time+space

this is what happens with a nearly limitless amount of both in the hands of these guys.
and it's nice to know that someone out there is still working on these ideas. thank you, scientists.

i am

sometimes i need the reminder and it couldn't come from a better source.

nolapdbs : an update

nearly 2months after receiving the bs ticket (a warrant is suppose to go out after 1month) and calling nola traffic court for my ticket to post dayaftereveryotherday only to hear the deflating automated service tell me once again that the ticket wasn't in the system and to call back or use '0' to speak with a representative (which i always did); i finally received a tip from one such representative (who i must say were all pleasant each time i spoke with them and were generally always trying to be helpful). the tip; a new # which led me to the clerk's office and a woman who couldn't believe the ticket was issued 2months prior and not yet in their system. fax you a copy of the ticket? surely - against my initial instinct, thinking that if they had lost the ticket i'd be giving it right back to them. a quick phone call minutes later from the voice i'd just left with my faxed ticket; "mr.fool, the officer has been contacted and is on his way in with his books now," she huffed seemingly very perturbed. "the date to deal with your ticket has been extended through december. you'll still need to contact the ticket office to know when your ticket actually gets into our system." i sigh.... "then you can begin payment or get a court date." i sigh again....

"great! because i intend on contesting!"

"okay, well if you keep calling and it still doesn't show up, you call me back."

thanks miss. at least i don't have to worry about the warrant... right?

so i hadn't called back about the ticket. instead i'd just planned to make my way to the courthouse some afternoon in late november to contest for a court date. 

5days ago a # i don't recognise hums my phone and i leave to go to voice mail as i do all unknowns. the same # hums again and this time leaves word.

i check.

i have 1 unheard message. first message... a different voice calling from the clerk's office; "mr.fool, i wanted to let you know that your traffic ticket "j7####6" has been voided. you will not have to pay this ticket. missoriginalclerk'sofficeassistant wanted me to call and let you know. i'll be sending a letter to your address informing you of the same. no need to call back. thank you."
yesterday the letter she spoke of was waiting inside on the hardwood when i returned from work.
i assume one of three scenerios. one; that my nagging up the chain led to my good fortune. two; perhaps i flagged an officers lackluster job performance and as a result (or thank you) the clerk's office let me off the hook at a time when 3nopd officers have already made the news for the worst reasons. three; maybe my words to the ticketing officer actually reached him on the day of and he found it within him to void the ticket before turning in his books.
my instinct leans furthest toward one but regardless the reason; i'm pleased and thankful.
drive good.

in the rain : acl : queens of the stone age

i sat by the ocean and drank a potion, baby to erase you.

i had lost my friends and pushed forward to stand alone in the crowd 10feet back from center stage. friend1 went to mingle with other music. friend2's energy radiated from further forward to my right, but couldn't be seen, only felt. the sun had completely hidden itself just in time for the stage lights+effects to matter. the darkness meant the band could enter the stage under haze and minimum visibility. lights slowly faded in from behind the drum kit to reveal silhouettes and then proceeded to stream out over the excited crowd. josh raises his guitar pick to the crowd. screams of anticipation. he drops the pick which falls to strike the first note of you think i ain't worth a dollar, but i feel like a millionaire in perfect unison with the fall of the first cool drop of rain on my hand; it's presence infinitely amplified by breaking what had otherwise been a very dry hot day; minus my consumption of costa rican imperial lager+h20. each note seemed to bring with it an extra raindrop until the exponential additions of rain broke into down pour right at the start of track2; no one knows where josh felt prompted to cheer the crowd. "we're here now, don't leave me!" he screamed between verses... no one was going anywhere.
green+yellow flashed in time beautifying the shower. by track4 the energy was lifted to baptismal levels; the rain+sound serving as a cleansing of soul+mind+body. i focused internally a moment, tasting the water on my lips and feeling the kick+bass in my heart. i pulled my heart from my chest and washed it in the energy. i placed it back in it's vacancy and felt restored+rejuvenated+realive.
reunited with friend1, i found myself fulfilled, content, at peace, joyful.
walk good.

alan lomax

alan lomax was one of the greatest collectors and documenters of folk culture in the world. for the majority of his life he traveled the planet recording the local music and interviewing the local natives. those 17,000+ recordings have finally been digitised, more than a decade after his death, and absorbed by the united states library of congress and are now readily available online at the association of cultural equity. just start at the beginning. it means you get to start with the calypso anyway.
walk good.

ps. this here sidebar worthy.

