My thoughts

Just got back from Japan, really need a ride to burning man.

sonofseussII — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:51:42 GMT

Wow, so I just went to some amazing parties in Japan. The brainbusters party with Derango in the forest was amazing beyond words. Now that Im back in the states, I could really use a ride to burning man. If youre reading this, and you know someone with room in their car, let me know!

Japan Party

sonofseussII — Sun, 18 May 2008 12:42:51 GMT

Super Rad. So I went to my first party in Japan since goa gil this past weekend. It was soo much fun. I went to this brainbusters party in the mountainy forests near tokyo. First of all The location was GORGEOUS!! Even as cold and rainy as it was, I felt really in touch with the land we were on. I kind of felt like I was partying in the clouds... There are some extra bonus features of the property also. 1. You can drink water directly from a stream coming off the side of the mountinan. No need to use a tap. just stick your bottle right under this little edge where water was pouring out. ITs some of the best water Ive ever had!! 2. There is a hot spring literally 15 feet from the dancefloor!! I had the most amazing time kicking back warming up in the hot spring, listening to some killer sounds as the sun was just starting to come up!! I felt totally reenergized after that! Ok, on the the party itself. The music was really good. I loved hearing the fractal cowboys, parus, ocelot, again. I also heard some new DJs from Japan that I hadnt heard before that were definaltey playing some killer tunes also. Spliffnik, Nikki, and of course Eitan!! Yeah, I even got to hang out with some cool DJ from Japan. Thanks Unagi!! Hmm.. The people at the party were all really nice. And everyone danced nearly the entire time. There were realyl some great dancers there. Oh and whats up with pulling out 5th's of tequila right there on the dance floor at like 10 AM in the morning. At first I was like I dunno if thats such a good idea. You know Jose Cuervo at this stage in the game?? Are you sure thats what you wanna do? OK... But yeah, after I cautiously accepted the first pull, and greedily chugged the several ones after that, I must say, aint nothing wrong with pulling out the tequila on the dancefloor. I might have to try it again sometime!! Sorry I couldnt get more pictures. Hmm.. I didint exactly.. trust myself with the camera. But yeah, I will do it all over again this weekend. So we will see what I can do! I am going to another party, this one right near mount Fuji!! I cant wait to see Kzndzadza perform for the first time!! I havent heard much from Parasense, Fatal Discord or Osom, but those are the headliners, if youve heard anything about them let me know whats up! I will be stomping it up on the pacific rim once again this weekend. I feel like a pattern might be emerging here...

The universe is big, no really freaking big!

sonofseussII — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:16:20 GMT

Having run out of books in the fiction section in the small English language section of my favorite bookstore here in Japan, I wandered over to the non fiction section, and now Im reading this book, "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking. And am learning some science related stuff that is really blowing my mind more than any sci-book ever has. Did you know that our Universe has over 100,000 million galaxies with around 100,000 million stars each? And thats only what we can see with our current telescopes. I always knew the universe was big, but wow. I really had no idea... I found this beatitful picture of a part of our universe while checking out NASAs website. If you dont think its real, go ahead and go to NASA's website, and you can check it out for yourself, and get a higher resolution version. http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/174503main_image_feature_805_ys_full.jpg

mainstream Media coverage- this is just maddening

sonofseussII — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 04:46:23 GMT

I got this from daily kos which got it from somewhere else... In the past two weeks, the following events transpired. A Department of Justice memo, authored by John Yoo, was released which authorized torture and presidential lawbreaking. It was revealed that the Bush administration declared the Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights to be inapplicable to "domestic military operations" within the U.S. The U.S. Attorney General appears to have fabricated a key event leading to the 9/11 attacks and made patently false statements about surveillance laws and related lawsuits. Barack Obama went bowling in Pennsylvania and had a low score. Here are the number of times, according to NEXIS, that various topics have been mentioned in the media over the past thirty days: "Yoo and torture" - 102 "Mukasey and 9/11" -- 73 "Yoo and Fourth Amendment" -- 16 "Obama and bowling" -- 1,043 "Obama and Wright" -- More than 3,000 (too many to be counted) "Obama and patriotism" - 1,607 "Clinton and Lewinsky" -- 1,079 More stories about a decade-old scandal and a presidential candidate's night at the bowling alley than about the White House declaring the Fourth Amendment null and void. Yup, that's about right.

