The ads on YouTube Suck.  I was checking out some old R.E.M music ”The End of The World as We Know It,”  at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmxyj6iInMc&feature=fvw and son of a biatch there is a pop up ads from Wal-Mart. 

The nerve of the bastards to post the word Advertisement.  No Shit, Sherlock, really WTF? Christmas for sale or the end of the free Internet as we know it. 

How much branding do you need when everyone else has gone out of business?  Kmart is still around but most products suck anyway and the 3rd qtr report doesn’t leave a lot of buck for ads on YouTube. 

Get a life Wal-Mart and pass the saving on to consumers.

Opun were pleased to deliver a Building for Life training day at the Jury’s Inn in Nottingham on Thursday 19 November.

Building for Life is a set of 20 questions that all new housing developments should seek to answer to deliver great places to live, and is the national standard for well designed homes and neighbourhoods.

The training was attended by 43 Planning and Design Officers from Local Authorities across the East Midlands.  Following the successful completion of an assessment exercise the delegates will become accredited Building for Life Assessors .

Delegates busy undertaking a mock Building for Life assessment

In conjunction with CABE, Opun have now ensured that almost all of the authorities within the East Midlands have taken up the offer of free training.  Additionally we are pleased to report that  some authorities have already recognised the value of the assessment to their decision-making, and Annual Monitoring Report recording, and have sought to invest further in additional trained assessors for their authorities.

As an acreddited BfL assessor myself, I wish all those who attended training the best of luck in their assessment work that is the next step to full accreditation.  I also look forward to building working relationships with the network of assessors in the East Midlands region and to further developing the support role that Opun is uniquely placed to provide.

For more information on Building for Life visit www.buildingforlife.org or contact James Carpenter, Design Support Services Manager at Opun.

JC

Regeneration East Midlands were pleased to welcome Martin Willey, the President of the Royal Town Planning Institute to its offices on Tuesday 17 November.

Martin took the opportunity to meet with REM staff, and to hold discussions with James Carpenter and Dharmista Patel about their roles as Chartered Town Planners working within the Design Team at Opun.   Martin joined key staff from REM and members of the Board for a roundtable discussion about the role of REM assisting the built environment and planning sector.

The President was particularly keen to hear of Opun’s work on Regional Design Review and the Building for Life programme; applauding the teams efforts to raise design quality and skills in the East Midlands he stated that “its about time that we stopped allowing poor design to be approved and built under the guise of the current recession” .

As the Manager of the Design Support Service at Opun I am keen to carry this message forward, and look forward to holding discussions with local authorities accross the region as to how best Opun can support them in delivering this ambition.

JC

Chissà come reagisce Google a questo titolo… ma sicuramente quelli del Nordest capiscono al volo e gli altri possono arrivarci. “Ciapà mal” è come risponderei a un vicentino alla domanda “Come va?”, non vuole dire che stai male, ma solo che sei incasinata. Nel mio caso ci sono anche un po’ di clienti, diciamo tre, fai cinque, presi dalla sindrome di fine anno (e li capisco). Manca un mese a Natale, c’è tanta carne al fuoco, una trasferta in Kazakistan che complica tutto.

Che si fa quando si è “ciapà mal”? Istintivamente ci si dispera, ma non serve a nulla. Qui in ufficio fanno partire da iTunes una cosiddetta sigla, mi mettono i REM (Shiny happy people)  in apertura di giornata, se ci sono anche in chiusura si va su Bublé (Home). Un po’ funziona. Poi mi razionano social network e navigazioni libere (peccato perchè per me è la principale alimentazione del sistema informativo, pardon nervoso). Da parte mia ho reagito con un week end senza fretta, un po’ di divertimento e molto studio (non so bene qual è la differenza per me tra studiare e lavorare, ma questo sarà un altro post).

La cosa più importante è che in queste condizioni si rivede criticamente il proprio metodo di lavoro e quindi, anche se sono di volata, non posso non segnalarvi questo post di Mauro Lupi che attacca con “Il mestiere nel mestiere. Svolgere il proprio lavoro e nel contempo studiare per adeguarlo ai continui cambiamenti.” Allargherei l’ambito di applicazione fuori dalle professioni legate alle nuove tecnologie.

I miei five cents per gli altri che oggi si sentono “ciapà mal”:

• guardarsi lavorare per un po’
• concedersi un po’ di studio travestito da lavoro
• ricordarsi che non facciamo nè i pompieri nè i trapiantori di organi
• smettere di scrivere questo post e andare a “lavorare”

Michael Stipe has designed a range of 199 cassette style jewelry for Martin Margiela, Though most of them are not practical, I actually like some of them, and wouldn’t mind seeing if i can get my hands on them!

