HEAVY METAL YOGI

Heavy Band 010: WHITE ZOMBIE

2010-06-20T00:26:00.013-06:00

Exploding onto the highway like a slug from a '45 fired by a post-apocalyptic Ed Roth Rat Fink character, White Zombie warped a whole generation who came of age in the '90s. White Zombie combined samples of horror, porn, and B movies with overdrive muted string guitar, funk bass, and heavy amounts of psychedelia. Rob Zombie's earthy grunting voice growled and howled atop the eclectic mix.
Like Gwar and the Talking Heads, White Zombie was started by art school students. In 1985 Rob Cummings founded White Zombie with his then girlfriend Shauna Reynolds. Previously they published a horror zine together. They soon took on the names Rob Zombie and Sean Yseult and created a dark blend of sounds.
White Zombie, when they were just starting out a sounded more like old Butthole Surfers than '90s White Zombies. Their Debut album was 1987's Soul-Crusher, which featured the hard noise rock tracks Ratmouth and Scum Kill. Shack of Hate sounds like it belongs on a Mudhoney album.
Lacking in sampling, Soul-Crusher's follow up in 1989 Make Them Die Slowly has a much more pure metal vibe than their first album. Tracks like Demonspeed and Disaster Blaster give the big four of thrash metal a run for their money. Murderworld is much more slowed down, creating an eerie sick sound that is more sludgy than any other song that they recorded. The album's closing song Godslayer begins as slow and sludgy as a Melvins track. The tempo speeds up towards the middle, but every time that you think they will achieve super speed the tempo switches again slowing down to a sludgy tempo. Godslayer ends in a cacophony of wretched guitar wailing.
Combining the sampling of their first album with the metal vibe of their second, White Zombie's third album La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1 came out in 1992. Mixing Manson Family psychedelia, porn movie samples, and a groovy bass line the intro to the album, Welcome to Planet Motherfucker/Psychoholic Slag contains all of the elements necessary for the awesomeness of a White Zombie song. It begins like a B scifi movie, then transitions into a driving dance metal with sex whines, eventually dying off in a swamp of slow overdriven sludge. Black Sunshine begins with a driving bass line and spoken word by Iggy Pop. It is the quintessential love song to a muscle car. It is one of the songs that make your feet move with its ferocity. Iggy Pop ends the song in a truly creepy tone, that continues into Soul-Crusher. The song has little to do with their initial album. The song begins as pure speed metal, but slowly evolves into something that it can finally be termed is the White Zombie sound. I Am Legend is a haunting, tragic, heavy metal ode to the Richard Matheson novel.
White Zombie's fourth and final album was 1995's Astro-Creep: 2000 - Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head. Super-Charger Heaven is a devil tune strung together with samples from an eclectic mix of horror films. Alternating between über mellow and savagely intense, Grease Paint and Monkey Brains has a very dub feel to it. More Human than Human is a dance hit devoted to the Ridley Scott film Blade Runner. It almost has a clubby Ministry vibe to it. El Phantasmo and the Chicken-Run Blast-O-Rama set a new speed record for White Zombie. It is very intense and has samples from a demonic horror movie that I can not recall the name. Blur the Technicolor begins a psychedelic vibe that concludes in Blood, Milk, and Sky which seems to me like a combination of the Beatles Within You Without You and a Faces of Death movie.
White Zombie only recorded four albums before splitting up, but in the last half of the '90s 6 EPs were recorded of different remixes. P.M Dawn's remix of Blood, Milk, and Sky on Supersexy Swingin' Sounds is extremely laid back as you would expect, and awesome. Rob Zombie has gone on to make horror movies, while still touring as a solo artist. Sean Yseult has played in numerous bands over the years, including Famous Monsters, who I was able to see in 1998 I think. I would like to see a reunion years down the road, with maybe an album coming out too. Until then I guess that we'll just have to wait.

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Zombie Picture 001

2010-05-20T01:14:00.005-06:00

Here's a pic that I did for a Facebook Zombie quiz that I created with my nephew Adam back around New Years.

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Yoga Skeleton Prehistory 2: William Blake Edition

2010-04-30T22:50:00.012-06:00

Since I'm not planning on posting any skeletons in yoga asanas until June, I figured that I would let you in on some of my development in drawing skeletons. On the right you see a skeleton that William Blake did for his illuminated poem The Book of Urizen. I first saw this image several years ago when I took a class on Blake. If you haven't read Blake, you should. Here is a link to the William Blake Archive. Straddling the Enlightenment and Romanticism, Blake tried creating a new mythology of his own. In addition to being a poet and artist, he also was a master engraver who did illustrations for other author's books. He hand water colored each of his illuminated poems.
On the left is one of my first recreation of Blake's skeleton. I drew it in ballpoint pen. All of the skeletons that I drew before this were extremely cartoonish and weren't referenced toward anything. At least this one was referencing I've drawn a skeleton in this pose maybe a dozen times. When I worked at a call center I wore a small version on the back of my badge dangling from a jolly roger lanyard. In order to illustrate how little I knew about human anatomy then I have included the following pages from an anatomy text atlas.Go out and read some Blake (preferably illuminated), and listen to some Acid Bath.

