Today I thought I'd talk about stupid laws. I got the idea after reading a unbelievable (but true) story online. The leaders of an Illinois middle school are total morons. They have banned hugging in school! And they DO enforce it! One 13 year old girl got detention for hugging her friends at the end of school one day. Hearing what the school administration says about hugging (or ANY public display of affection) is hilarious..."It is in poor taste, reflects poor judgment, and brings discredit to the school and to the persons involved." Worse still, a school in Chicago is apparently doing the same thing. The principal of that school has been quoted as saying, "Rampant hugging is creating bottle necks in the hallway!" Rampant hugging!!! Oh no!!!! It is official, some of the dumbest minds in America are teaching our kids. Could that be why our grade scores are not that great?
To end with, here are a collection of laws that either are or were on the books:
In Oregon, juggling is strictly prohibited without first acquiring a special license to juggle
In Ohio, it is illegal to get a fish drunk
In Florida, unmarried women who parachute on a Sunday could be jailed
In Vermont, women must obtain written permission from their husbands to wear false teeth
In Alaska, owners of flamingos may not let their pet into barber shops
In Alaska, it is legal to shoot a bear, but it's not legal to wake a sleeping bear for the purpose of taking a picture
In Arkansas, honking one's car horn at a sandwich shop after 9PM is against the law
In Arkansas, you can't walk your pet cow down main street after 1PM on Sundays
In California, bowling on the sidewalk is illegal
In California, if you detonate a nuclear device within the city limits you must be ready to pay a $500 fine
In Delaware, no person shall pretend to sleep on a bench on the boardwalk
In Georgia, if you want to read your favorite book in public to your friends, do it before 2:45AM
In Utah, no one may walk down the street carrying a paper bag containing a violin
In Brittan, it is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament
In France, it is illegal to name a pig Napoleon
onyxmoondesigns Blog
I Know...Let's Remake It!
by onyxmoondesigns on Comments
I just saw a trailer for a new movie today... "One Missed Call". It looked good...stylish... scary...oh...and completely unoriginal. It is a remake of Takashi Miike's Japanese horror movie of the same name. Let's see now...how many remakes have been churned out of Hollywood lately? War of the Worlds, Dark Water, The Fog, Halloween, Assault on Precinct 13, Pulse, Oliver, Pride and Prejudice, The In-Laws, The Hills Have Eyes etc. etc. etc. I think I see a trend here.
Even though it isn't anything new to do remakes, (when Hollywood was brand new they remade some foreign films), it is now getting out of control with the huge number. So I have to ask myself, why? I would like to be angry and just say that Hollywood has become lazy and uncreative, that a lot of the people running the studios have become stagnate and should be immediately replaced. But even though I believe that is a part of it, I think it is more than just that. To be fair, movies are over 100 years old now. (1895 or 1903 depending on what you count as a first movie) It really is getting harder and harder to come up with something new. Almost everything has already been done! Maybe remakes are one of the only ways left to keep the movie people in business!?!?
A second reason is even more disturbing...US! That's right! Hollywood makes movies that make money. These remakes are making money. They make money because WE see them! So now the question is, why do we see them? I have thought of three reasons and none are good, I hope I don't offend anyone by saying this but here it goes. 1. A lot of people simply watch whatever is before them, good or bad. They have become so addicted to media that they now have an insatiable desire to watch more and more. 2. They have never expanded their minds to watch foreign films so they haven't watched any of the foreign originals. 3. If it is new, it must be better. We are so used to modern things that we don't want to waste our time with old stuff any longer. This line of thinking is popular but usually wrong. Very few remakes are as good as the original. In fact most don't even come close.
To sum up, the remake blame is on both sides. Yes, I believe Hollywood is starting to stagnate and remakes are less work than an original idea, but I think maybe we need to learn to be more choosey of what we see too, or else we can't really complain of what Hollywood is doing.
If you have any comments or counter arguments, feel free to jump in!
Even though it isn't anything new to do remakes, (when Hollywood was brand new they remade some foreign films), it is now getting out of control with the huge number. So I have to ask myself, why? I would like to be angry and just say that Hollywood has become lazy and uncreative, that a lot of the people running the studios have become stagnate and should be immediately replaced. But even though I believe that is a part of it, I think it is more than just that. To be fair, movies are over 100 years old now. (1895 or 1903 depending on what you count as a first movie) It really is getting harder and harder to come up with something new. Almost everything has already been done! Maybe remakes are one of the only ways left to keep the movie people in business!?!?
A second reason is even more disturbing...US! That's right! Hollywood makes movies that make money. These remakes are making money. They make money because WE see them! So now the question is, why do we see them? I have thought of three reasons and none are good, I hope I don't offend anyone by saying this but here it goes. 1. A lot of people simply watch whatever is before them, good or bad. They have become so addicted to media that they now have an insatiable desire to watch more and more. 2. They have never expanded their minds to watch foreign films so they haven't watched any of the foreign originals. 3. If it is new, it must be better. We are so used to modern things that we don't want to waste our time with old stuff any longer. This line of thinking is popular but usually wrong. Very few remakes are as good as the original. In fact most don't even come close.