The best album cover ever?

Last night on VH1 Europe they did a countdown of the top 25 albums of all time.  Prince made no. 3, and, inevitably, I guess, Thriller made no. 1.  But REM’s automatic for the people made no. 2.  What I found very weird about this, is that people since about the mid 90s have been intentionally forgetting that, between the period 1977-1995, ‘mainstream’ rock, or ‘establishment’ rock, was cosidered by the listening public to be entirely different from ‘alternative’ rock.  At least, that was the case in the US.  In britain, they always seemed to blur the line more, and ‘alternative’ acts often scored top 10 hits, which in the US happened much more infrequently.  But there was still a clear idea that alternative was alternative, and mainstream was mainstream.  And today, people realize this when shopping for music on Amazon:  i.e., “the killers” and DCFC are known to be ‘alternative,’ with ‘emo’ in the latter’s case being a subgenre of alternative:  and everyone has always known that Prince belongs in an entirely different category (of its own–file under ‘weird.’) 

So why are people conflating alternative and ‘pop’ music, to the point where I often hear people lump together alternative with ‘pop,’ so as to distinguish it from ‘R&B’ and ’Dance?’  To do so, I argue, is to entirely miss the point of the ‘altnertive’ movement.  In its heyday, every single person who listened to alternative was aware that it was ‘counter-cultural.’  In essence, alternative contiued the 1960s and 70s trend, which was anti-establishment, and went along with, in some form or another, the popular marxism of the day, which was highly suspicious of corporations, and thus, the record industry.  This of course, presupposes that its listeners have the mental apparatus to appreciate social complexity–to understand society as a system, and/or who are concerned to be articulate about their interation with the world.  Pop music proper, is therefore ‘for the masses,’, i.e., for the majority of people, who, unfortunately, do not have either the will or the IQ power to grapple with complex responses to their environment.  That’s why pop music, e.g. Elvis and Michael Jackson, is generally lyrically incredibly banal.  Both the 60s protest stuff, and, punk, and alternative, and now, things like emo, are thus distinguished by their more sophisticated lyrics.  So, what we are talking about here, then, is music for those who are fortunate enough to have the apparatus and desire to engage with lyrics.  Unfortunately, after 1995, lyrics went out of style (see below) and the entire culture’s level of articulateness, I would argue, has suffered since then.   

By the time that alternative came of age, however, I would argue that it had become much more personal.  While the 60s and 70s Woodstock stuff was decidedly public music – to be performed live, e.g., the doors–and often had impersonal lyrics (e.g. Bob Marley– cryin’ lion zion…. what the hey is that all about?), by the 80s, the goth movement brought music into the bedroom, i.e., into the personal minds of the listener.  Morrissey of course puts it best:  ’When I lay in awe on my bedroom floor,” etc. 

Many people put punk together with alternative, but I see a divergence from the beginning.  Groups like Joy Division and the Cure and Souxsie were always much more cerebral, sensitive, and appealed more to the introspective person, rather than punk, which was often so absurd as to be a simple testosterone fest, despite it’s often radical-marxist lyrics.  In short, I think that punk sucks, becasue though it was perhaps good that someone was doing it, i.e., being socially aware in their music, I believe that their methods, which were essentially violent and anarchist, are inherently self-defeating.  Thus I have never been drawn to it. 

Alternative, on the other hand, foregrounded the individal emotional and (crucially) intellectual response to the world, and thus, can be seen as a re-visioning of the eighteenth-century Cult of Sensibility, which was spearheaded by Goethe, and was then brought to fruition by authors such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Jane Austen, and Keats, who, for the first time in history, asserted that the experience of the individual (particularly of the sensitive individual) truly mattered.  The artist figure, the thinker, the solitary philosopher, was worth listening to, they argued, and this could be anyone–not simply the great.  This encouraged reading and thinking and sensitive people everywhere to stop being deferent to their social superiors, and to really take their own inner dialogue seriously.  This is arguably a very crucial step on the way towards mass democracy. 

And this is why I’m interested in alternative music, from the point of view of this site.  I belive that the 1970s and 80s saw a massive increase in the sensibilities of young thinking people–they grew up in households with more money, for one, and they had more opportunities to travel and to interact with other cultures than ever before.  And they had leisure, and many of them, in Britain and the US, studied the arts, even just in high school, this was done seriously, with an emphasis on text, on poetry and literature, and this encouraged many people once again to take this inner dialogue seriously.  Arguably, the 80s bedroom revolution was quite similar to the romantic revolution which emerged after the french revolution:  a public revolution went bust, and so artist figures, who had been so engaged and so inspired by the public’s prospects, now retreated into their own minds, and continued to hold the ideals of the revolution there, in their own private spheres, until such a time as they might once again find public times propitious for their goals of reform, and remaking. 

