Relevantly Irrelevant
External links to pages and media I like that I post about on Cubimension.
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In June we had a couple of Zanda’s friends over here at Shar Planina 55 who hitchhiked all the way from Latvia to Sofia.
I decided it would be an excellent idea to do a small interview with them on the topic of hitchhiking.
Let it be an inspiration for you and for me – for us! – to stick the thumb out more often.
I was casually browsing /r/gamedeals (yeah, as if I don’t already own enough games!), inspired by the latest Humble Bundle to look for a good price for chronically expensive Crusader Kings II plus expansions, when I stumbled upon this great offer by previously unknown to me BundleStars: Victoria 1 + 2, together with all expansions and DLC, for only €4,49! Steam keys and all! I only had vanilla Vicky 2 on GamersGate, where I received the review key, so I was itching to get it on Steam somehow. I got it and spent 6 hours non-stop trying to get the Netherlands into Club Great Eight. Alas, my warmongering and trying to take advantage of a surprisingly weak Prussia alerted the bouncers.
Once upon a time, I was writing here about how excited I was that Vicky 2 was announced… “Looks like it could be the best Paradox game yet”, I wrote. Heh, it was still two years too early for Crusader Kings II and three years too early for Europa Universalis IV. Paradox Development Studio has come a long way. Proud of you Swedes. ^^J
Wow. I just realised I’ve reviewed all of these games; that’s where the links go. The reviews are in Greek though. Here’s the one for Vicky 2 also.
In that last review, four years ago, I wrote that Vicky 2 was still a little bit unpolished. Two expansions and lots of patches later, it’s still not perfect, but it’s much more playable. If you also consider all of the mods that inevitably emerged, which I can’t comment on because I haven’t tried them yet, there’s a lot of stuff to discover.
Consider this, from the description of Episode 217 of podcast Three Moves Ahead:
3MA Producer Michael Hermes and GWJ editor Erik Hanson joins Rob and Tom to talk about Victoria II: Heart of Darkness. Rob is reconsidering some of his earlier, harsher views on Victoria while Tom argues that it is a towering achievement of game design that speaks to real-world politics in a way few others have ever attempted.
Victoria 2 might be a more polished gem nowadays, but it’s still notoriously difficult to understand and play, even compared to other Paradox games. Definitely one of the most complex games out there.
But don’t worry. If you buy it at this incredible discount, and I would strongly encourage you to do so if you can see yourself remotely enjoying such a game, here are a couple of videos to help you get started. Let’s play together then and carve Europe between ourselves. }:}
For Daphne and me, Breaking Bad has had a special meaning. We began watching the series last October. We pledged to only ever watch episodes together. I remember talking to Tomas in Capture Green in Prespes, him telling us he’s a chemical engineer and us joking about it. We were still in season 1.
As it happened, by last January, when I left for Sofia, we hadn’t even finished the third season. So in the past few months we could only watch episodes when we were either 1) physically together in the same room, whether in Sofia or in Athens, or 2) Skyping. The latter proved to be less than satisfying and too much of a hassle really – because watching Breaking Bad “together” also meant pressing play at the same time, pausing whenever the other person paused, waiting for the other person to get the episode right (my old laptop not capable of handling correctly any kind of video larger than the size a post stamp) etc. Meanwhile, Vicente, Miro and Garret all started watching it almost simultaneously and blew through it from end to end in a matter of weeks. We were still at the end of season 4 when Garret wrote this and this. Vicente overtook us somewhere around May and the beginning of season 5.
It really didn’t help that the series had its finale right before we started watching it, so we really had to be careful not to stumble upon spoilers scattered about by enthusiastic but careless watchers…
What I just wrote gave me some pause. What are the rules of spoilers? I had to go back and check one Idea Channel episode exactly on this that had caught my eye but I didn’t watch. Here:
No matter your position on the “Mitch and Greg to Emily continuum” (watch it and you’ll understand), posting something like “OMG! So-and-so DIED!” on your Facebook wall (as typically happens with the airing of each new Game of Thrones episode as well and leads people to Friends List culling) breaks every possible rule suggested. What goes through these people’s minds when they do things like this, unless they’re trolls, defeats me.
