Musings for the Body and Soul

Bluebird Way

2011-02-27T15:16:00.000-08:00

Where do bluebirds fly? Here's a moving Charles Bukowski poem, Bluebird, brought to life. May you keep your bluebird alive.

Bluebird from Cameron McKague on Vimeo.

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I discovered a vault of beautiful skate videos by Juan Rayos recently and I'm really loving this girls just want to have fun perspective paired to awesome music (especially love the Cults opening track, "Go Outside"). The video makes me want to do just that and start a boarding crew! Who's down?

Longboard Girls Crew from Juan Rayos on Vimeo.

And ever wonder what skateboarding the streets of NYC look like? This first-hand view takes you on the ride.

Skateboarding Around Town from Zack McTee on Vimeo.

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I cannot wait to see this adaptation of Murakami's Norwegian Wood.

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I love these kaleidoscope visuals paired to Radiohead's "Feral". It's pretty perfect.

RADIOHEAD | FERAL | THE KING OF LIMBS from steven murashige on Vimeo.

Man About Town

2011-01-09T21:12:00.000-08:00

http://www.manabouttown.tv/

Classy. I love everything about this.

Bruce Lee's Lost Interview

2010-12-11T00:27:00.000-08:00

Needed to revisit this interview today.

Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

The Language of Water

2010-12-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

A beautiful visual poetry of drops of ink dancing in water. What do you see?

The Language of Water from John Grant on Vimeo.

Heart of Chambers

2010-12-02T22:17:00.000-08:00

It's a Beach House kind of day. Here's an oldie but goodie. Definitely a favorite. Oh they make my heart happy.

Dark Side of the Lens

2010-11-30T22:38:00.001-08:00

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.

For everyone who loves the sea, you have to watch this epic short film. I feel inspired!

Andrew Bird's one-man orchestra of the imagination

2010-11-11T00:29:00.000-08:00

Influencers

2010-11-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

INFLUENCERS FULL VERSION from R+I creative on Vimeo.

Bjork - Undo

2010-10-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

It's not meant to be a struggle uphill

This is magical. Play and repeat :)

I am your mind.

2010-09-02T10:44:00.000-07:00

Are you ready to have your mind officially blown?

Roy Ayers is pure soul. Wow.

This stunning cinematic arrangement featuring Flying Lotus makes me crave some classic Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Ensemble "Drips/Take Notice" feat Flying Lotus from Miguel Atwood-Ferguson on Vimeo.

The Empathic Civilization

2010-08-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

Jeremy Rifkin investigates the evolution of empathy and the profound ways that it has shaped our development and our society.

I really love this one. Discovered several amazing RSA Animate talks via a life less mediated.

Kokoro

2010-08-16T23:48:00.000-07:00

"The fine things we shall write if we have talent enough, are within us, dimly, like the remembrance of a tune which charms though we cannot recall its outline, or hum it, nor even sketch its metrical form, say if there are pauses in it, or runs of rapid notes."

Marcel Proust, The Return to the Present

Kokoro (Sakamoto + Fennesz) from giuseppe la spada on Vimeo.

Oto (Sakamoto + Fennesz) from giuseppe la spada on Vimeo.

Trioon I by Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto from Victor Lara on Vimeo.

Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Berlin from Karl Kliem on Vimeo.

Never fall in love with potential

2010-08-02T22:59:00.000-07:00

if you can't see with your own eyes

And a new August favorite, Cults - Oh My God:

Inspiring Interview with artist Francesco Clemente

2010-07-27T22:55:00.000-07:00

A thoughtful, meditative conversation that touched me today. What an extraordinary human being.

"How do you find your voice as a painter?"
"Y o u h a v e t o m a k e r o o m."

Synesthisa Sensory Overload

2010-03-31T23:39:00.000-07:00

What would the solar system sound like if planets were musical notes?

How do colors taste? How does food sound?

Synesthesia from Terri Timely on Vimeo.

The Giving Tree

2009-11-09T21:02:00.000-08:00

I felt like revisiting childhood stories today and immediately I thought of this classic favorite -- The Giving Tree. To my delightful surprise, I stumbled upon a movie version narrated by Shel Silverstein himself.

Unconditional love means that you're willing to give your all and never expect anything in return.

New Blu and David Ellis Combo!

2009-10-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop) from blu on Vimeo.

Sing Sang Sung

2009-09-24T22:24:00.000-07:00

Wildly colorful organic animation to Air's lovely "Sing Sang Sung". My kind of music video! Suddenly, I have an urge to watch Yellow Submarine again.

AIR MUSIC VIDEO SING SANG SUNG from MATHEMATIC SAS on Vimeo.

Life feeds on life...

2009-08-13T23:04:00.000-07:00

Gigantik from Nigel Upchurch on Vimeo.

Los Angeles Rainwater Harvesting, Hook It Up!

2009-07-22T22:04:00.000-07:00

Angelenos sure welcome any rainfall we can get, especially in this heat. Why not harvest every raindrop, reuse and strategically direct that rainwater to save potable water costs and local water quality? We need all the forward-thinking solutions possible as LA County still has worst water quality in the state.

Here's a solution and a fabulous way to get ready for the season ahead: enroll in the City of LA's new, first-of-its-kind free Rainwater Harvesting Program.

