Thursday, March 18, 2004
WEAVING THE WEB [coolmel]
it's 1:58am. can't put myself to sleep. so might as well use this opportunity to thank this guy for creating something groovy which keeps me busy instead of me tossing and turning in my bed of nails.
The World Wide Web and the "Web of Life" - by Tim Berners-Lee
People have often asked me whether the Web design was influenced by Unitarian Universalist philosophy. I have to say that it wasn't explicitly, as I developed the Web well before I came across Unitarian Universalism at all. But looking back on it, I suppose that there are some parallels between the philosophies.
thanks Tim for weaving the Web. i now have 24/7 access to porn, shamanism, war in the middle east, the secrets of the vatican, scientific breakthroughs, new age, integral subculture, wisdom traditions, and pop culture. there. i'm sleepy now.
Posted on
1:58 AM
MR. ATLAS SHRUGS [Paul]
The greatest pleasure I've had in my employment with Integral Naked has been writing the biographies of the many diverse personalities we feature on the site. Case in point: Mr. Nathaniel Branden, former lover of Ayn Rand and expert on the psychology of self-esteem. For an alcoholic fuck-up on thin ice with just about everyone he knows, Branden is a much welcome kick in the ass. My ass. To wit:
It is painful to face the self we know we have never had the integrity to honor and assert.
Self-esteem entails the idea of feeling in control of your existence. This feeling requires that yu operate purposefully, since it is only through your goals and purposes that you can have any control over your life.
Live self-assertively. Bring into the world that which you think, value, and feel. Do not consign yourself to the unexpressed and unlived.
Posted on
12:52 AM
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
WAKING UP TO AN OVERMIND MEMORY [wrench]
I caught waking life during my first months in austin, tx. read a review in the chronicle and took off, a corndog paddling some place he'd never been, in a town he didn't know, toward folks he'd yet to meet. only to land at the alamo drafthouse, a wonderful old theater in downtown. inside, a long table bar hugged each aisle for chowing on-the-spot dinners or slugging pitchers of beer. anyhow, there was a wild local buzz to the movie, w/ much of the rough footage shot in town and director richard linklater being an austinite himself; even as a relative newcomer, outsider, in-settler, I had picked up an overmind, a culturally shared experience w/ these cats, a big fat sloppy communal feeling gushing in those affectionately worn seats. one dude just laaaaaaughed and laughed at the funny parts, a sort of winding up/sendoff laugh, that, in turn, steadily brought me and other filmgoers into spurts of our own. the experience left me w/ a warm, fuzzy feeling; sappy suds from the foam of a memory floatbob that is forever tied to austin, alamo, linklater, eye-gifting animation and noetic narrative...
one of my best nights, there :)
Posted on
10:48 PM
LINKLATER [Matthew]
Can you believe my surprise, when Hannah and I saw the hysterical School of Rock last fall, to learn that one of my favorite directors, Richard Linklater, made it? I love his work. Slacker is conceptually brilliant, Waking Life is intense, Before Sunrise has plenty of cool moments (though Ethan Hawke gets to be a bit much at times). Of course I'll always have a warm place in my heart for Dazed & Confused, which showcased early roles by cats such as Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, Milla Jovovich, Adam Goldberg (I wanna dance!).
Matthew McConaughey gets all the best lines, including "That's what I love about them high school girls. I keep getting older, and they just stay the saaaame age." So yeah, Linklater rocks.
Posted on
9:15 PM
NO GOTHIC BABES HERE....YET [jennifer]
Thanks for the WL, top inspiration in animation/exploration.
Want to do an animated documentary on ecstacy?
Seek the source of all awakeness...Waking Life 2: Electric Boogaloo!
We need some good aftereffects junkies/animators working off of DV footage like Flat Black (Bob Sabiston's rotoscoping studio). Are of you talented in such mystical ways?
One more photo from this weekends artshow, because she looks like a superhero:
Posted on
8:31 PM
MERRILY, MERRILY, MERRILY... [coolmel]
speaking of sleep cycles, there's no better animation to jar your concept of reality than the mind-blowing, dizzying, visuals and dialogues of this postmodern version of Groundhog Day --
...the film would focus on one man's intellectual journey as he was thrust into a series of encounters with outrageously quirky characters. "It's a film that I had in my mind for a long time," says Linklater. "It wouldn't have worked with live action. But then technology sort of caught up with it and allowed it to be made."
now if only they can make movies like this with Gothic babes...
