04 June 2013
22 May 2013
Bill Maher's Religulous
Final Monologue
The irony of religion is that because of its power to divert man to destructive courses, the world could actually come to an end. The plain fact is, religion must die for mankind to live. The hour is getting very late to be able to indulge in having in key decisions made by religious people. By irrationalists, by those who would steer the ship of state not by a compass, but by the equivalent of reading the entrails of a chicken.
George Bush prayed a lot about Iraq, but he didn't learn a lot about it. Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking. It's nothing to brag about. And those who preach faith, and enable and elevate it are intellectual slaveholders, keeping mankind in a bondage to fantasy and nonsense that has spawned and justified so much lunacy and destruction.
Religion is dangerous because it allows human beings who don't have all the answers to think that they do. Most people would think it's wonderful when someone says, "I'm willing, Lord! I'll do whatever you want me to do!" Except that since there are no gods actually talking to us, that void is filled in by people with their own corruptions and limitations and agendas.
And anyone who tells you they know, they just know what happens when you die, I promise you, you don't. How can I be so sure? Because I don't know, and you do not possess mental powers that I do not.
The only appropriate attitude for man to have about the big questions is not the arrogant certitude that is the hallmark of religion, but doubt. Doubt is humble, and that's what man needs to be, considering that human history is just a litany of getting shit dead wrong. This is why rational people, anti-religionists, must end their timidity and come out of the closet and assert themselves. And those who consider themselves only moderately religious really need to look in the mirror and realize that the solace and comfort that religion brings you actually comes at a terrible price. If you belonged to a political party or a social club that was tied to as much bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, violence, and sheer ignorance as religion is, you'd resign in protest. To do otherwise is to be an enabler, a mafia wife, for the true devils of extremism that draw their legitimacy from the billions of their fellow travelers.
If the world does come to an end here, or wherever, or if it limps into the future, decimated by the effects of religion-inspired nuclear terrorism, let's remember what the real problem was that we learned how to precipitate mass death before we got past the neurological disorder of wishing for it.
That's it. Grow up or die.
The irony of religion is that because of its power to divert man to destructive courses, the world could actually come to an end. The plain fact is, religion must die for mankind to live. The hour is getting very late to be able to indulge in having in key decisions made by religious people. By irrationalists, by those who would steer the ship of state not by a compass, but by the equivalent of reading the entrails of a chicken.
George Bush prayed a lot about Iraq, but he didn't learn a lot about it. Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking. It's nothing to brag about. And those who preach faith, and enable and elevate it are intellectual slaveholders, keeping mankind in a bondage to fantasy and nonsense that has spawned and justified so much lunacy and destruction.
Religion is dangerous because it allows human beings who don't have all the answers to think that they do. Most people would think it's wonderful when someone says, "I'm willing, Lord! I'll do whatever you want me to do!" Except that since there are no gods actually talking to us, that void is filled in by people with their own corruptions and limitations and agendas.
And anyone who tells you they know, they just know what happens when you die, I promise you, you don't. How can I be so sure? Because I don't know, and you do not possess mental powers that I do not.
The only appropriate attitude for man to have about the big questions is not the arrogant certitude that is the hallmark of religion, but doubt. Doubt is humble, and that's what man needs to be, considering that human history is just a litany of getting shit dead wrong. This is why rational people, anti-religionists, must end their timidity and come out of the closet and assert themselves. And those who consider themselves only moderately religious really need to look in the mirror and realize that the solace and comfort that religion brings you actually comes at a terrible price. If you belonged to a political party or a social club that was tied to as much bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, violence, and sheer ignorance as religion is, you'd resign in protest. To do otherwise is to be an enabler, a mafia wife, for the true devils of extremism that draw their legitimacy from the billions of their fellow travelers.
If the world does come to an end here, or wherever, or if it limps into the future, decimated by the effects of religion-inspired nuclear terrorism, let's remember what the real problem was that we learned how to precipitate mass death before we got past the neurological disorder of wishing for it.
