Relojes Steampunk IV by Gonzalo Álvarez

Jet Li joins the Davos Debates

Jet Li speaks from the heart about the global family. He's founded One Foundation, who's goal is to build a sustainable, professional, and trustworthy foundation platform to encourage social sector development and bring out mass participation in philanthropic giving and volunteerism.

Posted via email from frostyland's posterous

My Spoon is too Big! ((tag: humor, rejected, don hertzfeldt)

It sounds like the audience gets the reference, which is way cool. If you need a little help, see Rejected by Don Hertzfeldt.

Posted via email from frostyland's posterous

Amazon's The 100 Greatest Debut Albums of All Time

The editors from Amazon put together their 100 Greatest Debut Albums of All Time list. There's quite a few questionable picks, but hey that's just my opinion. Of particular interest to me is #54 - Entertainment! by Gang of Four. And that's because I was fortunate enough to hang out with Dave Allen (pictured with halo) at CES this year. We had some great conversations, which he may or may not remember. I even brought along my Shriekback CD The Dancing Years for him to sign, which he graciously did over breakfast.

Dave is now in Portland, hanging out with Nemo Design and doing some interesting work on the social media front. He's also still very active in the music scene, and runs the musical website Pampelmoose. You should defintely check it out if you are a music fan.

So congratulations Dave! Next time I'm bringing my Gang of Four CD. I'll even buy breakfast :)

Posted via web from frostyland's posterous

Song of the Day

OMD's Southern takes bits of Marin Luther King's speeches and places them against an energetic musical backdrop. Even with the horns blaring and the drums pounding, you lose interest in the music and start focusing on the words. Words of a dreamer. Words to make you stop and think. Words for the times.

I remember that Monday morning
When I was subpoenaed to be in court

Many things ran through my mind
I started thinking about the people
All day long, trying to think of something to say to the people

Are you ready for the question?
All in favor, let it be known by standing on you feet

I want young men and young women, who are not alive today
But who will come into this world, with new privileges
And new opportunities
I want them to know and see that these new privileges and opportunities
Did not come without somebody suffering and sacrificing for

Freedom is never given to anybody

Like anybody
I would like to live a long life
Longevity has it's place
But I'm not concerned about that now
I just want to do god' will
And he has allowed me to go up to the mountain
And I've looked over
And I've seen the promise land
I may not get there with you
But I want you to know tonight
That we as a people
Will get to the promise land
So I'm happy tonight, I'm not worried about anything
I'm not fearing any man
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the lord

Glory hallelujah, glory hallelujah
Glory hallelujah, glory hallelujah
His truth is marching on

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 and assassinated on April 4,1968. He was the recipient of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize.

Robert Kennedy said at his rally in Indianapolis on that fateful day of April 4, 1968:

"My favorite poem, my — my favorite poet was Aeschylus, and he once wrote:

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God.

"What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black."

Stars and Stripes by Phil Fung

Phil Fung, a Miami-based visual artist, had his portrait of Barack Obama chosen as a finalist for for MoveOn.org’s Manfest Hope Gallery Contest. As one of the winners, he had his painting on display at the Manifest Hope Gallery during the Democratic National Convention in Denver

Song of the Day

Living Colour - what an amazing band! Extremely talented, hard rocking, great lyrics and songs about tough issues. Their debut album Vivid is definitely in my best of all time collection, and one of those tapes that I wore out from constant play.

I also have a great memory of chatting with Muzz Skillings at the 1991 Lollapalooza (the whole Lollapalooza was a great experience in itself) at the Shoreline Amphitheatre. He came out early in the day and sat nearby to check out the bands. No one seemed to know who he was, but I sure did. So I headed over and started chatting about music. At first he was hesitant, then he relaxed when he realized that I was not some crazed fanboy. Finally he said "hey I gotta get going, we're on soon. Great talking to you." and he headed backstage.

“And during the few moments that we have left, we want to talk, right down to
earth, in a language that everybody here can easily understand.” (Malcolm X)

Look in my eyes, what do you see?
the Cult of Personality
I know your anger, I know your dreams
I've been everything you wanna be ohhh…
I'm the Cult of Personality
Like Mussolini and Kennedy
I'm the Cult of Personality
the Cult of Personality
the Cult of Personality

Neon lights, Nobel Prize
When a mirror speaks, the reflection lies
You won't have to follow me
Only you can set me free

I sell the things you need to be
I'm the smiling face of your T.V. ohh…
I'm the Cult of Personality
I exploit you; still you love me
I tell you one and one makes three ohh…
I'm the Cult of Personality
Like Joseph Stalin and Gandhi ohh…
I'm the Cult of Personality
the Cult of Personality
the Cult of Personality

Neon lights, Nobel Prize
When a leader speaks, that leader dies
You won't have to follow me
Only you can set you free

You gave me fortune, you gave me fame
You gave me power in your God's name
I'm every person you need to be ohh…
I'm, the, Cult, of, Per, Son, Al, Ity

I am the Cult of Personality

“Ask not what your country can do for you…” (John F. Kennedy)
“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

Additional Info:

• Living Colour at Wikipedia
• Living Colour Blog
• Living Colour's Vivid at Amazon.
  

Wassup 2008

Truly epic, and appropriate for the times.

Service: A Photo Essay

From "Service", a powerful photo essay on The New Yorker:

"This summer, the photographer Platon took pictures of hundreds of men and women who volunteered to serve in the military and were sent to Iraq or Afghanistan. He followed them on their journey through training and deployment, after demobilization and in hospitals, to compile a portrait of the dedication of the armed services today."

Here's part of the reaction from Colin Powell's appearance on Meet the Press commenting about the presidential race:

"I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards--Purple Heart, Bronze Star--showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life."

I meant to click through and briefly skim through all of this, but now it's got my full emotional attention. The photo essay is powerful on its own without this controversy, but Mr. Powell's remark adds some serious weight and gravity. A 20 year old man gave his life for something he believed in, and it matters not who he called his God.

Song of the Day

Anyone remember this one? Ēbn-Ōzn's "AEIOU Sometimes Y" had heavy airplay in the early days of MTV. It was an interesting twist at the time - basically spoken word set against a modern beat. And I always loved the "feeling cavalier" part.


"So I was walking up Broadway you know
and there's this incredible looking Swedish girl having a
Cappuccino across the street from Lincoln Center,
I started talking to her you know
She said her name was Lola,
Her English wasn't too good you know
but we wound up spending
about 5 hours together just hanging out you know.
So We go back to my place - we get high
we get really into each other man.
It was love about to happen ... I'm serious.
And then all of a sudden she gets up and she says,
she says "Hey, I really gotta leave"
Damn!

A E I O U Sometimes Y

There are 178 parent languages on our planet with over 1000 dialects...
It's amazing we communicate at all.
Languages and dialects - with this one thing in common:
A E I O U Sometimes Y

So you know I was really flipped out you know and she asked me
if I'm angry or something
I said of course I'm angry man this isn't high school or anything
You know so I'm feeling really cavalier and I say ah
"Call me if you want to."
huh, yeah ... call me if you want to ...
So she rang me up and she says, "Hey! Do you wanna go out?"
Huh! Do I wanna go out ?!"