Journal Entries
My Works in Progress
Posted Jun 19, 2002
When I am not working for my money. I pursue my life goal. I am establishing a career as a monologist/writer. This site is full of intriguing people and ideas. It's a gold mine. Are there any other monologist out there. I'd love to talk shop. While developing my monologues I perform as a standup comedian in the Philadelphia area.
My major influences are Bill Hicks, Spalding Gray, Warren Zevon, Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl. Social Satire and commentary is my direction. I am working to get to the elementary particles, the quarks and neutrinos of this madness we call life. Meaningful? Probably not. Change the world? Highly unlikely. Get rich quick plan? Endless laughter. I do it because it is what I do. I've never ever stayed on track of anything, I live in the tangents. After all, the human line is a tangent off the bush of life, and if there are any answers at all, that is where they lie, off course, unexpected, inhabiting the realms of the absurd. I imagine myself as the guy who, while everyone is sitting around the campfire, starts singing "Love is in the Air" and walks into the flames. I am currently working on two monolgues..one is influenced by Rimbaud's A Season in Hell and that is what I call it. The other is called The Wound...They are not as dark as they sound, in fact you could think of them as comedy monolgues...but I am going for an undertone of the primitive, and dark forces in our nature. I imagine a very low volume background of jungle sounds that would be playing as I perform the monolgue. I will be trying out some material in this journal. Please feel free to comment and critique. I look forward to hearing your opinions.
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Latest reply: Jun 19, 2002
Sprawl
Posted Jun 11, 2002
I've been doing a lot of driving lately and I'm fed up. Cars must go. Besides the always irritating road rage, actual concerns for life on this planet do come to mind. I am not advocating a return to the wild, but I am suggesting some cultural evolution. The wheel was invented thousands of years ago (anyone know the precise date? and was it an accident? Who took the credit? (probably the Sumerians they were taking the credit for everything back then) I bet the Chinese invented the damned thing first but we only found out they had it yesterday.) Now generations of engineers, politician, and CEO's have spent a lot of time and money making the world a better place for wheels to live. Flattened landscapes. broad plains of asphalt for parking, large private suites for storage, the list goes on. May I suggest thet we move on. Like the idea of a nation state, it is time to put the car and it's wheels into the dustbin of history where it belongs. Technology should be about innovation and advancement,not a new and refined leather interior, with faux wood paneling, and computerized climate control.
Cars, and the world that we have built for them (Have you ever tried crossing a six lane highway to get to the corner store on the other side that used to be part of your neighborhood) are destroying our communities and our health, as well as causing great harm to our fellow travellers on this earth. In the next installments of my journal I will be dicussing some of the current trends in urban planning and some new ideas in the battle against sprawl. The most important step however is admitting to ourselves, as in the case of any addiction, that the car, which used to give us pleasure and independence has taken over our lives. The price we are paying socially, economically, and ecologically is too severe, and we must make some changes to regain control. Any of your contributions are welcome.
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Latest reply: Jun 11, 2002
Hello
Posted Jun 10, 2002
Hello fellow researhers and editors. My name is Dogan Tekben. The name is Turkish. The man associated with the name was born in Poughkeepsie NY. I earn my bread by working to improve the Air Traffic Control System in the U.S. I have a degree in aeronautical science as well as a pilot license. I play the guitar, love to cook, travel, read (a lot), perform stand up comedy, get bored (easily), get excited (easily), design computer games, daydream, and am in awe of the world we live in. I am married with a child on the way. My wife is an electrical engineer. I have come to the guide looking for new ideas, and, hopefully, to offer some of my own. I am curious about many topics. Urban Planning, artificial intelligence, conflict resolution, evolution, invention and design, stand up comedy, astronomy, ecology, philosophy, history, the list goes on. I was guided to the guide by a refernce in the just published "The Salmon of Doubt". I hope to develop the discipline to write in this journal daily..the operative word is hope. (in fact that just may be the operative word of operative words) I look forward to reading the words of, and interacting with, other researchers.
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Latest reply: Jun 10, 2002
Zorba
Researcher U196193
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