A New Earth

"There's no conflict between this teaching, which is purely spiritual and religion because if you go deep enough into your own religion we all get to the same place."

I Love Animal YouTube Videos =)

ENJOY! =)

English Bulldog Puppies:


English Bulldog:



Fluffy Puppy:


Tawny Owl Bathing:

New Year's Eve

I found this to be very charming.

Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt:

Reality TV: Love It or Hate It; It's still takes up too much of your free time!

I've heard people say that we watch reality TV bc watching vile characters like that make us feel better about ourselves, but that holier than thou attitude doesn't really resonate with me.

I think there's something about vice and negative human traits that draws us in. Even as we try to banish that dark side of us, we seem to relish seeing it in those removed from us. It's kinda scary how much we secretly embrace the dark side of human nature by indulging in these guilty pleasures.

So I admit over this break I watched some really trashy TV shows. It was really funny and entertaining though.

Here's a hilarious clip, poking fun at the Brazilian model's command of English (I don't feel bad about posting it because Rodiney himself posted this clip on his YouTube account):

Lesbian Love at Its Finest

Les Miserables, 25th Anniversary Concert

I'm not a fan of that many musicals but I have to admit that this classic is a gem in the rough.

I watched the 25th anniversary version performed at the O2 in London.

One More Day:



Master of the House:


Bring Him Home:

I'm Unique.

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/sheeple.png

‎"We feel our best when we're 'just right,' part of a group that is specialized enough to set us apart from the masses but still definable.

We want to stand out from the majority, but usually not in a way that makes us part of a glaring and lonely minority. Sometimes, we may not choose the tie we would really like to wear for fear of where that would put us in relation to others.

We are all trying to find the place on the bell curve where we feel most comfortable. If we have to bend the truth to get there, so be it.

[..]

This doesn't mean that we're all conformists in denial. It means that we regularly fail to recognize that others' thoughts and behaviors are just as complex and varied as our own. rather than being alone in a crowd of sheep, we're all individuals in sheep's clothing."

-Sheena Iyengar, from The Art of Choosing

A Different Take on Rural American Life...

From Main Street by Sinclair Lewis (Carol follows her husband from metropolitan St. Paul to a little town called Gopher Prairie, Minnesota):

The reason, Carol insisted, is not a whiskered rusticity. It is nothing so amusing!

It's an unimaginatively standardized background, a sluggishness of speech and manners, a rigid ruling of spirit by the desire to appear respectable. it is contentment...the contentment of the quiet dead, who are scornful of the living for their restless walking. It is negation canonized as the one positive virtue. It is the prohibition of happiness. It is slavery self-sought and self-defended. It is dullness made God.

A savorless people, gulping tasteless food and sitting afterward, coatless and thoughtless, in rocking chairs prickly with inane decorations, listening to mechanical music, saying mechanical things about the excellence of Ford automobiles, and viewing themselves as the greatest race in the world.

I love the way this girl moves (and sings)! Kimbra.

I Love LOST

That's the way you live this life. Each day, one at a time. Now, if you spend your whole life worryin' about something that's gonna happen, before you know it, your life's over and you spent an awful lot of it just worryin'.

[Children's laughter in the background.]

Hey, you heard that? Now that's what life's all about. Laughin' and lovin' each other. And knowin' that people aren't really gone when they die. We have all the good memories to sustain us until we see 'em again.

"I Hate My Job" MV

This video is kind of a mindfuck...masculine, business up top and feminine, toned legs down below.
(Warning: Don't watch this if you're offended by seeing gay men in gender-bending roles.)

This video is already viral on Tumblr but hasn't become a widespread internet meme...yet.




If you watched it already, this song is probably stuck in your head now...sorry bout that.

Somebody That I Used to Know

William Fitzsimmons "Fade and then Return"

This just speaks to me now.

Lana Del Rey

Tell Your Mama You Love Her While You Still Can!

This Video Blew Me Away

I Believe I can Fly ( flight of the frenchies ). Free segment from sebastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.