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Heavy Band 009: ACID BATH

2010-04-24T02:19:00.014-06:00

Most weeks I have to fit analyses of a lot of albums on a pretty good band, but this week there are only 2 studio albums created by an AWESOME band.
Acid Bath combined the warp of Alice in Chains, the blues of Leadbelly, the progressive vibe of Voivod, the folk of Woody Guthrie, the sinister nature of Slayer, the Psychedelic vibe of Pink Floyd, the wickedness of Dimebag Darrell, the sludge of the Melvins, tons of tempo changes, the hardcore of the Misfits, and lyrics only fitting for Aleister Crowley. I discovered Acid Bath in 1996, after my best friend bought When the Kite String Pops at a garage sale. Soon after we clambered for more, and he ended up buying Paegan Terrorism Tactics at full price. Late the next year we discovered that Acid Bath had disbanded due to the death of their Geezer Butleresque bassist Audie Pitre at the hands of a drunk driver. We were devastated. The most amazing band that we'd encountered had come to an end after only two albums. We'd never see them in concert. My wife and I danced to The Bones of Baby Dolls and Dead Girl at our wedding. The two albums that they released are so intense that I still discover new things to love after listening to them for 14 years. I don't like to swear in my writings, but this band is THE SHIT.
Founded in Morgan City and Houma Louisiana in 1991, Acid Bath formed Phoenix-like from the ashes of two bands, Golgotha and Dark Karnival. Dax Riggs' on lead vocals wails, is almost operatic baritone at times, can growl, and at times moans like Woody Guthrie. Jimmy Kyle's drumming is akin to Dave Lombardo's. Mike Sanchez and Sammy Duet on guitars provide everything from thrash, to folky acoustic, to sludgy warped riffs. Audie Pitre provided the rumbling dark bass. Their demo Hymns of the Needle Freak got them a deal with Rotten Records, thus they recorded 1994's
When the Kite String Pops. Featuring a cover with a self portrait of the serial killer John Wayne Gacy
The album begins with The Blue, which is part Alice in Chains and part Electric Wizard with a little Iggy Pop thrown in. WTKSP features the pure thrash metal song Cheap Vodka. At a little over two minutes, Cheap Vodka is one of the fastest and shortest of Acid Bath's songs. The song is equally at home pumping heavy weights at the gym and huffing rush. The album takes its name from lyrics in a different song, The Bones of Baby Dolls. Though Bones of Baby Dolls is an acoustic ballad, it still has quite a bit of twist and warp in it. I believe it was this song that I heard was inspired by an acid trip on a beach in Florida. I also believe that the bones of baby dolls refers to an exceptionally large joint. Dope Fiend features wailing guitar, barking vocals, many tempo shifts, and heavy bass petal, which created a song that sounds truly wicked. Scream of the Butterfly has a very prog metal feel with trembling vocals. Cassie Eats Cockroaches is a dark, fast, industrial anthem with some of the sickest lyrics and a terrifying sampling of Dennis Hopper from Blue Velvet.
When the Kite String Pops was followed in 1996 with Paegan Terrorism Tactics. PTT's Bleed Me an Ocean opens slow and sludgy like the Melvin's, has six or more tempo changes, and primarily focuses on minor chords. Dax' baritone is perfect for this song, which features both him barking and singing with excellent tone, also in minor chords. The amazing part of that song is that the whole band made all of the tempo changes. Graveflower is a truly psychedelic song. It is extremely driving. The mid section features some of the sickest sounding guitar riff's ever recorded. It also features multiple tempo changes. I was once in a band with two bassists, who went nowhere called Graveflower. Locust Spawning is an entirely evil assault on the gypsy scale. It has a guitar chiming like an air raid alarm reminiscent of Bauhaus' Spy in the Cab. It is part thrash metal and part industrial with tremendous speed. New Death Sensation begins as a mournful acoustic dirge. It swells in the middle to sound almost like Queen. It is an extremely aethereal anthem. Venus Blue begins just as mellow as New Death Sensation, but it alternates between mellow and extremely heavy. Dead Girl is a romantic song for my wife and me. It features extremely bluesy acoustic guitar and vocals.
I believe that Acid Bath broke up not only because of Audie's death, but also because all of the members were extremely talented and pulling the band their own way. They used enough licks that most of their songs could have been divided thrice or quadruple into other songs. I would like to see a reunion of the surviving members, and for them to record an album today now that their styles have changed. Dax and Mike formed the bluesy doom metal act Agents of Oblivion, then Dax moved on to the indie rock Deadboy and the Elephantmen. Sammy moved into a further darker place with his demonic metal band Goatwhore, and he also has played with the sludge metal band Crowbar. If you have or haven't listened to Acid bath GO LISTEN TO SOME NOW.

