California Dreamin

My dream of California is leading me to a great thinker. To someone who has already greatly influenced me in my youth with his stories and intriguing characters in novels like ...
Burning Daylight
Call of the Wild
Martin Eden
Michael, Brother of Jerry
Smoke Bellew
The Iron Heel
The Little Lady of the Big House
The Valley of the Moon
White Fang

My greatest inspiration for visiting California has been and will always be the Valley of the Moon. London is great at describing the beauty of nature and the joys of simple life into the wild!

"I am the sailor on horseback! Watch my dust! Oh, I shall make mistakes a-many; but watch my dreams come true...Try to dream with me my dreams of fruitful acres. Do not be a slave to an old conception. Try to realize what I am after."
– Jack London
circa 1913

Jack London the Visionary

London once said, "I believe the soil is our greatest asset." These words are truer, in our current world, than ever before! On his ranch he pioneered in soil conservation, using tillage and terracing to make fruitful again the worn-out hillside lands. He raised vegetables, grains, alphalfa, grapes, fruit trees, prunes, potatoes, spineless cactus, eucalyptus trees, horses, goats, chickens, hogs, beef, dairy cattle, prize-winning livestock and cut the biggest and best hay crops in Sonoma County. Whatever London attempted, he attempted in an all-or-nothing way, and his experimental farming methods were no different.

This actually - extremely interesting and I shall research it further but on my Ultimately eco Blog - His stepsister and Ranch Superintendent, Eliza Shepard, said it best:

. . . ."Jack's ambition was to develop a model farm; one of the best all-round ranches in the state, combining a stock ranch, fruit, grain, vegetables, vineyard and the like. He would have accomplished his plan had he lived, for his enthusiasm was unquenchable. His intense energy simply rioted in work. Success seemed only to stimulate him to greater and wider efforts."

– Eliza Shepard, 1917

I am so much going to California next year.... And I will go to find Jack London, my 100 older soul brother, my Napa valley, my pinot noir, to check my Brain, my heart and expand my mind and may be my Moon valley too, but may be I need to find someone who would fight for me, you know....! aaaand my Jack London Museum

How Did Obama's inaugural speech shape up?

No inaugural address has so thoroughly rejected the political philosophy and legislative record of the previous administration. Jonathan Raban takes a close look at Barack Obama's speech...

Obama's popularity is like a curve on the stock market - but in the situation he is - you only hope he will manage to sustain good personal health and strong principles.
If I believed in god, I would have prayed for him - unfortunately, even if I did - that wouldn't help!

Some Great skiing articles in the Escape supplement of the Observer

Skiing trips that won't break the bank

Skiing's cheap and cheerful alternative to the Alps

Ski clinic: which resort is best for us?

Celebrity Face Match

I went to see Alice in Chains on Tuesday night - amazing!
Their new album is just stunning. I have yet to discover what a talent Jerry Cantrell is! I also managed to develop a fetish for his fingers - they just are really nice to look at...

But this is not about fingers - this is about faces.

Alice in Chain's drummer - Sean Kinney - well, he is suppose to be a really nice guy - very positive and playful (he showed it on the concert too) and easy going. But he also looks like Trent Reznor - another very much favourite music person of mine!

Here's the proof:
Sean Kinney

Trent Reznor

What do you think?
It's not important, but I couldn't help myself!

Happy Bycicle

Someone

is getting some super wanted birthday presents:

Yay!

My love of Pearl Jam has no end...

Ok I have been talking to a lot of people about my love of Pearl Jam and I love talking, explaining, sharing about my love of this. Pearl jam has had the biggest influence on me as a person and of course on my music tastes, though I have always had preference to heavy guitary drummy vocally lyrically stuff - I started on rock music from the tender age of 4. At 4 I was into a band called Signal.

Many people say they see Ten and Vs as the real Pearl Jam and after that they haven’t found they really like anything. Well everything that Pearl Jam have created after Ten sounds very very different. I argue that Ten is really not Pearl Jam, not yet. Ten is a lot of Mother Love Bone.

