the one where i am bob
Thursday, Sep. 26, 2002 @ 4:21 p.m.
From MSNBC.com:Sept. 25 — For centuries, visitors to the renowned Ryoanji Temple garden in Kyoto, Japan, have been entranced by the simple arrangement of rocks. The five sparse clusters on a rectangle of raked gravel are said to be pleasing to the eyes of the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit the garden each year. Scientists now believe they have discovered its mysterious appeal.
“We have uncovered the implicit structure of the Ryoanji garden’s visual ground and have shown that it includes an abstract, minimalist depiction of natural scenery,” said Gert Van Tonder of Kyoto University.
The researchers discovered that the empty space of the Zen Buddhist temple’s garden evokes a hidden image of a branching tree that is sensed by the unconscious mind.
“We believe that the unconscious perception of this pattern contributes to the enigmatic appeal of the garden,” Van Tonder added.
He and his colleagues believe that whoever created the garden during the Muromachi era between 1333-1573 knew exactly what they were doing, and that the placement of the rocks was “not accidental.”
I just thought this was interesting. I was always fascinated by that garden. You can read the entire article here.
I haven’t been able to view my guestbook in 2 days, yet I keep getting e-mail saying I have new signings. Frustration!
I went to the craft store last night after work for some embroidery floss. It was overflowing with Halloween- and fall-themed craft items, and it smelled like cinnamon. Then on the way home I had an autumn moment. It was almost full dark even though it wasn’t yet 8, and the air was chilly for the first time in weeks. I was listening to a weird tape Jason made me last year, and the song playing was a cover of a 13th Floor Elevators song by some Japanese surf-punk band. Somehow, it seemed appropriate.
I am going to go shopping for cold-weather clothes in a couple of weeks. Excited at the prospect of wearing sweaters and wool skirts and thick, earth-toned stockings. I need a lot, too; because last year I only bought a couple of outfits. Winter clothes are more expensive and everything from 2 years ago was still wearable. It still is, truthfully; and I’ll probably hang onto it, but I want a lot of new stuff, too. I need a new scarf and maybe a new hat, though I might wear the old one I stole from Fei back in college. Actually, he stole it first, from the prop department of AHS; I have a picture of him wearing it. Then somehow I wound up with it. It’s one of those "poorboy" hats men wore in the 1930’s, and Vincent D’Onofrio wore one just like it in The Whole Wide World. It looks best worn backwards. It needs to be washed because I wore it to so many bars and it had a lot of beer spilled on it.
I am also anticipating bringing out the world-famous convertible mittens. This will be the 4th winter I’ve had them, and they just get softer every year. Everyone who knows me knows my mittens. I am renowned for being the only person to wear them. More people should wear convertible mittens, they are one of man’s greatest inventions.
OCD things I do while driving:
When I go through a yellow light, I touch the top of the car with my index finger. I picked that up from Ai and even though I am not a superstitious person I have done it for years. Most of the time I don’t even realize I am doing it.
When a car is wanting to turn into my lane and I have the right-of-way, I point at the car to make it “stay” until I am past it. I don’t do it so the driver can see, I usually keep my hand below the window. But I just feel like as long as I am pointing at them, they will not shoot into traffic and crash into me.
You simply must take milky’s quiz!
the vincent d'onofrio quiz.
brought to you by Quizilla
We had a good time thinking up the Q & A. She did all the hard work, though. (ie. Javascript, etc.)
~S.