This is precisely what the 80s bedroom revolutionaries did, and more.  They saw that the 60s and 70s had failed in many ways to produce anything lasting and concrete, besides a welcome liberalization of society–which should not be underestimated.  But they saw instinctually (I did as a high schooler, and I know my alternative friends did), that the political aims of the hippie revolution were largely unfulfilled, swallowed up by the wave of conservativism brought about by reagan (and thatcher).  And so, we moved inward.  We still had ideals, we still cherished the idea of reform–very much so.  But we also began to realize, through introspecton, that our own selves really truly mattered:  our own emotions, thoughts, etc.  But what made the alternative age different from today, ‘the post alternative age,’ is that today’s emo people, I think, have grown up in an entirely self-serving society, which is almost devoid of the ideal of social reform.  In the 80s, there was still some of that public idealism left.  And it made us idealistic, in the best possible way.  We believed that, by reforming ourselves, we could reform the world, make it better.  (see this website–it’s basically proof that i’m still working in that mode). 

I believe that, after about 1995, these ideals basically died, in a big way, in popular culture, and what we’ve been left with is a culture devoid of public ideals.  It’s therefore all been about the desires of the individual, and thus, is essentially unsophisticated:  it’s all egotism.  Emo people are the intelligent version of the ‘gimme’ school.  But their lyrics are still essentially whining–with no underlying vision.  If you have no social dimension to what you do and think, it’s very difficult for this to be progressive–it is inherently centrifugal, I think.  And then, the less articulate version of this has been the triumph of hip hop, which, for reasons we’ll have to leave for elsewhere, has been almost entirely egotistical and self serving, especially after the few attempts in the 80s to make it political (in which case it was tied to the alternative music ethic– NWA and Public Enemy, e.g., did have much that was political in them–but after about ‘93, any impetus to put the political into music fell away, and hip hop returned to simple braggadocio, and glorification of violence, and domination of women–which, when one loses idealism, is all that’s left).

So, to put a time scale on it: i’d say

1950s:  rock invented, in US and britain.

1960s-early 70s:  protest rock– the first ‘alternative rock.’

1977-present.  Punk.  Angry marxist progressiveness.  Ultimately self-defeating.

1977-1995.  Golden Age of Alternative.  Lyrics were foregrounded, personal experience was foregrounded, but enough idealism remained from the 70s age of popular Marxism, that people genuinely wanted to make the world a better place.

1992- Grunge makes its debut.  Mixes alternative with testosterone rock.  Beginning of the end of alternative music.  After this, sensitive artists begin to avoid lyrics.

mid-1990s.  Age of ‘acid jazz’ ‘house’ – etc.  Club music draws the best and the brighest.  But it is a-lyrical, and so, essentially, the age of social engagement fizzles, quite rapidly.  And with it, idealism.  Idealistic music is no longer fashionable.  The only alternative bands who are still producing major albums are some of what we used to call B-quality bands:  i.e., Radiohead and Bjork.  They sucked compared with the giants of the alternative era, but their manneristic squeaking and shapeless music went well with the new anti-lyrical fashion, and so they became huge.

2000-present.  With internet, a great variety of musical styles, but, it’s still true that, when the lyric comes back into fashion, it is now almost entirely personal.  Political, social, progressive agendas are entirely out, and so the music never rises above the purely juvenile.  Whereas Morrissey and Ian Curtis’ poetry has the power of Wordsworth to engage us, and incite us, to think idealistically, the (admittedly good) lyrics of Death Cab for Cutie, or worse, the banal lyrics of the White Stripes, and the Yeah yeah yeahs, never rise above the purely personal of the high school student’s poetry:

‘yesterday i saw a couple/kissing by the train platform/they were so beautiful/i wondered where they were going.’

Etc.  This is drivel–because it’s purely of personal interest.  It has no idealism, thus, no universalism, and that is the essence of good poetry.

So, my argument, then, is that grunge killed alternative, and after that, we hear people talking of ‘rock being in the shitter’ (trent reznor, 1999–unfortunately his album of that year did nothing to rescue it–the inspiration had died–the age of idealism was largely over).  And until the culture once again recovers idealism, it will continue to stay in the shitter.  Read around on this site, and you’ll see how idealism and moving, real, gripping, engaging art have always been entirely intertwined with one another. 