Anyway. A few days ago (on the momentous day of July 31st to be exact) we did it. We finally finished Breaking Bad. And it was good. It was heroic. We watched four episodes in a single day – can’t remember when the last time I did that was. No binge-watchers here, for better or worse… It’s amazing how many things I’ve started but never finished, if I get down to it. That I followed the whole series through, all 62 episodes of it, to the bitter(sweet?) end, hell, that alone speaks volumes when it comes to me. Sadly. Or not. I don’t know. It’s just the way I am I suppose: deriving pleasure from starting things – not bringing them to an end. For books it’s another story… but for series, or games, I am like this.
I don’t know what I can say. Explaining why things are good by dissecting them isn’t my forte at all. I can tell you such little tidbits as “I could never see it coming!”, “soooo suspenseful, so stressful!“, “the photography and direction were incredible“, “such strong characters!”, “I love Gus Fring, bitch”, “better call Saul!”, “where’s Miiiike?”, “everybody’s so fucked”, and maybe that’ll give you an idea.
I could also tell you that, unlike many other people who like to take pride in being able to figure out what will happen at the end of a given story, I’m typically quite bad at it. What I thought would happen at the end when we were watching the first few episodes had already happened by the end of season 2, so the actual seasons 4 and 5 were quite a ride through the unknown and unexpected.
Good thing I wasn’t spoiled.
For rounding off this mini-tribute, some more praise and discussion of the series.
Thanks Daphne for being my Watcher 2 (as in Player 2) for all these months.
We did it, bitch! And I 100% mean that!
Fluent in 3 Months: Tips and Techniques to Help You Learn Any Language by Benny Lewis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
As a person with the ambition to become a polyglot myself (some would even say that with my 5 languages spoken at different levels of mastery I could already call myself one), I can tell you that Benny Lewis is to a great degree what I would like to become one day. If there ever was a more encouraging person that anybody can do it, he would be it. He managed to learn so many languages – I don’t even remember how many – starting in his early ’20s with Spanish and never ever stopping since.
This book is a collection of his most useful techniques and methods and his unmatched motivational skills. While reading it I was feeling so pumped to learn all the languages I could get my hands on, and he really made it all look so easy! Motivating doesn’t even begin to describe it.
My main problem with his work is that he’s not very precise on what actually being fluent means when talking about becoming fluent in three months, something which other people on the web have commented on too. This is part of his own definition from the book itself:
He continues by saying that fluency in a language is difficult to measure (“there is no absolute, discernirble point you pass when can say, ‘Now I can speak the language fluently.'”) and suggests that for all intents and purposes a B2 level on the Common European Framework, by that standard, should be enough. That’s debatable of course and depends on the needs of every individual learner, and, as a holder of a B2 in German and Spanish myself, I still don’t consider myself fluent in either language; rather, I’d consider myself a competent speaker for everyday situations, but no more.
The book itself in general made me think about what my individual needs and goals about each language I’m learning are and gave me plenty ideas and methods on how to reach them. Its best point was the motivation it gave me and that it helped visualise what I’d really like to do with my language-speaking.
Also, Fluent in 3 Months is the first book I’ve seen as of yet that takes advantage of the possibilities granted by dynamic content – as opposed to traditional, static content found in books – made possible by the web: it has links to articles and resources kept updated by the author, which sort of act as mini-expansion packs for the book, e.g. links to useful services, such as Memrise, italki or Polyglot Club. Benny’s idea is that if you own the book, you should always have access to fresh content which in some cases might not be the same as what’s included in the book, as could be the case for example with the links to language-learning websites.
