MEmes And Buzz

Me, me, me, you and me, 2009

IKEA Monkey

"Memes can seem vague because cultural ideas aren’t as concrete as the physics of gravity or the logic in algebra, but there is an actual science behind them. 
In this guide, we dip our toes into the science behind memes, breaking down their composition, seeing how they evolve, and why the deliverer is as important as the message."
Memes: What They Are and How They Work

HOW TO be viral

 It's good to see that memes can work against a viral marketing campaign as well;-)

;

Let's see how far these can go ;-)

We Know What You Want: How The Change Your Mind

White Feathers As Signs

Andy Murray and the white feather

My blogging friend Mike Perry often posts stories about people's experiences with white feathers and how they interpret them as signs from above.  
A White Dove As A Message From Her Dead Mother 
The other night while watching the Australian Tennis final between Andy Murray 
and Novak Djokovic, a white feather landed on the court just as Andy was about to serve.
Murray was winning at the time, but it all went downhill for him as soon as he removed the feather from the court.
Andy Murray curses unlucky white feather as his Australian Open dreams float away in painful defeat to Novak Djokovic
SCOTS fans and celebrities sent commiseration messages to the tennis ace as he lost out to Djokovic in Melbourne with a fluttering white feather playing a key role in turning the match as Murray led early on. 
AN UNLUCKY white feather broke Andy Murray’s heart at the Australian Open yesterday.
It drifted into his eyeline as the Scot prepared to serve in a second-set tiebreak against world No1 Novak Djokovic.
A distracted Andy removed it … then double-faulted to let the Serb take the upper hand.
 The 25-year-old – who was suffering with blistered and bandaged feet – never recovered, losing the final in four sets. 
Within moments fans on Twitter were blaming the feather.
Even Andy said: “I could have served but it just caught my eye before I got the chance.
“I thought it was a good idea to move it. 
Maybe it wasn’t.”

Andy Murray removing the white feather from the court

Not long after this incident in the match we lost our electrical power to the house for a day and a half, so we didn't get to see the rest of the match. 
It's interesting how one person will get great comfort from a white feather and another person will see it as bad luck.
Looks like there is always two sides to a white feather;-)

Barfly Goes To Hollywood

The movie,
and the book about making the movie,
by Charles Bukowski.

I've read Charles Bukowski's books on poetry before, but I have never read one of his novels before, until recently that is.
I chose Hollywood, as it was about his experience of writing the semi-autobiographical screenplay to the film Barfly, starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway.

Hollywood 

(Bukowski novel)

They make a great pair, the movie and the book.
They give you an insight into writing for a living, the politics of getting a film made, alcoholism, winning and losing, friendships and relationships, both good and bad, and the politics of life in general. 
I drink, but I'm not anywhere in the league of Bukowski and never want to be.

I love being a fly on the wall in Bukowski's world but would never want to be a barfly on the wall of Bukowski's world.
Just like reading Stephen King's material, I'm fascinated by the world he paints, but never want to find myself living in it.
Well, maybe the racetrack wouldn't be so bad;-)

Moon in the Middle

Always Record: Episode 35

01.24.13 Episode 35: Mirror Ball (with Mark LeClair) David, Bill and guest Mark LeClair discuss hellishly intense introspective nightmares, duality/polarity, healing/curing, The Master, and the Indigo Boys. Mark's Mirror Ball chapter, "Moon in the Middle," 
available in The Sync Book Vol.2
After you listen to the pod-cast ... or before, try to watch the movies -
Rise of the Guardians and Moon.

Abraham Lincoln

I just saw the movie Lincoln yesterday after finally finishing Thomas Keneally's book Abraham Lincoln.

Keneally's List

Great film and a great book.
Although the book deals with Abe's whole life, whereas the movie only deals with his last year in office, more or less.
I think it will take out "Best Picture" on Feb 24th for sure.

Harvey, Oswald, Australia Day and Rabbits

A cyclone named Oswald went right round the Queensland coast over the Australia Day weekend leaving behind it a huge trail of destruction.

I for one couldn't believe this cyclone was named OSWALD at the same time of the American President's inauguration. 
I wrote about this the other day in this post -
Jellyfish on a King Tide In Brisbane?

American President's inauguration

 Lee Harvey Oswald being the supposed assassin of JFK.

 Newsreel above of Lee Harvey Oswald gettin' capped by Jack Ruby.
HARVEY of course is also a movie about an imaginary rabbit,
much like the rabbit in Donnie Darko.
"Elwood P. Dowd is a mild-mannered, pleasant man, who just happens (he says) to have an invisible friend resembling a 6-foot rabbit."

