“The shadows in the early morning don’t tell much. The shadows rest at that time. So it’s useless to gaze very early in the day. Around six in the morning the shadows wake up, and they are best around five in the afternoon. Then they are fully awake.”
Carlos Castaneda

The Second Ring of Power

Smart! Too Smart?

n

dynamic becomes static over and over again!

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Ariel Shibolet

n

Ariel is one of the pillars of a small (but growing) group of improvisation musicians in Israel. He is the organizer of a monthly Meeting in Tel-Aviv (where I have also performed with Shahar) and is an inspiring musician whom I have also had the pleasure (and sometimes frustration – he likes very low light and the clicks of the camera are to him like an additional instrument in the space) of photographing numerous times. If you’ve never heard this kind of music (and I am guessing you probably haven’t) then free your mind. I invite you to listen, to really listen. Stop whatever it is you are doing, make a space in your heart, turn up the volume (though not too much) and then hit play.

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Appreciation

n

Appreciation came to my mind this morning. I realized that appreciation turns my attention to quality in my experiences. It is seeking out goodness. It makes me soft. It makes me smile. It makes me welcoming, and then experience welcomes me. It colors my experience of the world around me. It negates negativity. It shouts out when it experiences low quality. It makes me attentive and sensitive. I was resting in the hammock this morning thinking of my hands. When I opened my eyes I was greeted by a beautiful blue-blue sky.

Read More »

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Body Knows

n

“The reason you keep on coming back to see me is very simple; every time you have seen me your body has learned certain things, even against your desire. And finally your body now needs to come back to me to learn more. Let’s say that your body knows that it is going to die, even though you never think about it. So I’ve been telling your body that I too am going to die and before I do I would like to show our body certain things, things which you cannot give to your body yourself… So let’s say then that your body returns to me because I am its friend”
Carlos Castaneda from “Journey to Ixtlan”

(more quotes)

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Wish: Chair

n

I would like a comfortable office chair to sit in. I spend more time in front of the computer then I care to admit. Over the past few weeks I have taken on major development work for SweetClarity – which means I am sitting at the computer more then ever. It could be nice to have a comfortable chair to sit in. I also realized that this may have affected some of my computer based creative work. Creative work (such as selecting, editing, processing images into all kinds of media presentation) can be very time consuming (lot’s of waiting involved). I might as well get comfortable!

Actually this extends to additional sitting apparel at home. A nice couch to read on… hmmm…

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Tomasz Stanko

n

During one of my first sessions with Shahar, more then two years ago, we were working in his mother’s apartment (!) and he played a CD called “From the Green Hill” by Tomasz Stanko. It just came to me as I was searching for something to listen to. This music is etched in me due to the powerful context of the work in which I encountered it. Here is live set with Tomasz Stanko (the trumpet player).

My only problem with this clip it that it is too short and ends abruptly.

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Magical Deer

n

“A magical being is a sight to behold. I was fortunate enough to cross paths with one. Our encounter took place after I had learned and practiced a great deal of hunting. Once I was in a forest of thick trees in the mountains of central Mexico when suddenly I heard a sweet whistle. It was unknown to me; never in all my years of roaming in the wilderness had I hears such a sound. I could not place it in the terrain; it seemed to come from different places. I thought that perhaps I was surrounded by a herd of a pack of some unknown animals. Read More »

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Fatherland Raped Motherhood

n

Frente’s Marvin the Album album is one of the most surprising, amusing and original albums I encountered (many years ago). To the best of my knowledge the band were together long enough to publish 2 cd’s then they disappeared. ‘Cuscutlan’ is one of my favorite songs on the album. The video is not officially related to the song, but it did bring a smile to my face. Listen for  the lyrics:

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Waiting

n

Conceptualizing

This post occurred to me a few days ago. I don’t remember what it is that I was staring at – but I was staring/glaring at something. At first I recognized the object – it became a concrete concept. But then, as I stayed with it and waited, I seemed to go beyond the initial impression (I do wish I could remember what it was – bu it escapes me) and the concept seemed to evaporate. The object was then revealed again – but this time I was traveling farther – a story or path seemed to be unraveling instead of a conclusion. I felt a wave of creativity.

Clarity

My yoga teachers suggested a model that describes an affect of a continued Yoga practice. The model is that we are a vessel filled with murky water. With practice the water becomes still and the murky residue sinks to the bottom. When the residue sinks the water become clear and things can shine through clearly – our perception becomes clear.

I often think of this model to remind myself, as both a yoga practitioner and teacher, that clarity is already within. Nothing new needs to be introduced through the practice. The practice is meant to reduce the distractions.

Grazing

Improvisers experience emptiness – it is only natural that this happens when you enter a performance space and the performance is not set – it is improvised (experienced performers this emptiness and learn to recognize it creeping up on them). About 8 months ago, during the first Orchard Labs, Shahar (context: with whom I collaborate extensively both in art/photography and SweetClarity) applied a term – ‘Grazing’.

‘Grazing’ describes a state in which a improviser (performer) is searching for materials. ‘Grazing’ was used as a metaphor – cows graze without a sense of purpose or achievement – they just do it. Naming this all-too-familiar state had two major affects. First it became a legitimate place for a performer to occupy – she is no longer ‘lost and looking for material’ she is engaged in a concrete & legitimate activity of ‘grazing’. Second, with patience, ‘grazing’ itself vaporizes emptiness and becomes a material, and like any material it leads to more (unknown) material.

Waiting

I feel an underlying common thread connecting these experiences and ideas. Waiting. It takes time to go through and past conceptualization. It takes time for the murk to settle in the water. It takes time to realize that a non-existent future is clouding a concrete present. We need to slow down. We need to make and take time. We need to wait.