brain games

i'm a science geek, but you already knew that. i always say, even though it's not always true, that my favourite sciences are astronomy and cognitive sciences (eg: neurology) likely because we know so little about each. this post is news about the latter.
two american researchers working at the university of washington have successfully conducted the first human brain to brain transmission (liking cbc news these days). previously successful with rats, these too scientists sat at opposite sides of the university's campus and using the internet, the sender controlled the receiver's hand. swim caps. diodes. video games. yet another instance of the future made present; of science fiction made reality. it's amazing and terrifying as the future tends to be.
in yesterday's future we can implant jaws that were printed in 3-d, grow ears+noses from stem cells, and now brains too. yep, we grow brains. these miniature brains will only grow so large with the absence of blood+oxygen. still, scientists believe these brains may give vast insight into rare diseases and better explain how new drugs affect the brain. again with the amazing and slightly terrifying; the freaky but incredible.
adding these two interesting articles a day later.
insomniacs lose focus. i've experienced that though must say when my brain keeps me up in the wee hours i always seem to be focused+driven.
poverty affects mental ability, influences critical thinking and decision making.

nolapdbs

friday morning i headed to work; magazine street becomes camp and with the park on the left and the international school of louisiana on the right i drove the left lane at the requested 20milesperhour with the rest of the commuters motoring to work. well beyond school grounds (100meters+) a sudden smash of brakes and warning red from the suv in front of me had me smashing mine and rather than jam them to a full stop inches from her tailpipe i quick check the right lane, make lane change and proceed to gather speed as to not slow that lane too. just as i was about to cross melpomene, a cop who was already busy writing up another motorist looks up from his ticket pad and jumps out from in front of his cruiser and nearly into the path of my vehicle, banging on the side+trunk; evidently not pleased with his morning or my ability to transport myself about town.
i thought briefly about continuing about my trip to work (and probably should have) but thought better of it knowing that driving off would certainly bring penalty once he checked the cruisers on-board-camera for my plate#, so i obliged the officer and spun my car around to sit on the corner of melpomene+camp. it was about 8:45a. the officer (i won't name him now, but perhaps after future installments to this story) was curt to say the least. "license, registration, proof of insurance." i obliged. "i'll be back," off to his cruiser to check me for warrants. i have none. he returned to my car window with my information and then very plainly informed me that i was driving 30mph in a 20mph school zone, that i was following too closely to the car in front of me and that i failed to signal. he handed me a citation for all three 'violations.'
"sir," i tried to be polite, "you were just writing a ticket. you didn't see all that. the car in front of me smashed their brakes, of course i was close. i did signal. and you certainly didn't clock me from outside your cruiser."
"sign here. you can protest it with the court if you like."
i do like. and i fully intend to. dude shit on my friday morning simply to fill an end of the month citation quota he hadn't yet reached. traffic cops, i've been told, have to meet #s like any other form of solicitation. as he began to walk away from me i said "excuse me sir, you give no favor or grace for the fact that i simply could have just kept driving? i wouldn't had stopped had you not got my attention by banging on my car."
"i didn't bang on your car," he said anxiously and then walked away.
i felt like telling him to get laid.
added 9.43p: initial research+calculations project approximately a $857 fine. 

project be

be.

monday evening i took the opportunity to venture out to the florida housing development deep in the recesses of the 9th ward; abandoned since hurricane katrina unleased her wrath back in 2005. demolition is set to begin soon to make way for new, but before they're gone local artist brandan 'bmike' odums has taken the opportunity to turn many of these empty galleries into project be; a collection of graffiti paying tribute to leaders+motivators+creators, complete with uplifting quote+verse. his work has inspired other artists to join in the creation and this old community suddenly has the new life as a museum of very modern art.

there is no telling when the demolition will begin but in the meanwhile the walls inside this fenced in community are pulsing with +vibes, powerful art, and the words of common. 

during the visit i met several good souls braving the broken glass+crumbling steps to either create or admire but most importantly commune with each other and i realised at a point that the art had made this abandoned housing development a safe place to share+express ideas; it is safe place to be.
below are some of my photos from the day. you can find more by following the project be link above.
 

"graffiti is like tattoos for buildings."
walk good.
ps. some friends+i are talking to go back to create own. if do, more sooncome.

flying lotus videos

flying lotus has this cool sound, but his videos are visually stunning. check this one and then a few others.


putty boy strut.

tiny tortures.

and this short clip about flying lotus' cosmogramma album appeals to me greatly.

years since birth

people have always worried about my earthly age more than i have. for many years when questioned i'd have to figure the math before answering. i seem to have more of a handle on that these days if for no other reason than to avoid a dumbfounded look when i can't answer immediately. as a child i was allowed 3birthday parties at 5, at 10, and at 15years old. i waived the last one; by then celebrating seemed wasteful.
my theory has always been that each day your a year older than you were a year ago so celebrate everyday, not one day.
something is changing though. i'm half way through 30 suddenly and feel as though i'm only now awakening. awakening isn't really the right word. it's a safe word i use to keep from stating the reality. the reality is that i'm only just now beginning to chase my dreams, which isn't quite the truth either. i suppose the truth is that i'm only just now beginning to believe in myself; in my ability to succeed at more than the mundane. i'm only, at 30.5years old, just finding out that what i have to share with the world is real+beautiful+brilliant. my ideas, my art, my effort isn't for not. it matters. but most of all it can make a difference. it can better the world around me.
you see, like many people, i was trained not to chase my dreams but to chase a living. to work toward satisfactory. to survive. a mediocre job and roof overhead was suppose to be enough. and i'm great at that... the surviving part. if everything in this world goes to shit, look for me... i'll be the one thriving through it all; surviving. though being satisfactory and surviving the way i do isn't enough. i'm not accomplishing nearly what i'm capable of.
what i have inside of me can be a light of good+worth+wonder. i can change norms with my ideas. i can expand minds. i can leave a mark. as a friend so wonderfully put just recently, it's about time i become the eye of the storm. i spinning into it just now... hold on. these winds are gonna get strong.
spin strong.

