BLOGS FROM THE UNDERGROUND

How To Destroy Angels

2010-05-17T19:58:00.002-07:00

I don't know how Trent Reznor does it. Honestly. HOW DOES HE EXHUME SUCH AWESOMENESS WITHOUT MERCY?????

The above video is from Trent Reznor's new project HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS, with his new wife Marqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. The song is "The Space in Between."

Scraper Bikes

2010-05-16T23:18:00.001-07:00

Scrapertown from California is a place. on Vimeo.

You Are The Bug

2010-05-16T23:14:00.002-07:00

THE BUG from Yongsub Song on Vimeo.

Incredible computer animation video by Yongsub Song. 16-bit video game throwback art, brilliant animation, clever story-telling.

Thou Shalt Read PREACHER

2010-04-15T21:44:00.005-07:00

Once again, I'm proving just how behind the times I am...

I just finished reading the entire comic series PREACHER, written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Steve Dillon. There were 66 issues in all that ended July 2000. Behind Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN series and Alan Moore's WATCHMEN, it might be the greatest example of story-telling in comics I have read so far.

PREACHER is the story of Reverend Jesse Custer and his search for God. Literally. With his girlfriend Tulip and vampire buddy Cassidy, the good Reverend sets out to find God and make Him answer for the awful world he's created. And, of course, along the way they make all kinds of enemies and friends while horrible and hilarious things happen in their wake.

There are moments of horror (like seeing the one you love get her brains blown out in front of you).

There are moments of excitement (like a gunfight in a Louisiana graveyard with aspiring vampires).

There are moments of blasphemy (like telling God to go fuck himself).

There are moments of human insight (like a conversation about how all decent people enjoy Laurel and Hardy).

And, of course, there are moments of hilarious depravity (like a lovable character named Arseface, as pictured below).

This comic very intentionally tries to do every awful thing parents fear comics can do (I'm talking gore, sexual perversion, toilet humor, the whole shebang), but still tell a passionate, meaningful, exciting story. And that is awesome.

Read the first issue.

Pixels: Retro Gamers Terrorize New York

2010-04-08T19:58:00.004-07:00

By French director Patrick Jean. The cleverest piece of gamer throwback art I've ever seen. Much better than all those stupid t-shirts at Hot Topic.

The Origin of Man

2010-04-02T22:35:00.006-07:00

(photo courtesy of Guardian News & Media)

I have a theory about humankind. Not based on any scientific research, mind you. Rather, I just have a sneaking suspicion about the origins of human communication and story-telling. I believe that language was created just to tell the very first story, which might have gone something like this:

"Dude! You'll never guess what just happened! I threw a rock at an ostrich, then it got super pissed and kicked me in the face! It was awesome!"

Okay, I'm being facetious, but I think there is a fundamental truth in there. After all, this sort of communication is an inherent part of being human, it is the first practical level of narrative that emerges from casual one-on-one dialog: You weren't there, so I'll tell you what happened.

The act of narration is higher-level cognitive process. When learning your first language or learning a new language this is an extremely difficult skill to develop, and yet it is perhaps the most exciting to attempt or accomplish. I've always noticed that children who are just beginning to grasp speaking in complete thoughts and sentences love to tell you about what they saw that you didn't. I remember while learning Spanish the task of providing a coherent narrative was always where I struggled most, though it was my ultimate goal. My ESL student, who is a natural gossiper of sorts, lights up when she tells me a story about her week, and becomes so inexplicably distraught when she struggles to find the words she needs.

The act of narrative is complex like this because first you have to cognitively remember what happened, then choose sufficient language to explain what you remembered, and then verbalize that language. Then the listener has to aurally receive that language, interpret it, and reconstruct that language into a visualized concept of what happened in their own minds. The more I think about it the more I realize it is a truly incredible multi-step process.

These observations, and yes perhaps my obsession with story-telling, leads me to wonder if we created language simply to accomplish such higher-level communication goals. After all, if you're always in the presence of someone else in which all communication is in the present, then non-verbal communication gets the job done most of the time.

Years ago when I had a summer job as a busboy I used to interact quite a lot with the dishwasher who spoke as much English as I spoke of Spanish. Language barrier aside, we still communicated with each other all the time, but always through non-verbal cues and expressions and gestures. I think we said two words to each other the entire two months we worked together! But if I he and I wanted to have more complex conversations, if I wanted to tell him about the time I hit a customer with a broom, we would've needed a more complex language connection.