Pearl jam are not just music, voice and sound. If you are a music person as not a music with lyrics person – don’t expect to ever like it the things that followed after Ten and Vs – about 7 other albums. If you are a music, lyric and existential philosophy person with some awareness of personal growth and self actualisation – you are so going to get Pear Jam, but then you have to like rock music!

So it’s not about music only – hope you get this. I call this phenomenon – modern time poetry…
I wouldn’t be able to explain the philosophy behind every song but you can learn that directly from the band themselves – they did the Storytellers.

You can see the storytellers on You tube – everything has a meaning – and that meaning changes…

That’s my favourite story by Eddie Vedder:
VIDEO
I am sorry embed mode was desabled for this video.


The new album – Backspacer is the happiest album I have ever listened to. If you are following Pearl Jam – you would understand why and you will embrace it with equal joy!

If you haven’t followed Pearl Jam I would recommend you to watch Iconoclasts on the Sundance channel, Series 2. Eddie Vedder is paired with Laird Hamilton. You can hear some really good stories about Lairds passion of surfing and Eddie’s passion of music.

There is a moment when Laird talks about creativity and how we do things – as younger people from a not that positive place – fuelled with a lot of anger and then there is this transition (or people usually die) when the source of creativity changes – it comes from a different place and the more you have grown and evolved the more creative you can be, happy and creative, not angry and creative!

Hence I totally disagree with the concept of the tortured artist…There is a really good article by David Lynch on that – I hope I can find a link to it. I accept that tortured artist happen, they do and I have been inspired and influenced by many such, but I know that there will be a time, once we create our sustainable lives, when creativity will come from a good place, happy place. The tortured artist happens because we don’t grow up happy, we grow angry. We can change all that… it’s what we believe that really has to change.

Beautiful weather in eaton today

Ekaterina Belcheva Ultimately Eco Kate@ultimatelyeco.com 0800 234 3288 078 521 444 18 London UK Planet Earth

WHY DO YOU GET ALL THE LOVE IN THE WORLD

Michael/ ian buble!?!?!
Since I have more access to some of the trully stupid gossip magazine I have been trying to figure out why do we get so obsessed with the celebrity culture and completely ignore if not entirely our own reality at least the potential of what it can be do and have for us and ultimately our own existence!

My problem is obsessing about it! And the fact I feel drawn as well. (My secret gossip obsession is the brangelina phenomenon and for some personal creative reasons lily cole, even more so because she started acting and this feels as if my destiny is releasing. Even more so because she did the imaginarium of dr parnassus.

So it was her who made me watch the graham norton show last night (saturday 31 October 2009 at midnight when I was actually have rather gone to bed) and there this sprite appeared totally madly happy, telling her that he "met" her at an airport...

Once a friend said that it's a very different life to live among the high class! It is also difficult to penetrate it - someone said and you need status of some sort - £ or $ or € or ¥... Or fame or heritage or Talent... The impossibility of it all the probability the chance the game the lottery makes it mythical... Fictionous .... Improbable...

Don't idolize...
Accept thyself and love thy neighbour...

So what is happening in this world?
I don't know... But I want to beleive things are changing for the better.

Complements for charlotte - In memory of Charlotte Moggach

For a woman who I have never heard of just before I read an article about her grateful death with her daughter Deborah Moggach.

I've learned a few things about her and one thing I pparticularly liked: her book of complements- her diary of hand written testimonials - I find this a magnificent idea.

I don't know if you can do something g in life now to prevent dementia, but for all of those who already have it - I hope there are people arouf you who can understand you, care for you with love and dedication and can still remember who you were.

The Article "I'm grateful to her dying" is from the family supplement of the guardian from Saturday 24 January (it's October now) 2009

Testing mobile email to blogg function

Which will mean that I will finally be able to have a straight forward way to publish post and hopefully lead to less newspaper articles inhabitting my floor my files shelves magazine baskets bags walets diaries etc for centuries...

Yay!