analog facebook

introducing analog facebook:
simply fill a 3-ring binder with any type of paper, pick up a polaroid camera (yes, they still make the film) and the adhesive of your choice. now, when you meet new people you can invite them to be your friend without having to wait for an acceptance. a friendly handshake will confirm your bond. if they accept your verbal friend invite snap their photo with your camera, then go all andre3000 on it. in the meanwhile invite your new friend to enter his/her name and mailing address (the minimum info required) and then all additional information on one of the sheets of paper in your binder. be sure to recommend their birth date, their education+employment history, their likes in music, movies, books, activities, other... and then finally insert the photo you took of them in the top left corner. boom! analog facebook friend acquired! well... don't just sit there! post something clever on their analog facebook wall or at least like their photo by taking a photo of your own thumb and attach it below their profile pic. now, simply do this with every single person you meet in the real world and watch your analog facebook friends pile up! it won't be long before you have official analog facebook binder bags filled with official analog facebook 3-ring binders; the truly popular will need our official analog facebook binder wagon, so they can keep all their analog facebook friends close. when you bump into your analog facebook friends be sure to have them update their page and let them your comments on their previous statuses while you, of course, update your page in their analog facebook.
need to send your new friend a message... not to worry, their analog facebook page has their mailing address. a quick handwritten message, an envelope and a stamp and you'll be messaging your friend in 3-5days... or weeks.
what more could you ask for? hurry, start analog facebooking now! it's trending...

genius greenious

hadda post before i lost it...
portable solar energy. they bes' run this shit across the globe right quick. too smart.

please welcome to the stage... ghostface killah (and other musical awareness updates)

ghostface rocks a mic. i've literally loved everything the man has done. he can do it all, including his new stage show that accompanies his new album, twelve reasons to die; a collaboration with american composer adrian younge. the album is nice and deserves a proper listen. i'd see the show if it came this way.

tyler, the creator is the next big ting in hiphop. he's controversial. he's talented. he speaks freely. people hate him and he's cool with that. he's been called a satanist after his album goblin which i can't speak to since i haven't heard it; having only caught up with the scene since his latest record, wolf, drop. one listen through drop and you'll feel the same way. he's on the come up. listen close to track 6, answer, where he imagines a phone call with his father.

the beatles have a new album! okay, they don't have a new album but if the beatles of the late 60's were producing music today it would sound like tame impala. their latest release lonerism is excellent. i doh know what else to say but check it.

scientifically accurate spiderman and scientifically accurate ninja turtles. stumbled upon these while pulling youtube music links. ridiculous.

boy did we get lucky. new daft punk is out. pharrell produced it. nuff said. (video is not surprisingly pretty weird)

i doh needa link anyting i doh think, but major lazer's free the universe is bes' as expected. it has barely left my ears since it drop. wind up
anyway>
there's so much more: flaming lips, alt-j, jt, kid cudi... i could go on. like i said, i'ma hafta send you more music sooner or later.

i'll leave you with something from local nola. a project called bloody sunday sessions where a film crew and band mount up onto a horse drawn carriage that parades around the french quarter while the music happens. the result is pretty awesome. go to the sessions tab and check out treme brass and/or edward sharpe. good stuff.

fete on. walk good.