(hey Paul, i wonder what your friend Matt T. thinks about this TedJesusChristGod... makes me feel shitty @#$! too...)
Posted on
4:32 AM
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
THE SLEEP-CYCLE & SPIRITUALITY [wrench]
it may help if a discussion of spirituality began w/ outlining ever-present states of consciousness: the radically noticeable fact that everyone wakes, dreams, and sleeps. that these three great natural states: waking, dreaming, deep dreamless sleep, are actually the gateways to body, mind, and spirit. and to consciously, deliberately explore or harness the potentials of those three great states, a wide array of meditative practices have organically developed: yoga, tai chi, sexual communion; visualization; bare-attention, self-inquiry, Zen, etc. a more integral spirituality, it seems, would acknowledge the importance of each practice, and make note of which state of consciousness they best enact.
Posted on
11:27 PM
THERE'S ROOM FOR GOTH IN THE SPIRITUAL SCENE. [Meera]
Without Faith
""Prove yourself to me, " you say
A skeptic waiting for a faulty word
A sole mistake, a lapse of timing
I release your arms to show you trust
To make the miracle, to will the rain
To part the seas, to press the wine from water
But without faith, I am nothing
To demand is to deny
For an instant you will see me
As I flicker from your eye
And while you hold your eyelids shut
The buttermilk will boil to blood
And onyx black, the net of sky falls to reveal the light beyond
And still you swear upon your heart
That you can taste the wind and hear the ground
Beneath you, yet you still refuse to see
With your doubt, all is comfort
We are all as we appear
No more questions left unanswered
No more wonder, no more fear
Nothing is beauty, nothing's feeling
Blood where there once was a soul
So I ask you, prove yourself
Make me believe that you are whole."
-ThouShaltNot
Posted on
6:52 PM
A RIDICULOUS BUMMER [Paul]
Matt Taibbi, my former editor at The Buffalo BEAST, is at it again with his Jesus obsession (last summer I went with Matt to a Six Flags theme park to see Growing Pains' Kirk Cameron -- now a Born Again Christian -- deliver a fire-and-brimstone speech to a throng a blue-meme whities). Here's a quote from a recent editorial for NY PressEnter The Passion of the Christ, a gigantic gore-fest designed to make us feel like shit. In that sense, it descends from the worst traditions of the Catholic Church, which has now spent two millennia enthusiastically laying this ridiculous bummer on the world population–though never with the aid of such great special effects.
That's all I need right now, to feel like more shit.
Posted on
1:23 PM
WHEN MIDNIGHT SIGHS [jennifer]
"If and betting on an if, and if that if might have a chance to survive.
It runs in to twelve different ways of existing each with capacity to change it's mind.
The vibe says six, so be six, now it has a clone that is a bit more feminine.
Pondering the paces of what's going down....life, and the greeting is, "oh...it's you again."
Now come the images so many images. the painful colors and the bliss like tries.
I'm taking notes till the end of theatrics, then it stops, ends, dies....
Whatever is whatever, it calculates the karma.
And tries to adjust as it inquires what's shaking.
But through no eyes, I could see the entity....crying."
PMDawn, a break from the heavy political vibes between Haiti, Spain and our own rapidly-shifting futures. Democracy Now has updates on Aristide's return to the Caribbean as confrontations heat up close to home. This is going to be a very explosive year on all sides of the political fence; integral political theory needs to dig deep to find roots in the nondual awareness that knows that there are no sides to begin with.
Posted on
1:52 AM
Monday, March 15, 2004
THE AMERICAN SHAMAN [wrench]
"The soul in man is not an organ, but animates and exercises all organs;. . . is not a faculty, but a light; is not the intellect or the will, but the master of the intellect and the will; is the background of our being, in which they lie. . . a light shines through us upon things and makes us aware that we are nothing, but the light is all. . . When it breathes through his intellect, it is genius; when it breathes through his will, it is virtue; when it flows through his affection, it is love. And the blindness of the intellect begins when it would be something of itself. The weakness of the will begins when the individual would be something of himself. All reform aims in some one particular to let the soul have its way through us;. . . to engage us to obey."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Posted on
11:48 PM
FROM MATTYD, ON INTEGRAL MUSIC [jennifer]
My, that's quite an organ you've got there!