All this said, I don’t particularly like Benny’s tendency to whore himself out and his advice out behind paywalls on his site. Even if you buy his book as I did and subscribe for the extra content, there’s still a “premium membership” you’ve got to pay if you want to have full access to what he’s written over the past few years. I understand that he’s put a lot of work on all of this and that learning new languages full-time has been his main occupations for the better part of his springtime of youth, but I have to admit that it all rather leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
Regardless of this, though, if you’re about to tackle a new language or would love to learn more about how effective language-learning works, Benny is one of the best people out there to turn to, or at least to his work. Again, if you can be skeptical about his method and his general aims in learning lots and lots of languages fluently in a sense, you can’t deny that the guy has a talent of being able to very straightforwardly pump you up and make you feel like even learning Mandarin or whatever else you might think a difficult language could be is a piece of cake and only a matter of dedication. And, in the end, if this book left me with anything very concrete, it’s that dedication and the willingness to forget about shyness and/or other bullshit excuse it’s the only thing that might be stopping us from becoming truly good at – or at least having just the right attitude for – speaking our favourite languages.
Има много тексти, че съм пишал по български тези дни, но още не ги съм поставал тук.
Скоро ще купувам нов лаптоп, и през уикенд търсих и четих критики за най-евтино и едновременно най-добро разтваряне, нещо, че ще използвам за работа и игри за много години още . Мисля, че намирах го накрая. Утре говорих с човека от магазина на компютри и отивеше много добре. Радвам се, защото говоря с помощници по-често, и бързо уча български. Елена и Боряна помагат много, и другите и аз ходим на уроките с веселие.
C помоща на Memrise, също уча да пиша с клавиатурата, но още много бббааавввеееннн съм. няма проблем, добро нещото закъснява да стане! :Ъ
Heute waren wir für das erste Mal in Pernik. Wir haben dort unseren Freunden Kuba und Anna, bzw. aus Polen und Österreich, gesehen. Es war echt schön: Theaterspieler, Obstsalat, Kirschen, Pizza, unseren Länderfähnen ans Gesicht schminken (ich musste dieses Wort in dict.cc suchen…)
Kennen sie Kasetophono? Es ist mein neuester und bester Weg online Musik zu hören. Die Auswahl von dem Stücken ist phänomenal. Hat nur eine Person alles dieses gemacht, alle diese Wiedergabeliste zusammengebracht?
Ich wollte nicht etwas besonders heute schreiben, aber meine Anforderung sagt ich muss dass doch machen! Es ist zu spät und ich bin ja müde, ich will BSG ansehen, ich kann einfach nicht konzentrieren. Ich habe sowieso viel diesem Sonntagabend gearbeitet. Trotzdem, hier ist es. Bist du denn zufrieden, Arschloch Selbst von 8. Mai?
NS: Griechenland – Kolumbien = 3-0/ Oops! Niederländer gegen Spanien war aber ein grossartiges Spiel. Die knusprige Blase hat nochmal das gut noch besser gemacht.
I’d been flirting with the idea of doing a polyglot diary entry in English – it is another language after all – and today sealed it: I was writing, studying and thinking in Bulgarian so much today that I think I deserve a break! Anyway, I haven’t transcribed yesterday’s entry which also was in Bulgarian, which counts as a day of creative writing by the way, even if you as readers can’t know that yet.
I’m writing this on Noisli‘s text editor. This thing is awesome or what? Daphne has been my dealer of meditation-y stuff the past few weeks and it’s all been incredible almost to a point of fault. Daphne, who’s your dealer? I need to come in contact with the source. Unless it will be like flying too close to the sun. And when I wrote sun, the screen turned the colour of deep canary. Worthy of a toothy grin. I don’t know if it happened by mistake or if these people at Noisli are really clever.
While writing on top of these super-saturated colours that make me scream with pleasure inside, I’m also listening to the OST of Scott Pilgrim. We watched it with Vicente and Zanda (who predictably didn’t get most of it) a few days ago and, once again, several of its songs have been chewing on my mind through my ears – in a good way. It now ranks up with the movies I’ve watched the most times in my life, and it’s in small company, believe me. Especially being in an altered state of consciousness while watching it unlocks it in a way that makes it come close to being a different watching experience altogether. While I reckon the same could be said about many movies old and new, happy or sad, impressive or deep, funny or suspenseful, Scott Pilgrim this time made a particular impression on me, even it it wasn’t the first one I watched it while chewing on crunchy bubblegum. For one, I could catch a greater number of the small details, including the trademark visual gags and creative, playful direction that make Edgar Wright one of my favourite people working with film.
