maxcelcat | Reading

It's been several months since I've written anything for Rocknerd, and over the past weekend, I put together three reviews that have been sitting on the back burner for too long. The first is a bleak review of Bleak Squad's debut performance at the Queenscliff Town Hall. The second, a review of John Schumann and The Vagabond Crew performing songs of Redgum at the Darwin Ski Club, a thoroughly enjoyable concert, and the third, the charm of Guy Blackman's album launch at the Northcote Social Club. One can also add this to the few hundred words I penned on "Command-Line CD Extraction and Formatting", which uses some delightfully old utilities and is helping me put together a selection from my own vast collection in the most efficient manner.

It all adds to what was already a bit of a rocknerd weekend, starting on Thursday night, where I caught up with Adam F., at The Retreat Hotel to see a very competent instrumental funk band, "Buttered Loaf", ply their sounds. I've never had a bad time at The Retreat, and I do enjoy a good funk band, so this was quite a delightful evening. The following night I had arranged a small posse (Kate, Liza, Tony, Declan, Carla, myself) to go to The Grace Darling and see "Cold Regards", a 1980s coldwave guitar-synth duo (Marc and Jaimee) whom I've heard a lot about for more than a year. It was really my type of music, as were the other acts, "No Statues", and "Human Intrusion". The latter group was using the night for an EP launch which they distributed, in retro-cyberpunk style, on floppy disks (with oversized floppy-disc props on stage). Said performers may all find themselves subject to me putting finger to keyboard in their name in the future.

One of the nice touches of "Human Intrusion" was their backdrop with various 1980s science fiction clips, which included part of John Carpenter's "The Thing". Unpopular at the time, it has since gone on to become the cult hit that it always was going to be. Somewhat unfamiliar with movies of this suspense-horror-gore genre, I decided that Kate R., needed to view this classic in preparation for our Antarctica trip, where it's an annual screening at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The gory special effects are more clever than terrifying these days, and the theme of in-group paranoia stands up well, especially with the ambiguous ending.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: The Rookery
Current Music: Ennio Morricone, The Thing

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This week was the Moon Festival, mid-autumn in the northern hemisphere, a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture and among its aficionados for about 3000 years. Due to the use of the lunisolar calendar, the event can be anywhere from mid-September to early October when a full moon is present. Last year it was around the former, this year the latter. The weather permitting, it is often held outside with friends and family, which is meant to coincide with the harvest gathering. Making and sharing mooncakes is one of the hallmark traditions of this festival; last year I made some, a fairly complex process, this year I received some from the Consulate, which I took to Anthony and Robin's where, joined with Matthew, we had a little festival of our own and imbibed several glasses of Maotai; at 53% that stuff is like rocket fuel, but doesn't have bad effects the following day. The following evening, I had a second Moon Festival with Kate, where we engaged in the dice game of Bo Bing, one of the many games of celebration held at such festivities.

There are several additional parts of the tradition that I find particularly charming. One is the reflection on distant friends who, although not present, will be gazing at the same moon at the same time as you are. Another is the opportunity for especially close friends to express their fondest desires and greatest dreams to each other, although one imagines that sometimes that can result in a bitter harvest, so to speak. But perhaps my favourite is reciting one of the variations of the story of the goddess Chang'e, whom the festival is named after. The version I tell recites how she drank an elixir of immortality and flew to the moon, becoming the moon goddess. Her heroic but still mortal partner, the archer Hou Yi, made mooncakes to show how much he missed her; talk about shooting for the moon. Chang'e would later be joined by a rabbit who had been exiled by the Jade Emperor for surrendering the elixir of immortality to the Queen of the West.

I did take the opportunity this year to reflect on distant and absent friends and on the new harvest from the last celebration. Despite some significant disappointments, I am more than satisfied with how this year has progressed so far. I also have my eye on an even more involved and interesting twelve months in the future, which involves a fairly significant life change. It is not something that I am prepared to discuss publicly, but those whom I have told know of its importance. I have already observed some sadness among you with the realisation of what this change will entail, but remember that no matter where we are this time next year, we will be gazing at the same moon and in celebration.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: The Rookery

midnight_heavenly_bodies posting in

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Name: C.K. or Chester, if you like.

Age: 36.

