I just became aware of Viviane Sassen when seeing her work at the MOMA. Each of her photographs is just so stunningly composed. I was so refreshed by that soda orange and all the beautiful little tidbits in her photos. Its funny how some of the most simple things are the most innovative. I love the beautiful black skinned people in her photos, strategically made darker with shadows and some post work, really neat effect. The one with the gorgeous fire burning the paper really hit me good. All of her photos are so beautifully perfect with details, it makes me want to plan each of my own shots  more. Her colors are so crisp and clean, the word PROFESSIONAL comes to mind. But check out her website if you enjoy her work, I have a feeling she is going to be relentless with her talent. http://www.vivianesassen.com/

Aria Prima
Aria Secunda
Aria Tertia
Aria Quarta
Aria Quinta
Aria Sexta Sebaldina

Dont ask me why I felt the need to synthesize Hexachordum Apollinis. Its a collection of keyboard music by Johann Pachelbel, published in 1699. Actually I will tell you. Its because listening to the harpsichord version is a little like trying to hug a cactus with a thin jacket on. I think Johann Pachebel is one of my favorite composers and I feel most of his work aside from Canon is greatly overlooked. I have been getting the MIDI tracks to classical music for quite some time, I like making different sounds for the various instruments. I thought it was about time to actually do one complete piece of music, so why not this 6 track beauty. I love the sound of Sine waves, so I favored them when creating the sounds for this. They are rounded so they dont prick your ears but they are not harmonic which gives a monotone electronic zylophone type of vibe. The tracks pacing was a bit fast for synthesized sounds, so I made it a little bit more laid back. I hope someone enjoys this strange concoction. I feel it would make good background/ study music. Just right click each track to download them.

This prayer is the profession of faith in Christianity. I thought it was the perfect time to bring it to light on christmas. I have had a hard time with Christianity growing up, I was even a devot atheist. So I thought christianity was just filling peoples heads with lies. Now having experienced ‘God’ within myself and within all things as all things, I can  really say, I see religion quite differently. Religion is like a cup filled with sacred water, people put too much attention on the cup and not the water, people argue over shape and design of the glass when really its the water they should be concerned about. The word God used to upset me and I preferred to call it the unified field, transcendent, jah, anything but God. I have since then reclaimed the word God to re associate it with its correct definition and not with the definition projected upon with finite fearful human characteristics.

The idea of the holy trinity now makes sense to me. According to this doctrine, God exists as three but is one God, meaning that God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have exactly the same nature or being as God (the Father) in every way. Whatever attributes and power God (the Father) has, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have as well. “Thus, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are also eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinitely wise, infinitely holy, infinitely loving, omniscient.”   I understand that women might have a problem with this because it does not mention females, but I assure it is just for the sake of example, God is totality and therefore void of gender in an absolute sense.  There have been many gurus and saints throughout time. It is said (not by christians) that Jesus Christ had no previous incarnations, he was truly the Son of God . He is the only one I have ever heard of coming to earth not for his own salvation but solely for the salvation of others. Buddha strived for perfection and remembered his many incarnations when he attained it. Jesus was born perfect, its quite a profound thing. What is perfection you may ask, you know what perfection is in your heart, its the part of you not disgusted by the idea. In a word its pure love. Heaven is salvation, free from sin (karma), enlightenment. We are all children of God but we all run the gamut of understanding our divine source. Heaven is freedom, salvation from suffering. Heaven is eternally present, you may tap into it at the moment of physical death and not reincarnate or you may live in heaven on earth, being of the world but not in it as Jesus said. I find this creed to be extremely powerful, I read all the different translations of it on wikipedia and I felt a beautiful light within. The only two words I really have qualms with are suffered and judge but we can agree that those most likely not the words Jesus would choose, but we make due eh!?

Last night I just started reading the new testament in the Bible. I have bookmarked every single page so far because I have found so many kernels of wisdom, It might become one of my favorite books.

Whats funny to me is that this creed seems very zen. I hope this post made sense, if not to your mind then at least too your heart hahahahahahahaha

We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God,

eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

of one Being with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation

he came down from heaven:

by the power of the Holy Spirit

he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again

in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,

and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of Life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.

He has spoken through the Prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come. Amen.

If you havent seen any photos by David Hamilton, there you go. So I will take a guess an assume you love them because if you didn’t you are either a prude or a bad person hahahahha. His photos are so painterly it makes me want to pour paint over my head just because he such a good photographer. Some people knock his status as an american master, which is because they dont like the human body or beautiful lighting and probably spend most of their time writing snide arguments on youtube videos. The dreaminess of his photography speaks directly to an inner voice I have that wants to do something very similar in my own photos. I enjoy realism but I just love when a photo carries a silence that seems to capture heaven on earth. He does it in almost every photo throughout his career. Im not sure of very many photographers who can charge a membership fee on there website just to view their photos, which he has done for many years. I spent so long trying to find out what his technique was and at about 4 in the morning one night, I found a photo assistant of his say that he fogged the lens up with his breath, and almost always used a minolta with a 50mm lens and slow speed ektachrome film, if your a photo nerd then you will appreciate that. Ok thats all for today.