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Heavy Band 008: Kittie

2010-04-10T21:29:00.005-06:00

With a name like Kittie one might expect a mellow girls group or pop rock, in 1999 Kittie unleashed a maelstrom of noise that went by the name Spit. Formed in 1996 in London, Ontario, at the core of Kittie are a pair of sisters. Morgan Lander on rhythm guitar and lead vocals alternates between clear classic rock vocals and a sinister growl. Mercedes Lander's drumming is pure undiluted thrash metal. Kittie's lead guitar and bassist positions are in constant rotation. Though Kittie's lyrics are par for the course for a metal band, they are nothing special. Focusing on dark content akin to a slasher movie, their lyrics fail to evoke real terror. They are still one of the heaviest bands playing today, and what they are missing in lyrical content they more than make up for with their hellish wave of sound.
Kittie's debut album Spit featured nu metal thrashing on Charlotte and Brackish. Do You Think I'm a Whore? has the grooving drive of an old Deftones song. The album's self titled track is pure heavy metal fire.
Kittie followed up the success of Spit in 2001 with Oracle. Featuring a much heavier cover of Pink Floyd's Run Like Hell and the sludgy single What I Always Wanted Kittie continued their full force assault on any critic that relegated them to the realm of girl group. The album's title track is a driving anthem which initiates the listener and prepares them for the heaviness to come.
Kittie followed Oracle with their 2004 release Until the End, a more melodic album than their previous two. It is also a tad slower than the previous two, and seems to lack some passion of their other albums. The single Into the Darkness is the most mainstream of any Kittie single. Into the Darkness could have benefited from some guitar tremolo. I have visions of a version of this song that is extremely sick with some Dimebag Darrell I'm Broken style guitar. It would make it a truly heavy masterpiece.
Kittie's came back with Funeral for Yesterday, which has much in common with early Judas Priest. The rhythms of the title track and Breathe and Summer Dies are extremely pulsing. While Morgan does not summon ghosts of Rob Halford's past, the instrumentation on the album could easily be confused for rocking Priest. The pumping, heavy, rocking Funeral for Yesterday makes up for any mediocrity that was laid down with Until the End.
Kittie's most recent album In the Black has a refreshingly evil sound. Tracks like My Plague, Die My Darling, and Ready Aim Riot have a truly sick sound with speed, thrash and tremolo in the right proportions. This album is easily one of the heaviest of the new millennium, and it gives me hope for what Kittie has yet to come.

13 Scream Queens

2010-03-28T23:31:00.029-06:00

In compiling a list of 13 scream queens it was difficult to determine who should be included. First I needed to define what a scream queen is. A scream queen is an actress who stars in a lot of horror movies. A scream queen should be able to convey a sense of terror. Often scream queens are the lone survivor of a horror movie, and so they must be strong willed. They must fight through their fear to conquer whatever is trying to kill them. We need to empathize with the scream queen, and so women who star in horror films always as the villainess can not be the scream queen. Here is my list of 13 scream queens in no particular order.

1) Fay WrayFirst Scream Queen

Though there were other actresses that specialized in horror before her (Theda Bara for example) they were all of the silent film era, thus their screams were never heard. Fay starred in four horror films in the years 1932-3 leading up to her starring role in King Kong. Fay was able to convey an element of terror like no other actress of her time period. Though she starred in over 100 films, the majority of these were not in the horror genre, but for a short time in the 1930s she was the scream queen.

2) Asia ArgentoLegacy Scream Queen

The daughter of the great Italian horror movie director/writer/producer, Asia (pronounced ah-See-ah) did not ride on her fathers coat tails. Though he produced the second film that she was in, it was directed by another great of Italian horror Lamberto Bava. She was only 10 and the movie was a sequel to Demons. She left home at the young age of 14. It was not until she was 18, that she had a starring role in one of her father's films 1993's Trauma. Her father used to read her his scripts as bedtime stories, which no doubt warped her personality. She has starred in numerous other movies, many of them in the horror/thriller genre.

3) Linda Blair Satanic Panic Scream Queen

In 1973 we were given a reason to fear demonic possession. The Exorcist was a blockbuster. People who typically wouldn't go to see a horror film went to see this one. People began to believe in demonic possession. At the center of the film was a 13 year old Linda Blair. In the years since it was released, she went on to revive her role in a sequel, and has performed in many other horror movies. She has even done one spoof of the exorcist, 1990's Repossessed.

4) Ingrid Pitt
Most Horrific Real Life Scream Queen

Ingrid Pitt starred in many horror films in the '60s and '70s, but it was her real life that was most horrific. Three years of Ingrid's early childhood were spent in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. One can only imagine the horrors that she saw. It was her work in the 1970s with Hammer Films that gained her the most fame. Though her horror career peaked in the 1970s, she has continued to make horror films/thrillers through to the present.

5) Shawnee SmithMost Unlikely Scream Queen

Shawnee's first horror role was in the 1988 remake of The Blob. She has gone on to star in every film in the Saw series to date, but she hates being scared and doesn't like horror movies. She even hosted the VH1 reality show Scream Queens which focused on finding an actress to appear in Saw VI. The fact that she doesn't like being scared, but has to act terrified in many movies leads to her being the most unlikely scream queen.

6) Adrienne BarbeauToughest Scream Queen

One could classify Adrienne Barbeau as she has been so often classified in the past, by her physical assets, but she is more than that. If someone were to classify her in such a way and she would deliver a Tura Satana quality ass whupping. She shows strength in every role that she has played. She was married to John Carpenter from the late '70s through the mid '80s. She starred in The Fog, Swamp Thing, and Creepshow, and she continues to star in horror movies today, playing the tough woman the whole way.

7) Sheri MoonMost Metal Scream Queen

The first place that the world was introduced to Sheri was in music videos for her boyfriend Rob Zombie's songs. They have married since then, and he has become a horror director. She has gone on to star in his horror films, as well as being an extra in films by horror greats like Tobe Hooper.

8) Tippi HedrenMost Hitchcockian Scream Queen

Melanie Griffith's mom has several Hitchcock roles in her horror heavy repertoire, but it was the gift that Alfred Hitchcock gave Melanie that makes Tippi the most Hitchcockian. Supposedly, Alfred gave Melanie a doll modeled after Tippi in a coffin, which freaked everyone out a bit. Tippi was in The Birds and Marnie, but was also in some episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, as well as horror films by other directors.