Ekaterina Belcheva
Ultimately Eco
Kate@ultimatelyeco.com
0800 234 3288
078 521 444 18
London UK
Planet Earth

toys for brothers and sisters

Toy for Brother:

i.e. that's what my brother Boris Belchev is getting.

Toy for Sister:

i.e. that's what I am getting when my brother gets the above.

Jonny WIlkinson - "I've been searching for tranquility in a world of obsession"

I have been modestly observing the carrer journey of one of ENglands top rugby player and it was a really nice surprise to find an article in the sport section of the guardian about him with the subtitle "the fly-half reveals how Buddhism has helped him reach a fresh equilibrium".

I am not sure if I have ever discussed on this blog that I have been going on multiple courses to become a facilitator for reducing the psychological effects of trauma, but also to facilitate personal development and self-actualisations. This approach generally helps reach equilibrium with the self and others.

Looking back I have had many acquaintances with buddhism masked or simply implemented in many other spiritual and not so spiritual practices... such as cleaning (i find it very maditative).

Here is a link to the article and to the audio recording of the interview with Jonny Wilkinson.

I really like the interview and through the words of the Interviewer I can see how misunderstood Buddhism as the philosophy of the East is and how far away from peace and tranquility the majority of the western people are.

I do put myself in that number but I am working on it, and I recommend that sort of personal work to anyone. It gives you so much more ability to fully experience every moment of life.

Jamila sleeps

There isnt anything as sweet, as gentle and as peacful as having a child fall asleep in your arms.

 

Pure serenity.

Trent Reznor "The Alchemist of Melody"

If anyone is still wonderring why I do like Trent reznor - have a listen below.
My favourite album is with teeth.

However there is one thing that is so fascinating about who he really is and that is his amazing talent.

Here is an exserpt from a diary log of Stephanie Jorgl: Recording Drums and Bass
Reznor sits down at an 88 weighted-key controller that is nestled between Ross’ workstation and a rack of effects processors. As soon as the click track starts, Reznor hammers out a few sequences of drums, with perfect timing and precision—fills and all— via the keyboard. All I can think is “Wow. Those childhood piano lessons really paid off.”

When Reznor finishes playing, he turns to Ross and states, “Let me hear those.” Ross plays the drum tracks back and Reznor, deploying the quick decision making expertise that is evident in most world leaders, states, “Okay, I want part 1 followed by part 3, followed by part 2.” .....

and here is some more:
Meanwhile, Reznor turns, thinks and then speaks his next desire for the song in progress. “Next, I’m going to do a bass track and I think I’m going to use these three pedals...” Reznor speaks out loud the names of the pedals, and as he turns to his rack full of basses, picks one up and tunes it, the pedals almost magically appear before him, hooked up by his highly efficient studio assistant.

By the time Reznor is satisfied with his tuning (less than a minute from the initial contemplation of the bass part), Ross has the arrangement ready and the pedals are ready to be played through. Reznor begins recording his next part. After yet another stellar performance, I realize that the absence of studio musicians isn’t a control thing, it’s purely logistical. No studio musicians are required because Reznor is a virtuoso when it comes to probably every instrument short of the physical drums. And even then, he effortlessly masters drum programming and drum performance when triggering samples in Battery through a keyboard controller.

Isnt that utterly and ultimately awesome!?!?!?

I can do this all night!

Here is a picture of Trent Reznor I scraped off the internet. The copy right isn't mine...unfortunately and I just want to share it with the world.

Tara Akshar - Literacy for India

This is a follow up for my previous post. The project that Victor Lyons started few years ago in India. The Project is called Tara Akshar.

"TARA Akshar has taught more adults to read in India in the last two years than any other adult literacy method. Over 55,000 illiterate women have graduated the TARA Akshar course and so learned to read and write in just over 35 days."

Empowering people... helping them to become more capable, able to make informed decisions - thats what the 3rd world need, not aimless aid.

Awesome!

At the presentation I saw at the TIRA/AMI Technical, Victor Lyons was talking about the Anti-shiness courses that he is thinking as a next stage from literacy and numeracy workshop.