Thanks to the City's new water-conservation initiative (hooray!) and a grant from the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, Los Angeleno property owners or businesses in the pilot communities Mar Vista, Sawtelle and Jefferson can get hooked up with a free rain barrel plus installation or a free downspout disconnect. I wish this was happening in my hood too! Certainly this promising news could set important future standards for Southern California.

Join your community in this exciting momentum towards sustainable LA living and help spread the good word. Be one of the 600 lucky ones to participate in the pilot by signing up at LA Rainwater Harvesting Program or by calling 562.597.0205.

Joni Mitchell - California

2009-07-12T13:13:00.000-07:00

Sublime.

Annecy Awesomeness

2009-06-20T21:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a wildly impressive collection of short animations from Gobelins for this year's Annecy.

Le Grand Content

2009-05-31T20:25:00.000-07:00

Stumbled upon this hilarious short trying to make sense of the everyday nuances and variables of our data-overload world through flow charts and graphs.

New Urbanism - Scratching the Surface

2009-05-19T23:22:00.000-07:00

Constructive destruction, vividly captured:

We got to build to last. Here's a fantastic short and straight-forward wake-up call against sprawl:

Mixing Genius - Kutiman

2009-04-26T23:09:00.000-07:00

This is inspiring and incredible! Unrelated yet interdependent music/youtubing weaved and edited by mix-master Kutiman. "I'm New" is my favorite track off his Thru You project, where what you see is what you hear.

Resource depletion

2009-04-20T21:50:00.000-07:00

How Long Will Our World Last?

"Most people get worried about how much energy reserves we have left, but as this graphic shows, that's the least of our problems. The real problem is the materials we use to make things.
Energy could be harnessed from eternal sources, like the sun, the wind, or the seas. But there is only a limited amount of elements in planet Earth and—what's worst—bringing them from other planets will prove impractical with our current technology (and the technology that will be available in the next century).

In the meantime, copper—which is everywhere around you—will be gone in about 61 years; antimony—widely used in medicines—will be depleted in 20 years; while indium, rhodium, platinum, or silver—which are present in many essential consumer electronics—won't last much longer. And those estimations are only valid if we manage to consume half of what we are consuming now.

So, unless we really push technology forward, dramatically increase our recycling rhythm, or something extraordinary happens first—like Apophis obliterating us or the Large Hadron Collider blows us to another dimension, or Nazi zombies getting out of their crypts to make bacon of all of us—we and our children are going to have a really hard time pushing the world forward.

I guess we will have to keep taking life one weekend at a time. "
[via Gizmodo]

Wabi-sabi

2009-04-16T21:45:00.000-07:00

A Drop Of Blue Salt from Vida Vega on Vimeo.
A beautiful, simple animation I came across today inspired by the Pablo Neruda sonnet below.

Sonnet IX: There where the waves shatter
by Pablo Neruda

There where the waves shatter on the restless rocks
the clear light bursts and enacts its rose,
and the sea-circle shrinks to a cluster of buds,
to one drop of blue salt, falling.

O bright magnolia bursting in the foam,
magnetic transient whose death blooms
and vanishes--being, nothingness--forever:
broken salt, dazzling lurch of the sea.

You & I, Love, together we ratify the silence,
while the sea destroys its perpetual statues,
collapses its towers of wild speed and whiteness:

because in the weavings of those invisible fabrics,
galloping water, incessant sand,
we make the only permanent tenderness.

It's business time.

2009-04-13T23:44:00.000-07:00

This prick. Is he for real? I think he's dead serious. Miami Vice's business card "doesn't fit in a rolodex because it doesn't belong in a rolodex." His ego is apparently too big for it also (nevertheless pretty pretty hilarious):

My friend passed on a more legit source on the topic. Here's a fun article about making creative business cards.

I'll continue taking my advice from a real leader -- Mr. John Wooden. A few words of Coach Wooden's wisdom:

1. good values attract good people
2. love is the most powerful four-letter word
3. call yourself a teacher
4. emotion is your enemy
5. it takes 10 hands to make a basket
6. little things make big things happen
7. make each day your masterpiece
8. the carrot is mightier than a stick
9. make greatness attainable by all
10. seek significant change
11. don't look at the scoreboard
12. adversity is your asset

(click to enlarge)

I was also very moved by J.K. Rowling's brilliant speech to Harvard students last year, passed along recently by a friend. She humbly expresses the fringe benefits of failure and the importance of imagination. I highly recommend it!

Oh yea, it's Business Time. Conditions are perfect. With that said, goodnight world.

M. Ward - Chinese Translation

2009-04-11T11:48:00.000-07:00

Twitter hits the streets

2009-04-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

I like this clever graff tweet seen on the streets via Questionmarc.

If that's not a sign of Twitter being top of pop culture mind virtually everywhere right now, then this awesome "Flutter" mocumentary surely is...yep, it's the nano-blogging movement:

via Laughing Squid (great blog from sf)

the truth is all there is

2009-04-03T23:16:00.000-07:00

I love this song (the Truth/Handsome Boy Modeling School) and Roison is just amazing. She even busts J-Live's part here...

and I want her coat too!