Awesome MV =)

Fruit Gathering by Rabindranath Tagore

Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless in facing them.
Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain but for the heart to conquer it.
Let me not look for allies in life's battlefield but to my own strength.
Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved but hope for the patience to win my freedom.
Grant me that I may not be a coward, feeling your mercy in my success alone; but let me find the grasp of your hand in my failure.

Timshel

Amazing song with profound lyrics.

I've been listening to this on repeat on my iPod.



And death is at your doorstep
And it will steal your innocence
But it will not steal your substance

And you have your choices
And these are what make man great
His ladder to the stars

But you are not alone in this
And you are not alone in this
As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand
Hold your hand

But I will tell the night
And Whisper, "Lose your sight"
But I can't move the mountains for you

Deep Music Video by Lil Wayne

"The Last Lecture" or "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"

So I don't know if anyone has noticed but I've neglected to update this blog for several weeks now. It's partly because I'm taking challenging college courses now (Physics and Organic Chemistry I) but it's mostly because I've been dealing with some serious emotional trauma due to a death in the family. I happened to come across some very inspirational material at the library though and one of them happens to also be available for free online. Enjoy!



(It's more than an hour long, so as with everything it has more force if you watch it in one sitting. So plan accordingly.)

Dead Can Dance - Saltarello

I Hope This Gets To You

The XX

Teach Me How to Dougie

Glee Version:


MMA fighters version:

LXD Villains: OX

Performance on Conan:



Clip from Season 2:

Nostalgia for the 90s

I love how a song can take you back to a certain time, a specific memory of someone special, or just a sweet memory of a simpler time.

The 90s was a great decade for music and also memorable movies:

Remember Good Will Hunting? Mallrats? Clueless? Seven? Fight Club?  A River Runs Through It? Forest Gump? The Usual Suspects?  Schindler's List?  American History X? Titanic?  Seven?  The Big Lebowski?  Saving Private Ryan?  Pulp Fiction?  The Matrix?  The Sixth Sense?  Interview with the Vampire?  The Crow?  Scream I & II?  Species I & II?  I Know What You Did Last Summer?  Basketball Diaries?  Sleepers?  Jerry Maguire?  Mrs. Doubtfire?  Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead?    Home Alone?  Jurassic Park?  Clerks?  Varsity Blues?  Cruel Intentions?  Dazed and Confused?  American Pie?  Hackers?  The Lion King?  Beauty and the Beast?  Toy Story?  Starship Troopers?  Speed?  Empire Records?  Men in Black?  Tremors?  Mission Impossible?  The Sandlot?  Apollo 13?  The Virgin Suicides?  Forever Young?  Silence of the Lambs?  Event Horizon?  Austin Powers?  True Lies?  Trainspotting?  It?  The Shawshank Redemption?  12 Monkeys?  Backdraft?  Bad Boys?  Batman Returns?  Boyz n the Hood?  Braveheart?  The Client?  Cliffhanger?  The Craft?  Crimson Tide?  Dances with Wolves?  Edward Scissorhands?  Fargo?  The Fifth Element?  Goodfellas?  Groundhog Day?  Hot Shots?  Hook?

(Some of the movies listed above are clearly "bad movies" but they still left an impression so they made the list.)
I could describe a story and the accompanying memories for each of these movies...

Man time flies...

"McNabb Got FUJITA'ED"

I enjoyed this article about linebacker, Scott Fujita, so I've reposted it here. (Original article.)

(Image taken from this blog:  povcrystal.blogspot.com)

HELLO, I'M-JAPANESE

Scott Fujita is helping to bring the Saints back to life. And that's the least surprising thing about him

by David Fleming
It's odd at first.

When you push open the massive mahogany door of Scott Fujita's warehouse-style loft in New Orleans, there's a Mardi Gras-style balcony up front and an exposed wall of burned-black bricks near the back. Yet despite how much Fujita says his Japanese heritage means to him, there's no Asian-influenced decor anywhere to be seen. Then he leads you around a corner to his den. And there, sitting on a white metal computer desk (next to Barack Obama's new book) is a stunning blue ceramic recreation of The Great Wave Off Kanagawa.

