1. The Corporation

“Part film and part movement, The Corporation is transforming audiences and dazzling critics with its insightful and compelling analysis. Taking its status as a legal “person” to the logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist’s couch to ask “What kind of person is it?”"
- thecorporation.com

Having just finished watched this powerful and intelligent documentary, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s available in it’s entirety in 23 parts on youtube.

2. The Union Square Greenmarket – a farmer’s market that runs Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 8am to 6pm. I can’t tell you how good it feels to have access to local, organic, fresh produce that’s actually affordable for the first time in my life.

3. Burt’s Bees make all natural (100% or very close to it) personal care & beauty products. They smell wonderful and do good things for your skin and hair.

4. Bluestockings is currently my favourite place in New York. A bookstore filled with books about feminism, gender studies, non-violence, alternative living, sustainability (among many other topics) and a ton of zines and journals. They also host readings and other events almost every night. The events have a suggested donation, but no-one will be turned away from an event at Bluestockings for lack of money.

5. This quote by HL Mencken:

“I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman’s club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave.”

(Thanks to the incredible Nabilah for sharing this with me.)

6. Rob Brezsny’s Newsletter is awesome – weekly horoscopes plus links to other pronoiac resources as well as excerpts from his book. The horoscopes are usually pretty cute and I found this week’s interesting and insightful enough to share, as it might be relevant to you too:

“CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Sixty-nine percent of conservatives think that hell is a real place, and over half of all liberals do. Shocking! Ridiculous! I hope that you, Capricorn, give zero credence to the idea that there is a realm of eternal damnation. In my astrological opinion, believing in hell would grossly interfere with your ability to know the truth about your life right now. So would an irrational fear of failure, an obsession with enemies, or a tendency to define yourself in opposition to bad stuff. Here’s the alternative: To thrive, all you have to do is accentuate what you love, identify what you want, and focus on rewards.”

Exactly the approach I’m going for these days.

This is an outfit I put together in mid-January this year, just a few days before I left for LA and NYC alone. Basically right before I embarked on one of the most important and joyful journeys of my life. I had no idea how things were going to turn out – the only thing I was absolutely sure of was that I was following my heart, truly.

I find myself in a similar position now – I leave for New York City once again in a matter of days now. This time I will stay for years. I am excited and relieved both. And almost ecstatic that the dream of a decade is finally becoming reality.

Anyway, in case you’re wondering, my hair was a mix of Special Effects’ Napalm Orange and Nuclear Red back then.

“We don’t know about you, but we’re sick of veneers. In a world where we’re constantly instructed to self-censor, silence ourselves, and swallow the taboo notions, raw self-expression is hard to come by. Modern society thrives on the absurdity of apathy, and anyone with the human conditions of curiosity, passion and diversity is a stray by default.

MonkeyMask is our way of saying ‘No’ to the ugly faces of social expectations, inherent boundaries, and the corporate culture. We’re protesting the collective masquerade, the clones marching to the same beat of the drum. We want miscellany, not conformity…

All submissions are anonymous. We want to shatter inhibitions by letting our contributors explore their own talents, push makeshift boundaries until there are none and dabble in a medium they are wary of, or unfamiliar with. Go ahead and get out of your comfort zone. It’s not like you have anything to lose.”

MonkeyMask wants art from your heart and is now accepting submissions.

• Paul Stamets on 6 ways mushrooms can save the world.

Also check out his article Earth’s Natural Internet.

• “The best way to fight a sick system is to get out.”
Read this article about sick systems. Then read about Qualities That Keep You in a Sick System (surprising and hopeful) and Thoughts on the Tenacity of Sick Systems. Much thanks to @ClopenSet for finding these articles!

Received this beautiful dress in the mail earlier this week and I love it so. So, in anticipation of the launch of Coilhouse #05, I took this photo. Issue 05 was just launched earlier today (well, in Singapore time) and you can check it out and buy it here. I don’t know how they manage to do it, but they keep  outdoing themselves every time. I love Coilhouse – always stunning photography, words and graphic design. Inspiring on so many levels and truly authentic and alternative in a rare and beautiful way.

Here are some videos about a public meditation event I attended in NYC in March. It was such an intense experience! We met at the Port Authority station (seriously, of all places!). Probably the worst environment in which to meditate but hey, I guess that was the point.

It made me aware of all the background energy in life (other people’s thoughts and feelings, people rushing around everywhere), that we just kind of screen out – or at least we think we do. I am aware that cities are generally not happy places. It is important to know that we are affected by other people around us – I feel like it is important to be aware of this. So in a way, even though the Port Authority was really the best place to meditate – because it really forced you to focus, over and over again.

When you attain peace of mind in such an environment it is extremely empowering. You receive with it the knowledge that you can rise above almost anything and find the still point in so much movement. It is actually quite beautiful then, to watch everybody scurrying about; only when you’re aware of how much stress is involved in the situation (when you’re not immune to it but you actually observe it), can you really observe the motion of the universe. You gain a certain objectivity – and you can just watch things with interest and let them be. That’s the impression that I’m left with at least, writing this months later.

Here’s another video of Mai-Kim speaking about the public meditation event (before it happened) and her experience with meditation in general.

The event was organized by The Interdependence Project. I attended two sessions of their Heartcore Dharma series (seriously, how cute is that name?!?) and absolutely loved it. They’re a very inspiring and high-energy group to be around, and if you’re in the NYC area do check them out!

A: Where’s Trent Reznor? And who’s the other guy!? I can’t figure out who the other guy is!
K: That’s Murray Reznor. Trent’s lesser-known brother.