Earth forming underwater

2009-03-30T23:09:00.000-07:00

A mind-blowing, rare video of pillow lava and earth forming underwater in Kilauea, Hawaii:

Wild Geese

2009-03-29T21:55:00.000-07:00

Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver
(one of my favorites of her beautiful poetry)

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Roland Kirk got soul! sweet and misty

2009-03-17T18:16:00.000-07:00

Live in Montreux, 1972

Blind to their own beauty

2009-03-16T21:25:00.000-07:00

Peep the toxic nudibranchs (the naughty sounding official term for these soft, outer-worldly colored, hermaphroditic sea slugs!). They produce a truly brilliant defense. With more than 3,000 species painting nearly all depths of salt water, their unique anatomy allows them to easily exercise some cryptic behavior and camo into textures and colors of surrounding sea plants. Others don't mind shining and instead utilize their vivid coloring to show predators they are oh so poisonious thangs. Too bad we don't have the same defensive mechanisms. For me, unfortunately, it's called riding the mood swing. They are even "blind to their own beauty" with "their tiny eyes discerning little more than light and dark. Instead the animals smell, taste, and feel their world using head-mounted sensory." Here's something we don't get to appreciate everyday -- this stunning National Geographic photo/video gallery on these bad ass sea creatures.

It's no surprise either that the seriously prolific artist and naturalist (among other things) Ernst Haeckel tried to capture these beauties in his Artforms in Nature studies. If you don't know Haeckel, be prepared to have your mind officially blown. His jellyfish and coral renderings are my favorite!

Kind of Blue...and bliss.

2009-03-15T22:45:00.000-07:00

Holy moly. My dream skateboards have arrived!! Check out these masterpiece decks by SF based skate company Western Edition. This Miles '59 quintet arrangement of decks celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Miles Davis' seminal work: Kind of Blue -- greatest album ever. period. I'd have to admire these on my walls. It'd be blasphemy to have 'em hit pavement.
Thank you, Miles!!!

via Vinyl Meltdown

"Nature that Imagines"

2009-03-14T20:43:00.000-07:00

via Art MoCo:

Gary Brewer combines a classic sensibility with so-called eccentric impulses to create lush, detailed paintings of botany that evoke the world of science fiction, many leagues under the sea. Orchids and anemones play an important role in Brewer's latest series of work, A Seductive Nature, along with lichens, sponges and corals. The artist uses drawings, models, photos and maquettes to explore potential, and the results are a blend of observation and invention.

I wish I was still in the Bay for what I'm sure will be a mind-blowing art show by Gary Brewer. His Orchid series is my favorite. How cool is this quasi-Orchid, quasi-Kelp sea creature?!

I'll end on a beautiful quote from John Laroche (played by Chris Cooper) in Charlie Kaufman's Adaptation:

Point is, what's so wonderful is that every one of these flowers has a specific relationship with the insect that pollinates it. There's a certain orchid that looks exactly like a certain insect so the insect is drawn to this flower, its double, its soul mate, and wants nothing more than to make love to it. And after the insect flies off, spots another soul-mate flower and makes love to it, thus pollinating it. And neither the flower nor the insect will ever understand the significance of their lovemaking. I mean, how could they know that because of their little dance the world lives? But it does. By simply doing what they're designed to do, something large and magnificent happens. In this sense they show us how to live - how the only barometer you have is your heart. How, when you spot your flower, you can't let anything get in your way.

Kudos to Jon Stewart!

2009-03-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

via The Big Picture.

Stewart is one of the best and most honest journalists (an oxymoron these days) we've got!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 3

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Check out other uncensored clips of Jon Stewart demolishing Jim Cramer and schooling America at AlterNet.org.

Visual Treats: My Favorite Food Blog

2009-03-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

Every foodie's dream web site: Food Gawker -- an inspiring delicatible gallery where aggregate food bloggers showcase their goods and recipes. Time to feast the eyes and feed the tummy...oh yeaaa.

And if that doesn't do it for ya, maybe the Italian "Let's Pizza" vending machine will. It whips up "flour, water, tomato sauce and fresh ingredients into hot pizza in a few minutes for a price as low as $4.50."

Passionate Virtuosity

2009-03-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

"My feeling about technique in art," John Barth told an interviewer in 1968, "is that it has about the same value as technique in love-making. That is to say, on the one hand, heartfelt ineptitude has its appeal and, on the other hand, so does heartless skill; but what you want is passionate
virtuosity."

- Charles Harris, "Reading John Barth"

via Rob Brezny's Astrology Newsletter

Twit Universe: To Infinity and Beyond!

2009-03-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

This social satire sparked a lot of questions. With the advent of online social networking, are we living from the inside-out or the outside-in, now? How do we give our lives meaning and identity, online? Do we trivialize? Do we constantly seek the approval networks? Do we inflate our sense of self-importance? Or do we simply love sharing more? Have we traded human-to-human relationship building for online, speedy interactions? Are we actually moving forward? But, have we also exchanged monologue for dialogue -- saying goodbye to a pyramid of top-down authority communication and hello to honest conversations between people all over the world?...Or just the privileged, with computers, internet know-how and access, without a great firewall? Sometimes, to quote Pablo Picasso, "computers are useless. They can only give you answers."