That's it. Grow up or die.
Angela Lee Duckworth: The key to success? Grit
http://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_the_key_to_success_grit.html
"Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint."
"Dr. Dweck has shown that when kids read and learn about the brain and how it changes and grows in response to challenge, they're much more likely to persevere when they fail, because they don't believe that failure is a permanent condition."
"Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint."
"Dr. Dweck has shown that when kids read and learn about the brain and how it changes and grows in response to challenge, they're much more likely to persevere when they fail, because they don't believe that failure is a permanent condition."
11 May 2013
08 May 2013
As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields
Earthlings
“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”
Henry Beston
(more at http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/182465.Henry_Beston)
“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”
Henry Beston
(more at http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/182465.Henry_Beston)
02 May 2013
Electronic Tattoos
http://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_how_to_think_about_digital_tattoos.html?qshb=1&utm_expid=166907-23&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ted.com%2F
Some interesting lessons
Face.com sold to Facebook (take a picture in a bar and download data on person)
Lessons from Greek Mythology
How else can one threaten, other than with death? The interesting, the original thing, would be to threaten someone with immortality.
Some interesting lessons
Face.com sold to Facebook (take a picture in a bar and download data on person)
Lessons from Greek Mythology
How else can one threaten, other than with death? The interesting, the original thing, would be to threaten someone with immortality.
28 April 2013
http://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_prager_in_search_for_the_man_who_broke_my_neck.html
• Yeats looks towards nature for inspiration, admiring the grand chestnut tree, giving forth blossoms even after old age with a continual spring of vital energy:
• However, Yeats acknowledges that mankind in old age is not looked upon with such veneration as is the old, stately tree.
• In asking his final question as to the use of a long life, he looks to the dancer – a dancer who creates his or her own choreography to the constraints of the pace of musical accompaniment.
• To Yeats, life is a series of fluid and self-invented steps, not governed by time but rather invented against time.
VIII• Yeats looks for a solution to the pain of unrequited passion. In this poems original ending, Yeats conjures the nostalgia of the spring of youth and reciprocated sexuality.
Labour is blossoming or dancing where
The body is not bruised to pleasure soul.
Nor beauty born out of its own despair,
Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil.
O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,
Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?
• Yeats looks towards nature for inspiration, admiring the grand chestnut tree, giving forth blossoms even after old age with a continual spring of vital energy:
• However, Yeats acknowledges that mankind in old age is not looked upon with such veneration as is the old, stately tree.
• In asking his final question as to the use of a long life, he looks to the dancer – a dancer who creates his or her own choreography to the constraints of the pace of musical accompaniment.
• To Yeats, life is a series of fluid and self-invented steps, not governed by time but rather invented against time.
“truly to enjoy bodily warmth, some small part of you must be cold, for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself. If you flatter yourself that you are all over comfortable, and have been so a long time, then you cannot be said to be comfortable any more.”
13 April 2013
Blow
Quotes
Sometimes you're flush and sometimes you're bust, and when you're up, it's never as good as it seems, and when you're down, you never think you'll be up again, but life goes on, remember that. Money isn't real, George. It doesn't matter. It only seems like it does.
So in the end, was it worth it? Jesus Christ. How irreparably changed my life has become. It's always the last days of summer and I've been left out in the cold with no door to get back in. I'll grant you I've had more than my share of poignant moments. Life passes most people by when they're busy making grand plans for it. Throughout my lifetime I've left pieces of my heart here and there. And now, there's almost barely enough to stay alive. But I force a smile, knowing that my ambition far exceeded my talent. There are no more white horses or pretty ladies at my door.
This is 100% pure Colombian cocaine, ladies and gentleman. Disco Shit. Pure as the driven snow.
Sometimes you're flush and sometimes you're bust, and when you're up, it's never as good as it seems, and when you're down, you never think you'll be up again, but life goes on, remember that. Money isn't real, George. It doesn't matter. It only seems like it does.
