Yanagisawa

The Pope, The President, The Prime Minister, The Premiere.....they all shop at the same store of vapid moralism designed to say nothing and keep the broken down power machinery limping along for a bit longer. There will be no change from the impotent, unimaginative wax figures that represent mankind's best until a real Head of State comes charging in on a white horse (figuratively...or not) Until then we will hear the despairing watered down crap we hear from anyone who speaks, or aspires to speak (and doesnt' election season concentrate the tripe?) ex cathedra from a throne floating on the blood and tears of a race hoping against hope that maybe this time they'll get it right.

Working in creative fields of digital music, video and graphics there is, in my opinion, no comparison between PC and Mac. This is just a hunch, but maybe Mac's features attract the type of creative personality that is often mistaken as aloof and/or snobbish.

Funny. I just pulled down some Chick Corea this week expecting to be transported back to a glorious day gone by. In my opinion it didn't seem to hold up. Sounded dated and loud and unimaginative: Stanley Clarke is a fast blues scale player. Okay, once in a while I hear a pentatonic. Al DiMeola cranks out mass manufactured notes - thousands per second- with the sterile efficiency that would make any factory owner proud. Joe Farrell, although I like his flute and tenor tone, didn't have much to say on his solos. Chick presides over the whole "faster, louder, higher" fiasco because it's his band and his Fender Rhodes goes to 11. (That would be one louder wouldn't it?) I don't delight in my assesment...I was looking forward to getting sent. They took me nowhere. It's pompous, lifeless, shiny on the outside, vacuous noise that's big on athletic displays and feats of strength but void of any soul. There's a lot better jazz, even fusion, than Return to Forever.

hey lay off none other than the great Jack Kerouac actually had his typing paper put in one big roll as he was composing ON THE ROAD so he wouldn't lose his train of thought or stream of conciousness having to think of the minutae of new paper and paragraphs and commas and all that needless stuff so he could get down to the reality of Sal and Dean diggin' life as searchers David Ulin says in Book Forum that "even the most frantic of Kerouac’s writings were really the sagas of a solitary seeker: poor, sad Jack, adrift in a world without mercy when he’d rather be 'safe in Heaven dead.Kerouac was this deep, lonely, melancholy man and if you read the book closely, you see that sense of loss and sorrow swelling on every page. John Leland, author of Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of On the Road (They're Not What You Think), says "We're no longer shocked by the sex and drugs. The slang is passé and at times corny. Some of the racial sentimentality is appalling" but adds "the tale of passionate friendship and the search for revelation are timeless so don't be bounded by form man cause its the substance that we're digging for

Did you know that before Newton published his Principia many people believed the cause of the earth's rotation was angels flapping their wings? Are we to believe that the demonstrable chemical interactions that cause a physical body to become dependent on a substance is purely the work of invisible malfactors?

"Wise guy, eh? " Perhaps the most powerful of Moe Howard's quotes.

Talk about social (and professional) ineptness! I was sent WOW to Muscle Shoals, AL. I was twenty four years old. Through a process of networking and audition I received a call to play with the Muscle Shoals Horns - a renowned studio horn section that had recently toured with Elton John. I told them I could play with them but had to be home and in bed by midnight.

I was referring to the confines of a temperature-controlled dome vs. the weather that whips off Lake Michigan

Yeah, that soft finesse Colts team sure had trouble sticking it up the Bears' arse all night long (in Bears weather no less)!

Colts - not even close.

HEY MIKE: John Polkinghorne espouses a "limited foreknowledge of God" view and I dare you to call him a "blind theoogian" or a "shallow thinker"

I have been a musician for years...sometimes full-time, sometimes part-time I have never called it work...I still say "I'm playing tonight" When I feel like saying "I'm working tonight" I come to my senses and kick that gig to the curb. Improvising jazz is my sacred space...my playpen.

Chas: If you really want to take it to the next level get a Mac G5 and use Final Cut Pro. For what you are interested in doing it is, in my opinion, far and away the best. It will handle anything you want to do.

Absolutely not! Only that the Enlightenment & Age of Reason that swept through Europe, with it's with it's skepticism and eventual disavowal of the presumed authorities of Medieval Europe (most notably the presumed authority of clergy and Scholasticism) did not take hold in these cultures. The Modern Mind was birthed in the climate of secular rationalism and scientific inquiry brought on by the likes of Descartes, Locke, Hume, Hobbes, Kant, Liebnitz. This tradition was bequeathed, whether good or bad, to America by way of it's founding constituency. This tradition did not seem to infiltrate the Muslim cultures - thereby forcing them, to this day, to live in a Medieval world view of authority and truth.

A history of philosophy teacher of mine said many yrs ago, " This is an example of a culture that did not experience The Enlightenment and the ensuing Birth of the Modern Mind."

A confederacy of dunces

I can see my house, and my car and my wife....wait a minute - that's not my car!

yeah boy, i've wrestled with this one, but i seem to always reach the conclusion, at least for now, that there is something invisible and powerful with a life and will of it's own that can, under the right cirmcumstances, influence humans. my main problem with TWI's version was that it was too general and far reaching - a bromide for any "unacceptable behavior" i believe a better word for "possession" is "demonized" and it's effects can exist in a range as mild as being influenced by the lies and deceit of a cultural message (ie - images of "Volvo driving, professional, good-looking, six pack abs sporting together guy" as the icon of success) to complete surrender to a particular malevolent force. No less a subjective investigator than Scott Peck came to these conclusions after observing the phenomena of evil. His book People of the Lie along with his recommendation Hostage to the Devil by Malachi Martin shed some light on the subject for me. I'm not married to the notion of spirits and "possession" as true, but at this point in my investigation I would have to say I believe.

On my wedding night I sat my wife down and told her: "Let's get one thing straight! I am the boss. I expect you to be 'the little woman' and cater to my every whim." I proceeded to read a list of rules and various things that "bless" me. Well, I didn't see my bride for about two weeks.... ...then it got so's I could see her just a little bit through my left eye.

I seem to recall that a few of the urbane and sophisticated "higher ups" had some real cutting edge culture happening at their cribs: Photography - Ansel Adams Jazz - Chuck Mangione Dance - Flashdance Wine - fresh out of the box Let's not forget the ubiquitous calligraphy...or the Beta tape player. I lived with a Limb leader who, though nearly illiterate, bought The Harvard Classics because he thought they looked impressive in his office.

My advice as one in the DVD authoring biz? Save up your money and buy a Mac G5. Then save up some more money and buy Final Cut Studio suite. There is absolutely nothing comparable.

I ditto Evan. Took it 10 yrs ago and it was personally enlightening and liberating in ways that I needed at that time. It's not for everyone...that's the beauty of being an individual...one man's trash can truly be another's treasure.

I think Billy Graham had marketing savvy. He produced a user friendly gospel that appealed to a large core audience. He was handsome and had no problem using his face to prsent his product using mass media techniques. Then there was the "moment of decision" ...the altar call. Nicely wrapped...neat...tied up with ribbons and bows...style over substance. This will always win with the American consumer.

My eight year old son brought home a book that showed different animal life and how they defend themselves. - Some have colors that blend in with leaves - some can look dead - some blow up so big that they can't be swallowed - etc the variety is astounding! My question as I was looking at this was, "If there was not death before the fall why do these animals' markings, habits and instincts belie a relationship of predator and prey?"

Leeza Gibbons took the class...oh,wait, that was Tony Robbins' class... Then there was John Travolta...oh, wait, that was L. Ron Hubbard's class... The Beatles...oh,wait, that was Maharishi's class...(they car pooled with Mia Farrow) Oh, I know, the famous Singing Navel!