Undeceivable - Moonraker Zen...

My Friend is Awesome!

My Japanese friend with whom I played music in studios in Tokyo, went snowboarding with in the Japanese Alps, played Pachinko with (hey, that's not a good thing!), and who did my EP artwork for the bumblebee bats, is officially awesome. Have a read of this interview with Yousuke Yamaguchi.

Sometimes when I read an interview with someone famous, I think to myself, that person can't be that interesting or that cool - it's all just constructed for the interview! But maybe some people are that cool, after all.

Culture Unplugged

A couple of days ago, I found this site...Culture Unplugged.

So far I've watched a documentary about the healing and mind-opening properties of Ayahuasca, a medicinal tea made from vines found in the Peruvian jungle (Stepping into the Fire); a film about teaching death row inmates Vipassana meditation techniques based on the book of the same name (Dhamma Brothers); a surf film about the impact that development is having on the world's best surf spots in Central and Southern America, Hawaii, and Tahiti (Out There); and I'm currently watching a film about the historical life of the Buddha (Life of Buddha).

Now that's the sort of site that makes it worth spending time on t'internet.

Soren's Train Set

My brother finished working in his LA studio and here it is - Train Movie :

 

Winter Cleaning

Ooh, that's a bit better, isn't it? Not only do I have to get my van ready, look for a job, sort out possible camp sites, and decide what I need to pack, I also have to get my blog ready!

Typepad is really good actually. I'm surprised by the amount of features that had completely passed me by. Of these, the 'Page' function is the best and combined with the navigation at the top, transforms a blog into a website.

The White Stuff

I love the white stuff. Makes you feel good. Makes you feel high. Makes you remember times when you were a child. Don't get it much round these parts in past years, but recently there's been a definite increase on the streets. It's still difficult to get hold of and can be quite dangerous driving around looking for it. But when you see it you get a real buzz. Word on the streets is there'll be more and more over the coming days. It's time to party!

I love snow.

*See what I did there?

New Nephew

I'm an uncle again. I'm liking being an uncle to Soren and having funny conversations with him on the phone, hearing about his new favourite DVDs (which used to be My Neighbour Tottoro until Wallace & Gromit arrived on the scene), and having him be excited to play with Uncle PA. So it's going to be nice to be an uncle again - and my new nephew looks lovely already: the baby with no name...yet!

Happy 2010!

2010 is the year of adventure for me and I hope both of my readers have an adventurous new year too!

I saw the new year in by watching Moon in the pop-top of my van, getting a bit cold, then coming into the warm of the house to watch the rest. It was great, but I'm putting off doing a review because...er...it's quite a tricky film to review.

I also watched the London Eye fireworks on TV and wondered - in quite a grumpy sort of a way for new year's eve - why people invest so much in the eve of a new year. Of course, it's fun to make something out of nothing, but there's something quite sad about expecting so much from a new year, when all that happens is things just carry on the way they always carry on...ups and downs.

Anyway, without a hint of irony or contradiction, I hope you all have a happy new year!

This is the End is the Beginning

Well today was the last day of my six month copywriting contract and can go down as the most subdued and quiet last day I've ever had - I do usually take last days off though.

Anyway, so that's that done. Next stop nomadic travelling Zen.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you,
Merry Christmas to you,
Merry Christmas to you,
And Merry Christmas to me~

Christmas...

It dawned upon me today how amazing it is that we (humanity) have created a season (Christmas) that is so deep with meaning for so many people. Whether you're religious or not, Christmas is pretty awesome. And yet it's all just created by the people for the people. It's not something external to us - something that exists separate from us - it's just our own little creation. It's like a dream within a dream.

We (humanity) can create incredible pieces of nonsense and yet we can also create something brilliant like Christmas - a multifaceted, mutli-layered, cornucopia of multifaceted, multi-layered delights!

I like it, but I'm not quite sure why.