Reading Wise

I met someone recently who is teaching people in INdia how to read and write. I am only mentioning this story because he went there first ot help people with imporving basic hygiene and help build fresh water and draining system (I think). SO he went there with the leaflets... that made me think about the concept of making intelligent decisions - you need to read, know where to find correct factual information and then make up your mind.

It aslo made me think about us - the 1st world countries - we can read, we have access to the internet to an enormous quantity and quality of information - and we still make what decisions - educated, doubt it, intelligent, sometimes, do we actually decide? For anything?

Direct action for the environment is something I find as decisive and as effective as someone could voice their opinion, based on factual information and foloowed by a decision making and action planning process.

For the educated loud voicing action committed dread-locked human beings! Salute!

And for the ill-witted, cynical (may be), bad-moody, shadow of a journalist - yes you Mr Hugo Rifkind - get some anger management or better REB Therapy!

The Lords of Grunge

All my favourite ones...

From Left: Mike, Matt, Jeff, Gerry, Stone, Chris, Eddie ... I dont know the keymaster's name unfortunately - well not on the top of my head at least.

Nine Inch Nails live @ Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, TN, 6.13.09

Nine Inch Nails live @ Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, TN, 6.13.09
Originally uploaded by Nine Inch Nails Official

Im loking for some extraordinary shot of TR to reproduce on paper with a pencil... It might be this one.

It's been several times that I found myself endlessly browsing through google searches for TR images...

There is something about this man that is awesome!

Hope I will see them live soon again.
Sorry Trent!

Trent?!?!?!

...they're starting to open up the sky
they're starting to reach down through
and it feels like we're living in that split-second
of a car crash
and time is slowing down
and if we only had a little more time
then this time
is all we have
do you remember the time we
and all the times we
and should have
and were going to

i know
and i know you remember
how we could justify it all
and we knew better
in our hearts we knew better
and we told ourselves it didn't matter
and we chose to continue
and none of that matters anymore

in the hour of our twilight
and soon it will be all said and done
and we will all be back together as one
if we will continue at all????

shame on us
doomed from the start
may god have mercy
on our dirty little hearts
shame on us
for all we have done
and all we ever were
just zeros and ones....

listen now



and tell me - are we that stupid! ARE WE THAT STUPID?????
WE HAVE ALL THE SIGNS, THE NUMBERS, THE ZEROS AND ONES AND WE STILL DO SO LITTLE,
SHAME ON US????

Say Good bye to the future...age of stupid

V for Vendetta

I do not suggest anything, but as a symbol for a drastic changes, here's to anarchism!

Disclaimer - this isn't in any way a plan, suggestion, inspiration or anything similar. This is just a an expression!

An incredible song, an inevitable destiny?


I have been thinking to make a list of all the songs and all the lyrics that have inspired and educated and transformed and are still continue to move me.

I am proud to say that most of the music I chose contains deep and moving lyrics and as it happens - amazing sound, most of the time.

All of pearl jam's, a lot of NIN, Filter, Army of Anyone, Alice in Chains, Temple of the dog, Chris Cornell, Everlast, Soundgarden, Faith No More, Foo Fighters, Blur, Metallica, name but the few...

Brashers Supalite GTX

Again something for my wishlist - I am trying to get rid of all the little newspaper, magazine and catalogue ripped pages... I have generated an unbearably big load of them and it is about time I develop a habit of posting things to my blogs... in that way I can easily share.

The supalite gtx will be an excellent solution for something I would love to do more - visit the wild! well there is unfortunately very little of it in this country if not on this continent, but somewhere as real, genuinely natural as it can be... as it has managed to survive:
May be the Highgate wood as the nearest, unexplored theritory

Ten - the reissues

On my wish list:

The reissue is just the first of many as Pearl Jam gears up for their 20th anniversary in 2011.

"The band loved the original mix of Ten, but were also interested in what it would sound like if I were to deconstruct and remix it," O'Brien. "The original Ten sound is what millions of people bought, dug and loved, so I was hesitant to mess around with that. After years of persistent nudging from the band, I was able to wrap my head around the idea of offering it as a companion piece to the original - giving a fresh take on it, a more direct sound."

