Three Songs Worth Your While

I've been wanting to write about music but can't settle on any one topic, so you get more bang for the buck.

1) "Hymn Eola (Southern Nights Remix)" TONSTARTSSBANDHT: I guess I am kind of surprised that I haven't heard more bands doing the Animal Collective thing since Animal Collective got so popular with the last album.  I'm not the hugest Animal Collective fan, but I'll support anyone that wants to go off the psychedelic deep end.  The title of this track is pretty evocative of its sound: pretty, distant, vocals and a relatively sparse background track that centers around a "bass line" that is actually just dudes singing through a very mild autotune effect.  I like to listen to this track and stare out the window thinking abut summer and puppy dogs.

2) "Marshmellow Yellow" Peaking Lights: Did someone say psychedelic?  Look, when you make a psychedelic dub record, I am all in.  Repetition, mood, and esoteric sounds are the name of the game here.  You're going on a weird little trip to a place where the bass line is just a little unsettled, where little snatches of Moogs and guitar peak in and out at unexpected places, and a guygirl croons one word for eight minutes. Don't be scared.  The whole effect is pretty trancelike and fantastic.

3) "Sweet Louise" The Belle Brigade: Something for those of you aren't as down with the far out sounds.  This is about as straight ahead folk rock as you can imagine.  It's also the song you want to fall in love with and to.  Impossibly pretty.

The patron saint of all music posts is Paul Westerberg.

All Tomorrow's Parties

Yesterday, I finished an article, did some job stuff, and worked on some student council stuff.

Tomorrow, I will start an article, do some job stuff, and work on some student council stuff.

Today, however, I will relax and try to listen.

Thanks to Jane and Lori for the image.

Attachment: Why I Didn't Write Every Day

I could point out that I wrote plenty yesterday, just not for this blog.

Shoot, I just did.  Is that defensive?  Must consult ancient texts and exalted masters.

But even after I got done my stuff yesterday, I fully intended to do a blog post, because I felt like I had to.  I didn't want to, but I felt an obligation to be persistent in my practice.  I felt good about not having missed a day, and I wanted that feeling to continue.

Is that an attachment?

See, we yogis are very big on letting go of our attachments.  We value the good things in our life, but we know that everything is temporary and almost nothing is essential except walking the mindful path.  One should never compromise or let go of the mindful path.  One should be prepared to let everything else go that is not central to that path, because everything that is not central will pass away and will become a distraction at some point anyway.

I don't buy that logic in its entirety.  Some things, I will hold onto until the bitter end, no matter how bad or distracting they become, because I know in my heart they are the good and right things with which to connect myself.  Maybe that means they're not attachments at all.  I don't know.

What I do know is, I am at a crossroads in my life.  I have to give up a major attachment.  It's an attachment that has helped shape and define who I am for a long time, and for the most part it has served me well and fairly.  It has helped me walk the mindful path, most of the time.  But it isn't any more, so it's going away, and I am scared of what that means.  Now I need to define who I am in the absence of the attachment.  I think I know that who I am does not change just because my situation does, but who I am is being put to the test.  In order for me to ace that test, I need to let go.  I need to move on.

Moving on--letting go of the past--can be very, very difficult for me.

All of this was running through my mind yesterday as I sat down to write a blog entry, which I really didn't want to do, and which was going to cause me a lot of stress.  What better time to practice letting go?  With my other actions this weekend, I served the goals I set for myself with TWEDP.  I have actually done a pretty fantastic job being mindful the last week or so.  And if I skip a day of blogging because it feels like the right thing to do, it certainly doesn't mean I won't get back on the horse today.

Maybe letting go is a practice too.  If I start with the small stuff, maybe I'll get better at the big stuff.

On that note, I think I'll go pack up some more books to take to the used bookstore.  If anyone wants an old but functional gas grill, holla.

Humility and Respect

I have resisted the urge to make any TWEDP entry a link dump, because I don't think such entries would be true to the spirit of the project.  Today, I am going to make an exception.  I can be prideful, so any act where I can be humble and acknowledge that the amazing efforts of someone else exceed what I could do serves life and praises God.

A particularly ugly yoga scandal came to a head yesterday.  The accusations are awful, and people are already picking sides.  I had planned to write my thoughts on it, but I am still not quite sure what to say and especially how to say what I know to be true.  Just now, I read a piece by Ben Ralston of the Prem Center that expresses everything I would want to express for myself better than I could have done.