Once again, these are my facetious thoughts that might just feed and rationalize my own obsessions. BUT, I still think there's something there, and I want to test it.

As it turns out, narrative studies and scientific studies are doing some mingling. Patricia Cohen from the New York Times wrote an article--"The Next Big Thing In English: Knowing They Know That You Know"--about recent psychological studies of narrative communication. In other words, they had people read stories in an MRI machine to see which parts of their brains lit up. Awesome.

These studies specifically study how the brain interprets and digests different levels of narrative. The article writes that the human mind can comfortably understand up to three "mental states" at a time, for example: "Peter said that Paul believed that Mary liked chocolate." Going beyond that, up to four or five "mental states," is much more difficult for the human mind to interpret. This means that the "Rule of Threes" design principal has psychological bearing, which may or may not relate to our evolutionary development.

This is incredible. The power of magnets has allowed us to see that well-established narrative principles work for reasons much deeper than the fact it just looks cool. And I think we could use this same technology to prove that language was created just to tell stupid anecdotes.

Can I get a research grant now?

Horizonless Maps

2010-03-25T20:39:00.002-07:00

Here's a very fun and disorienting way to look at maps (and reality), from London-based BERG:

"Here & There is a project by BERG exploring speculative projections of dense cities. These maps of Manhattan look uptown from 3rd and 7th, and downtown from 3rd and 35th. They're intended to be seen at those same places, putting the viewer simultaneously above the city and in it where she stands, both looking down and looking forward."

Reminds me of a brief snapshot from the upcoming Christopher Nolan movie, Inception:

(images courtesy of BERG and Geektyrant)

Batman + Shark + Lightsaber = Best Tattoo Ever

2010-03-21T11:12:00.003-07:00

No explanation needed.

Image by Andrew Zubko.

DROWN IN THE RIVER LIFFEY

2010-03-16T23:14:00.010-07:00

To celebrate this joyous, sloppy holiday, here is a short story I wrote recently that takes place in Dublin, Ireland entitled "DROWN IN THE RIVER LIFFEY." If you read my story "CONCUSSIONS," this involves the same character, Jonas.

Read DROWN IN THE RIVER LIFFEY! Tell me what you think.

(photo courtesy of Andrew Tyson Shaffner)

Scientists Let Me Spot Solar Storms, Dooms Us All

2010-03-15T21:48:00.006-07:00

(image courtesy of Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and NASA)

This is so cool. The website Solar Storm Watch asks for anyone's help to spot approaching solar storms. You just have to go through some nifty training that takes five minutes so you can interpret the pretty pictures sent from satellites STEREO Ahead and STEREO Behind. See below:

The image on the left from STEREO Behind is showing an actual solar storm (look at the round bulbous shape of fire), while STEREO Ahead's got nothin'.

I hope they're fact checking though. Because who knows if I actually spotted a solar storm or just something I thought was pretty.

Superheroes in Real Life

2010-03-15T15:34:00.003-07:00

(photo courtesy of Luke Tchalenko from Telegraph UK)

Best Game of Tetris Ever

2010-03-14T20:25:00.002-07:00

From Freebord.

Google Discovers "Bicycle Routes"

2010-03-12T16:16:00.003-08:00

In an astonishing announcement, the Google Reality Matrix has added yet another previously unknown phenomenon to the known world: “Bicycle Routes.”

“Bicycle Routes” are apparently specified roads, paths, or other specially designated routes to travel via a two-wheeled, non-motorized vehicle called a “bicycle” or “velocipede” or “bike” for short. According to Wikipedia, “bicycles were introduced in the 19th Century,” though I couldn’t find a map of the 19th Century on Google Maps to find proof of such (it might not have been fully mapped yet).

Nevertheless, I can’t wait to try this new form of vehicle and its designated route to travel upon. It looks like a middle-ground between walking and driving, though the routes seem as limited as public transportation. It will be way easier to find my way around such cities as San Francisco, Portland, Minneapolis, New York, Washington DC, and more!

Hoorah for the Google Reality Matrix for this discovery, and their continuing efforts to enlighten and map all of human-kind!

