'll stop! There's no need to throw things at me - I mean, I can understand the tomatoes, but is there really a need for the watermelons? I was just singing lyrics from one of my favorite bands, They Might Be Giants, to make myself feel better. There's no need to get violent.

Anyways, even after that shitty morning and the fun (What-Fun!) of talking to irritated people on the phone, I'm actually in a pretty good mood. I guess it's cause I survived another existential breakdown (of which the fish felt some of the effect) and I always feel a bit purged when I question who the hell I am and what the hell I'm doing for an entire afternoon, nearly walking away from one of the best things in my life right now. Even though I still don't know, it's not so important today, very little other than base survival is important on Monday Mornings. But then, enough about me, enjoy the fish-appropriate cartoon:

Most of you fellow bloggers and friends have come to grips with the idea that jennsee and I are indeed different people who happen (just happen) to understand the fish and want to help other people follow their fish or our fish or what fish. But just in case you are still confused, here is a picture designed to help you distinguish between us (I'm the one with the bomb):

the fish is mysterious, to die for and amazing

so i'm obviously feeling better, thanks - sometimes, you know, you just have one of those "oh, my god, what am i doing?!" moments when the world ending seems like the least of your problems. Anyways enjoy the following quiz:

Your love is... by ChibiMarronchan
Your name is...
Your kiss is...	mysterious
Your hugs are...	to die for
Your eyes...	light up a day
Your touch is...	irresistible
Your smell is...	amazing
Your smile is...	amazing
Your love is...	eternal
Quiz created with MemeGen!

ok, so this type of thing isn't something i'd usually post (feel like i should add pansies) - i guess sometimes you need to do things and consider things you never would, just to figure out where you stand.

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.



I'm not sure about god, and know I can't change that I am me...

I pray (ache) for courage and wisdom...

The Fish Crosses Stories

So here's my attempt to continue the story crossing over the blogs. I throw my foot at fiction and hope you like it or hate it or at least read it :). Be brutal - it's been a while since I've worked on a story and I'm not sure, but I think this is one of the more unusual exercises I've ever seen. The story crossing was dremt up by the lovely Lucretia, continued by the talented forgottenmachine, followed by the imaginative Suzanna Danna and the ever creative Anne. This section is designed to follow Fense's descriptive addition and Gatsby has also added a part. You can read the whole story at Story-Crossing.


Brian Cane watched the car speed away, tires squealing and grinned. Soon the case would come to a head; soon it would be his time. He watched the woman—the sweet apple of his eye, his target, with that look of cruelty and the attitude of distain in her stance—adjust the moot perfection of her looks, finish her smoke and go back inside the club. He ached for her, as he ached for all his targets, but this one pulled at him more than any of the others, and he wanted to know why.

Brian Cane was one of the new breed of bounty hunters. For centuries the title “bounty hunter” had graced many heads, changing in definition as the time demanded, yes, but always meaning killer-for-hire, no matter what language you spoke. The only language Brian understood was money: he heard in money and spoke in blood. Some of the citizens referred to his kind as “Blade Runners”, an allusion to some movie or other Brian only vaguely remembered as a kid and from what he remembered, he didn’t mind the name. Now was the perfect time to be a killer-for-hire.

Since the advent of R.E.S.C.O.R. and the announcement of their revolutionary technique, Brian Cane had sat on the edge of his seat, awaiting the inevitable. In his head, the world was full of zombie flicks and now, heavens be praised, those fools who called themselves scientists had brought zombies into the real world, big as life and twice as colorful. He knew there’d be problems—dying changed people. Society wasn’t prepared for an influx of people who knew what it was like to die, of people knowing that death wasn’t the end any more. Religious groups were up-in-arms over the scientific and therefore sacrilegious resurrections and the courts didn’t know what rights to award the growing minority of “people” who were essentially the property of R.E.C.O.R.

Oh yes, there would be problems, and then, there would be him.

* * *

He felt sober. He felt scared.

