Aureantes Talks....

Don't Let U.S. Media Megacorporations

(or Government)

Kill Online Freedom of Speech


This is the only public post that will be visible on my Facebook or blog pages for Wednesday, Jan 18, 2012, in protest of unconstitutional online domain-blocking/censorship legislation. If you have not already seen and signed the petition linked above, please read and consider it now - and/or contact your Congressperson via this link here - because the Internet that you are used to seeing in all its activity here and elsewhere will not exist if either SOPA or PIPA pass into law as massive media conglomerates are pressuring.

I have studied arts/entertainment law - "anti-piracy" being the supposed basis for this legislation - and this law (under either docket name) has no teeth to curb /actual/ IP piracy/theft on a global scale (since it is focused on "U.S. aimed" websites), but a good deal of threat to harass and quash all manner of nonprofit fair-use: demo covers & karaoke videos, fan & tribute videos, socially-shared news articles/excerpts, fan fiction, obscure films/clips that are out of commercial distribution - and practically any material, be it entertainment or factual information, that either media companies or governmental entities do not want distributed to the general American public. It denies due process absolutely, indefinitely, and without recourse for injury; it claims the right to punish entire domains (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, etc.) for even single "alleged" user infractions of copyright/IP law by blocking them, rerouting their online traffic, and freezing their financial transactions - and this controversy is being swept under the carpet by the mainstream & primetime broadcast media whose parent companies are behind the proposed legislation.

These media megacorporations are counting on people's loyalty and ignorance to maintain their commercial profits (and increase their gain from legal settlements) despite this gross betrayal and evasion of public dialogue. Ultimately it is a stupid attempt to kill the very goose that lays their golden eggs in this peer-to-peer and intentionally-communal online age....even assuming a short-term gain in profits due to scaring away all non-profit usage/sharing of material, the forecast is that - as people are (hopefully) not idiots, they will eventually refrain from consuming for-profit-only entertainment as they realize that it has treated them all as potential criminals rather than as loyal or supportive audiences at all.

I believe in the right of all artists to be duly recognized and earn compensation for their creative work. I do /not/ believe in the right of corporations or government entities to censor creative or political expression merely because it does not give them instant money and/or support them unconditionally. The "marketplace of ideas," ironically, is one of the least-free and least-respected aspects of civilization in this capitalist society, because of the modern demand that all activity be directly translatable into financial gain or loss as a "property" - a concept which in itself goes against the grain of both nature and the entire course of pre-Industrial creative and technological history. These present demands of entrenched media-monopolists go too far, and what is at stake is freedom of speech itself - political /and/ creative; entrepreneurial, educational, and social. And that is a fundamental freedom that we as a nation and as humans cannot afford to lose, regardless of anyone's profit-driven paranoia.


[Yes, I do realize the irony of protesting U.S. censorship on a Russian-owned blognet....but LJ is aimed at a large U.S. audience, and it is just as liable as any American-owned social/blogging website to run afoul of this proposed legislation.] 

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Hence the glowering predatory tiger of paradoxical Blakean notoriety....geez, why am I being so defensive all of a sudden?

No, seriously...I glanced over my LJ profile page and it is way too scattershot and blatantly defensive itself to be accurate for my purposes at the moment - not to mention which, it denies me the pleasure of letting people find out firsthand what a bad idea it is to give me shite on my home turf. I miss those tiffs, I really do.....>:)

Also, I think I need to be a bit more precise about my whole artistic shebang, as it is going to be coming out more pointedly in the months to come. I operate in multiple artistic areas including singing/songwriting, acting & high-level online roleplaying, poetry, fiction, theatrical design and any/all visual arts whose supplies I can easily lay hands on, and this ties in a vast watershed of ideas....much of which are quite flagrantly psychological if there's any personification in them atall. And if you value the flagrantly psychological in what I've been throwing out intermittently here, then I'd certainly like to hear what you think of things, either here or in my more-private portfolio group on Yahell, or in any of my other online areas that you may have sight of. Every artist wants attention...and to quote Oscar Wilde, of course, the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. So do feel free to speak up when it comes to my creative output - detailed feedback is golden, especially because it means that detailed attention was given. And if I do happen to set a puzzle or a trail of allusionary breadcrumbs out in the path of things or woven into them.......I hope you'll have the intrepitude to try and follow where my thoughts are leading. If not, well...c'est la vie de le monde.

