Alan Watts quotes

I am really enjoying these video walks around Tokyo.  Getting lost in a city I've never been.  Has a sort of psychedelic feel to it.  Also a bit voyeuristic.  I was amazed to see how many wear hospital masks while walking around.  This Rambalac youtube channel has several more videos as well.  

 Night videowalk in East Shinjuku, Tokyo

 Shibuya Halloween

 

How to sew a button

July 23rd is Robert Anton Wilson Day

 http://www.rawilson.com/

Another morning

Another morning. The sun is up, yet hiding behind the rain filled clouds, casting a dull light upon my immediate surroundings. Just got up to pour hot water into a french press. It will only be a few more minutes until I get my chemically induced alertness flowing into my veins. Whether I like it or not, this is the time that I am aware of. This modern moment and all its high weirdness is what I have to work with. A gloomy Tuesday isn’t so bad when you don’t have to go to work. Could make for a nice reading day. Coffee should be done steeping. Be right back (whether it was just a mere moment that passed or an eternity, the reader can hardly know). The placebo effect kicks in with the first sip. Not enough time for the caffeine chemicals to reach the brain, yet my energy level has improved. The mind, fooled by its expectations, plays along with the charade.

Apollo 11 Moon Launch 50th Anniversary | CBS News Special Coverage, live stream

This full broadcast of of the Apollo 11 Moon launch is pretty awesome.  Includes some great commercials within the coverage. 

Must not Break Kayfabe!

Must not break Kayfabe!

Cool photo I found on my computer, which I think was from my phone.

A photo that I found on my computer when I was searching for something to post.

Recharged

This time of the year is always a very positive and hopeful time of the year for me. I feel recharged and excited as we move into the fall.

I know it is weird with summer coming to an end that I would be excited. I love the summer. Being outside, grilling, hitting the beach, wearing flip-flops and shorts, driving with the windows down and the music loud, it's great. My wife is a teacher and hasn't worked a second job since we had our son. We get to spend lots of time together. We hit New Hampshire early in the summer and the Cape towards the end. Summer is fantastic.

We actually just returned from the Cape a couple of days ago. Sitting at the beach, eating seafood, drinking a coffee in the morning on the deck overlooking the ocean, always a great vacation. It is one of my favorite things to do, but as we return home my wife and son both get ready to go back to school. As they prepare for the new school year I begin to prepare for the fall. I always feel recharged and ready.

With my schedule I get a pretty good amount of time to myself during the days. What am I going to do with that time? This is when I begin to plan what I will use that time for. What book will I start next, will I spend more time writing, drawing, playing my guitar? Will I take a class for work? Take a class for fun? The possibilities are endless.

I am also celebrating my 41st birthday today. Having this time of year be near my birthday it really is a time for me to set goals for the upcoming year. This is when I make my "New Years Resolutions".
Fall is a great time to get things started. It is like a reset button for me. If it was summer all year long I would stay in the flip flop state of mind and be unproductive. Don't get me wrong I love spending all summer with my family but it is not a creative time for me. As they both get ready for the new school year my mind is swirling with new ideas. A blank page ready to be filled in.

I hope everyone has had a great summer. I also hope fall brings a time of creativity and productivity. Enjoy.

Cheers!

Hello to all!

At work and decided to post after an extended time. Mid August, summer cruising along. Wasting as much time as I can, as usual.

So for those of you that don't know me I have had a serious Kickstarter addiction. I support all kinds of projects, (see previous post about multiple hobbies/ADD), but one of my favorites has been the creator owned comic projects. There is some great stuff available covering multiple genres. Like how the music industry has changed dramatically with outlets like YouTube, iTunes... Etc., so has the comic industry. Yes the big six are still in control of the market, but now creators can offer PDF only comics for short money, or free, and build a following.

