Study Japanese with Ken Tanaka: The Power of Music and Coffee

When I was a university student, a band that I was in (and am still “in,” even though I’m an ocean away) – Special Dental Team, wrote several songs with Japanese titles and even one with Japanese lyrics. In retrospect, I do recommend this as a study tactic to be stressed in my 50 Study [...]

The Evening News: Aphorisms

The news: keeping abreast of one’s irrelevance dot com. One popular news page, which collects stories from other pages tells us more about the morbidity of the editor, than it does about “the news.” These days, keeping oneself “informed” about daily events takes precedence over developing one’s self to live a more humanizing life. The [...]

The Bricoleur

What is a bricoleur? How is a bricoleur different from a polymath? Who are some famous bricoleurs? Are our schools educating children to be bricoleurs? Are you a bricoleur? Listen to Dr. Lee Thayer and Yvonne DiVita discuss the above questions and more in this five part podcast: The Bricoleur: Conversation with Lee Thayer Dr. [...]

Oh, Failure!: Elbert Hubbard

This is the first in a series that I am calling, “Oh, Failure!,” in which I will choose one quotation about “failure” and provide my interpretation of it. This is a subject that has fascinated and hurt me for years and a subject that I have much experience in (i.e. I have failed many times [...]

A Ghoul (tanka #43), Passive (tanka #7)

Dreams covered in phlegm shivering night, eyes pried shut to keep out the ghouls that dance outside your window and scratch their eyes out back in However, you move position yourself again like a sinner on a ship of screaming shadows lost at sea drowning daily

The Visual Poetics of Erick Ifergan’s Public Safety Videos

Erick Ifergan, director of Johnny 316, recently finished a video campaign for the Russian Road Security Program in conjunction with the YesTasteWinNow advertising agency in Moscow. The videos tackle the subjects of road manners, drinking and driving, speeding, driving cautiously, and watching out for children. Each video features the same piano score by composer Max [...]

Vincent Gallo: “Johnny 316″ Trailer

Vincent Gallo and Erick Ifergan are artists that I admire. I found this trailer via the Quiet Earth website. (NOTE: Vimeo has taken down the trailer) The synopsis, from the film’s official website is: “A modernized version of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Salome”, JOHNNY 316, directed by Erick Ifergan, unfurls in the boulevards of Hollywood, California. Vincent [...]