Disqus - Latest Comments for Ernie Small

Re: Parental Judo, Life on Greenwich Mean Time

Ernie Small — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:44:23 -0000

i myself keep what most people would call "strange hours", often times staying up 'till 6:00 in the morning or so working on music and such. the "eerie silence" you speak of during those wee hours does indeed seem to be the perfect backdrop for me to make my noise uninterrupted.
however, many of my friends are always trying to convince me that the ONLY way i can "really be in tune" and "optimize my body and mind" is to rise with the sun and go to sleep when it gets dark, just like we would do in our "natural state". but, as you can probably tell by my heavy use of quotations, i don't buy it.

Re: Fresh Air

Ernie Small — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:40:47 -0000

interesting post, scott.
yes, "breathing your own exhaust" can be dangerous, perhaps even figuratively fatal.
however, it can also get you kinda high sometimes, and i think that some of us could actually benefit from getting a little high on our own "crazy" ideas and burying our heads in the sand a little bit more every once in a while in order to shut out all those endless status quo influences that attempt to make us think moreso like everyone else all the time.
but, i suppose all this depends heavily on what you are attempting to accomplish in life......

Re: Do Something That Makes You Uncomfortable

Ernie Small — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:39:30 -0000

funny little vid. i hadn't heard about the monster.com thing.

Re: If it Isn’t Fun…

Ernie Small — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 06:06:34 -0000

i know what you mean about how working for yourself isn't always fun. All my life i have made music just for the hell of it but over the last couple years i have more or less turned it into a source of income. at first it was 100% fun, but now i am discovering that it is ruining the music that i actually WANTED to do in the first place. I'd like to know how you "nipped it in the bud".....

Re: I Am Not A Journalist: A Manifesto

Ernie Small — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:38:13 -0000

on the subject of what is considered "journalism" today, i would like to know why all the "reporters" at speeches and debates etc. nowadays all go into something called a "spin room" in order to get together and figure our "what happened". much like the points you made about the editorial staff being in bed with the advertisers, this has always seemed so creepy to me, as far as "unbiased" journalism is concerned.

Re: Why Won’t You Talk To Me?

Ernie Small — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:10:43 -0000

it's true: the main thing that i learned from high school was what NOT to do when it came to social interactions, especially pertaining to girls. sometimes i try not to think about how things were back then, but often analyzing those sorts of things can help you handle yourself better in adulthood (without having to pay a shrink).

Re: Why Do You Work?

Ernie Small — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:18:57 -0000

indeed, great post.
i have found that often times when i have less money i have less choices to make on what i "should" spend money on and life seems a bit simpler. it does seem that a balance needs to be struck, though, between how much work i'm doing and how much i actually NEED more money.

Re: What Do You Do?

Ernie Small — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:20:36 -0000

i make music. occasionally i get paid to do it. being paid and having my music in a few television shows has been amazing and affirming, but also has detracted a bit from the stuff i REALLY want to do, so in the end i think i'd rather make money in another way......

Re: Essential Thoughts On Listening

Ernie Small — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:31:40 -0000

as a musician, i have often times not really wanted to listen to any negative criticism of what i do.
however, i have learned over time that ANY opinion of any type can be of immense value to me, even if i completely disagree with it. it just has to be listened to as coming from the context of the other person's own mental universe and thus not have the "power" to harm mine, necessarily. it seems to me that this is a good way to gain control of the ego's instinctive tendency to block out criticism.

Re: If It Walks Like A Duck And Talks Like A Duck

Ernie Small — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:52:38 -0000

"Fully embrace whatever delusional reality that you want to spin for yourself...."

I couldn't agree more. here in this modern era of having all of your ideas and accomplishments easily comparable to those of infinite other people online, it is time for us to go within ourselves for inspiration way more often.

ps- did Steven Tyler actually come up with that slogan? i heard Beck say it once, but i assumed he'd copped it from somewhere else....

Re: We Are Factories

Ernie Small — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:57:53 -0000

truly creative post.
strangely, i think that my "norovirus" might be turning out to be a beautiful woman....

Re: You Really Do Have Friends

Ernie Small — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:12:08 -0000

practice does indeed make perfect. and i like the part about people's fear of being uninteresting... after all, interest, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder....

Re: Does New Media “Journalism” Have Standards?

Ernie Small — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:09:30 -0000

it does seem to me that the interactive level that blogging provides in a journalism context creates a new level of accountability toward the teeming sea of "reporters" and what they choose to report. also, the stories that can be broken on the net via blogs can come out faster and be responded to instantly, unlike the more conventional methods of news broadcasting.

however, what i am curious about is whether we will eventually find ourselves in a situation where only CERTAIN and FEW blogs are taken "seriously" (and backed by big news companies who will advertise their legitimacy heavily) and will be slick and professional and maybe even be called something else, while the rest of the "blogosphere" will be considered all willy-nilly hack-jobs?

after all.... i remember a time when there was more than just ONE search engine that was the standard......