world book night #2

happy world book night #2, sweet trini!
this year's book to was bradbury's fahrenheit 451. as a child this was one book that made me love to read and immediately think of all literature as terribly important. to potentially gift a similar experience to another is an honour.
20copies boxed up. passed by the secondary school too late to dish 'em out before school bell ring but found 3young boys, aiden, andre+alex (ages 8,9+10) waiting for the public bus to head to their primary school. i approached and offered them each a copy. it went down like this:
"hey, fellas. how are ya'll? you wanna good book?" books already in hand.
all 3boys replied "yeah!" with a moderate amount of excitement. i hand them the book.
"what's is it?"
"fahrenheit 451. do you know why it's called that?"
"no." "nope." alex stays quiet.
"because that's the temperature at which paper burns."
"oh?" confused looks. "so why is called that?"
"it's sci-fi." all their faces light up.
"i love science." says aiden. "i read all kind of science and fantasy fiction." says andre, looking like a young malcolm x. alex still a bit skeptical says "so what's it about?"
"it's about a future based not too far from our own where literature has been outlawed and books are now destroyed instead of created. the firemen who used to save lives and put out fires..."
"start them!" andre proclaims. "he burns their homes and everything, doesn't he? cool!"
"that's right!" i state, immediately impressed and a bit stunned by his answer.
andre, a little proud of himself, asks "are you gonna come back around?"
"well, i hope so. we'll see each other again someday, i'm sure."
they all thanked me enthusiastically and i headed into the job. those were the best 3books i gave away all day.
17copies left... a work day later, i pass by the students of the secondary school still awaiting parent-pickups and invite 'em to take a copy of bradbury's novel. they were gone in less than 5minutes. most of the students were absolutely interested and appreciative for the free book though not one questioned why i was able to give them away for free (i told them anyway) and only 1 turned it down.
the experience of giving to kids was bes'. they were interested+excited+grateful to be given something for nothing. some were even thrilled it was a book. at least 2youths told me they've "always wanted to read this." i hoping them 2 and at least one other read the damn thing, or they at least give it to someone who wanna.
the experience was in stark contrast to last year where i hadda plead with other grown adults to even gimme time a day before they eventually accepted a free book. most figure there hadda be some catch... "what kinda ting you selling attitude?"
seems as we age we learn to expect that nothing free, that there always a hidden agenda, that we, by nature, are selfish beings and act accordingly. and this by all practical reasoning and in my experience is pretty much true. the human condition so poor that we find ourselves flabbergasted when someone truly do for no other reason but to do good. i often feel ashamed+sickened by that condition; like a disease we damned to pass to the next generation. as though there is no hope for them. they doomed to retreat to selfishness. there will be no enlightenment, no advancement, no renaissance. human beings will just continue to slip further into ourselves. but world book night flips that on it's head. publishers+libraries+bookstores+givers coming together for the joy of sharing literature with the masses; no selfish tendencies, no payment, no reason but a pure one; giving art. alex+andre+aiden made my art giving experience one i'll remember. and they remind me to hope for the future. minds like theirs can make the difference.
"always do right. this will gratify some people and astonish the rest." - mark twain.

the event

i know i said less videos, more content, but you love these shorts as much as i do. this one is wow. walk good.

all videos these days. more sooncome. walk good.

flim flam

the maker

the ambivalent man must certainly die of self strangulation. calloused hands clenching neck; left fighting right for position. tighter until he gags. tighter until he coughs. tighter until he collapses. lungs begging for freedom. sucking for air. blood fiendishly begging for oxygen. shallow breaths. deeper breaths. he regains consciousness. regains focus. regains strength. regains determination. regains contempt; falling back to knees. battling hands as they again squeeze down on esophagus. doomed to repeat the process. damned to survive death. dying to live. fighting to die.

dragged out drugged out art

hadda post this myself so i doh lose it. thanks sweet trini. click the sketch.

my newest tattoo

my design, properly placed. wonderfully coloured.

attack of literacy

this is the jersey i wore in the previous world book night post. i'm posting it for you because it's awesome.

laugh ouch loud

last night, i became abundantly aware that, perhaps, i shouldn't watch the daily show or the colbert report while nursing busted ribs. laughter hurts and at the moment is certainly not the best medicine.

scratches

world book night

after work tonight i came home, changed my clothes (sported my "attack of literacy" jersey) and went down the street with a box of free books under tow. roughly thirty paperbacks of two titles. i gave a few copies away to the people who would look eye with me as we passed or eyed the open box under my arm. i made my way down the street and setup in front of a small grocery. as people came out i offered anyone who would listen "free fiction," and immediately i realised what i thought was going to be a ten minute process (because who turns down a free book, right?) was going to take much longer. at first most people wanted nothing to do with me, some actively avoid me; i imagine they thought i was pushing god. one woman stopped. "wait, you're giving away free books?" slowly people gathered. some people wanted a full summary of each title before making a selection. some were simply gracious to be randomly gifted a free novel. some had read one title. one had read both. but many stayed around and spoke to each other about the books; didn't hurt that i was giving out zeitoun in new orleans. for a few moments, and almost immediately, a small community gathered under the art of literature and the joy of reading. it was amasing and i was pleased to be a part of it.
this experience was brought to me by world book night.
ps. i have a photo for this post but new blogger won't let me upload it. the more things change... (posted)

fff #40

bare, beer, bier, bear

he never thought a beer at a familiar bar and a drive through a familiar neighbourhood would lead him to his bier. he left the bar that night arm-in-arm with best intentions and his beautiful, cherry blossom scented date. he closed the passenger door gently behind her as she tucked her dress between her thigh and the seat of his new avalon, smiling sweet at him for showing such gentlemanly character. nina simone's i can't see nobody leaked out the cracked windows, dancing with the warm late summer breeze as they drove toward mid-city. a left on canal and a right on bank street found them in front of her camelback home. sweet olive trees filled the air with their wonderful aroma as he walked her to the front door, stopping a step below her terrace so their lips could meet briefly without her straining her neck. a bear hug around his waist and a soft smile followed before he watched her disappear behind heavy oak and listened carefully to the satisfaction of safety behind lock+chain.

