Tempest Bunny

Poor Tempest has been ailing since last Thursday night, she's come down with Gastric Stasis.  Basically it's constipation but on bunnies it can kill them.  So, Noel and I have been force-feeding her and giving her medication.  Today she's finally eating on her own, which is awesome, though she's still sluggish and not pooping like she should.  Tempie is our first pet together and this is her first sickness.  It's amazing how difficult it is seeing her through this time.  "Financial Crisis" and elections haven't caused me anywhere near the stress of this poor Tempie's sickness.  I know she's on the road to recovery but it's still tough.

Cherry Blossoms

That's Nice!

Everything I Know I Learned from He-Man Part Two

Everything I Know I Learned from He-Man

Klingon Romp Thru Ireland

There's a strange melancholy to this video and I feel like I should make fun of these people but I only feel love for them.

Our Bunny is not this Scary

This bunny looks designed to cause childhood trauma.  Tempest is definitely not this scary.


EDIT: I brought the image back y'all.

Pancake Bunny

Tempest Bunny

I just wanted to post quickly about how much I love my bunny rabbit Tempest (aka Tempie aka Tempeh).  She's a big black bunny with a white patch around her mouth.  Once I get a digital camera you'll all get a lot of extra cute photos.

The New Truth

It will never be as cool again as it was in the 60s. Never.

My New Secret Identity

I'm Innocent

Assassin Nation

I did the sound design for this one back in the day. Enjoy Nick's awesome animation!

Tommy Lee!

Walking and Falling

Landmark Forum

I've gone through the three day weekend now. I'll admit I was skeptical going in and went through a very wide range of thoughts and emotions about it over the course of the weekend but right now I can say it was exactly what it was and it transformed me. I highly recommend the program to anyone who wants transformation..

Sunday Cartoon

The Satan sequence from the movie "The Adventures of Mark Twain":

Landmark Forum

Tomorrow through Sunday and a little bit on Tuesday I'll be doing the Landmark Forum. I've heard a lot of different opinion on this, it will be interesting to view it head on.

www.landmarkeducation.com

These Desires that we Have

Why are the desires that we have unfillable?

These sick needs that we hold - unkillable?

Where in the line of our duty can we go --
To get the seed of the stillness uncontrolled?


I don't know.



I don't know

Black Hole Baby

An excerpt from Edward's performance at Club Underground 12/30/06

Eddie Entropy

I'm getting a very specific itch and something tells me that our friend Mr. Entropy may return to live performance.

What precisely this means remains to be seen.

Suicide is Painless

Legion of Gnomes

We are Legion.


We are Gnome.


Das Gnome Machine endures.

One-Eyed Miller?

I almost poked my right eye out last night. I was getting clothes to wash for yoga when I hit my head against a sharp-edged metal post in our closet. I've got a bit of a puncture wound about an inch or so away from my right eye. It doesn't look like much but it serves as a reminder for something that could have been much worse. Yikes!

Lenny

Mr. Cohen, that's no way to say good bye.

Western Angels 2.1

Where are these failures of form and function?

They are alive in their unyieldingness.
They are dead in their slumber.

Recorder Video

Ka-baalim video. I love how this one feels.

Another Plod Down.

Damn iPod, the hard drive seems to be fizzling on me. It was working fine until late last night, plugged it into the computer and now it glitches iTunes and the drive works it's "Little Engine That Can't" best. Ack! Of course I've dropped it a half dozen times or more so that's probably where the fault's coming from.

I don't have the best of luck with mechanical devices. The arrow keys on my computer went out last night too. Hmm, I smell a conspiracy!

That's all I have, have a great Labor Day!

Benny Lava

This is totally silly and immature and also very funny:

Good movies

I have just a moment but I thought I'd mention a couple of good movies I've seen recently.

Meduzot a/k/a Jellyfish - Noel and I saw this over the weekend and knew not a thing about it. I won't go into depth here but it was one of the best movies I've seen in a while. Shades of Egoyan but with a more grounded dialog and camera style. Beautiful and heartfelt. I don't imagine it will be around next week so if you live in MPLS, you might want to catch it this week.

Cocaine Cowboys - Saw this on DVD - great documentary about the cocaine smuggling scene in Miami in the mid-70s and early 80s. This is the true story that they based Miami Vice around. There's a hit man in there who's one of the scariest people I've ever seen in a movie. The time flies by and the movie lets the people who were there talk rather and the director doesn't waste your time with editorializing.

Busy Signal

I'd better write something here before I lose the domain but I'm too tired to say much. I will say that the new job is a ton of work but also, quite literally, a dream come true. No dreams come into reality without a lot of hard work. As is obvious I haven't posted much here for a while. I hope to pop in every now and again.

Doors for the Minnetonka studio open June 27, so pop out and see me when they do open! The schedule's even up online now!

Take care and I hope things are going well for all of you!

dnd

New Job

Yeah, it's been a while since I've posted - life's been very busy and very good.

Big news: Friday is my last day at the law firm, as of next week I'll be making my living as a yoga studio manager! Yep, my friends, you read that right!

Minnetonka will be getting a brand-spanking new Corepower Yoga late June / early July and I'll be captain-ing the vessel! I'll have more info later, but I wanted to let everyone know now why I've fallen off the face of the planet!

Also, I'm doing sound/music for a 10 minute play, it debuts Wednesday at the Bedlam. More info on that during the day today.

Be well,

David

Music for the Space People

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/50691-the-knifes-olof-dreijer-more-send-music-to-the-aliens
The Knife's Olof Dreijer, More Send Music to the Aliens

No dig on Stravinsky, Chuck Berry, or the Beatles, but can we blame the extraterrestrials if they're getting a little tired of Earth's sparse musical offerings by now? Cue noted Swedish techno artist Håkan Lidbo (pictured), who has a plan to blast some slightly more contemporary sounds into outer space for the betterment of beings from all corners of the universe. Wait, why are you laughing? This is serious, man.

Lidbo is currently working in cahoots with the Swedish Space Corporation on a project to send a variety of new electronic music into space via Sweden's Esrange station-- known for offering some of the world's first commercial space flights in conjunction with Spaceport Sweden and Virgin Galactic.

And just who is contributing to the "Music for Alien Civilisations" project? Naturally, the Knife is involved. Olof Dreijer has recorded a track called "Al Jazeera", which, as Lidbo describes, presents "the very mechanics from the inside of his computer-- the sounds from the circuits and hard drives."

Continues Lidbo, "He wants to send a postcard from Earth with environmental sounds that are unique to our planet. And the way Olof sees the world, it's controlled by computers. Transactions of money and information are flooding the internet, but not many people have access to all this information...most people remain ignorant and poor. So that was his idea behind the track."

Others reaching out to our otherworldly brothers and sisters include Andreas Tillander (aka Mokira), Tobias von Hofsten (aka One), Smyglyssna, Krister Linder, Henrik Rylander, Sol Anderson, and Lidbo himself.

Lidbo has commissioned 12 tracks in all (plus an "Intro"), and he plans to meld them into a signal to be transmitted into the cosmos on June 4. That same day, he'll release a CD collecting these space jams. Check out the tracklist below.