Here's Bill Maher this week on our mind-boggling obsessions with twitter, useless iphone aps ("pull my finger", no joke) and even those damn snuggies:

A hilarious addendum via current TV from Super News! on Twitter.

Nature Rocks!

2009-03-05T19:31:00.000-08:00

Remarkable MOOG sounds from seals! This video clip from Warner Herzog's "Encounters at the End of the World" is amazing.

Her Morning Elegance

2009-02-19T21:17:00.000-08:00

Breathtaking music videos paired to simply perfect songs always touch and intrigue me. Here's a real gem we can all relate to by Oren Lavie, with brilliant creativity and fascinating stop-motion. The entire video was pieced together with 3,225 eclectic all still photographs, using just one camera, hanging from the ceiling of the room.

The visuals speak true to Oren Lavie's shared love for creating "dreamy visuals from realistic elements" squeezing "big worlds into small spaces" (...because somehow I often find myself doing the same).

Her Morning Elegance.

One of Santa's 21st Century Dilemmas

2008-12-19T18:34:00.000-08:00

Sun in my mouth today

2008-12-11T22:06:00.000-08:00

Bjork's hypnotizing "sun in my mouth" interpretation of e.e. cummings' "I will wade out". Both the song and poem are simply beautiful.

I will wade out
 till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers
I will take the sun into my mouth
and leap into the ripe air
   Alive
      with closed eyes
to dash against the darkness
    in the sleeping curves of my body
Shall enter fingers of smooth mastery
with chasteness of sea-girls
    Will I complete the mystery
    of my flesh
I will rise
    After a thousand years
lipping
flowers
  And set my teeth in the silver of the moon

-e.e. cummings

Happiness is Contagious

2008-12-05T11:45:00.000-08:00

"It is a wonderful law of nature, that the three things we crave most - happiness, freedom, and peace of mind - are always attained by giving them to someone else." -Anonymous

It's no surprise that your cheerful state of mind, or that of others, has the power to elevate and spread happiness.

Karen Kaplan's front page article in the Los Angeles Times explores this idea through an enlightening Framingham Heart study published today in the British Medical Journal. The research examined relationships of nearly 5,000 people tracked for decades, basically affirming that good cheer spreads through social networks of nearby family, friends and neighbors.

The feel-good contagion effect shows that just knowing someone who is happy makes you 15.3% more likely to be happy yourself, and even a happy friend of a friend increases your odds of happiness by 9.8%. Happy people in close geographic proximity and larger network sizes also share positive vibes more effectively.

I believe in the power of social ties and smiles, because "you can't just treat individuals; you have to treat networks and communities." I am eternally grateful for the amazing and supportive people in my life who have helped me stay me, even through this especially turbulent year.

Play Auditorium

2008-12-02T22:30:00.001-08:00

I've been addicted to the demo of Auditorium. It's a beautiful puzzle game that flawlessly combines visual and auditory experiences with incredibly simple and intuitive concepts. But it can also get pretty challenging. I haven't really seen anything like this before and I am intrigued! This would be really cool to play on an HD touch screen too.

If you got some time to unwind and energy to compose, definitely check it out.

The Invitation

2008-11-07T19:24:00.000-08:00

By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dreams
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the center of your sorrow
if you have been opened by life's betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wilderness
and let the ecstasy fill you up to the tips of your
fingers and toes
without cautioning us to
be careful
be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.

If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand on the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
"Yes."

It doesn't interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after a night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the center of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

Yes We Did, America! Hope Always Wins.

2008-11-05T17:39:00.000-08:00

"For as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on earth is my story even possible."
- Barack Obama

(Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)

What a poignant, exciting, electrifying moment and movement in world history! Wow, words can not express the way I feel today.

I am so proud not only of President-elect Barack Obama, but also of everyone who came together to make democracy and progress happen before our very eyes. In Alice Walker's thoughtful open letter to Barack Obama, she says "we are the ones we have been waiting for". Her wisdom is true.

I know I'm not alone. The whole world is celebrating intense feelings of joy and renewed promise in the United States of America. Regardless of how you voted, it's a great day to be alive, participate and bear witness to history in the making and breaking. We are moving forward!

"From far away, this is how it looks: There is a country out there where tens of millions of white Christians, voting freely, select as their leader a black man of modest origin, the son of a Muslim. There is a place on Earth — call it America — where such a thing happens."

Poplicks via Patrick Moberg (click to enlarge)

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I guess it's one step at a time though. On a truly disappointing note, I will never understand 52% of California, where some people care more about chickens' rights than fundamental human rights. Are you as confused as I am? The fight against Prop. 8 is definitely NOT over! With lawsuits flying, ballots still being counted and thousands upon thousands of Californians more ready than ever to repeal Prop. 8 (sign the online petition if you can), there's hope that the California State Supreme Court Justices will overturn this illegal step backwards.

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After 8 long years, it's a new dawn, a new day. Sing it high priestess of soul Nina!

progress PROGRESS

2008-10-31T10:49:00.000-07:00

Saul Williams, one of my all-time favorite spoken word poets, dynamically delivers "An Open Letter to History":

Click here for more videos from Vote For Change
full text.

