Random Dionysian Fandom Chick

What is so compelling about Starbuck? Kara?

She... well, she "feels" right. There's a certain symmetry, not of character, but of emotion and expression that resonates with me, the way that Sarah McLachlan's older work used to resonate with me. (And how very disconcerting it was to realize that that didn't work anymore - to come to the painful conclusion that while beautiful and moving, The Freedom Sessions doesn't "match" me anymore. :( I'm nothing like Starbuck in most of the ways that count. I'm not athletic, I'm not driven, I'm not loudly rebellious or willing to take whatever shit I get when I do something wrong. I avoid doing something wrong or upsetting people all the time as much as I can, because I'm scared. But it's in the way she carries herself. The way that she moves, smiles, grins, fights, cries, and is scared, herself - she's an outward expression of my internal world. Which makes her an excellent subject for LJ artwork, as LJ is my internal world laid a little bit more bare.

I'm working (slowly - must talk to my Catholic cousin about the day-to-day "use" (for lack of a better word) of the saints) on a theory of my own spirituality and how it interconnects to fandom. Or artwork, rather. Fandom is the intense appreciation and experience of and for artwork. I like that definition, I think I'll keep it.

But religion. And spirituality. I'm a Dionysian. My god is Dionysus, and his mysteries are ecstasy, catharsis, theatre, and intoxication. They're all about the letting go of things. The allowing things to sweep over you and sweep you up. He is the god that possesses, not the physical body, like Zeus does, but the heart and mind. Stories possess our hearts and minds. Music possesses our hearts and minds. (It's in no way surprising that he and Apollo are flips of the coin, as Apollo is the god of the music, but Dionysus is the god of the rhythm, the effect the music *has*. The best possible example of a modern Dionysia would be a rave, Ecstasy and all, though I have no desire now, nor have I ever had, to take illegal drugs. Though I wouldn't mind going to a rave sans drug abuse. Pulsing light, flashing colors, pounding beats. (Need to re-watch that scene in the second Matrix movie - yummy.) This goes back to a previous ramble about fandom and fen. I see the whole-hearted-ly throwing myself into my life as a spiritual experience.

You see, I've been having a very cock-eyed sort of "dark night of the soul" (yes, I very nearly did write that "knight", why do you ask? ;) ). I haven't doubted the god/s (much - hardly at all, anyway). I've just doubted my path. And then the other day I realized something. I tried to think back over the most spiritual, emotional experiences I've had in my life. The ones I really remember, without putting the "these are the things that should be considered" filter on it. (i.e., I didn't just think of what would commonly be considered religious instances.)

On the list? Marching band in high school (numerous experiences), the first ScaperCon (in particular), the other ScaperCons (to a lesser degree), numerous episode moments, book passages, songs, and movie moments, sketching, any time I'm in the path of an approaching storm, certain vids, spring, a couple gatherings (especially fire dancing), reading The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, certain concerts, rain wet, impossibly green forests, certain images, the change of the seasons, and occasionally sex.

The things that I realized (and was kind of astonished) didn't make that immediate list? many of the outwardly religious activities that I've been doing the last several years, including my initiation.

(and part of the value of the list is the fact that I didn't over think it, just felt it)

What's the recurring theme, there, folks? Art. And by my earlier definition, fandom. Beauty. Movement. Storytelling. Love.

That's my spirituality. That's what I believe in. Art by turns concentrates, exposes, spotlights, purifies and exemplifies human experience. There is a frakking quote somewhere about how characters may live life more truly and fully than we do, perhaps it says more purely, and I can't remember where it is. (Possibly in Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey?)

Beyond that, we use stories. Our stories inform our decisions and our actions. As a thinking, reasoning species that is self-aware, we decide on right or wrong partly through imagining the consequences of either choice. And every story we hear, every story we tell influences that. So our characters are people we look up to (or down on), but whose actions and stories inform our own. They are our examples, both good and bad. (In the broad definition of story I'm using here, even true events, when related, are stories - history is as much that information as "fiction", a term which losses some or all meaning in that sudden rush because whether something happened in our physical world, the motivations, reactions, and feelings are true.)

And I've gone on a hell of a round-about here. (And this is just further proof that I'm a textual mimic - my writing style changes and shapes itself around whatever I'm currently reading. A couple excerpts from Kate Millet and lots of Roberto Calasso lead to the above.)

::resists urge not to post because she might be seen as a freak and just bloody well posts it anyway, open and out there. which is also why it's not lj-cut... sorry to the f-lists I've just gummed up.::

At the risk of everyone running screaming from my journal, I had to share that PBS, as part of it's pledge drive, is doing a Yanni concert tonight at 8pm CST. 

Now, before anyone starts making faces, I'm going to be pro-actively on the offense here. 

If you've actually listened to his music* and you don't like it, fine.  No problem here, we have different tastes and I'm cool with that.

If you're simply reacting to the *name* because of the running cultural jokes/bashing that's been going on for years - then don't bring it here.  It's not to everyone's taste, but it, like ANY OTHER MUSIC deserves at least a chance and the respect of actually being listened to before dismissal or mockage.

Well, now I've vented.  And I'm gonna go enjoy the show.

*(instrumental, mostly, and new-age-y to a degree (though just about any modern instrumental music that's not a score for something seems to get stuck with that label now days))

Sitting here, waiting (impatiently) for Hex S1 to download - also downloading manga of "Overdose". (Which sounds a bit like Stuart/Vince if they were actually a couple at the time, and Stuart liked girls as well and liked rubbing them in Vince's face. But surely you can see the similarities? Keep in mind I haven't actually read it yet.)

Bored now.

Realized this morning that we're going to be about $500 short in the next week, week and a half. (Rent, traffic ticket for that fucking *stupid* accident that killed my car, more rent, medicine, and credit card payment. You know what's funny? Guess what the cheapest thing on that list is? Nope. It's the credit card payment.)

Also realized on the way home when I plugged Sarah McLachlan's "Remixed" into the van that I have to go back and actually really re-listen to Surfacing, which to date has been my least favorite CD of hers. Sweet Surrender in particular, and here's why:

It doesn't mean much
it doesn't mean anything at all
the life I've left behind me
is a cold room
I've crossed the last line
from where I can't return
where every step I took in faith
betrayed me
and led me from my home

And sweet surrender
is all that I have to give

You take me in
no questions asked
you strip away the ugliness
that surrounds me
(who are you?)
are you an angel?
am I already that gone?
I only hope
that I won't disappoint you
when I'm down here
on my knees
(who are you?)
And sweet surrender
is all that I have to give

No, it's not the complete lyrics (quite), but close. (I luvvvvvvvv EvilLyrics, which is a lyric search tool made for Winamp, which is my new baby since it plays *all* the music formats. It also runs on it's own independent of winamp and lets you search from there - without all the pop-ups that the lyric sites have if you go to them directly. Yummy.)

I need file-advice, btw. What's the best way to sort/organize/maintain your computer files in Windows? And what's the best format to have your CDs/MP3s stored in? What I'd been trying was to label the files w/ the artist name, the album, the track number and the song title and have them all in one folder. I seem to have memories of having trouble with things being in different folders, but most programs/systems use/suggest having them in an artist folder, then an album folder. What is the friendliest way to use with an IPod, or does it matter? How do you sort things on an IPod, anyway?