Thus, all of the following albums, from 1977 to about the grunge era (let’s say 1995–though i do include some grunge), are filled with idealism, even if their lyrics do not explicitly sound that way at all.  And a few albums that come after this time have managed to keep some of that idealism, and so they are included here as well.  Even the industrial music which was a subgenre of alternative in the latter part of this period was not anything like ‘white zombie’ or ’tool’ which came later, and which are genuinely antisocial, antihumanist, and violent–and thus antidemocratic.  I would argue, then, that Skinny Puppy is highly idealistic and progressive, while Maynard what’s-his-name’s “Tool”, which dominated the 90s niche formerly held by bands like Skinny Puppy, replaced it with an entirely anti-idealistic, self-destructive, even psychotic atmosphere, which I argue, still holds the dominant position in our society today (see my post on violence condoning torture for more on this).   Ok, then without further ado (and knowing that we’ll have to discuss these choices at a future time):  here would be my top 25 alternative/industrial albums of all time (and it’s basically ridiculous to put them in order, I think):

Dead Can Dance-  Serpent’s Egg, or Spiritchaser; 10,000 Maniacs – Our Time in Eden; The Cure- The Top; Joy Division- Substance; New Order – Substance; Belle & Sebastian – Tigermilk; Depeche Mode – Violator; Pixies – Doolittle; Loreena McKennitt – The Visit; Smashing Pumpkins – Gish; Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes; The Smiths- Louder than Bombs; Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs; The National – The National; REM – Document or Automatic for the People; Skinny Puppy – Mind:  The Perpetual Intercourse; Cocteau Twins – Heaven or Las Vegas; Sundays – Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic; Ministry - Live:  In case you didn’t feel like showing up;  Moby – Play; St. Germain-St. Germain (a-lyrical, but idealistic); Coldplay – Rush of Blood to the Head; Death Cab for Cutie – Plans; Enya – Watermark; Sarah McLachlan – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy; Nine Inch Nails – Downward Spiral or Pretty Hate Machine.  Lisa Gerard – The Mirror Pool.

Ok, that’s 27.  But what most of these have in common, is that they are beautiful, sublime, epic, and/or highly idealistic.  They are not essentially violent (even Ministry-I’d argue), but essentially the opposite–egalitarian, democratic, progressive, empathetic.  They strive for the good, the beautiful, the just.  And so they receive the Platonist’s seal of approval.

There is a great line in the REM song (which is also the title): ‘It’s the end of the World as we know it, and I feel fine‘. I used to find this line strange. How can you feel everything is fine if it’s the end of the world? Perhaps it’s because you’re bombed out on drugs, and so, have anesthetised yourself to the coming gloom, or perhaps you are nhilistic and couldn’t care less if it is the end of the world. Or perhaps you’ve figured something out which gives you joy even in the face of hopelessness. Regardless I have always loved this line and sing it with great gusto, as it somehow makes sense.

And it possibly is the end of the world as we know it. That is not to say the end of all life, but the world as we have come to know it. We show no signs of reducing our rapacious consumption of goods to which the bounty of the world must perpetually relent her sustenance. Even after 50 years of dire warnings about the future of our civilsation we show absolutely no intention of doing what needs to be done to ensure the survival of our civilsation. Instead we continue to buy bigger machines, buy bigger houses and constantly shop! And the rest of the world that do not have what we wealthy citizens have crave our lifestyle. This is reflected in the growing capitalist economies of China and India and the flow of economic migrants from poorer regions of the world to the wealthy regions of the world.

Meanwhile the world’s climate is becoming more chaotic (even if Australia is full of climate change deniers), the world is running out of potable water and we have a population forever growing and forever demanding more goods and services. We are in a word, stuffed! Having faith that all of humanity will wake up one morning and say, ‘my God we are destorying ourselves, we must change our ways immediately’ is a way to avoid the malaise that such knowledge inspires; though it is a fairly ignorant viewpoint. Go to a local shopping centre and watch the lust on people’s faces as they greedily eat up all the goodies on offer. They ain’t gonna stop. Even though, overall, if you spoke to these people over a coffee they would be concerned about the state of the world and would wish they could do something about it…

Anyway I have accepted it is the end of the world as we know it, and after years of anxiety and anger I feel pretty much fine about it. My reasons are philosophical. Let me begin with a description of karma. I do not see karma as a moral law. I see karma as a natural law that ensures equanimity in existence. At the ground of existence is a harmony that keeps all things in check. This is necessary to ensure order. From order all arises including me here typing on this computer. It is the fundamental coalescing force of existence. (The nature of this existence is left for physicists and mystics to ponder. I have written an earlier blog on this.) Karma is the law which ensures that this state of equanimity is never compromised. Anything that goes to the extreme will be be brought back to a harmonious position through balancing actions.

