Sometimes I really miss watching 3-2-1 Contact.

The future of food.

Several months ago, I watched an incredibly informative documentary regarding genetically mutated food crops, the motivation behind them, and the danger we're facing because of it. It became a sort of obsession with me, mostly because I really had no idea how much we are threatening the survival of our future generations with these seed modifications, as well as our own. Yesterday, I came across a blog posting regarding the very company held responsible for the majority of these genetic mutations and that some of their corn has recently been linked to organ failure in lab rats. Everyone (note : if you eat, and chances are you do, then I'm talking to you) needs to be aware of what is happening with our food.

It concerns me that the majority of the public is ignorant (as I was before The Future of Food kick started my research into other GMO claims) that among the crops in the US : 89% of all Soybeans, 60% of all corn, 75% of all canola, and 83% of all cotton are GENETICALLY MODIFIED. I dare you to go one full day without coming across an American made food product that doesn't contain corn syrup. Guess where that corn syrup is coming from? Well, we already know it's bad for us, but add on top of that that there is a 60% chance that corn was genetically modified, and of that roughly an 80% chance it was modified by the Monsanto Corporation. And remember, Monsanto's GMO corn was just linked to organ failure in lab rats. Here's what's even scarier : Monsanto has seed patents. What that means in layman's terms, every time one of their GMO seeds is picked up by the wind and accidentally cross-pollinates with a non-GMO crop, not only is that crop now infected with the genetic mutation, but Monsanto has the legal right to put the newly infected crop's farm & farmer out of business for patent infringement. And that's exactly what they are doing.

What I don't know is what we can do to stop this. What I do know is that light desperately needs to be shed on this issue before any hope for change can exist.

- C.

Calamus Gladio Fortior.

I read a lot, mostly non-fiction. Every once and a while, I come across a written page (or series of) that forever changes my course; I equate it with those tiny intersections on the palm's life line. I picked this book up recently and the instant I started skimming the pages, I was affected by the relevance that it held with my own current personal battles.

In Russia circa 1882, Tolstoy's memoir discussing his struggles between belief in nothing vs. faith in something; a journey to understand the meaning of life, was subject of such controversy that it led to his eventual ex-communication from the Catholic church. What I have found is nothing less than a letter of recognition of sorts, a piece I feel has been written specifically for my guts to devour, my brains to absorb; one that defines my own internal conflicts, and couldn't hold more relevancy some 100 years after it was written.

- C.

It's good to be home.

The less we know, the more we sit still.

The Temper Trap Science Of Fear on Vimeo.

"I am but too conscious of the fact that we are born in an age when only the dull are treated seriously, and I live in terror of not being misunderstood." {Oscar Wilde}

Noesis and Noema.

A few months ago, I went to a concert at the Getty Museum to see one of my favorite pianists, Dustin O'Halloran, (second, if only, to Philip Glass) play (for lack of a better term.) Experiencing his talent in person surpassed my wildest expectations; every hair on my body stood like a soldier at attention, my eyes half-full of tears for nothing short of two hours straight. It shouldn't have surprised me to find other artistic geniuses in the audience, as his music is one of the greatest creative catalysts I've discovered to date.

Upon exiting, my guest and I stepped into the elevator heading down to the parking garage with none other than David Lynch, who was also there to see Mr. O'Halloran's astonishing performance. We made small talk about trying to remember where exactly we parked ("I think it was this floor?"), and ironically, his lackadaisical disposition somewhat reminded me of my own father. His unobtrusiveness and the casual nature of the encounter almost led me to forget that I was standing in the presence of one of our generation's most visionary minds. Without care or thought to whether one likes (or dislikes) Lynch's work, it is undeniable that the way in which he processes and communicates information offers a highly unique and unparalleled perspective. He transforms ordinary artistic mediums to a level of unprecedented ingenuity. (Feel free to insert your own "un"-something adjectives where deemed necessary.) Lynch's work has pushed my consciousness into both areas of extreme discomfort and paralyzing realization. Often times, I don't particularly care for the pictures he paints in my mind's eye, as he single-handedly has demolished the walls of my comfort zone on numerous occasions, but I've come to believe that is precisely what is the difference between art that is and art that is effective.

