Minimalism

An empty wood desk.  A shot of ice cold vodka. A freshly vacuumed carpet. A blank, white wall.  A box with all your worldly possessions.  

This is minimalism, the obsession with both emptiness, clarity, cleanliness, and control.  It's less a complete, thought out philosophy, and more a deliberate approach to life. Its a clear mind in the middle of chaos. It's finding the plumb center of your life.  It's sleeping soundly in emptiness. It's peace.

The goal of minimalism to me is simply ridding ones life of all the extraneous stresses and thoughts, so one can get to the important things. It's not about ridding your life of everything, only the things that don't matter. If your life is filled with chaos, you simply can't think.  Yet, if you rid your life of that chaos, you can do anything you desire.  Your life becomes truly focused and sharpened to a fine point.  From there, you are free. So, in a sense, minimalism is freedom.

The Fictional Bands of A Clockwork Orange

The movie A Clockwork Orange references 10 fictional bands in the scene where Alex visits a record store and talks two girls back to his place for a threesome. I decided to research how many of the names were actually used by real, established bands. Of the 10, I found 5 of the names were used by real bands, but could only verify that 3 of the bands actually named themselves after the ones in the movie-- Heaven 17, Johnny Zhivago, and The Humpers.  There were a number of bands named "Legend," although its such a generic name that it really isn't unique to the movie. The last of the 5, The Sparks,¹ was formed in 1970, a year before the movie was released. That leaves 5 band names that are still on the open market. Here's the complete list:

• Heaven Seventeen: Heaven 17 is a New Wave/Synth Pop band from Sheffield, England, active from 1980-present
• Johnny Zhivago: Johnny Zhivago was a Punk Band from Essex, England, active from 1999-2002
• The Humpers: The Humpers were a Garage Punk band from Long Beach, California, active from 1989-1998
• The Sparks: Sparks are a Rock/Pop band from Los Angeles, California, active from 1970-present
• The Legend: Legend was the name of an English heavy metal band, a Shadows tribute band, a christian rock band, and a rockabilly band
• The Blow Goes
• Bread Brothers 
• Cyclops
• The Comic Strips
• Goggly Gogol

For more info on fictional bands see here and here.

____________

¹While some websites say the band in the movie was named "The Sharks," looking at a freeze frame of the DVD the band's name seems to me to be "The Sparks."

On Computers

"A computer is the most incredible tool we've ever seen. It can be a writing tool, a communications center, a supercalculator, a planner, a filer and an artistic instrument all in one, just by being given new instructions, or software, to work from. There are no other tools that have the power and versatility of a computer. We have no idea how far it's going to go. Right now, computers make our lives easier. They do work for us in fractions of a second that would take us hours. They increase the quality of life, some of that by simply automating drudgery and some of that by broadening our possibilities. As things progress, they'll be doing more and more for us." -Steve Jobs, 1985