You will be filled with beaming light when you hear about the show that our boy MattyD played on Sunday evening. No, really. Beams of light shootin' right through you.
Posted on
8:40 PM
NEW LIFE [jennifer]
From the Create:Fixate show on Saturday night. Thanks again for the Hildegard inspiration Mr. Dallman.
Posted on
8:26 PM
SOCIALISM IS NOT DEAD [coolmel]
after reading Ray Harris's, Left, Right or Just Plain Wrong?, i'm still scratching my head and wondering what partial truths can be applied from this seemingly constructive criticism of the Integral movement, specifically in politics. in the meantime, Ray Harris's words are still ringing in my ears... in stereo --
"In order to be taken seriously in the world of politics integral theory needs to grasp that outside the US socialism and Marxism are still taken seriously."
especially in light of recent developments in Spain.
Posted on
12:23 PM
HARRIS' POLEMIC [Matthew]
Thanks Paul, for the link. Always interesting to read various accounts of integral theory application. I'm not really sure how much Harris is in a position to give critique to I-I, though of course he has the right to do offer whatever opinions he likes. He kind of loses me in the first couple sentences, when he suggests that there is a "problem" with the integral political theory as described by Ken Wilber and Don Beck. Ken has made it clear that integral theory does not purport to be some sort of agenda, like Marxism. I don't expect integral political theory to be able to tell people "how to vote" and more than integral art theory will tell artists "how to make art" or integral medicine theory to tell doctors "how to heal". In writing about the Iraq war, Wilber said that there are good reasons to be for the war, and good reasons to be against it. The integral model doesn't by nature suggest one or the other. So in my mind, there is some degree of 'straw man' rhetoric in Harris' essay.
But what do I know, I'm just an artist.
Posted on
11:39 AM
GOING CAMPING WITH YOUR LAPTOP? [coolmel]
just make sure you check this in @ the airport. in a world drowning in oceans of data, this baby could either be your lifesaver, or just another piece of metal to pull you down the abyss. you decide. now where the hell is the bottle opener?
Posted on
7:37 AM
Sunday, March 14, 2004
SOMEWHERE IN OKLAHOMA [wrench]
the dust bowl has been cradle to some pretty interesting cats: from gary busey, to walter cronkite, to ken wilber (!) - native america's notables undoubtedly span the spectrum.
Posted on
9:37 PM
MEDITATIVE ART [Matthew]
Humbly, I've recently started a collaborative music experiment called Fantasia for Wine Glasses. If you like, you can read more about the project here. Basically, the injunction is to meditate as a group according to different styles (silent, singing, toasting w/ good wine) and after each session, make music using struck wine glasses as instruments. The aim to to sustain a group mind consciousness throughout the music-making. Yes, we get clinky.
Of course, I have a long way to go before I help facilitate and compose an artifact that is anywhere near as beautiful as this. Yet the journey of a million breaths begins with one, consciously.
Posted on
5:57 PM
"I LIVE NEAR THE CITY
WHERE THE RIVER IS IRISH GREEN" [coolmel]
Take a dip, take a sip, and taste your own reflection...
Posted on
12:35 AM
Saturday, March 13, 2004
"I LIVE IN D.C. AND YOU DON'T" [Meera]
Does your city have a massive coruscating phallic symbol in it? I didn't think so. Though I'd rather be in this place.
Posted on
10:54 PM
"WE LIVE IN BOULDER AND YOU DON'T" #1 [Paul]
The only true reward for staying up 'til 6am every fucking Tuesday night doing The Manifest is to see the beautiful smog-laden Front Range sunrise oozing in from Nebraska. Well that, and having an excuse to drink this shit (not that I need one).
Posted on
7:07 PM
THIS GENERATION'S GEEKS BECOME THE NEXT GEN'S GEEZERS [wrench]
and samsara marches on...cats like d. boon of the minutemen and joey ramone had the heart of the 1970s-80s underground music scene. it was, at its best, a wonderful green egalitarianism coupled w/ a do-it-yourself work ethic. and that eventually got co-opted as "alternative," or "indie," legitimized and accepted to where, now, we await a new art form for Eros, an avant garde that goes deeper, wider, higher. and that avant garde, by whatever name, looks to be "integral"...