Re: Wordless Wednesday: Hoarfrost in Grinnell

Ernie Small — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:53:43 -0000

that picture is worth at least 895 words. i just love old churches.

Re: Where I Am Right Now (rant numbero uno)

Ernie Small — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:50:14 -0000

once when i was on a certain "ecstatic" substance out at a festival in Jacumba California, i wrote on a small wrinkled piece of paper "as you evolve you have to be very careful in order to have the most fun".

i am 34 years old now and still struggling with the same things you are talking about above (not enough time for art, etc.) but i find that that quote i read, which hangs on the wall in my studio helps upon occasion. i think that it basically means that when you get older you have to "think" more about what you are doing, as opposed to just doing doing doing, or that you will get stuck in the "yeah, i used to do art....back when i had time.." trap.
it will always be a struggle, but it is one worth fighting; this balance between your inner-child and outer-adult. good luck and good post.

Re: Yes We Can!

Ernie Small — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:58:40 -0000

i would just like to say that i am glad that Mr. Ralph Nader, regardless of the fact that i agree with almost everything he says, did not fuck up this election this year like he has in the past when things were closer between the big two candidates. i understand that the messages of "hope" and "change" that obama espouses are probably just rhetoric, but i really don't care. he's not a republican, his demeanor is the exact opposite of what we've had to put up with for the last 8 years, and, as a bonus; he's Black! GOBAMA!

maybe as we evolve a little more we can have more of an "outsider" like Nader as a president, but for now, all i can do is sit back and look forward to January.

Re: RAINN’s Online Hotline is Now 24/7

Ernie Small — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 23:14:33 -0000

"words come easier for me when I am typing"

i agree. i think that a lot more people can "bare their souls" as it were much easier through the computer with typing than over the phone, what with the vulneralbility of their voices and the inability to collect and review their thoughts. it's good to see the internet helping people help people.

Re: Should “So Help Me God” be Banned?

Ernie Small — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:04:16 -0000

well, if the question is "should barack obama leave out "so help me god" at the presidential inauguration, i'd say the answer is no. i am sure that he will have the presence of mind to get up there and talk to good ol' god, whether or not he believes it. the fact of the matter is that there are certain things that this society of ours is simply not ready for.
being an optimist, i believe that eventually our money and our court system and our pledge of allegiance will be rid of "god" references, but not while we as human beings on this earth still participate in bloody battle over ownership of land supposedly promised us by our "gods".

but if the question is "should "god" be in the presidential oath at all?", i would of course say "hell no". it should be banished from the rhetoric of our entire political system. but unfortunately we have a LONG way to go before we'll be able to throw that yolk off our necks.

Re: The Vatican Says Your Pee is Polluting the Environment

Ernie Small — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:11:49 -0000

i hadn't heard this one.
oh "catholic church"; will you ever cease to amaze me with all the ridiculous bullshit you come up with? and the fact that the pope is still seen as an international figure of importance by people who aren't even catholic.............

Re: My Podcasting Tutor Launches Now!

Ernie Small — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:17:46 -0000

i have a question about the course. i have had a podcast going for a few years already, it is EXTREMELY abstract and avant garde in nature. could i actually make money off of it using the course in question even though my podcast would be considered an "aquired taste" (to say the least, although my friends seem to like it :-)
thanks.

Re: My Podcasting Tutor Launches Now!

Ernie Small — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:58:31 -0000

all right then, i'll check it out and let you know how it goes.

Re: Out of Office Posts

Ernie Small — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:17:47 -0000

good idea. it's always disheartening to stumble on a new blog and have the first entry be them telling you that the author is going away. also, once they come back that entry has not meaning anymore and just takes up space on the page from "actual" articles.

Re: My Polyphasic Sleep Experiment

Ernie Small — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:28:02 -0000

this is the first i've heard about "polyphasic sleep". i checked out your other blog and steve pavlina's thing and it seems interesting. i have insomnia and a caffeine addiction as well, and the idea of sleeping on any type of solid schedule seems impossible, but i will read more and perhaps give it a try.

Re: The New Coke Blog Post

Ernie Small — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 05:54:08 -0000

i heard that coke actually INTENTIONALLY created "new coke" in order to create a controversy and get attention, knowing that people would prefer the old one, and thus be able to strike a "the-people-have-spoken" pose at the end of it, which would automatically posit the idea in people's mind that the "saving" of the "classic" taste of coke was something very important.
whether or not this is true, it seemed like it worked out well for them, for now ALL coke is "classic".

Re: Caught Up in The Blur of TV and Life? Its Time to Shut Your TV and Smell the Roses . . .

Ernie Small — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 02:45:17 -0000

i believe that TV is best in small doses. i happen to have free cable for reasons i'd rather not get into; HBO and the whole 9 yards, and there are certain shows i LOVE. but i only commit to certain ones, and never partake in the activity of "just watching TV", which i think is the key to actually getting the most out of television.