In the case of our planet, Earth, we have a harmonious system that has developed over billions of years. The huge diversity of life, ecosystems and environments on our planet is testimony to the extraordinary range of possibilities that the harmony of existence implies. Karma works throughout this process causing extinctions, population growths, transformations and whatever is necessary to ensure harmony. The special case connected with homosapiens is our furious pace of change! We have changed things so rapidly due to our extraordinary level of intelligence that the few billion years of fine tuning, which created our planet is being transformed almost overnight. Unfortunately our intelligence does not always translate to wisdom and we have pushed things so far and so rapidly in one direction that karma will inevitably pull things back in another direction.

Time for an analogy. I picture a nail embedded in wood as an image of the point of harmony to which existence is held. The actions of existence are like a rubber band hanging off the nail. They will stretch in any number of directions depending on the circumstances. This is one of the extraordinary aspects of existence, it is harmonious and ordered yet it can take on many forms. One only has to reflect on the diversity of existence to appreciate this. The law of karma is analogous to the elasticity of the rubber band. If it stretches to far from a state of harmony it will bounce back. In the case of humanity we are stretching the rubber band to breaking point here on Earth, and it is going to bounce back. The form of this change is hard to predict. But pretty clearly, by recent events around the world it is going to be catastrophic.

The question arises as to why humanity would knowingly walk towards its own doom when it knows that it is walking towards its own doom? Not only that, we also have all the solutions to ensure our survival and the flourishing of our civilisation(s). And we have the intelligence and the imagination to pull it off. So what stops us? I don’t know! But I try to imagine a person who holds a gun to their head and is surrounded by loved ones who tell them they will help and that they will be there for them. But still they shoot. Why? Do they hate their self? Are they inherently selfish? Do they have an unexplained death wish? Are they blind to the love that surrounds them? Can these questions be translated to humanity at large? I am sure their are psychologists with some answers somewhere.

So getting back to the song. I feel fine because I am sure that universal processes are playing our whether or not humanity is able to hear it. Humans are a fine and extraordinary emergence from the ground of existence as is all life on Earth. If we were to destroy ourselves it would be tragic, but it would not be the end. It would mean a major transformation in existence on Earth as we know it, due to the laws of karma, but it would not be the end of life. The dinosaurs were wiped out by a meteor collision. They were grandiose creatures whose life ended with a type of climate change that will dwarf ours and yet life found a way and thrived, including our mammal ancestors.

I continue to fight for this beautiful world and the amazing creatures that live on it – humans and otherwise – but if it is the end of the world as we know it, it is not the end of all the world’s as existence knows it, and so yeah, I feel fine about that.

I said in my original post about this set that I was lucky enough to get the full set of figures except for the secret figure. Well, I was wrong. I was actually lucky enough to get the full set of figures. The secret figure is, as strongly suggested on the packaging, an angel version of L. The reason I didn’t notice the secret figure to begin with is that it is extremely similar to the non-secret L that comes with a red chair. In my haste, I think I just saw the chair and assumed it was a double, but on closer inspection there are a few key differences: the left arm is not raised, the facial expression is different, and he comes with a halo and a pair of angel wings.

The halo is pretty fragile – the stand that connects the halo with L’s head was already broken right out of the box – but a little bit of glue (or even blu-tac in a pinch) will fix that, and considering that’s the only issue this otherwise excellently made set, it’s hard to complain. This really is a fantastic set of figures; I’m very pleased to have the full set and look forward to doubling the size of the collection with Case File #02 early next year! Thank goodness they’re puchi, not full-size Nendoroids. This concludes the photos of the puchi Death Note characters… for now.

x.11.2009 Viermuiala:  Era o vreme umeda de toamna si trotuarul de langa farmacia de baza a satului Apahida era acoperit de balti si noroi. Am zarit ceva viermuindu-se in supa aia. N-am vrut sa calc pe creatura asa ca m-am oprit si m-am uitat la ea. Era o rama jucausa. Se comporta ca un catel care te recunoaste si da din coada. Chiar si-a ridicat unul din capete insa habar n-aveam daca era coada sau capul (de parca ar conta). Nu aveam chef de ea asa ca am hasait-o. A inceput sa alunece cu viteza din ce in ce mai mare si se tot misca in fata pasilor mei. M-am gandit intr-o clipa sa o calc insa mi-am amintit ce mi s-a predat in generala despre viermii astia. Se pot inmultii prin diviziune. Pfuck… m-am gandit. Singurul lucru mai enervant decat o rama annoying e doua rame annoying.