For example, when Sex Bob-omb play Garbage Truck and Young Neil is singing along, at some point he mixes up the lyrics: he says “oh no!” instead of “oh my!” This just hit, I can utterly and completely relate… The film is infested with such morsels of genious. Another thing was that I realised that it actually portrays human relationships at the deep, subconscious level quite accurately. Scott’s idiotic behaviour and responses to certain situations not only made sense, they suddenly made me realise that in fact I’ve had the same non-sensical assholey thoughts myself (or better put, thought patters and emotions) I just wasn’t conscious of them when I had them. Scott could be little more than our shadow self dressed in geek, which reminds me of Scott’s encounter with his own Nega Scott… *giggle*
OF COURSE the visualisations of the music and the fights and the special effects AAAH THEY WERE SO GOOD! The battle with the brothers and with Todd the vegan were small audiovisual orgasms!
The first time I watched Scott Pilgrim I wasn’t impressed that much, in fact I was slightly disappointed, but now every time I watch it it’s like a new film I enjoy more and more. Of course the crunchy bubblegum has something to do with it, but what if this can be explained by the simple fact that I’ve actually watched the movie more than just once – that I’ve given it the time it deserves? It could very well be like with me and classical music or Steven Wilson albums: the first time around, the first time they come in contact with my world, I’m mostly indifferent to them; they don’t make me feel anything special. It’s only after the second or third listen that I slowly become familiarised with them and finally come to love them.
Is, then, the key to the things we love simple familiarity – a dose of the right thing at the right time, with the key difference that sets it apart from other nice things that we don’t end familiarised with that it’s not limited to a single dose? Obviously there’s something more, a hidden ingredient, a pluck at an invisible or intangible string, that helps determine whether you’ll like or dislike something – that much is clear.
I have to ask myself, however: have I forgotten what it means to listen for a second or a third time? I’m afraid that I might have, at least to a certain degree. If love, proximity and the act – or ritual – of setting apart basically derive from familiarity plus something special (but mainly familiarity) then in my eternal and fleeting pursuit of the new, the elusive, the mysterious and the unexplored, in my futile attempts to quench the thirst of infinite novelty that often even ridicule the very concept of familiarity, I might have unknowingly and unwillingly sacrificed proximity, I might have sacrificed love. In analytical psychology terms, maybe it’s time I conquered my Ne to move on to my Si. In INFPs this transition comes later in life, of course, and I’m still not done with my Ne, but maybe the calmness of Si domincance is really what I need.
Well, after this heartfelt little exposition, I guess it’s time to say what I actually did during the day. I am a little bit tired of the pretty colours and the too-deep-for-you words, though, so I’ll leave you with three brief sentences:
Ανακάλυψε την προσωπικότητα σου by Patricia Hedges
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Το ξέρατε ότι το 45% του πληθυσμού (τουλάχιστον στις ΗΠΑ, για την Ελλάδα δεν ξέρω) είναι SJ (traditionalists), και ένα άλλο 40% είναι SP (experiencers); Προσωπικά μπορώ να βγάλω αρκετά συμπεράσματα για τον κόσμο χρησιμοποιώντας αυτά τα στοιχεία και κοιτάζοντας τα αποτελέσματα των εκλογών ανα τον κόσμο, ή γιατί οι άνθρωποι επιμένουν στα παλιά και γνώριμα, ή γιατί οι άνθρωποι κυνηγούν τα χρήματα πάνω απ’όλα, ή γιατί τέλος πάντων οι περισσότεροι άνθρωποι συμπεριφέρονται και σκέφτονται πολύ διαφορετικά από μένα – και άλλοι, βέβαια, πολύ παρόμοια.
