this thought has been parasitically attached to my brain for the last several weeks.

Humanity is intriguing.
I am consistently amazed by how self-entrenched we have, and can, become.

By that, I mean that we are almost entirely absorbed in our own race - not to say that’s a bad thing, of course. People are definitely the most fascinating thing I’ve ever heard of.

But it feels odd to take several steps back. Time passes over our ideas, and either dissipates them or molds them to us.

Ideas, things that are in fashion affect our consciousness and alter the course of our existence. Old ideas lead to new ideas, thoughts lead to other thoughts. New revelations appear, are digested, and become old ideas. These old ideas lead to new sparks, which become old and inspire still more.

Clever phrases become common sayings, which eventually become irremovable tenets of our language. Thoughts pass from conscious to conscious, slightly morphing and always viewed through a different eye.

At this point in time, it seems impossible to make something wholly inspired by, say, nature. The movement of the planets, or the growth of a sapling. Chances are, you can follow the thought to its origin and you will end up at a piece of literature, or a word spoken by a stranger, or something which was, ironically, probably inspired by yet another person.

Are we doomed to be forever expounding on our forefathers' wisdom?

Rorschach

I am way too excited for this Thursday.

poème

I discovered yesterday that attempting to write an original work in my non-native language is fascinating. I think differently in French.

Also, my grammar is probably way off. French speakers, please feel free to correct me.

Deja vu ... not meaningless!

     Ok, I decided that this blog is fine for posting RANDOM, RIDICULOUS, and INANE theories that I come up with.

    So here's number one.

     Deja vu is triggered by a real memory: a memory of a dream that you had previously forgotten. But the dream is the tricky part, because that (whenever you originally had it) was a subconscious glimpse into the future. Perhaps the fabric of space-time DOES fold in on itself occasionally, but we can't perceive it unless we completely lack distractions, i.e. we are sleeping. Then it just happens that we see our future, forget it, then half-remember it when it actually happens to us.

Brilliant? Not at all. And I'm sure that I'm wrong about most of that nonsense. But I thought of it, so you had to suffer through it. (<- brilliant logic)

You may consider your day hereby ENLIGHTENED

j

First Listen: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

     This is the sound of a band reaching maturity. Animal Collective’s past efforts always struck me as slightly too strange to really appreciate - they were the music of adolescence, as AC was feeling and stretching its boundaries. No longer - this band has decided what they want to be, who they want to be, and why.
Merriweather Post Pavilion is one of the best albums I have listened to in a very long time.

     For me, it is becoming increasingly more rare to find a band who asserts its dominance over the listener. What I mean by this is that generally I am listening from the perspective of a critic, while the band generally accepts this as the proper position for it to exist in. As a result, I spend the entire time listening for the flaws in the album, rather than experiencing it solely for its triumphs. (Make no mistake - I still find enough to enjoy in a great deal of music.) However, with MPP I am reduced to a listener. Rather than thinking "I could have written this," I was waiting with excitement to see where the album would turn next.
     The sounds mesh together with cohesion, and the ideas are refreshing, like placing your head in the sink on a hot summer night. This album feels overflowing with youthful exuberance (which is somewhat ironic, considering the band’s newfound maturity.) My main qualm with the album is this: it may be slightly too long, and occasionally repetitive. Every song on it is well done, but the pacing feels very slightly off. This may just be a quirk that showed up with my first listen, but I was very surprised when I noticed that Summertime Clothes was only the fourth song, as it feels like it should be the climax of the album (Incidentally, this is also my favorite song from the group.)
     Animal Collective has found its groove, and I expect that they will give us many more solid albums. I don’t expect my opinion to change rapidly regarding MPP, and as it stands it may just be a classic.

9.2 / 10

In which Jeremiah vents his frustration, to avoid letting it evolve into full-blown road rage.

Top driving frustrations:

1. People who don't signal, or use their turn signals improperly (Especially those who leave it on for miles.)

Appropriate punishment: Keep a baseball bat in the car with you. Follow them until they arrive at their destination, then bash in their tail lights.

2. People who tailgate in the left lane, to signal to their predecessor that they need to move.

Appropriate punishment: Brake suddenly, collect the insurance money, then sue the state for allowing a mentally retarded person to hold a driver's license.

3. People who attempt to merge onto the highway 20 mph below the speed limit.

Appropriate punishment: Don't slow down.

4. The entire city of Denver.

Appropriate punishment: Perhaps a Sodom and Gomorrah type situation? I wouldn't be opposed to that.

Regarding Christianity, and a certain oft-used phrase.

     The word relationship is more or less a passive one. A relationship is the way that two things, or two beings, relate to each other, and does not necessary imply any importance.

     Religion, on the other hand, implies active participation. A religion is a specific set of ideals and standards that one uses to define their life - or to define a relationship.

If it's just a relationship, and not a religion, then you're doing something wrong.