Those of you ready to shell out should spring for the Super Deluxe Edition. You'll get:
-- The two disc set
-- A DVD of Pearl Jam's previously-unreleased 1992 Unplugged gig (the one where Eddie goes psycho and scrawls "Pro Choice" into his arm during "Porch.")
-- Four vinyl LPs -- one original copy of Ten, one remixed copy, and a two-LP live set from a 1992 concert in Seattle, known as Drop In the Park.
-- A replica cassette of the first recorded Pearl Jam demos of "Alive," "Once" and "Footsteps."
-- And, as a press release declares, "an Eddie Vedder-style composition notebook filled with replica personal notes, images and mementos from the collections of Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament, a vellum envelope with replicated era-specific ephemera from Pearl Jam's early work and a two-sided print commemorating the Drop in the Park concert."

Hito Steyerl - Lovely Andrea and other documentaries

From Dispersion to London Festival of the art of Japanese Bondage

Dispersions of Henrik Olesen, Hito Steyerl, Seth Price, Anne Collier, Hilary Lloyd, Maria Eichhorn and Mark Leckey:
"The works in Dispersion often take the form of archives, histories or collections, sometimes adopting an anthropological approach. In many cases, they are characterised by an interest in feminism and gender politics in the realm of sexuality and sub-culture."

The one artist that completely endured my imagination was Hito Steyerl... recently I found that she has done a lot of other interesting documentaries and it seems she has quite an interesting approach as a documentary director - and very ingaging pieces as a result of this approach:



As part of Dispersion at the ICA, I saw Lovely Andrea... a documentary ....."In Tokyo she is looking for a photo series that she posed for in 1987 as a “rope bondage” model. While making inquiries with experts and authorities in the bondage arts (which are mainly marketed online nowadays), she found what she was looking for in a magazine archive...."

"....By associatively linking desire and bondage, voluntary subjection and captivity, dependencies, networks, complicity, and cliques, Steyerl creates a polysemous play of thought: Who are the string pullers? Who are the puppets? How do things stand with the pictures?...."

Coming to my main interest ... japanese bondage... it's fascinating to observe it although I haven't seen it live, to see pictures of it....and experience it as a subject... the model in Lovely Andrea says it beeing tied is liberating... will see.

Bag of Change

Last week I experienced an aunusual and unexected event. Some probably experience much bigger and a lot more serious attacks, but it all comes from the same problem... it is the same problem - conscience.

As part of my belief regarding conscious human evolution is the expectation that once we grow up as a civilization - it is part of our matrix, our gene, to respect the other species, not to attack your own and to look after our environment. Not the opposite as some beleive. The opposite is the symptome that we still haven't grown haven't developed, that we either need to empy the cup or fill it up with some goodness.

To celebrate all change and growth I will get another bag of change to replace my other one!


What happened was that some 4 boys - dark skinned, black hooded attacked me - they wanted my bag - I didn't let go... they took just my old mobile and my ipod nano... I am not angry at them, I am angry about what they have become.

Put yourself in my place...

I really liked this song when it came out: Kylie Minogue It kind of matches the way I have been feeling recently... in moments like these I wonder how permanent my feelings can be.
well, I can only wait and see!

Carbon Karma

At the one life live show in March (where just a year ago I met lovely Katie Keegan, with whom we cofounded Green sisters) I spoke with the psychologies's editor in chief - Maureen Rice. She advised that I get in touch with Catherine Jones, who runs Psychologies' eco blog - Carbon Karma.

So in the last Carbon Karma blog post you can read about an eco warrior, who happens to be me... and I am very proud:

Let's hope this will be just a beginning of a successful and effective media journey!

Best Kate
Eco warrior and cleaning specialist!

shrewd meanings

I just came across of a description of yahoo's new CEO - Carol Bartz (January 2009): "Carol Bartz is shrewd, strong-minded, blunt, and disciplined".