Πείτε ό,τι θέλετε για το MBTI: ότι είναι παρωχημένο, ότι εξαπλουστεύει, ότι δεν επαρκεί – όλα αυτά ισχύουν, παραμένει όμως για μένα ένα χρήσιμο εργαλείο στην προσπάθεια μου να καταλάβω τους ανθρώπους γύρω μου και να δω τον κόσμο μέσα από τα δικά τους μάτια και τη δική τους αντίληψη (ή διαίσθηση!) Κι άλλωστε, ποιο επεξηγηματικό, αναλυτικό σύστημα μπορεί ποτέ να είναι πλήρες;
Για όσους δεν ξέρουν τι είναι το ΜΒΤΙ, είναι μια μέθοδος αξιολόγησης προσωπικότητας η οποία αναπτύχθηκε τη δεκαετία του ’60 η οποία βασίζεται στις θεωρίες του Carl Jung σχετικά με τις γνωστικές λειτουργίες (cognitive functions) του ανθρώπου (αίσθηση, διαίσθηση, συναίσθημα και νόηση – sensing, intuition, feeling and thinking) και ανάλογα με τη σειρά προτεραιότητας – ή ευχέρειας – που χρησιμοποιούνται αυτές οι λειτουργίες αλλά και την εξωστρέφεια/εσωστρέφεια τους, προκύπτουν 16 συνδυασμοί και τύποι προσωπικότητας.
Βρήκα πως το βιβλίο, αν και χρήσιμο για την αρχική κατανόηση του συστήματος, παρέμεινε στα απολύτως βασικά, και αν και δημοσιεύτηκε τη δεκαέτια του ’90 δεν ανέφερε την προγενέστερη θεωρία του Keirsey σχετικά με την κατάταξη των 16 τύπων σε 4 μεγαλύτερες οικογένειες γενικότερης ιδιοσυγκρασίας. Επίσης απογοητευτική βρήκα την πολύ επιφανειακή αναφορά στην ανάλυση της κατάταξης των λειτουργιών για κάθε τύπο, όπως για παράδειγμα στους INFPs (ΕσΔΣΑν σύμφωνα με την ελληνική μετάφραση, ο οποίος τυχαίνει να είναι κι ο δικός μου τύπος) πρώτο είναι το Εσωστρεφές Συναίσθημα (Fi), μετά η Εξωστρεφής Διαίσθηση (Ne), η Εσωστρεφής Αίσθηση (Si) και η Εξωστρεφής Νόηση (Te), με κατάταξη απ’την πιο ανεπτυγμένη στην λιγότερο ανεπτυγμένη λειτουργία.
Αυτή η ανάλυση μπορεί να φανερώσει πολλά για τους στόχους, τις προτεραίοτητες, τις ιδιαιτερότητες και τις πιθανές αδυναμίες των ατόμων που ανήκουν σε κάθε τύπο, αλλά ξεφεύγει από την απλή κατηγοριοποίηση και περιγραφή των τύπων και φτάνει σε μεγαλύτερο βάθος. Προφανώς μια τόσο βαθιά ανάλυση δεν ήταν ο στόχος του βιβλίου, αλλά εμένα μου έλειψε, γιατί χωρίς αυτήν δεν αιτιολογείται το από που προκύπτει ο διαχωρισμός των τύπων. Είναι ενδιαφέρον ότι γενικά δεν είναι γνωστή η θεωρία περί γνωστικών λειτουργιών, ακόμα και για αυτούς που ενδιαφέρονται για το MBTI.
Γι’αυτό εγώ θα συνεχίσω την αναζήτηση και την έρευνα μου στο θέμα των τύπων προσωπικότητας και της αναλυτικής ψυχολογίας γενικότερα με κάτι λίγο πιο εξειδικευμένο (μου τρέχουν τα σάλια για το βιβλίο που λίνκαρα παραπάνω του Keirsey). Πάντως, ως εισαγωγή στο MBTI το βιβλίο δεν είναι άσχημο, και είναι από τα λίγα (το μόνο;) που βρήκα μεταφρασμένο στα ελληνικά. Για κάποιον λόγο δεν μας πολυενδιαφέρει το θέμα εδώ πέρα…
Αν διαβάσετε ως εδώ και θα θέλατε να μάθετε περισσότερα, μερικές καλές πήγες:
http://www.keys2cognition.com/explore.htm
http://kisa.ca/personality/
http://www.typefinder.com/
(καλά τεστ για να βρείτε τον τύπο σας)
“What does it feel like to be me?” αν είσαστε μεταξύ δύο τύπων, διαβάστε ποια περιγραφή του τρόπου σκέψης σας σας ταιριάζει καλύτερα.
http://www.keys2cognition.com/cgjung.htm Για περισσότερα σχετικά με τις γνωστικές λειτουργίες/cognitive functions και για βουτιά στα λίγο πιο βαθιά.