Mr. Lidbo is deadly serious about this endeavor, too. As he writes, "A CD will be released for humans, but the music is made for alien civilisations and it holds messages and structures that are meant to give an idea who we are...some sort of universal message, sometimes with codes of binary figures, sometimes with scales and frequencies to explain how we humans function."

Why electronic music? "First of all, I think the computer is the most magnificent music instrument ever invented...so it's a good thing to show the aliens. And for humans, the sound of the synthesizer always has been associated with space; the spooky theremins in the old 40s and 50s sci-fi films and the Moog-through-space-echo psych-out soundtracks in the 70s sci-fi movies.

"If you hear something that sounds like nothing on Earth, it's very natural to associate [it with] space. I even think that electronic music can help us dream and maybe even understand space and the incredible distances a bit better."

And why radio waves? "The Voyager 1 and 2 sent out in 1977 [were] the most serious attempts to send music for alien civilisations, but after 31 years en route they haven't reached further than just beyond Pluto. We will send radio waves, [as] they are fairly easy to aim with good precision, they are easy to decode back to music, and they travel at the speed of light so the composers that send out the musical messages might still be alive when we receive the answer."

Notice he said "when", not "if." And provided all goes according to plan, we should be hearing back from the aliens by 2030. Yay!

Lidbo has also been premiering the selections to be beamed into space by first beaming them into terrestrial households via his show on Swedish National Radio, "STRÖM". The truth is out there over here.

Music for Alien Civilisations:

01 Intro
02 Sol Andersson: "All Is Full of Love"
03 Ghostfriend & Plantagon: "The Message [ft. the Indigenous Peoples of the World Through the Voice of Oren Lyons]
04 Mokira: "Rymdeko"
05 Håkan Lidbo: "Planet Earth"
06 Smyglyssna: "Meanwhile"
07 18000018018018401 and Hab: "Who We Are"
08 Yourhighness: "Calling for Cosmos"
09 Claudia Bonarelli: "Apartamento"
10 Olof Dreijer: "Al Jazeera"
11 Mathtiiaas Rosén: "Sju Flagioletter"
12 Henrik Rylander: "Information and Disinformation for Alien Civilisations"
13 One: "Heal"

Darth Vader! - Updated with Commentary

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/7360871.stm
A man posing as Darth Vader attacked a Star Wars fan who had founded a Jedi Church, a court has heard.

Arwel Wynne Hughes, 27, from Holyhead, Anglesey, admitted assaulting Barney Jones and cousin Michael with a metal crutch. They suffered minor injuries.

Hughes, who was drunk and dressed in a black bin bag, shouted "Darth Vader!"

Earlier, when Hughes failed to arrive on time, District Judge Andrew Shaw issued an arrest warrant, adding: "I hope the force will soon be with him."

In the event, Hughes turned up and the case at Holyhead Magistrates' Court resumed.

The court heard that he had jumped over a garden wall wearing the bin bag before the attack.

Prosecutor Nia Lloyd said Barney Jones had recently started the Jedi Church in Holyhead, in honour of the good knights from Star Wars.

It had about 30 members locally and "thousands worldwide," she said.

The cousins had been filming themselves playing with light sabres in the garden before the attack.

Hughes admitted two charges of common assault.

The court was told he had a "chronic alcohol problem" and had drunk the best part of a 10-litre box of wine.

Mrs Lloyd said: "He was wearing a black bin bag and a cape and had a metal crutch in his hand."

Hughes hit Barney Jones over the head with the crutch, leaving him with a headache, before laughing and hitting Michael Jones in the thigh, causing bruising.
The court heard that Hughes could not remember the incident

Both men were left upset by the incident and they believed it was pre-planned.

She added that the pair believed "very strongly in the church and their religion".

Hughes could not remember the incident and only realised what had happened when he read about it in local newspapers, the court was told.

Defending, Frances Jones, said alcohol was "ruining his life" and he had no idea where he got the crutch from.

The court heard that Hughes had previous convictions, including affray, assault and disorderly behaviour.

The judge warned Hughes that jail remained a possibility, before adjourning for pre-sentence reports until 13 May.



edited to add commentary:

I had posted this and didn't leave any comments but honestly the more I thought about it the more I really wanted to point out a few things that change this from simply an amusing news story to one of the better stories I've read in recent times.

The first thing to point out is just how wonderful it was that the two members of the Church of the Jedi were out in the yard with a friend of theirs video-taping their lightsaber battle. Wow. I mean, this is how they spend their afternoons.

Second thing is that the Drunken Darth Vader was actually drunk on boxed wine! Out of all the beverages this Sith Lord of the Soccor Thugs could be drunk on the only one funnier than boxed wine would have been Zima.

Finally, I enjoy the Jedi's assertion that the attack was pre-planned. Persecution complex much?

Something tells me it actually went down like this:

Step one: Darth gets drunk on boxed wine
Step two: Stumble across two guys playing lightsabre in the yard while their buddy video-tapes
Step three: Wouldn't it be funny to dress up like Darth Vader and pound the Jedis asses?
Step four (an easy step): Find a garbage bag for a cape
Step five (this step is tougher): Find an appropriate light sabre. Hmm, this random crutch should do the trick
Step six: Initiate the attack

Now I could be wrong and perhaps Darth spent months analyzing the complex perimeter defenses of the Jedi Temple looking for the week spot. A team of imperial spies eventually cracked the defenses when they discovered the garden fence was short enough to allow Darth (using his force powers, no doubt) to leap over it and instigate his decimation.

Of course right now the Jedis may feel safe, but really this is just like the final moment in the original Star Wars when Darth's Tie Fighter goes into a spiral. He is out of this battle but not defeated. Darth will never be defeated!!

Brain Bong

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080509/od_nm/skull1_dc;_ylt=AtyFAq.hqGMFi4gTF0wDQd.s0NUE

Men charged after skull dug up, used as bong Fri May 9, 1:27 PM ET

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Authorities in Texas have filed corpse-abuse charges against two men who allegedly removed a skull from a grave and used it as a bong.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office confirmed on Thursday that misdemeanor abuse of corpse charges have been filed in the case.

One of the men allegedly told police they dug up a grave in an abandoned cemetery in the woods, removed a head from a body and smoked marijuana using the skull as a bong.

Police found the cemetery and a grave that had been disturbed but are still investigating the rest of the story, officials said.

embed empire

inLAnd empire

My friends Nick and Cindy live in L.A. Nick recently sent me this story, I thought it was worth sharing, so I've cut and pasted his email:

I saw the woman from the end of Inland Empire (the one who holds up the lighter to Laura Dern) on the street today, homeless. I had a feeling Lynch had probably just stumbled apon her and put her in the movie. It was a very Lynchian moment that really made me think about fame, hollywood, everything. She's in one of my favorite movies from my favorite director and here she is homeless on the street. Seconds later Cindy called me and told me she had just seen Will Smith. It couldn't have been more perfect.

Is My Birfday!

Yep. Happy Birfday to me. 34 as of about 10 minutes ago. Off to see Cut Copy and The Black Kids. Hurray!

Went to Iron Man earlier today, road my bike around, ate really good indian at Nalapak. Lots of good time with Noel and on my own. Wandered to a few comic shops to pick up dirt cheap Valiant Comics. I threw out my back a week ago and it's still tender so I eschewed other physical activity.

Hope all is well for you!