Mind Meditation

2008-10-27T23:43:00.000-07:00

I was moved today by Priscilla Ahn's hauntingly beautiful voice. Pure sweetness to soothe the soul:

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Experimental duo The Books shares a clever "meditation" word play during a concert in Rome:

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Thailand's Wat Pa Maha Chedio Kaew temple, or Temple of Million Bottles, has "found a way to bottle-up Nirvana, literally", using approximately 1.5 million recycled glass bottles for sustainable building material.

via Inhabitat

Venice Beach Mural Sightings

2008-10-19T23:07:00.000-07:00

Chase's colorful creatures and floating eyes inspire self-awareness:

R. Cronk's stunning 1990 homage to Van Gogh's Starry Night:

Recycled Goods

2008-10-17T17:58:00.000-07:00

Newspaper furniture - your very own "reading butt-y":

Photo: David Stovell Design

Grist via Inhabitat:

"Instances of talking out of your ass are well-documented, but reading out of your ass -- now that's new."

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In Jean Shin's interactive sculpture "TEXTile", 22,528 recycled keyboard keys are embedded into a continuous fabric, complete with video projection. Yvonne Oswald on KPFK's The Aware Show recently said that our communication is 7% verbal, 38% tonal and 55% body language. Can you imagine all that gets lost in translation and interpretation in our world of email and texting? A fascinating and labor-intensive piece that investigates our virtual communication culture:

"The project speaks to the pervasiveness of email in our lives while commenting on the fact that, despite the modern technology of virtual communication, our written language is linked to the tactile sensation of moving our fingers over an outmoded typewriter system."

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Fridgehenge, a short-lived 21st century take on Stonehenge, just outside Sante Fe, New Mexico:

Earth Ambience and Brian Eno

2008-10-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

Here are a few ethereal and simply stunning seasonal time lapse videos inspired by one of the most original and too often overlooked electronic gurus of our time: Brian Eno. These videos have got to be some of the best on YouTube; beautifully capturing earth's work with an impeccable soundtrack that can't be beat...

Brian Eno - This

Brian Eno - How Many Worlds

"All deep things are Song...The primal element of us; of us, and of all things...See deep enough, and you see musically; the heart of Nature being everywhere music." - Thomas Carlyle

Everything is Illuminated

2008-10-14T11:41:00.000-07:00

via Lost At E Minor, I came across Orange County artist Kristian Olson today. I love the outer-worldly subjects and mysterious organic themes, the often muted color palette, the detailed ornamentation influenced by cultural motifs and the skillfully crafted combination of mixed-media (designed digital artwork, giclée printing, acrylic paint) with illustration.

"Kristian Olson’s illustrations look like Magic Eye posters that have come to life as marauding, fractal-shooting creatures from Technicolor hell."

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The photo below captures a new interactive Dobpler LED wall in Sandnes Sentrum, Norway that transforms shadows into light as people walk through a pedestrian subway tunnel. Perhaps this is the kind of multifunctional ingenuity we need here to encourage more public transit riders.

via Inhabitat:

"The Strømer is an interactive wall that weaves a wonderful mixture of art, energy-efficiency and play into the fabric of daily existence."

Watercolours, the project website for the installation in Sandnes states:

Sandnes’ city centre is split in two parts by the railway line. A new, creative illumination of our railway station subways will give us safer traffic and walkways. The subways become lighted portals, pleasant to use, mirroring the users who can observe themselves and others as active elements of the township.

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A less useful but rather amusing LED tech gadget is USB powered Tengu, who's facial expressions and mouth lip-syncs with the sounds in the room - whether it be you or your music. This little buddy keeps you company when you're on the comp and he even sings Seu Jorge in the video below! Awesome.

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WTF?! Disgusting full-blown desperation...

A West Plains, Missouri billboard via SLOG

"I've been thinking about this McCain-Palin Obama "palling around with terrorist" idea more lately. The saddest thing about many Republicans isn't just that they disagree with liberals on race--it's they are largely ignorant on race. When the McCain campaign cast the spell of diabolical jingoism, they have no idea of the forces they are toying with. We remember Martin Luther King's murder as a sad and tragic event. Less remembered is the fact that ground-work for King's murder was seeded, not simply by rank white supremacy, but by people who slandered King as a communist."
-Ta-Nehisi Coates

This gotcha clip reveals how McCain's "straight talk" is going hate talk express. The Nation's Ari Melber on pathetically injecting baseless hate:

Solar Subsidy Shines

2008-10-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

On the upside, there's a happy solar lining to the deeply loathed and pricey bailout. The excellent news: domestic solar energy and green jobs will finally get a chance to go mainstream with the bill now extending federal investment tax credits for renewable energy providers, especially in solar energy development. Better late than never! Even though solar power currently represents not even 1% of the $3 trillion global energy market, industry professionals are saying that California is positioned to be both the world's next big solar market and its entrepreneurial center.

via Grist Muckraker:

"Congress last week passed long-awaited extensions to tax credits for solar, wind, geothermal, and other forms of clean energy; they were attached to the financial bailout package that President Bush signed last Friday. Renewable-energy companies let out a big sigh of relief, happy that months of delays and petty squabbles over the tax credits were over. The legislation also provides incentives for the development of oil shale, tar sands, and coal-to-liquid fuels, which environmentalists are less happy about. But overall, renewables advocates and enviros are delighted that Congress finally got the tax-credit extensions through, just before adjourning for election season. As for how happy they feel about the bailout package in general, well, that's another story."