So in the end, was it worth it? Jesus Christ. How irreparably changed my life has become. It's always the last days of summer and I've been left out in the cold with no door to get back in. I'll grant you I've had more than my share of poignant moments. Life passes most people by when they're busy making grand plans for it. Throughout my lifetime I've left pieces of my heart here and there. And now, there's almost barely enough to stay alive. But I force a smile, knowing that my ambition far exceeded my talent. There are no more white horses or pretty ladies at my door.
This is 100% pure Colombian cocaine, ladies and gentleman. Disco Shit. Pure as the driven snow.
05 April 2013
21 March 2013
Super Human - Kílian Jornet Burgada
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/magazine/creating-the-all-terrain-human.html?adxnnl=1&ref=general&src=me&adxnnlx=1363892449-bergpIHU91VbSTL9ZhVbTQ
30 January 2013
Roberto Benigni Oscar Speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cTR6fk8frs
by the Love which moves the sun and the other stars."
...L'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle
"But already my desire and my will
were being turned like a wheel, all at one speed,by the Love which moves the sun and the other stars."
29 January 2013
27 January 2013
20 amazing facts about the human body
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/jan/27/20-human-body-facts-science
25 January 2013
Shut Up and Listen
http://www.ted.com/talks/ernesto_sirolli_want_to_help_someone_shut_up_and_listen.html
Book: Dead Aid
Book: Small is Beautiful (A Study of Economics as if People Mattered)
Peter Drucker - management consultant
Richard Branson - autobiography
Book: Dead Aid
Book: Small is Beautiful (A Study of Economics as if People Mattered)
Peter Drucker - management consultant
Richard Branson - autobiography
7-unfortunate-habits-of-unhappy-people
http://www.marcandangel.com/2013/01/23/7-unfortunate-habits-of-unhappy-people/
Cameron Russell "Genetic Lottery"
http://www.ted.com/talks/cameron_russell_looks_aren_t_everything_believe_me_i_m_a_model.html
25 December 2012
19 December 2012
18 December 2012
What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.
http://www.ted.com/talks/ben_saunders_why_bother_leaving_the_house.html
22 September 2012
11 May 2012
10 May 2012
05 May 2012
13 April 2012
12 April 2012
10 April 2012
Homo homini lupus
Homo homini lupus est is a Latin phrase meaning "man is a wolf to [his fellow] man." First attested in Plautus' Asinaria (495, "lupus est homo homini"), the phrase is sometimes translated as "man is man's wolf", which can be interpreted to mean that man preys upon man. It is widely referenced when discussing the horrors of which humans are capable.
As an opposition, Seneca wrote that "man is something sacred for man."[1] Both aphorisms were drawn on by Thomas Hobbes in the dedication of his work De Cive (1651): "To speak impartially, both sayings are very true; That Man to Man is a kind of God; and that Man to Man is an arrant Wolfe. The first is true, if we compare Citizens amongst themselves; and the second, if we compare Cities." Hobbes's observation in turn echoes a line from Plautus claiming that man is inherently selfish.
09 April 2012
A Time Comes When Silence Is Betrayal
what a powerful voice!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlM87dwYPjg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlM87dwYPjg
03 April 2012
30 March 2012
17 March 2012
"After me, the flood" -Lovely Phrase?
The phrase “Après moi, le déluge” (“After me, the deluge") is attributed to the King of FranceLouis XV (1710-1774):
Capital that has such good reasons for denying the sufferings of the legions of workers that surround it, is in practice moved as much and as little by the sight of the coming degradation and final depopulation of the human race, as by the probable fall of the earth into the sun. In every stockjobbing swindle every one knows that some time or other the crash must come, but every one hopes that it may fall on the head of his neighbour, after he himself has caught the shower of gold and placed it in safety. Après moi le déluge! [After me, the flood] is the watchword of every capitalist and of every capitalist nation. Hence Capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the labourer, unless under compulsion from society. [81] To the out-cry as to the physical and mental degradation, the premature death, the torture of over-work, it answers: Ought these to trouble us since they increase our profits?"