Hot springs

sonofseussII — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:19:10 GMT

(actual picture) So the area I live in is famous for its hot springs, (onsen), and I am lucky enough to live within walking distance of one of the best ones around this part of Japan. Its a good thing too, seeing as how my bathtub is tiny! its about 3 feet wide by 3 feet across and 3 feet deep, so the only way I can take a bath is to sit cross legged, Indian style, or contort myself in some type of fashion in order to fit myself in the tub. Also my time is limited because after a while, my leg or legs will start to go numb and get all tingly, telling me me its time to give it up. Not that I do. I really like taking baths, so i don't mind squishing myself in the tub to take one, its not as bad as it sounds, it never takes that long to fill up the tub! Since I have been going to the onsen however, its hard to look at my bathtub the same way again. Its really a huge place, its got an indoor and an outdoor area, a sauna, a massage area, a restaurant, and a hotel. Its more like a spa. And the best part is the name, Riraku, which I am assuming is a Japanese take on "relax", even though I'm not completely sure. So yeah, its one of my favorite things about Japan so far. It really makes me wonder why Americans have such a hangup about being naked around each other. Seeing families bathe together, without feeling guilty, it makes our puritan thoughts about denying the existence of the human body seem rather silly.

Politicians need to grow up

sonofseussII — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:36:27 GMT

I think the current news media narrative about Clinton's trip to Bosnia , and Wright, and all the other anti-Obama stuff in and anti-Hillary stuff is a little ridiculous It's time to grow up - this whole nation has a high school mentality. I'm overseas and I still cant go anywhere online to find some honest coverage about election issues without seeing in one form or another ... more gotcha politics ... more shallow, soundbite crap foisted on us to distract us from the real issues.

UFOs definitely exist, Japan government spokesman says

sonofseussII — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 06:05:03 GMT

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20071219p2a00m0na007000c.html TOKYO (AP) -- Even though Japan's air force has never spotted a UFO, the country's top government spokesman said Tuesday he "definitely" believes they exist. Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura was speaking in response to demands lodged by an opposition lawmaker for an inquiry into "frequent reports of UFO sightings." The government said in an official reply that it had "not confirmed sightings of unidentified flying objects believed to be from outer space." Still, Machimura professed his belief in extraterrestrial objects. "I definitely believe they exist," he said as reporters erupted in laughter. In a written response issued Tuesday to opposition Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Ryuji Yamane, the government said the air force had often spotted "birds and other objects beside aircraft" but no UFOs. Tokyo keeps a vigilant watch of Japanese airspace, and is ready to scramble fighter jets to intercept suspicious airborne objects, the government reply said. （Mainichi Japan） December 19, 2007 I find it pretty amazing that even when the Japanese reporters "Erupt in laughter" that the top dog in The Japanese government was willing to stand up and say that UFO's definatley exist. I think thats pretty darn cool. That takes some serious cojones. I mean, it seems like everyone in the World is willing to admit the truth except for the U.S. I wonder what our reasoning is behind keeping mum on the issue, when so many others think it is important to get the word out? Really makes you wonder what the true motivations of the U.S. really are. I mean, when one of our top rivals comes out and says that the official US stance on the issue is an outright lie, well, that says a lot in and of itself. It makes me kinda proud to be living in Japan right now! By the way, this picture was drawn during the Edo period of Japan. Tokyo was once known as Edo a link to the blog I got it from can be found here. http://www.pinktentacle.com/2006/09/edo-period-ufo/

1 day left.

sonofseussII — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 05:06:33 GMT

Well, I couldn't of asked for much of a better last week. Everything seems to be working out perfectly. After I dropped off my passport to the consulate on thursday, I ran into Trillium, which was cool. She was late for a burning man rehearsal. I wish I could go, but I cant complain, Im doing something rediculously awesome also. The weekend would have been perfect If only MF Doom wouldnt have cancelled his show!!.What a bum! I had a pretty awesome going away party on Friday. I was able to see a bunch of friends on Saturday, before the party was canceled. But that was cool to see Amanda there. She was the person who drove me to my first Gil. And now I have been to a bunch. Kind of cool. Well my flight leaves Thursday morning. I cant believe I actually have everything under control, well, almost. My visa is stamped. I'm kind of sort of getting packed. I never realized how much stuff I have until I try to leave it all behind. Luckily my girlfriend is here to help out. I dont know what I will do without her. It will be tough, we promised to be strong. So I don't have a choice. Speaking of which. I should really get back to packing. I have lots to do still. But soon I will be in Japan! wow, I cant believe it...

