288,000 Jelly Beans, 1 video (Kina Grannis)

(Kina Grannis) Posted Nov. 2, 2011 -- "In Your Arms" took 22 months, 1357 hours, 30 people, 2 ladders, 1 still camera, and 288 thousand jelly beans! It already has well over 2 million hits. Kina is on tour and in Europe in 2012 and on Facebook all the time.She has a new album called Stairwells. "In Your Arms" was written by Kina Grannis, directed by Greg Jardin, produced by Daphne Raves, with concept art by Lauren Gregg, wardrobe by Gillian Zwick, sound design by Suzanne Goldish, using the production company: @radical.media. See the Secret Crazy Project celebration.

The awesome Jelly Bean Animation Team was: Kristina Carucci, Lauren Cunningham, MacKenna Dixon, Marcus Demmon, Kevin Harman, Alexandra Judelsohn, Jay Kim, Pearl Lung, Ptolemy Slocum, Erin Thiele, and Clarisse Wiedem with additional animators: Monica Ahanonu, Matt Beans, Sarah Burt, David Chang, Jane Cohen, John D'Arco, Hope Marquardt, Erin McLaughlin, Krisztianna Ortiz, Kyle Padilla, Allen Marshall Palmer, Natalie Pasallar, JJ Rubin, Cherie Saulter, Susan Wiedem, John Sheptock, Janine Sides, Hethur Suval, Chelsea Stark, and Sarah Tejeda.

Special thanks to Jelly Belly [a gross, allergenic, sweet tasting mix of chemical flavors, colors, sugar, bleached flour, and corn syrup that it better regarded as a pretty "art supply" than any kind of "food"]. Kina Grannis on Myspace or kinagrannis.com

Zen Buddhism with Alan Watts (Sunday radio)

Roy (of Hollywood) Tuckman, KPFK FM, Pacifica Radio, Wisdom Quarterly

The Book by Alan Watts is a stunning essay on “the taboo against knowing who you are.” In particular, he offers a devastating critique for any looking to “change the world” (Illustration: Randal Roberts/Ianmack.com).

What's the meaning of American music and life? (More)

Alan Watts Sundays, 8:00 am PST, 11:00 am EST
KPFK (90.7 FM), Los Angeles or listen worldwide
For more than 40 years Alan Watts has earned a reputation as one of the foremost interpreters of Zen and Eastern philosophies for the West. Listen free online.

Beginning at the age of 16, when he wrote essay for the journal of the Buddhist Lodge in London, he developed an audience of millions who were enriched through his books, recordings, and lectures on radio, television, and in public appearances.

In all, Watts has written more than 25 books and recorded hundreds of lectures and seminars, all building toward a personal philosophy he shares candidly and joyfully with his and listeners throughout the world.

His overall works have presented a model of individuality and self-expression that can be matched by few philosophers. The three main sources for Alan Watts tapes and information are:

• Pacifica Radio Archives (800) 735-0230, pacificaradioarchives.org
• MEA (866) 492-8446, wattstapes.com
• Electronic University (800) 96-WATTS, alanwatts.com
  

More can also be found at: alanwatts.net and alanwatts.com

• Message from the Interim Program Director about Tuckman
  

Change the World

Seven and Dev (Wisdom Quarterly)

What will you do? At least help yourself -- and by "helping yourself" is not meant selfishness. That's no help to anyone, not even you.

Should we stop the planet's revolution so you can get off?

Enlightened self-interest is the philosophy that says help others so that you too can benefit. We provide a social safety net so the dispossessed do not fall into poverty, crime, and squalor. That net helps everyone. Letting others preach their religion increases the chance that you will preach yours. Shutting others up leads to disaster, as it has so many times in history.

The Dharma, the timeless truth, is everywhere.
You can find it anywhere.