Jason Epstein and the Future of Publishing

2010-03-12T15:38:00.003-08:00

(image courtesy of We Made This)

Jason Epstein had an article in The New York Times Book Review yesterday titled "Publishing: The Revolutionary Future." Now, normally when I share an article of such a topic by a member of the New York publishing fraternity I ridicule their ideas and call them old geezers. Not this time. I actually think Epstein shares a very level-headed view of the past, present, and future of publishing and media in general. He talks about Gutenberg, printing and backlist shifts in the 1980s and 1990s, of the current expansion of e-books, protections for authors, and of course offers his predictions for the future (though he states them as if he were a soothsayer).

Pretty cool stuff, even if he is an old geezer...

"With the earth trembling beneath them, it is no wonder that publishers with one foot in the crumbling past and the other seeking solid ground in an uncertain future hesitate to seize the opportunity that digitization offers them to restore, expand, and promote their backlists to a decentralized, worldwide marketplace. New technologies, however, do not await permission. They are, to use Schumpeter's overused term, disruptive, as nonnegotiable as earthquakes."

And later...

"The huge, worldwide market for digital content, however, is not a fantasy. It will be very large, very diverse, and very surprising: its cultural impact cannot be imagined. E-books will be a significant factor in this uncertain future, but actual books printed and bound will continue to be the irreplaceable repository of our collective wisdom."

And just for funsies, here's a short clip from a BBC documentary featuring Stephen Fry about the Gutenberg Press:

Prometheus, Caprica, Facebook & Me

2010-03-09T23:10:00.002-08:00

What happens to your Facebook profile when you die? If I’ve understood Caprica correctly, then it gets downloaded into a giant robot’s brain.

Caprica is a prequel series to Battlestar Galactica (that show with the sexy robots at war with humanity), which is supposed explain how those sexy robots came to be. In the first episode, Zoey, the daughter of the inventor of the internet, gets killed in a terrorist attack and her dad misses her so much he finds her online avatar (her conscious Facebook profile), and installs it into a giant warrior robot he’s building for the government.

Horrifying, isn’t it? The idea that the information we leave of ourselves on the internet could be rolled together like a ball of yarn to form a working consciousness, and then used to animate an abominable being like Frankenstein’s monster.

But it’s almost believable. After all, social networks make it entirely possible to keep track of friends, family, and perfect strangers down to the excruciatingly shameful and mundane daily details. FOR EXAMPLE, I’ve been made aware of all the disgustingly private details of what giving birth is like because a friend of mine just had a baby this week (SHE POSTED HOURLY UPDATES AND LEFT NOTHING OUT, SHUDDER).

Google, Amazon, and Facebook already have sophisticated algorithms to take your personal information and show you individualized advertisements. How far of a leap will it be to take that same information and create a replication of your consciousness and put it in a robot? And since the Caprica/Battlestar universe is kind of a parable for our own, this suggests that the perversion of intelligent life rooted from taking our perverted internet personalities and creating a new race out of them will kill us all.

Well, I’m sure as long as the robots are sexy no one will actually mind. Amen.

Oh, and I want their electronic paper. Like right now. Now.

(graphic by me, with images courtesy of SyFy Channel and Facebook)

7th Annual Smithsonian Photo Contest

2010-03-04T11:26:00.004-08:00

I missed out on entering this contest so I'll have to wait for next year, but here are a just a few of the incredible finalists for the 7th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest. Click here to see all of the finalists and vote for your favorite.

(all photos courtesy of smithsonianmag.com)

I'm In The Motherboard

2010-03-03T20:49:00.005-08:00

Sometime last year Motherboard.tv was launched by VBS.tv, the internet video station of Vice Magazine. It is "an online video network and community focused on the exploration of the nature and culture of technology, as viewed through the lenses of curated editorial content, community, and dialogue."

Anyway, I joined the Motherboard.tv community and dialogue last month. Hell, it seems right up my alley and covers many of the same topics I cover on this blog. I've only made a few posts so far, mainly of recycled material I've already posted on this blog. But it's kind of fun for me to participate in something that is almost a social network/community blog for people interested in new media such as myself.

Plus, I like Vice, particularly VBS.tv (the interface they set up to make it seem like its own television channel is very similar to what I had in mind when I designed NinjaPancakes.com).

Although all those damn American Apparel ads are really fucking annoying. And they also are too often twisted perverts.

Anyways, check out my Motherboard profile.

Digital Magazines Are Cool Again

2010-03-03T20:18:00.004-08:00

This is a concept video for the Mag+ project, a nifty device and interface that shows a fun way to read digital magazines. Looks like finger-scrolling in a way that appears similar to the swiping thingy on iPhones/iTouches/iPads, and also like Google’s Fast Flip. Pretty neat, eh?