DND

Tulum

 

Here I am on the beaches of Tulum outside the villa that was built by Pablo Escobar. Yes, the trip was as awesome as this picture makes it look. Perfectly perfect.

Pablo Escobar: Hero of the People?

Cut Copy next Tues

I mentioned a month or two back how much I've been enjoying Cut Copy. That hasn't gone away and their album has more listens than any other '08 release. The great news is that they're playing the 7th St. Entry next Tuesday which just happens to be the day of my birthday. Hurray! If you're interested in coming out, watching great music and celebrating my birthday please pick up some tickets and we'll have a party!

Here's some footage of CC playing a festival:

Mitch Hedberg

A guy from work just introduced me to Mitch Hedberg. This guy was (he died in '05) really damned funny. This isn't his best stuff, but it's still quite good:

Screen Shot #4 (final)

Here's the last one. OK, now go out and buy!

 

Screen Shot #3

 

Screen Shot #2

 

Screen Shot #1

 

Ka-baalim / Datura 1.0 DVD now out

Hey, the DVD with amazing hallucinatory Datura 1.0 visuals for Ka-baalim and Datura music is now out in a very limited edition of 8 packaged in DVD-sized glass petri dishes.

These will be for sale tonight at Bent Fest (at Intermedia Arts). $20. If there are any copies left over they'll be for sale directly through me, contact: kaba at kabaalim dot com

I'll post some screen shots throughout the day.

Very best,

DND

Robyn!

Amazing week for new music. The new Robyn album, the new Santogold and a new Goldfrapp E.P. Beautiful!

Here's the newest video by Robyn. The music is produced by The Knife!



P.S. Happy May Day!

Krishna and Arjuna

For your viewing pleasure:

Final NIN Video in the NIN Comedy Video Trilogy

I realized that I never posted this here. My favorite ever NIN video.

This Goes Out to Eddie

More NIN Fun

New NIN Video

This is almost as good as the recent Garfield video:

Miss the Mississippi

Cool, I'd not known it but there's an old song called "Miss the Mississippi". Here are the lyrics, think I'll dl it off iTunes tonight!

ORIGINAL LYRICS, transcribed by Manfred Helfert:

I'm growing tired of the big city's lights,Tired of the glamor, and tired of the sights.In all my dreams I am roaming once moreBack to my home on the old river shore.
I am sad an' weary, far away from home;Miss the Mississippi an' you.Yeah -- days are dark and drearyEv'rywhere I roam;Miss the Mississippi an' you.
Rolling the wide world over,Always alone and blue -- blue.Nothing seems to cheer meUnder heaven's dome;Miss the Mississippi an' you.
[YODEL]
Memories are bringingHappy days of yore;Miss the Mississippi an' you.Mockingbirds are singing'Round the cabin door; Miss the Mississippi an' you.
Rolling the wide world over,Always alone and blue -- so blue.Longing for my homeland,Muddy water shore;Miss the Mississippi an' you.
[YODEL]Mississippi -- and -- you...

Mexico!

I leave for my advanced teacher training retreat bright and early tomorrow morning!!  I hope to have some photos upon my return.   Wish me well!

Love,

DND

Dimension X

Here's a link to a cartoon that I co-wrote and Fadladder (Noel and I) did the soundtrack for.  It's not on YouTube yet, so you'll just have to play the game of follow the links:

Dimension X

Hope you enjoy!!!

David

4.4

It's my mom's birthday today, hurray!

Vampire Weekend was a great show.  They were pretty good as entertainers and frickin' awesome as musicians.  One of the better shows I've seen sober and one of the very few shows I think that was better for being sober.  The sound was great and you could really pick out the individual parts of the songs as well as understand the lyrics.   "Oxford Comma" sounded a little off but everything else was pitch perfect and most of it sounded better live than on CD.  They seemed like nice guys too - the sort of clean cut college kids who enjoy microbrews and high grade weed but not in excess.

Definitely check them out if you get the chance.  I'm sure they'll be back at a bigger venue sooner rather than later.

Me, Right Now.

Beautiful day today, I wonder if Noel would like to take a walk?

Vampire Weekend at the Triple Rock tonight and I am well excited.  First show in a long while, hope they're good live.

Tomorrow I'm off work, meet friends for lunch and my Dad & Mary are taking me and Noel out for dinner.  Good times. 

Hope your day is going well!

DND

Michael Chertoff.

There is only Chertoff.

There is only Chertoff.

There is only Chertoff.

Michael Chertoff?

Is he a man of mystery? Does he hold the power of mesmerizing our minds? Do alien forces reside inside his head? The people of American want to know: Who is Michael Chertoff?

Michael Chertoff!

Michael Chertoff:

A powerful presence.

A kind man.

Some see him as the next political powerhouse but Michael Chertoff, always humble, would be the first to scoff at such claims.

When you need a man to trust, he's there:

Michael Chertoff!

Chad Vader Part Six

After a few weeks delay, Chad is back to Mr. Mississippi where he belongs, and boy what an episode! Chad battles deadly copy machine droids and the most challenging foe of all - his own destiny! It's all building to a head folks, only two more episodes after this one!

Passport

I got my passport in the mail today as well as my final itinerary! Hurray! April 14 and I'll be Mexico-bound! I've never been anywhere out of country except Canada so this is a very exciting thing. Just wanted to share the joy!

Cut Copy

I picked up the new album by Cut Copy last week and it's one of those albums that I like better and better with every listen. Here's the video for the first single "Lights & Music", the video is not totally exciting but the song is great and worth sharing.

Where Did Mr. Mississippi Go?

Hey, sorry I've been away for most the past week. I've been training in a dude at reception so I don't have time to post then and I've been very busy the rest of the day at work and in the evening with yoga. I'm sure I'll get better engaged right quick.

I'll be leading a yoga "transitions from C1 to C2" workshop in Eden Prairie this Sunday, so that's exciting! Also, I don't recall if I mentioned it or not but I'm going to Mexico for a week in mid-April to do an advanced Teacher Training with esteemed teacher Lisa Richards. Very stoked about that! My major aim in life these days is to get better better better at the practice and teaching of yoga. It's a lot of fun!

Also, we'll be laying the last round of vocals on "Coolio Julio" this Saturday which will complete the first St. Anthony Falls single. I've also got some neat Ka-baalim stuff in the works. Definitely busy and good life.

Now I've got to leave for an hour and a half restorative yoga class.

Very best,

DND

Apologies

I'm sorry that I didn't get a yoga playlist posted today. I ended up watching two episodes of LOST tonight instead of one and now I need to go to sleep. I should have it ready by mid-week.

Very best!

DND

Third

Happy snowy first day of spring!!

Noel and I saw the play Third at the Guthrie tonight. Fantastic play! It plays for another week, I really suggest you check it out! I'm too tired for a review, maybe over the weekend.

DND

Running Man '08

Here's a video that makes me happy. Easily my favorite of the "make the video into a story" videos that have been popular lately. Plus I loved the original of this track back in the early 90's.

Chad Vader Part Five

Chad was preempted yesterday for a very special episode of www.mrmississipp.blogspot.com He's back this week for an awkwardly timed drunken Christmas special. When we last left Chad had resigned from his position as night shift manager at the grocery store. Watch in awe as Chad's epic conflict with the day shift manager is taken to the next level. Find out Chad's drink of choice (hint: it's dark like chocolate). All of this leads to a shocking conclusion as Chad must choose-his-fate (to jump off the bridge, turn to page 37 - to continue to live, turn to page 65). Not a bad episode. Next one looks a hoot too.

