while surfing the web for new tunes to check out, i hit the the proverbial goldmine when i came across this incredible blog run by 2 music fans, one into rock and indie, the other into hip hop, jazz hop, soul. these guys have built an easy to navigate music site with what i swear is one of the largest and most diverse music collections i have ever come across and the wonderful thing about it is, it’s all there for the digital taking! musical schizophrenia doesn’t actually house any files on its site other than the covers for the albums. what it does is takes advantage of the many file sharing sites such as mediafire, megaupload, rapidshare etc, which with a few simple clicks allow you free access and bam you are on your way to a musical feast of sounds not likely to find unless you were to spend hours digging through crates at a specialized music store and then only if you knew what the hell you were looking at. check em out, they even have put out an online magazine devoted primarily toward jazz hop, but it’s all good chillin to some fresh new tracks!
if you are a fan of ink you really should take a look at www.checkoutmyink.com. on the surface it’s a community of like minded people who show off their recent or not so recent tattoo’s, but it is more than that it is support, critique and inspiration for those of us who love to see art on the human form. complete with forums, comments, favorites and so much more, i can’t say i have found a more user friendly site dedicated to the art of tattoos. you can see my profile here .
wave and storm together my latest delve into inkdom
npr’s day to day ran a great story on buddhism and the zen of punk. it’s no surprise that people like brad warner and noah levine are leading figures in this movement of punk and buddhism. as i have discussed here before, buddhism’s flexibility to take on cultural nuances makes it ripe for it to incorporate western cultural phenomenons such as punk rock. especially because punk teaches escapism, questioning authority questioning self and rebellion against the status quo. buddhism asks the same questions what is self? what is authority? in fact the buddha says to question everything. it is the ultimate rebellion against self, against worldly desires, against the status quo and against attachments. the two may at first seem miles apart, but with a closer look it become easier to see how one can form out of the other and thrive. of course anger cannot exist in buddism, but the punk ethos of rebellion can rebel against even this. buddhism becomes the ultimate form of rebellion from the illusion that we stand in everyday. it can pull away the veil to reveal that when everything is stripped away there is nothing left but everything and nothing that it is all one and existence is now, in this moment, this minute, this second, this breath.
it was over 4 years ago that i ran across my friend heiko müeller after he had joined the online social site tribe and i got a good look at the art he was doing at the time. i was administrating an art forum on that site (and still do) and began to write heiko about his art. what started out as discussion about art became a friendship that has lasted to this day. heiko’s art has also matured greatly over the last few years from the short online interview i did with him in 2005. he just released his first art book called “stay awake” through rojo magazine. it’s a small beautiful book, which chronicles his past 30 years up to his recent collection. his art is truly amazing, makes one think, unique unto itself and is hard to compare to any of his peers. if i had to try and describe it some of it reminds me of being a kid again in a twisted comic world where forest animals are mutated, religious relics run amok and the people are wonderfully dysmorphic, it’s magical realism in the visual realm. if that doesn’t sell you than for nothing else get the book to see yours truly’ name in the thank you’s (which was a real humbling surprise to me)
a few weeks back on a spur of the moment whim we went out to the ocean view art festival to take a look around. to be honest i wasn’t expecting to find anything worth getting hyped up about, but it was a way to kill a few hours. however, within a half hour of walking around i ran across the most original art i have seen in a very long time. she goes by dzaet and can be found at www.dzaet.com, though her real name is pamela hill. here you can see dzaet with her art and the piece i scored called symbiosis. i plan on doing an interview with her in the near future, which will be posted here and tribe. for only have been painting for a short period of time, her work shows real depth, it’s own unique style and qualities of an artist who is very seasoned. good stuff…
1% for the planet is an organization that takes 1% of the gross income of a member company and uses it to better the planet. started by patagonia and endorsed by people like jack johnson have helped to bring many other companies on board to be a part of this growing movement. watch the video to see what it’s all about and then do something good for our world. support 1% for the planet….
for most of you it was hardly noticed, but this week i switched servers from a company that i had been with since 1993, it is also is the end of the blosxom website altogether too. thankfully my good friend tom was able to import all the entries from the old site into wordpress so they are all here from the very beginning (well kind of the very beginning my blogspot site is no longer online though i backed it up for my own enjoyment). with the new servers i have much more room to expand, wordpress is amazing to use and such a change from handwriting html text entries and uploading them via ftp, which is what i did under blosxom. i can even upload entries from my iphone. the availablitiy of tags and comments really brings the site up to the present and out of the dark ages. the site, server and blogging software may have changed, but i am still very much all about buddhism, art, technology and local happenings. it’s funny but i find myself microblogging more so be sure to check the little box to the left to see what i am up to right now. thanks to you that check on me and see what i am up to and thinking it’s a good feeling to share with others….
i will be screening this buddhist documentary about noah levine author of “dharma punx” and “against the stream” and his struggle to find inner peace in a world of drugs, punk and delinquency on thursday 25 september at 7:30 pm. noah is one of those rare people that comes along and blows all stereotypes right out of the water, though tattooed from head to toe, he has found what many of us only dream of. in earthly terms he holds a masters degree in psychology and practices both theraveda and mahyana forms of buddhism. he leads retreats all across the country and has created a revolution in buddhism in america. his teacher’s list from his holiness the dalai lama, norman fisher to jack kornfield. whether you are new to buddhism, wanting to learn more or are interested in a good story, email me and let me know you would like to attend. in order for the film makers to get paid, you will need to go here to print off your free ticket. we will follow up with a short dharma talk on the film and any questions you may have on buddhist practice local sanghas etc. hope to see you there.
