Music and Blortfdum

I first heard this song in the Philippines years ago at a high...

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:20:31 -0400

I first heard this song in the Philippines years ago at a high school party of some sort. Some group did a horrible remix and I hated it so much. Years later, I discovered the original and although it still has a cheesy quality to it, I kind of think it’s awesome. The songwriting is more sophisticated than the actual sound might lead you to believe. Or maybe I’m just feeling a bit of nostalgia…

Happy almost Friday!

Fell in love with Hanne Hukkelberg’s music awhile back....

Thu, 23 May 2013 01:22:23 -0400

Fell in love with Hanne Hukkelberg’s music awhile back. She’s an amazing songwriter and performer. Check her out.

Salt of the Earth

As you march
Put your feet down along the path
As you sharply slide
Cut what darkens your designed, firm sight

I am the grass under your feet that softens your steps
And I am the branch you break and
I am the bird you laugh off and leave in the lurch
Gloss over, silence and forget

As you’re getting close
Tear along, rushing madly off reaching your goals
As you dust up the sand
Eager to see rewards in glitter and gold

I am the sand under your feet that softens your steps
And I am the branch you break and
I am the bird you laugh off and leave in the lurch
Gloss over and silence, omit

I am the grass under your feet that softens your steps
And I am the branch you break and
I am the bird you laugh off and leave in the lurch
Gloss over and silence and forget

As you cut in suspense
Wanting space to grow
It’s on my expense
But you don’t look below

thenationmagazine: “I’m the only candidate who is adamantly...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:11:46 -0400

thenationmagazine:

“I’m the only candidate who is adamantly opposed to stop-and-frisk.”
—NYC mayoral candidate John Liu on what distinguishes him from the other Democratic candidates in a Q&A at The Nation office today

I have my issues with John Liu but this is a pretty good reason to not vote for the other candidates.

humansofnewyork: After I took her photo, she stuck her cheek...

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 23:06:23 -0400

humansofnewyork:

After I took her photo, she stuck her cheek out for a kiss. After I gave her one, she said: “Isn’t love great?”
“Yes it is,” I replied. Then she leaned in and said:
“But sex is better.”

I love this. Can only hope to be this fierce when I’m her age.

Look to the rain and see, the light ahead is near. (at Sat Nam...

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 15:33:17 -0400

Look to the rain and see, the light ahead is near. (at Sat Nam Yoga Spa)

Sometimes, I just want a pet dragon.

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:00:58 -0400

Sometimes, I just want a pet dragon.

"Maybe dullness is associated with psychic pain, because something that’s dull or opaque fails to..."

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:41:52 -0400

“Maybe dullness is associated with psychic pain, because something that’s dull or opaque fails to provide enough stimulation to distract people from some other, deeper type of pain that is always there, if only in an ambient low-level way, and which most of us spend nearly all our time and energy trying to distract ourselves from.”

- The late, great David Foster Wallace on the concept of mindfulness (taken from an unfinished novel)

Showing in NYC on April 19th at the Cinema Village. Please help...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:33:51 -0400

Showing in NYC on April 19th at the Cinema Village. Please help spread the word.

Sao Gonca by Seu Jorge featuring Caetano Veloso

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:55:33 -0400

Sao Gonca by Seu Jorge featuring Caetano Veloso

"I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait..."

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:10:31 -0400

“I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love, for love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, but the faith and the love are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.”

- T.S. Eliot

Happy song of the day! Elis Regina and Tom Jobim - Aguas de...

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 17:28:28 -0400

Happy song of the day! Elis Regina and Tom Jobim - Aguas de Marco.

Music, Blorftdum and Me: And We Samba'd All Night Long

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 18:28:58 -0400

Music, Blorftdum and Me: And We Samba'd All Night Long:

musicblorftdumandme:

Meet our badass teacher, Quenia Ribeiro. This is who I want to be when I grow up.

Source: Sinuous Mag

I’d forgotten how much I love to dance. Being forced into doing something as a child doesn’t particularly lend itself to learning the value of appreciation, especially when…

"I’m the one that’s got to die when it’s time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want..."

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:26:10 -0400

“I’m the one that’s got to die when it’s time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.”

- Jimi Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix - Axis: Bold as Love (via musicblorftdumandme)

musicblorftdumandme: I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of...

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:25:47 -0400

musicblorftdumandme:

I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, “This is what it is to be happy.” — Sylvia Plath

Music, Blorftdum and Me: CBT and Buddhism

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:25:16 -0400

Music, Blorftdum and Me: CBT and Buddhism :

musicblorftdumandme:

Had my first cognitive-behavior therapy session yesterday and the process had some clear similarities to Buddhist philosophy - the idea that our thoughts create our emotions.