According to another interpretation, the phrase may have been coined not by the king himself, but by his most famous lover, Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764)
(Also phrase used in hebrew, "אחרי המבול", which translates similarly to "After me, the storm/flood"
The verb could be understood as a subjunctive concession: After me, let the deluge come (it can come, but it makes no difference to me). In this case, the speaker asserts that nothing that happens after his disappearance matters to him.
It seems that there existed in Greece an expression or proverbial saying which is preserved in verse in a fragment of a tragedy whose author has not been identified (Tragicorum Fragmenta Adespota, 513 Nauck):
ἐμοῦ θανόντος γαῖα μιχθήτω πυρί·
οὐδὲν μέλει μοι· τἀμὰ γὰρ καλῶς ἔχει.
When I die, let earth and fire mix:
οὐδὲν μέλει μοι· τἀμὰ γὰρ καλῶς ἔχει.
When I die, let earth and fire mix:
It matters not to me, for my affairs will be unaffected.
Karl Marx also relates the phrase to Capitalism:
"If you read Karl Marx, the Capital (Vol. 1, Part III, Chapter Ten, Section 5)07 March 2012
Elizabeth Gilbert...
“Because—in the end it’s like this—centuries ago, people used to gather for these moonlight dances of sacred dance and music that would go on for hours and hours, until dawn. And they were always magnificent, because the dancers were professionals and they were terrific, right?
But every once in a while, very rarely, something would happen, and one of these performers would actually become transcendent. And I know you know what I’m talking about, because I know you’ve all seen, at some point in your life, a performance like this. It was like time would stop, and the dancer would sort of step through some kind of portal and he wasn’t doing anything different than he had ever done, 1,000 nights before, but everything would align. And all of a sudden, he would no longer appear to be merely human. He would be lit from within, and lit from below and all lit up on fire with divinity.
“And when this happened, back then, people knew it for what it was, you know, they called it by its name. They would put their hands together and they would start to chant, ‘Allah, Allah, Allah, God, God, God.’ That’s God, you know...
“Because—in the end it’s like this—centuries ago, people used to gather for these moonlight dances of sacred dance and music that would go on for hours and hours, until dawn. And they were always magnificent, because the dancers were professionals and they were terrific, right?
But every once in a while, very rarely, something would happen, and one of these performers would actually become transcendent. And I know you know what I’m talking about, because I know you’ve all seen, at some point in your life, a performance like this. It was like time would stop, and the dancer would sort of step through some kind of portal and he wasn’t doing anything different than he had ever done, 1,000 nights before, but everything would align. And all of a sudden, he would no longer appear to be merely human. He would be lit from within, and lit from below and all lit up on fire with divinity.
“And when this happened, back then, people knew it for what it was, you know, they called it by its name. They would put their hands together and they would start to chant, ‘Allah, Allah, Allah, God, God, God.’ That’s God, you know...
24 February 2012
15 February 2012
Idan Raichel - Mom, Dad and all the Rest - Links and Lyrics
A beautiful Israeli song by the Idan Raichel Project. The song portrays the true and deep pain of soldiers returning home from war. It also questions whether a soldier's family even knows the experience they have been through. It firmly states there is no glamour and pride associated with a soldier's work.
The song was actually written by a fallen soldier of the Yom Kippur War.
The song was actually written by a fallen soldier of the Yom Kippur War.
Lyrics
And when the night is over and the sun shines
Will you know Mom, what our eyes have seen?
Tall tree-tops around, yet with scorched stems
Big houses around, but ruined and matte colored
I walk on ruins, Mom
And believe me, there is no pear and there is no flower
We are not heroes because our labour is dark (black)
The sun will set, the darkness will come
And we will sleep with our clothes in the bed
Yes mother, it's important, it's hard and it's terrible
I swear that it is hard, but I am staying
The ground is gray and the horizon is black
And the blue of the sky lingers and waits
And does not touch, it does not touch the black horizon
A space between them, nothing to do with all the rest
And it is very hard, but I am staying
There is a wired fence, and beyond it a drawn sword
Mom, Dad and all the rest
We are not heroes because our labour is dark (black)
The sun will set, the darkness will come
And we will sleep with our clothes in the bed
Yes mother, it's important, it's hard and it's terrible
And when the night is over and the sun shines
Will you know Mom, what our eyes have seen?