Mike could feel his sobriety, a sharp white feeling lodged in the center of his brain. The car hummed and shook at the speed he forced it to go. That Bitch, he thought, and then liking the taste of the thought he said it out loud: “That Bitch.”

Ever since her reincarnation, for that was what it was—not a resurrection. Sure she looked and sounded like his wife but that was not her. The woman he had lived with and loved was dead and he just had come to grips with that.

“My wife is dead,” he said to the universe in general and his voice sounded shaky, unsure like he was fighting back tears, like he didn’t want to and couldn’t believe it. So he tried again. “My wife is dead!”

This time the words came out the way he wanted them to, like the way he wanted to face her: sure, steady and above all, in control of himself. But he wasn’t in control, not of anything. Damn R.E.S.C.O.R. and their need to defy death, life and God. Damn them for what they did to her, to him. If she was gone, dead and buried, then he could move on with his life, move onto mourning and get out of this slump he was in. If she was gone…

Mike shook his head to clear it. The anger was leaving him, draining away and all the alcohol he had downed at the club was coming back to him, a red mist threatening to totally overthrow his composure. He tried to disgorge thoughts of Kira, to focus on where he was going and what he had to do. But he didn’t care where he was going. It was enough that he was going away from her.

That bitch masquerading in his beloved wife’s visage, pretending that they still had a connection. It was fine for him to think these thoughts when she was not around, but the constant reminder of her presence, when she sought him out to torment him, did nothing but make him feel guilty. Guilty for letting her die, for not seeing the signs before, for not loving her anymore. What could he do? Every time he saw her, his heart thumped and for a minute wanted to throw his arms around her and—but then he’d see that look in those lovely eyes. The look that told him this wasn’t Kira, not his Kira anyways. That look hungered for his pain for the world’s pain, said the world owed her something and that she was going to take it, one way or another. A stranger parading as his dead wife—a zombie. Damn R.E.S.C.O.R.. Mike reached over, opened his glove compartment and took out the small bottle of whiskey he hid there for emergencies. He took a swig.

If she was gone, dead and buried, he could move on with his life…

unanswered fish and i thought i left those in philly...

i may have gotten back from our whirlwind weekend foray into upstate new york two days ago, but i've only just recovered...and just in time, too...

happy anarchy
saturday 4/23 @ 10pm
zoo city
170 so.  main street
new city, ny

we paid a visit to the sammies and played a party in their backyard.  it's been a while, but a college crowd is always a good crowd.  they had a funnel that ran down the side of the house from a third floor balcony which i wouldn't've gone near but it was impressive.  for pics from this weekend, direct your browsers to www.happyanarchy.com and also to jenn see's tourist of everything.  good pics.

we've got a gig in the district and two in philly coming up.  let us know if you need a ride.  we'll pick you up.  don't miss the chance to see the capital before it is inevitably destroyed by aliens or, at the very least, overrun by midget pigs from thailand that run, jump, and swim.

we had this great idea that we should get onto the warped tour.  to this end, we're getting involved with an online battle of the bands hosted by ernieball.com.  they make guitar strings.  voting starts in a few weeks so i won't start begging yet, just a heads up.

look at me, i'm tappen zee bridge

::tap tap tap::

see us: www.happyanarchy.com
write us: happyanarchy@happyanarchy.com


-t-

Belief

A man of quiet power and strength has recently died of cancer. The only thing I mourn about Carrison's passing was that I never knew him in life, but only stumbled upon him (via his words) after his passing. Reading this letter has reminded me that I need to make sure that those I care about know how much I appreciate their presences in my life.

I love you all.

I just wanted to share this with all the fish-fans. Thanks to Skrambled Ramblings for posting a link to the letter, thereby greatly enriching my life and letting me share this with the fish and on and on and on... (The Butterfly flaps it's wings). Thus i encourage all of you to spread this and whatever feeling Carrison inspires in you.