Posted on
6:25 PM
DANGER! PORN! POLITICS! [Paul]
A scatter-shot URL-splat for this Saturday morning hangover: 1) It's not too late to download DJ Danger Mouse's The Grey Album, a brilliant mash-up of the Beatles and rapper Jay-Z! 2) Just so we're all clear here, yours truly can currently be spotted on a porn site called "VIP Parties Uncensored." Hint: look an inch under "live" in "live the dream." .... and 3) What's with these Australians? Ray Harris has posted another vicious (and thought-provoking) critique -- "Left, Right, or Just Plain Wrong?" -- of the US integral scene's perceived political naivete. This has got to be the first time I've seen the word "anarchy" used in anything having to do with integral theory. You go Ray! (Jason M., where you at B?)
Posted on
10:47 AM
Friday, March 12, 2004
TGIF! WTF?! [coolmel]
Oh my daemon where art thou?
Rescue me from this prison cell
of botched dreams and cubic hells,
That I may labor with inspiration,
not with blind desperation,
That I may feel pleasure in spite of pain, never again to toil in vain,
That I may find my lasting passion...
and long for purpose no more.
Posted on
7:59 PM
AN ETERNAL MOMENT OF SILENCE [Matthew]
MADRID, March 11 - Ten bombs ripped through four commuter trains in Madrid during the morning rush hour on Thursday, killing at least 192 people and wounding more than 1,400 in the deadliest terrorist attack on a European target since World War II.
Posted on
11:28 AM
Thursday, March 11, 2004
THANK YOU MR. DALLMAN FOR THE INSPIRATION.... [jennifer]
"I, the highest and fiery power, have kindled every spark of life, and I
emit nothing that is deadly. I decide on all reality. With my lofty
wings I fly above the globe: With wisdom I have right put the universe
in order. I, the fiery life of divine essence, am aflame beyond the
beauty of the meadows, I gleam in the waters, and I burn in the sun, moon
and stars.
...I am life, whole and entire -- vita integra -- not struck from stones,
not blooming out of twigs, not rooted in a man's power to beget children.
Rather all life has its roots in me."
~ Hildegard von Bingen
Posted on
12:11 AM
Saturday, March 06, 2004
MEAN BLUE DENVER [Paul]
Good to see that the epicenter of the integral revolution is still not averse to creepy displays of pathological traditionalism: a local church in Denver, in a campaign inspired by The Passion, refuses to take down a "Jews Killed Jesus" sign. Grow the fuck up people.
Posted on
3:03 PM
KEN'S NEW COLUMN [Paul]
Our philosopher buddy Ken Wilber now has a new column for Belief.net, check it out here. This episode deals with the 7 traits all spiritual paths have in common. Unfortunately, not a single one of them is booze :(
Posted on
2:57 PM
Thursday, March 04, 2004
CALIFONE [Matthew]
That is the name of this wicked indie band from Chicago. Hannah and I caught their show last night. They are perhaps best considered an electrified impressionistic pulsing folk group; a jamband without the excess (or talent on their instruments, which here is actually effective for the music.) This is an interview that the group's leader gave to the Chicago Sun-Times. If you find their new album, pick it up, because it is really cool.
Posted on
3:37 PM
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
THERE IS ONLY... [marco]
there is only one eye, winking in every heart.
there is only one odor to every liberated fart.
there is only one nipple, giving milk in the night.
there is only one face, one grace, one light....
(paul salamone wears army boots.)
Posted on
8:16 PM
EVERY WEDNESDAY IS A HOLIDAY [wrench]
today is wednesday - comic book day. that means freaks and geeks all across america troll out in droves to their local comic rag panderer - funny books, romance comics, super-hero, sci-fi, cartoon conspiracy, criticism, comic noir, political commentary, satire, sex - a decent comic saloon has all these in store; trade paperback, graphic novel, bimonthly, biweekly, collected work, paper or plastic? a penny cent thrill ride, a dime store addiction, a four-colored altered state...
comic book day, today. mutants, freaks, and geeks - count me in :)
Posted on
7:20 PM
NOTE THE NEON [Matthew]
Right below the Pumpkin Chakra. Ahh, the Castro district in San Francisco....
Posted on
5:19 PM
