As I've been procrastinating on my painting, I stumbled upon this beautiful reminder as pushing yourself through those creative blocks, even if you don't do something good, it's important to get that creative energy flowing.  As I speak I'm getting off my comfy seat and starting to apply paint to my canvas

As another holiday came and went, we are finishing up this year with one more to go.  This is the time where we come up with resolutions, goals....  It's amazing how the turning of the year, which is just another day, feels like a turning of the mind.  What are you new goals of the year? 
Some say how to you spend your new years eve is setting up kharma for the year to come.  For the first time, I will be spending it meditating.  After a chaotic year of changes this has been, I feel, spending it meditating is rather suiting. 

_from last.fm
L.A. native Henry Laufer, the 21-year-old producer better known as Shlohmo, is a lo-fi beat junkie and field-recording enthusiast, whose crackling, low-BPM compositions update Boards of Canada’s filmstrip-soundtrack wooziness.

An LA native, Laufer grew up listening to “stuff like DJ Shadow, Amon Tobin, M83 stuff with some sort of cinematic vision.” He started making beats when he was 14, but “didn’t really do it with any sort of purpose until I was like 17 or 18. That was also around the time he and his friends, already fans of Flying Lotus, discovered Low End Theory. Shlohmo has rocketed onto our radar screen in recent months with his lo-fi, psychedelic mix of abstract hip-hop, bouncy synth-funk, breezy trip-hop, and what sounds like lost Mo’ Wax gems from an alternate future.

His tracks swarm from dirty textures, strange sounds and obscured samples. It’s not hip-hop what you hear, but the echoes are clearly there.

He also part-runs the WEDIDIT Collective.

His Shlo-fi EP is available for free download at Error Broadcast label website.

Purity Ring is a new project started by Corin Roddick of GOBBLE GOBBLE, along with vocalist Megan James. "Ungirthed" is the first single from their project. -last.fm


Sorry that I failed to put this up on Monday.  The holidays are coming and time is getting busy, well work is busy.  Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.  It's funny how the meaning changes the older you get and family and friends drift off onto there own chosen path.  Christmas can be a very lonely holiday, if you let it.  

I'm excited with Purity Ring's direction off this 7".  It's very dark and dream state.  Just like my state of mind during these holidays.  :)  Enjoy the tunes, I will put up a list of my favorite albums this year soon!

You can fix anything, even a broken heart.-Jewels Foster

Asap Rocky gave me the same vibe as G-funk did back in the early nineties .  His beats are easily captivating and forgiving for his vulgarity.  I feel Asap deserves the credit for hip hop that is more raw, real, and so obviously not over produced.  I think we will be hearing more of ASAP, asap!

_by Jonah Samson www.coolhunting.com
Jessica Eaton's series, "Cubes for Albers and LeWitt" may be highly technical and conceptual, but the end result is dizzyingly beautiful. Based on Joseph Albers' focus on the "discrepancy between physical fact and psychic effect," Eaton's images add "multiple exposures and colored lights" to plain, monochromatic cubes to create enchanting graphics.

The photographer starts with a set of cubes painted only white, black and gray, then shoots them under red, green and blue gels to capture the vibrant final pictures. The reflective value of the cubes controls levels of light and dark, while the layering of the primary colors creates a broad range of hues. One may be shocked to realize that the resulting images, made using only Eaton's 4x5 camera, have not been digitally manipulated.

_
Eaton's work recently appeared on the cover of Art News magazine in "The New Photography," and she is currently showing at the FOAM museum's "Talent 2011" show, at the Musée d'art Contemporain de Montréal for the 2011 Quebéc Triennial, and at Higher Pictures in New York.

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!  Those who are following my blog (thank you :)) every Monday I'm trying to post a new band that I really enjoy.  I also add  a short bio on them because for how much music is out there these days, how much do we really know about these bands?  Hope you enjoy.  Phantogram's Nightlife ep has a nice taste of trip-hop, which I so miss, along with a healthy electrobeat pulse.  It's like drinking a mocha with an orange twist.  Smooth with just right amount of zest.  