Lynch's current project, "Dark Night of the Soul" (a visual/auditory exhibit in which he has paired with musicians Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse) has moved to Miami for the next month. If you are lucky enough to experience this project first hand, then for better or worse, if nothing else, I have faith that it will leave you altered, thus truly succeeding in it's purpose.www.dnots.com

From the Dark Night of the Soul website :
Dark Night of the Soul is a full-length album and illustrated book, combining the talents of Danger Mouse, David Lynch and celebrated rock recluse Sparklehorse. In addition to the hardcover book, the album includes vocals from the Flaming Lips, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, Frank Black of the Pixies, Iggy Pop, Nina Persson of The Cardigans, Suzanne Vega and many others. The exhibition consists of over 50 original photographs by David Lynch which are displayed alongside the accompanying soundtrack by Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse.

- C.

Reverie.

Phenomenal director, Stefan Nadelman (Menomena's Evil Bee, Saturday Night Live) lends his visionary mind, hand and eye to one of Portland's newest indie ventures, Ramona Falls. Even the most experienced artists and animators will have a difficult time denying his innovative technique and portrayal. In this music video, Nadelman creates a periscope in which the viewer is visually transported into an alternate reality, one of which I would like to revisit more often than not.

- C.

Ramona Falls "I Say Fever" from Barsuk Records on Vimeo.

Meander.

If you haven't seen this video by now, my heart goes out to you.

Yeasayer "Ambling Alp" from Team G on Vimeo.

BONUS POINTS : Yeasayer is currently offering a free download of Ambling Alp : www.amblingalp.com

What are YOU doing tonight?

Sorry, but I have plans.



http://www.shadow-puppets.com/

"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense."

Undeniably, the greatest mind of all time, Albert Einstein, was quoted in saying, "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

Since I was a little girl, Alice was the only Disney (and later when introduced to Lewis Carroll, literary) character I ever felt a deep connection with. She was not like the other girls; not a queen, never a princess, not a damsel in distress, nor a leader of the minions. Alice was different; she was a clever day-dreamer who self-seekingly created her own world, filled with whimsical oddities and curious anomalies, simply to escape the mundane existence of the physical world. Simply, an ordinary girl with an extraordinary imagination. Her eccentric reality gave validation to my own mental departure from all things certain. Alice gave me the freedom to indulge in my own curiosities, and taught me how to explore the unfamiliar, how to question the rational and how to dream the unimaginable.

With yet another remake of this moralistic tale arriving soon, I have no doubt that Tim Burton's version will help to inspire others in visualizing and actualizing their own "nonsensical" realities.

- C.

Watch the teaser-trailer here :

Thuis. Casa. Accueil. Heim. Domov. Inicio. Home.

If you've never seen the documentary released in 2007 by Sigur Rós, the time has come to right your wrong.

Excerpt from the Heima website :

Heima : An introduction

Last year, in the endless magic hour of the Icelandic summer, Sigur Rós played a series of concerts around their homeland. Combining both the biggest and smallest shows of their career, the entire tour was filmed, and now provides a unique insight into one of the world’s shyest and least understood bands captured live in their natural habitat.

The culmination of more than a year spent promoting their hugely successful ‘Takk…’ album around the world, the Icelandic tour was free to all-comers and went largely unannounced. Playing in deserted fish factories, outsider art follies, far-flung community halls, sylvan fields, darkened caves and the hoofprint of Odin’s horse, Sleipnir*, the band reached an entirely new spectrum of the Icelandic population; young and old, ardent and merely quizzical, entirely by word-of-mouth.

The question of the way Sigur Rós’s music relates to, and is influenced by, their environment has been reduced to a journalistic cliché about glacial majesty and fire and ice, but there is no doubt that the band are inextricably linked to the land in which they were forged. And the decision to film this first-ever Sigur Rós film in Iceland was, in the end, ineluctable.

Shot using a largely Icelandic crew (to minimise Eurovision-style scenic-wonder overload), ‘Heima’ - which means both “at home” and “homeland” - is an attempt to make a film every bit as big, beautiful and unfettered as a Sigur Rós album. As such it was always going to be something of a grand folie, but one, which taking in no fewer than 15 locations around Iceland (including the country’s largest ever concert at the band’s Reykjavik homecoming), is never less than epic in its ambition.

Material from all four of the band’s albums is featured, including many rare and notable moments. Among these are a heart-stopping rendition of the previously unreleased ‘Gitardjamm’, filmed inside a derelict herring oil tank in the far West Fjords; a windblown, one-mic recording of ‘Vaka’, shot at a dam protest camp subsequently drowned by rising water; and first time acoustic versions of such rare live beauties as ‘Staralfur’, ‘Agaetis Byrjun’ and ‘Von’.

Are you with me? Are you with me?

Such great imagery for such great sound. I love you, Super 8 Film, yes I do, yes I do.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - "Everything With You"




The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - "Young Adult Friction"