06 February 2012
Michel Cohen - Links and Lyrics
Young vocal-genius Michel Cohen covers a song which is based on a Psalm from Tehilim, Chapter 71.
"My mouth shall be filled with Thy praise, and with Thy glory all the day. Cast me not off in the time of old age; when my strength faileth, forsake me not"
Lyrics
My mouth shall be filled with Thy praise
And with Thy glory all the day.
Do not cast me off in time of old age;
do not forsake me when my strength fails.
31 December 2011
Shay Hamber - Links and Lyrics
And You
This day, which crashed on me
Which made it too hard
I forgot about myself and that's it
I was, I was not myself
I'll close this door behind me
Again could not touch me
In the depths of my heart
I was wrong, I was not myself
That the emptiness will not struck me again
The reality which awaits
That I will not cry again
That I will find comfort
A little bit
And you
Who are you kidding, when you
Don't hug me, again
You almost raised me for a moment
I would have been different, if I would have known
That you,
Who are you getting closer to?
Who are you falling in love with?
Who are you not leaving?
If only you would stay,
I would have made you happy
And again I walk, the same city, the same faces
I know the smells in the air
I was wrong, I didn't see you
And suddenly they are all the same
Every song reminds me
From every ring my heart stops
I touched, I didn't feel you
And I never again want to fall in love
The love that will rot
The emotions
That will burn
Slowly
And you,
Who are you kidding, when you
Don't hug me yet again
You almost raised me for a moment
I would have been different, if I would have known
That you,
Who are you getting closer to?
Who are you falling in love with?
Who are you not leaving?
If only you would stay,
I would have made you happy
And you,
Who are you touching slowly?
Who are you hurting?
Almost like then, when you wounded me
The whole world you discovered,
And then took with you
Who is it now that is touching you?
I hope that he is happy that he has you
That he doesn't hurt you,
That he doesn't harm you,
I would have been like that, if I would have known
27 December 2011
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold / Exit Through The Gift Shop
 |
| "Corporations are raising our children, McDonalds feeds them. And Disney and Time Warner entertains them." |
23 December 2011
15 November 2011
06 August 2011
Favourite TED Videos - Denis Dutton: A Darwinian theory of beauty
Denis Dutton: A Darwinian theory of beauty
Educating! Explores a whole new point of view on the subject of beauty and its origins
Favourite Quotes:
Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? No! Its deep in our minds, its a gift handed down from the intelligent skills and rich emotional lives of our most ancient ancestors. Our powerful reaction to images, to the expression of emotion in art, to the beauty of music, to the night sky - will be with us and our descendants will be with us for as long as the human race exists
Educating! Explores a whole new point of view on the subject of beauty and its origins
Favourite Quotes:
Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? No! Its deep in our minds, its a gift handed down from the intelligent skills and rich emotional lives of our most ancient ancestors. Our powerful reaction to images, to the expression of emotion in art, to the beauty of music, to the night sky - will be with us and our descendants will be with us for as long as the human race exists
Favourite TED Videos - Paul Bloom: The origins of pleasure
Paul Bloom: The origins of pleasure
Favourite Quotes:
The mind is its own place,
and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell,
a Hell from Heaven
Favourite Quotes:
The mind is its own place,
and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell,
a Hell from Heaven
19 June 2011
Trust Quotes
- "People ask me why it's so hard to trust people, and I ask them, why is it so hard to keep a promise."
