Electrixx

My newest obsession.

derp

Aphex Twin RubberJohnny

Long time no see?

Crystal Castles

Crystal Castles - Empathy

Crystal Castles has to be one of my all time favourite bands. I always go on music binges every so often and CC has been the object of my obsession this time. Check out more of their stuff on youtube. Some of their best songs in my opinion are Celestia, Crimewave, Love and Caring, Empathy (as seen above), and Fainting Spells. They're definitely worth a listen.

Wristcutters: A Love Story

One of my new favourites! I remember seeing the previews for it a few years ago, but I never got to see it. It's about a guy named Zia, who kills himself and ends up in a world specially reserved for people who've also committed suicide. He makes friends with a russian and ends up going on a search for his recently deceased girlfriend. The ending is really amazing. One of the most romantic movies I've seen in a while.

Wisdom for the day

The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about

- Oscar Wilde

• DON'T CARE WHAT OTHERS THINK
• IF SOMEONE DOESN'T LIKE YOU, THAT'S THEIR PROBLEM
• BE YOURSELF AT ALL COSTS

Sorry I've been busy lately (procrastinating), but I'll have a new, better, post soon!

Lucky

Your Lucky Day


So I watched this short film a few days ago, and I have to say that I was impressed. I usually don't like short films, but this one definitely kept my attention. I thought it was interesting, how fate can crush lives to the benefit of others.

Meditation

Meditation is the art of shifting regular consciousness to achieve a state of awareness where thoughts are suspended, where the mind and body are at peace.

Thoughtful action to establish order. Meditation is nothing other than a relaxation technique with various larger purposes.

- Andrew Weil, on meditation.

Your thoughts can be pesky things, have you ever stopped to listen to your inner dialogue? Our thoughts are constantly buzzing through our heads, never a minute of silence. More than half the time, people don't even notice how much they think until they become aware that they can't seem to stop their thoughts. This was basically my first experience with meditation. I had read about it when I was younger while I was doing research into other religions and figured I'd give it a try. I sat down cross legged and tried to focus, it was only then that I realized just how much I thought and how uncontrollable my thoughts were. With practice, you can control your thoughts and stop them from invading every waking second of your day. Not only will you gain the ability of higher concentration, but meditation also has a variety health benefits as well. These include:

• Increases energy
• Boosts stamina
• Lowering blood pressure
• Reduces stress and stress related illnesses like heart disease, hypertension, and insomnia.
• Alleviates present-moment and chronic physical pain from arthritis, back injury, and most other causes.
• Improved response time, motor skills, coordination, and other physical responses.
• Lessened anxiety and depression
• Improved memory and intelligence

Although meditation may seem esoteric, it’s really simple and can be performed by anyone. All meditation requires is four basic things.

1.      A quiet environment to eliminate distractions.
   [If you live in a noisy home, I suggest ear plugs. Or you can find a time of day that no one is around to distract you from practice]
2. A comfortable position that allows complete relaxation.
[Don’t lay down, you’re more than likely to fall asleep if you’re laying down with your eyes closed. Try sitting in a straight backed chair, or go cross legged. Try sitting in a chair first, a lot of people will sit cross legged and have to shift later on because their legs have gone to sleep.]
3. A few moments to spend relaxing.
4. A mental device, like a mantra or a prayer to help block the endless flow of thoughts generated by our waking minds.
[Some meditations use breath as a mental device, try counting your breaths or focusing on the rising and falling of your stomach. You can also try drawing your awareness to a certain part of your body; when I do this I draw my focus to the center of my forehead, the position of the third eye chakra]

A good amount of time for a beginner to meditate would be 5-10 minutes. If you notice your attention slipping away from your mental device, gently draw it back to focus. Your mind is going to go crazy when you first start, it’s going to throw a fit and you’ll notice intrusive random thoughts start popping into your head. When you start thinking, just let the thoughts float by as if they were clouds. Don’t get attached to them, just keep your focus on your device. With practice, you’ll notice that your thoughts during meditation and throughout the day will be greatly reduced. That’s the way it should be, if you think about it who controls who? Don’t let your thoughts control you, you control your thoughts.

Tips and Advice: Adsense.

So I was browsing and ended up finding a really nice series on how to optimize your earnings with Adsense. This guy's entire blog is dedicated to how you can make money with your blog. He's even written a book, PROBLOGGER: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income. It can be purchased on Amazon or at Barnes and Noble, you can get more information about his book [here] The optimizing your earning with adsense series can be found [here] Check out his blog for more tips on blogging [here] I just looked at my post and realized how many times I used the word blog, so I'm going to type it some more. Blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog. Golb.

YACHT NEWS

Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire) by RADIO YACHT

[YACHT unveils their new upcoming album, Shangri-La!]

This is a free MP3 of Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire), the second song on our forthcoming album, “Shangri-La,” and the very first we’re sharing with you. We wrote this song in May of last year, around the time of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and after reading some post-apocalyptic science fiction. At the time, it seemed like the world was a train without brakes, hurtling towards an inescapable future. Now, in March of 2011, that sentiment seems easier and easier to believe, and Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire) is our post-apocalyptic fight song, a cautionary tale, a science-fiction story for our particular eco-socio-political landscape. We face a crisis of Utopia. And yes, maybe we have traded our birthright as partners in the world’s living mind for the broken promises of history, and that’s led us nowhere. But as tempting as it is to give into a horror of our crumbling, radiation-leaking, bomb-launching reality, where the tracks lead is ultimately up to us.

“Shangri-La” will be our second album for DFA Records, and fifth for the world. “Shangri-La” was produced, mixed, recorded, and performed by Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans with our frequent collaborator and touring member Bobby Birdman, at the Marfa Recording Company, Jackpot! Studios, and in our temporary living quarters in Los Angeles, California.

With “Shangri-La,” we assert that the future is a blank slate upon which anything can be imposed.

Paradise is kinetic potential, a latency within us that has been eaten alive by time. In line with the existing emphasis on self-empowerment in the YACHT philosophy, our idea of “Utopia” is personal. We believe that the only real sustainable paradise is in our minds, and hence creative output can be a tangible piece of the Utopia within each individual.

“Shangri-La” is literally YACHT’s Utopia, a place made of songs. We invite you to visit us there this summer.

-via Team YACHT

Hipsters

Hipsters are a subculture of men and women typically in their 20's and 30's that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter. The greatest concentrations of hipsters can be found living in the Williamsburg, Wicker Park, and Mission District neighborhoods of major cosmopolitan centers such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco respectively. Although "hipsterism" is really a state of mind,it is also often intertwined with distinct fashion sensibilities. Hipsters reject the culturally-ignorant attitudes of mainstream consumers, and are often be seen wearing vintage and thrift store inspired fashions, tight-fitting jeans, old-school sneakers, and sometimes thick rimmed glasses. Both hipster men and women sport similar androgynous hair styles that include combinations of messy shag cuts and asymmetric side-swept bangs. Such styles are often associated with the work of creative stylists at urban salons, and are usually too "edgy" for the culturally-sheltered mainstream consumer. The "effortless cool" urban bohemian look of a hipster is exemplified in Urban Outfitters and American Apparel ads which cater towards the hipster demographic. Despite misconceptions based on their aesthetic tastes, hipsters tend to be well educated and often have liberal arts degrees, or degrees in maths and sciences, which also require certain creative analytical thinking abilities. Consequently many hipsters tend to have jobs in the music, art, and fashion industries. It is a myth that most hipsters are unemployed and live off of their parent's trust funds.
Hipsters shun mainstream societal conventions that apply to dating preferences and traditional "rules" of physical attraction. It is part of the hipster central dogma not to be influenced by mainsream advertising and media, which tends to only promote ethnocentric ideals of beauty. The concepts of androgyny and feminism have influenced hipster culture, where hipster men are often as thin as the women they date. The muscular and athletic all-American male ideal is not seen as attractive by confident and culturally-empowered hipster women who instead view them as symbols of male oppression, sexism, and misogyny. Likewise, culturally-vapid sorority-type girls with fake blond hair, overly tanned skin, and "Britney Spears tube-tops" are not seen as attractive by cultured hipster males who instead see them as symbols of female insecurity, low self-esteem, and lack of cultural intelligence and independent thinking. Hipsters are also very racially open-minded, and the greatest number of interracial couples in any urban environment are typically found within the hipster subculture.
Although hipsters are technically conformists within their own subculture, in comparison to the much larger mainstream mass, they are pioneers and leaders of the latest cultural trends and ideals. For example, the surge of jeans made to look old and worn (i.e. "distressed"), that have become prevalent at stores such as The Gap, American Eagle, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Hollister, were originally paraded by hipsters who shopped in thrift stores years before such clothing items were mass produced and sold to the mainstream consumer. The true irony here is that many of the detractors of hipster culture are in fact unknowingly following a path that hipsters have carved out years before them. This phenomena also applies to music as well, as many bands have become successful and known to mainstream audiences only because hipsters first found and listened to them as early-adopters of new culture. Once certain concepts of fashion and music have reached mainstream audiences, hipsters move on to something new and improved.
Because of the rise of various online photo-blog and social networking sites, insights into urban hipster culture is reaching sheltered suburban audiences at an exponential rate. Cultural "norms" have been deconstructed by hipster culture as a whole. Hipsterism is often dismissed as just an image thing by some, but the culture as a whole is effecting changes in society, leading to feelings of insecurity and resentment in people who are no longer a part of the cultural ruling class. For example, a lot of anti-hipster sentiment evidently comes from culturally-clueless suburban frat boy types who feel that the more sensitive, intelligent, and culturally aware hipster ideal threatens their insecure sense of masculinity. Anti-hipster sentiment often comes from people who simply can't keep up with social change and are envious of those who can.

Trey Parasuco, on Hipsters

The Hipster Trap:

• Dress a certain way, you're a hipster
• Listen to certain bands, you're a hipster
• Saying your not a hipster, you're a hipster

Inspiration

Looking for inspiration? I've collected a number of websites that have never ceased to inspire me.


Also check out Pearl Trees, it's an interesting way to bookmark your favourite sites and find new sites that you might be interested in.

SURVIVAL STATION

Worried about your anonymity on the web? Here's a website I found that offers 51 free tools to keep you safe and untrackable. The site also offers news, media, and tech information; as well as a LOT of information on survival and preperation.
[Click Here]

YACHT on League of Two

I love YACHT

Wisdom for the day

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

- Buddha

• THINK FOR YOURSELF
• DENY DOGMA
• ENCOURAGE EXPERIENCE 

Manifestation: Lessons from Prometheus Rising.

 In the first chapter of Robert Anton Wilson's book Prometheus Rising, he covers Dr. Leonard Orr's model of thought about the brain. Dr. Orr says that the brain acts like it is divided into two halves, the Thinker and the Prover. Dr. Orr also states that whatever the Thinker thinks, the Prover proves. You see this all the time with psychosomatic illness and the placebo effect, a person is given a pill and is told it will make them feel better and it becomes so; even if the pill was just a vitamin. I remember reading this article somewhere in a health magazine a long time ago and I was astounded, the medical journal report can be viewed here. So basically belief is a powerful thing. It shapes the way we perceive the world around us, and the good thing about belief is that it can be manipulated to our advantage.

 "If the Thinker thinks passionately enough, the Prover will prove the thought so conclusively that you will never be able to talk a person out of such a belief."

So there are a few exercises in the first chapter. These are my favourite exercises, when you're doing them try to have fun, don't get frustrated if you can't make it work the first time. Persistence and determination are the two main things that will help you get past the first roadblock. The roadblock for this chapter is a penny, yes, a penny. As Wilson says in the book "Sad as it is to say, you never understand anything by merely reading a book about it." you have to actually experiment and try things out before you can really get the hang of it. So now onto the exercise...

1. Visualize a penny vividly, and imagine vividly that you're going to find a penny on the street. Then, look for the penny every time you take a walk, meanwhile continuing to visualize it. See how long it takes you to find the penny.
2. There are two ways you can take this next step, but it is recommended that you try both, for comparative reasons. [First Hypothesis]When you find the penny, explain the above experiment by the hypothesis of "selective attention"—that is, believe there are lots of lost pennies everywhere and you are bound to find one by continually looking. [Second Hypothesis] Explain the experiment by the "mystical" hypothesis that "the mind controls everything." Believe that you made the penny manifest in your universe. Choose which hypothesis you want to try first, then go looking for a second penny.
3. Compare the time it takes to find the second penny using the first (selective attention) and second (mind over matter) hypotheses.
4. With your own ingenuity, invent similar experiments and each time compare the two theories—"selective attention" vs "mind over matter"
5. Avoid coming to any strong conclusions prematurely. At the end of the month, re-read this chapter, think over it again, and still postpone coming to any dogmatic conclusions. Believe it possible that you don't know everything yet, and that you might have something still to learn.

Ok, a few notes. I changed the original exercise a bit, I noticed some people have trouble manifesting things that they think are worth more or are bigger, like a dollar or an expensive watch. So I thought that starting out with something so minuscule would be perfect, not only do you have more confidence in being able to manifest the object, but you build even more confidence when you actually find the object.

The full book can be found in PDF format [here]

Insomnolence

Can't sleep, and I need to be at work at 7am. Going to try to fall asleep again.

It Works!

This is a PDF file of a little book that has a big impact. You might have already heard of the New Thought Movement, the ideas of the movement were made popular recently with books like The Secret. It Works! is a book that's a bit older and way more simplistic, it provides very basic outlines on how to manifest your desires through selective focus and visualization. It's something fun to try, I've used these techniques for a couple of things I wanted and I ended up getting them. If you don't believe, try it out! Experiment, see how long it takes you to manifest something. I'll have more posts about manifestation later on. The PDF can be downloaded here.
Sorry this post is so short, I had to work today and I need to go to sleep early to get up for work tomorrow. I PROMISE to make a better post later on, until then!

Crap

I keep having good ideas for post BUT I KEEP GETTING SIDETRACKED AND FORGETTING WHAT I WAS GOING TO BLOG ABOUT ヽ(●´ε｀●)ノ

Secrets

For more than 30 years the Shortwave radio spectrum has been used by the worlds intelligence agencies to transmit secret messages. These messages are transmitted by hundreds of Numbers Stations.

Shortwave Numbers Stations are a perfect method of anonymous, one way communication. Spies located anywhere in the world can be communicated to by their masters via small, locally available, and unmodified Shortwave receivers. The encryption system used by Numbers Stations, known as a one time pad is unbreakable. Combine this with the fact that it is almost impossible to track down the message recipients once they are inserted into the enemy country, it becomes clear just how powerful the Numbers Station system is.

These stations use very rigid schedules, and transmit in many different languages, employing male and female voices repeating strings of numbers or phonetic letters day and night, all year round.

—The Conet Project

I found the Conet project some time ago and listening to the recordings of the radio stations is really fun (for me at least). I love the way that they sound, especially this one. The cryptic content of the recordings is what draws me to them and the sounds as well. I've seen a few people on youtube who've taken samples from these recordings and use them in their music. The Conet Project sells t-shirts and CD's however Conet made a deal with some "Free Audio" company and they now host all of the recordings from the CD's on line. You can get them free here. You can also find a PDF pamphlet on the Conet Projects website on how to crack the messages hidden in number station recordings! More weird stuff to come.

Slumber

Enough posts for today, I have to work in the morning. Good night Blogger!

How to write a manifesto

Upcoming Hackers Documentary: Code 2600

I actually found this when I was stumbling one day and the trailer makes me REALLY want to see this movie. I can't wait 'till it comes out.
More information can be found at: Code 2600

Big Ideas

Big Ideas (don't get any)
James Houston is a genius.

Want

The origin of the species

Hong Kong 1982. The manufacturing and production hub of the world is burning at a full flame. As with their neighbors in Japan and China, photography is an intense national hobby and obsession. New camera designs and productions are churned out daily, feeding the huge domestic and import markets. From within this world of manic creation and innovation comes the Holga, a distinctly un-modern and somewhat prehistoric throwback to the early days of camera mechanics.
The concept is simple - a minimal and inexpensive camera using medium format 120 film. It would contain only the bare necessities for photo mechanisms, and provide a cheap and accessible alternative for students and enthusiasts to dip their toes into the otherwise very expensive world of medium format photography. Reflecting the shining landscape around them, this new camera is named after the term "ho gwong," meaning "very bright." After throwing a European spin onto this phrase, the moniker "HOLGA" is minted. This dead simple camera is met with a warm welcome, establishing a strong yet small base of Holga aficionados. Birth, death, celebration, ritual, and everything in-between is caught on lo-fi medium-format emulsions - amplified and focused through the plastic lens of this bare bones, oversized camera.
 × Lomography

So Holgas are actually pretty cheap, this one you can buy at Urban Outfitters for only 48 dollars. They're made from plastic and are relatively small, but the effect the Holga produces is well worth it. The primary characteristics of the Holga's pictures are vignetting (black around the edges), dreamy picture quality, and radiant colors. Here are a few examples taken from the Lomography website:

I think the Holga would be a good start for any amateur photographer like myself. However, even though I'm probably not the best I would love a good DSLR. The Canons look good, but their design is all a bit dull, I did find a pretty cool camera that I really want to save up for. It's one of the most affordable DSLR's of it's kind, but that doesn't mean it's low quality.

Behold! The white pentax K-r, you can check out the K-r specs at the Pentax website. It's pretty amazing in my opinion. I know there are other cameras way better than this, but I'm an aesthetics whore and for me design ≥quality. You'll be mine eventually....Soon.

Things I like

Alpha

In the beginning there was blank space. From the depths of an imagination spewed forth words, pictures, thoughts, and things. The space became full with ideas, inspiration, and knowledge. The space grew, and will continue to grow, ever filling, ever flowing, never stopping.