… o anche sul Tao (tanto è la stessa cosa, no? O no?).

Prendo il la dal comento di Donatella al post precedente…

Sono di fronte ad una scelta: Muro bianco, cerchio vuoto e meditare…o leggere?

Bella scelta…
Che tuttavia mi porta a pensare che di libri sullo Zen io ne ho un paio di scaffalate, ma segnalare il migliore mi sarebbe molto difficile.
O forse no.

Per quel che mi riguarda, il miglior libro sullo Zen è un quaderno Mead Composition a pagine bianche (ma non sono schizzinoso, mi posso anche accontentare di un Mead Quadrille a quadretti grandi).
Bello robusto, di carta buona, cucito e non graffettato, con le copertine marmorizzate di cartone rigido con gli angoli arrotondati.
Accessori essenziali: una penna biro e un bell’elastico di quelli larghi, che usano i verdurieri per tenere insieme i cespi di sedano e altre cose del genere.
L’idea è di annotarci le buone idee, le piccole illuminazioni quotidiane, le intuizioni improvvise.
Citazioni e stralci di libri letti, canzoni ascoltate…
Non deve essre un diario.
Niente obblighi di tempo, niente date (a meno che non le si voglia mettere comunque), niente cadenze fisse, niente “oggi ti scrivo per raccontarti che non mi è capitato nulla di particolare”.
A meno che, naturalmente, il fatto che non sia capitato nulla di particolare non valga la pena di essere annotato.

Un quaderno di annotazioni personali è stato per lungo tempo uno strumento piuttosto diffuso fra i praticanti dello Zen. Ed è difficile immaginare un maestro taoista senza strumenti per scrivere.

Ora naturalmente la scelta del quaderno Mead, con la sua aria da quaderno serio-serio anni ‘50, un po’ dieselpunk, è assolutamente personale e non condivisibile.
Ci sono dei bei blocchi per appunti e schizzi (già, si può anche disegnare!) in vendita nei negozi di forniture per artisti.
E poi ci sono quaderni di tutte le taglie, le forme e i colori.
Ci sono i Moleskine come usava Hemingway che costano un occhio, ed i falsi Moleskine venduti al supermercato al prezzo delle patate.
Vecchie agende scadute da riciclare.
O quegli stupidi, stupidi libri di aforismi zen che hanno si e nò dieci parole per pagina… ma ampi margini bianchi da riutilizzare!
Non ha importanza quale modello, marca, formato si sceglie – ma scegliere, scegliere quel quaderno e non un altro, è importante, non deve essere una cosa casuale, il primo quaderno che capita e via.
Non deve essere una questione di prezzo, o di comodità.
Deve essere una scelta ponderata.

Lo stesso vale per la penna.
Io dico Bic Crystal nera, medium point, ma si tratta ancora una volta di una mia scelta.
In alternativa potrei dire matita HB, di quelle con la gomma da cancellare.
Si tratta di sentirla bene fra le dita, di maneggiarla senza sforzo.
Vale la pena fare un po’ di esperimenti.

L’elastico da ortolano, naturalmente, serve per tener chiuso il quaderno quando è il caso che stia chiuso.
E per tenere la penna insieme al quaderno.

Maggiori dettagli su scrittura, meditazione e Zen in “Scrivere Zen”, di Nathalie Goldberg, edito dal solito Astrolabio.

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Let’s call it an experiment!

I’ve downloaded MarsEdit to try blogging away-from-WordPress, so this is kind of a test post to see how it goes… and so far, I can’t work out how to include links, which is why MarsEdit remains unlinked. Go on, Google it.

Okay – I thought I’d test the capabilities when it comes to photos. I kind of want a program that allows me to do something a bit different to just stacking image upon image — i.e. the ability to have smaller images side-by-side, if that makes sense. I can probably do this using WordPress, but I’ve never tried.

So, here is six months in photos from my iPhone.

This is how I must work when I’m trying to read articles and type at the same time, because my mac is just too small.

Dusk in Perth

Plastic spoons. Clearly.

Pick the landmark

This garlic bread was life changing. That aoili (?) was the best thing ever.