Stand up for Equality! NO on Prop. 8

2008-10-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

When I read the Mojo Blog this morning, I was shocked to find out that the Gay marriage ban was actually succeeding in California. In the first three months since same-sex marriage rights were legalized this June 17, more gay couples (approximately 11,000 couples) were married in California than were married in the first four years it was legal in Massachusetts. "Next month, Californians will decide whether gay couples can continue to marry when they vote on Proposition 8, which would amend the state Constitution to define marriage as between only a man and a woman."

Why would you try to take an already existing fundamental right away and write discrimination into the California constitution?! I couldn't agree more with what the Los Angeles Times Ed. Board proclaimed in their endorsement for No on Prop. 8 back in August:

"Civil rights are commonly hard-won, and not the result of widespread consensus... Fundamental rights are exactly that. They should neither wait for popular acceptance, nor be revoked because it is lacking."

To all California residents --

Wake up and stand up for LOVE, EQUALITY, and PROGRESS. Please vote NO on Prop. 8. An inspiring video a friend recently shared:

Banksy's Village Pet Store and Grill

2008-10-09T11:56:00.001-07:00

"This revolution is for display purposes only"
-Banksy

Graffiti genius Banksy just opened his "Village Pet Store and Grill" a few days ago in NYC, at 89 West 7th Avenue. You may not recognize his work though because there's no writing on the wall here...

Using animatronics for his first time, Banksy has created an eye-opening and chilling world where "there are no puppies or kittens in the windows". Instead, "McDonald's Chicken McNuggets sip barbecue sauce. A rabbit puts on her makeup. A CCTV camera nurtures its young." Banksy's groundbreaking social commentary confronting the way we live and intelligently raising questions about where animals go, runs through Halloween and might be recreated elsewhere later. Hopefully, the West Coast!

via Wooster Collective:

Lifeless leopard coat

Hot dogs trapped

Nuggets in a coop

Bunny testing make-up

Fishsticks in a fish bowl

Live sneak peak:

From Banksy:

“New Yorkers don’t care about art, they care about pets. So I’m exhibiting them instead. I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming, but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing. I took all the money I made exploiting an animal in my last show and used it to fund a new show about the exploitation of animals. If its art and you can see it from the street, I guess it could still be considered street art."

Do-it-yourself Pixelator in NYC

2008-10-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

Turning plasma ads to pixel art.

"Since 2003, the MTA has made available for exhibition purposes 80 LED screens located at subway entrances across New York City. Unfortunately, the high cost of exhibiting (an estimated $274,000 per month per screen) prevents most artists from having access to these facilities. While the MTA's effort to create more opportunities for video art exhibition in public spaces is to be commended, selected works remain wholly fixated on commercial goods and media conglomerate events, a short-sighted curatorial choice that regrettably ignores the full potential of these promising exhibition spaces.

In an attempt to broaden the scope of MTA's video art series, Pixelator takes video pieces currently on display and diffuses them into a pleasant array of 45 blinking, color-changing squares. Since the project is an anonymous collaboration, the resulting video is almost entirely unplanned and unanticipated, with the original artists helping to create new works of art without any knowledge of their participation."

DIY!
via A Life Less Mediated

Los Angeles may be going Blade Runner too, with "roughly 900 billboards across the city that could soon be converted from conventional to digital, lighting up your street or bedroom with a 50,000-watt flash," says Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times. He urges Mayor Villaraigosa to adopt restrictions on what will be distracting saftey hazards and a "congested constellation of 900 drive-in movie theaters."

Summing up the now global financial crisis.

2008-10-07T20:38:00.000-07:00

via The Consumerist
via Blame it on the Voices

Eve Ensler on Security and Freedom

2008-10-07T15:23:00.001-07:00

TED could not have timed the September release of this moving Eve Ensler presentation any better (a visionary role model for women of the world!). While she gave this talk back in 2005, her wisdom is necessary and relevant to our election season. Eve is having "Sarah Palin nightmares" like the rest of us, as she recently shared in a bold op. ed in the Huffington Post. She's one of my favorite storytellers.

Art to Appreciate!

2008-10-06T11:53:00.000-07:00

A "New and Native" Beauty: The Art and Craft of Greene & Greene; The Huntington Library; San Marino, CA (show runs 10.18.08 - 1.26.09)

The Gamble House announces:

"This landmark exhibition celebrating the work of Greene & Greene is a partnership between The Gamble House and The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, and will feature 140 works designed by the Greenes covering the breadth and depth of their careers. The pieces to be displayed come from private and institutional lenders and, in some instances, have never been seen by the public. They include stained glass, metalwork, textiles, drawings, archival photographs, and virtuoso wood-carving and decorative inlay designed by the Greenes and executed by the master craftsmen with whom they were associated."