Peace,
mysfit

ooo, i've never been here before, oh look a castle, ooo, i've never been here before...

Will my fish be around after I die?

Like most humans, I have a desire to be around after I die. It's not that I want to live forever - death may be a great adventure. But even if it's not, I think like a good story, I want my life to have a good ending. Failing that, I guess any end will do. The problem is, I want to see what happens after I'm gone - or that very least, gone in the physical sense.

I'm pretty sure this is a common desire.

Most religions have some sort of life-after-death scenario where the "I" within the person that is me (the observer inside the machine; see Ghost in the Shell) continues in some manner after the body (the machine) dies. It is actually a defining difference between Eastern and Western religions as to what sort of state the "I"(self) continues. Western religions mostly believe that "I" continues as is, as a soul, without losing a sense of self or memory. While most Eastern religions believe in a transformation in which the "I" loses all sense of self and memory, becoming one with the all, or at the very least losing memory, as in re-incarnation.

You know, I was feeling quite metaphysical when I began the above discussion with the voices in my head. However, I have since disagreed with all of the idiots who run around my brain cavity, bumping into cerebellums and other gray brain tissue. Sometimes it's best to let the train derail and crawl, only slightly singed, from the burning wreck--it's better than running into the brick wall of your stubborn consciousness.

-the is a mysfit original photo, NB

I feel like I need to spring clean my brain--wipe away the cobwebs and sweep the brain stem, paying special attention to the Feng Shui placement of my thoughts. I guess that's because, though it snowed and my daffodils have died, the tulips are still struggling for breath and the lilacs have filled my dreary world with the color of scent. I breathe in the sweetness of early spring blooms, remembering absent friends.

"To absent friends, lost loves, old gods and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due."- from Sandman IV:Season of Mists, DC Comics/Vertigo
So I dedicate a yellow lilac garden to all of you who have felt the death-like trance of falling snow and stinging cold and wish that with my rebirth comes the hope of yours.

See I get all kinds of weird when I cut over a foot of hair off my head.

-picture of yellow flower (which probably isn't a lilac, but still is very pretty) by jennsee

"The toothfairy teaches children that they can sell their body parts for money." -David Richerby

two surreal compliments i dedicate to fishfans everywhere

Softly seething, surreal breathing..Ignite the cannon with sphagnum lanthum..Laud the armies of diphthongs with your superannuating Diphtheria..And I will ever be your combustive tablature of igneous geometries.

Your dandruff falls like the fixtures within a scenic railway passing through a thousand bearded rainbows...

two copies of the fish?

it's a two-shot weekend.  come and support a good cause or two.  we're so charitable.

 

happy anarchy

sat 4/16 @ 12pm

MS Walk

Historic Richmondtown

SI NY

 

sat 4/16 @ 11pm

Binghamton University

sigma alpha mu house

Earth Day party

6 Florence Street

Binghamton, NY

 

get thee to our website!  www.happyanarchy.com is the place to cyber-be (does anyone say cyber- anything anymore?  truly there are too many buzzwords to keep up with nowadays.  speaking of buzzwords, i've a correction to make on last week's email regarding the new psp.  it's not whenever gaming, it's opportunity gaming.  thanks to v for putting me in my place).  show updates, available merchandise, sexxxy pictures of darren in his spidey underroos.  it's so hot the feds are after us. seriously tho....www.happyanarchy.com.  we won't be undersold.  or was that crazy eddie?  my head's more jumbled than a wordsearch recently.

 

we're on our way to dc this june.  we've been just about everywhere this side of the mississippi but this will be our first trip to the district.  there will be so much rock at this show that it will cross the great red/blue divide and bring the nation together for a golden age of peace and economic relief to be felt as far away as china.  or not.  that was wyld stallynz, and they're not even a real band. 

 

frank and laura have a new baby girl and her name is gwendolyn.  join us in welcoming the newest wahoo and wishing the new family the best kind of wishes ever wished.

