Brother Blue
By Gene Monterastelli
April 8, 2004 by Gene

The Plank in my Eye

An old roommate of mine once said about his Einstürzende Neubauten tattoo, “I knew I had to get it when I was young and stupid. Other wise I never would have gotten it.”
Youth have always needed (at least in their eyes) so way to rebel. Tattoos. Long Hair. Blue Hair. Pieces of Metal in every part of the body. Branding. As times has passed and as our culture has gotten more permissive (or open minded depending on your point of view) youth have had to work harder and harder to be on the edge. I credo of youth goes something like, “If you are not living on the edge you are taking up too much space.” I am not condemning any of this activity, I certainly have had a few shades of hair color, and I couldn’t tell you the number of times I washed my hair my senior year of high school (some where on the magnitude of ten or eleven times). It is part of being youth. I have just wondered how far people would go to be in the edge.
I am not sure if this falls into the category of trying to be edgy or if it is just plain stupid. I don’t think this is a hoax because I have been able to find news stories at CTV, CNN, Xinhuanet, and MSNBC. Netherlands Institute for Innovative Ocular Surgery has developed a surgery in which they can put a piece of jewelry in the outer membrane of your eye.

From the CNN.com story:
The procedure involves inserting a 3.5 mm (0.13 inch) wide piece of specially developed jewelry — the range includes a glittering half-moon or heart — into the eye’s mucous membrane under local anesthetic at a cost of 500 to 1,000 euros ($600 to $1,200).
“In my view it is a little more subtle than (body) piercing. It is a bit of a fun thing and a very personal thing for people,” said Gerrit Melles, director of the Netherlands Institute for Innovative Ocular Surgery.
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April 7, 2004 by Gene

Play List 6

When Doves CryPrince1984
Angel EyesThe Jeff Healey Band1988
Gepetto – Belly – 1993
Take Me Home Tonight (Be My Baby)Eddie Money1989
Don’t Stand so Close to Me (Original) – The Police – 1980
Life Is a Highway – Tom Cochrane – 1992
JumpVan Halen1984
Making Love Out of Nothing at AllAir Supply2003
Mandolin RainBruce Hornsby1986
Careless Whisper – Wham! – 1984

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April 6, 2004 by Gene

The Golden Calf

I go to daily mass at a church that is connected to a school which has grades four to eight. Each day at mass one of the classes comes to mass. During the sermon, who ever is presiding, leads more of a discussion than anything else, mostly trying to engage the students in to the reading through conversation.
Today we spent time talking about the Passover celebration and roots of the celebration. As we followed the Exodus story, we came to Moses going up on the mountain and the people making a golden calf to worship while he was away. The pastor asked the students about idols and what idols people worship today. Money, cloths, boys, and cars all came up. Then one eighth grader said, so succinctly, “The problem most people have is they want something, but when they get it they just want something else.” Amen.

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April 5, 2004 by Gene

Right now I am…ummm…in the car!

From About.com:

Pretending to be stuck in traffic during a mobile phone call could become much easier using software that generates fake background noise.
SoundCover, developed by a Romanian phone software company called Simeda, can add artificial traffic and road works to a call at the press of a button. It can mimic a thunderstorm, the dentists drill or even a circus during a call.

Full article | Buy SoundCover
[Via lazlow]

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