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Sea Stone Vases by Mitsuru Koga; Tortoise; Venice, CA (show runs 10.9.08 - 11.2.08)

Mitsuru Koga on his organic masterpieces via Hustler of Culture:

"My creations come from the ocean. Stones alter their size and shape being washed down the river, slowly but naturally. My works are born as a part of the nature's current - not a thing is unchangeable there. That's the way I envision the crossroads of nature and human beings in my works."

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Joshua Petker; Corey Helford Gallery; Culver City, CA (show runs 10.04.08 - 10.22.08)

Manuel Bello of Fecal Face writes:

"Joshua Petker is a southern California artist who pulls no punches when it comes to cutting the shit right down to the bone. He spends his time suffering over canvas, diving out in his Hollywood living room, die-harding for the Dodgers, and all around keeping his feet planted flat on the ground. He has a style that you might not want to take home to mom, but would defiantly want to take home from a seedy LA bar. Seductive, scandalous, and downright hot in the worst way. His paintings are like that girl that you know will destroy you but somehow you just can't resist."

We The People Festival (9.27.08 -9.28.08)

2008-10-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

We The People Festival -- I couldn't have imagined a better way to enjoy my birthday in this historical, "tipping point" moment in our lives. It was an empowering day through night event celebrating social consciousness, community activism, and urban youth and culture via raw uncensored music and art - the way I love it.

The live performances we caught included Dilated Peoples, RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, DJ Z-Trip (dedicated his turntablin' set to Barack Obama and mobilizing voters), Flying Lotus (my favorite show), Bassnectar and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine (the way I remember him, at least). It's a shame we missed roots reggae classic Barrington Levy and bassist extraordinaire Les Claypool though, since there were too many solid stages to choose from.

Here's a taste of what we appreciated -- click to enlarge images (not pictured but definitely devoured: raucous, rhythmic, truly fertile electric music embracing a backdrop of the downtown LA skyline and passing metrolinks, endless Blue Moons, endless sunshine, amazing baked yam with cinnamon/brown sugar/butter, baked potato with the works, and grilled seasoned corn. bliss.).

Speaking of "straight talk" Ms. Palin, how about you answer a damn question.

2008-10-03T23:54:00.000-07:00

Via Daily Kos:
Yep, pretty much.
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Not falling flat on your face isn't exactly "success" either.
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Palin: Joe, Gwen, questions aside, let's just talk energy -- drill, baby drill!

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A sound bite that infuriated me during Palin's debate (among the many she robotically spewed): "Terrorists hate us for our freedom, for our rights and women's liberties"...I'm thinking, so do you, ms. Palin, so do you...

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Well, the bailout is officially official and the effect will definitely be a "known unknown".

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) via MoJo blog writes:

"No one will ever be able to prove that the Bailout Bill helped or hurt our economy during the coming fall and winter. Only two things are certain: the bill will provide hundreds of billions of dollars to investors who made bad decisions and Wall Street executives; and our children and grandchildren will now face a national debt that is hundreds of billions of dollars higher."

Oh, so Appropro Song of the Year

2008-10-02T00:49:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Judy Collins sings "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" (my favorite version)...or $850 billion sounds about right.

And a great version of the song from the prolific Tom Waits...

Talking Heads offered a sign before the times. Say goodbye to "Once in a Lifetime" Reaganomics. This is also the theme song to W., the new Oliver Stone flick on the Bush legacy.

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Counting down doomcracy in style? I love these amazing new time pieces from Tokyoflash ("the home of unique Japanese watches") that combine innovative LED displays with edgy, futuristic design.

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And on new tech, there's the hope phone! The Obama iPhone application was launched today -- a new political campaigning tool for 21st century. While McCain is still learning to use the internet, Obama continues to successfully mobilize and energize voters by utilizing social networking and new media tech. He's also a staunch supporter of net neutrality. The iPhone application is a free download for iPhone and iPod Touch users. Team Obama is running a brilliant campaign.

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As we so eagerly await the Biden vs. Palin debate tonight, here's Letterman yesterday on the "top 10 things overheard at the Palin debate camp":

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On the Money. Enough Bull!

2008-09-29T22:11:00.000-07:00

Unlike McCain and Obama during the first highly anticipated but truthfully lackluster presidential debate (I did not learn anything new from either of them), these three actually hold solid opinions on the state of our collapsing economy, aren't afraid to tell the chaos and corporate socialism like it is, and voice passionate calls to action. Where's our plan b? Is there even a plan b (not a "tweaked" Paulson version)?

Senator Bernie Sanders spelled out the origins of our Wall Street meltdown early on, vehemently opposing the bailout and remarking, "any company that is too big to fail is too big to exist!"

Congressman Ron Paul's words:

“Whenever a Great Bipartisan Consensus is announced, and a compliant media assures everyone that the wondrous actions of our wise leaders are being taken for our own good, you can know with absolute certainty that disaster is about to strike. The events of the past week are no exception. The bailout package that is about to be rammed down Congress’ throat is not just economically foolish. It is downright sinister. It makes a mockery of our Constitution, which our leaders should never again bother pretending is still in effect. It promises the American people a never-ending nightmare of ever-greater debt liabilities they will have to shoulder.
The claim that the market caused all this is so staggeringly foolish that only politicians and the media could pretend to believe it. But that has become the conventional wisdom, with the desired result that those responsible for the credit bubble and its predictable consequences - predictable, that is, to those who understand sound, Austrian economics - are being let off the hook. The Federal Reserve System is actually positioning itself as the savior, rather than the culprit, in this mess!
The issue boils down to this: do we care about freedom? Do we care about responsibility and accountability? Do we care that our government and media have been bought and paid for? Do we care that average Americans are about to be looted in order to subsidize the fattest of cats on Wall Street and in government? Do we care?
When the chips are down, will we stand up and fight, even if it means standing up against every stripe of fashionable opinion in politics and the media?
Times like these have a way of telling us what kind of a people we are, and what kind of country we shall be.”