Houses in London

Stockholm, 2am.

This sushi, in Santiago, was also rather lifechanging. You have no idea how bad it is for me to go four weeks without sushi. It was tough! This was awesome.

November 26, 2009.

I don’t think of myself as an overly sentimental person. Maudlin stories rarely bring a lump to my throat. Sappiness to any degree usually causes me to roll my eyes, not to weep.

Still, I can’t deny the fact that I’m more emotional than I was in my youth. No doubt something psychologically interesting is at work there, but I’m not so far gone that I want to look into it.

I’m reminded of this because two Christmases ago, I gave my granddaughters Katie and Kelsey (the twins, age nine) a large wall plaque entitled “The ABCs of Life.”

I chose the plaque because it offers simple, sound advice we can all understand. It also has the advantage of being a wall plaque and therefore hard to miss. I figured it would be in plain sight constantly and thus more likely to make an impression.

A book? Relegated to a shelf somewhere. A plaque? Looming in your face.

The truth is, Britt and Terri could have sentenced it to oblivion by tossing it onto a closet shelf. But they didn’t. They placed it in the girls’ bathroom where it’s impossible to miss.

I’m in California right now, spending Thanksgiving with them, and I share that bathroom with the girls. Each time I enter the room, I can’t help but read an entry or two. It’s impossible not to.

If I’m compelled to pay attention, maybe the girls are, too. One can hope.

Like I said, I don’t think of myself as the saccharine type, but these ABCs have a certain je ne sais quoi about them.

My Christmas shopping is already done this year, but next year, maybe I should purchase more plaques and gift all of my relatives.

If any of them had the audacity to toss it on a closet shelf, they‘d have to answer to me.

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.

I heard an audio sound bite about an event where the President of the United States was speaking in which the reporter indicated that the president was “received like a rock star” and I found myself wondering why I had never heard that rock stars were “received like the President.”

So – it’s a month until Christmas. Am I the only person who hasn’t given a second thought to Christmas this year?

Our tree is still in the box where I left it in January after pulling it down, and the decorations are sitting on top. We didn’t buy anything new, but we’ll buy a new tree in the post-Christmas sales (although we said that last year, and the year before). Our current tree cost me $15 at Coles when we’d just moved in to our house more than two years ago. It’s rather gappy… as in there’s really not much ‘tree’ going on. It seems slightly ridiculous, though, to spend a heap of money on something that will only be up for a month, and will only be seen by our friends. We don’t host Christmas at our house yet.

I don’t even know what to get people. Rhys and I are buying each other sunglasses – much needed, as I’ve been wearing my current pair since my 21st birthday, and although I love them, they’re just too scratched these days. I’m sure I’ll keep wearing them though, as an alternative to my new pair. Other than that? No idea. I feel like I’m a terrible gift giver and so I hate shopping for gifts, because I worry that people think I don’t put any effort in… but I do. I’m just shit.

I have so much stuff to do before Christmas. I want to go down south and spend a few days with my sister (twice, hopefully). Rhys and I get puppypants next Friday, so there will be that. I have a chapter to write and a book review due (OH MY gosh, in five days, and I haven’t finished the book!). I want to make chocolates and fruit mince pies and try to make macarons, though I’m sure I will fail dismally because my oven is a piece of crap, and I’m a terrible baker. I have friends I haven’t seen in far too long. All this, and I still have to think about gifts. I just want to be able to give people stuff that I think they will like without worrying so much.

Christmas. It stresses me out. No wonder I’m such a grinch. But I can’t be the only one who thinks the silly season is actually quite silly?

Duminica trecută am stat aproape toată ziua  cu ochii holbaţi pe realitatea.  Aşteptam momentul potrivit pentru a putea să merg la vot fără să stau la cozi infernale care oricum mi-au părut din altă lume.  Fiind din provincie, fără reşedinţă oficială în capitală legea spune că trebuie să votez într-o secţie de votare specială pe o listă specială etc. Aşa votam şi când am stat în cţa în facultate…

Ies din casă la 17.30.  Prima încercare: secţia de la gară. Nici o şansă. Un cordon de poliţie înconjura un alt cordon nesfârşit de oameni care vroiau să tragă cu ştampila şi într-un tîrziu probabil cu puşca dacă li s-ar fi oferit această şansa.  Coada nu se mişca. Cam la 10 minute mai că ieşea vreunul intrând cu dificultate altul…

A doua încercare, secţia de la  şcoala generală nr. 1 din Piaţa sfinţii voievozi. Mai rău. COADA ERA DUBLĂ, TRIPLĂ!