his heart still flooded with the warmth of her lips he began plotting their next moment together before he had returned behind the wheel. he drove off, stopping at the corner of north galvez+bank to stare in his rear view fondly at her porch light. suddenly her light disappeared behind an ominous shadow. the shadow split in two and each quickly filled each side view mirror. he hit the gas and sped through the intersection before he heard the first shot; gun fire from the two shadows. a second shot shattered a car window, but he never heard a third. his avalon veered off the road, through a banana tree and into the front room of a newly renovated shotgun home.

by the time the ambulance arrived he was gone.

now, the bullet still lodged in his brain, he lay stripped bare on cold metal. his sharpest grey suit hangs near anxiously awaiting their infinite rest together. his bier will be surrounded by flowers and loved ones. just a closer walk with thee will lead the procession to grave. he'll be buried holding a bible, and covered in cherry blossoms and the tears of one heart-broken woman.

the black keys

on last day of march and the first perfectly hot day of the year i stood in woldenburg park, new orleans, louisana, usa with tens of thousands of other people all there for the same purpose: the black keys' music. i've been a little obsessed with the black keys for a good while now and would easily consider pay serious $ to experience them live. amazingly enough, on this day we were all getting drunk+lifted in their presence for free... all thanks to the ncaa final four basketball tournament being in town (thanks college basketball!).

their often percussion heavy blues rock live was incredible and the best energy i've felt all year. i left high off the vibes and felt great all day (residuals resonate even now). this radio1 show is nearly the same set list as i heard, though i must say that the outdoor venue was much higher energy+volume than in the lounge. the lounge show is still awesome. enjoy.

a little song+dance+dearphotograph

good stuff below.

song.

dance.

dearphotograph.

...and then get down with die antwoord. i mean if you aren't already.

speak now or forever lose your voice

daf, delayed auditory feedback was originally designed to assist those with a stutter; click the link for a brief example. it's a brilliant+wonderful way to relief the stress of speaking with a stutter, particularly in a public forum... there's even an app for that.

this technology, as so many do, has a terribly negative side. it can be controlling. deafening. silencing. and has the power to eradicate free speech completely. read this article: shut up.

how do you silence an entire population?

amazing pointillism

Hero from Miguel Endara on Vimeo.

books without borders

borders bookstore announced today that they will indefinitely sell their remaining assets, lay off 11,000 employees and close their last 399stores. some say, they simply bought too much high priced real estate that they couldn't unload when necessary, but most believe the ebook (and their late arrival to the ebook game) is to blame for the implosion of borders books. it's the advancement of that 'e' that has continued to ruin print that for centuries was sure to stand the test of time. newspapers and magazines continue to see a steady decline in circulation since today one can generally find all their news online and with the addition of the ebook, bookstores, small+large, used+new are beginning to see it too.

proprietors of the kindle, the ipad, the nook and the ebook argue that its better for the environment than traditional books containing pages made from paper. "paper comes from trees, ya know, we saving trees." (a direct quote from a kindle user during a discussion about real books versus ebooks.) another user told me they liked how small and compact it is... "it's easy to carry around," she said. "it's the size of a book, huh?" i said. "yeah, but now i don't have to have shelves of books cluttering up my house."... i stand dumbfounded. cluttering up shelves? if that's how you perceive books, then lady, i think you're missing the point.

i personally can't stand the idea of ebooks. in fact, they scare the hell outta me. take a look at this image from newsweek magazine a year ago (pay close attention to the carbon emissions of each).

a year later, the ebook has a much stronger hold on its market and is beginning to strangle the competition. while ebooks hold a mere 9per cent of the market, ebook sales climbed 164per cent last year and are downloaded more than any other media, second only to mp3s. so as ebooks continue to take a hold of the market, will we eventually loose bookstores all together? or will the ones that survive be like those we find in terminal c of the airport; big authors, big titles and less and less abstract, unconventional, enlightening works? would ebooks, then, force the production of more cookie-cutter novels, formulamatic+predictable, designed to sell? and if there are no book stores, would libraries slowly dissipate too? would future generations have to look at books from behind museum glass? would they even know what bound pages feel like to their fingers? and perhaps most importantly to me, if all books are digital, would some works deemed "controversial" begin to simply disappear; lost deep in the digital nether regions of the data/space continuum, forever hidden from us by the incalculable number of packets+pages strung together to make up the already blinding world wide web? would those of us with those books eventually become fugitives? could bradbury's vision be coming true? will we one day hide his farenheit 451 beneath the floorboards beside the words of orwell and huxley, and have to fight to protect them?