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Homemaid RAID (Part4) – Drives, Partitions & Devices

n

Now that we have the Ubuntu server installed and a graphic interface to feel comfortable we can get on with preparing the hard-drives for setting up the RAID.

Devices

I will be addressing devices numerous times, but for now suffice to say that Ubuntu (and Linux in general) seems to have a very straightforward approach for representing devices in the operating system. You will find a directory in the root file-system called ‘DEV’ and in it many files. These files all represent devices. Hard drives are devices, partitions are devices and even the RAID we will create is a device. More on this as we move along. Read More »

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The ‘Writing on the wall’ BS

n

Nature seems to be taking it’s course. The beautiful thing is that it always does – we just don’t pay attention very well. I am not impressed with people who look back in a time of crisis and talk about ‘the writing on the wall’ – it was there for everyone to see. These people are parasites – and probably only feeding the next round of crisis. The writing is always on the wall – the question is what can we do to read it every living moment?

What is wrong with contemporary business models? What is wrong with financial institutions? What is the wrong with VC’s? Nothing and these are really uninteresting questions – because they make us look back at what has come and gone. How can business models be improved? How can financial institutions improve? How can VC’s improve? How can I as an individual improve? These are tough questions – not because of the answers – they are already ‘written on the wall’ (and have been for a long time) – but because of the level of commitment that is required to follow through with them.

These thoughts were provoked by:

breathe…

breathe…

breathe…

Exactly!

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Study Study Study

n

I haven’t developed much in my technological career – because I don’t really have the patience for it. The reality of SweetClarity is drawing me back in – it seems like, for now, I need to get my hands back into development. I have solid foundations in software development, databases, methodology, etc. I have no practical experience developing web applications (though I did head a bold organizational .ASP project when the technology was questionable – this started sometime in 1999).

I’ve subscribed to Lynda – an online training service… Read More »

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All Along the Watchtower

n

Bob Dylan wrote it, Jimi Hendrix did it and Dave Mathews Band blew it away. Though I did get to see them live in Lisbon-Portugal about a year ago, they didn’t perform this. They did go on and on exploding all over the stage for over 3 hours. That crowd must have been waiting for the band for years. The guys on stage, though well practiced in appearing before vastly larger audiences, were blown away by teh energy of the audience. The clip is 9 minutes (some of their live songs can go on for 15 minutes and more).

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More Inspiration

n

The drawings are by Daphna Dor.

The metal shelves and holders by Eli Idelberg.

The colors on the walls selected by my dearest Andreea.

Shakuhachi on left shelf by Monty Levenson (the right one is waiting for another one).

Wish, holes in wall and electricity by yours truly.

There are many storied that lead up to this – but for now I am not inclined to recall and share them. Maybe because they have just begun…

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Sound Textures

n

I am writing to share some more of my Shakuhachi playing experience thanks to Jon at Shingtesu Shakuhachi who was kind of to bring to my attention that other people may actually take an interest in this. So here goes… my playing around with the Shakuhachi continues and interesthing things are appearing. I am realizing different qualities and different aspects of the instrument and my relationship with it.

I can feel the air pressing against my finger tips. Sometimes it feels like this pressure and my response to it is where melodies are born. Read More »

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Crazy Train

n

I first heard the Waifs over Pandora (that is before it was prevented from streaming outside the USA – so much fro that globalization thing). Thought to share them – so for the first time I looked them up on YouTube and for the first time I saw them in concert.

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Homemade RAID (Part 3) – Ubuntu Server Installation

n

After all the searching and reading I ended up choosing Ubuntu Server as the operating system for my RAID server. I am not technically savvy enough to compare the nuances of the different Linux distributions (I can’t even name them all – there are quite a few). The runner up was a solution called FreeNAS. This is a distribution that includes a minimal operating system which includes the software components required to setting up a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device on a minimal PC. FreeNAS is probably an overall simpler solution but I decided to go with Ubuntu because:

  1. It was bundled with everything I needed in one installation package.
  2. I wanted an operational machine that I could use as a Server for a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) development environment.
  3. I wanted to experience the Ubuntu office-user desktop.
  4. I really liked the spirit behind the Ubuntu organization. I have made numerous technological choices over the years that in the end were  decided by the personal qualities of the people behind the technologies. I have yet to regret such a decision. As of this writing, Ubuntu seems to be delivering a similar experience.

Read More »

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Lilac Wine

n

This song came to mind. Couldn’t find an official video so you may as well just click play and close your eyes. Jeff Buckley – Lilac Wine:

And if you want to listen to the original that inspired it – then here is Nina Simone’s rendition of it. Again there isn’t much video to see – so do what you gotta do:

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A Love Story

n

“For the first time the house is in silence. Towards me there is a small tree,
which gives me as present all its small orange gladness. It has also extended one branch for me. It could be a love story with the orange tree.

I found out that this love story with the orange tree was just the reflection of the love story with the work we made. It was the love story with the Orchard Lab, with the Art. That is the reason to create a space in which we could bring our time and leave a piece of our soul, and words, movement, earth, past-memory-recollection, night, light, presence, music, oranges, wind, absence, I and We, and tumble exhausted. Open the space, fall down together into the night, drink a wine made of oranges, and walk on the earth that keeps us together and in distance.”

Ana Sanchez Couso

[slidepress gallery=’a-love-story’]
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Halleluja II

n

Damien rice also did a cover of Jeff Buckley’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s. Hallelujah. It’s delivered with simplicity and honesty – which I admire greatly about Damien Rice:

Two other things I admire greatly in Damien Rice. One is the amazing range and space he can create with an acoustic guitar. The other is Lisa Hannigan. Both are powerfully displayed in this clip – so many amazing meetings and transformations in 10 minutes:

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