9)Virginia MadsenMost Urbane Scream Queen

In 1992 Virginia starred as a graduate student researching urban legends in Clive Barker's Candyman, and her fate as a scream queen was sealed. Before Candyman, she had already starred as the lone woman in Zombie High. She has been in horror movies since, and has always put up the image of an educated woman thrust into horrible circumstances.

10) Rose McGowanSultriest Scream Queen

The only actress to appear in both Planet Terror and Deathproof. Her first somewhat horror role was as Amy Blue in The Doom Generation. She had a big role in Scream that ended in her being crushed by a garage door. She brings a seductive quality in every role that she has, even more than the other scream queens on this list. Hopefully she will continue to steam up the screen in more horror movies.

11) Sigourney WeaverMost Kick Ass Scream Queen

In 1979 we were given a reason to fear space from the hands of Ridley Scott's Alien. We were also given a true kick ass scream queen with Sigourney Weaver's portrayal of Ellen Ripley. She didn't take anything off of anyone, least of all some extraterrestrial with an exoskeleton. She starred in three sequels to Alien. She has been in many horror films since, sometimes as a villain, but always kick ass.

12) Jamie Lee CurtisMost Iconic Scream Queen

Though the slasher film was invented in 1974 by Tobe Hooper with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it was not until 1978 that John Carpenter lay down the rules with Halloween. Jamie Lee Curtis starred as the good babysitter, who didn't party or have teen sex. Thus she escaped and lived to fight off her demented baby brother. She returned in four sequels including 1982's Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which had an atypical plot without Michael Myers. She was the go to woman for much of the 1980s for high budget horror.

13) Linnea Quigley

Most Prolific Scream Queen

Linnea's first horror role was in 1975's Psycho from Texas, and she hasn't gone more than three years with out a horror role since. Her most iconic Scream Queen role was as the punk Trash in Return of the Living Dead. One of the most iconic scenes from all horror cinema is her as Trash dancing nude in the graveyard. She has starred in B-movies like Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers and has been an extra in big budget horror like A Nightmare on Elmstreet IV: The Dream Master. At age 51, she continues pumping them out, many on direct-to-dvd. She has been in over 100 movies, many of them horror themed. She may well be able to claim someday that she has been in over 100 horror films.

Heavy Band 007: the PIXIES

2010-03-28T01:12:00.007-06:00

Though the Pixies have come into some popularity in recent years, they were not always seen as cool. When they broke up they had few fans, but it seems that every fan made a band. Their break up was sealed with the release of their last album Trompe le Monde, released the day before Nevermind and the "Alternative" music explosion that would follow it. But instead of talking of the end of the pixies, I should probably start at the beginning.
Formed in 1986 in Boston, the Pixies created music that wasn't being heard at the time. It defied classification. It was soft at points, but wasn't pop. It was incredibly heavy in other areas, but wasn't metal. Their music is simple yet complex. The Pixies have a deceptive sound, urging you to turn up the stereo to understand the quiet mumbling only to blast out your eardrums when the chorus comes in.
Black Francis'' vocals were smooth and quiet at times, yet at other times, screaming and electrified. His rhythm guitar adds to the soft and the loud elements.
Joey Santiago's lead guitar lurks around corners like a flasher waiting for his moment to wail free. When he did thrash it was so much heavier than mainstream metal at the time.
Kim Deal's chugging bass line, kept it simple, but was capable of incredible speed.
David Lovering on drums provided the base from which they could mosey or launch off of. He was the only member of the band to actually have traditional training. Playing drums in high school band.
The Pixies sound incorporated elements of pop, blues, bluegrass, hardcore, and at times hip hop.
The Pixies first full length album was Surfer Rosa, and it was released in 1988. It featured the throbbing post punk anthem Cactus. The song has the feel of a track by T. Rex. The tracks Gigantic and Where is my Mind? make the template for what would be alternative music in the 1990s.
1989's Doolittle had 15 tracks equally ready to be singles, provided that they would see no airplay on mainstream radio. Particularly heavy songs on the album include Debaser, Dead, and Monkey Gone to Heaven. Monkey Gone to Heaven climaxes with belting shouts of "...THEN GOD IS SEVEN!" over a jangly screeching guitars and fierce bass and drums.
The Pixies followed up Doolittle with Bossanova. Bossanova featured the post punk thrashing of Is She Weird? a tune which is reminiscent of Bauhaus' Stigmata Martyr. Bossanova also featured the poppy Dig for Fire and the haunting Blown Away. On this album Santiago's guitar playing came to the forefront with more fuzzy wailing than any of their previous albums.
Their final studio album Trompe le Monde featured one of the heaviest songs ever. Planet of Sound featured Black Francis screaming, Joe Santiago's guitar thrashing, Kim Deal's bass chugging, and Dave Lovering's drums pounding. The song is about an extraterrestrial searching for rock music. IT IS A LOUD SONG. Much of the rest of the album is loud as well, including the songs Head On and Space. Overall Trompe le Monde is the Pixies heaviest album. It features a lot of punk and metal riffs.
Normally I don't mention any live albums for the Heavy Band of the Week, but I have to make the exception with Pixies at the BBC. This album features much harder renditions of There Goes My Gun, Is She Weird? Monkey Gone to Heaven and Wave of Mutilation. Released in 1998 Pixies at the BBC has since gone on to become a heavy college rock staple at stations everywhere. When I was married in 2003 I had the whole album on my playlist at the reception. It is one of my favorite albums of all time, even though it is not a studio album.