I mostly post about: Linkin Park (specifically the 2000-2017 era, before the band became a cult puppet show), wrestling (classic SMW, WWF, the always sexy Jim Cornette, and my own very cursed WWE 2K25 Universe where I resurrect promotions and pair people based on vibes and trauma), Culture Club/Boy George fic, chaos, conspiracies, and timelines that make Doctor Who look basic, my OCs, who are so deeply real to me I've fought people in my head about them, Witchcraft, spirit work, folk healing, moon rituals, grief magic, retro gaming, random emotional overshares that sound like a journal entry from a possessed poet with too many piercings

My hobbies are: Writing fic that's 70% emotional breakdown, 20% worldbuilding, and 10% people getting railed in a meaningful way, hexing cults with sigils and sass, collecting music like it's my religion, drawing OCs, editing cursed screenshots and organizing old files like I'm preserving the Library of Alexandria, going to work like a normal person, coming home, and spiritually becoming a haunted glitter goblin with eyeliner and vengeance

My fandoms are: Linkin Park, wrestling (SMW, WWF, WCW -- but mainly the universes in my head), Culture Club (I write a huge fanfic AU for them), t.A.T.u., Verka Serduchka, obscure Eastern European pop acts with synths and trauma, Star Trek AOS (specifically Into Darkness)

I'm looking to meet people who: are too weird for Reddit, too raw for Instagram, and too smart for Twitter/X, overshare about their OCs like it's their religion, are into long-ass posts, rambling, and crying over character development

My posting schedule tends to be: Erratic. Sometimes I post a lot, sometimes I disappear for three weeks and come back with stuff.

When I add people, my dealbreakers are: Racism, ableism, transphobia, homophobia, antisemitism, or being a dick in general, "Hamasniks", Scientology apologists or people who think Mike Shinoda is evil because they saw an Instagram reel with eerie music behind it (or buy into a certain someone's heavily cherry-picked posts), anyone who says "you still like Linkin Park?" or "isn't wrestling fake?"

Before adding me, you should know: I'm trans. My pronouns are he/him and they/them. I am autistic and ADHD. I write the "controversial" fanfic trope of mpreg a lot. I am very defensive of my faves. I am a Zionist, and hate how the term has been turned into something it's not. I am pro-AI, and use it a lot to make AI song covers. I find it fun. Also, I smoke weed, lol.

Current Mood: calm

wantedonvoyage posting in

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I'm trying to be on here more than LJ because I'm paying for a lot of userpics, so I figured I would try again.

Name: Chris

Age: old

I mostly post about: My life and interactions.

My hobbies are: going to rock concerts, camping, kayaking, stand-up paddle-boarding, drawing badly, reading and writing fiction.

My fandoms are: I don't really know that I'm into any specific franchise enough to count other than bands. I don't watch TV or see many movies. Some peculiar nerddoms: I have long been interested in the history of passenger aviation and shipping although I do very little about it these days.

Who I want to connect with: I am curious about people's lives which are different than mine and I am glad DW gives me a chance to experience them. Thus if our interests don't seem to align don't let that be a show stopper.

When I add people, my show-stoppers are: No drumpfreich apologists. I am also not particularly interested in following "celebrity" bloggers who are only on here looking for an audience. I like for my connections on here to be a two-way street.

Before adding me, you should know:

Currently I have two things consuming a lot of my non-work time, which has meant less time to read and write. I'm doing my best to keep up and do not want to fall out of the habit. Accordingly...
When I am pressed for time, I may make more of an effort to read/comment the people who also more frequently engage with my posts. This doesn't mean we shouldn't be connected if you can't be constantly be lavishing me with attention.
One of the two distractions mentioned above is I am currently in a leadership position in my small, progressive/inclusive mainline protestant church. Although i do post about it, it's more in the vein that people post about their work life. I do not use my blog to proselytize. Also, I am not in the least bit uptight or prudish, or here to judge your life choices, and--as you would learn--I would be on thin ice if I did. It's just another thing that i do.

My posting schedule tends to be: I was doing a post for every day, sometimes a few days behind, until the aforementioned plus being forced to commute 5x a week again changed things a bit. Right now I am trying to keep up with weekly.

gs_silva posting in

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Name: GS

Age: old

I mostly post about: Comic book creation, art and writing in general, character development and musings, my personal experiences, my cat, exploring and subverting tropes, maybe politics idk, random shower thoughts

My hobbies are: household management, gardening, native ecology, world travel, language learning

My fandoms are: Whatever you're writing! If you show an interest in my WIP, I'll show an interest in yours. There are a very few genres and themes that I find impossible to engage in. Unfortunately, they tend to be very common: super awesome superlative hero good-and-evil stuff, or gritty dark stuff where everybody's horrible.