Admiring the piece as he moves, Fujita seems too tall and fluid to be a linebacker. Then he sits down, and his desk—now in the visual frame with his massive shoulders, back and forearms—suddenly looks like a TV tray. Fujita begins opening files on his computer, and with each click he reveals the most cherished artifacts of his remarkable journey, from adopted child to college walk-on to discarded draft pick to centerpiece of the resurgent Saints defense.

He opens a picture of his parents, reaches out to touch their faces on the screen. Given up by his birth mother when he was 6 weeks old, Scott was adopted by Helen and Rod Fujita and raised in Camarillo, Calif. Helen, a retired secretary, is white. Rod, a retired high school teacher and coach, is a thirdgeneration Japanese-American. He was born inside an Arizona internment camp during World War II.

Fujita opens more photos. There's one of him holding hands with his wife and college sweetheart, Jaclyn, on Senior Day at Cal; this was a few months before the Chiefs took him in the fifth round of the 2002 draft. There's another one of him playing Pee Wee football, the chubby-cheeked, blond-haired, green-eyed kid with the Japanese name on his jersey. There's another of his paternal grandmother, Lillie, who once overheard him introducing himself like this: "Hi! I'm Scott. I'm 4. And I'm Japanese."

Everyday I'm Shufflin'!

I heard this song on the radio and found it catchy but I just saw the music video today and found it pretty funny. Now I wanna get up and start shufflin' haha.

Kherington Payne

Fantastic dancer, I saw in the film, "Fame."



The following dramatic-scene-cum-musical-number is amazing but the movie it's from ("Fame") is very lackluster.

"Black and Gold:"

Sick Dance Scenes from "Step Up 3"

"Set Fire to the Rain"

"Rolling in the Deep" has been played ad nauseam on the radio so I had grown sick of the British singer but a fellow lifeguard talked about how good her other songs are, so I gave it a try and found to really love this other song that is never played on American radios:

I Love This Band

This Portland-based band blew up after "Garden State" and sort of just fell of the radar. (Tangent: Speaking of Portland, there's apparently a TV series called "Portlandia." Haha will definitely have to check that out.) I used to listen to them a lot in undergrad but it's been too long. I love browsing my iPod and rediscovering my old favorites. Here's one of 'em:



And another:

Female Empowerment Song

I thought Beyonce had nearly become all but obsolete, with her last pitiable cry in her duet with Lady Gaga in "Telephone."

Boy, was I ever wrong. I just saw this live performance by accident on Youtube of Beyonce at the Billboard Music Awards (2011), where she performed "Run The World (Girls)." What an amazing live performance and amazing choreography.

Live performance of "Run the World (Girls)" (actual performance begins at 3 min, after the introduction by Michelle Obama and others):



Official music video:

NY is the largest U.S. state to pass a marriage equality law

This state, when it is at its finest, is a beacon for social justice. The legacy of this state was that we were the progressive capitol of the nation. And when you look back at so many of the great progressive movements that were birthed here in New York, the women's rights movement was birthed here in New York. The environmental rights movement was birthed here in New York, Storm King on the Hudson.

The workers' rights movement was birthed here in New York after the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire. All these great progressive movements, the gay rights movement was birthed at Stonewall. And what this state said today brings this discussion of marriage equality to a new plane. That's the power and the beauty of New York.

The other states look to New York for the progressive direction. And what we said today is you look to New York once again, because New York made a powerful statement, not just to the people of New York, but to people all across this nation.

We reached a new level of social justice this evening, marriage equality. I said to the legislators, you look at the first word, marriage, it's really about the second word, equality. It's really about New Yorkers, our brothers and sisters, looking at us and saying, we want equality. We want equality in society, equality in our relationships, equality in our love, equality in our families. We want full recognition, marriage equality, and we did it today.