I first discovered the word shrew when I translated from bulgarian the title - Taming of the shrew (Укротяване на опърничавата)... The Taming of Katherinе (I'm Ekaterina, some personal cross referencing here)....


— shrewd·ly adverb
— shrewd·ness noun:
marked by clever discerning awareness and hardheaded acumen b: given to wily and artful ways or dealing (a shrewd operator)

synonyms shrewd, sagacious, perspicacious, astute mean acute in perception and sound in judgment.
#shrewd stresses practical, hardheaded cleverness and judgment
(a shrewd judge of character).
#sagacious suggests wisdom, penetration, and farsightedness .
#perspicacious implies unusual power to see through and understand what is puzzling or hidden (a perspicacious counselor saw through the child's facade).
#astute suggests shrewdness, perspicacity, and diplomatic skill (an astute player of party politics).

Words can have a very powerful meaning, not always just definition-wise but often, what understanding they can bring to the person reading it. That's why I got so excited just by reading what shrewd means. Then learning about who Carol Bartz brought even more meaning to the definitions above...

Such description can never be inborn - you have to earn them!

I am starting to scare myself... you make it all go away!

I just want something I can never have...

dissidents in the city

G20 in London. Lying in the middle of bishopsgate, among tents, freegans giving food away, among hundreds and thousands of people, there is music, helicopters; meditating people, dancing people,bankers going home after a day of work; many cameras, bicycles, posters, and more free food is given away a bit further up the road.

There were workshops, some crushed windows of RBS bank, which I totally disapprove of, oh yes and a lot of police officers!

Climate Camping in the city, and some really powerful people, shaking hands, doing small talk, meeting for a first time, talking big stuff, doing politics?!
But are they really doing the one most important thing- making wise decisions. Not wise as well calculated, politically relevant, financially calculated ... You know what I Jean!

I will post some pics later...

Seattle Night Traditionally

I mentioned in the previous post Seattle night. If anyone wonders what's the grungiest place after Seattle, they should know it is Bulgaria!

You need a proof. Best to come down to the next Event, but as it is long way away check this video out:



Performed by Bobby The Killer Whale (Kosatkata), who if you might have already noticed sounds 100% like, if not even better than Chris Cornell.

You want to compare: sorry no before you do that here is a cover one of my most ever favourite songs Hunger Strike:


And here his Owesomeness the real Chris Cornell:



ah, kind of not regretting even for a second I wasn't born in Seattle, but in Bulgaria. The grungiest musically per capita, country in the world.

Just returned this week from one of the best holidays I have ever had! Many things made it great, but one of the culinations was the now traditional for me attendances to the Seattle night. The surprise of the evening was catching up with a good old friend of mine - Vlado.
Vlado happens to have become a singer/song writer and actor with multiple creative projects. Here is as he explains "a black-and-white tribute to the 'Kings of thriller' - Frederick Forsyth and Robert Ludlum..": 'Po4ti' ('Almost') by Vlado & Co. Watch it on MySpace Videos. 'Po4ti' ('Almost')

Not necessarilly be strong, but feel strong....

This voice... that has sung countless times to me, in the dark, when I am alone and sad, and in the day when the sun fills up my hear with joy I have sung I am still alive, alone, happy!

Into the wild is a real story, that started a long time ago and is still continues.
It's about being real and about achieving your potential, one way or the other - we are human, and die human... and we should act human at all time.

The question is what does human mean.
Into the wild has some of the answers... and they are beautiful!

Top 10 Online Tools to Connect With the Obama Administration

Top 10 Online Tools to Connect With the Obama Administration

I watched the inauguration of Barak Hussein Obama today as the 44th American President of the United states, everyone is looking up to him for a change that a lot of us need, he is new, he is different and I mean the way he thinks is different from anyone ever been part of world politics. He is a people's person. He is not a spoon fed, spoiled and dehumanized individual and I hope he remains as stable, as mindful and as principled as he appears.

I hope he sees his grand children!

All the best,
Kate