Atent, sa nu o calc, desi parea ca are instinct de autoconservare, am inceput sa ma misc mai repede. Rama, ca sa tina pasul a inceput sa creasca si in lungime si in grosime. La stanga mea era un gardulet viu care limita o gradina de bloc plina cu buruieni. Rama s-a arcuit si a sarit peste garduletul viu. Am rasuflat putin usurat si am pasit mai departe grabit. Cu coltul ochiului am observat rama sarind pe zidul blocului si de acolo inapoi in fata mea. Era transformata. In loc de rama, acum era o omida cu mult par galben pe burta. Parea sa aiba niste antenute in mijlocul cercurilor de par galben pe care le misca inspre mine. Am luat-o la fuga si am ajuns in dreptul postului de politie. Pe sosea, doi politisti dirijau circulatia. Am urlat speriat la ei sa ma ajute sa scap de omida. Unul din ei a scos pistolul insa nu-mi doream sa o impuste.

M-am trezit si am mers la munca. Dupa cateva ore mi-am dat seama de unde venea creatura aia. Colega din stanga mea testeaza un joc in care trebuie sa-i arunce de mancare unei omide imense care se leagana in stanga si dreapta cu un zambet tamp pe chip care teoretic tre’ sa te imbie sa-i dai polen sau ce naiba mananca in jocul ala.

The Crew ain’t just about fresh sneakers and tee’s!  Check this piece from Michael Stipe…

R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe debuted his talent as a sculpture artist in 2008, unveiling his cast bronze sculptures at Rogan Botique in Bowery. He has since kept it moving by recently collaborating with Belgian label Maison Martin Margiela on a piece that aligns well with Martin Margiela’s obscure ‘found art’ approach to design.

The piece comes in the shape of a mini metal cassette tape equipped with an unraveled tape that serves as a chain. Limited to only 199 pieces, these cassette tape accessories will be available at Margiela boutiques as well as at selected retailers. Check it below.

Via Hypebeast.

De acordo com o neurologista Arthur Piller Fontana, de Brusque-SC, descansar pelo menos 15 ou 20 minutos durante a tarde ajuda o corpo a se recuperar das tensões do dia-a-dia e acentua o trabalho cerebral, aguçando o pensamento, o que pode ajudar a resolver algumas situações e tomar decisões. Arthur destaca que a fase REM do sono (veja o Box abaixo) traz outros benefícios como a melhora do humor, do sono noturno e na realização de tarefas motoras.

Estes benefícios do sono ficaram visíveis para o empresário Luiz Ricardo Morelli, o descanso após o almoço o auxiliou no seu rendimento no trabalho. “Após dormir meia hora depois do almoço, sinto que tenho mais energia e disposição para resolver os problemas da empresa”.

Sono traz até mais criatividade

Segundo um estudo feito pela norte-americana Sara Mednick, Doutora em Medicina, durante o sono a criatividade das pessoas é estimulada através de redes associativas do cérebro, solucionando com mais facilidade problemas que, provavelmente, não seriam resolvidos enquanto estamos acordados. Isto acontece na fase 1 e 2 do sono, chamada de REM. Neste estágio, a atividade neural é mais intensa, possibilitando que o cérebro faça novas e benéficas ligações entre ideias não relacionadas. Além disso, é na fase REM que os sonhos surgem.

Daiana Vogel

(Mii tare ciuda ca uit visele daca nu le scriu. Bine, chiar daca le scriu o sa le uit dar macar am un loc de unde ma pot reconecta la ele. In ultimul timp n-am avut chef de scris desi mi-am dat seama ca fara sa ma gandesc cat de cat seara ca trebuie sa-mi amintesc visele, ele se disipa si dispar in mine precum un cub de zahar care se topeste pe limba si peste cateva minute nici macar nu-i mai simti dulceata – bine… poate ai noroc sa mai gasesti pe undeva printre dinti vreun pic . Aici o sa scriu cateva franturi de vise din ultimele 10 zile. A ramas putin din ele deoarece mi-am scris doar cuvinte cheie intr-un carnetel. Astea ar fi fost de ajuns daca as fi scris visul in ziua in care l-am trait.
x.11.2009 Sergentu: M-am intalnit cu Sergiu Rusu, un bun prieten din copilarie. Am trecut pe la el pe acasa si am luat dacia crem, veche si decojita. Ne grabeam sa atingem varful unui deal care semana cu Taietura Turcului. Graba era datorata unei probleme cu energia electrica a comunitatii din care faceam parte. Tatal lui, urma sa porneasca un generator pe undeva prin spatele dealului. Ajunsi undeva la poale ne-am dat seama ca nu o sa mai apucam sa vedem momentul declansarii si ca o sa trebuiasca sa ne multumim privind furtunul negru. Totusi am vazut si momentul declansarii dar asta se datora doar posibilitatii de a vedea chiar si lucrurile care nu sunt in raza ta vizuala (asa cum ni se arata in filme, cu camera movements, defapt asa cum probabil cineastii s-au inspirat din vis). Apoi am vazut cum tasneste apa namoloasa din furtun.

