wires and watchtowers

The murderous clouds can't keep the sun from shining
The wind of Jah will scatter them away
-- Eric Hilton / Rob Garza (Thievery Corp.) 2005

modern culture

"There’s nothing in the design of modern culture which inspires people to be great and to be grand and to think in terms of grand thoughts."
-- Ryan Adams, Salon interview (10/9/11)

spirits in the material world

There is no political solution
To our troubled evolution
Have no faith in constitution
There is no bloody revolution

Our so-called leaders speak
With words they try to jail you
They subjugate the meek
But it's the rhetoric of failure

Where does the answer lie?
Living from day to day
If it's something we can't buy
There must be another way

We are spirits in the material world

--Sting (1981)

living in the material world

I'm living in the material world
Living in the material world
Can't say what I'm doing here, but I hope to see much clearer
after living in the material world

I got born into the material world
Getting worn out in the material world
Use my body like a car, taking me both near and far
Met my friends all in the material world

Met them all there in the material world
John and Paul here in the material world
Though we started out quite poor, we got 'Richie' on a tour
Got caught up in the material world

From the Spiritual Sky, such sweet memories have I
To the Spiritual Sky, how I pray
Yes I pray that I won't get lost or go astray

As I'm fated for the material world
Get frustrated in the material world
Senses never gratified, only swelling like a tide
That could drown me in the material world

While I'm living in the material world
Not much giving in the material world
Got a lot of work to do, try to get a message through
And get back out of this material world

I'm living in the material world
Living in the material world
I hope to get out of this place by the [Lord's] grace
My salvation from the material world

--George Harrison (1973)

Steve Jobs - RIP

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired.... It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

-- Steve Jobs (Stanford Univ. commencement address) 2005

the scoop

i'm getting intense, not talking nonsense
i made up my mind, not sitting on the fence
i don't always know the right from the wrong
i do my best to figure it out and work it out in the long
i try to do a lot, more than i can chew
balance out my ambitions, what i've got to do

DIY -- that means do it yourself
i don't sit around waiting for someone's help
i don't sit back and say good enough
keep on striving, reinventing, keeping it off the cuff

-- Mike D (Beastie Boys) 1994

palo alto

In a city of the future, it is difficult to concentrate
Meet the boss, meet the wife
Everybody's happy, everyone is made for life.

In a city of the future, it is difficult to find a space
I'm too busy to see you; you're too busy to wait

But I'm okay, how are you?
Thanks for asking, thanks for asking
I'm okay, how are you? I hope you're okay too.

Every one of those days when the sky is California blue
With a beautiful bombshell, I throw myself into my work
I'm too lazy, I've been kidding myself for so long

But I’m okay, how are you?
Thanks for asking, thanks for asking
I’m okay, how are you? I hope you’re okay too.

-- Thom Yorke (Radiohead) 1998

alien invasion and the economy

"If we discovered that, you know, space aliens were planning to attack and we needed a massive buildup to counter the space alien threat and really inflation and budget deficits took secondary place to that, this slump would be over in 18 months. And then if we discovered, oops, we made a mistake, there aren't any aliens, we'd be better [off]." -- Paul Krugman, trotting out his own unique version of the Broken Window Fallacy

Amerimacka

The land of the free, built on slavery
Our consciousness in captivity
The promised land is the liar's den
Culture of greed has got to end
-- Garza / Hilton (Thievery Corp.) 2005

the hero

So you feel that you ain't nobody
Always needed to be somebody
Put your feet on the ground
Put your hand on your heart
Lift your head to the stars
And the world's for your taking

So you feel it's the end of the story
Find it all pretty satisfactory
Well I tell you my friend
This might seem like the end
But the continuation
Is yours for the making

-- Brian May (Queen) 1981

keep walking

Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, and the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill.... If one keeps on walking, everything will be alright.
– Soren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855)

born into a light

for everything that's wrong, there is a worried man,
there is a reason why. and we just don't understand,
but well, you've gotta' keep the faith.

for everyone alone, i wish you faith and hope,
all the strength to cope, to be your own best friend,
have confidence, and keep the faith.

be patient -- the past is just a memory.
and heal your mind, you'll heal inside eventually.
we were born into a light