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Yoga Skeleton 19

2010-03-27T12:47:00.005-06:00

Here's my 19th drawing of a skeleton in a yoga asana. 6th for the year.

Virabhadrasana B
Warrior Pose 2

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Ultimate Heavy: Tim Curry

2010-03-23T16:23:00.016-06:00

Tim Curry is the ultimate heavy. I know of no other actor who has played so many iconic villains. His first demented role was as a madman in the BBC's production of the tragedy The Duchess of Malfi. A few years later and he was playing one of my favorite antiheroes Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Something that not many remember is that in addition to the lead role of Frank, Tim Curry also played the minister in the opening wedding scene. He has played shady roles ever since, including the shiftless Rooster Hannigan in Annie and the thug Bill Sikes in Oliver Twist. As my first memories are of the late 1970s and early 1980s, my first memory of one of Tim's characters was as the devil like Lord of Darkness in Legend. Tim has played characters named after epithets of Satan so many times that it is difficult to count. He has played characters named Satan in a video game, Lucifer in cartoons, and the serpent in a biblical cartoon. He has even played God once...he must have been a sinister God.
He played the butler in Clue. Since the 80s, he has voiced the narrative in religious cartoons and voiced villains in children's cartoons. He voiced Captain Hook in the animated series Peter Pan and the Pirates, a series which took a more in depth look into the J.M. Barrie novel than any of the films have.
In 1990 he starred as Pennywise the Clown in the ABC miniseries It. He provided a whole nation with reason for coulrophobia.
He played Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island.
Tim Curry is a master of vicious roles and no doubt he will continue playing the villain in movies yet to come. Two roles that I would like to see him in are Dracula and as the Joker in a Batman franchise yet to come.

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Seattle Drawings 1: Salome

2010-03-22T00:31:00.004-06:00

Here's the first drawing in a notebook that I bought in Seattle last May. It's the biblical temptress Salome.
I've drawn skeletons #10 onward in this notebook.

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Heavy Band 006: Sepultura

2010-03-21T10:43:00.015-06:00

In 1984 one of the heaviest metal bands ever was formed in the southeastern Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte. Sepultura was formed by 14 and 15 year-olds, who had a desire to create some of the heaviest music ever. The classical lineup had Max Cavalera, Igor Cavalera, Andreas Kisser, and Paulo Jr. Taking their name from the Portuguese word for grave.
Max Cavalera's singing has been much imitated. Most metal singers with cookie monster vocals want to be singing like him. My message to them, "You are not Max Cavalera. Stop trying so hard or your vocal chords will fall out." Akin to industrial machinery yet somehow organic, Max's voice is truly terrifying. When you add his minor chord rhythm guitar, you get music that sounds truly chthonic.
Max's brother Igor's drumming started out like a traditional thrash drummer's Tommy gun push, but it evolved elements of modern symphonic music and traditional tribal rhythms until his playing became a multibranched tree capable of incorporating any style of drumming.
Paulo Jr. is the only member of the original lineup still touring with the reconstituted band. His down tuned 5 string bass has applied an apocalyptic rumble since the bands early recordings.
Andreas Kisser joined the band in time for their second album 1987's Schizophrenia. His lead guitar's warped shredding has obviously influenced many nu metal bands like KoЯn and Kittie. Andreas and Paulo Jr. are the only two members of the classic lineup to still record and tour with Sepultura.
Sepultura has recorded eleven studio albums, but I will be focusing primarily on the five albums which contained the classic lineup.
Sepultura's second album Schizophrenia was the first to feature what would be the classic lineup. It primarily featured a sound that would come to be called Death Metal. Andreas' relentless shredding can be heard in the instrumental track Inquisition Symphony, as well as the songs To the Wall and Septic Schizo. Max's raw vocals are best seen on Screams Behind the Shadows and Escape to the Void. His singing had not evolved into the roaring growl that would define the voice of Sepultura, and so more variety is seen in his vocals on this album than any other. The song From The Past Comes The Storms is one of the truly great speed metal songs, defining a moment in time. Igor's drumming and Paulo Jr's bass roar throughout, but on From The Past Comes The Storms we hear amazing speed and precision difficult to accomplish with down tuned distorted bass and echoing drums.
Beneath the Remains came out in 1989 and stands as a testament to the power of thrash metal with Slayer's Reign in Blood and Megadeth's Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good. The intro to the title track is mournful and poignant, lulling you into a comfortable place until the song comes crashing through with more speed and adrenaline than a 2000 foot free fall. The tracks Slaves of Pain and Hungry are blisteringly fast and dangerously aggressive. Overall this album is one of the fastest, most pounding metal albums ever.
With 1991's Arise came the solidification of what would be Max's vocal style. His grizzly, dark growl is seen on the tracks Under Siege and Arise. While the album is pretty fast overall, tracks like Under Siege are slower yet louder. It was a harbinger of what was to come with their next two albums.
Chaos A.D. was released in 1993 and it featured more experimentation than any of their previous albums. Paulo Jr's bass playing was slowed down and featured elements of funk and blues. In addition tribal drumming was introduced at points on several songs. The instrumental track Kaiowas featured Andreas' classic acoustic guitar abilities. Max's vocal style further solidified itself on this album. It seemed that the band was ready to transcend all categories and stereotypes of what it meant to play heavy metal.
Sepultura released Roots in 1996. It is one of the most experimental albums in the history of heavy metal. It featured even more tribal drumming and chanting, slackened guitar strings, more funk elements, and occasional creepy whispering. The song Roots Bloody Roots featured almost all of these elements, along with slowed down sickening tremolo guitar. This album also featured more collaborators than any other, including Mike Patton and Jonathan Davis. There were elements of hardcore and the Xavate tribe from the Amazon basin were recorded singing and drumming in their traditional style. All of these seemingly conflicting elements fused into one of the best albums of all time. The album was one of the few that was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful.
Max Cavalera left Sepultura after Roots and the band hired a sound alike singer. The album Against released after Max's departure is okay, but lacks some of the magic that Sepultura had before. The song Choke is cool, but seems more like it was recorded by a Sepultura cover band. Max's new band Soulfly is also missing some of the magic that the classic lineup had. Estranged from his brother after his departure, Igor left Sepultura a decade later and has since patched up his relationship with Max. The classic lineup of Sepultura has influenced the shape of 21st century heavy metal greatly, and we can always hope for a reunion of the lineup in the future.