A treia incercare: Facultatea de drept. Aici haosul era total. Un ocean de tineri care doreau să voteze  un viitor mai bun sau măcar iluzia unuia.

N-au avut nici o şansă. N-am avut nici o şansă! Păcat de prezenţa atât de mare   înregistrată la aceste alegeri.  Poate rezultatul ar fi fost altfel pentru turul 2.

Dar vorba aia:  ca la noi la nimeni! Când prezenţa la vot din alţi ani a fost scăzută s-a acuzat vehement lipsa de spirit civic.  Acum iată, spiritul   a fost mai prezent  ca niciodată şi totuşi nu i s-a permis să participe fizic.  Mă întreb cum va fi în turul doi, va mai ieşi lumea la vot cu acelaşi spirit? Mă îndoiesc…iar eu din acest moment am renunţat să mai cred în speranţa unei schimbări!!!

I love the design of this Lincoln catalog. Nice shot too.

The lid of the pot came out of the kiln with a crack all around the edges. I’ve brushed on some earthenware glaze and send it back in the kiln, not sure if it will survive the heat.

Worldwide desktops is a blog (actually it isn’t a proper blog, it’s a tlog, to be precise.) I’ve set up a few days ago, but the original concept is by Michele.

It’s a collaborative blog and the aim is pretty simple: to collect pictures of desktops and workplaces from around the world.

Everybody willing to contribute can submit a picture of their own desktop (not just a screenshot of your computer’s desktop, we want the real thing!) to worldwidedesktops.tumblr.com enclosing the following information:

Who: (your name, or nickname if you prefer, and a link to your blog/website if you have any)
Where: (your location)
When: (date the pic was taken)
Why: (well, explain why you took the pic or what objects are in the pic and why.)

By the way, in case you’re wondering, here’s my desktop:

and here’s pistacchina’s one, too:

(you maybe do recognise the bureau… )

I’m not seeing the sun since a while.
It’s bad to live under grey clouds.
We’re working hard on some posters and we’ll finish the MEI one on monday.
Then Melvins.
And with Ufomammut we’re putting down the new songs.
And we’re trying to have the last costs for the new studio but it seems that it’s the most difficult thing in the World.
We hope to have it ready for next spring, tough.
We need a larger place.
And the new tubes will be here on monday, finally. Then we’ll ship all the orders we’ve received. Sorry again for the delay.
I’ve seen “UP”, the new Pixar movie, really really nice, I laughed like an idiot about the dogs (well, check the movie) and I got hiccup for half an hour…

——————————————————-
Listening to nothing

This is funny every time.

Parco della Vittoria e Viale dei Giardini li hanno fin dalla distribuzione dei terreni, perché oltre ad essere ricchi sono anche fortunati. Hanno piazzato un albergo per parte e ogni volta che passi di lì rischi il fallimento. Gestiscono la banca e decidono chi ha accesso al credito e chi no, possiedono le 4 (tele)stazioni e da quando si sono accaparrati il trittico Via Accademia, Piazza Università, Corso Ateneo, hanno anche il controllo sull’istruzione. Il cartoncino per uscire gratis di prigione se lo tengono ben stretto e anche se dovessero perderlo, grazie ad una legge ad hoc detta “lodo imprevisti” ne possono stampare una copia in ogni momento. Da qualche tempo a questa parte poi, grazie alla gestione dei cavi, hanno messo le mani anche sulla società elettrica ed oggi, 19 novembre 2009, hanno completato l’opera conquistandosi sul campo anche la società dell’acqua potabile. E a noi che resta? Beh, l’accoppiata Vicolo Corto-Vicolo Stretto che però, da che mondo è mondo, non porta una lira nemmeno se ci costruisci due centri commerciali e gli alberghi a conduzione familiare della zona ovest, di Viale Monterosa e Bastioni Gran Sasso, con cui copriamo a mala pena le spese. A dirla tutta, un cartoncino lo abbiamo pescato anche noi, ma più che un imprevisto sembra contenere un avvertimento. Dice: “fate tre passi indietro con tanti auguri e provate a sopravvivere al Monopolio”…