Do something. Look for it. Look for truth. This life is a quest. Have you set off on the journey or simply sat at home? Maybe the Buddha does not suit you. Maybe the real Jesus (before the Romans and Republicans made him a bumper sticker) has the answers you seek, maybe Mary, maybe Lao Tzu (Taoism), maybe Mahavira, maybe Lilith, maybe Kwan Yin, maybe the Mo's (Moses and the more famous one)... maybe independent Paganism, maybe science, maybe the God Molecule (DMT or an activated pineal gland), maybe atheism? After all, religion seems to have done more harm than good.

Religion is a cheap substitute for spirituality.

See you at the occupation. You'll be there either way. The only question is: Will you be standing behind the police or the people? Either way, we're all one.

No one needs to answer for your inaction, which everyone will suffer from, but you. Won't you be benefiting from others' sacrifices? Nice! Get ahead on the backs of others, and never look back. In the movie "A Fish Called Wanda," one of the Wanda's tells off Otto by pointing out: "The central message of Buddhism is not 'Every man for himself'!" Roll the clip.

Wanda: Now, was that smart? Was it shrewd? Was it good tactics? Or was it stupid?
Otto: Don't call me stupid!
Wanda: Oh, right! To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people! I've known sheep that could outwit you. I've worn dresses with higher IQs. But you think you're an intellectual, don't you, ape?
Otto: Apes don't read philosophy.
Wanda: Yes they do, Otto. They just don't understand it! Now let me correct you on a couple of things, okay? Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not "Every man for himself." And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked them up.

Occupy Los Angeles (Oct. 1, 2011)

Wisdom Quarterly, Kloncke.com, OccupyLA.org

Let's our country back from bankers and police state officials by occupying it from coast to coast, from Wall Street and downtown Los Angeles. We are the 99% being destroyed by 1%.

[Kloncke] began gathering some friends into a group we call Bay Area Radical Sangha (BARS). BARS is a space for meditators with "radical" politics. How is that defined? Structural critiques of our racist, hetero-patriarchal, war-reliant, capitalist system.

• RUMOR Alert: RADIOHEAD to play Occupy Wall Street!
• Buddhist production, feminist effort, and the god of work
• Meditation Flash Mob: Noon, Saturday, October 8, 2011 at Pershing Square, downtown Los Angeles

Instead, we support one another in contemplative practice and development. Having met and talked with many of you, I know for a fact that everyone has something wonderful to contribute.

If you are established in some sort of contemplative practice (it does not have to be Buddhist, although this is the foundation of the group) and would like to join in building a committed, holistic center of radical struggle, you are warmly welcomed and appreciated. The first BARS meets in the San Francisco Bay Area. New groups are forming in New York at Occupy Wall Street and Los Angeles at this weekend's launch.

All are welcome to stand up in a peaceful demonstration (occupyla.org)

(TheOther99Percent) Consider donating $9.17 to a Media Fund to continue reports from the front line. OccupyWallStreet.org

Police State Brutality on Wall Street
(USLAWdotcom) This is a slow motion video analysis of the NYPD's mace/pepper spray deployment near Wall Street on Sept. 24, 2011. Alternate angle analyses indicate that this crime was retaliation for an immediately preceding interaction between an officer and some individuals on the sidewalk. More information and updates.

PETA plans PORN site to Save Animals

PETA.org, Wisdom Quarterly, Huffington Post.com


Porn for Chicks, Foxes, and Puppies?
Editorial Staff, Wisdom Quarterly

We are prudes. We do not approve. We love animals and consider them worth saving and sparing from human torture for their flesh and pelts. Yet to excite the passions of a world aflame in lust is karma that harms activist and audience. Will we look? Probably. Will we protest? Yes. Will we pose nude? No. Will we applaud or censure those who do? No. Do we condone it? No. Is anyone asking us? Not as such. Does the intention justify the means? No.



We must agitate and enlighten people and call their attention to the plight of our fellow humans, earthlings, and all living beings. But to do so in a way that calls their attention in one way and brings them down in another, that is not the win-win possible here. Is this an effort from within to undermine PETA as an organization? Maybe.