It's also about far more than the latest boring yoga scandal.  It's something everyone should read, particularly those of us who are facing a period of transition.  If you were willing to read my long blog post, I hope you'll read his piece instead.

Namaste, Ben.  You nailed the situation and, in the process, wrote about something much more important.   I am going to spend the time I would have spent writing meditating on integrity and compromise.

Pho: The King of Soups

Been a lot of nonsense on the Internet this week.  Yoga scandals.  Lana Del Rey.  Hobos.

Yet nothing has been more nonsensical than Grantland's Souperbowl, which invalidated its existence the moment it chose French Onion Soup over Pho.

No.

No.

Fellow white people, I am ashamed of you.  We're not going to discuss this.  Pho is the King of Soups.  

In protest of this travesty, for lunch today I went to Lime and Basil, which does a damn fine job delivering Vietnam's finest output in the middle of Chapel Hill.  I ordered vegetarian Pho with chicken broth, which I'm pretty sure you Pho purists will say is a complete sellout because, dag, don't be vegetarian with something so awesome.  

Whatever.  It was bliss.  I nailed the chili sauce to broth ratio.  The tofu and noodles were perfect.  I woofed down every solid in that broth, then sat there drinking the broth even though my eyes were in tears from the heat.

Because that's how good Pho is.

The Watchmen Prequels

Y'all beat me to it.  When the news broke yesterday that DC was putting out prequels to Watchmen, I thought the Internet would melt.  I thought there'd be vigils at the stately English manor of Alan Moore, the author of the original.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the vigil.

Everyone on the Internet was reasonable.

Miracles never cease.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with more Watchmen.  I tend towards the view of Alan Moore's self-styled antagonist and fellow comics legend Grant Morrison, who sees culture in general and comics specifically as mythology that is the product of no one man.  In the case of Watchmen, this is certainly true, since Moore's inspiration for the story came from the characters of Charlton Comics.  Moore didn't come up with the idea for Watchmen from thin air, which makes it fair game for other creators.

As for Alan Moore, whatever.  Those of us who read comics on a regular basis know that however great Moore was or is, he is a miserable misanthrope who is only happy when he's not.  I guess he can be mad that he doesn't own the rights to anything and won't see much if any money from the prequels.  I'd care if Moore hadn't made his bones in the 1980s working with a series of DC characters (Batman, Superman, Swamp Thing) whose creators never got paid a fraction of what those characters made for DC.  Now that Moore is fat and rich, he's going to claim the path of moral purity?  Fck outta here.

Not to sound to cool for school, but the whole controversy kind of makes me yawn.  The people who get most excited about Watchmen seem to be the kind of people who have only read three "graphic novels" in their lives and thus miss the really amazing comics that come out every week.  As a medium, comics has moved passed Watchmen, in content and scope if not in quality, because, yes, Watchmen really is that good.

Maybe the most exciting part of the Watchmen prequels is that the original story will now become less of a boring old Bible and more of a living document upon which other good writers can build, which will only bring greater glory to original story.  I'm so excited that a broader audience is about to discover how awesome Brian Azzarrello is.

January in Review

Analytics?  Analytics.  This will be a recurring feature in which I hold myself accountable and review how I did the month before, all in an effort to do better in the future

Days Blogged: 31 of 31, for a 100 percent blog rate

Days Missed, January: 0

Days Missed, 2012: 0

Southern Rap Classic Earned?  Oh, indeed.

Most Viewed Post: Her and Me, January 1st

My Favorite Post: How To Change The World, January 28th

Post I Wish I Had To Do Over: The Ice Cube/Yoga post from yesterday.  I'm in the middle of finishing an article submission of my scholarly work, and I was way too fried to take on something that ambitious.

Three Things I Learned

1. Writing about magic does not go over with my initial audience.
2. TWEDP can be a way to highlight the wonderful things that my friends are doing, and those stories seem to connect with readers.
3. Writing every day is something I can manage.

Three Goals for February

1. Clean up one of my yoga pieces and submit to Elephant Journal.
2. Write about the work to which I am contributing for the Alliance for Student Activities.
3. Write every day.

Reader Ratings: Super.  Thanks for your time and your support.