To sum up, the remake blame is on both sides. Yes, I believe Hollywood is starting to stagnate and remakes are less work than an original idea, but I think maybe we need to learn to be more choosey of what we see too, or else we can't really complain of what Hollywood is doing.
If you have any comments or counter arguments, feel free to jump in!
Halloween
by onyxmoondesigns on Comments
It's Halloween, one of my favorite times of the year! I thought this would be the perfect time to chat a bit about horror things.
Horror author H.P. Lovecraft said that the most powerful emotion was fear, and the greatest fear was fear of the unknown. I totally agree. That is why his writings offer little explanations into the horrors that are stirred up, only that they are real. For me, the best horror stories follow this idea... staying realistic but never fully explaining what happened. This is also one of the reasons why Japanese horror movies (starting to be called J-Horror) are becoming very popular in the US. Explanations are not on the top of the list for these films, but they are very scary, and even more so for the mystery.
While the standard 'shocking' horror movies will always be a fun way to spend an evening, the ones that really get under your skin (literally?) are the ones that are always a step ahead of you, and you can never catch up.
Anyway, I will leave you now with the proverbial movie list. I know everyone and their cat gives a list of their favorite horror movies, but when in Rome...
(in alphabetical order)
Alien
Angel Heart
Donnie Darko
The Grudge (any version)
Jacob's Ladder
The Mothman Prophecies
Pulse (Kairo)
The Ring (Japanese version)
Suspiria
Vortex (Uzumaki)
Have a great Halloween!
If you are looking for something new, be sure to check out my site, http://www.onyxmoondesigns.com. The short film 'Beneath' and the downloadable CD 'Void' would be perfect for Halloween.
Also, if you have any favorites you'd like to share, feel free to leave a comment.
Horror author H.P. Lovecraft said that the most powerful emotion was fear, and the greatest fear was fear of the unknown. I totally agree. That is why his writings offer little explanations into the horrors that are stirred up, only that they are real. For me, the best horror stories follow this idea... staying realistic but never fully explaining what happened. This is also one of the reasons why Japanese horror movies (starting to be called J-Horror) are becoming very popular in the US. Explanations are not on the top of the list for these films, but they are very scary, and even more so for the mystery.
While the standard 'shocking' horror movies will always be a fun way to spend an evening, the ones that really get under your skin (literally?) are the ones that are always a step ahead of you, and you can never catch up.
Anyway, I will leave you now with the proverbial movie list. I know everyone and their cat gives a list of their favorite horror movies, but when in Rome...
(in alphabetical order)
Alien
Angel Heart
Donnie Darko
The Grudge (any version)
Jacob's Ladder
The Mothman Prophecies
Pulse (Kairo)
The Ring (Japanese version)
Suspiria
Vortex (Uzumaki)
Have a great Halloween!
If you are looking for something new, be sure to check out my site, http://www.onyxmoondesigns.com. The short film 'Beneath' and the downloadable CD 'Void' would be perfect for Halloween.
Also, if you have any favorites you'd like to share, feel free to leave a comment.
Moon Festival
by onyxmoondesigns on Comments
Hey all! Well, September 25th was Moon Festival in China. My wife and I celebrated it by eating moon cake (a special type of pastry with filling) and watching some TV. It is a special day for Chinese people to be with their families and enjoy some good food and company. Not to mention look and talk about the moon. So, I thought this would be a good time to give you all some interesting facts about our celestial neighbor and the Chinese Moon Festival.
The Moon Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. It began as a harvest festival, celebrated on the first full moon after the harvest, then eventually turned into a day to celebrate good fortune and family. Of course now, like with Christmas, it is very commercial and presents and moon cakes are sold everywhere and sometimes for very high prices. In fact one type of moon cake made with Champaign sells for $100 a piece!
I find it much more special to ignore commercial stuff and focus on what is important. In this case being with the one you love and gazing at the moon. That is worth far more than any Champaign moon cake.
Now put a vision of the moon firmly in your mind, and I'll leave you with some interesting facts:
The moon is 4.6 billion years old
The moon is 238,900 miles away
The moon is 2,160 miles in diameter
The moon has 1 sixth the gravity of the Earth
Moon Dogs or Moon Rings are glowing rings around the Moon which are caused by the refraction of moonlight from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. The shape of the ice crystals results in a focusing of the light into a ring. Since the ice crystals typically have the same shape, namely a hexagonal shape, the Moon ring is almost always the same size.
It was first visited by the Soviet probe "Luna 2" in 1959
On July 20, 1969 the first man (Neil Armstrong) walked on the moon
In mythology the moon is known as Selene (or Luna) and Artemis in Greek, Diana in Rome and Khons in Egyptian
The moon is just the right size and in just the right distance from the Earth than when it passes between us and the sun we have a total eclipse. When you think about it, it is kind of odd it is just so perfectly aligned.