-Governor of NY, Andrew Cuomo

Martial's "The Happy Life" from Epigrams

MARTIAL, the things that do attain
The happy life be these, I find:—
The richesse left, not got with pain;
The fruitful ground, the quiet mind;

The equal friend; no grudge, no strife;
No charge of rule, nor governance;
Without disease, the healthful life;
The household of continuance;

The mean diet, no delicate fare;
True wisdom join'd with simpleness;
The night dischargèd of all care,
Where wine the wit may not oppress.

The faithful wife, without debate;
Such sleeps as may beguile the night:
Contented with thine own estate
Ne wish for death, ne fear his might.

-Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis) translated by Henry Howard

Elevating Pole Dancing to an Art Form

This girl has mad pole dancing skills!  (The comments made by ladies in the background make the video amusing.)

Nauli Kriya in Kuttutasana

Interesting Google Interview with Lady Gaga

Whether you love or abhor her music, you cannot deny her iconic presence on the world stage.  She has tremendous influence in pop music, culture, and fashion.

I like this interview because it shows how technology – and specifically YouTube — has democratized 'fame' and allowed the masses to rise to wealth and acclaim or notoriety (i.e., Rebecca Black).

It's a very long interview but I actually sat through the whole thing.  (The downside to this video is that the interviewer is quite annoying and keeps fawning over Gaga; fake laughing at every single comment Gaga makes.)




I didn't know this prior to the interview, but her new song "The Edge of Glory" is a tribute song to her deceased grandfather and it refers to the moment right before you pass from this temporal world.  I think it adds a whole new dimension to the song, which I had honestly heard on the radio and didn't care for much but am now curious to see the music video.

Maori Haka (War Dance)

NZ All Blacks at a Rugby Game:


NZ vs. Ireland (Rugby):
(This one is funny 'cuz all the Irish rugby players are just hugging each other while the NZ team does the Haka.)



Love the intensity on this one!
NZ vs. South Africa:


This one is nice b/c it has background info on the haka in the captions:



Funny commercial for whiskey (NZ vs. Scotland):

Go Periscope — Emily

"I was made to taste your kiss..."

I heard this song on the radio and right when I got home, I YouTubed it.


Official music video:

Yoga Is for Everyone!

I don't know where this notion came from but my friend, Conor, let me know that there's a stereotype out there that only women or gay men will do yoga. Well, here's a short article that explains why that isn't/shouldn't be the case.

5 Reasons Why Dudes Should Practice Yoga

Ballet is Hardcore!

I just finished watching "Black Swan" and it certainly gave me a new appreciation for the ballet art form.

Here's a nice video of ballet dancers:



A featurette on Natalie Portman's grueling ballet training for her Oscar-winning role:

Halycon

Ever since I heard this song as an adolescent upon watching the cult classic, "Hackers," I've loved this song.  It's still one of my favorites.

Halcyon definition: "Denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful." This music certainly makes me nostalgic for the halcyon days of my youth. =) It also inspires me to reach for ever greater heights.

Cheating Death

This is the remarkable animated tale from "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:  Part 1," Tale of Three Brothers.  It's narrated by Emma Watson.

The Mood-Altering Effects of Semen

Come again, science of semen?

Despite the lack of direct research, Gallup said he “wouldn’t be a bit surprised” if oral and anal sex provided a mood boost. “There’s no guarantee that all of the ingredients in semen will survive the digestion process and stomach acid, which could conceivably change some of the semen chemistry. But given what we know about birth control pills, most of the hormones should survive.” Regarding anal sex, he added: “My guess would be that the chemicals in semen would be absorbed through the lining of the colon."

So ladies and gentlemen, drink up to better health and mood.

Backpacking Video (by ofsamubry)

This video by Youtube user Ofsamubry reminded me of my backpacking trips in Taiwan. Oh nostalgia... =)

I miss Taiwan and I miss the lush green forests, mountains, and the ocean...

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

When Stevie Nicks goes high on that "it's only right" part, it gives me chills.


Thanks to "Glee" for reminding the next generation of the classics.