The difference is that in CBT, you learn how identifying and controlling those thoughts can lead to more positivity…

musicblorftdumandme: Must reread. My good friends lent this to...

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:24:49 -0400

musicblorftdumandme:

Must reread.

My good friends lent this to me awhile back and in addition to being helpful creatively, it’s just a fascinating read because it highlights both the spiritual and scientific nature of meditation.

"The idea that racism lives in the heart of particularly evil individuals, as opposed to the heart of..."

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:24:18 -0400

“

The idea that racism lives in the heart of particularly evil individuals, as opposed to the heart of a democratic society, is reinforcing to anyone who might, from time to time, find their tongue sprinting ahead of their discretion. We can forgive Whitaker’s assailant. Much harder to forgive is all that makes Whitaker stand out in the first place. New York is a city, like most in America, that bears the scars of redlining, blockbusting and urban renewal. The ghost of those policies haunts us in a wealth gap between blacks and whites that has actually gotten worse over the past 20 years.

But much worse, it haunts black people with a kind of invisible violence that is given tell only when the victim happens to be an Oscar winner. The promise of America is that those who play by the rules, who observe the norms of the “middle class,” will be treated as such. But this injunction is only half-enforced when it comes to black people, in large part because we were never meant to be part of the American story. Forest Whitaker fits that bill, and he was addressed as such.

I am trying to imagine a white president forced to show his papers at a national news conference, and coming up blank. I am trying to a imagine a prominent white Harvard professor arrested for breaking into his own home, and coming up with nothing. I am trying to see Sean Penn or Nicolas Cage being frisked at an upscale deli, and I find myself laughing in the dark. It is worth considering the messaging here. It says to black kids: “Don’t leave home. They don’t want you around.” It is messaging propagated by moral people.

”

- Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Good, Racist People,” NYT.com 3/6/13 (via racialicious)

And they say we’re “post-race.”

(via musicblorftdumandme)

humansofnewyork: This man was driving me across Tehran...

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:24:01 -0400

humansofnewyork:

This man was driving me across Tehran yesterday, when I learned that he’d lived for 8 years in America— incidentally on the same STREET as me in Georgia.

He first crossed into the United States from Mexico— paying $1,500 to be transported across the border. He wanted to go to University and be a dentist, but learned that the idea of America was much more bountiful than the reality. He worked at a factory job for 8 years, without ever being able to get a drivers license. He wasn’t able to find a foothold in society. After 9/11, he said things got much tougher for Middle Eastern immigrants. “I had a great passion for the American people,” he said. “When 9/11 happened, I had no money, so instead I gave my blood.”

Five years ago he spent a night in jail for driving without a license. He decided he was tired of being nervous all the time, and he went all out for a green card. When he was turned down, he returned to Iran.

His fee for a 45 minute taxi ride across Tehran was only $6. I paid him the rate he’d have received in America, and asked for his photograph. He was the kind of man I most admire. The kind that realizes you get one shot at life, and risks everything to make the best of it. I was sorry it didn’t work out for him.

“It was my destiny,” he said. He didn’t sound like he believed his own words though.

“Are you married?” I asked.

“Yes. I met my wife when I returned to Iran.”

“Well there you go,” I said.

As I prepared to take his photograph, he made one request: “Don’t photograph me with the taxi,” he said, “it’s a low class job.”

“It’s not a low class job,” I said. “It’s the job of people who take huge risks so their children can be lawyers and surgeons.”

(Tehran, Iran)

"To be attached to one thing (a certain view) and to look down upon other things (views) as inferior..."

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:23:39 -0400

“To be attached to one thing (a certain view) and to look down upon other things (views) as inferior - this the wise men call fetter.”

- Buddha (via musicblorftdumandme)

musicblorftdumandme: humansofnewyork: He told me he was on his...

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:22:58 -0400

musicblorftdumandme:

humansofnewyork:

He told me he was on his way to a labor law class, so I asked him if he was studying to be a lawyer. He said:

“No, I’m an electrician, actually. I just want to have as much knowledge as possible so that I can give good advice to my family and community. I didn’t really have access to much good advice when I was growing up. People think that kids become drug dealers and gang members because of rap, or movies, or video games. But it’s actually because of bad advice. They see criminals with money and nice things, and those are their examples of success. So they look to them for advice.”

Truth.