I'll be honest, I hadn't been too impressed by the prospect of reading digital magazines on tablets or any of Apple's little iPhones. The demo for the iPad was pretty boring, I got claustrophobic trying it on the iPhone, and other tablets just feed what you get from the magazine's actual webpage. The only aspect I remotely like is Google's Fast Flip dealy. I actually enjoy perusing the news much better that way. Much more visual, fun, and you get to preview the actual layout of each source. Much more like going through an actual newspaper.

This Mag+ dealy looks a lot more fun though, even though it is conceptually so close to what the iPad is supposed to give. I know it's just a concept video, but this looks a lot more interactive and fluid and textural, much like I want digital magazines and tablets to eventually be-- just like holding a piece of paper. Kind of as demonstrated in the new show Caprica this:

By the way, that new show Caprica is awesome. You should watch it.

The Future is Mouse-Free

2010-02-27T14:53:00.003-08:00

Here's a nifty video demo of a spatial operating system, AKA that hand-wavey computer Tom Cruise was using in Minority Report.

This gesture-based interface is made by a company called Oblong, founded by the same guy who consulted with Minority Report's producers for far-off computers. Looks fun.

Some folks argue this is a lazy way to interact with a computer. Well, I think it looks a lot more physically involved than a god damn mouse. So to hell with those folks.

g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.

News that Makes No Sense: Google, Cheney, and Killer Whales

2010-02-24T23:14:00.010-08:00

Is it just me, or are things more screwy than usual this week?

---

GOOGLE CONVICTED IN ITALY

I've mentioned quite a few times that governments the world over are starting a systematic rebellion against Google. Well, score one for the bad guys (or are they the good guys...?), because Italy convicted a Google Executive of violating privacy laws. Lots of folks are riled up by this, claim it is an outright threat to the freedom and sanctity of the internet and free speech, that it is like killing the mailman for bringing you a bad letter. Blah blah blah.

The context of the court case is quite silly actually. A couple Italian kids uploaded a video to YouTube that was rather embarrassing to a fellow student. The video was reported by the school, and the video was removed two hours later. Ahh, reminds me of high school...

Anyways, bottom line, Italy is claiming Google is legally responsible for all the idiots on YouTube. If that is the case, then Nuremberg-esque trials aren't too far behind....

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DICK CHENEY SURVIVES FIFTH HEART ATTACK

(photo from Blognonymo.us)

It is now clear that former Vice President Dick Cheney defies all laws of medicine. Having suffered his fifth heart attack and walked away, I think he has evolved beyond the need for a human heart. Perhaps he survives off broken dreams and the tears of school-children.

I have another theory that he is really a robot of an alien or deviant race, like the Terminator or a Decepticon, and has planted itself within our world to rise to power and enslave us all. But that is so obviously ridiculous, because he already was Vice President and... um... oh no... he's already done it, hasn't he...? But we're not even aware, are we....?

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KILLER WHALE KILLS SEAWORLD TRAINER

One of SeaWorld's trained orca whales played a bizarre role in the death of a SeaWorld trainer. And the shifty thing is that the alleged whale, Tilly, has a sordid past: In 1999 a naked dude was found dead on Tilly's back. And then there was this odd incident in Canada where Tilly and a few other hooligan orcas beat the crap out of another trainer.

Whether or not you support or oppose the captivity of these humongous mammals for entertainment purposes, everyone has to admit: all this press will probably swing in the favor of the upcoming Free Willy 4: Tilly's Revenge.

Sharktopus Will Devour Us All

2010-02-20T22:22:00.004-08:00

I can't stop thinking about Sharktopus. This sucka's in my dreams, man (which is odd, because the above design is also by Matt Leach).

Roger Corman, championed director of the straight-to-SciFi-Channel B-movies, is directing this movie. If there's nothing better than SciFi--ahem, sorry, SyFy--Channel movies, it's science fiction B-movies.

Honestly, why can't all science fiction movies be made as B-movies? I would enjoy them so much more.

Also keep your eye out for Dinoshark. Which looks almost as cool as Sharktopus. But ultimately tentacles always prevail.