__By Zach Kelly; November 1, 2011 pitchfork.com
Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter, the New York-based electronic pop duo better known as Phantogram, make music refreshingly disinterested in pulling punches. With Eyelid Movies, their debut full-length from last year, the rhythm-heavy foundations and a twilight-lit mix of melody felt streamlined, yet still demonstrated vision and character. Taking cues from trip-hop and dream pop (Portishead seem to be an important reference point), they never seemed shy about being upfront with their influences. Despite cryptically nicknaming their sound "street beat," the tag made some sense-- the hard-edged urgency of said beats undercutting such lush romanticism felt perfectly suited for those long, late staggers home. So it's with the appropriately titled Nightlife EP that we find the twosome refining and tweaking some of the ideas put forth on its debut without entirely resting on its laurels, and offering a few of the band's best songs to date.

In a press release, Carter explained that Nightlife "couldn't have been written anywhere other than in clubs and hotel rooms during this experience we've been having for the last year or two," describing the time Phantogram has spent promoting Eyelid Movies. The nocturnal states that often accompany life on the road have proved beneficial in the case of Nightlife, convincing the duo to push their music outside of their collective headspace and into a more social setting. Bands trying to provide an honest snapshot of a night out on the town often fall short by focusing solely on the highs of the party (those are included here too, of course), but Phantogram seem to find just as much clarity in the comedown ("It's a new day, and I got new ways of turning into stone," goes the chorus on "Turning Into Stone"). As much as you can move to Nightlife, moments of austerity and romance are still guiding lights here-- when measured correctly, Barthel and Carter are often able to craft appealing, ambidextrous tracks that feel suited for dancefloors as well as the backs of cabs.

Part of this notably animated reupholstering likely has something to do with that fact that Phantogram have been performing live as a trio, with Tim Oakley handling drum duties. And while Carter is in charge of all things drum-oriented on Nightlife, the temporary change-up clearly made its mark, as Phantogram sounds more like a bonafide rock band and less like the flimsy pop act they could've dissolved into. Take single "Don't Move", a dance track that feels perfectly proportioned for starry eyes in close quarters. But look closer, and you'll find a proper heir to Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me-styled bombast, complete with horn clippings, Middle Eastern vocal samples, and marching band drum rolls. And while the Mazzy Star-esque coda that reduces the appealing bass knocks on "Turning Into Stone" into something plush and more intimate might not be necessary, it all suggests that this is a more realized pop voice willing to expand, experiment with and reinvigorate their sound.

Not everything here is as compelling, but the true takeaways (the first three cuts, including the outsized, life-affirming "16 Years") are well worth the misguided ambition and watered down moments that inhabit the EP's second half. Closer "A Dark Tunnel" means to shade the buzzing urgency of Return to Cookie Mountain-era TV on the Radio but misses the mark; squint hard enough and you'll see that "Nightlife" probably isn't going to succeed in any context outside of a CW show. Unfortunately, this means that, at only six songs, Nightlife's batting average takes a considerable dip. But what remains is good enough to encourage you to root for Phantogram, and to really hold onto those few great tracks that you'll be taking home with you at the end of the night.

Recently signed to Sub Pop, Still Corners new self title album brings upon one of the finest shoe gazer tunes to end this year with.  But be warned it will drift yourself to a whole new world that you might want to pay attention where you are walking.

Tina Modotti(1896-1942)
Fine Art, Portraiture
Biography: Tina Modotti was a remarkable woman and an outstanding photographer whose legendary beauty and relationships with famous men have until now eclipsed a life integrally linked to the most important artistic, political and historical developments of our century.

In 1913 Tina Modotti left her native Italy for San Francisco, becoming a star of the local Italian theatre before marrying the romantic poet-painter Roubaix de I'Abrie Richey. By 1920, she had embarked on a Hollywood film career and immersed herself in bohemian Los Angeles, beginning an intense relationship with the respected American photographer, Edward Weston. On a trip to Mexico in 1922 to bury her husband, she met the Mexican muralists and became enthralled with the burgeoning cultural renaissance there. Increasingly dissatisfied with the film world, she persuaded Weston to teach her photography and move with her to Mexico. Her Mexico City homes became renowned gathering places for artists, writers and radicals, where Diego Rivera courted Frida Kahlo. Turning her camera to record Mexico in its most vibrant years, her photographs achieve a striking synthesis of artistic form and social content. Her contact with Mexico's muralists including a brief affair with Rivera, led to her involvement in radical politics.

