there was a social event at the Normanby last friday. lots to celebrate - birthdays, new baby, and even a PhD (no, it wasn’t me… :( ) i only wanted one drink. “i’ll have a beez neez, thanks.” and for the first time in years…

i got carded.

well, i guess i added another reason to celebrate.

// sorry. can’t show you my face for legal reasons

the us marines have set up a myspace identity to reach and (surely more importantly) to recruit young souls in america.

Five months after its launch, the Marines have begun to see some solid results from their MySpace profile page, which, unlike the thousands of ones set up by bands that blast you with their music, opens with a video of Marine drill sergeants shouting orders at boot-camp recruits, who recite their credo while running through obstacle courses, shooting guns and practicing hand-to-hand combat amid images of waving American flags.

full story: Marines Totally Want To Be Your MySpace Friend — And Recruit You

this sort of practice has been evident in many social networking sites. for example, companies and celebrities set up mini-hompies in cyworld where they not only advertise their products or themselves but also run events to give away digital acorns (currency in cyworld) and etc. in a slightly different note, there was a case of fakesters in friendster, a practice that has been banned by the network since then.

on the way to uni this morning, lucy and i were talking about the war in israel and hacktivism in asia, and coincidentally the first news i got to see on my computer was about the marines on myspace. coincidence. what a sad coincidence.

there was a new toby wren trio cd launch at the brisbane powerhouse museum last night. amidst of all the papers and preparations for conferences and the new semester, i decided to go as 1) i was a piker last time, and didn’t want to be one again so soon 2) i felt like a drink or two, and 3) i’ve been feeling in need of new music and inspirations and the event sounded like a perfect opportunity to achieve that in terms of the content and the venue.

oksana is always a lovely company. we - luckily - made it on time after parking happily on a god-knows-where street, mistaking a huge apartment building for the powerhouse. it was dark, after all… we got there, met with the other exciting ones, and even had enough time to enjoy the photography exhibition and get an asahi.

there’s something about boys in suits. there’s something more about boys in suits with musical instruments. there’s even more about boys in suits with musical instruments in pink light. when the music is good, it signals the beginning of a wonderful night. with asahi in your hand, that’s it, you’re there already. i enjoyed every tune. they do have a few mp3 files available for download on their website (http://www.tobywren.com).

i bought their new cd for a jazz lover whose birthday is coming up soon. (he wasn’t a virgo as i thought… nevertheless->) i’m sure he’ll appreciate it. if you’d like to catch them performing, go to one of these:

• July 30
  The Brisbane Festival, Spiegeltent
  King George Square
  2-5pm ($15/$10)
• August 27
  Jazz on a Sunday Vibe
  The Zoo, Ann St Fortitude Valley
  8pm ($15/$12)
• August 8 & 15
  Ric’s
  9pm

Happy listening-

i went to the sunday feast last night. got there around 5:30, so i got to listen to chants and also the talk by param about defining the self within community before kirtan.

i do have a great deal of respect for buddhism, but i’m not really a buddhist; at the moment i’m religiously agnostic, and happy to be so. i feel the need for exploring ideas and beliefs, as i only possess a very limited amount of knowledge in so many different things in life. i hope to be able to have/form my own philosophy of life one day, but without the tunnel-vision effect. there’s a difference between being flexible with understanding and without. i guess i fall into the latter category at the moment, but would definitely prefer to be in the former - as soon as i can.

my first encounter with the local hare krishna community was through my friend brendan. we were both searching for something that we couldn’t quite clearly articulate; we were very much interested in buddhism, so when he was still in brisbane, we were kind of “spiritual buddies” and discussed about and experimented with lots of different ideas together. i still very much miss those days. one day brendan started to go to yoga classes at the loft (right next to govinda’s - now the loft is used as a gift shop and the yoga classes are held at atma yoga) and soon enough to the weekly sunday feast and Bhagavad-gita classes. i often joined him to yoga and sunday feast. although a lot of people tend to be rather prejudicial towards the hare krishna, i believe there are many things that you can learn from the religion and the people. regardless of concepts like political correctness, egalitarianism and so on, it’s sad to see people’s automatic reaction towards certain concepts, one of many behavioural patterns generated by the generally unquestioned social belief systems.

“I always believe that it is much better to have a variety of religions, a variety of philosophies, rather than one single religion or philosophy. This is necessary because of the different mental dispositions of each human being. Each religion has certain unique ideas or techniques, and learning about them can only enrich one’s own faith.” — The 14th Dalai Lama

in terms of religion, the closest i’ve ever got to the point of complete agreement was probably with zen buddhism - i think it’s largely because of its clarity, applicability, practicality, and very importantly, proscribing of blind submission. i don’t know too much about any religion but with those i’ve experienced so far, i’ve been pretty much ambivalent - in almost every case, there are some + and - aspects. the hare krishna is not an exception. but is that an adequate reason to be or not to be there? i don’t think so. i don’t believe in totalizing views on learning - it’s really not an “all or nothing” situation, well, for me anyway. i value learning and as i get older, i feel even more strongly about the importance of believing in oneself and exploring the world; it’s very easy to get lost, yet the fear of being lost shouldn’t be the reason for trying to remain in one spot or to go back to the spot/s you’ve already been to.

