mvalente.eu/mv.* Heavy Mental Stuff

Path: mv.asterisco.pt!mvalente
From: mvale…@ruido-visual.pt (Mario Valente)
Newsgroups: mv.books
Subject: Another Trilogy Bites The Dust
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 07 23:05:21 GMT

So, it seems that this dawn (woke up at 3 a.m. and
stayed awake reading until 6.30) I got the reading of
another trilogy under my belt, the Galactic Milieu Trilogy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_Milieu_Series
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=galactic+milieu

About time too, since I had bought and read the prequel quadrilogy
(or a trilogy with 4 volumes, if you know what I mean) called
“Saga of the Exiles” back in 1986 or something like that; and
the bridge volume “Intervention” connecting both sagas in the
early 90s…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saga_of_Pliocene_Exile
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=may+exiles
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intervention-Julian-May/dp/0330303090/

Both are connected in an ingenious way. In “Saga of the Exiles” you
follow the lives of people who, living in years beyond 2080, go through
a gate back to prehistoric Earth, back to the Pliocene. There, besides
numerous stuff that I wont tell you about, they find a group of rebels
from the future, metapsychic rebels. The hapenings that lead to this
metapsychic rebellion are those that are detailed in the “Galactic
Milieu”, where eventually you get to the point where you find the
self-exiles from the previous trilogy and the metapsychic rebels and
follow them to the point where they get through the time gate.

I have to say that this is one of my preferred multivolume fantasy
operas, at the same level as “Lord of the Rings” and “Dune”.

What took me so long (close to 20 years) to finish it up? Well,
for once the fact that they got out of print and I slowly acquired
the last volumes “Jack the Bodiless” and “Diamond Mask”. Since I
couldnt get the last volume “Magnificat” in new pristine condition,
I finally resignated and bought second hand at Amazon for my birthday
about 2 weeks ago. Which was the other delaying factor: back in my
youthful days a 600 page book would have a lasting factor of about
2 or 3 days; now it took me nearly 2 weeks to finish them.
All is not lost: during real-summer-and-at-the-beach holidays I
still clock in at about 250/300 pages a day… Hayek and Drucker
seem to be the only exceptions.

— MV

Path: mv.asterisco.pt!mvalente
From: mvale…@ruido-visual.pt (Mario Valente)
Newsgroups: mv
Subject: Its Getting Late…Part II
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 07 05:45:21 GMT

“I cant get no sleep…”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOy5LOsV6Vs

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxejuztwIj8

— MV

Path: mv.asterisco.pt!mvalente
From: mvale…@ruido-visual.pt (Mario Valente)
Newsgroups: mv
Subject: Its Getting Late…
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 07 04:05:21 GMT

“Its getting late
For scribbling and scratching on the paper
Something’s gonna give under this pressure
And the cracks are already beggining to show”
— Marillion, Misplaced Rendezvous

4 a.m. Been up since 2 a.m. Another bout of insomnia,
which had been absent for the last 8 months. Guess its
either the hangover from the free-for-all of my 2 week
holiday (and playing Enemy Territory until the wee hours)
or the excessive amount of beer I had for dinner at
Portugalia.

Anyway, finished up reading “What Do I Do When I Want
To Do Everythin” (weaker than Metallica’s last album);
read some stuff on Wikipedia about psychology and life
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Erikson ); came to
the home office to retrieve and get started on another
birthday gift: “The Renaissance Soul”.

At this time of the night, the additional power of
songs like Faithless’ “Insomnia” or Marillion’s “At
That Time of the Night” never ceases to amaze me.

“At that time of the night
When streetlights throw crosses through window frames
Paranoia roams where the shadows reign
Oh, at that time of the night

So if you ask me
How do I feel inside
I could honestly tell you
We’ve been taken on a very long ride
And if my owners let me have some free time some day
With all good intention I would probably run away
Clutching the short straw

At that time of the night
When questions rally in an open mind
Summon all your answers with an ice cubes chime
At that time of the night

So if you ask me
Where do I go from here
My next destination even isn’t really that clear
So if you join me and get on your knees and pray
I’ll show you salvation
We’ll take the alternative way
Clutching the short straw”

Insomnia and life decisions in a single song. The lyrical
capabilities of Fish are indeed unrivalled…

— MV

So, admitedly I’m back with my Usenet posts archive (or “The Blog
from the past”) and trying to startup a current blog.

Question: why?

Well, first objective is the process of recovering and ordering
the past (or “my stuff”). Its been more than 15 years of digital
life which is currently spread through several floppy disks, hard
disks, newsgroups, files and online boards. And its been more
than 10 years since I started Esoterica (nearly 10 years since I
left). A bit of ordering and storytelling is due.

Second motive is the fact that today its my birthday. I am 39.
This next year (up until I’m 40) will be a year of thinking, planning,
decisions and changes. Not only do I want to document that, but
I also think that recovering the past and ordering it out will
lead me to better thinking and better decisions.

The third reason is that I’ve been too much into management in
the last 6 years. First with my second company (RVTI), then with
my MBA and for the last 2 years as CIO for the Portuguese Ministry
of Justice. I want to reintroduce some coding and hacking into my
life. Thats why this blog/site/homepage/whatever wont use any of
the standard blogging tools and will be built from scratch, so that
I can implement some of the ideas I have regarding web programming,
architecture and frameworks. As such, expect lots of continuous
changes and disruptions of service.

— MV

Path: mv.asterisco.pt!mvalente
From: mvale…@ruido-visual.pt (Mario Valente)
Newsgroups: mv
Subject: Quick Blog
Date: Sun, 10 Apr 07 19:26:21 GMT

Quick blog that I dont want to leave till the weekend.
Demoscene stuff. 180k. Brilliant!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0Eg3dBnsHk
http://pouet.net/prod.php?which=30244

— MV