I don't exactly know why I like poorly made science fiction/horror movies so much. But they feel very closely related to drunk stories. Think about it: both are told with so much gusto and inflated emotions that ultimately fail because the integrity of the surroundings are lackluster. Just as the authenticity falls short in a drunk story because, well, you were drunk, B-movies fall short because, well, you can see right through those silly special effects and set design.

But I love me some drunk stories, because I find that failure hilarious. Which I suppose is about the same reason why I love B-movies.

I love you, Sharktopus. I love you...

Matt Leach Understands My Brain

2010-02-13T00:38:00.003-08:00

(illustration by Matt Leach)

People often ask me what it's like to live in Portland, Oregon. This illustration by artist Matt Leach pretty much nails it.

Coffee, a desperate and often crippling awareness of one's own self-delusions, and fucking narwhales.

Those narwhales are everywhere, man.

Revolt Within the Google Maps Reality Matrix

2010-02-10T21:52:00.005-08:00

I did a prior post on Found Art Photography from Google Maps' Street View a while back, so this seems only too appropriate to show (thanks to Drax for the tip!):

You are seeing correctly. That is a photo of two men dressed in scuba gear chasing after a Google Maps Survey Car in Norway. See it for yourself: enter "Rugdeveien 39, 5097 Bergen, Norway" into Google Maps and go into Street View.

Why are they in scuba gear?

Why are they chasing the Survey Car?

Did they plan this?

These questions might never be answered, but I think it has become quite clear now that Google Maps, otherwise known as the Google Maps Reality Matrix, is not without enemies.

Think about recent events: the launch of Google Android, Google Buzz, Google Books, Google Wave, Google Nexus, and the upcoming Google Toilet-Cam have all received across-the-board negative slandering in the press. In addition, governments of the world are uniting against Google because it stands in ideological opposition to the sovereignty of Free Market Economies. But they realize, of course, that Google is the internet. Google is all information and media. By what possible means can governments undermine the communication and social networks of the masses?

Simple: scuba-insurgents.

Google won't see it coming. Think about it.

Actually, don't. Don't think about it. Just put your scuba suit on.

The High Cost of Reading

2010-02-05T09:26:00.018-08:00

With the announcement of the iPad and the accompanying iBooks store (which seems pretty analogous to the iTunes store), larger publishers are threatening to ditch Amazon Kindle's $9.99 e-book model. After all, iBooks is looking to sell e-books closer to $14.99 (as well as offering publishers a bigger cut of the sales).

But, this has me wondering one thing: Why the hell do e-books cost so much?

An e-reader itself costs $200-$400, and the cheapest iPad will be $500. And then each book will cost between $9.99 and $14.99, which is about the same price as an e-book printed out in an actual book. It is therefore, much more expensive to read e-books than real books.

So according to the current price models, why would I want to buy an e-reader???? EVER????

The publishers and retailers of e-books appear to be using a similar model as iTunes. First you buy an mp3 player, then you buy each song for $0.99 each or $9.99 for an entire album. Since CD retailers are nearly extinct, I think this model is working.

I don't think this will work out the same way for books, though. Why? Because PEOPLE LIKE BOOKS, whereas, NO ONE EVER LIKED CDS. The only device that stores music that people have ever liked is vinyl records and fucking iPods. By contrast, everybody loves building their own personal library shelves.

I've been watching this e-book pricing story unfold and wondering, how can they be so thick? Why are they trying to keep the price of media the same, regardless of the format it's delivered in? Why are they practically engaging in price-fixing like goddamn mobsters instead of acting like the capitalists they claim to be and competing for consumers?

Why is Rupert Murdoch speaking out in defense of hardback retailers (quoted as saying "We think it really devalues books and hurts all the retailers of hardcover books")? Does it have something to do with changing the New York Times website to a pay-site?

And why are several governments of the world all at once dog-piling on Google's ambitious Google Books venture?

I think this is damage control, a desperate stopgap to keep the business of print the same. I think this is a larger strategy between the Big Boys of Print to get take back their leverage. Which once again makes them sound a lot like a group of mobsters.

On Groundhog Day, Bill Murray, and Soothsaying Varmints

2010-02-02T12:18:00.018-08:00

There's something magical about February 2nd and Groundhog's Day.

No there isn't. It's a silly folk-holiday cooked up by apparent sufferers of Seasonal Affect Disorder. I don't know how the groundhog got dragged into it, but last year Alaska gave the groundhog the boot and replaced it with a marmot. That's right, last year Sarah Palin made Feb 2nd Marmot Day. Wow.