But I believe very strongly in reciprocity, and if those themes are your passion, you won't like my book much either. So if you create something that's light and humorous, or raw and honest, or speculative and political, I'll be there for you if you'll be here for me!

But I also enjoy reading and meeting people who aren't into any of that and who just want to be DW friends.

I've lived in Saigon and Shanghai and been to Cambodia and Philippines, and now I'm in the US and not terribly happy about it, so I'd enjoy meeting people with connections to those places. Or Lyon, France! Part of my book takes place in Lyon.

When I add people, my dealbreakers are: Oh, I don't know. Really toxic anger and hateful opinions, I guess. Usually if someone irks me, I'll disappear quietly.

Before adding me, you should know: I'm a naturally chaotic person. I know most of the unspoken rules of society but I don't always care. I've had the usual amount of life traumas but I don't often talk about them. My profile pic is my male MC, Maurice. I'll probably talk about him a lot. I'm not a quiet creator. A lot of what I write is Maurice this, Maurice that, Cathy this. I call my characters by name because I want people to remember them.

hmmm_tea posting in

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Name: Owen

Age: 45

I mostly post about: A real mix of things: life, single parenting, interesting stories I've found in my family history, politics (left wing), vegan cooking and whatever else springs to mind

My hobbies are: Cooking, genealogy, gardening/allotment, hiking, former morris dancer

My fandoms are: Not really into fandom, but happy to meet people who are

I'm looking to meet people who: Want to be part of a friendly online community. I used to be active on LJ some time ago (previous posts have all been imported so should give an idea of what I used to share - older now, but not necessarily much wiser) and would love to find the sense of community there used to be there.

My posting schedule tends to be: As and when

When I add people, my dealbreakers are: I'm generally open minded

Before adding me, you should know: I'm not really sure, but you can always unadd me later if you change your mind

tcpip

Two weeks ago, I gave a presentation on "Stoicism, Daoism, and Apathy" at the Melbourne Agnostics Society, which was attended by over fifty people. I have finally managed to compose my notes into something approximating a transcript of the event. At over 5,500 words, the presentation took about an hour to deliver and was followed by a Q&A session that ran for at least another three hours afterwards. Apparently true to their tradition, philosophers like to talk, and frankly, I was mentally quite exhausted at the end of it. Still, I am hardly going to spend this much effort if I didn't care very deeply about the subject and the potential for synthesis of these two great philosophical traditions.

However, it doesn't stop there. I've nailed my colours to the mast, so to speak, and visited the Melbourne Tattoo Company, who also did my Math-Rat-Tat three years ago. I had a couple of design pieces that combined my Stoic and Daoist interests, which were expertly compiled by my dear friend, Lara, and then etched into my skin by a talented young man named Jake. With plentiful etchings, he is a good walking advertisement for his craft. As is always in my taste, the design has many layers of symbolism which require elaboration.

The two-part taiji diagram, commonly known as yinyang ("dark-light"), represents the essential unity and inclusion of apparent opposites that are in dynamic motion. Instead of the seeds, however, I have alternating Stoic flames (a design originally from DT Strain), representing both the arche (basic state) and panta rhei (everything flows) from Heraclitus. When viewed as phase states, rather than fixed "elements" (c.f., Chinese wuxing), "fire" (i.e., plasma) was the first state of the universe. The tips of the flames also represent the Stoic cardinal virtues: Prudence, Justice, Courage, and Temperance of Stoicism, with the flame bodies themselves the three treasures of Daoism: Compassion, Frugality, and Humility.

Finally, the taiji is surrounded by a Hellenic meander, itself named in the river in contemporary Turkey. Apart from the varied changes in direction that are part of the flow, it also serves as a border from which Okeanus, representing the great river that both encircles the world and separates our time in existence from the period outside it. Memento Mori! If you remember that you will die, you can live with purpose. Do not postpone what matters, avoid the distraction of things that don't matter, and focus on virtue. Nemo vir est qui mundum non reddat meliorem!

Current Mood: determined
Current Location: The Rookery
Current Music: Ascendant, Particle Horizon

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maxcelcat

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Page generated Oct. 17th, 2025 12:05 am

Send My Conscience Home in a Taxi

Externalised Memory

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Posting again.

I haven't done this in a while

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Stoic-Daoist Synthesis Presentation and Tattoo

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