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Yoga Skeleton 18

2010-03-20T22:20:00.005-06:00

Here's my 18th drawing of a skeleton in a yoga asana.

Adho Mukha SvanasanaDownward Facing Dog Pose

I'm a little surprised that I hadn't drawn this one before for the blog. My wife suggested it a few weeks ago, but I was sure that I had drawn it.
previous yoga skeletons

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More Coulrophobia

2010-03-16T07:42:00.012-06:00

In doing my post of the 13 clowns that you should be afraid of, I missed out on the #1 clown killer: Ronald McDonald. He kills more people with his fatty, artery clogging, sugary, diabetes inducing, salty, hypertension pumping, high caloric sludge that is pushed on us as food than all of the other clowns combined. He looks so benign, which is why I didn't think of him the first time around.
He has not always looked so nice: Willard Scott was the first Ronald, and the way he portrayed him would make J.W. Gacy himself shudder. Much of what would become the archetype of Ronald was in Willard's portrayal. The red hair, oversized red shoes, red lipstick extending to his cheeks, gloves, stripes on a red and yellow outfit. He also wore a box on his head and a paper cup on his nose. I think what makes his portrayal of Ronald so creepy is that he is portrayed by Willard Scott. There is a crazy homicidal look in Willard's eyes at all times, and this is only accentuated by clown makeup.
Ronald can't bear all of the blame for our obese nation of people slowly marching towards their own deaths, but he is one of the largest contributing factors. He pushes the junk to us when we are young, just like a drug dealer outside of a schoolyard. Traditionally his commercials were restricted to the realm of commercial children's programming, but in recent years McDonald's has become a major sponsor of PBS kid shows. Now there is a minute long spot before Sesame Street telling of all the good that McDonald's does. Ronald shows kids how to use their imagination in a spot reminiscent of the Reading Rainbow intro.
It is for these reasons that I should have given Ronald McDonald
the #1 spot for clown that you should be most afraid of, instead of Pogo.

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

Heavy Band 005: Sleater-Kinney

2010-03-14T00:03:00.017-07:00

Last week I featured a band that didn't have a guitarist until recently, and this week I'm going with Sleater-Kinney, a band without a bassist. I didn't believe that a band could be heavy without a low end until I heard Sleater-Kinney. They had the raw energy of a young Iggy and the Stooges, had guitar licks as clean as Fugazi and as dirty as Motörhead, and they constantly evolved, quitting before they could grow stale.
Corin Tucker's pulsing rhythm guitar helped drive their songs. Her vocals a

re truly awesome, at times sweet as dulce de leche and other times shrieking that would put a Banshee's wail to shame. At times her vocals are raw, and at other times almost seem that they are coming from some 1960s R&B group played through an old hand held transistor radio. Tucker's lyrics could be overtly political, subversively personal, or just plain fun.

Carrie Brownstein was on lead guitar summoning ghosts of Pete Townshend's past, teaching a whole new generation what it is to rock. Her guitar playing alternated between the clean staccato sounds of modern pop punk and the fuzzy thrash of an inhalant huffing garage band. Her backing vocals provide a martial push on songs that were often anti-militaristic.
Janet Weiss joined up after their second album, and provided the pumping, heavy, blasting drum line that completed the band's sound.

Tucker and Brownstein formed Sleater-Kinney in 1994 in Olympia. Initially part of the Riot Grrrl movement, Their music evolved from political punk in the style of Dead Kennedys through until they created a style that could only be considered their own.
Their first album, the self titled Sleater-Kinney debuted in 1995. This album was followed by Call the Doctor in 1996. Both of these albums were aggressive punk with political overtones alternating with the alternative ballads that were so popular in the mid 1990s. Sleater-Kinney had the alternative ballad The Day I Went Away and Call the Doctor had Heart Attack. For harder tunes Sleater-Kinney had A Real Man, Call the Doctor had its self titled track.

Their third album, Dig Me Out had the stirrings of what would become the Sleater-Kinney sound. The title track was a pumping anthem full of distorted guitars, slamming drums and Tucker's unbelievably powerful voice. This was the first album with Weiss on drums and it is in part due to this that this is recognized as the solidifying of their sound.

Sleater-Kinney's fourth album The Hot Rock has more of an indie pop feel than any of their other albums. Songs like Hot Rock, God is a Number, and Get Up have a dreamy quality that isn't seen in such a quantity in any of their other albums.
They followed up The Hot Rock with All Hands on the Bad One. Youth Decay from this album could only be created by Sleater-Kinney's unique sound. Ironclad and the album's title track are heavy, yet vulnerable in a way that only they could create.