Two Years and Counting...

OK, so today's an anniversary for me - two years sober.

St. Patrick's Day is an odd holiday for me as it marks the anniversary of the last time I drank (and got shit-faced and all sorts of other bad stuff). I remember waking up two years and knowing that the odds for me making it through my 30s alive would be greatly increased if I stopped drinking.

I've definitely been tempted now and again and I do also miss liqour. Especially whiskey and gin, my favorites. I also miss the warmth that booze can bring to get-togethers. It really is a good ice breaker and if I genuinely thought I was the sort of person who could regularly stop after a drink or two, I'd be drinking today.

And sometimes I would stop after 1 or 2. The problem was that it was a crap shoot and the results of not stopping were getting more and more out of control and offering less and less joy.

My relationship with Noel is a whole hell of a lot better without me coming home smashed all the time. I also spend a lot less time regretting things that I've done. I remember all those "morning after"s where all the shit I'd done would come back to me in fragments.

These days I've cut most caffeine out of my diet, so my idea of a "wild time" is to knock back an espresso or two. It messes with my sleep schedule but causes much less of a fuss overall.

I'm definitely happy with my decision. The recovery phase seems to be largely over, but it took a long time. Getting over a lifestyle ain't easy and it took me a while to learn how to feel joy and openess. Yoga was a huge part of my recovery and has become (obviously) a huge part of my life. Don't know where I'd be without it (definitely more bored and less happy).

OK, I'll leave you with a little glimpse into the past, a journal entry I wrote on my other private blog 3/27/2006 about the night. I've removed some personal info that was never meant to be seen by anyone, but didn't change or edit any of the words.


3/17/06 was a bad night for me, my knee still hurts. It was the last night I drank, I gave up drinking the next morning. Hauled home by the police, my knee fucked up and bleeding from falling down outdoor concrete stairs and I passed out in front of the Metal-matix building. It's been over a week, the knee is scabbing finally and I've done fine not drinking. Obviously what I am writing here, right now, isn't meant to be read until later and is never meant to be edited. It is weird not drinking, so much of my personality has been wrapped up in that one single action for almost 7 years now (though there was a year that I took off, so the time isn't cumulative). I didn't start drinking, really, until I was 25. Before that, in Bellingham, I'd have a couple at a show or go out with my buddy Rich and have a microbrew beer or two, but that was about it. I got shit-faced once at Marcia's party, she was this girl I worked at the record store with. I was performing that night and she made it a personal mission to get me drunk. I did, though there was no real blackout point. Over the last few years I've had plenty of blackout points, there's probably a month of cumulative time that I've lost to blackout. I'm sure some of that was spent passed out, but a lot of it wasn't. It's weird. Once I turned 25 it was really when I went to Ann Arbor, MI for Borders Office Coordinator training that I really started drinking. I decided gin and tonic was my drink of choice, I picked it for the comedy value and because gin had been the crack of the late 19th century.

Well, I started drinking heavy and putting the tab on the company's dime and spent most of my 3 days there smashed out of my skull. I felt like I was the "cool kid" and shortly thereafter I called Nick, who I'd sold a Foetus CD to, and we started going out to the goth/industrial clubs regularly and having our drinks, a whiskey sour for Nick and a gin and tonic for me.

I don't regret drinking at all, it took me out of other side of the fence thinking and got me looser, more able to cope with social situations and not stress.

Back in the Day

Here's a video from AKA, a noise improv project I was involved in back in my Bellingham, Washington days. I don't take many photos or videos of myself so it's always a bit of a shock when I see something with me in from days gone by. Thanks to Troy, my AKA co-conspirator for shooting, editing and posting the video!



PS: Do any of you have any video of Fadladder live? I don't know if there's any out there or not, which is a little sad considering all the shows we did.

Yoga Playlists (part four)

It's Sunday so you know what that means, a new yoga playlist. This one has a really nice, mellow yet not lethargic flow to it, hope you enjoy.

Ka-ba Vinyasa 10

Wehrmut by Cluster & Eno from "Cluster & Eno"
Alive (Mantra) by Sa Dingding (薩頂頂) from "Alive"
Chest In the Attic by Daniela Stickroth from "Stories from the Attic"
Life's A Beach! (Todd Terje Beach House Mix) by Studio from "Life's A Beach!"
Mickey Finn by The Modernist from "Kangmei"
FM (Tensnake Remix) by Junior Boys from "The Dead Horse - EP"
Flutter by Bonobo from "Dial 'M' for Monkey"
Electric Counterpoint - 2. Slow by Steve Reich from "Reich: Different Trains, Electric Counterpoint"
Doris Dub by Tosca from "Suzuki"
Breakfast In Heaven (ARPs Worn Cassette Version) by Lindstrøm from "Breakfast In Heaven (Remixed) - EP"
Rise (original short size) by Sugar Plant from "Ping Pong (ピンポン オリジナル・サウンドトラック)"
In McDonalds by Burial from "Untrue"
Aguirre III by Popol Vuh from "Aguirre (Original Soundtrack)"

Lots of international music in this one. The "Ping Pong" soundtrack that I use on here gets a bit of play on other playlists. It's a pain to get a hold though, as it's a Japanese import but it's well worth it. Lots of great indie Japanese electronic music. Also, if you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it.

Cluster & Eno start things off, a little minimalist classical (in the form of Steve Reich) forms the mid-section and Popol Vuh close it out. It's rare that "Flutter" gets played but I have it there in case the opening section is going long. I also have a 75 minute version of this, which I'll post one of these days.

For once, I got the playlist submitted to iTunes before my initial posting. It's available here

They don't have the opening Cluster & Eno track (which is a crime because that album is a classic and should always be available) so I used another much longer track. That means you may need to skip into Sa Dingding after your intro. They also don't have the Sugar Plant track from "Ping Pong" so I substituted a Neu! track, though I'd considered using Massive Attack instead.

Please pop by and rate it high!

Very best,

DND

Garfield Dream

Yes, watching those Garfield videos on Youtube has finally driven me stark raving mad. Last night, I dreamed of Garfield. Not just any normal Garfield dream (if there is such a thing) but a really messed up "what the hell was going through my head" sort of Garfield dream.

Garfield lives in an apartment in the skyway and we're hanging out. I am not Jon from the comic. I am either Garfield-sized or he is human-sized. He looks very much like the Garfield in those lasagna cat videos. We go out and are followed by a man who is the spirit of Odie.

We go into a law firm in the skyways (not the firm I work at) and wonder through. We hear someone coming and we're not supposed to be here so we exit stage left through an elevator. The elevator doesn't work like it should though, it's going sideways and up and down, down, down - taking us God knows where.

We finally exit in a dark dank area of the skyway. Garfield, Odie and I get out and hope to find our way back home. I notice some strange graffiti - "I have killed before, and I will kill again." We start to feel nervous but forge forward, assuming it is some stupid kid who wrote it. Odie is especially scared. Then we see more graffiti about murder and hear someone ahead of us. With Garfield in the lead we beat a hasty retreat to the elevator.