And as for why I'm so all over the place and not well settled/established in any one field or discipline...that's something that has plagued my sense of self-security for years and only very recently come clear to me, and it still wants its own manifesto (or at least an apologia) of an entry that isn't a well-tossed word salad of rampant Hamletting about. And that might take some concentration, because my general reaction to having very profound and vividly darkbright thoughts filling my head is to Hamlet as much as possible to avoid saying things out clearly. Cf. geometrical proofs - I do not particularly like showing my work, so anything that I actually take the time to spell out plainly must be very important indeed, for me to assume responsibility for all the labour of communication. To quote the Phantom of the Opera (original novel), "I never express myself like others...I don't do anything like others."

So what do I want from you who happen to read this, on my general access filter or whatever (lack of) confidentiality setting I choose for this? I want a reaction, to be perfectly blunt. I want to hear what you think of the content I've put out so far, if you've noticed it or happen to take an expedition back through my archives, and I want to know what you want to see in more finished form. Of course I'll ginsu any wankers who run supercilious or arrogant or bigoted - but it's my territory, my sovereign rules, as with any online enclave. 

And regarding those "piccies" previously suggested....well, that's another entry also, which will try to present at least a few different actual images of me, which I know is a well-nigh (if not totally) unprecedented thing.  And there is an anecdote that I will share in full along something like those lines, just because it made me snicker furiously when I read it first and always gives me distinct amusement.

And with that, I bid you good night and leave you to your apprehensive speculations....

_ This entry crossposted from http://aureantes.dreamwidth.org/150153.html. You can comment here or there using OpenID. Or you can double-comment for the sheer purpose of dual-site archival cohesion. Enjoy.

Okay, this is a completely non-serious (well, at least completely overtly non-serious) bit of something I've had cooking for a while.  And if I happen to leave any proverb unturned, just assume that I have my reasons.  I need to blow off a bit of semi-frivolous steam, so let's play around with some quirks of cuisine....answers not included to match by, because I'm intent on being difficult.   But a bit of keyword-searching and situational recognition ought to go a long way.

1.  'Shrooms!!!

2.  Liquid diet, should cure what ails me.

3. I prefer a good solid meal....

4.  No more wine, just a sharper kiss than usual.

5.  I'll just have a little bit off the shoulder...

6.  You're sure it won't spoil my appetite for Mother's cooking?

7.  Well, I'll have to refuse it twice before I'll eat it....

8.  Depends on its specific density.

9.  Whatever I eat, there's no shortcut to making it correctly.

10. I'll have whatever that hawt guy in the mirror's having...;;) 

11. Mmmm, flame-broiled....oh, you mean the dinner?

12. Radical fusion - but I foresee a lot of squabbling over the leftovers.

13. Yes!!!  How do you like them apples?

14. I doubt it's an MSG headache, but...quick, get an axe!

15. I've heard of shitting bricks - but vomiting stones?

16. Stop moving the damn grapes!

17. One gigantic cheese-wheel, please....

18. Whatever you're having......yoink!

19. Just one piece?  We'll share it alike...

20. I'm serving pork roast, boys...../:)

21. No man ate the mutton.

22. Had to give mine back, so dibs on yours.

23. Lost my appetite - if anyone wants me, I'll be in my tent...

24. Well, I do have a hankering for some flies...

25. It'll be ready shortly, gentlemen.....oops, however did I uncook that...?

26. There are actually an infinite number of meals....:-?

27. I'd go for seconds and thirds, if I could just cross the bloody room...

28. More of that beer-flavoured blood, please.....

29. Shite!! - the snake stole it!

30. Is this a piece of lettuce I see before me...with dressing?

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Have fun.....I'll give the answers in a while if no one gets it - then again, if no one gets any of these I'd be rather disappointed.  :P
  This entry crossposted from http://aureantes.dreamwidth.org/148202.html. You can comment here or there using OpenID. Or you can double-comment for the sheer purpose of dual-site archival cohesion. Enjoy.

- "Hi Kagen! Here is your Daily Chinese Horoscope for Thursday, November 25 - Your fire-breathing personality might be overbearing to some. While you certainly don't intend to be intimidating, you have a powerful demeanor that can overwhelm even strong personalities. Take it down a notch and you'll still get your point across."

................What, I don't intend to be intimidating....?

Oh, and what was it that Rob Breszny had for me most lately.....