countdown to launch...

sonofseussII — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 23:05:11 GMT

It seems like things never happen when you want them to, but still always on time nonetheless. My certificate of Eligibility form is in the mail, on the way to me. It is going to get here most likely tomorrow. Then I will have to high-tail it to the Japanese Embassy, and beg them to process the form, and give me my visa before my flight leaves next Thursday. If all goes according to plan, I should be on the plain thursday, in Japan on Friday, and Partying with Goa Gil on Saturday August 24rth. Yikes, well I know that this was meant to be someow, and I cant wait. The Goa Gil parties in northern Kalifornia have been real freak-out factories, I cant imagine what the parties in Japan might be like. I will post my official reviews after it all goes down. And it will go down for sure!

waiting waiting waiting

sonofseussII — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 23:48:18 GMT

well, I am just kind of biding my time, It has been almost a month since I sent my visa application off and I hope it goes through. Around now should be when I was told that the Japanese authorities would finally be finished with my documents I submitted and let me into their country.... Ah if they only knew who I really was!!! Wait its not like I even know who I really am? Would I let myself into my own country? I guess I would have to, i guess? Yikes! I realize that my posts might not be that entertaining, but I will at least try to include some cool pics. This is the infamous XLR8R, I took this picture at memorial meltdown '07

after 1 month without meat...

sonofseussII — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:25:29 GMT

and I have never felt or looked better! I cant figure out why I have been eating meat for so long, I mean, the industrial meat farms are so nasty. I must say I feel healthier than ever. I kind of pissed my hard core carnivore friends off, but the truth is, Animals are just so damnded cute! I mean you must truly be evil to want to kill little baby chicks! . Also, when I found out so many Nobel Lauret winners and prominent inventors and scientists were vegetarian, me with my never ending desire to be amongst great minds, including my all time favorite Nikola Tesla (mad scientist for real) were vegetarians, I was convinced. Ah man sometimes change is good.

