Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom Speech

Just to remind us, how lucky we are!

Jeremy Rifkin | The Empathic Civilization @Google

Empathy ... makes so much sense!

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.