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): British engineer John Reid wants to translate
dolphins' speech into human language. For years, he has been working on
the Cymascope, a machine that will help him analyze the basic patterns of
dolphin grammar and vocabulary. I encourage you to be inspired by his
efforts, Libra. It is now an excellent time for you to devote your ingenuity
to improving the way you communicate with alien species like black
sheep, fallen angels, feral mavericks, your mother-in-law, odd ducks, co-
workers who resemble raccoons and bears, and zombies who don't share
your political views.

Hmm....I really don't consider black sheep and fallen angels to be alien species per se.....nor feral mavericks, for that matter.  Zombies who don't share my political views - now that is a challenge....

This just added while checking my email before dinner.  We decided not to go with a tablecloth afterall, but I did take out my tall amber pressed-glass goblets from storage, seeing as we have no full set of eight conventional wineglasses.  And I don't care what nature of beverage gets put in them - it's for the inevitable Thanksgiving toasting, and we are damn well going to have a set of glasses that match for once.

My cousin Josh is in town with us - he's a theatrical lighting designer, so we've been talking a bit of shop - I just had to run and get out my set design models for Medea (set in late 19th-century London with Medea as an Irish firebrand) and The Chalky White Substance (little-performed post-apocalyptic Tennessee Williams), not to mention my "nightmare" concept assignment of a completely surreal and absurdist 'bathroom at the end of the universe'...hmm, that almost bears some philosophising, now that I think about it, but I'll save that for its own topic.

As I was commenting on Facebook, I'm extremely pragmatic about holidays, and Thanksgiving is something that requires a lot of gleaning the positive social+interpersonal wheat from the religious and self-centered nationalist/cultural chauvinist crap...I mean, chaff.  It's bloody arrogant to assume that everyone in this country ought to be thankful to their (assumed) deity on one official day, when this nation is not even supposed to have an established state religion.  And apart from that - Turkey Day?  Seriously?  Stuff-yourselves-like-gluttons-and-watch-football day followed by go-out-and-consume-mass-commercial-quantities-as-offering-to-the-Almighty-Economy day?  It's disgusting....and the only justification for it lies simply in whether it actually serves a positive social purpose, humanistically and without regard to either conventional or capitalistic relligion.  Is it good for the heart and soul, or is it stress and sanctimoniousness?  Are you truly glad to be in present company, or is it a trial or a war?  One should not have to lie and profess thankfulness for what is friction or oppression or ill-fortune - at the same time, sorting out what is good in one's life...is good.  But it should be true - and to have it assumed as a duty compromises truth.  So as an official national holiday, it is a topic where I have a great deal of ambivalency - especially since I can't stand Puritans and was fed up at a very early with extolling the "stern impassioned tread" of the Pilgrims as any rightful part of the beauty of this land - I'd much rather they'd left the wilderness alone and kept their fanaticism to themselves, without any compulsion on nonbelievers or internal dissenters.  Because anything else is really unethical - and the internal force of orthodoxy exerted to maintain social cohesion is a matter of politics that pollutes through its coercion the still-desired/demanded authenticity of faith. 

And that is my diatribe for the nonce....though be assured, I will get vocal later on regarding the pernicious and outright murderous atrocity known as "Black Friday"....


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This entry crossposted from http://aureantes.dreamwidth.org/147769.html. You can comment here or there using OpenID. Or you can double-comment for the sheer purpose of dual-site archival cohesion. Enjoy.

So what does Aurey do when he's up late recovering from the dregs of that-illness-which-is-a-long-story-in-itself?  Get into a spate of writing poetry, of course, though this may come off as more of a sheer flood of verbiage.  I may reattempt something on the same lines in a different frame of mind, but this frame after all seems the appropriate one for the gist of it.  Composed amidst the anachronistic pseudo-cacophony of...well, we are all online, are we not?  The wonders of modern technology...and  Η αλήθεια είναι πιό παράξενη από μυθιστοριογραφία των φανατικών υποστηρικτών - go on, have fun with that one.

Anyhow....poetry.  Tell me what you think of it....there's plenty more where it came from.
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( What music for the Ishtar Gate, in accompaniments of ages past and now and yet to come?  )

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In other news, I have officially completed my thirty-fourth year of life, as of 1:29 am Central Daylight Time.  Astrological stats are as follows, in which you will find that I have things in some very interesting and seemingly-paradoxical places, if you know what they mean - but right up front is the fact that I have Libra as my sun sign and Leo as my ascendant - so which one is the more definitive of my identity?  (At which point I point to the Chinese zodiac and say, "I'm a Fire Dragon - that explain anything?")