The moon rotates in such a way that the same side is always facing us. Hence to us we have both a light side and dark side of the moon
Even though scientists dismiss it, anyone working in hospitals or with the police etc. can tell you things are more crazy on the full moon. Called Moon Madness.
The Moon Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. It began as a harvest festival, celebrated on the first full moon after the harvest, then eventually turned into a day to celebrate good fortune and family. Of course now, like with Christmas, it is very commercial and presents and moon cakes are sold everywhere and sometimes for very high prices. In fact one type of moon cake made with Champaign sells for $100 a piece!
I find it much more special to ignore commercial stuff and focus on what is important. In this case being with the one you love and gazing at the moon. That is worth far more than any Champaign moon cake.
Now put a vision of the moon firmly in your mind, and I'll leave you with some interesting facts:
The moon is 4.6 billion years old
The moon is 238,900 miles away
The moon is 2,160 miles in diameter
The moon has 1 sixth the gravity of the Earth
Moon Dogs or Moon Rings are glowing rings around the Moon which are caused by the refraction of moonlight from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. The shape of the ice crystals results in a focusing of the light into a ring. Since the ice crystals typically have the same shape, namely a hexagonal shape, the Moon ring is almost always the same size.
It was first visited by the Soviet probe "Luna 2" in 1959
On July 20, 1969 the first man (Neil Armstrong) walked on the moon
In mythology the moon is known as Selene (or Luna) and Artemis in Greek, Diana in Rome and Khons in Egyptian
The moon is just the right size and in just the right distance from the Earth than when it passes between us and the sun we have a total eclipse. When you think about it, it is kind of odd it is just so perfectly aligned.
The moon rotates in such a way that the same side is always facing us. Hence to us we have both a light side and dark side of the moon
Even though scientists dismiss it, anyone working in hospitals or with the police etc. can tell you things are more crazy on the full moon. Called Moon Madness.
What's Art to You?
by onyxmoondesigns on Comments
First of all, thanks for reading my new blog. I hope you will find it interesting and it can spark some good conversations.
The last few weeks I've been busy polishing my work to put up on the net. With all the music, art and video I've been playing with lately it makes sense I've been thinking a lot about 'art'. What 'is' it exactly!?
Any child can draw a picture, bring it to a teacher or parent, and then have it exhibited in the hall or kitchen. I've seen little galleries in every school, house or office I've been to. Not to mention the huge museum of the internet where nearly every personal page has at least one photo or artwork to show.
Where do we draw the line between scribbles on paper (or Photoshop) and true art? Perhaps a better question would be...should a line even be drawn?
This is what I believe...If something creative gives a true emotional response or makes one think, it is art. That may be a broad definition but I think it true. Sure anybody can scribble on paper, anyone who learns to draw or play an instrument can do so, but does their work really 'say' anything? Does it make you feel the art is alive? Usually the answer is 'no'. True art takes a lot of talent and a lot of work. So much popular stuff today may look good on the surface but has nothing inside, it is truly a dime a dozen. I know when I listen to the radio, browse the net, or watch movies; I have to go through a lot of poor stuff before I get to something that really moves me. But it is worth going through all the searching for that wonderful moment I see a true piece of art...and looking or listening to it...feel wonderfully alive!
But none of this matters to a father whose 4 year old daughter just drew a pink cat. It will be hailed as great and proudly displayed on the wall. And even though it might not affect anyone else but him, whenever that father looks at that painting...he will feel true emotion...true 'art'.
Now I put it to you...What's art to you?
The last few weeks I've been busy polishing my work to put up on the net. With all the music, art and video I've been playing with lately it makes sense I've been thinking a lot about 'art'. What 'is' it exactly!?
Any child can draw a picture, bring it to a teacher or parent, and then have it exhibited in the hall or kitchen. I've seen little galleries in every school, house or office I've been to. Not to mention the huge museum of the internet where nearly every personal page has at least one photo or artwork to show.
Where do we draw the line between scribbles on paper (or Photoshop) and true art? Perhaps a better question would be...should a line even be drawn?
This is what I believe...If something creative gives a true emotional response or makes one think, it is art. That may be a broad definition but I think it true. Sure anybody can scribble on paper, anyone who learns to draw or play an instrument can do so, but does their work really 'say' anything? Does it make you feel the art is alive? Usually the answer is 'no'. True art takes a lot of talent and a lot of work. So much popular stuff today may look good on the surface but has nothing inside, it is truly a dime a dozen. I know when I listen to the radio, browse the net, or watch movies; I have to go through a lot of poor stuff before I get to something that really moves me. But it is worth going through all the searching for that wonderful moment I see a true piece of art...and looking or listening to it...feel wonderfully alive!
But none of this matters to a father whose 4 year old daughter just drew a pink cat. It will be hailed as great and proudly displayed on the wall. And even though it might not affect anyone else but him, whenever that father looks at that painting...he will feel true emotion...true 'art'.
Now I put it to you...What's art to you?
Log in to comment