Και το Personality Cafe, γιατί μερικές φορές η επαφή και η συζήτηση με άλλα άτομα του ίδιου τύπου και ο εντοπισμός των κοινών τόπων βοηθάει στ’αλήθεια. Καλό κι αν νιώθετε μοναξιά, ότι κανείς δεν σας καταλαβαίνει κτλ.
A journalist for a Dutch newspaper wanted to do a write-up on Athens. She found me through Spotted by Locals and I volunteered to answer some questions… This is the result:
My name is in there and I can curiously understand a fair amount of the article – thanks, German – but the whole picture, apart from “cheap is cool” (something I support whole-heartedly of course) eludes me.
Still, nice. Thanks, Spotted by Locals!
A few weeks ago, while looking on Reddit for some material on how to get motivated and disciplined, I stumbled upon this comment on this submission:
TLDR; in order to make a new habit stick, just try to do it every day for 7 weeks – 49 days. The catch? You have to have a card like a calendar on which you’ll physically draw a big red X on and for each day you’ve worked on your habit.
Like this:
The above comment became such a hit (notice the 4× Reddit gold? That’s having won the internet) that it inspired a whole new subreddit, theXeffect, and even a whole new website dedicated to this idea, fortyninedays.com.
As you might have realised by now, I like this sort of challenge thingies, because they help me structure my life, which in its normal state makes a random splotch of red paint on a wall look like the epitome of predictability and order.
So I decided to try it.
On May 8th I made not one, not two, but four cards. I thought it would be challenging, but entirely feasible.
3 weeks + 1 day later, this is the state of things:
The habits I thought I wanted to make permanent in myself by using these cards are:
Some of these daily habits were more successful in their conception than others.
The state of things right now is that, as you can probably see, it’s become pretty difficult to stick to my goal. Week 1 was more ore less smooth sailing, but since then I have been finding myself more and more in situations where I just can’t focus on my tasks, be it because of oversocialising (here in Sofia it has come to the point where there’s almost never a time when we don’t have a guest staying over – which means going out with them, spending time together etc, on top of the usual EVS chaotic experience), travelling, internet distraction…
Three weeks in, as things are now, I think I can safely say that I have bitten off more than I can chew . Two of the habits are creative, one needs me to clear my head from all the day’s little nagging things (which I’ve always found very difficult, hence I’ve found meditation to be so demanding and never really stuck to it) and the other needs me to have at least a block of undistracted 45 minutes to spare every day in front of a screen. It sounds easy enough, but my life right now is so disorganised (perhaps for good) that I’m struggling to find even the structure needed to work on structuring it!
The most trouble I’ve had with creative writing, which is just too broad a term. I combined it with writing something in the languages I’m learning at the moment, which has culminated into my polyglot diaries, but this doesn’t seem to be working out right now, since it’s already been a week since I wrote anything for them. At least today’s X has already been taken care of by me writing this post.
My progress on the rest of the challenges isn’t in much better shape: watching something in a different language has been reduced to watching Battlestar Galactica with Bulgarian subtitles – I don’t have the patience to watch anything else dubbed -, after many days, it was only yesterday that I sketched anything apart from logos or plants, and my meditations have been so full of inner noise I often come out more stressed out than I was when I went in. It’s adviseable to meditate in only certain altered states: experience says that mild-to-moderate drunkenness is not one of them.
I wanted to share my progress on this because I think it’s time I did something to make these challenges a priority. What is that which is most direcly influencing the way I spend my time, how much free time I think I have, and what I do with it? What is it that is so deeply influencing my capability of finding and creating stillness, the flow of my creative juices, my focus on my EVS and my language studying – in other words, how I use my alone time?