 

( Astrological jargon... )

I'll make a less-peremptory post on that later, so tell me if you're actually interested in seeing what all that is supposed to mean, so I can add you to that degree/angle of filter.  I used to have a girlfriend who was obsessive about doing up astrological charts for everyone she dated, but I'm not quite that compulsive when it comes to analyzing people.  If it fits then it fits, saith man the pattern-seer. 

_ This entry crossposted from http://aureantes.dreamwidth.org/140300.html. You can comment here or there using OpenID. Or you can double-comment for the sheer purpose of dual-site archival cohesion. Enjoy.

Still haven't got a full-page view 'cause my scanner is too small for the paper size, but here is the image that I have up on my Facebook photo album for my original art:
If it looks familiar, well.....there's probably a reason for that.  By the way, hair is not technically brown but very very dark blond - eyes are light-brown hazel.  Just in case there's any confusion there.

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....I think I have something I'm supposed to be doing tonight.


As in, I'll talk about it later today....at least somewhere. Meanwhile I've been compiling and stockpiling playlists on YouTube for nearly all purposes imaginable -- well, not quite all.

Vangelis has been joined by Kitaro, and the list that was all Enigma is now becoming dominated by Era, to name but a few additions/changes. And there's one that has an amospheric bunch of Russian, Old Slavonic, Greek and Arabic as well as English in it....and thereby hangs a tale (including that Greek Orthodox and Greeks in general are really really full of themselves, but since when is that news?).


Speaking of Vangelis (oh right, he's Greek too, isn't he...:-|), why can't I find a video of "Hymne" on YT that actually sounds exactly like my tape of Opera Sauvage? The long choral reversion is so long and epic that it loses the melody's impact, and I really miss the intense surround-sound of shattering crystal at the climax -- it wasn't just a little shimmer of fairy dust, fergodsakes...

There, have I done being enigmatic for a short while? Somehow I don't think so, but back to that later after sleep...um, yeah...sleep.


Mes amari, don't think that I've disappeared off the face of the earth, or that I cease to care. You know I'm more stubborn than that.

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I used to be more definitely introverted, and I still have all the thoughtfulness and subjective mindfulness I've always had....just gotten more out of the shell of my circumstances. On the Myers-Briggs, my results shift between ENTJ and ENTF, depending on just how much judgmentalism I feel I need at the given moment.

You are Extroverted, Conscientious, Agreeable, Neurotic and Open

Extroversion: You have high extroversion. You are outgoing and engaging, with both strangers and friends. You truly enjoy being with people and bring energy into any situation. Enthusiastic and fun, you're the first to say "let's go"! Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have medium neuroticism. You're generally cool and collected, but sometimes you do panic. Little worries or problems can consume you, draining your energy. Your life is pretty smooth, but there's a few emotional bumps you'd like to get rid of. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is high. In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas. You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits. A great admirer of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

I find the way the "Agreeableness" section is phrased to be a bit over-leading (initially marked just one point there, and even that was a debate), but then, if agreeableness is a listed criterion then the test is bound to be biased against identifying cynicism or even strictly-internal social detachment as "healthy" in itself. Overtrustingness and habitual belief in people's 'good intentions' (a very undefined phrase) is not always as good as people make it out to be; many other people manipulate and lie habitually and are only out for themselves first & foremost, but recognizing that human condition does not necessarily make one antisocial or primarily self-interested. Maybe verging on paranoid, perhaps, but not automatically out to exploit others.

Basically, the test doesn't know me as well as I know how to angle the test to make it a better reflection.

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you are darkviolet #9400D3

Your dominant hues are blue and magenta. You're the one who goes to all the parties but doesn't quite fit in at every one... you know what you want, but are afraid of what the world might think of it. You're a little different and that's okay with them, and if you're smart it's okay with you too. Your saturation level is very high - you are all about getting things done. The world may think you work too hard but you have a lot to show for it, and it keeps you going. You shouldn't be afraid to lead people, because if you're doing it, it'll be done right. Your outlook on life is brighter than most people's. You like the idea of influencing things for the better and find hope in situations where others might give up. You're not exactly a bouncy sunshine but things in your world generally look up.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

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Born in Chicago, raised in the suburbs with WFMT classical radio and PBS...yep, the old Inland North would be it. I say "Shihcawgo" as opposed to "Shihcagga," which is a pretty major distinction.

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