x.11.2009 Vrei o felie?: Eram in Apahida langa blocul meu, impreuna cu M. Din scara cealalta a iesit Andrei Apahidean, (un alt bun prieten din copilarie) si ne-a invitat la el. Eram asezati la masa si a deschis o cutie mare cu pizza din care ieseau aburi care te imbiau la devoreala. In momentul urmator, am pus mana pe o felie si am inceput sa mananc cu pofta. Ingredientul de care ma bucuram cel mai mult era porumbul caldut care se lasa mai greu mestecat. Intre timp, Andrei a inceput sa-i atinga picioarele M-ei. M, statea nemiscata si inghitea in sec. Nu stia cum sa reactioneze. Andrei era pana la urma prietenul meu. Nu stia cat de puternica e prietenia mea cu Andrei asa ca nu-si dadea seama daca e ok ca el sa se comporte asa (de parca daca am fi fost cei mai buni prieteni ar fi fost OK sa o atinga… ha!). La faza aia m-am infierbantat si l-am intrebat cum dracu isi permite sa faca treaba aia, indiferent de gradul nostru de prietenie.

x.11.2009 Chocolat:  Treceam pe o straduta care parea din Gheorgheni dar imi era necunoscuta. Dadeam incet cu picioarele in frunzele cazute dupa coasa mortii tomnatice cand mi-a atras atentia un restaurant. Era o cladire maro cu geamuri mari la care am vazut-o pe Andreea Silaghi. Eram… oh my god! De cand nu te-am vazut – de prin liceu! Noroc ca geamul pe langa care treceam era deschis si m-a auzit. Lucra ca si ospatar acolo si purta o tava pe un servet cu mana stanga, mana de catre geam. Avea parul desfacut, asa cum de putine ori ii l-am vazut. Era superba si mi-a zambit. M-a salutat cu mana dreapta, arcuindu-se putin in spate ca sa-i vad mana din spatele tavii. M-am apropiat de geam si ea ma astepta sprijinindu-se cu coatele de un gemulet mic de la bucatarie. Dinauntru venea un miros bestial de ciocolata. Eram putin incurcat si nu stiam ce sa-i zic, tinand cont ca ne cunosteam asa de putin si mie nu-mi place small talkul. Cu toate astea, m-am lasat purtat de pofte si am intrebat-o daca au mousee au chocolat (desi cred ca ma gandeam la Quo Vadis si la prajitura lor “mortala” – death by chocolate. – (acuma lucid cred ca imi amintesc sa fi mancat si mouse au chocolat prin Londra, pe banii Tatianei – asta am zis-o nu cu mandrie ci cu privirea plecata, giving credits to her.) Andreea a chemat o tanti mai batranica si durdulie de la bucatarie. Nu aveau, dar am cerut the next best thing, un tiramisu. Am apucat sa-l gust, si parca pudra amara si usoara de cacao mi s-a lipit de caile respiratorii cand bucata de blat s-a lovit de limba, starnind praful alimentar si trezirea. Era tare bun. ( A doua zi aveau tiramisu in tavi la cantina. Si la noi e foarte bun tiramisu insa il aduc cu o zi inainte ca sa stea la rece pana ziua urmatoare. Nu era gata inca asa ca mi-au zis ca nu pot sa-mi dea. Mi-am luat alta prajitura da nici macar nu-mi amintesc de care, din cauza dorului de tiramisu pe care-l aveam. Data vitoare o sa insist, chiar daca s-ar putea sa ma trezesc doar cu o mazga amorfa in farfurie. Credits for cuvantul de mazga in legatura cu mancare la cantina merg la Eugen Popescu, colegu’ meu de la TRC. )

Did you know that Mr, Stipe, frontman of shiny, happy rock band REM was also a sculptor? No, neither did I, although Stipe’s exhibition of cast bronze sculptures at the Rogan Boutique in June last year would say otherwise. Embracing this lesser-known cultural output of his is Belgian label Maison Martin Margiela, for whom Stipe has created this metal cassette-tape accessory.

Apparently part accessory, part ‘objet d’art’ that fits in nicely with MMM’s ‘found art’ perspective on design, no doubt aping the likes of Marcel Duchamp, this mini tape comes complete with a tape band that doubles as a chain. Can be wrapped up and used as a bracelet, or a necklace, or whatever the hell you want to have a metal tape hanging off. Limited to just 199 pieces, odds are these will become collector’s items very quickly. Available from Maison Martin Margiela boutiques and select retailers.