- "I'll start letting my guard down when people stop giving me reasons to keep it up. "
- "I've learned the best way to prevent your heart from getting broken, is to act like you don't have one. "
- "“Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.” -Golda Meir, 4th Prime Minister of Israel
- "Never trust sheep. " -Ryan Stiles
And my favourite one of all, of course by the great William Shakespeare:
A clever interpretation of the quote:
"It means to first know thyself, who you are, why you behave, act, speak and react in the way you do. Know all that lurks in your subconscious driving your will at times to your destruction. To know your own mind and conquer it with mastery of will is to be true to oneself without compromise or egotism."
- "This above all, to thine own self be true." -Hamlet
A clever interpretation of the quote:
"It means to first know thyself, who you are, why you behave, act, speak and react in the way you do. Know all that lurks in your subconscious driving your will at times to your destruction. To know your own mind and conquer it with mastery of will is to be true to oneself without compromise or egotism."
Christian Troy from Nip/Tuck
"God gave me a dick and I intend to glorify him by playing that organ as intensely and as often as possible."
"Once you've seen a woman's cumface, you've seen her soul."
"You want the wisdom to know the difference between what you can and can't change? Here's step 13: everything disappears. Love, trees, rocks, steel, plastic, human beings. None of us get out alive. Now you can huddle in a group and face it one day at a time, or you can be grateful that when your body rubs against somebody else's it explodes with enough pleasure to make you forget even for a minute that you're a walking pile of ashes. Now that is the truth. If you're strong it'll make you free, if you're weak, it'll make you... you."
18 June 2011
11 June 2011
My Favourite YouTube Channels
WatchListenTell - best acoustic performances around the streets of London
http://www.youtube.com/user/watchlistentell
http://www.youtube.com/user/kinkradio/videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/watchlistentell
http://www.youtube.com/user/kinkradio/videos
08 June 2011
06 June 2011
Vocal Geniuses - Angus & Julia Stone
"Its been days now, and you change your mind again...
it feels like years, and I can tell how time can bend your ideas"
Angus & Julia Stone - And The Boys (acoustic)
Angus & Julia Stone - You're the one that I want (Grease musical acoustic cover)
Angus & Julia Stone - For You (acoustic)
Angus & Julia Stone - Mango Tree (live)
Angus & Julia Stone - Santa Monica Dream (acoustic)
Too Big To Fail
Last night I watched the HBO film, Too Big To Fail, which centers around US Treasury Secretary - Henry Paulson - and his struggle during the 2008 financial meltdown. The movie spans over the few weeks in September and October of 2008 when...
Favourite Quotes
Recession Jokes
Favourite Quotes
Recession Jokes
(Referring to Henry Paulson's $700bn bailout proposal to Congress in 2008)
(Referring to the $80bn Dubai Debt Crisis in 2009)
(Self-explanatory :P)
(My favourite one - banks need money - 'Recession style' bank robbery)
03 June 2011
Khaleesi: "Moon of my life, are you hurt?"
 |
| An emotional scene from the seventh episode of Game of Thrones titled 'You Win or You Die' |
X-Men First Class
Favourite Quotes
"Charles Xavier: Listen to me very carefully, my friend: Killing will not bring you peace.
- Erik Lehnsherr: Peace was never an option."
"Colonel Hendry...
Sebastian Shaw"
And of course the breathtaking January Jones
01 June 2011
Lykke Li
Lykke Li has been my favourite musician ever since I heard 'Until We Bleed' years ago. I have absolutely loved almost every song shes made and so if I were to start posting my favourite videos of her this post would never end. I have tried to narrow down the list in an attempt to only include the special performances and truly powerful songs.
Lykke Li - Tonight (live acoustic)
This performance would even make Schwarzenegger or Stallone cry
Lykke Li - I'm Good, I'm Gone (live in the back of a cab)
Lykke Li - Little Bit (acoustic on the beach)
29 May 2011
The Story of a Gentleman?
This is the story of my reflection on a night out with the guys regarding the characteristics, behaviour required of a gentleman.
For years I've tried to follow a narrow set of rules to guide my behaviour so that it is more gentleman-like. Quite basic manners - treat people (especially women) with respect, be patient and polite etc.