I recently watched Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (its on netflix watch instantly). I was just swept up in the interestingness of this guy. He recorded Bach’s Goldberg Variations when he was just 22. This work made him famous and is arguably his best. In truth all of his work is amazing. This album has so much life in it, it seems totally understandable that it blew everyone away in 1955. Its like he could not keep his genius in any longer at 22, so it exploded out in the form of the one of the most flawless expositions of music beauty. There is something about the way he plays that is just electric, its like he has a higher energetic tolerance and it comes out in the form of exquisitely paced piano playing and verbal communication (he was very good at speaking). There is a light in his music that I dont think he had any part in, we all seem to be born to give something to the world. His may be this beautiful light in the form of music. He had many quirks and was quite a unique fellow but his music genius is undeniably palpable. So I recommend listing to this album and focusing on something, its unbelievably great studying music. I attached the youtube clip as an example of his disposition.

Oh and this album is on spotify.

I love the subtlety of these prints. You could get lost in the beauty of the repetition and the subtle human imperfection. I feel like everyone can always appreciate works that are the result of diligent and intricate work and focus.

His architecture series is amazing as well, check them out more of work on his website http://skorczewski.com/

photo by Charles Moore

I love this photo so much, for so many reasons. I really enjoy the nonchalance of reading a book of such extreme power with a cigarette, which most people think of as a symbol gluttony (I do not). The whole situation seems relaxed and carefree, The age of the person reading book, the cigarette, the tatteredness of the book. I think this is a perfect situation for taking in some wisdom. I guess I just love the seeming juxtaposition between the reader and the subject matter. But anyway I love the book All Men Are Brothers by Mahatma Gandhi Its one of my favorite books I have ever read, which plays into why I like this photo so much. Gandhi was such a powerful proponent of truth that I feel it could bring me to tears. His words are so deeply rooted in a reality most of us pay no mind to. Its the reality of god, a way of seeing the world with the true subjective experience that we are all of the same divine source. With his faith as the basis for all his writing and action, he made a reverberation that still gives future generations a light in their heart guiding them towards divine truth. People talk of meditation as a way to god, which it is. What people dont talk about as much is the power of virtues to elevate us to the realm of the divine. to sculpt our character, to purify ourselves in the likeness of holy beings by exuding virtues like INTEGRITY, HUMILITY, PATIENCE, and FORGIVENESS. Prahandsa Yogananda talked of teaching Gandhi to meditate for the first time. What I now know is that Gandhi lived his greatest meditation through his complete surrender to divine virtue. In this book and his complete autobiography  ’The Story of My Experiments with Truth’ He seems preoccupied with every flaw however tiny in his character and committed to overcoming it completely.  There are so many amazing quotes in this book one which I coin when asked about my belief in god “I am more sure of God, then I am sure Im in this room” .

These images are so beautiful, in case you didn’t notice. Its a very haunting medium, some of the work in the series was downright creepy but we are not going to focus on those. This is a series of re photographed x ray images used for art conservation. “To re-photograph these records, each was laid on a light box in a darkened room; the emanations of light were transmitted by long exposures onto color film. Rendering three dimensions into two is at the heart of the photographic process. With the x-ray, this sense is compounded, since it maps both the inner and outer surfaces of its subject. The mysterious images that result seem to encompass both an inner and an outer world, as the two-dimensional photograph brings us into a realm of indeterminate space, depth, and scale.” Im a huge fan of all photographic processes especially done as elegantly as this. I just love the transparentness of x rays, so atmospheric but contained within the subject. He is a real live artist with tons of amazing work, check out his website here http://davidmaisel.com/

Well hello, its been awhile. Take some time right now and watch all three videos its about 20 something minutes but its really rewarding.

Im not sure how I came to find this video but im glad I did. I really like this guy Earl! He cuts through bullshit like a knife. He seems like a real straight shooter. I think its such a nice thing to revive our awareness of our purpose on this earth. I also think its a very healthy thing to check in and make sure we are headed where we want too. This video seems to be a vintage version of the famous new age classic THE SECRET. I like this one more, less of an emphasis on manifesting cars and houses  :) . I really enjoy his directness about the central concept, “you become what you think” and  how it relates to finding fulfillment and happiness through your purposeful work. That is a truth easily ignored. We usually think about a genius business plan to get us rich fast and quit all work, but that is not where you find complete fulfillment and happiness. Its through the work with which we love that is the maximum source of joy in our life and for all others. Its a concept repeated over and over in the Bhagavad Gita by Krishna.  It seems truth has many faces with the same words throughout time. I will leave you with a quote from another person who knew the strangest secret.

Buddha “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.”

Spring Mix 2011

So I skipped the winter playlist, it would have been depressing anyway, lots of Jeff Buckly and Jose Gonzalez. So this mix should put you right, its got lots of gems that make me agree internally every time i hear them. Its all over the map so I hope it fits in your taste arena. Ya but anyway, spring is such a great time, the smell of beautiful plants blossoming into the air, kissing, the warmth in the heart of a cold time just ended, ya, I like it. So I hope you enjoy! you can download the link if you right click it, or you can embed the soundcloud version.

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