Anyways. While Groundhog Day isn't so much magical as it is silly, there is something magical about Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray, the single only notable story concerning this holiday which glorifies a prognosticating rodent. In fact, not just magical, but profound, heartening, deconstructive, humane, hilarious, and poignant, among many other adjectives. I dare say, it is one of the greatest stories ever told.

Odysseus from Homer's Odyssey is often considered the greatest character of fiction because he experiences every aspect of the human condition. Throughout his 17-year journey home he loses everything. He goes from a king and champion of the Greeks, to an old and lowly beggar disguised amongst his own. He is picked upon by every force imaginable, from gods, to witches, to sirens, to his crewmen, to his own son. He hits Rock Bottom, and then heroically climbs his way back to the top. And he learns his lesson in the process: he is but a man.

In Groundhog Day Bill Murray, as Phil Connors, takes a similar journey. All in one single day. His life becomes February 2nd, Groundhog Day in Punxutawnney, Pennslyvania. The world exists in infinite loop around him while only he is conscious of this abrupt shift in reality. No matter what he does he always wakes up at 6am on February 2nd. And while he experiences perhaps a countless lifetime of February 2nd's he exposes every facet of humanity because he too loses everything he once was in one single infinite day and transforms himself to become but a man.

I was 8-years-old when I first saw this movie. Disguisedly simple enough for a child to understand, I enjoyed it. What kid doesn't like Bill Murray? And I remember asking my dad why the day repeated over and over again, and he told me, "Because he had to get that one day right."*

Every year when I inevitably see Groundhog Day on Feb 2nd I think about that. And in more recent years as I've gotten older I've thought, "Man, my dad is lame."

Yet, there is a merit of truth to that thought, because whether or not he gets that day right, he lives it an uncountable number of ways. Perhaps, Bill Murray only finally wakes up on February 3rd because he has exhausted every possible imaginable and unimaginable way to live February 2nd. Perhaps, like Odysseus, he journeys his humanity entire.

We see him go from prideful but restless, to egotistical, to megalomanic, to chauvinistic, to con man, to obsessive stalker, to hopelessly depressed, to enraged, to crazed fanatic, to suicidal, to an utterly defeated and desperate and lonely shell of a human being listing at Rock Bottom. And then, because he has no where else to go, he climbs up. And on the day when he is the Every-Man every man wants to be, when he has run out of every trick and swindle, when he's seen perhaps every single outcome that can come from a single day, when he is simply but a man: He wakes up the next day.

Humanity is obsessed with transformation. That's what The Odyssey is about, that's what Groundhog Day is about, that's what some of the most championed stories are about: transformation.

Because in the gloomy winters of our discontented day-to-day lives we often feel trapped on all sides, devoid of purpose, utterly demoralized, and doomed. It happens. To quote a few hilarious and poignant exchanges from the film:

BILL MURRAY: What would you do if you were stuck in one place, and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?

DRUNK: ... About sums it up for me.

And:

BILL MURRAY: There's no way that this winter is ever going to end as long as this groundhog keeps seeing his shadow. I don't see any way out. He's got to be stopped. And I have to stop him.

And:

BILL MURRAY: What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today!

But despite these common experiences of modern existence we want to become something else. We want to transform into beings self-actualized, rising above, defining a new chapter in humanity, desperately yearning to be something we're not.

Which is why we love superhero origin stories, why we love Kafka, why we love it when the goddamn seasons change. And that's what Groundhog Day, the actually holiday, signifies! It's this stupid pointless holiday that puts a fucking rodent on pedestal all because we go loopy in the long stretch of winter and desperately need/want spring to burst open in blooming greens and yellows and purples upon us, to remind us that things change, that we change.

That's why when the illustrious Bill Murray wills himself in to and out of Rock Bottom over an infinitude of February 2nds, and then finally wakes up on February 3rd to exclaim, "Today is tomorrow!" it is possible to believe in the transformative ability of humanity. That despite who we are, what we are, and the forces that surround us, we can become something more.

But then I remember I've been fooled by Bill Murray before. For example, up until I was six I thought it was absolutely necessary to wear my Ghostbuster's proton pack everywhere I went. Not anymore though. I don't believe in no ghosts.

Still, a great story.

*I later found out my dad got that line from the trailer, as displayed above. And to think for years I thought he was insightful.