So, you may have noticed that a few things are missing. We are going to be low-bandwith for a while. The good news is, the site will not be going down completely. More later.
In the meantime... some distraction.
Just a reminder to start using www.williamfields.com, as my host server will be moving very soon, and this site will be down temporarily.
I climbed a mountain yesterday: Mt. Monadnock. Two miles and 2400' up. I need get out hiking like this more often. It really makes you feel alive.
"It's not that we're these things that do stuff. We are fires that burn, and each moment we're tracing out the trajectory of our bodies extended through spacetime; the network of all the relationships of our life. By "relationships" I mean --- each moment light hits our eyes, the billions of instants of sensations and feelings, each connection between ourselves and the rest of the world. In other words, a day passes and we're a day older, we're not the same as we were before."
-- Mitsu (of Synthetic Zero)
I'm looking for opportunities to try my hand at soundtracking. If you (or someone you know) needs music for a website, video, film, video-game, etc, please drop me an email.
The Team Techno album has finally been released.. online. Check it out. We're proud of this thing. It took a hell of a lot of work. Spread the love. Make copies. Send it to your favorite record labels and radio stations. But, get it soon. It's only up until the end of the month.
A Mad, Mad, Nation: Mental Illness and the Drugging of Rebellion - An Interview with Bruce E. Levine
Our societal emphasis on viewing mental disorders as diseases akin to diabetes or cancer is not only deeply flawed, Levine argues, but dangerously diversionary. He insists that the real issues underlying rising levels of mental suffering in our country have much more to do with omnipresent and deeply warped societal expectations than the psychiatric industry would care to admit. He frames such "illnesses" themselves as rebellion against what he calls an "increasingly impersonal and coercive institutional society."Levine finds fundamental flaws in the ways that we treat those among us who grapple with mental suffering, pressuring them to return to "normal."
Indeed, he describes the normalcy to which we are all are expected to acclimate as a dulling void of disconnectedness and dehumanization: a place of alienation from work, of mass living, of suburban detachment and urban anonymity, of false and misleading "democracy" and of creativity-sapping commercialism. He is quick to point out that the many American men and women who feel they have been helped by mood-lifting pharmaceutical drugs are not wrong for seeking relief, but argues that those medications -- used to treat any number of different disorders -- are not what they seem.
Another one for the debate/critical thinking toolbox: Conversational Cheap Shots - How NOT to Talk.
Creative Commons. This is a good thing. I will definitely participate when it starts up.
Someday I would like to teach. And when I do, this is the kind of teacher I want to be.
Three excerpts from Francis Fukuyama's latest book Our Posthuman Future.
I'm down visiting in Delaware this week so updates will be sparse.
In the meantime, check out Atlas Magazine. I haven't had a chance to explore it thoroughly yet, but I really enjoyed the Chinese Rural Architecture photography.
My latest labor of love is complete: Miss Waldron's Red Colobus. Comments welcome.
This is one of the cutest things I've ever seen. You can just see the emotion, the love on that face.
Burma frees opposition leader. Ahh.. Some good news for a change! Aung San Suu Kyi is a truly amazing person.
U.S. to Renounce Its Role in Pact for World Tribunal
The Bush administration has decided to renounce formally any involvement in a treaty setting up an international criminal court and is expected to declare that the signing of the document by the Clinton administration is no longer valid, government officials said today.Rogue state?The "unsigning" of the treaty, which is expected to be announced on Monday, will be a decisive rejection by the Bush White House of the concept of a permanent tribunal designed to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and other war crimes. (...)
In addition, other officials said, the United States will simultaneously assert that it will not be bound by the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, a 1969 pact that outlines the obligations of nations to obey other international treaties.
You can now stream all of my music (from newest to oldest) with this playlist. If you put your mp3 player on random, it's like William Fields radio! (Note: This may not work too well if you are a modem user.)
It looks like the server move will not be happening until the end of May, so I took down the notice. I'll post a reminder when the time comes closer.
Also, I moved Blogbot to the Links page and added a new section called History, which contains a timeline of all my musical/compositional activities.
Hah! Yes! I knew it!
Team Techno LP
Label: Self Released
Released: 5/2002
*Team Techno is William Fields,
Matt Tuozzo (Cerebral), and
Mike Henderson (Nintariman).
Ernst Haeckel: Die Radiolarien (RHIZOPODA RADIARIA) Berlin, 1862 - Amazing, beautiful biological illustrations.