I also liked this scene where Santana professes her love for Brittany (doing a cover of "Songbird" by Fleetwood Mac).:

"Yoga vs. Sex" article by Ricky Tran

Yoga vs. Sex

"Glee" — Born This Way

I just finished watching the hour-long special episode of Glee, 'Born This Way,' and I'm so impressed by the writing.  It dealt with so many taboo topics like the trend for adolescent Jewish teens to get rhinoplasty, self-hating Asians who have no Asian sex symbols in the media to look up to so they resort to wearing blue-colored contacts to emulate their idols, and gays and lesbians staying in the closet to avoid social ostracization.

In this fun scene, the Glee cast convinces Jewish Rachel to cancel her nose job appointment by singing a number about Barbara Streisand, who famously refused to fix her deviated septum with rhinoplasty.



This scene doesn't deal with any of the aforementioned topics, but Darren Criss' voice is just so mellifluous here:



This is the closing number, where the cast performs Gaga's "Born This Way."  It's significant because you see them wearing t-shirts displaying their personal hang-ups.  (Santana wears "LEBANESE" because Brittany is slow and meant for it to read "LESBIAN.")

I'll close with Tina Cohen-Chang's words in the episode (originally said by Gandhi):
"Be the change you want to see in the world."

Moving Live Performance by The Swell Season

"Just Do You"

I hate to quote "The Jersey Shore" but it's a pretty apt phrase, I think. Someone I know has been telling me that exact phrase a lot lately too.

Neale Donald Walsch puts it more eloquently here:


"...if you're doing something for someone else's


approval, you may as well not do it at all.



There is only one reason to do anything: to announce

and declare, express and fulfill, become and

experience Who You Really Are.



Do what you do, therefore, for the sheer joy of it,

for sheer joy is who you are. Do what you choose,

not what someone else chooses for you."


I think I get caught up in seeking others' approval or praise and forget whether or not I am somehow violating my own personal sense of integrity in some shape or form. I have to constantly check myself if I'm doing something or saying something for someone else or purely for myself. It's an excellent reminder, considering some recent events in my life.

Live Performance of "The Sun" By The Naked and Famous

Inspiring Quote of the Day by Neale Donald Walsch

On this day of your life, dear friend, I believe God wants you to know...

...that not everything has to turn out exactly the way you

planned in order for you to call it a success.



Sometimes all God wants you to do is to "get the ball

rolling." Then, She'll take it from there. So when things

turn out other than the way you wanted them to, don't

be so quick to say, "Bummer!"



Many a Bummer is a Blessing in disguise. Consider the

possibility that life is magic...and that there's a rabbit

in that hat.

Isn't that fantastic? It just reminds us all to LET GO and Let Life. I have a personal issue with control and I get frustrated when things don't go as I envisioned but am slowly learning to go with the flow and to appreciate the beauty in all of life's "mishaps," which often enough turn out to be blessings in disguise.

Now, go out there and embrace life with all its ups and downs!

"It Gets Better": Obama & NPH

So all the celebrities have gotten on the bandwagon and made their own personal "it gets better" YouTube videos, but these two I think stand out. Obama is being an exceptionally progressive leader by speaking out against bullying and Neil Patrick Harris makes a great point about growing up. NPH says that when we are in high school we have this strong urge to blend in and be just like everyone else in order to fit in, but as we get older, the opposite tends to occur. We seek out individuality and what sets us apart and makes us stand out amongst the crowd. He said in due time we will learn to embrace and even be proud of our individual differences, rather than be ashamed of them. So, gay, straight, confused, bi, transgender. Take heed and take heart!

Obama:


NPH:

"We're A Nation of Nervous Wrecks."

The Age of Anxiety Critical Eye: Details.com

I don't normally like to post two links from the same media source back-to-back but I just happened to come across another great article from Details. I think this hits it on the head, with how Americans are living in a sh*tstorm of worry over trivial and substantial issues that are mostly imaginary and/or self-inflicted.