We try to go back to the law firm but we're let out in a gigantic apartment. Inside we find an enormous three-headed, six-tailed Garfield asleep in his bed. We wander around the apartment looking for food. Then for some reason we realize that this giant Garfield liked to eat cats, dogs and people and so we decide it wise to leave. Of course, the monster Garfield has woken up by this point. I don't remember how we get out of the mess but I believe it had to do with key lime pie.


And that was my dream. Caused me to wake up late enough to miss Linda's C2 this morning. :( Any dream analysts out there care to take a crack at this one?

Fadladder Photo

 

Here's a show from the latter days of the Fadladder project. This is from the "It's About Love" live show at the Acadia where Nathan (Samsa, Bunk Data) Larson joined us on laptop power. I've been playing around with a photo editing program at work and thought I'd share this mutation.

Panther Does It!

I'll be going to see Panther at the Entry in a couple of weeks. Good video fo sho.

Spring!

I was able to ride my bike into work today! This is very exciting as it's been far too long since I was able to do that. Of course, I didn't think to check my tires which had lost a bit of air over the winter. Hopefully I didn't fuck up the rims too much. Fortunately we're supposed to have a bike pump in the basement at work so I can fill up before I go home tonight.

There are really few things more exciting than the fresh joy one feels during the first good weather of the year in Minnesota. I've been doing a shit ton of yoga and between that and the lag-time of daylight savings time I haven't had quite the puddle-jumping first adventures in Spring that I'd hope, but I've still been enjoying the heck out of it.

And that's really all I've got today. Just wanted to pop in and say hi. I'm planning on banging out the next part to my yoga playlist tomorrow, so y'all can look forward to that one.

Best!

DND

Slow Day

Gosh, I'm a bit sleepy today and don't have much to say (this is my third attempt at writing something interesting, let me know how I'm doing). Thought I'd just leave you with this, one of my favorite videos from a few years back. 3:00 of pure fun:

Chad Vader Part Four

Part four is a return to form after a middling part three. "Destiny thy form be a dog" Chad finds ever increasing challenge, pain and angst in his role as night shift manager. This episode ends with a startling cliff hanger. Can you manage the wait until next Tuesday to find out how it comes out?

Ka-baalim / Datura 1.0 DVD Coming Soon

Noel and I got together with our friends Matt and Julie over the weekend. Matt works on the dark ambient project Datura 1.0 and he's recently finished work on a DVD that has three Ka-baalim videos and two Datura videos. His video work is amazing - the feeling it creates is not entirely unlike the states I used to get into back in the days when I wasn't so clean and sober. Very hallucinogenic! I'm anxious for people to be able to see this. I've been extremely lucky to work with an amazing collection of collaborators in music and art, seeing the video actually got me fired up to start doing some ambient music again.

We’re going to be getting a limited edition (20-30 copies) together for Matt’s show at BentFest in May, after that we’ll be looking into doing a wider release.

Ka-ba Vinyasa 7 now on iTunes

Ka-ba Vinyasa 7 is now available from the iTunes store, right here

Please listen, enjoy and rate high!

Very best,

DND

Yoga Playlists (part three)

Third Sunday, third mix. Enjoy! This one is a nice bridge between a more intense (C2 in Corepower terms) class and a less intense flow. Like all my mixes the heat building songs are up front.

Ka-ba Vinyasa 7

First Sleep by Cliff Martinez from "Solaris Soundtrack"
Loving You Live by Dr. Alex Paterson from "Artificial Intelligence"
Harmonic by Cicada from "Cicada (Special Edition)"
Godspeed by BT from "Movement in Still Life"
Beyond The Threshold by Medicine Drum from "Talking Stick"
Mk Spitz by The Modernist from "Kangmei"
Im Ninalou: The Groovio Deep End Remix by DJ Cheb I Sabbah from "La Ghriba: La Kahena Remixed"
Another Green World by Brian Eno from "Another Green World"
Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez from "Veneer"
Tengo frio by Ely Guerra from "Lotofire"
I Didn't Mean to Hurt You (Instrumental) by Spiritualized "The Complete Works, Vol. 2"
Exchange by Massive Attack from "Mezzanine"
Gold Lion by Yeah Yeah Yeahs from "Live Session (iTunes Exclusive) - EP"
Hanuman Baba (Dub Farm Re-mix) by Krishna Das from "The Greatest Hits Of The Kali Yuga"
Liquid Air by Meredith Monk from "Mercy"

Notes: The "Gold Lion" acoustic version is fantastic and can be used in lots of different mixes. Cliff Martinez's "Solaris" soundtrack is also something that opens, closes and sits in the middle of a number of my playlists. "Liquid Air" very rarely gets heard except for when people stay in the room after class. I went through a period where I tried to plug a few post class songs in as little surprises for those who stuck around.

I've sent this to iTunes and will post the link when I get it. They didn't have the Medicine Drum track that I use so I substituted the only Medicine Drum song they have - I hope it works! The also didn't have the Krishna Das remix so I used another, very appropriate Krishna Das track.

Santogold Video

Great video by my favorite new artist Santogold. The video takes a page from Jodo's "Holy Mountain" but spins it in a very interesting direction. The song itself is brilliant too.

A Different Kind of Kaba

My personal email address is kaba - I am not, however, related to this dance team. I know, that is a big disappointment to all of you.

100th Post!

Here it is: another landmark in the thrill-packed journey that is www.mrmississippi.blogspot.com - the 100th post! It's taken about two and a half months to get here. That comes to more than a post a day average, which ain't bad.

Honestly, I didn't expect that I'd get into this as much as I have. Going into it, I'd assumed that I would have to write primarily about myself - past, present and future. Although that can be fun in small doses, I couldn't envision myself being quite to self-absorbed to manage daily doses.

I'm the kind of guy who doesn't have a lot of drama in his life, and I have no desire for that to change. When any drama does arise I like myself and my friends too much to want to air dirty laundry. So that cut out another chunk of material to blog about.

What I didn't realize back then was that Youtube and blogging are like chocolate and peanut butter. Youtube really lets you create your very own, very small scale TV station online and it also fills in those awkward gaps when you don't have anything to say. Without Youtube I would have fallen out of the habit of posting when I was either too busy or not in the mood to write anything conceptual.

Now, I've created something of a schedule: yoga playlists on Sunday, Chad Vader on Tuesday and a continuing text series about yoga playlists when I write them. I'd guess that as I go forward I will further schedule the days of the week in order to keep myself and my audience interested.

OK, well there's my 100 post check-in. I suppose I should ought to do one of these every 100 posts. Hey look, it's a new tradition!

John Malm, Jr. Interview

My buddy Todd (who is also my co-conspirator in the St. Anthony Falls project) has recently interviewed John Malm, Jr. for a Prick fansite. John Malm was Nine Inch Nails' manager for many years. He was also the manager for Prick, a really good one-man project that Todd's a big fan of. The interview is great stuff and should be of interest for fans of NIN, Prick or any behind the scenes music stuff.

It's available here

Please enjoy!

Creating Yoga Playlists the Ka-ba Style (part one)

I’ve been posting yoga playlists here for a couple of weeks and plan to continue this popular new www.mrmississippi.blogspot.com trend. I thought that some of you might find interest in the thought process on how I choose the music for yoga playlists.