James

Ya se puede oír desde su MySpace Fase Rem, el último trabajo del MC catalán ZPU. Éste trabajo se trata de un maxi que servirá a su vez como aperitivo para su próximo larga duración, del cuál aún no hay fecha concretada pero del que ya dio algunas muestras en sus últimas actuaciones en directo.

Os enlazamos también su último videoclip, Escalera Real, incluída en la banda sonora de Royal Flush.

Fuente: MySpace ZPU – HH Directo

Well Iowa city, I have about three Radioloveless shows left before I leave the KRUI airways for good. Two shows will consist of my favorite tracks to hear, thus the title of my post. If you listen to the show, I’m sure you’ve heard most of them. Either way, the next two shows will be filled with my favorites. The last show will be my Christmas show, which is always a fun show to do.

I’ll be moving back east next year, after living and DJing in Iowa city for the past 6. I love it here, and I love KRUI even more. Listen in at 89.7 fm or online here. Here’s the show

1. R.E.M.’s Fables of Reconstruction (1985), Driver 8
2. Sebadoh, Bakesale (1994, oh and the naked baby on the cover is Lou Barlow), Skull
(It’s my favorite track from Sebadoh along with lots of other kids my age, thank you Lou for bringing this into my life.)

3. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, Pig Lib (2003), Vanessa from Queens
(Steve defines cool, even if I can’t figure out what he’s singing about)
4. Teenage Fanclub, Bandwagonesque (1991), Star Sign
(This just sounds like the 90s to me, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and little.)
5. The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground, Pale Blue Eyes
(Uhm, who doesn’t like this song?)
6. Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002), I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
This is my favorite Wilco album, I keep coming back.
7. Wire, Pink Flag (1977), 1 2 X U
8. Yo La Tengo, President Yo La Tengo (1989), Barnaby Hardly Working
9. Catherine Wheel, Ferment (1992), Black Metallic
10. Black Tambourine, Complete Recordings, Pack You Up
This track is so short and cool, it just makes me want to go out and be their groupie if they were still around.
11. The Dandy Warhols, Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia (1999), Sleep
I can’t help it, I love this album.
12. Big Star, #1 Record (1972), Thirteen
Rolling stone said it was “one of the most beautiful songs about Adolescence.”
13. The Breeders, Pod (1990), When I was a Painter
14. Pavement, Crooked Rain Crooked Rain (1994), Silence Kit (awesome request for Sutcliffe Catering Song but was having issues with my CD.)
15. Built to Spill, Perfect From Now On (1997), I would Hurt a Fly
16. Cat Power, What would the Community Think (1996), Bathysphere
17. The Church, Starfish (1988), Under the Milky Way
18. Cocteau Twins, Head Over Heels (1983), When Mama was a Moth

19. My Bloody Valentine, Loveless (1991), When you Sleep
Pitchfork quoted Loveless as the best album of the 90’s, I might have to agree.
20. The Clash, The Clash (1977), Janie Jones
21. Sleater-Kinney, One Beat (2002), Combat Rock
22. Depeche Mode, Violator (1990), Blue Dress
23. The Cure, Seventeen Seconds (1980), A Forest
24. Archers of Loaf, White Trash Heroes (1998), Dead Red Eyes
25. Guided By Voices, Alien Lanes (1995), My Valuable Hunting Knife
26. Meat Puppets, Meat Puppets II (1984), New Gods

Alright, short and sweet…

We had a great week! To me, the band was super tight this week, which always makes things go a little more smoothly. It amazes me the talent God has blessed us with on our stage!

Alright, here was our setlist…

It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (REM/DC Talk Version) – We started our new 2012 series, talking about the end times, the end of the world, so we figured this would be a great way to kick off the series. We took the original REM version and mixed it with the DC Talk version to create the Life Church version. Overall, I thought it went VERY well.

Drifter (DecembeRadio) – This is probably one of our churches FAVORITE songs. It had been a good while since we had done it, so everybody was really into it!

Jesus Saves (Tim Hughes) – We introduced this song this week, and for it to be the first time, I thought it went very well.

Glory To God Forever (Fee) – This song is quickly becoming a favorite of our church, I know I can’t get enough of it!

-Jason’s Message-

Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)/(Chris Tomlin) – I love the way we do this song. It’s similar to the Tomlin version, but we add our “Southern Rock” flair to it.

-Offering-

It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (Same as above)

Well, that was our set. Tell me this…what song do you find yourself singing over and over again this week?

Josh

this post is part of the “Sunday Setlist” blog carnival over at FredMcKinnon.com. Go check it out!