-- ryan adams (2008)

war and patriotism

"Of course, the people do not want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to the farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war . . . that is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along -- whether it is a democracy or a fascist dicatorship or a parliament or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

-- Hermann Goering (Luftwaffe commander, German Third Reich) 1946

childhood lost

"As you can see, everything has just vanished. It's just like the whole thing has been completely erased from the face of the earth. I feel great anger. I feel massive sadness. It's like a complete loss of childhood...."
-- Morrissey, Top of the Pops interview (1983)

words from a big wave surfer

Anything I do, I want to be good at. I honestly don't get that stoked beating people or being better than people. Contests are fun sometimes, but I don't have that crazy drive. So I like to challenge myself and get past any mental barriers that I have.... I expect a lot out of myself, and the fact that I ... live this amazing lifestyle, I better be pretty damn good at it and try and do some stuff.... If you're not, what the hell else are you doing with your life? You'd better have some passion for things or hold yourself to high standards or you're just getting by. I don't want to just get by.

It's just the challenge of being new at something and actually picking it up quickly and trying to be really good at it, you know? There's a difference between cannon fodder and actually getting a job done. I like applying and challenging myself. And I'm out actually doing something. I mean, I can challenge myself to beat some fucking video game, but what do you get out of that? What are you going to tell the grandkids one day? "I beat level 10 of WitchCraft." Or whatever the fuck it is. At least these are real experiences.

[T]he only guarantee you have in life is that you're going to die. So why can't you accept that that's going to happen and live your life now? Live like every day's your last instead of acting like [you] will be around forever. People get locked into this routine like they will have another opportunity another day. Ever since I was a little kid, I've been aware that I could be gone tomorrow, so I'm taking advantage of it while I can and trying to get some things done.... Everybody wants to pick [how they'll die], but it's not up to me, it's up to God. But I'm not trying to die; I'm trying to live.... I'm a firm believer that God's got my date written down and that's when I'm going. All I can do is make the most of what He's given me until then.... You don't know when you're going to go; you have to make sure that all of your friends and family know you love them... 'cause you might not see somebody again, or you might not be around.

[C]ut the bullshit and be yourself and start living life. Get to the point. Stop beating around the damn bush and get to the point on things.... Stop worrying about what people think of you. Cut loose. Get things done. I just hate seeing fear. Like, everybody has fear, I have fear of all kinds of stuff, I guess, but it's just insidious. It doesn't get you anywhere.... It's just all the crap we learn, like not to trust people, that make us all scared. You get a little older, have some experiences; and... you get all that scar tissue from the world you grow up in and people you're around, bad experiences and good experiences, and we get scared. We need to get back to the human we're created as....

I'm not curing cancer here; I'm paid to surf. I could be doing more noble pursuits than I am now. But hopefully what I do helps inspire somebody to actually live, and get out of their routine, and do what they're put on earth to do.

-- Mark Healey (Surfing magazine) April 2011.

twilight galaxy

did they tell you -- you should grow up
when you wanted to dream?
did they warn you -- better shape up
if you want to succeed?
i don't know about you -- who are they talking to?
they're not talking to me.

i'm higher than high, lower than deep
i'm doing it wrong, singing along

-- metric (2009)

in particular

lying on my back, i heard music.
felt unsure and catastrophic.
had to tell myself it's only music.
it blows my mind, but it's like that.
-- blonde redhead (2000)

pineapple head

detected as flat
no longer is always flat out
got the number of the getaway car
didn't get very far

as lucid as hell, these images
moving so fast like a fever
so close to the bone
I don't feel too well

sleeping alone for pleasure
the pineapple head it spins and it spins
like a number I hold
don't remember if she was my friend
it was a long time ago

and if you choose to take that path
I will play you like a shark
and I'll clutch at your heart
I'll come flying like a spark to inflame you

-- Neil Finn (Crowded House) 1993

a voyage to wisdom

"We do not receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can make for us, which no one can spare us. For our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world. The lives that you admire and the attitudes that seem noble to you have not been shaped by a pater familias or a schoolmaster; they have sprung from very different beginnings, having been influenced by evil or commonplace that prevailed round them. They represent a struggle and a victory."
-- Marcel Proust (1871-1922)