Of course the concepts of what music is “good” and what music “works” are purely subjective (hence the quotation marks) so please take all of this with a grain of salt. I’ll throw out some of my ideas, run with those that work for you, drop those that don’t. Make this your own.

There’s a very interesting tug of war that happens when I create a playlist. On one side stands the music that I like to listen to in my non-yoga teaching time and on the other stands the music that I feel my students want to practice to. Neither side should be given total control. If I gave in completely to what I want to hear then MIA’s gunshot filled “Paper Planes” would be my abs exercise, and the class would be a lot emptier next time I came to teach. If I gave the class totally what they wanted, the music wouldn’t inspire me enough to give my full focus. Using music to inspire yourself as well as your class is a key ingredient. Some days I might not be totally feeling the class but one well placed song can shift my doldrums into inspiration, so don’t ignore the music’s affect on yourself.

From the get go, I’ll knock out music with profanity, violence or overt sexuality. This is the Corepower standard and it’s a rule I totally agree with. That still leaves me with a board range of music to choose from (though the list sadly finds our M.I.A. missing in action). At this point I’ll sort through all of my music that fits within those perimeters and find the tracks that work for me. Then I throw the tracks into the playlist I’m working on.

Outside of the previous rules, there’s a few more things I keep in mind during this step:

• I try to have a few consistent artists that I use more often than not. That gives the mixes continuity. However, I only want to pepper the playlist with these artists, otherwise the mixes will sound redundant.

• I may start off with some sort of theme in my mind. Usually these themes are pretty soft (techno, female singers, indie rock, etc) but sometimes I’ll do a very specific theme (Halloween, New Year’s were favorites). I don’t adhere too strictly to the theme when I’m doing my first round of music selection though, as the playlist needs room to breathe and it may turn out that it doesn’t want to be a solely African music playlist (I tried very hard with that one a month ago and now, after numerous changes, it’s now about 25% African music rather than 100%).

• I also am mindful that I’m going to need some relaxing savasana music and some powerful core music so I try to grab music that is going to work in those categories and more.

• I know that I want to get the playlist down to somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half. But I don’t worry about time at this point, I pull way too much music and the playlist and this point is probably close to 6 hours and in no order whatsoever.

When first staring at this enormous mass of music, I may first feel more overwhelmed than inspired. I mean, it’s all great and I’d love to throw it all in but I know that that’s not going to be feasible.

This is where it’s very important to stop thinking too much and just get in there. Listen to a random track and see if it speaks to you. If it does, what part of the class is it going to work for? I might start building a playlist from the second half of class and have it grow backwards. I think always starting playlists from the child’s posture at the beginning and programming it step by step through the savasana at the end can lead to predictable results. When I’m making a playlist I want it to flow, I want it to be good, but I don’t want it to be predictable. Once it is, my music is no longer adding to the appeal of my class.

Once I get a track that I like, I’ll determine where I think it will fit and try to find other tracks that work in the same segment. This is the fun part. Usually I won’t listen to full tracks at this point I just listen to the end of the first track and then the start of the next. If the transition doesn’t work, the tracks aren’t going to work. If you like your second track better than the first then use that and ditch the first. Think of this part of the process as a similar thing to trying to find puzzle pieces that fit together.

Now, if you find a couple that transition well into each other, then listen to the full tracks (or a chunk of them depending on how much time you have and how well you know the tracks). See how the mood moves from one to the next. Does that work? Do you like it? If not, start over. If so, try to find the next part.

- Well, that’s all I have time for today. I hadn’t intended for this to become such a large entry, if you like this, let me know and I’ll continue. If it’s not doing it for you, I’ll save myself the typing time.

Very best,

DND

Ka-ba Yoga Vinyasa 14 Now Available from iTunes

Details of the playlist posted on Sunday. It is now available here. Please enjoy and rate it high!

Chad Vader Part Three

I apologize that the very sad news of Mr. Gygax's untimely demise preempted the Tuesday posting of Chad Vader. This third episode sees Chad further descending into the dark side, several scenes of pure action and a face off with the newly appointed Light Side. Honestly, I didn't find it as funny as the other two, but that could just be me.

Gary Gygax R.I.P.

OK, so I read the news that Gary Gygax passed away. If you're a nerd of a certain age you'll know who Gary is. If you're not a nerd or too young/old let me just say that Gary is the man who created Dungeon's & Dragons.

When I was about 8 years old my life was composed of four primary elements: Marvel Comics, Dr. Who, G.I. Joe and D&D.

I never actually played very much D&D at that age. Occasionally my older brothers would let me in on a game but they were considerably older and, I imagine, concerned that I'd tell on them for swearing and other such "bad behavior". Of course, not playing much didn't keep me from pouring over the books, especially The Monster Manual, with my friends. I also made endless characters with an assortment of names that only I thought were funny.

The only time I really did role-play regularly was when I was in my late teens in Eau Claire. There was a group of guys who got together weekly. We played Champions, a super hero role playing game and had a great time with it. I wasn't as social of a dude back then as I am now, so every chance to get out was a good thing. It was an odd group composed of uber-nerds and frat boys alike, but it had a good group dynamic.

I had a lot of fun back then and the guy who ran the group was really good. When he moved away my buddy Shawn and I would run a few adventures here and there but mostly we focused on playing Warhammer 40,000 and other board games.

Since then, I've tried playing various Role Playing games a few times but none of the groups I've played with had that "old magic" and, quite frankly, I just don't have the time. These games take a lot of time and I'd rather be playing music, doing yoga, playing Wii, etc.

I did want to write a little note here to thank Gary Gygax for all the joy he brought to nerds the world over!

Brian Dennehy: Man, Actor, American

“ I'm a huge fan of Knight's. The thing I like most about him is that he's in the tradition of great American success stories. This was a guy who is incredibly smart about basketball, maybe the smartest basketball mind of all of them ... and he was driven and successful. Great American traits. When you think about it, what's the difference between Bobby Knight and Vince Lombardi? Why is one guy a God, and the other guy is regarded as a crazy man? ”
— Brian Dennehy

For Mr. Dennehy, however, success raised as many questions as it answered. ''Lopakhin has gotten to the place where triumph very quickly turns to ash, as it does for everyone,'' he said. ''It did for me; three or four years ago I had an ashen taste in my mouth. I had done a lot of movies, made a lot of money, and it didn't really mean a hell of a lot. I mean, it's better than a sharp stick in the eye. But when I started doing theater again, I realized that what is interesting to me is the work - not celebrity or getting tables at restaurants, but new challenges. I'll do the movies and hope some of them will be good, but an increasing amount of my time is going to be spent doing things I'm not sure I can do. Otherwise, what's the point?''

\It's an unbelievable blessing. Kids don't give a shit about your self-absorption. They don't care that you're preparing for a part, and your career is not exactly working, and you've got this phone call to make and this trip to take. They say, "Hey, I'm the most important thing!" And that's good. Because actors are too damned self-absorbed to begin with, and when you get old, you really become self-absorbed. They're not interested! I am constantly reminded of the fact that the future is out there ahead for them. And I want them to have the love and the security and the preparation that they'll need for it because I've got a feeling it's going to be a tough ride in the next 20 or 30 years.