Congressman Dennis Kucinich speaks out:

“The $700 billion bailout for Wall Street, is driven by fear not fact. This is too much money in too a short a time going to too few people while too many questions remain unanswered. Why aren't we having hearings on the plan we have just received? Why aren't we questioning the underlying premise of the need for a bailout with taxpayers' money? Why have we not considered any alternatives other than to give $700 billion to Wall Street? Why aren't we asking Wall Street to clean up its own mess? Why aren't we passing new laws to stop the speculation, which triggered this? Why aren't we putting up new regulatory structures to protect investors? How do we even value the $700 billion in toxic assets?

Why aren't we helping homeowners directly with their debt burden? Why aren't we helping American families faced with bankruptcy? Why aren't we reducing debt for Main Street instead of Wall Street? Isn't it time for fundamental change in our debt based monetary system, so we can free ourselves from the manipulation of the Federal Reserve and the banks? Is this the United States Congress or the board of directors of Goldman Sachs? Wall Street is a place of bears and bulls. It is not smart to force taxpayers to dance with bears or to follow closely behind the bulls."

This mess made me think of EBN (Emergency Broadcast Network) today (introduced to me by Seth a few years ago!); disbanded visionary culture-jammers from the 90s, that reminded us to always question authority (a favorite spoken word poet, Taylor Mali also implored us to speak with it too) and see through the airwaves of bull in so many brilliant visual and auditory ways. Sadly, the multimedia performance group split sometime in 97-98. Seriously, just imagine what they would have be able to make with the shitshow and media engine we've created today! Let's end on an old schooling from EBN:

And in the words of Chuck D, don't believe the hype!

Videos of the week

2008-09-26T15:54:00.000-07:00

There's an uncanny resemblance between Palin and Ms. South Carolina. Laughable, yet seriously frightening, all of Palin's interviews make me cringe and smile at the same time (especially Couric's)...

Let's revisit:

Palin vs. Ms. South Carolina:

"Did she win a contest or something?" -- Jon Stewart on the Palin pick, during last Wednesday's The Daily Show.

Straight shooting Jack Cafferty of CNN concurs, and on The Situation Room calls Palin's Couric interview the "most pathetic pieces of tape [he] ha[s] ever seen from someone aspiring to one of the highest offices in this country." I couldn't agree more.

Cartoons of the week

2008-09-26T15:22:00.001-07:00

Words are never enough...

2008-09-25T22:48:00.000-07:00

In the midst of American chaos and the largest U.S. bank failure in history, there's nothing like delightful animated videos to both enlighten and lighten the mood:

With rhetoric flying and words holding so much weight in our world, here's a clever animation that speaks to us in a different language, appropriately titled "Typolution". "Nostrand" by Ratatat perfectly accompanies the typography storm.

Home Videos - a Cartoon Network oldie but goodie! This episode is classic.

Oktapodi - a creative and impressive clip from a French animation studio.

No surprises here today, people

2008-09-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

McCain wants to call off the first debate this Friday and suspend his campaign to put "country first" -- apparently, doing a couple things at once is all too much. Flaking out on his peeps is typical though, as "McCain has skipped more votes during this session than any member of the Senate except for Tim Johnson, who had major brain surgery." OBAMA is ON for debate, responding:

"This is the exact time when the American people need to hear from the person who in 40 days will be responsible for this mess," he said. "It is more important than ever to present ourselves to the American people."

Truth! Looking forward to Friday.

David Letterman couldn't have put McCain's excuses for calling time-out, even for his show yesterday, any better:

"You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves."..."I think someone's putting something in his metamucil."
"He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sara Palin. Where is she?"
"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"

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During tonight's CBS Evening News, Katie Couric stumped Palin when asking for examples of McCain's regulations in his 26 years of Senate experience. The hokey Palin ever-so-eloquently responded she'll "try to find somethin' and bring 'em to ya" since she could not name a single instance where McCain was for a firmer government role in the economy. Oops, biffed again. Pure class:

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TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, has the name for a reason...or maybe King Paulson subconsciously meant t - r - a - p. This $700 billion bailout may very well be covering-up the fine print for American tax payers. The issue of socializing debt and privitizing profits is hugely problematic and complex, but it's a powerpunch we simply can't afford to take. It will be interesting to see how quickly and clearly this proposal unfolds.

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And clearly, Clay Aiken is gay. But really, it's no one's business but his own and the media blitz surrounding his 'outing' like a major news flash is appalling. What are we all still so fascinated about and why are people in the limelight pressured to formally acknowledge and announce their sexuality to the world?

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