Men Being Men Again

This is an interesting Details article about men reclaiming their masculinity:

The Remasculated Man Critical Eye: Details.com

Chillout with Theo Katzman

Insightful Message from Neale Donald Walsch

I received this message today from Mr. Walsch and it makes perfect sense to me, especially on this day under these very circumstances but for some reason it just isn't sinking in or taking effect. I know that's up to me...maybe I'm not ready to end this self-pity party. Anyway, I won't bore you with my problems anymore. Enjoy this delightful message:

On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know...

...that you were created to create -- not to react.

Creation is the highest form of Divinity, and your

birthright. Truth is, you are creating all the time. The

central question in your life is whether you are

doing this consciously or unconsciously.

Conscious creation is what is needed now. Stop

moping. And stop thinking negative thoughts. Just

get on with it! Tomorrow awaits your choice as to

how its going to be. Call the shots! Make it happen!

You're in charge here.

Amen.
Now I just have to put this truth into practice. Sigh.

This Guy Has An Amazing Voice

I like this version of the hit Katy Perry song because of Boyce Avenue's range and tonal quality:

Cover Songs:
"Firework"


"Teenage Dream"


Original Song:
"Briane"



This is a hyperlink to their main youtube channel.

Amazing Scene from "Shameless" (US)

"Just knowing your tits are trying to kill you, that's gotta suck. I mean mine's in my balls. So they've got a reason to be pissed — tucked between two legs, wedged right under your asshole, there's no good way to sit, no underwear that's been devised to hold them effectively in place. They're a bizarre appendage; an afterthought, which is why I don't believe in intelligent design. There is no G-d, we're all gonna die."

-Frank Gallager (drunk dad on "Shameless" (US), brilliantly played by William H. Macy)

A "Shameless" Plug

I heard this closing song on season 1, episode 3 of "Shameless" (US version).

It's "November was White, December was Grey" by Say Hi.

Be True to Yourself

"The Guy in the Glass"
by Dale Winbrow

When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf,
And the world makes you King for a day,
Then go to the mirror and look at yourself,
And see what that guy has to say.

For it isn't your Father, or Mother, or Wife,
Who judgement upon you must pass.
The feller whose verdict counts most in your life

Is the guy staring back from the glass.
He's the feller to please, never mind all the rest,
For he's with you clear up to the end,
And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the guy in the glass is your friend.

You may be like Jack Horner and "chisel" a plum,
And think you're a wonderful guy,
But the man in the glass says you're only a bum
If you can't look him straight in the eye.

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears
If you've cheated the guy in the glass.

Dale Wimbrow 1895-1954

____________________________

You can fool the whole world but if you can't look at yourself square in the eyes in the looking glass with true integrity, then your big act to please the outside world was all for naught.

Always be true to yourself and if those around you can't accept you fully for who you truly are, then f*ck them and move on to bigger and better things.

"Grace" by Kate Havnevik

I like this song by Kate Havnevik, sung by Callie on Grey's Anatomy's musical episode ("Song Beneath the Song").

"Nothing comes easily."

Darren Criss Discusses Challenging Preconceived Notions

I found this to be a great interview because Darren Criss delves into how great and how pioneering the Glee episode was to show an accepted homosexual male question his orientation and explore bisexuality and heterosexuality — since the standard is for heterosexual men to be 'bicurious' or 'experiment' but Glee flipped this on its head.

He also stresses how it's important to never accept the status quo and how it's always good to question and challenge accepted dogma. Darren makes a good point that when you are different in any way — whether it's personality, religion, spirituality, what have you — you tend to want to cling to that glimmer of hope that you are indeed just like everyone else but in the end you have to embrace your own personal truth and to live comfortably in your skin truly as yourself.



(The insightful nuggets come late in the interview about 3 minutes in. Darren discusses ignorance and stereotypes around 5 minutes in.)

I'm lovin' this song by MC Yogi

I've been listening to it on my iPod all day and it got me through rush hour traffic, getting lost in Dallas, and running late to my dentist appointment.