Let's face it of the big six, Marvel has really changed to producing whatever Disney wants and has abandoned decades old history to cater to its parent company, the next movie, and Netflix. Originally I was all for seeing how they would shake things up, but it is just bland and watered down. After reading multiple X-titles since I was a kid Marvel has finally succeeded in in driving me away completely. I know certain titles are written for a younger audience and I am not getting any younger, but I am finally at a point where I can't identify with the characters, the story or even the art.

That being said I still read several Marvel titles but I find myself dropping more and more in favor of small creator owned projects.

Check out anything by Ryan K. Lindsay as well as the Skies of Fire series, Everland, Ocho by Eric Mengal, any art by Lorenzo Etherington, Space Captain, Vast Expanse, Locksmith, Deep Dive Daredevils, Arcane Sally and Mr. Steam, Merrick, and Apama: The Undiscovered Animal to name a few.

Maybe someday I will actually focus and create something of my own. In the meantime I will continue to enjoy my comics in whatever form they may arise. I hope you check out some of the above mentioned titles, there is some great stuff out there.

Cheers,

Randy

Easing Back In

Great to see all of you out there in Radioland again and to misquote my good buddy Jim Anchower, "It's been a while since I've rapped atcha"

I can't remember all that I've been doing since we've hung last, but I've been out and about doing stuff and am happy (?) to report back that the world is just as it was when I left, only crazier.  After a long hiatus, I'm back on the bus with the Grateful Dead.  It's no secret, or maybe it is, that the band and more importantly the culture surrounding it have been a major influence in my life since I was a little kid *teenager*  The music and I had parted ways a while back, checking in with one another occasionally throughout the years since Jerry died, but the *counter*cultural influence never left.  Anyway, I caught up with the Dead and Co. at Fenway park on July 16th and in the run up to that show found the music again, but with new ears.

I went to San Diego with the family last April.  For those out there who don't know, I lived out there for 5 years and that was another huge influence on who I am today.  It was great to be out there again visiting old friends and family, eating good food and drinking good beer.  I've always said that California is lost on Californians and I still think that is true, but I'm glad that my brother is living out there so I still have a connection to the place.

I started brewing beer too.  Mikey "The" C will be glad to read that I have come around to hoppy beers.   I went to my local boozeroo and saw that they were running a free "Learn to Brew Beer" class.  So I went with my neighbor.  And we were the only two people there.  So it was basically a one on one lesson with one of the boozeteria's homebrew supply side's beer brewing expert.  We got 5 free gallons of SummerPorter out of the deal and the knowledge and confidence to brew our own going forward...teach a man to fish and all.  But more importantly, I gained a new hobby and one with a huge rabbit hole, so stay tuned.

I'll leave you with some Rock and Roll to take you into the day or night.  Track 13 is a song that sums up this report pretty nicely and as always, Play it Fucking Loud, it's Rock and Roll after all.

Film

Here is the BBC's picks of the top films of this century. Thoughts? Link

Top Ten:
10. No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007)
 9. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
8. Yi Yi: A One and a Two (Edward Yang, 2000)
7. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
5. Boyhood (Richard Linklater, 2014)
4. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
3. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
2. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
1. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001) 

So, at what point do you decide you have ADD/ADHD and start thinking about how Adderall will improve your life, or do you just have a lot of interests?

I enjoy a lot of things: reading (comics, books, magazines, online content), writing, drawing, playing (not so well) my guitar, listening to music, playing games (board games, RPG's), gardening, running, swimming, snowboarding, taking courses (work related and not)...etc. The list really could go on.

I will rotate through and them and spend various amounts of time on all, but not enough on each. I've taken all the online questionnaires for "Adult ADD Symptoms", and can go either way.

I really enjoy all of the things that I enjoy. Part of me doesn't want to take medication and potentially lose some of my interests, yet the other part is curious to see what I may accomplish with the desired effects of medication. I guess for now I will continue the rotation and see what happens. For now.

It appears that giant robot battles are going to be a thing. 

The Challenge:


The Response:

Parliament-Funkadelic

NSFW due to language