L’impatto emotivo di queste immagini mi ha lasciato stupefatto. La tavolozza di colori che Pinardy è riuscito a sfruttare è così ampia, da far pensare a veri e propri dipinti. I movimenti sinuosi delle modelle che danzano sott’acqua è così dolce ed elegante, rassicurante. Molte delle foto sono evidentemente molto ritoccate in PP, ma il ritocco è funzionale al messaggio surreale e fiabesco che si vuole trasmettere.

Invito tutti a “immergersi” in questa spettacolare sequenza di foto..

Link alla gallery

… or: I forgot to take a picture of the red colour on the MEI poster, so I really don’t know what to show You today.
Well, it’s a good good way to show You something I really love.
I’m gonna present You the Art of Professor Bad Trip.
It was about 3 years ago, it was November, and it was a sad day cause Gianluca Lerici, known as Professor Bad Trip, died.
He was really young, he was only 43 years old and he’s been one of the best italian (and not only) visual artist of the last decades.
I never met him, but I’ve always been attracted by his incredible mind blowing art.
And I think there are no words to describe his art, You have to check it, do a search for images on google and let Your brain float into his art.

And if You’re in Italy don’t forget to go to LaSpezia at CAMeC, Centro Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, there’s  an exibithion of Professor Bad Trip and it’ll last till the 24th of january 2010.
Don’t miss it.
He was, and he’s still, amazing

——————————————————-
Listening to Martha WainWright

I am useless at sticking to a schedule, especially when I have lots of work to do. The more deadlines I’ve got and reading that piles up, the more I tend to freak out and do nothing instead. So today, I decided to set a timer on my phone, and work in 45 minute blocks, followed by 15 minute breaks. I usually tend to go all gung-ho on working for two or three hours and then my brain seizes up and I get very little done for the rest of the day. This way, I know I only have to work for 45 minutes before I can browse blogs for 15, or watch TV, or run to the shops, or (if I was in my office) go find something to eat. I eat so much more at work than I do at home!

The timer thing seems to be working, and I’m thinking I will implement it more in my every day life: setting a 30 minute timer for breakfast & blog reading, for example, as I tend to have breakfasts that drag on for at least an hour whilst I catch up with all the blogs updated overnight. Or setting a time for an hour and making a deal with myself that I will go for a run/to the gym/clean up when that timer goes off. I think it’s a pretty good idea, and hopefully it helps me to kick my lazy side in the butt a little!

Dali and I finally tried American Style Kobe Beef and I was pleasantly surprised that there really is a difference, not only in flavor, but in delicacy. The portion size of the burger at Old Homestead Steakhouse was enormous, even for splitting between two people, but it was not heavy at all. We did not feel that we had overeaten, had room for all the salad, and still shared a dessert. No stuffiness, no need to “run around the block” feeling. Quite a nice experience. oh…. and the restaurant was lovely, elegant, and cozy with dark woods, leather, and old fashioned attention to detail and service.

Don’t you love those days when you wake up feeling awesome?

I got an early night last night, and when my alarm went off at 7.30 this morning I was more than ready to get up. I’ve had my cup of tea and some Vegemite toast, and now I’m off to uni to do some work for four or so hours before Rhys and I go to his mum’s place for lunch. I was hoping the library would be open already, because I find working in my office is kind of counter productive at the moment, but it’s not, so I will have to put my concentration face on and just get this stuff done. I’ve been working on it for WAY too long already (it’s work for my Research Assistant job).

Hope everyone else has a good Sunday!

(PS: I am looking for a new theme for my blog because I’m sick of the edges of photos being cut off, or having to shrink pictures down to tiny sizes to fit in to this ridiculous theme. Maybe it’s time to purchase a theme.)