Videodrome (this one goes out to Nick)

Yoga Playlists (part two)

It's Sunday so that means that it's time for another yoga playlist. This one is pretty recent and I used it as a chance to throw in more contemporary "indie" music. This one played very well in the Uptown studio. I've only used it for C2s but I don't see why it wouldn't work for C1s as well (speaking in Corepower terms)

Ka-ba Vinyasa 14

1. Over The Horizon Radar by Boards Of Canada from "Geogaddi"
2. Fair Oaks by Phil Western from "4am"
3. Kids by MGMT from "Time to Pretend - EP"
4. Soldier Jane by Beck from "The Information"
5. L.E.S. Artistes by Santogold from "Creator / L.E.S. Artistes - Single"
6. M79 by Vampire Weekend from "Vampire Weekend (North American Edition)"
7. Ghostwriter (Remix) by RJD2 from "The Horror"
8. Hallogallo by Neu! from "Neu 1"
9. Kodac Moments by The Modernist from "Kangmei"
10. Fish Beach by Michael Nyman from "Drowning By Numbers"
11. Thank You by Angie Mattson from "Given to Sudden Panic and Noisy Retreat"
12. Silencio by Ely Guerra from "Lotofire"
13. Seymour Stein by Belle & Sebastian from "The Boy With The Arab Strap"
14. Ferris Wheel by Donovan from "Sunshine Superman"
15. Le soleil est près de moi by AIR from "Le soleil est près de moi - EP"
16. Aguirre III by Popol Vuh from "Aguirre (Original Soundtrack)"

Notes: You may already notice that I use certain artists and even certain albums repeatedly. I usually end my playlists with Popol Vuhs "Aguirre III" because it works really well and I love the track (it's what I want played at my funeral). Ely Guerra appears a lot as do Air, Neu!, Harmonia, Boards of Canada and the Modernist. I recommend that everyone putting together playlists have a small pool of artists that they pepper a good chunk of their playlists with. This will give your class "sound" a consistency and it will also let you experiment by bringing newer sounds in while still maintaining that core consistency.

Everything here is available from iTunes (this is rare so enjoy!). I've submitted it and should have a link for the page soon.

In this playlist Boards start things off, Nyman comes in for the post inversion childs and Aguirre is the savasana track.

Running in '08

This morning I went for a nice run. Probably about 3 miles or so. Just got back a half hour ago, now I'm listening to Hot Chip's new album and enjoying that running afterglow. I took last off from running with just a couple of exceptions but I think I'm back on board for '08. Feels really good, though I don't think I'll have time for a marathon this year.

It was cold though and I wasn't really dressed properly. Think I'll pop by the Running Room to get some better running clothes for colder days.

Tomorrow I have another yoga playlist to post. This time it's my contemporary indie yoga playlist. It's fun and it has Santogold in it, so please look forward to that.

Very best,

DND

More Garfield Hijinx!!

Wow, this is some hi-tech Garfield cartoon action. Plug this into your NES and go frickin' bonkers!!

Happy Leap Day!

Yep, it's leap day - a very exciting time for all of us I'm sure. This is the last time that we'll have a leap day on a Friday until 2036, so mark your calendars on that one, please.

Here's something fun: http://www.myspace.com/stanthonyfalls All you kids on Myspace get to a friend requesting!

Take care,

DND

Garfield Minus Garfield

Who knew that if you removed Garfield from Garfield comics that they would be so sad. Click here to find out more.

Dr. Who Silent Movie

I'm not one to be shy about my geek side but I don't think I've mentioned my Dr. Who obsession. I'm a total Dr. Who geek. This re-telling of the horrible TV movie from the 90s in fantastic and of special joy for those of us who sat through the whole mess (and no, the plot of the silent version is not really any more absurd than the actual version). There's a second part of this on Youtube, but personally I find part one a lot funnier.

Vampire Weekend at the Triple Rock

Wow, I just did something I haven't done in a while: I bought advance tickets for a show! I've been really digging the new Vampire Weekend CD and I found out they're playing at the Triple Rock on 4/3 so I got me and Noel some tickets. They strike me as the sort of band that will sound great live (whereas despite my undying love for her, MIA doesn't give out this vibe).

So, if anyone else is interested in joining us, you should - it'll be a blast!!

Rupaul for President

Forget Ron Paul, I want Rupaul for president! Elton John as VP - it'd be fabulous!!

Chad Vader Part Two

In this episdoe: Chad goes on a date, the triumph of night over day and Chad's secret origin explained.

St. Anthony Falls B Side

Got together with Todd and Chris tonight to work on the B-Side for the "Nihali" track we finished last month. I think it's coming together quite nicely - has a rather 80s feeling. Tentatively titled "Coolio Julio". I think we'll be releasing this stuff in May or June so I look forward to that point when all y'all can hear it and let me know what you think. It's just straight out poppy fun good times.

As We Wake and rub the Sleep from our Eyes

Waking up after winter. I feel like a bear who has just woken from hibernation. I'm excited that the weather is getting warmer and yet the over-riding emotion is sleepiness and lack of energy. Viva la Pisces!

Yoga Playlists (part one update)

I've put the playlist (minus the Bunk Data track and with a Neu! track in the place of Harmonia) up as an iMix on iTunes. It is available here

If you get the chance, stop by, download what you want and rate it high.

Yoga Playlists (part one)

I've had some people ask me about the playlists that I use for yoga classes so I've decided to start posting some of the better ones here. This is Ka-Ba Vinyasa 6 and it works great for C1 classes or a mellower C2. This is one of my favorite playlists.

Ka-ba Vinyasa 6

1. Corsair by Boards Of Canada from the album "Geogaddi"
2. Playground Love by Air from the "Virgin Suicides Soundtrack"
3. Kit Wolveen by Øony from "Jazzflora, Vol. 2 (iTunes Version) - EP"
4. Silicon Minor by The Modernist from "Kangmei"
5. La Esquina (Nickodemus Remix) by Federico Aubele from "La Esquina - EP"
6. Jarat Fil Hub: The Chalice Remix by DJ Cheb I Sabbah from "La Ghriba: La Kahena Remixed"
7. Nikita by Ralph Myerz & The Jack Herren Band from "Indian Grooves: Dhol, Bhangra And Beyond..."
8. Morning Glory by Deuter from "Aum"
9. Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez from "Veneer"
10. Tengo frio by Ely Guerra from "Lotofire"
11. Flim by Aphex Twin from "Come To Daddy [EP]"
12. Rushing by Moby from "Play"
13. Walky-Talky by Harmonia from "Deluxe"
14. layer tone by Bunk data - unreleased
15. Aguirre III by Popol Vuh from "Aguirre (Original Soundtrack)"

Notes: Most of these tracks are available from iTunes. I don't think "Walky-Talky" is though. A good long track by Neu! would do in its place (something like "Hallo Gallo" would be perfect). "Layer Tone" was done by my friend Nathan as core material for the "Insomniati" collaboration we did so it is unavailable. There shouldn't be a problem with skipping track 14 altogether.

Track 8 is what I put on after the class has finished with crow. I also always switch to 14/15 when things move into savasana. I like to have more tracks than needed on hand so that I can flow with different class timings.