In 1929, she was framed for the murder of her Cuban lover, gunned down at her side on a Mexico City street. A scapegoat of government repression, she was publicly slandered in a sensational trial before being acquitted. Expelled from Mexico in 1930, she went to Berlin and then to the Soviet Union, where she abandoned photography for a political activism that brought her into contact with Sergei Eisenstein, Alexandra Kollontaii, La Pasionaria, Ernest Hemingway and Robert Capa. Returning to Mexico incognito in 1939, she died three years later, a lonely - and controversial - death.
(Tina Modotti - Photographer and revolutionary by Margaret Hooks)

_from Brainready.com
At BrainReady, we've covered the brain health and longevity-related benefits of just about every natural drink one could think of; from Matcha green tea to cocoa to the differences between espresso and regular coffee, the list of health-fueling natural choices can be almost overwhelming if you're trying to pick the right one for you.

But we'd be remiss if we didn't add Yerba Mate (pronounced "yair-ba mah-tay") to the list, particularly with so many BrainReady readers asking us how it stacks up against the surprisingly nutrient-rich coffee -- in both the nutrition department as well as the unpleasant side effects that can accompany coffee and espresso for many people. 

And unpleasant side effects, such as the stomach upset, post-caffeine "crash", shakiness and even serious anxiety that accompany coffee for some people, are also a serious problem for the often unrecognized fact that many people choose to drink chemical and sugar-laden sodas instead, as a sad alternative, missing out on the health benefits of these antioxidant-rich natural foods and instead ingesting unhealthy artificial alternatives. How many people do you know that say, "yeah, I can't really do coffee...." as they sip their 3rd diet soda? And we wonder why obesity and poor health is a problem. But we digress.

Actually, the better-than-coffee notion may indeed be the key driver of the Yerba Mate explosion over the last couple years. Another (perhaps related) factor may be the growing list of celebrities such as Matt Dillon, Madonna, Moby and other celebs, athletes and health gurus who all swear by the health benefits of Mate, citing the common Mate gospel, "significant mental and physical energy boosting without the crash or jittery effects of coffee, and with far more nutrients". 

So what is Yerba Mate? Yerba Mate, or Mate as it is often called, is a South American herb from the holly shrub of the South American rain forest. It grows wild in Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Brazil, but is most abundantly in Paraguay where it is also cultivated. Drinking Mate is a longtime traditional social activity in Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay -- family or friends pass around a "gourd" (fist-sized, round wooden ball-like cup) of the brew (just hot water and Mate leaves & stems), sipped through a "bombilla" (which translates to "little pump" or "straw"), often made of silver or bamboo. It's brewed in similar fashion other teas or even coffee in this sense; just hot water and the source, so it can also be easily brewed in a french press, tea ball infuser, tea pot with tea holder area, and similar methods if you don't happen to have a traditional gourd handy...



Traditional native source of health and energy: in South America, Yerba Mate has been revered for centuries as the “drink of the gods” and is still drunk daily for health, sustained energy and mental clarity by millions. The leaves of the rainforest Mate tree naturally contain 24 vitamins and minerals, 15 amino acids and are rich in antioxidants -- with reported ORAC antioxidant levels even higher than many brewed green teas. Many Mate advocates cite the Pasteur Institute and Paris Scientific society which in 1964 concluded, "it is difficult to find a plant in any area of the world equal to mate in nutritional value" and that yerba mate contains, "practically all of the vitamins necessary to sustain life." 

It's also the national drink of Argentina (side note: wow! What would the national drink of the U.S. be currently...diet soda?), where drinkers of Yerba Mate are even more ubiquitous than coffee drinkers in the United States. It is not uncommon to see Argentines walking down the street sipping out of a Mate gourd.

More bitter than English or Indian teas, Yerba Mate is something of an acquired taste for the neophyte: "Most Americans wouldn’t like it the way Argentinians drink it, it’s too earthy and grassy tasting," said David Karr, founder of the online herb vendor Guayaki. For that reason, many sellers are blending Yerba Mate with mint, vanilla, orange or other flavorings. Yet others find the native taste wonderful -- earthy, grassy, complex, and find this sort of blending and sweetening to be blasphemous (ed: we agree). "People are seeking out alternatives to coffee for getting a lift, and yerba mate is mild and not as acidic," said Karr. "People are burning out on coffee."

But one of the main draws is Yerba Mate’s reported health benefits. Vendors claim it can, "boost immunity, restore youthful hair color, retard aging, combat fatigue, control the appetite and eliminate insomnia," to name a few.

But is it all true? The answer is that there is still comparatively little comprehensive scientific research on the long-term effects of Mate consumption. But the nutritional constituents of the plant are real and verified, as are ORAC antioxidant levels thanks to some ORAC testing, and thus it's likely that Mate does provide large, complex range of antioxidants as well as nutrients and amino acids, as widely reported. Just as with Matcha green tea or high-quality organic coffee beans, the source must be as pure as possible in order to derive maximum benefit: in this case, rainforest shade-grown Mate, consumed straight (no added sugar or milk or other diluting elements). And like Matcha, teas and coffees, the strength of the brew will also affect the resulting amount of nutrients. 

From an antioxidant profile standpoint, and 8 oz. serving of Mate compared to an 8 oz serving of brewed sencha green tea shows that Mate's ORAC level is indeed almost twice that of both brewed green tea and coffee, however high-grade Matcha green tea and ground Sencha can still eclipse Mate (and coffee) on the ORAC scale depending on source and brewing strength (and contain some different components at different levels, which have given green tea its own deserving praise, most notably EGCG and L-Theanine). 

Oh, and there is caffeine in Mate...although some Mate proponents insist that the form in Mate is slightly different and worthy of its own name, "Mateine", providing almost identical effects but without the caffeine jitters. Others argue that it's the same caffeine as in other teas, but thanks to the synergistic combination of balancing nutrients, the net effect is far different from coffee. 

So whether it's the same caffeine as in other teas and coffees or indeed the purported mateine variant, Yerba Mate contains about 30 milligrams of caffeine/mateine in an eight ounce cup, according to a recent Health Canada report, compared with 47 milligrams in a cup of tea and 100 milligrams in a cup of coffee. 



So how does is compare to coffee? To answer this question, one must look at the nutritional profile of both mate and coffee, as well as the "functional" profile -- or the real-world human effects and experiences of those who have consumed both and found differences. From a nutritional standpoint, assuming both coffee and mate drinks are prepared equally using high-quality fresh source material and nothing else but hot water added, Mate does appear to win: with comparatively higher levels of both amino acids and plant-derived vitamins, the combination of leaves and stems from the mate tree have been shown to possess a higher overall nutritional profile than the coffee bean. But remember that BOTH are powerhouses in the overall antioxidants area compared to so many other beverage choices out there (including most fruit juices).

Functional benefits may be the key difference: it's in the real-world, practical application area that Mate really shines compared to coffee, at least for many people, particularly those sensitive to the effects of coffee: many former coffee drinkers cite the fact that Mate doesn't upset their stomach like coffee once did, which can be attributed to Mate's more alkaline nature compared to the often acidic coffee (depending on how coffee is brewed, of course, as we've cited in our Espresso vs. coffee comparison). 

With about one-third the caffeine of coffee, plus the presence of natural calming tryptophan and other elements, many also report the lack of jitters, shakes and anxiety that can accompany coffee drinking, resulting in all of the "good buzz" of coffee without the bad. And perhaps most significant is the reported lack of "coffee crash", which has been particularly of interest to athletes and performers, who cite Mate's sustained energy without the hard crash at the end; this is likely the result of lower caffeine content combined with calming amino acids and muscle-fueling nutrients, helping athletes both mentally and physically without an extreme jittery high (and resulting crash) as can occur from coffee.



Sounds great, but what about the downside? The fact is that despite Yerba Mate's recent popularity climb, comparatively little is known, scientifically, about the long-term effects of regular consumption. But many studying Mate's historical traditional usage have found numerous examples of peoples who thrived nutritionally, and experienced impressive longevity, despite otherwise poor diets and access to other staples of nutrition. This supports the reports of Mate's nutritionally rich profile. 

There have been a few past anecdotal reports of liver toxicity associated with Mate, but there appears to be no conclusive findings nor other problems that one would assume to accompany such a dramatic increase in consumption around the world (not to mention the many centuries of Mate drinking in South America). To the contrary, Mate's only apparent downside is that it does contain caffeine (or mateine, for purists), which for some can be problematic even in amounts smaller than present in coffee. Frankly, compared to the garbage that so many people commonly drink as their day-long beverages, one can only imagine how the health problems of society at large would change if Yerba Mate (and Matcha green tea, white teas, Rooibos, and other excellent options) were the norm rather than the exception. 

Our conclusion: we like it. A lot. And we've added Yerba Mate to our list of natural drinks that we at BrainReady enjoy ourselves and recommend to friends, family and peers. But not at the exclusion of coffee, nor Matcha green tea, nor brewed green or white teas for that matter. Yes, Yerba Mate may indeed beat coffee from an antioxidants, nutrients and functional standpoint, but the coffee bean and other teas are also wonderful for different reasons, particularly for those who can tolerate them without problems. 

We enjoy ALL of these natural plants-made-into-drinks, and all of them have been shown to possess health benefits to brain and body, so we like alternate. Some days we'll substitute Yerba Mate in place of coffee in the morning, have a bit of Matcha in the afternoon. Other days, it's Matcha in the morning, and some white tea late in the afternoon, and Rooibos in the evening. Others, it's all about coffee and espresso, especially when there's a particularly interesting coffee varietal available. 

So just as with the importance of having a rich and varied diet, we like a balance of all of these wonderful natural drinks, and we'd encourage you to consider the benefits of a varied, balanced approach.  The fact remains that all are high in antioxidants, all are tasty, all possess brain-fueling and physically-boosting properties, all have been used for eons by millions of people. 

It's not an "either/or", but rather "all, in balance".

_

Article I found on brainready.com  I feel it's important to stay tr

The current financial crisis is of course dominating the news headlines -- and thus for many of us, dominating our minds. It's painful to watch our investments dwindling, making those home mortgages ever more daunting, putting home ownership at risk.

It’s all we read about these days, and it is no secret that this information overload can leave us with a serious sense of anxiety and a lack of control. The World Health Organisation has already predicted that by 2020 mental depression in Western countries will become the second highest global burden of disability after heart disease. 

So how do we handle it?

The first thing of course is to remember the old advice and only worry about things you can control. In financial matters, take the appropriate advice and act accordingly. Many of the other matters are outside of our sphere of influence and whilst they are interesting, the volatility will settle down over time. So don’t let them adjust your focus.

The economic collapse serves to highlight the importance of looking after yourself. The aspect of keeping your brain healthy is more important than ever, so you can remain flexible, aware and change things as needed. For many people the prospect of an early retirement has now been postponed indefinitely, meaning we’ll all have to work to an older age. No doubt the world will be a changed place when things settle, but your brain will still be your income-earning asset. So don’t let your best asset deteriorate – your intelligence and creativity will be vital components of how you adapt to the changing environment.

What else can you do to stimulate this brain activity to keep it performing at optimum levels? It’s an appropriate time to broaden our skill base and interests, but to do this let’s take on an unusual approach. 

You've probably heard that the different hemispheres (or sides) of the brain are responsible for different manners of thinking. Most of us will have a distinct dominance by either the left or right side of our brain, which of course determine our learning style. The left side is characterized by logical, sequential, analytical, rational and objective thinking. Research has also shown there are specialized circuits in the left hemisphere for cognitive capacity, problem solving and intelligence.

Your right side will control your random, intuitive and subjective thinking – basically an emotional counterbalance to the analytical left. It is of course a bit simplistic to ascribe rigid functions to particular parts of the brain as the difference is one of degree rather than absolute distinction.

There’s no doubt I’m a "leftie" though as I enjoy activities that are normally associated with the left side of the brain. These include reading, writing, learning a new language, completing number and word games, using simple math and fixing broken objects. Okay, actually I’m hopeless at fixing things, but I do enjoy the others.

So what about the more creative activities some people say are associated with the right brain? Music, no, I don’t have a musical bone in my body. Art, again no, unfortunately drawing stick insects is about the limit of my artistic ability. Imagination, well yes, I’m a dreamer (that’s my biggest fault if you ask my wife).

It soon became obvious that I do exercise one side of my brain predominantly, but is that enough? We all have our talented areas, our interests and our ingrained routines that really allow us to stay inside our comfort zone.

Those of you who listen to the BrainReady podcast will know how difficult it is to transfer your skills from one project, maybe logic and reasoning to another, such as recalling long sequences of numbers, at short notice. Yet it is exactly this stretching of our mental abilities that we need to do. This engages the brain and forces it to work to process the activity or information.

So let’s make a commitment to undertake learning an aspect that we are not familiar, nor comfortable, with. I’ve decided to tackle an artistic drawing and my commitment to you is that I’ll publish it on this site within 6 months. Now that’s a big step if you knew my artistic ability.