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LifeloggingI am Apollo Lemmon and this is my lifestream. I invite you to join me in my exploration of an integral life. I am focused on discovering what it means to live a life rooted in integral consciousness and I explore spirituality, art, community, technology, fitness and other aspects of a fully engaged life. I am now living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
I can always be reached at apollo@apollolemmon.com
The Transcendent City is a gorgeous short film by Bartlett School of Architecture graduate Richard Hardy about an artificial intelligence network that coexists with its ecosystem. It's a welcome break from the presupposition that AI overlords would scorch the Earth.
In this film, machines are able to do what us meatbags can't — achieve perfect equilibrium with the environment.
This weekend I finally sat down to watch Zen Noir and I enjoyed it tremendously. In a nutshell, it’s an absurd mystery set in a Zen temple. The film pokes fun at Zen and film noir conventions and features an abnormal amount of oranges. It has a fun mix of slapstick, in-joke and just plain strange humour, but the cinematography is superbly beautiful; the juxtaposition enriches the film and makes it a remarkable experience.
Low budget films are part of a counter-story to films like Avatar that loom with stacks of money for creation and promotion. I was thrilled when I was pointed toward a new short science fiction film that was created for $5,000 and looks fantastic. The Raven plays with classic sci fi themes in its brief duration and makes use of surprisingly advanced special effects. This is the sort of work that gives real hope that new media will soon become the most effective way to create entertainment and that science fiction is still an endlessly vital way to tell stories.
Dream. Dance. Evolve.
This week I discovered a fantastic endeavour being proposed by Jeanne Robinson as I was exploring the website of her husband, Sci Fi luminary Spider Robinson. The Stardance Project‘s aim is to create and promote dance in space, first through a film simulating what is possible through the form and eventually as a reality. Jeanne was the founder and artistic director of Nova Dance Theatre here in Halifax, among other accomplishments, and has passion, experience and expertise enough to craft something incredible.
Spider and Jeanne wrote about dance in space in The Stardance Trilogy
Spider himself recently started a lively podcast, Spider on the Web, where he has been reading essays and excerpts from his most recent novel. The first essay, “Let’s Start Wasting Money in Space“, is in line with Stardance, promoting space tourism as a way to sew the seeds of space art, sport and contemplation (and space sex!). He paints a brief and compelling picture of space as holding our future and maybe a piece of our salvation.
As a personal note, Spider Robinson has been in the periphery of my reading interests for years. My father’s bookshelf was a treasure trove of science fiction and fantasy and this included Stardance. I didn’t read the book then, nor when Spider became one of my favourite guests on my favourite show when I was an early teen, the well-missed Prisoners of Gravity. Now I’m drawn to him again and think this time I’ll dive in.