17 March, 2008

We're done here.

Ok, since I have little patience for double posting, I've failed at keeping this blog updated along with the new one. So, to wit:

FROM HERE ON, ALL BLOGGING WILL BE HAPPENING ON WWW.DEFENDINI.COM/SLEEKNESS

Linger here at your peril.

That will be all.

Goodbye.

11 March, 2008

Maldeamores comes to NYC

Maldeamores [imdb] [crackspace] [movie site], a Puerto Rican film directed by husband-and-wife team Carlitos Ruíz Ruíz & Mariem Pérez Riera, produced by Benicio del Toro, and starring Luis Guzmán (among others), opens in NYC this Thursday. Maldeamores has been in the can for a while now, and has been floating around in Carlitos' and his crew's heads for longer still. It premiered last year at the Tribeca Film Festival to solid reviews, and has been in wide release in Puerto Rico for a while.

As I understand it, the film is split into three stories dealing with the different facets of el mal de amor (Spanish for 'lovesickness'): a boy's first love, a hostage situation, and an elderly triad locked in a love triangle.

Carlitos and I worked together briefly back in my advertising days, and ever since we've loosely orbited each other via our extended circle of friends in the PR creative industry/scene. From what I remember of his work for me and others in advertising, Carlitos is a director with a distinct vision and storytelling style—I'm very excited to finally see the fruits of their labours.

07 March, 2008

Administrativa

I've begun the migration to www.defendini.com/sleekness. You may want to start reading over there instead of here, as there's going to be a bit more content, namely a chronicle of my Digg activity and Pownce feeds, as well as updated 'Currently Listening' and 'Currently Reading' widgets, if you're interested in that sort of thing. Mind you, it's quite fugly right now, as I tweak and work on the custom css template for WordPress. Regardless, for the time being, while I move archived posts over to the other side, and fiddle with the style sheets, I'll be double-posting here and there, so no matter where you are, you'll get everything. I'll post another note when I'm ready to abandon Blogger for good.

That will be all.

The Contact High that Came Down Through the Ages

From The Guardian:
In the philosophy journal Time and Mind, Benny Shanon states that key events of the Old Testament are actually records of visions by ancient Israelites high on hallucinogens.

So, Moses was high as a kite when he had his close encounters with yahweh. Trippin’ balls. Stoned out of his mind. No wonder he heard disembodied voices and saw funny light. I mean, who hasn’t, right?Anyway, my point here is: this is news? Just because the only people who like to get high in order to reach god nowadays are Rastafarians and the pseudo-mystical psychedelic Latin American shamans trying to separate aging hippies from their money, doesn’t mean that this wasn’t the modus operandi back in the day. All these old-school mystics and clerics used mind-altering substances: the oracle at Delphi, the Druids, etc. To suppose that the forebears of the Judeo-Christian tradition are any different simply because our modern-day popular moral code vilifies any and all type of substance abuse is self-serving delusion, at best.