I love the new track from How To Destroy Angels: A Drowning.

Also:

- LoveLetterToTheUniverse.com – Gala Darling‘s other blog.

- The new Coilhouse tank dress: and all their other new merch is awesome too. I can’t wait for Issue 05 to come out.

- The Artist’s Way – I have been doing the morning pages as regularly as possible, and I felt immediate progress in being creatively unblocked since the very first day I did them. Everything just comes so much easier. And I realized just how much I missed that pure, beautiful state of flow. “Write without judgement”, I tell myself.

- Cat Socrates! My current favourite place in Singapore.

They’re also mainly what I’ve been listening to this past week (along with the now-usual Black Flag, Rage Against the Machine and Presidents of the USA).

I’ve also been listening to The Kominas‘ ‘Wild Nights in Guantanamo Bay’ album. Ayesha is one of my favourite tracks from it. Luscious Jackson‘s ‘Fever In Fever Out‘ is also really beautiful and chill and always reminds me of New York City at night. Here is Under Your Skin from that album which also happens to be a cool video.

Destroyx.com is damn inspiring – I love her fashion + design sense, her updates about Angelspit on tour and her awesome new jewellery line!

Animosity & Drumcorps – Altered Beast (full download – free): Excellent, high energy music. Can you really ever say no to free music (especially when it’s this good?).

While we’re on the topic of excellent free music, today I’ve been listening to Geocode‘s ’384.790′ which you can download for free at noumenon & phenomenon.

Notes on Breakcore is damn good stuff! I saw it yesterday:

As always it makes me feel good to know that there is such awesome music in the world out there, somewhere :) You can of course get it on TPB.

China’s Empty City – The Ghost City of Ordos:

I’m not sure what I find so appealing about ghost cities but man… I’d love to go there and take pictures!

And finally, Coilhouse Issue 04 is out – I got mine in the mail in the last week or so. It is of course absolutely wonderful and I can’t figure out how they keep managing to outdo themselves every time.

Photos I took in America in '96

Hands down the best thing about this week is this – that I finally have secured a flight to the United States for January next year. I can’t really put into words how I feel about this – nor do I want to. It makes me feel really, really good to even just think about returning – just seems like an incredibly comforting thought to return to what is so far my favourite country EVAR. Also – I actually fly in to Los Angeles this time and will be spending a few days there before continuing on to New York City. So if you have any recommendations about what I should see in LA or even NYC, tell me!

Apart from that, these two videos from TED India really made my day. Both are incredibly inspiring. First is Devdutt Pattanaik’s ‘East vs. West – The myths that mystify‘ which contrasts Eastern and Western mythology and how these myths affect how different societies act, react and interact. Personally, because of my totally weird cultural background (being a mostly-Indian, part-Eurasian, growing up in mostly-Chinese yet English-speaking Singapore) I feel really caught between both worldviews. What’s truly amazing to me about this video is this – it made me consider that the world is big enough to accommodate points-of-view that are diametrically opposite to each other. Which to me basically took a lot of pressure off trying to conform to somebody else’s idea of what is, and instead leads me to search further for a worldview that inspires me most. I swear that this search is exactly why I wake up every morning.

The second video is Pranav Mistry’s awesome demo of Sixth Sense technology! Bringing the human-ness back into our interaction with technology.

I love my new glasses!:

The importance of feeling good now by Abraham-Hicks always gets me back on track. Every time I listen to them everything becomes much simpler!

Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette:

The beauty of this film is quite astounding. The production design & cinematography are gorgeous but I think the soundtrack is really pure genius (Aphex Twin and New Order!). There are some indescribably beautiful moments in this film – this scene in particular: (though I can’t stress how much it needs to be seen on DVD at the very least!)

And finally – I love these photos:
Chicken Man and Chicken Man & Crabby by SpecialKRB.
my kinda skyline by Luna Park.
alright by Gala Darling.
13th Street by Lush Photo.
Pfeiffer Arch Portal – Big Sur, California by Kendra Karr.

Perhaps the most significant thing that happened this week was that my MacBook Pro kinda died on me. I was really worried and wondering if I’d have to buy a new one and how much the repairs would cost – but I found out today that it was actually on a 4-year warranty, so I don’t have to pay a thing! I’m ridiculously thankful for that of course, but in the meantime I’m computerless. I can’t do anything in Photoshop or edit any video… so I’m gonna do all this uh manual life-stuff this week. Should be interesting.

I’ve also been feeling really happy about the things I’ve been creating! Namely the two graphics above plus this awesome shoot we did this week. Here’s a photo from that:

I love both the song and video for Tegan and Sara’s Speak Slow. They’re too cute & their music is beautiful. I also think that this live video of Fugazi’s Waiting Room is amazing – and it’s even more amazing to me that it’s from 21 years ago! (Also while you’re at it check out this live performance of Turnover!)

Google Chrome for Mac OSX is pretty awesome. I’ve been searching for my dream browser for quite some time to replace the newer, clunkier Firefox and a few seconds of using Google Chrome made me realize that this is it. The only thing I need to figure out now is how to enable colour management on it (or if that’s even an option). Either way, I really like it.

Skype chats with Carlos of TransAlchemy: one of the most brilliant, amazing and inspiring people that I know (who also gives ridiculously good advice).  His dedication to and passion for his work is totally inspiring to me. Check out his latest video – The All-Seeing AI.

Although I still haven’t really got into Throbbing Gristle at all these little Gristleisms are ridiculously cool! Check out the excellent packaging design variations here and here. And of course, the video teaser:

Gristleism Teaser from Chris Carter on Vimeo.