anyway, back to the sunday feast. after dinner (and such a yummy one too!), zoe (whom i met through a friend’s friend a long time ago but got to know a bit better at govinda’s) asked me what brought me to the sunday feast, and she further asked “is it the dancing?” i’d never thought about it up until that point - well even when i was asked, i couldn’t think thoroughly, so i gave her a pretty boring answer, which was truthful yet still boring: i like listening to the talks, i like the atmosphere, and yeah, i don’t mind singing and dancing. but really, i only come to see you :p

well, it’s true. i like all of those aspects. i get to think about and question certain things while listening to the talks, and i do enjoy the happy atmosphere there, especially during kirtan. it’s pretty uplifting to experience the joy of letting go and being happy mentally and physically. as the buddha once said, every existence endeavours to be happy and avoid sufferings. and i really appreciate the people there. of course zoe has such an amazing air around her, which makes me feel happy just to be around her; and with other people there, who sometimes teach me yoga, serve me food, and share different notions and emotions through conversation or just being together in the same space, i feel no harm and certain that they are really genuine people. so all these elements together make the experience very positive. i feel good - through learning, feeling, and enjoying. i guess this is what draws me to the sunday feast and generally to the hare krishna community. anyway, off to a lecture now.

according to this appleinsider article, new ipods will have a housing similar to that of apple minis:

In an effort to reduce the player’s susceptibility to scratches, Apple has been experimenting with aluminum anodized enclosures similar to those used in the company’s iPod mini digital music players, sources familiar with the company’s music plans have said.

initially, the nano had major issues with the screen cracks, which only happened with a small number of units. this issue was resolved pretty quickly as Apple was willing to offer free replacements. as far as the scratch issue goes, i personally thought that the lawsuit case was a bit over the top. it’s clear that the nano will get a lot of scratches; it’s got a shiny scratch-prone surface. the purchaser should really take the responsibility of taking enough care to protect the machine’s visual well-being by getting a case or a nano-sock, for example.

ok, the discolouration problem with the new white macbooks is a different matter. it happens/ed even with the shieldzone protector (as you can see here).

(view the full image and the story in this flickr post)

i’m an owner of a black ipod nano 2G and a white macbook (on its way; can’t wait). i’ve been pretty happy with my nano except for its limited data storage size. but i was fully aware of this when i bought it, so it’s ok. but after using it for almost a year now, i wouldn’t recommend this to others, especially if they’re interested in podcast subscription or simply a person of a wide range of musical tastes. the new (possibly metallic) one will have 8G, apparently. we’ll have to wait and see but i’ll be very interested - i’m definitely in need of an ipod upgrade. i do feel slightly uncomfortable when i think about the file format issues, but i’m yet to deepen my knowlege in this issue, so i’ll make a proper decision later on. anyway, in the mean time, i’ll see how i go with my new soon-to-come (two weeks to go now, i think) macbook :)

went to michael curtin’s seminar organised by iCi this morning.

one of my supervisors, michael keane, often mentioned about curtin’s works especially his idea of “media capital,” but i never really got around to finding more about them, so i printed out a few chapters and articles last night, and started reading them. so far, i’ve been really enjoying reading his works, especially on the ideas about media capital and neo-networks. he claims that media capital is a relational concept within the realm of globalisation (here he defines globalisation as a “process that operates at a number of levels: local, national, regional, and worldwide, as opposed to a process that emphasises the latter”) - in his own words, a media capital is an intersection, or a site of mediation, of complex patterns of economic, social, and cultural flows. so curtin’s definition of “media capital” is twofold: a capital as a centre of activity, and as a concentration of resources, reputation, and talent. hollywood and hong kong are two obvious examples. and he suggests and attempts to identify changes in the cultural industries in the era of neo-network, or the era beyond the limited/controlled channels of distribution.

i asked him about his views on the roles that digital communication and user-led media innovation play in this new era of cultural shifts, coming from the perspective of the korean wave. he was quite enthusiatic about the korean wave, and talked briefly about what an interesting case this phenomenon is especially in relation to the cultural/technological policy. the massive broadband rollout in korea was one of the few positive things that the Kim Dae Jung government did. without the technological infrastructure, i don’t believe that the korean wave would’ve been possible.

after the talk, i went and spoke to him in person. when i mentioned how thought-provoking and interesting the session had been, he responded with such modesty, apologising how he had to jump to and from subjects, and then go back to the original subject etc. i honestly didn’t mind it at all. in fact, i’d be very suspicious of anyone who tries to advocate the linearity of knowledge, creativity, epistemology, or actually, anything in that matter. oh, in fact, it was probably a perfect way of explaining his main ideas evolving around “relational” processes :)

thanks again, professor curtin.