It is not the first such campaign. There was a similar effort by another organization to save the forest by this exact means. The world will be great when it is sex-positive, full of integrity (non-hypocritical), violence-free, equal, and compassionate. Let's bring that moment into being. Make love, not war. Go topless. Be free. Be so considerate of others that their passions are not aroused to their ultimate detriment.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

• Vegetarian/Vegan
• About PETA
• Cruelty-Free Companies
• Community
• Contact PETA
• Shop
• More

Coastal Cleanup Day (Los Angeles)

Text by Ashley Bailey (KPCC, scpr.org); Wisdom Quarterly

Thousands of volunteers to pick up trash at LA beaches and waterways on Coastal Cleanup Day

• Coastal Cleanup Day
• Map: Coastal Cleanup Day sites

Thousands of volunteers plan to pick up trash on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon during Coastal Cleanup Day. It’s the largest single-day volunteer event in the world. Los Angeles County’s coastlines, rivers and creeks will contain 66 designated cleanup sites. This year, scuba divers and kayakers will join volunteers who collect trash on foot. More

Ganges Los Angeles: San Gabriel River

Wisdom Quarterly

The snowy, Himalaya-like San Gabriel Mountain range of LA (laobserved.com)

From Benares on the Ganges to the Sea
If "Pasadena is the Benares of the America," as Indian luminaries noted a century ago, then the Los Angeles River is our Ganges. Its holy mouth is the San Gabriel Mountain Range, and Mt. Wilson our Everest (Sagarmatha). The Santa Monica Bay is polluted because the LA River is polluted -- and that debris begin in the San Gabriel Mountains, river, and valley.

Working with the Army Corps of Engineers, L.A. County Public Works, L.A. County Parks and Recreation, and the San Gabriel Mountain Regional Conservancy, The Friends of the Whittier Narrows Natural Area, The Sierra Club Urban Park and Urban Environment Committee Angeles Chapter, and Surfrider Foundation...


Mt. "EverLAst" - archival footage of my pilgrim grandparents in the snow in Los Angeles

Angelenos can do something about it. Cleanup volunteering is available year round through these organizations. Join Wisdom Quarterly to get the trash out of the San Gabriel River in the foothills and the valley's reclaimed Whittier Narrows Natural Area. This part of the river has not been cleaned in more than six years.

Much trash, especially plastic bags, is snagged by vegetation and that trash affects the river. Not only is plastic trash bad for people but it is also bad for birds, bugs, assorted animals, and humans. And those clusters of plastic trash are accumulating in the Pacific Ocean Gyre.

Invoking the Buddha to protect the Forests

Brendan Brady (The World (PRI, August 30, 2011)

Buddhists in Cambodia are ordaining trees in order to protect the endangered forests they grow in (arcworld.org).

The young, novice monk Sar Vy says he does not need to understand the science of climate change to know that his country and its people -- as well as the wider world -- benefit from forest conservation.

• PLAY AUDIO (DOWNLOAD)

[Buddhist monk] Tha Soun’s orange robe shimmers as he strolls through a patch of forest in Northern Cambodia, pointing out trees and shrubs with medicinal benefits. He gestures toward berries that he says are good for joint and muscle pain, and a beehive full of nutritious wild honey.

The Buddhist/Hindu Khmer empire, like the corresponding jungle empires of Mesoamerica, was once the largest in Asia (khmerlibrarypicture).

Tha and his fellow monks from nearby Samraong pagoda have presided over this 44-thousand acre forest known as Sorng Rukavorn, or simply Monk Forest, for a decade. These days it seems a serene garden, but it wasn’t always so.

Tha says that not long ago, police and soldiers would come here to poach timber.

“I would advise them to stop if I thought they might listen,” Tha says. “But if they wouldn’t listen, I would just take away their chainsaws and weapons.”

Tha says he and the other members of his Buddhist community have succeeded in protecting the forest because they are respected spiritual figures. But his experience before he became a monk certainly helps as well.

“The soldiers don’t scare me, because I used to be a soldier, too,” Tha says.

This determination helps preserve the forest for use by both the monks and the local community. Now, the effort could also provide lucrative for Cambodia.