i can't understand why people are in such a hurry to go digital. what's so wrong with analog anyway? i love the feel of holding an analog book, flipping the pages, reading the print. i love how when i read a book i love, i can share it with those i love by simply passing it along. no upload. no download. no streaming. actually hand delivering it in an attempt to keep what little human interaction we do have strong. spreading art for art's sake. i continue to acquire books when i can, and it was pointed out to me how i don't even get around to reading them - though i will. and i feel while i do need to read those works that increasing my personal library, cluttering my shelves (in a manner of speaking), is never a bad thing and will continue to do so. when books are all digital and we have our first digital apocalypse, i'll still have my collection and will read them, share them and protect them.

catching up with the foolish

after reading about a friends discovery of a band i've listened to for a few years now, i suddenly felt like a bad friend or least ashamed of not doing my universal job as an artist to spread art... so below i've embedded several songs from artists i've been listening to recently. hopefully you find some good vibes that you hadn't already heard. first the band that caused this post: lcd soundsystem, dance yrself clean - listen to the whole song. it grows on you. radiohead, lotus flower. what can i say, it's thom yorke dancing himself clean in his own way. it's a great track off their latest; the king of limbs. black metal by my morning jacket. this band is consistantly reinventing themselves. their sound grows+morphs with each album -- they never sound the same way twice. stephen marley, made in africa. i could post each song off his latest album, but here is track1, side1 just in case you hadn't heard yet. i'm a huge dangermouse fan too, so here is revenge (featuring the flaming lips) off his collaboration with sparklehorse entitled dark night of the soul. dangermouse's label rejected the album (what were they thinking) but after sparklehorse member, mark linkous, died in early 2010 emi (sparklehorse's label) released the work as his last. dangermouse also released a album this year, collaborating with italian composer daniele luppi on rome with vocals by norah jones and jack white. finally, if you aren't high on theivery corperation, perhaps you should be. they vibe with the beat of my heart. they can bring me up, cool me out and get me off. their music can satify any situation. the cosmic game is a great track, but there are so many more... listen to several. okay, i'm including two: enjoy.

rsa animate

if you haven't seen them; these are amazing. adapted animations from a series of lectures at the royal society of arts, like my favourite: choice, by sir ken robinson.

what dreams may go

i haven't dreamt in quite a while; or at least not remembered one anyway. 10years or more of no dreams. i'd accepted that i was one of those people who simply never remembers their dreams until suddenly about 4months ago, i awoke with a dream in my head. it's happened more and more as of late and some of them are just weird, ridiculous, insane yet creative projections. what follows are the notes of easily the oddest dream i've had in the last 10+years. *yes, i may make it a full story eventually. no, i'm not looking for any 'what does it mean' critiques.

i'm homeless. walking along the side of some country highway in near pitch black darkness. patches of tree then farm then field then tree line the beat up road. an old faded red pick-up truck drives by and comes to a stop just 100meters in front of me. weary as i approach the vehicle, i look into the passenger side window to see only a cigar light up the driver's face. a farmer; he tells me he can put me up and offers me work. with not too many other options available to me i accept...

when we reach the farm, he says there's a small house just the other side of a gated brush field down a dirt path where i can stay the night. the work will come in the morning. the field is washed in moonlight but the tall brush and many trees provide plenty of contrast. it's eerie; like something out of a hitchcock movie (or "alfred hitchcock presents"). and my visible breath means the temperature has dropped significantly. i'm just happy to have a place to stay. i wonder about how nice it might be and if perhaps it might have a heater, or fireplace. i walk down the longer than expected narrowing path as it becomes clear no truck or tractor had been on in quite a while when i suddenly come across an animal i'd never seen before...

the animal: stood about waist high. had a body like a small deer but not as lean, though still hoofed and moved like deer; dainty, graceful, nimble. the creatures fur was more like a bear than a deer; thick and matted. and the face was more like a friendly teddy bear except the mouth contained a big set of even spaced, sharp teeth reminiscent of a bear trap. more creatures appeared. some of these creatures had antlers which resembled a pair of rabbit ears sitting atop an old television; one longer than the other, but they were wooden and sticking straight out of the top of their head. more and more and more of these fascinating creatures began to present themselves to me. like a herd of sheep they gather around me 'til i have to shoo them from my path just to continue toward the end where i'll find shelter. they don't seem afraid of me and beyond teeth that could easily kill, give me no reason to be too afraid of them.

as i get to the end of the field i see no home, no structure of any kind, until i turn back toward the path to see a small dog house size structure made of wood and rock tucked in the shrubs. my first inclination isn't to simply turn and leave but instead i think "this is what its come to" as i crouch down, crawl in, and close the wooden door behind me. it is cold and wet and it i realise quickly that if this is the house i'm to stay in the work i'd being doing in the morning wouldn't be worth it either. i'd rather spend the night walking toward the next town than stay here and head back toward the gate figuring i might find another place to stay.

i crawl out of the structure and attempt to stand collapsing as if suddenly my legs are too weak to carry me. try as i might, i continue to find the mud beneath me. what the fuck?!