Sleater-Kinney's heaviest album was One Beat. While the title track, Remainder, and Combat Rock are heavy enough for me to take those songs alone and consider them an extremely heavy band, they slowed down their tempo for Far Away to Black Sabbath time. Far Away has faster portions, but its heaviness is tied to its slow paced parts, its sheer volume, and its unadulterated anger. Far Away stands as a testament to Sleater-Kinney's heaviness.

Sleater-Kinney's seventh and final album was The Woods. It opened with the rocking The Fox, a song that makes me want to go out and commit acts of destruction. Songs like Jumpers and Rollercoaster push this album forth into extremely heavy realms. While I was sad to see that Sleater-Kinney were going into retirement, I would much rather see them go out on a high note as they did, than to slide into mediocrity. I'm pretty sure that they had a few more awesome albums in them, and maybe we will get a listen if they ever have a reunion.

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52=13+13+13+13

2010-03-13T22:17:00.006-07:00

This is my 52nd post. It's also been 52 weeks since I became a father. There are 52 weeks in a lunar year, 13 months. The three Mayan calendars sync up every 52 years. My goal is to eventually have 52 yoga skeletons drawn, and then I will redraw the poses which I am not satisfied with.

Here's my 17th skeleton in a yoga asana.

Garbha Pindasanaembryo in womb pose

previous yoga skeletons

Lately I've been working on focus with my Ashtanga practice. I painted my big toenails black to help me focus during the physical part of my practice and have been trying to completely lose focus during savasana. It seems that there needs to be a balance during savasana: losing focus but not having scattered thoughts. The past couple of weeks my practice has become stronger. This is partially due to the focus, and partially getting back into practice.

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Heavy Band 004: Big Business

2010-03-07T12:26:00.010-07:00

In 2005 while DJing at KBGA (the local college radio station), I came across the sludgiest band that I had heard. Big Business came out with their album Head for the Shallow, an atomic scale assault on clean sounding music. With Coady Willis (the man who gave Murder City Devils their driving, demon exorcising drum beat) on drums they have a forceful beat, the kind of drum beat that you don't want to turn your back on. Coady's screaming in the background adds a punk rock element to their songs, almost someone shouting in opposition to a rally. Jared Warren (formerly of Karp) on bass gives them rumbling bass strings reverberating to their maximum, with lots of overdrive. Jared's bass playing is like getting beaten while you're drunk and throwing up... in a good way. Jared's vocals are soulful yet aggressive, at times screaming past the point that he is horse and pushing it even harder. Initially Big Business started out with just bass and drums, with a friend adding a guitar here or there.
Released in 2005 Head for the Shallow featured the heavy tracks Focus Pocus, Easter Romantic, and Technically Electrified, each demanding to be pushed to the loudest volume possible. This album guaranteed that Big Business would never be played on mainstream radio. The album was too heavy for mass consumption, as has been the rest of their catalog.
In 2006 Big business was deemed so heavy that the godfathers of sludge metal, The Melvins beckoned them to become members of the band. Their next tour had Big Business opening for the Melvins, who then had Big Business as members, including two drummers for the most driving, deafening metal around. Jared grew his hair out into an white man's afro, much akin to Buzz Osbourne's.
In 2007 Big Business released Here Come the Waterworks, proving that their first album wasn't a fluke, they really were that heavy. Here Come the Waterworks featured the heavy hitters Grounds for Divorce, Just as the Day was Dawning, Start Your Digging, and I'll Give You Something to Cry About, which showed that they had a sense of humor in addition to their epic heaviness.
Big Business followed up Here Come the Waterworks with their first album with a formal guitarist. Toshi Kasai was officially announced as a member of Big Business in 2008, and played on the album Mind the Drift, released in 2009. Mind the Drift showed that there is no rest for the wicked, and Big Business is wicked. Track like Gold and Final and Cold Lunch allow Toshi some room to show off his metal chops. The Drift is a slow stoner rock song akin to The Doors Five to One.
Though Big Business has released three of the heaviest albums of all time and are awesome and deafening to see live, their best may still be yet to come. Keep them on your radar, and never turn your back on their drum beat.

Yoga Skeleton 16

2010-03-06T09:18:00.004-07:00

Here is my 16th skeleton in a yoga asana.

PurvottanasanaIntense Eastern Stretch Pose

Other skeletons in yoga asanas

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Treiskaideka Coulrophobia: 13 Homicidal Clowns That You Should Fear

2010-03-02T00:56:00.012-07:00

Finally I have created my list of the 13 most frightening clowns. I started this post a year ago, and finally took the effort to actually write it thoroughly. There are other clowns that could be added to this list, but these are the ones that I came up with last year.

13- Insane Clown Posse ICP should not be feared. Though their lyrics are of murder and debauchery, they are all talk and no action. In his non-fiction book Team Rodent Carl Hiaasen describes how Disney marketed ICP until parental groups objected. Then they dropped the band and another subsidiary of Disney picked them up for distribution. He spends much of the book calling Michael Eisner by the moniker Insane Clown Michael suggesting that the band was cooked up by Imagineers at the behest of Eisner. He speculates that they wrote the lyrics with the intent of stirring up controversy, so that their album would sell well. I don't know whether or not they were created by Disney, but I do know that their homicidal act is just that, an act.