Monk Forest is one of 13 community forests totaling more than 250 square miles in Odder Meanchey province whose value in fighting climate change is being marketed in an international exchange of what are called avoided deforestation carbon credits. That’s a mouthful that basically means Cambodia hopes to get paid by outsiders not to cut down their trees. More

Buddhism on The World

• How Democracy is Evolving in Bhutan
• Bhutan’s tough tobacco laws
• Glimpses of Bhutan
• Self-immolation as protest
• Historic cave town
• Mourning China’s earthquake victims
• Aid effort in western China intensifies

"Portable Buddha," S.E. Asia (Mariano Jimenez)

Could "gaming" save the world?

A female "World of Warcraft" character in the making -- but is her player male or female? (©2004-2009 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. The Burning Crusade is a trademark, and World of Warcraft and Blizzard Entertainment are trademarks or registered trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries).

VIDEO GAMES (On the Media)
(NPR, July 1) Take a one-hour look at the history, culture, and future of video games like WoW. Whether you know it or not you are likely a gamer and games are creeping into nearly every aspect of life. How far have video games come, and where are they going?

• The Future of Gaming
• The Influence of Gaming
• Tom Bissell keeps caring about videogame

WoW
howstuffworks.com

"World of Warcraft" has millions of active subscribers worldwide (Blizzard). While there's no publicly-available, comprehensive census of exactly who plays the game, there are several researchers who have studied WoW players extensively. More

Myth is the language of symbols. What does all the occult symbolism mean?

Saladin Al Kurdi sees an Illuminati conspiracy

Superstruct: Games predict our future
archive.superstructgame.net
Gamers’ scores will reflect personal role in humankind’s survival.

PALO ALTO, California — The Institute for the Future (IFTF) announced the [2008] launch of Superstruct, the world’s first Massively Multiplayer Forecasting Game (MMFG). Designed by renowned game designer Jane McGonigal, Ph.D., and IFTF lead forecaster Kathi Vian Ph.D., Superstruct invites players to imagine life in 2019 and to document and record how they, their families, local communities, or extended social networks might respond to a catastrophic population collapse. Global gameplay ran for six weeks.

Superstruct was played by more than 8,000 citizen "future-forecasters." Although the game is no longer in play, learn about it and explore some archived game content:

• Find out how the game was played
• Watch the scenario videos to preview the Superthreats
• Learn about the 8000+ players
• Read 1000+ stories they crafted
• Discover the 500+ superstructures they created.

Did superstruct gamers predict this economic collapse, the Amero solution, or the next one?

Karmapa: Research Theravada, Mahayana

AsianTribune.com, June 17, 2011; (Images: Kalimpong News blog)

Four-storey-high Thangka of the Buddha on display at Mela ground (Kalimpong News)

NEW DELHI, India - Spiritual leader His Holiness 17th Gyalwa Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorge of Sikkim called on Buddhist scholars to undertake research on the doctrines of Theravada and Mahayana schools of Buddhism and introduce a uniform set of Buddhist teachings, values, and principles for the betterment of the world.

Buddhist monastics gather under Thangka, Sikkim state, India (Kalimpong News)

Addressing the celebrations of Saga Dawa (Buddha Purnima, "Buddhist full moon observance day celebration") of Sikkhim Buddhists on Poson full moon day (June 15) at the National Museum in New Delhi, HH Karmapa said that a common Buddhist doctrine would be immensely beneficial to humankind living in today’s conflict-ridden world.

The spiritual head of Sikkhim monastery said that Buddhist scholars from India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, and other Buddhist countries should undertake research on Buddhist principles of different sects to incorporate common values in a uniform doctrine acceptable to all.

Buddha purnima celebrated in Diwakar, June 2011 (Kalimpong News)

“It will benefit the people all over the world who seek answers, clarifications, and solutions,” he said. His Holiness said that the germination of positive and good motivations leads to ultimate bliss and enlightenment. He added that the teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha is as relevant today as it was when initially preached by the Sage of the Sakyas about 2600 years ago in India. More