Black President

Pat Robertson rats out Producer's Cocaine Use

Fantastic clip:

The Morning After the Eclipse

The lunar eclipse was very impressive last night! After yoga Noel and I stood outside and watched the eclipse with a couple of stoner neighbors of ours. Amazing how the additional colors added a three dimensional quality to the moon making it appear more like a sphere than a circle. After 10-15 minutes of watching in the cold we went back inside but did sneak out a few more times to watch the changes. Won't get another full lunar eclipse until 12/21/10 and there are no promises whether or not it'll be on a beautifully clear night like last night, truly a rare treat.

Hope you got to see it as well!

DND

Total Eclipse of the Moon

Yep, more astrological info here

I'm going to celebrate by going to bed early, after my men's yoga class.

Tonight: Transcendental Meditation Lecture - Please come!

Noel and I and some friends are hoping to make it to the Introductory Lecture on Transcendental Meditation tonight at the Maharishi Invincibility Center. If you're interested, you should stop by!

Maharishi Invincibility Center
2524 Nicolett Avenue South
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404
612-827-0070
From edit 7:30-8:30pm

It looks like it's on Nicolett in that area with all the Asian Markets

Here's a link to their site. edit: I talked to the Jill Panzer, the woman running the program and she strongly recommended checking out the following sites prior to the event:

latest news...........www.globalgoodnews.com
David Lynch..........www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsvEkPNitdQ
Howard Stern........www.rencapp.com/Howard_Stern_on_Maharishi_02_06_2008.mp3

Parveen Chopra.....www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12137&Itemid=88



One of my favorite directors David Lynch is a regular and vocal practitioner of TM, so it will be interested to find out more.

Best!

DND

Chad Vader Part One

Ha ha, the guy who plays Chad used to go to the comic store I worked at in Menomonie, WI back when I was a young'un. Pretty funny stuff.

Life Updates from the Weekend of DND

Hi!

A few life updates from the weekend. Noel and I went to Joseph from Magus' birthday party last Friday and had an excellent time. I hadn't seen his and Mela's new place but it is fantastic! Lots of fun people to talk to and one of the first parties where I didn't miss drinking. Good times!

Not so good is that Noel's gone to Duluth to visit her parents and Grandma. We don't spend a lot of time away from each other and I definitely get a bit lonely and have a tough time getting to sleep when she's not around. I wish I could have gone along.

I hung out at Sawatdee (sp?) with Elizabeth to look over the photos from the photo session (was it just last week). I got a great shot of me in full lotus headstand and a really cool variation of the same shot where it looks like I'm doing it in the middle of either a psychedelic whirlwind or a snow cavern. I'll be scanning and posting these on Myspace soon.

Yesterday in yoga I think I pinched something in my neck as I had a terrible headache when I came home. I laid in the bathtub until I had to puke and then fell into a deep nap. Felt much better when I woke up but I always hate feeling poorly.

Nick and Cindy are in town house hunting (they're moving back from L.A. - hurray!) so when all hung out for hot chocolate at Common Roots (my new favorite coffee shop and they have great veggie food too). Had an excellent time talking various projects with Nick. He's been working on an amazing secret video project lately that I think is one of the best things he's done (and he's done some great stuff, witness the "Western Angels" video I posted a few days back).

Tonight I'm heading over to Todd's to listen over to what is probably the final mix of the first Saint Anthony Falls track "Nihali". I am really excited to hear it! We'll also be talking about stuff related to the project and the b-side track.

Rules for Fortune Cookies

Yes, there are two rules for fortune cookies that have been handed down to me and here they are:

1. Never select your own fortune cookie, have someone else select it for you.

2. Break your fortune cookie in half, do not look at your fortune before you read the first half. After eating the first half, read your fortune - if you like your fortune finish eating the cookie, otherwise dispose of the remainder.

I hope this public service announcement is of help to you during your future fortune cookie eating experiences.

Ping Pong Power!

extreme Ping pong
Uploaded by muse324

Western Angels

Here's the video for Ka-baalim / Cupid's "Western Angels". Happy to see someone linked it to Youtube. If you enjoy this, please download the whole album over at www.darkwinter.com It's one of the better music/art pieces that I've been involved in.

Goldfrapp A&E

Got the new Goldfrapp single. The remixes are good and the track itself makes me feel funny in a good way. Oh that Goldfrapp! Here's the video for your viewing pleasure:

New Music: early '08

I love a new year as there is a special thrill when you first start to fill your playlists up with brand new to '08 music and see what sticks.

Today was a good day as I downloaded the brand new M.I.A. "Paper Planes" E.P. Only listened to it once so far but it's quite good. I'll be downloading the new Goldfrapp single tonight. I've heard it on her Myspace and I'm excited to hear more.

Also I'm in love with the Santogold "Creator/L.E.S. Artistes" (as previously mentioned) and the cover of "Cobrastyle" on the new Robyn E.P. is freakin' fantastic (so fantastic I've listened to it 50 times or so in the past week and a half, yikes!).

Vampire Weekend's album is really good but I've been mostly listening to it on shuffle with other music and I think it'll benefit from isolated listening. In a similar probably better as isolated listening category, The Magnetic Fields "Distortion" is the best MF album since "Get Lost" ("69 Love Songs" for all the critical praise had more misses than hits in my mind whereas everything from "Charm" through "Get Lost" was gold from first to last track).

I've picked up the Kanye West remix single for the fabulous track "Stronger" but haven't had the time to listen yet. I like the MGMT "Time to Pretend" EP a whole lot, I should pick up the album. I bought the Britney EP for "Piece of Me" but have to admit that I find it a little tedious. My BS fixation may be on the way out for a season or three. Of course, I've been listening to the rough mix of Todd and my new track "Nihali" a shit ton. I hope the final version sounds as good to others as it does to me.

I'll offer some more in depth reviews for a few of these as I find the time, I just wanted to throw out a lot of my current favorites for folks to mull over.

Call it Heartbreak

Dig the dude and the facial expressions (his, the audience's, the band's) - we're talking unintentional comedy gold:

Mala!

Freakin' love Mala Rodriguez. Here she is with my favorite song by her:

The Political Post

Yeah, I don't usually write about politics. For those of you who'd rather not read about politics please avoid this one.

I think the "a Bush needs a Clinton to pick up after him" is a mildly dangerous way of looking at things in that it turns American presidential politics into a form of Dynasty. The next natural progression would be for Jeb to take over for Hillary and then who, Chelsea? We'll already have gone through 20 years of Bush/Clinton/Bush in the ruling seat (28 if you count Bush Sr.'s time as VP) do we want to make that number higher? If so, when does it stop? My voting life has always seen a Bush or a Clinton in charge and I'm 33, not exactly a spring chicken.

There are times that the Dem/Rep division seems a little Coke/Pepsi as it currently is, this just makes it that much more so. Historically, we're already closer to Dynastic Presidencies than we've seen before so I think it wise to tread a little carefully right now.

Personally, I'm all about the Obama and I really hope he wins the nomination. I think that Reagan was the last president to exude his degree of charisma. It'd be nice to have a president who was able to act as inspiration. We'll see how it plays out.

I'm sold hook line and sinker on Santogold. Hope the album is out soon, just got the "Creator/L.E.S. Artistes" single last week and am pretty well addicted. Oh yeah, Robyn's cover of "Cobrastyle" is also total musical obsession material for me.

Here's a live track, doesn't quite capture the power and the beauty of the recorded stuff, but it's still a lot of fun: