"You. Period."

I am gonna start the year off with what I think is a very important post. This will define the next year and the many ahead, for me, and I hope many others.

'You. Period.' Not 'You and...'

I was having a conversation fresh into the 2010, when I should have been celebrating 2010, about spiritual growth and healing, and what a certain series of life occurrences have been about. And while talking I realized, that your relationship with yourself should be defined as 'You. Period.' And not 'You and...'

What that means is 'You. Period' is about realizing your already whole self. It's not about defining yourself by your relationship with what you have and feel, both physically and emotionally. All those things are the 'And'". The things that are additions to an already complete being. 'You and...'

But it's really about the way you ARE and FEEL spiritually. Once you realize that you are already 'You' spiritually, everything else is a bonus to a whole person. 100%. Until you are a whole person, one that doesn't need the additions to feel complete, everything else will feel like half servings and samplers. Because they don't and won't satiate your spirit self. Those things does not have a place on this plane. So no matter what you are after in this life, it will only bring to you the amount that you think you are missing from your "life". But very quickly you see the deficit it exists with. All because a false expectation of external fulfillment.

No relationship, friendship, success story, bank account or trappings of the physical, will ever be able to replace whatever percentage you are looking fill in your spirit.

When you are 100%, everything you encounter will be 100%. Simply because you don't expect it to be or mean anything more than what it actually is.

This isn't on some 2010, never been heard before type-ness. This is not at all a new concept.


The title of this piece is called "Self Correction".

"You. Period."
5/5.
1.
Whole.

This painting already had some serious significance historically. But sometimes I can see the pulse of a piece as they continue to live on and re:define themselves, even to me.

I will get into the historical context of it later...

So as it turns out, when I was having this conversation and thinking that I should be celebrating 2010, I was doing just that. Paying homage to 2010.

-Rodney

Flashback: 1st Day on the Grind...Redux

Last year when I returned to work from a 5 month recovery, I came back to work during AdWeek. The day I came back was the 1st day of it. And it always launches with a party/show at the Nokia Theatre. Lucky for me, I got a pass, and half of my favorite group EVER was performing. Making me feel like I was back in 'A'...



I remember it being so good to be back to my normal life again. The ordeal made this night very special to me. See the original post here...

-Rodney

Good/Bad idea...

Hey, if powdered milk is possible, why not vodka? That's how I roll...

MOSCOW: Good news for vodka lovers as you can consume your favourite drink just like any other solid food, without the hassle of carrying heavy glass bottles.

Russian professor Evgeny Moskalev of Saint Petersburg Technological University has evolved a technique that allows turning alcohol into powder and packing it in pills. The new technique can solidify any kind of alcohol, including whisky, cognac, wine and beer.

“Dry” vodka can be wrapped in paper and carried around in a pocket or a bag. Vodka in form of a pill would come handy at parties when “consumers” would be able to calculate their exact required dosage.

See the article here...

-Rodney

Appreciation AKA Astonished: Willard Wigan. XXXXXXXXXSmall

“It began when I was five years old,” says Willard. “I started making houses for ants because I thought they needed somewhere to live. Then I made them shoes and hats. It was a fantasy world I escaped to where my dyslexia didn’t hold me back and my teachers couldn’t criticise me. That’s how my career as a micro-sculptor began.”



Some of the amazing pieces are as follows.







And even the device designed to view these pieces...





More can be seen here.

Wow. Astonishing...

-Rodney

In this corner- We have reigning champ Rachel Maddow....

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

She is relentless...Love it.

-Rodney

Power to the people...on Bikes Part 2

In action...



-Rodney

DNC Healthcare Video

I am not really sure how I feel about this. Classic libra-ism going on with me on this one.



Via Politico:

One of the 20 finalists in health care video contest run by Barack Obama's campaign arm features a mural of an America flag splattered with health care graffiti until it's covered completely by black paint.

In the video - which is accompanied by the sound of a heart monitor pumping and then flat-lining - words such as "pre-existing conditions," "homeless" and "death panel" ultimately obliterate the flag, which reappears on screen seconds later with the words "Health Will Bring Our Country Back to Life" on the blue field where the 50 stars usually are.

According to the Organizing for American Web site, the 20 finalists in the "Health Reform Video Challenge" were chosen by a panel of "qualified" Democratic National Committee "employee judges."

A contestant whose video didn't make the final-20 cut complains that a video "defacing the flag" won't do much to help President Barack Obama or the Democrats sell health care reform.

-Rodney

Hmmm...Man vs Machine.

Okay I am gonna throw myself on the chopping block for this one. And I may not be the first to even make this statement. In fact, I am sure of it.

I was riding home from work tonite on the train. I have my iPod on 'Shuffle Albums'. (Which I highly recommend if you have a ton of music and you rarely ever give proper listen to an LP) Kanye West's 808s and Heartbreak came on. I may be alone in this, but some of the songs are really good irregardless of the current state of Auto-Tune Hate. But I am listening, and it is sounding so good to me. I almost hear what he was thinking and feeling. And I kinda begin to see a little brillance in the album. I am starting to get it.

Let me begin by opining on something. Machine was created to ease the workload and burden of man. At first I think it was merely created to ease, then as time passed the expectations changed to efficiency and productivity. Quality control kicked in and then perfection was added to the list of expectations. The human ideal is perfection. We can't be it, so we have high expectations of machines, which we created for this purpose. To achieve it.

Fast forward a few generations and here comes Auto-tune. Designed to correct the pitch of a human's voice to make it appear perfect when it falls a little short. Some of us have perfect pitch in spades. But in the spirit of 'We can't be perfect', those that have perfection in some areas, tend fall short in many other. (Whitney, sorry had to throw that in there)

Modern society and western culture places a high regard and expectations on the famed. Celebrities hold so much value and weight in our society, that they are expected to be "Perfect". Perfect in the sense that they are expected to give us product (entertainment), consistently, efficiently and without flaw. Entertain us, consistently, regularly and without moral blemishes. Like a machine essentially. Churning out goodness and ideals and perfection. It's even interesting, that when a machine messes up, we discard the product and throw it out. Or send it T.J. Maxxx to be marked down. Haha. But the tolerance for a machine messing up is exponentially higher than the tolerance we have for our celebrities. The machines we created to entertain us. Let's face it. A tv is cool and all. But it's just a box without "celebrities" to look at. I mean PBS and History channel only goes so far.

So on to my point in all this.

So I am listening, I hear a Robot singing the emotions of a human. Emotions such as pain, loss, emabarassement, and weaknesses. A machine. A techonology- an old one, but techonology indeed. And it dawns on me the social commentary that is being laid out here.

With that expectation of perfection, they are at fault-by us, their public, when they display any type of vulnerability-i.e. veering off the path of the 'Perfect and Narrow'.

Think about the pressure you feel about underperforming at work. What is your boss gonna think of you? Your co-worker? And you don't have millions of fans. No one interviewed you on ET for putting together a killer Powerpoint. The tabloids didn't cover the story of you saying the wrong thing in a client meeting and costing the company a few ten thousand in revenue.

So I hear Kanye singing in this robotic voice. Essentially masking the pains of human existence. Real life shit. Realer celebrity shit. The commentary becomes a bit clearer on the "Pinnochio story". He is singing as if he is a machine. Human emotions. Throwing his public for a loop, because these emotions can't be real. They are coming from a machine. Right? Our celebrity machine. Machines don't feel. And every now and then just like the defect products that come off of the machines that we created to make perfect little things, celebrity machines defect and mess up.

All that to say, I hear a commentary there. Why do we expect so much from our celebrities? Why do we expect our fame machines to perfect? This point is driven home with the last song on the cd. Ironically- it's the only song on the cd sans Auto-Tune. He is a human again, speaking the pain now. And it's live. A live track. ALIVE. Human. A real boy.

That's my piece. I'm just saying...

-Rodney

Hmm...Okay this is better than the 50 one.

Re:Blog:
"Launching December 9th is Vevo, a new Online video network. MTV premiered in 1981 and changed the music landscape, and Vevo might just do it in the 21st century. Rumored to have 4 major labels providing content, Vevo promises to provide a venue for the music video industry and its advertisers.

“Professionally made music clips are by far the most popular fare on the Web’s No. 1 video site, accounting for 14 of the 25 most viewed clips ever. The labels involved with Vevo boast a combined total of about 15 billion views on YouTube.” (who knew?)

For more on the story check out Cnet."

-Rodney

Appreciation: Jose Bedia

This makes me happy. I discovered this from a post from Leah. I feel something happening when I see this...

José Bedia was trained in a traditional academic style, but his work promotes his interest in the indigenous cultures of Africa and America. The artist lived and worked at the State University of New York Collegue at Old Westbury, and with the Dakota Sioux on the Rosebud Reservation. Bedia returned to Cuba, where his work was influenced by native Cuban religions. He currently lives in México.



COVER
José Bedia, La Habana, Cuba, 1959

Wherever gone, so it will be, 1992
158,7 x 195,6 cm
Oil on canvas

I appreciate...Period.

-Rodney

Sade...That's it. Nothing else needs to be said.

-Rodney

Quote of the Day: Patrick Wolf (Daily Obsession:)

This is kind of a cheat. Cause I just did a 'Daily Obsession' late sunday. I wouldn't want you to think I am the obsessive type now would I? When it comes to this suff, I kinda am. So I did this as a Quote of the Day because a line in the song. It's quite right for the current state of things.

"Was it worth all that war, just to win?"



But what is really awesome, that after reading the lyrics...It's now an official DAILY OBSESSION.

Interesting that I found this cd just by randomly walking into the Virgin Megastore, back when a cd was actually something you bought and HELD(When it was open). I rarely ever just pick up cd's and buy. The cover art worked. I couldn't tell you why?

But wouldn't you want to listen?

Voila...Not disappointed.

-Rodney

Power to the people...on bikes.

http://gothamist.com/2009/12/07/sources_cops_nab_men_trying_to_repa.php#comments

This is insanely effed up...14 blocks removed?

http://gothamist.com/2009/12/01/city_to_remove_14_blocks_of_bedford.php

-Rodney

Daily Obsession: Illinoize...The entire record. Period.

I have been rotating this record for a bit lately. I now have even become re:obsessed with the Sufjan albums. Take a listen. This is just one of the great songs. Tor x Sufjan x OutKast....How can this go wrong?



get it (here). The instrumental version is insane.

-Rodney