panic rushes over me and i begin crawling toward the gate as fast as possible through the mud and creatures which are now my height or taller. once tame, they suddenly begin to become aggressive with me and each other; snarling and head-butting and trying to bite. some of the creatures stop right in front of me and i have to use whatever strength i have left to forcibly push them out of the way. this continues all the way to the gate. i notice the gate closed as i approach and my panic becomes outrage.

i rattle the gate like an innocent convict tugging on bars as i yell for the farmer, for anyone to rescue me from this place. with my yells the creatures begin to snort like mulls and pound their hooves, lowering heads and rushing me like rams. i yell. i scream for help. one creature impales me with his antlers which break off in my side and i writhe in pain.

i give up on the gate and the farmer and turn back toward the structure, needing shelter from the creatures now as much as the elements. trailing blood back down the path the creatures aggression subsides and they even seem to listen as i verbally direct them from my path like a dog obeying master. it seems like hours before i get back to the structure, crawl in and lay on one side, holding the other to try to stop the blood.

the creatures suddenly continue with their aggression, clawing and butting at the door. i close my eyes as if its all a dream and begin to yell 'go, you go, please go.' there is a strange straining on my vocal cords and i figure the wet cold weather is giving me a cold, but the strain gets tighter and tighter until my 'go go' sound more like 'gaww, gaww.'

i grab for my neck with my hands but instead just jab my throat with my smooth newly formed hooves. now losing my sanity while confronted with the supernatural i examine the rest of my body to find new matted fur and the begins of two sticks growing from the top of my head. and in the midst of my life's greatest panic it suddenly occurs to me that i'm becoming one of them and that perhaps all the creatures here started out as one of me; a man or woman down on their luck.

...i wake up... weirdest dream ever.

dub fx

check out dub fx. good enough for sidebar status - that should say enough. this first video give you a great understanding of what/how he's exactly creating his vibe.

random acts of culture

... is a knight arts foundation designed to get local artists off the stage and out into public. a thousand performances are scheduled over the next 3years. here is one example from this year's usitt conference in charolette, north carolina.

in notebook recovery

i've begun the mental recovery of losing my notebook 2days ago. the inclination that it's still somewhere along the canal behind the house haunts me, but just the same i'm trying to take my loss in stride and learn my lesson. the loss is crushing for a variety of reasons and those of you who carry understand what i'm talking about. beyond the facts that i was literally on the last page of the book and that i just had the mind the other day to finally digitise some of the work i'd laid between it's pages; this was the book that travelled europe with me last summer (a huge deal for me) and after filling and filing notebooks for years, suddenly losing 1 feels somehow like i've lost a volume to the chronicles of my life. i am flooded with awful thoughts of someone getting a free look into the pages of my mind; their disgusting hands gripping at the last year of my life, thumbing through my thoughts, smudging my memories, laughing at their own misunderstanding -- i can only hope it got washed away, tucked beneath a rock deep at the bottom of the canal by a gator who recognises its worth, or simply that whomever discovers it disgards it as quickly, trashing it before examining my intellect and judging my invention.

the economics of happiness

this trailer led me to isec which is worth a click, so check it out.

also check out trailers for even the rain, carbon nation, and i am. amazing works, it appears, continuing to convince a change in thought and lifestylfe through film.

the sum of all

i'd previously told you to read an article about nueroscientist david eagleman. if you read the article than you might recall the mention of one of eagleman's books entitled sum: forty tales from the afterlives which explores 40 beautifully imaginative potential afterlives; each a mirror of ourselves - examining humanity and the human condition. i was intrigued, so i picked up a copy that i've read it 3times and have become a believer of eagleman with full intentions of reading the rest of work. here is some of sum:

Ineffable

When soldiers part ways at war's end, the breakup of the platoon triggers the same emotion as the death of a person -- it is the final bloodless death of the war. This same mood haunts actors on the drop of the final curtain: after months of working together, something greater than themselves has just died. After a store closes its doors on its final evening, or a congress wraps its final session, the participants amble away, feeling that they were part of something larger than themselves, something they intuit has a life even though they can't quite put a finger on it.

In this way, death is not only for humans but for everything that existed.

And it turns out that anything which enjoys life enjoys an afterlife. Platoons and plays and stores and congresses do not end -- they simply move on to a different dimension. They are things that were created and existed for a time, and therefore by the cosmic rules they continue to exist in a different realm.

Although it is difficult for us to imagine how these beings interact, they enjoy a delicious afterlife together, exchanging stories of their adventures. They laugh about good times and often, just like humans, lament the brevity of life. The people who constituted them are not included in their stories. In truth, they have as little understanding of you as you have of them; they generally have no idea you existed.

In may seem mysterious to you that these organizations can live on without the people who composed them. But the underlying principle is simple: the afterlife is made of spirits. After all, you do not bring your kidney and liver and heart to the afterlife with you -- instead, you gain independence from the pieces that make you up.