On a related note, apparently all this stress is leading me to grind and clench my teeth too =(. They wanted me to buy a nightguard that costs $700, so I opted instead to go to Walgreens and buy one for 32 dollars. Supposedly, it's not as good or maybe potentially be bad for me because it's soft and the dentist said it's like "chewing gum all night" but beggars can't be choosers. I'll try it out and see I guess.

Why is it that every time I think I've taken care of some physical ailment, a new one is discovered by some specialist or expert? I think this is why nobody likes to go to the doctor or dentist or allergist or what have you...sigh.


In the meantime...

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare



Om Shanti.

Ashtanga Yoga Series in under 4 Minutes

So I saw this on the "PeaceLoveYoga" blog and I thought it was neat.  I especially like the cat curling up on the guy during his savasana. =)

(I've only done Ashtanga once in my life. I can't wait to get better acquainted with this style of Hatha Yoga.)

Reverberations from John Dee and Edward 'Talbot' Kelly's Sessions with Uriel

I stumbled upon a brilliant article by Vincent Bridges concerning the 16th century British Royal Astrologer, spy, and occultist mystic — John Dee.

Those with a faint interest in linguistics will have an intellectual orgasm whilst reading about the Ophanic/Enochian language transmitted to Kelly, while he was in trance and recorded by John Dee in his 'Spiritual Diaries.'  The object that allowed for such divine transmission was provided by a 'smoky quartz egg,' which surprisingly is still in existence and on display in the Manuscript Room of the British Museum.  The egg was used primarily as a scrying tool by the two magi.

The most fascinating result of these encounters over 7 years was that the language recorded appears in structure to have underlying resemblance to our own DNA code.  Like the triplet codons of human DNA coding, Ophanic also has a triplet-like quality with three groups of seven letters.  The 'letters' or characters are arranged in a 8 x 8 arrangement so that there is a total of 64 Enochian characters, corresponding to 64 possible codons in the human genome (since there are 4 kinds of RNA (or DNA nucleoteides, there are 4 ^3 or 64 possible codons.  I find the synchronicity of this information amazing, since I just had to study this information for my Anatomy & Physiology quiz, where I read about DNA and RNA protein synthesis).

While, I am not fully convinced of the relationship between human DNA code and this Enochian language, I find this research to be very intriguing and hopes Bridges and others delves into this more deeply.

Bridges continues on to talk about the additional 4th dimension, which is where he loses me.  "It indeed is possible to think of the Ophanic 4D octahedron alphabetic grid as a seed containing all possible DNA derived probability waves; in other words, a model of the literal matrix of creation."

The Sigil of Truth

The aforementioned article by Vincent Bridges.

(Images taken from the "Enochian Handbook" website).

Tibetan Tantric Yoga — Tummo

American practitioner doing tummo:


Tibetan monk doing tummo:


::Don't try this at home, folks. Unless you are experienced in Tantric Yoga.::

For those unfamiliar with Tummo, here is a clip from a brilliant documentary about Tibetan Lamas:


Essentially, these Tibetans have developed a practice in which they can sit in snow in the mountains with their naked bodies covered by wet sheets; then using nothing but their own body and tummo, they can create so much internal heat that steam rises off their backs and they can dry their wet sheets in the frigid temperatures of Tibet.

I would very much like to learn this. Well as they say, when the student is ready the teacher will appear.

Fullmetal Alchemist (鋼の錬金術師 Hagane no Renkinjutsushi)

These are two of my favorite songs from the anime, Fullmetal Alchemist:

"Bratja":


Live performance of "Bratja":



"Dante's Theme":

Bikram's Beginning Yoga Series

The following videos were taken at the Bikram Yoga Studio in Richardson, Texas. Yassi, the owner, narrates for both of them and the guest Bikram yoga practitioners were visiting, demonstrating the beginner's series. In total there are 26 asanas. (The inverted asanas are in the advanced series).

Standing series with Ball Rattanapong and Alisa Matthews:



Same standing series with Esak Garcia:



Floor series with Esak Garcia:




P.S.: I've only taken 4 classes of Bikram so far but I'm already hooked. I can't wait to start the advanced series.