Jason Miller Article

sonofseussII — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:00:27 GMT

Tribe Alert: Mistress of Evil From: bedouin Title: FREE!! B-man tix now that we have yore attention......... By Jason Miller 6/10/07 Each day untold millions of US Americans unwittingly immerse themselves in an intellectual, social, cultural, economic, political and spiritual cesspool so rancid and toxic that even microbes with the most voracious appetites for human waste, vomit, and inanimate flesh would shun this infinitely repulsive sewer. Many highly qualified and intelligent researchers, analysts, and authors have written books, essays, and reports documenting the astounding multitude and variety of crimes committed by the United States throughout its history. Since a nation is an entity comprised of numerous elements and dynamics, we can?t simply blame the government, the Republicans, the Religious Right, the Democrats, George Bush, Bill Clinton, or any one particular component. Therefore, nearly all US Americans bear a degree of responsibility. Obviously, some (i.e. Bush and Cheney) are far more culpable than others because they wield such tremendous power and act with a conscienceless, cynical awareness of the suffering they are inflicting on the Earth and its sentient inhabitants. Since only about 4% of the population shares Bush?s sociopathic inability to experience empathy or guilt, what is this powerful siren call that motivates so many inherently decent human beings to repeatedly lacerate their souls upon the jagged rocks of complicity in acts that inflict unnecessary suffering upon billions of humans and animals? How did we become a statistical aberration to the extent that we are a nation of resource-rich, technologically-advanced, mean-spirited, intellectually-stunted moral barbarians where a significant percentage of the population behaves as sociopaths by directly supporting or apathetically ignoring the evils in which they are complicit? Is it something in our water? Are we genetic misfits? Does our population represent the vanguard of the next step in humanity?s moral ?evolution?? Sarcasm aside, the underlying cause of our depravity is our false, skewed and fractured consciousness which our malignant system begins hammering into our minds as we draw our first breath. This relentless psychological assault persists until we take our final gasp of air. Nearly unshakeable illusions and delusions enable a relative handful of ruthless corporations and plutocrats to manipulate nearly 300 million people into helping them pursue their objective of world domination and exploitation, as out-lined in the Project for the New American Century. Let?s deconstruct but a few examples of the nearly innumerable strands in the tangled web of pernicious lies comprising our false consciousness: The Founding Fathers were noble, saint-like champions of the ?common? people who forged a nation affording freedom and equality for all. Our founders were mostly aristocrats who formed a constitutional republic of, by and for land-owning white males. Native Americans, the poor, and women were excluded. Chattel slavery was recognized as a legal enterprise. Many of our revered founders advocated and facilitated the Native American Genocide in the interest of expanding our borders. Greed and selfishness are virtues. Capitalism, which has evolved into its utterly reprehensible advanced stages here in the United States, is intellectually buttressed by the ridiculous notion that people acting on two of the most despicable traits of humanity, greed and selfishness, will enhance the commonweal. The current state of affairs in the United States demonstrates otherwise. Despite the slight doses of socialism which have mitigated the abject suffering inflicted by relatively unfettered capitalism during the Gilded Age, and despite the fact that we are the wealthiest nation in the history of humanity, there are still over a million homeless human beings, millions experience hunger and food insecurity, nearly fifty million lack a viable means to obtain our outrageously expensive medical care, our leading indicators of health are amongst the lowest of industrialized nations, urban public school systems are in a state of crisis and decay, and, as Katrina so clearly indicated, we are content to spend most of our hard-earned tax dollars on industrialized murder, blame victims, and leave the suffering to die, even here at home. America is the land of opportunity. Are many of us better off than most of the people on the planet? In a material sense, yes. However, bear in mind that the principal reasons many US Americans enjoy a degree of prosperity is that we stole a large chunk of a resource-rich continent (which is geographically situated in a way that makes a mass invasion nearly impossible), and that we built much of our prosperous economy on the backs of black slaves. Rapacious capitalism has enabled us to economically colonize and exploit many nations in the developing world, which explains the utterly nauseating gluttony we exhibit by representing 5% of the world?s population and consuming 25% of its resources. Oink, oink! Is there economic upward mobility in our society? Yes. Yet rags to riches stories are extremely rare. Aristocratic dynasties are alive and well in the United States. One need look no further than George W. Bush or Paris Hilton to recognize that we are far from being the meritocracy that media shills like Oprah would have us believe. Beloved Oprah is ostensibly a benign and benevolent self-made billionaire emblematic of the ?boundless opportunities? in the US. Certainly there is merit to her philanthropy. However, she erases her positive contributions many times over by promoting the notion that if a black woman like her can make it, anyone can. (And by the way, you who haven?t ?made it? like Oprah, what the hell is wrong with you?) Her glowing endorsement of The Secret and its wholesale promotion of employing ?magical thinking? to attain the ?American Dream? was beyond the pale. America saved the world from fascism during World War II Let?s set the record straight here. A number of large US corporations and dynastic plutocrats, including Bush 43?s grandfather, Prescott