the Age of Aquarius

Although, reading posts from this site is like talking to the local vagabond, this post seems more fitting of the times. Without prefacing the entire site by reading the book 2012, which i painstakingly have done, superimpose the age of fire into the environmental crisis. As what some would call a caustic age, comes to an end, what better way to quench it than with water. With some Boulder egg-heads giving a time-line of 5-10 years for the ice caps to melts. More water than we can deal with might be upon us. On the same note, companies are buying up water rights in fear that water will be the next precious commodity as oil is now. .
In the context of the environmental crisis there seems to be some camps forming, the ignorant right (nucUlear power and off shore drilling to the rescue!), environmental activists (lets make the changes that we haven't accomplished in the last 40 years), capitalists pigs (green business will survive cause that's what the people want), last and definitely the least the politicians (legislation will save us). I like two analogies to discount all of the above. clue: some of these are already disregarded.
When Apollo was in a dire situation, engineers, ironically in Houston(the irony will come), compiled everything the Apollo crew had at their disposal in a cardboard box and then spilled its contents on to the work bench. With a time-line of 5-10 years for drastically rearranging the face of our country, economy and world, we need to start looking for a cardboard box. I would give capitalist a fighting chance at accomplishing this.
The next analogy. As in many cases of cataclysm, people on 9/11 in the WTC stood waiting for someone to tell them what to do. Sadly enough, Americans are good at this, like lemmings we affably wait for someone to direct us. Capitalism would be good at this, HOWEVER, the education level on environmentally sound business is minimal. With many people, people with money I might add, willing to follow anyone willing to lead them, leaders that create results that raise us to higher ground might be engulfed in the elapsed clock of the next decade.
moral of the story: WERE ALL GONNA DIE! AAHHHHHHHHH!
no, no, no. We have a chance. What it is I don't know, but lets think about it. Take a shower (not to long, we might need the water) and lets start with a clean slate and think outside of the box.
some thinkers that might help, might be the reality sandwich, otherwise i rcommend checking out, James Kunstler, Barry schwartz, and for some sage like advice The Dali Lama.

Fun with Video

Although its the second in the series defying trilogy rules, I like this one more.

The Distant Technology

As i re-read some Chuck Klosterman, I earmark the passage about how his manimanl brother cant eat the meat of the deer he killed with his bear hands, but can eat any other meat. Admittedly quite removed from the context i think about how technology distances us. How snapping the neck of a downed buck makes the reality of you killing an animal with your bare hands all the more "hands-on." Using a gun adds to the distance between you and reality. i know this isn't cutting edge topic. But, the juxtaposition of reading about the distance technology puts us at in a "book", linked to the efficiency of Google and how that translates, compared to killing a deer with you bear hands, is quite the journey talking about technology. So what is lost in with this new and improved "web" of info? where are we headed if this is the next step?
Is losing a library culture a price we pay for democratizing information and removing barriers in mining statistics. Will we maintain an impetus to get the whole story and not just skim the surface? giving more people access to information might just a swoard for them to fall on if this is not the case.

Give me that, give me that, that pop music.

While shopping is still on my mind, I keep thinking about the connection people seek and find in shopping. The example of boutique shops helps further show peoples desire to connect while shopping. I’ll start with a local shop, then go costal.
Skateboarding has always been a cool phenom. Growing up far from the hub of where skating took off, we didn’t have authentic skate shops. We had Zumiez, which at the time was a giant amongst midgets. Once skate culture took off people from with in the culture could open up shop, literally, we had a giant among regular sized people. One such shop is Satellite. Satellite is like one of those restaurants that have crazy shit on the walls, knick-knacks you would only think of when you are on drugs. Satellite is a good example, but their sister stores gets even better. Installation is the shoe addicts’ crack house. Installations crosses the loves of skating and shoe addicts, mixing in more style than you can handle. The store stocks some amazing shoes, as well as giving artist have free reign in designing the store interior. This is a store that you could expect to see in SF or LA. The owners, Raul and JG, created something more authentic than the owners of The Billionaire Boys Club/ Ice Cream, Pharrel Williams and his manager. Shoe culture is so salient that I will get to it in another post, but what makes Installation “pop,” is its connection to art and style. The old skool Nike hi-tops feel right at home on an old mini merry go round or in cubby boxes the next week. The artifacts and knick knacks are ever-present, but never the same. This fabrication of culture helps lower the barriers for people to get into the shoe addict culture, just as much as it helps keep those already in it well connected and stylish.
Having a store with the perfect salesmen, that are friends with all the clients and can recommend the perfect item and doesn't even need to toe the fine line of being pushy, would be perfect. Stores are always looking to strike up a nice conversation, but more often than not, TV spots and web banners come across as yelling or as domineering as my uncle Tom. Seeing artifacts, like those in installation, makes me feel like I'm reminiscing with a friend about way-back-when. Good boutique stores fit the saying, a picture is worth a thousand words, but these words are in the form of a great a conversation.

Can't get no satifaction.

As my mind wanders I was thinking about shopping gratification. Mall shoppers thrive on the opportunity to get the satisfaction of getting products right from the source, as if the mall is a fountain of youth for shopper statifaction. People love this gratification so much, that they knowingly go out of their way to spend extra money at stores rather than purchasing it on-line. WHY!? I’ll get to that, but the entrepreneur in me starts to think about linking the Internet with a Star Trek like replicator. As always, Japanese technology seems to have a finger on the pulse of great ideas.

This product allows you to place a product where you would in your house, or stand in front of a mirror and see how that new out fit would look. but to get back to the point of satisfaction, would this revolutionary, not yet available, product even really help?

What makes shopping so satisfying? Lets take a step back and see why we buy new things to begin with. There are plenty of studies about how people shop almost as an addiction (keeping up with the Joneses, conspicuous consumption, and Affluenza). You get depressed, you get some new shoes. Life can feel cluttered confusing and overbearing and making a purchase washes it all away. Is it that buying items that reflect who we are within a community keeps us connected to our social groups? Fashion seems to be an ever updating job, in which, keeping up says just as much as what you are wearing. When we refresh this connection to others with new apparel, we can feel the support of whom we associate with. If you pick up some new clothes, people say “nice shirt, where did you get that?” Even if they don’t say anything people pick up on new pleats or the luster of new clothe. Sure getting recognized feels good, but there are a million different things we could do that reward you with similar recognition. What about this connection to our peers gives us relief from our crazy lives? Maybe it’s just that. We work at jobs that push us around and deal with people that can be frustrating. But making a purchase is a freedom; we pick the colors, styles and images. People might even get crazy and make creative choices. I’m sure there are droves of women out there that would agree when I say, sopping is an art. New fads blossom out of innovators in fashion and cultivators of style. I’d say this makes a pretty big statement about the democracy of expression in capitalism.