Chris Braak's Blog, page 19
August 16, 2012
Ego as the Radical Assertion of Difference
So, because I have a job where I don’t have to think very hard, I get to listen to iTunes lectures all day. One of the lectures that I’ve been listening to is Shelly Kagan’s philosophy-intro course “Death.” (I actually stopped listening to it for a while, because he seemed like he was spending a [...]
July 29, 2012
Wudang Taiyi Jian Form — COMPLETE
Well, complete in the sense that I now know all the moves, and can perform them in order without resorting to references (though sometimes there are big gaps where I have to pause until I can remember what to do next). Now, all I have to do is practice it three times a day every [...]
July 27, 2012
SALLY RIDE
Dr. Sally Ride passed away recently. She was the first American woman in space, and she was an inspiration to a lot of people. In response to her death, my friend Casey Conan — to whom Sally Ride was particularly inspirational — made the art above. I think it is pretty fantastic, so this is [...]
What Freedom of Speech Means
Attention the internet! In the US, the First Amendment to the Constitution protects something that we colloquially refer to as “Freedom of Speech.” Here is what Freedom of Speech protects you from: 1. Government censorship of your work. 2. Legal repercussions (fines, penalties, jail time) from publishing or publicly stating opinion or accurate information. 3. [...]
July 25, 2012
Joe F*cking Peacock
This guy. This fucking guy. So, okay, CNN has got some kind of blog, and it’s written by this guy Joe Peacock, here, go read this one. Did you read it? Ahah. Obviously, I want to talk about this, even though Twitter has been chewing this motherfucker up (“Overheard on CNN“: people think this is [...]
An Assortment of ‘Dark Knight Rises’ Thoughts
Obviously spoilers. I mean really, OBVIOUSLY spoilers. Chris already dug deep into the meat of the movie, so I’ll be providing a light, summery sorbet of casual bullet points, nerdy “Hey did you notice…?” and whatnot. So let’s get started with a NON-spoilery bit before we start talking about Things: The Volume Were the volume [...]
July 22, 2012
The Dark Knight Rises, the Avengers, and Occupy
I am going to discuss The Dark Knight Rises at length, now, and I am of no mind to be careful about what I reveal — like I’ve said before, I don’t really “review” things, like, “Should I go and see this on Saturday?” Yes, you should go see The Dark Knight Rises. That is my review. [...]
July 19, 2012
DC’s Late-80′s Comics Did Everything Right That The ‘New 52′ Did Wrong
DC has made it very clear that I am not the audience for its current material. It turns out, though, that I am the 100% exact audience for DC’s output in the mid-to-late 80’s.
July 17, 2012
Samuel French Festival (UPDATED)
My play, Glossolalia, is one of the 40 finalists in the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival (SFOOBSPF, I guess?). My friend Casey made me a poster to help advertise it. I like it. My understanding is that I will actually have to battle in a kind of Thunderdome-style competition with the other playwrights, so [...]
July 15, 2012
Scattered Thoughts on Swordplay, Part the Sixth
My AWARD-WINNING* series returns! As you all know, I like to talk about swords, and that is what I am going to do right now. If you DIDN’T know, then you might like to start over at the beginning of this series of articles. Otherwise, let’s just get right to it. I am going to [...]