"Do you see the rabbit, too?"

Oswald the rabbit.

Disney with Oswald

Oswald is also a rabbit created by the man who brought us

Mickey Mouse.

I only just wrote a post on "The Trolley Problem"
which was about Aaron Swartz's last blog post 
a review of the movie "The Dark Knight"
before he took his own life. 
Storms knock out half of Brisbane's train lines
"Trains are not expected to run through Central, Fortitude Valley or Bowen Hills stations until Wednesday morning, and even then only half of the tracks will be in use.
Transport Minister Scott Emerson said the Sunday night storms had caused so much damage to the southeast Queensland rail network that it could be the end of the week before trains are running regularly again.
In Fortitude Valley, building scaffolding collapsed on the train line and damaged four tracks and an overhead line.
“Repair crews and scaffolding contractors are working around the clock, but at this stage Queensland Rail isn't expecting repairs to be finished before Wednesday morning, affecting all services tomorrow,” Mr Emerson said."

Cyclone Oswald coming down the Australian coast.

Hugh Jackman (The Boy From Oz?) voices the Easter Bunny 
(a six foot rabbit)
in the movie "Rise of the Guardians".

Interestingly two movies with a slavery theme started over the weekend in Australia.

"Django Unchained"

and "Lincoln".
Although technically "Lincoln" was just previewing this weekend,
it doesn't start till Feb 7th officially.
I saw both of these over the weekend, and they are both good movies, BTW.

The above play is now best known as the play  
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was attending in  
Ford's Theatre when he was assassinated by actor and  
Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865.

My American Cousin

What's all these OSWALD syncs mean?
I don't know ... yet.  
But looking at that  "My American Cousin" trailer 
reminds me that Hurricane Sandy 

  that hit America's East coast would be Cyclone Oswald's American cousin, in a way.

Back On Line After Oswald Knocked Me Off

Cyclone Oswald heading for Brisbane

Cyclone Oswald broke up and came down the Queensland coast causing a trail of destruction and floods.

Your pictures: East coast flood disaster

Around 200 000 homes in Brisbane lost power Sunday night ... mine being one of them.
And I only just got power back on now, around Tuesday 11am.
Which meant no internet, phone, TV, freezers and hot water for coffee.

As I write this post up, the Brisbane River is hitting its peak, and while not as bad as 2 years ago, it's still bad enough.

Let's hope this is as bad as it gets.

Watch this car come out of nowhere and nearly hit these two cops.

Jellyfish on a King Tide in Brisbane?

Journey Into Tibet with Robert Thurman

Bob with daughter Uma

"For the full DV version please visit 
journeyintotibet.com
Professor Thurman took a number of people with him to Tibet, and this was the journey through Lhasa, the Potala Palace, the Barkor, then across Tibet to Mt.Kailash and a sacred kora around the most sacred spot on Earth. 
The DVD is available at JourneyIntoTibet.com - 
"Journey Into Tibet with Robert Thurman" is a movie filmed by Richard Martini 

 who I've written about in these previous posts -
"Flipside" - Richard Martini

The Flipside of Vanity

Bulls-eye?

Flipside of the Dartboard

Santa Monica Sync

Robert Thurman lives to make the peaceful teachings of the Buddha interesting and meaningful to people from all over the world. 
Working at Columbia University, his intention is to enrich contemporary thought and practice through the profound and vast Buddhist philosophy and psychology. 
We can be Buddhas

Uma plays Medusa in the above film, which I found interesting, since a Medusa is also another name for a jellyfish-
Jellyfish on a King Tide in Brisbane?

Jellyfish in a fight scene in the movie Skyfall

 And Pierce Brosnan ex-James Bond is also a big player in  
Percy Jackson.

 Uma also plays Venus/Rose in Baron Munchausen

 And Fantine in the 1998 movie version of Les Miserables

Which Uma also narrated on the Great Books TV show.

 Of course, she is most famous for playing "The Bride" from Kill Bill.

 All interesting connections to me.
Life is a strange journey it seems. 

Pine cone?

Bull's eye?

The Vatican's pineal cone

More than just a dragon's egg maybe?

The Pine cone, The Pineal Gland and An Illuminating Meditation

Note: I'm not a real big fan of David Wilcox, but I like most of what he says above.

I just love how fundamentalists miss the big picture and whip themselves into hysterics over a so-called Illuminati symbol.   
Next they'll be ripping all the pine cones off every tree they see.

 Symbols are as good or as bad as the power you give them.
There seems to be just as many good and bad people hiding behind Bibles and crosses as well, when I take a look around.