Bush, made significant financial contributions to the Nazi cause before the Trading with the Enemy Act became law in 1942. We also need to remember that the United States refused to lift a finger to help the poor and working class in Spain as they fought to preserve their democratically-elected government from the fascist onslaught of Franco, the Church, and the moneyed elite. We lost about 500,000 people battling fascist imperialist forces in World War II. Russia sacrificed 20 million human beings. Were it not for Russia, we would probably be speaking German right now. Besides, the United States is now in the prefigurements of fascism. We are becoming the very threat from which we allegedly saved the world. America needs to maintain its leviathan military industrial complex to ensure its security and to spread freedom and democracy The United States spends more money on ?defense? each year than the rest of the world combined. With the vast arsenal of weaponry we possess, it is beyond farcical to suggest that our security is seriously threatened at the existential level. We maintain military bases in 130 countries. We invaded Iraq and Afghanistan preemptively (which is a war crime for which we hanged Nazis). Yet we tenaciously strive to perpetuate the inane assertion that we are not an empire. Capitalism demands perpetual growth, meaning capitalist nations inevitably engage in imperialism to expand their markets, enhance their profits, and find cheaper wage slaves. We utilize the legions of the empire to spread the misery of ?free markets,? consumerism, exploitation, and environmental rape. America is a Christian nation. While many argue endlessly over the separation of church and state, or whether or not the United States was founded as a Christian nation, an equally profound question receives far too little attention. What is the nature of the Christianity that our nation, in which a large number of denizens label themselves as Christians, collectively manifests? Our rigid Puritanical roots still maintain a tenacious grip on our psyches. This impedes our capacity to overtly experience life?s carnal, sensual pleasures without experiencing guilt at violating taboos. Denying ourselves reasonable indulgence triggers the bacchanalian excesses that lead to rampant addiction to pornography, drugs, and alcohol. The isolation, rage, and spiritual emptiness engendered by our consumerist, narcissistic, and violence-obsessed culture catalyze events like the ones at Columbine and Virginia Tech. With lamentations and hand-wringing, the mainstream media repeatedly expresses its utter astonishment when people snap to such an extent. After all, human beings living in a spiritually vacuous, hyper competitive environment have an infinite capacity to absorb insults, loneliness, rejection, exclusion, bullying, and hatred without reacting violently, don?t they? One of the basic principles Christ espoused was to practice the Golden Rule. Whoops. Slaughtering millions of human beings throughout our history leaves us well short of the mark on that one. Perhaps the most inspiring spiritual wisdom the Jewish carpenter conveyed to humanity came in the form of the Beatitudes. How do we manifest them in the United States? The poor in spirit are considered to be impotent and irrelevant in a culture that thrives on egoism and self-promotion. Those who mourn over moral injuries and tragedies are instructed to ?get over it,? take some pills to mask the pain, and ?move on?. The meek are crushed by aggressive, acquisitive mobs. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness find that their efforts to satisfy, slake or quench are in vain as they wander a seemingly endless spiritual wasteland. The merciful are considered weak and fall prey to those who abuse their compassion for their own personal gain. The pure in heart are exploited as a reward for their decency. The peacemakers are ridiculed as idealists, cowards, and collaborators with the latest enemy our plutocracy has created to justify its endless wars. Despite the brutal nature and seemingly insurmountable power of this juggernaut of a nation, there is still hope for humanity and the world. While the opulent class, military careerists, fundamentalist Christian leadership, corporatists, AIPAC, ?elected? officials, and the prostitutes in the corporate-dominated media propagate a sociopathic agenda through maintaining the simulacrum of the United States as the ?leader of the free world,? there is abundant evidence of an increasing awareness of their perfidy and malevolence. Simmering beneath the surface for years, moral outrage now threatens to reach full boil thanks to the increased awareness facilitated by the Internet. The people of the United States are not freaks or anomalies. 96% of us have a conscience and can act empathetically. It is simply a matter of time, and perhaps a few more doses of pain, before reality obliterates what is left of the fiction we have been inculcated to embrace as the United States of America. Jason Miller is a wage slave of the American Empire who has freed himself intellectually and spiritually. He is Cyrano?s Journal Online?s associate editor (www.bestcyrano.org/) and publishes Thomas Paine?s Corner within Cyrano?s at www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/. You can reach him at JMiller@bestcyrano.com en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Ruscha by Dean Chamberlain www.deanchamberlain.com Learn More: www.exquisitesafaris.com/index...ravel/

bought a one-way ticket to japan the other day

sonofseussII — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 18:47:04 GMT

Wow, I cant believe I finally did it! I accomplished phase one of the mission. I escaped to Japan! I plan on traveling the country following the Goa Gil tour dates there. I plan on getting something called a J-Rail Pass and traveling all over before I start my job teaching English at Ehime University. If anyone has any suggestions as far as lodging and directions, stuff like that, let me know! Mike

Memorial Meltdown 2007 pictures

sonofseussII — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 19:04:14 GMT

http://picasaweb.google.com/MikeWaynell/MemorialMeltdown2007Pics