 

get down and get over to the fish.  you'll learn little bits of information and be dazzled by the sights and insights of your host fish.  it's the most happenest place on the web and they won't even try to sell you anything. 

 

be excellent to eachother.

 

see us: http://www.happyanarchy.com

write us: happyanarchy@happyanarchy.com

 

 

-t-

no time left to fish

unfortunately, having two servers go down at work has left me little time for fishing today - you see, i do tech support and usually, i only have time to fish in the morning, so this is it. i have about 15 minutes to follow my fish today - it will have to be enough.

it's amazing how many people think that their problems should be the first on everybody's list of things to do. gladly, i don't know the positions of any of the people who call me at the helpdesk, so that i can treat them all equally.

unfortunately i didn't catch anything today so here is a picture of a frog:

You fishing?

Weekend Fish

-this is a mysfit original, taken at The Monterey Bay Aquarium , Summer '04

This is also today's catch of the day. I just had to share that the Hammerhead Shark maybe one of my favorite catches ever. I don't know what it is about the is super-cool fish, but when I saw this pair swimming around in the aquarium, I fell for them, just like that.

Oh, and if you're ever in California near San Jose, GO TO THE MONTEREY AQUARIUM! You'll thank yourself.

That is all.

the fish is a first amendment area as well

-this is a mysfit original taken in the RedWood Forest in California, Summer '04
click on picture for easier reading

"What the Bleep Do We Know!?" - movie review

I guess if you haven't seen What the Bleep Do We Know!?,this post may give away what happens in the movie - although it's not like this is a suspenseful movie or anything. I don't think that this could possibly ruin the movie.

So, I watched "What The Bleep Do We Know!?" this weekend and all I can say is that I'm very glad that I didn't pay money to see it. If I wanted to watch a high school science film, I'd go back to high school. The graphics were cheesy and seemed forced. And they felt the need to try to entertain the audience with a too long section about peptides and a Polish wedding.

The only reason this wasn't a documentary was that they didn't tell you who the people talking were until the end - one was Ramtha, from Ramtha's School of Enlightenment. That and it attempted to use the plot of a woman's life--Amanda, a deaf photographer (played by Marlee Matlin)--as an example of what the scientists were talking about. She was cool, but it leads me to wonder why her and not another and why not just her--why not show the story of quantum and not tell it. This is a movie afterall. If you want a good (if slightly pretentious) example of a movie which goes into similar existential inquiries and manages to mostly show the story instead of just talk through it, try Waking Life. It also has better graphics.

I suppose the part at the beginning about quantum theory could be good if you've never had any introduction to the topic but after the in-depth discussion of addiction and how our thalamus works, I stopped listening because I couldn't hear over the laughter in the room. I guess they went on to talk about how we are all god because, according to quantum theory, we are observers and therefore create our reality as we go along. Sure, why not? If Valentine Michael Smith believes we're all god, then I grok that I can too.

To all those folks for whom this movie "changed your life" and/or made you think about your life in a different way--I say congrats, good job, and now move on. Don't let this seed germinate with this movie as its only food. Do your own research! And remember that even when scientists are on the right track, they may still be asking the wrong questions.

I don't think I will rate this movie - it's not even worth a rating.

sometimes my fish is stupid... repeatedly running into walls

It's amazing how much time we spend each day doing the same thing over and over and over again. Stupidity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. But according to quantum theory this is not that futile or stupid an act. It just depends who's watching. And probability what mood they're in at the time.

For example, if the gods of the internet are watching me attempt to fix some small bit of html then perhaps it will actually work, though only if I haven't earned their displeasure. If it doesn't work, then I will try again and again until it does. It will eventually.

Usually with tools, the ability of the tool is limited by the intelligence of the user. However with computers as with people, the ability of the computer is limited by the programmer as well as the user and therefore, the user is limited by the ability of the programmer. Since I am attempting to be both, I think I'm in trouble.

Well, here goes nothing... again...