A consequence of this cosmic scheme may surprise you: when you die, you are grieved by all the atoms of which you were composed. They hung together for years, whether in sheets of skin or communities of spleen. With your death they do not die. Instead, they part ways, moving off in their separate directions, mourning the loss of a special time they shared together, haunted by the feeling that they were once playing parts in something larger than themselves, something that had its own life, something they can hardly put a finger on.

-- david eagleman.

(i hope he doesn't mind me sharing)

i love the idea of the atoms that compiled you mourning the loss of you because i believe in science and the laws of energy. each microbe of energy, each atom that composed you is never destroyed, simply transferred from your body to something else.

so ineffable is great and each purposed afterlife is as intuitive as the next, leaving you to think about your own being and your own mortality. read sum. i'm sure you'll enjoy.

prisencolinenscinainciusol

italian musician adriano celentano. the lyrics you hear are in english and you can get the subtitled version on youtube, though celentano's intension was to speak gibberish so the lyrics don't make any sense and the music+video speak well without translation. in fact, i think the translation takes away some of the luster. enjoy.

suheir hammad

i could probably post everything i watch on ted, but she really reached me this morning. absolutely beautiful words. enjoy.

infinite credit

the united states of america functions like a video game. infinite credit is a good thing; the more credit you have the longer you can play, and when you get tired of playing you can just walk away. credit; ie. debt is dumb. why is someone in debt more trustworthy than someone who is debt-free? shouldn't someone who pays everything and owes nothing be more reliable than someone who is already financially behind? in the wonderful us of a; a country full of video gamers, there is a debt problem. we watched the government bail out the banks before they failed to save the housing market from destruction because for decades people have been requesting and receiving huge loans for homes they'd never be able to afford. of course, the banks jumped at the opportunity to loan people more money than they could ever pay back because it meant the banks would make great profits on the accrued interest and if/when the home-owners eventually foreclosed, the bank would win again. unfortunately, the banks never expected people to be selfish+irresponsible enough to simply walk away from their bad investments and didn't have the foresight to see what would happen when those millions of ridiculously hefty loans didn't get paid. as a result, the government bailed out freddie, fannie and the nation's largest banks by barrowing trillions from foreign countries and increasing the national debt to an unfathomable number so high that it will only ever be paid with blood; not money. for years i've been saying that the housing market collapse would be a minor scratch compared to the credit card debt the nation faces. look at this report listing the top ten most debt ridden cities in the country where cities with an average of about 180,000 households each owe approximately $1billion+ in credit card debt. how will that debt be paid? likely not by the people who owe it. even more staggering figures from creditcards.com suggests that as of march 2010, the us's total revolving debt which comes almost entirely from credit cards is $852.6billion off of nearly 610million credit cards nationwide. furthermore they claim that given those approximate numbers the average credit card debt per credit card debter is $15,688. there is a debt problem in this country. the united states is not in an economic recovery. there will be another, deeper bottom when the nintendo stops working altogether and sadly, it seems it's far too late to pull out the game and blow. take a deep breath. the kids are gonna flip out!

vivian maier

i was introduced to this story from a fellow photographer and was immediately blown away. it's always nice to see amazing photography, but i admire ms. maier because she shot simply because she loved to; because she loved to capture the beauty of the life around her. those motives remind me of a better version of me that used to shoot constantly - i'd like to get back into that. sadly, i think the magnitude of this photography find will never be reached again. the digital influence has made photography so much more accessible. there is so much lost in translation between the digital image on your computer screen where you can search through hundreds an hour, and the 20x30 image hanging on your wall which demands more attention and a studying of its composition. storage+printing of a digital image is easier, while storage+development of film (which nikon no longer makes) takes care, patience and knowhow. perhaps one day someone comes across a dozen external hard drives full of beautiful imagery, but will those images be 'developed' and hung in museums? or will they simply end up on flickr? is vivian maier the last great photographer? probably not. but she may be the last one the world will ever hear about.

the fire, the fight, the growth of 3

momix:botanica

last night at the mahalia jackson theatre i finally saw momix perform botanica. it was mind-blowing to say the least. inspirational and beautiful and sexual and raw at times, elegant and powerful and intriguing. it demanded your full attention and self reflection at the same time. it breathed an energy+chemistry that could be felt by everyone in the building, audience and dancer alike; connecting us all by frequency and pulse. botanica is moses pendleton's interpretative walk through the four seasons choreographed to the music of a dozen+ artists including bluetech, delerium, zer0 0ne, peter gabriel, vivaldi. the design team was incredible. lighting and sound design was beautiful and brilliant but it was the costume design and the projection design that blew me away. some costumes changed over the course of a dance; growing or stretching or changing shape. the projections simply transformed the stage into a sea or sky or field which when paired with different surfaces of mirror or matte or gloss finish created a truly spectacular atmosphere.

i continue to process this absolutely inspiring performance and may post more, but i had to post something before i let it slip away from me as i usually do. i will say, this show made me miss the creative process that is theatre.