Last night I was out in a nightclub in Budapest when two somewhat-funny occurrences reminded of the importance of maintaining a gentleman's etiquette.
Obviously my intention (and in my head this made sense) was to communicate to the waiter can that he can take all the empty glasses away. Awkwardly-enough the waiter interpreted the gesture as a 'get away from my table and get out of here' because he asked my friend next to me in a worried voice, "Should I leave? I'm just trying to clean up the table..." This was unbelievably embarrassing but the waiter left before I could explain to him what had happened. I immediately explained to my friend (who knew this already) that I would never ever treat another human being like that.
This brings us to the second story of the night involving the friend I just talked about. From this story you'll see that he certainly lacks the gentleman code. Now throughout the night a lot of people kept bothering us - sitting down at our table, crossing over to other tables by stepping on the white couches leaving black footprints which in itself is inconsiderate and rude. And so each time this happened my friend became a little bit more angry at people's behaviour. Then at one point three girls tried to cross through the table (climbing over the couches) to the dance floor. My friend released his built-up anger on these three drunk girls by pushing one of them so hard that she fell down on our couch. As soon as I saw this happen, I stepped in to help the girl up and explain to her that although it was disrespectful of her to just jump over the table - my friend had no right to use violence, ESPECIALLY on a girl. My friend clearly knew he over-reacted but that is just another part of acting respectfully - being patient and calm. These two stories precisely show the immense difference in the mindset guiding my behaviour and the mindset of my friend. The most important rule of all - never ever raise your hand at a woman.
In the last section I want to talk about some of the qualities that make up this 'gentleman' figure. I remember reading an article a few years ago in GQ about the desperate need of gentlemen in the modern world - it was actually that article that sparked my initial behavioural guide. Some of these points are taken from other articles on the subject:
1) Respect for oneself, respect for others, respect for tradition, respect for change. Style may be irrelevant but putting thought into your outfit implies a degree of self-respect.
2) When engaging in an activity, do it well as it is a reflection of yours values and capacity.
3) A gracious loser who knows that not all battles can be won and that losing can be honorable. However, a gentleman must not be scared to fight for something if it required. The gentleman faces a problem head-on but is not ashamed to ask for help if it is needed.
4) In regards to women, a gentleman will never use pick-up lines, will always be honest and complementary - a man will show genuine interest in a woman.
5) No man is above apologizing and no gentleman should gossip unless a story needs to retold.
6) “A man’s true character lies in how he treats someone who is of no consequence to him.” This quote really applies to my waiter situation - that manners and professionalism can be practiced at any level of any kind.
7) Lastly, the gentleman will usually be well-read, educated and culturally-open. The gentleman will not impose his beliefs on others but instead will listen, discuss and debate his point of view.
Lissie - yet another vocal genius, brava!
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| How raw... How pure... |
Lissie - Everywhere I go (acoustic)
Adele...
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| Favourite Songs from 21 |
Adele - He Won't Go, no acoustic version :(
John Legend - Rolling in the Deep (cover)
Adele - Rolling in the Deep (Jamie xx Shuffle - my favourite)
Bonnie Tyler
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| "...it wasn't until she damaged her vocal cords through sheer frustration that she developed her career-defining husky voice..." |
Bonnie Tyler - It's a Heartache
"...my voice was huskier than before, and had more of an edge. It turned out losing my voice was not too treacherous for me - I had my first hit in America with my new husky voice on It's a Heartache..."
27 May 2011
Game of Thrones Quote on Death
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"There is only one god,” he says. “And his name is Death." And there is only one thing we say to death... "Not today." |
11 May 2011
Again Google can be very educational
It was Martha Graham's birthday today! (I just found out who she is today)
This picture really reminds me of Natalie Portman's powerful final dance performance in the film Black Swan
The song used in the YouTube video is Cosmic Love by Florence and the Machine
Below is a link to a beautiful acoustic take of Cosmic Love
"A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes
I screamed aloud, as it tore through them, and now it's left me blind
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart"
I digress...
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