12- Binky from Garfield While he has never killed anyone that we know of, he does have a penchant for torturing animals (especially one cat in particular). Since animal torture is one of the signs of a serial killer, I believe that it's only a matter of time before this sicko starts his murderous rampage. His show consists of large amounts of screaming. In addition, it's pretty creepy that he knows whoever is watching his tortuous show.

11- Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons This clown sidekick ranks pretty low on the list as he has never been able to kill a child that he has attempted so many times to kill. He also has been unable to kill any of the adults that he has attempted to kill, as well as being unable to kill the whole city of Springfield when he attempted. Though he is inept at killing, since he has attempted so many times he has to be included on this list.

10- The Clown Doctors from PeeWee's Big Adventure These clowns rank pretty low on the scale of evil since the only thing that they kill is a bicycle. They do torture Peewee by slowly killing his bicycle though, and they are definitely frightening.

9- "Shoeshine" Tommy DeVito from Goodfellas In one scene of this movie Tommy asks Henry "How am I funny?.. Am I a fucking clown to you?.." This scene has been spoofed many times proving yes, Tommy is a clown...Not a very funny clown, but a terrifying homicidal one.

8- The Clown Doll from Poltergeist In the 1970s and 80s Toby Hooper was the master of horror. He invented the slasher movie with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In 1982 he directed Poltergeist, and with this he created one of the most frightening depictions of a clown ever. There was a clown doll that the family's daughter had that her brother feared. Near the end of the movie, the clown doll comes to life and attacks him. This clown scared the crap out of me as a kid, and brought fear of clowns to new heights.

7- The Joker The Joker has been Batman's nemesis for 70 years. There have been many conflicting stories of the origin of the Joker. The Joker has also been said to be different people. There have been copycats of the Joker operating while he was in Arkham Asylum. Trying to untangle all of these story lines will give you a headache, but that's kind of the point of the Joker. He killed Jason Todd, who was the second Robin. He paralyzed Barbara Gordon (Batgirl). He has at times been credited with killing Bruce Wayne's parents. Just as he appears differently in the comics, he has been portrayed differently in movies and on TV.

Cesar Romero's portrayal of the Joker in the 1960s Batman TV series is a depiction of the crazy, but not demented Joker. This Joker was common in the silver age of comic books, after much of the violence was sanitized by the Comics Code.

Jack Nicholson's portrayal of the Joker in the 1989 film Batman is a prime example of Joker as a gangster/mob boss. This version of the Joker was pretty common in the golden age of comics.

Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker in the 2008 film The Dark Knight is an example of the truly demented, bat shit crazy Joker. This has been a common version of the character since the 1980s, when Frank Miller took over writing Batman.

6-Killer Klowns from Outer Space The campy 1988 classic horror film Killer Klowns from Outer Space featured a gang of extra terrestrial killer clowns that fly around in a UFO that looks like a circus tent. When they kill someone, they wrap them in a compound that looks like cotton candy. The cotton candy substance dissolves the victims so that they can be devoured by the clown creatures.

5- Clown from Spawn Spawn's nemesis in the comic series is a demon that hides in the guise of a fat clown. Clown's real form is Violator, the oldest of the Phlebiac Brothers, who are charged with raising hellspawn to fulfill Satan's purpose for them.

4- Michael Myers as a Child Michael Myers from the Halloween movies, he kills his first victim as a child dressed as a clown on Halloween night. His first victim is elder sister, and promptly after killing her he is sent to an asylum. Though he only had one killing as a clown, his adult total with the William Shatner mask added make him a very prolific killer.

3- Captain Spaulding Introduced in the film Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses, Captain Spaulding uses his roadside attraction to kill tourists, usually city folk. Though the character is seen again in The Devil's Rejects, he doesn't don the clown makeup. My personal favorite part about this clown is how he incorporates his victims into his attraction, as is seen in the case of Fish Boy, who is the Captain's take on the old Feejee Mermaid. As a side note the victim who becomes Fish Boy is played by Rainn Wilson, who plays Dwight Shrute on The Office.

2- Pennywise the Dancing Clown The child killing clown in Stephen King's novel It and the miniseries based on it is terrifying. Like Clown from Spawn, Pennywise is not actually a clown, but a shape shifting beast that takes on the form of a clown to entice children. It then uses their deepest fears to kill them. Pennywise is immortal until killed by adults who were terrorized by it as children.

1-Pogo the Clown aka John Wayne Gacy Pogo is the most frightening clown of all time, because he really did have teenage boys in his crawlspace. Gacy would entertain neighborhood children with his clown character, making balloon animals and doing magic tricks. He would often use some variation of his magic tricks to lure and trap his victims. A favorite trick was showing how to escape from trick handcuffs. After showing this trick he would exchange the trick handcuffs for real handcuffs, trapping his teenage victims with their hands behind their back. They were completely vulnerable to his sexual assaults and murder. Gacy killed at least 33 teenage boys and young men, storing 26 of them in his crawlspace. The stench from below his house became unbearable for his neighbors and he was arrested on July 15th 1978. For the 14 years that he was on death row he painted pictures of himself as Pogo the clown. It is theorized that the setting that he painted the portraits in is a clue to where he buried other victims. In February of 1978 with his crawlspace full he started tossing the bodies of his victims in the Des Plaines River. He was executed with lethal injection by the state of Illinois on May 10th, 1994.

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Yoga Skeleton Prehistory

2010-03-02T00:48:00.004-07:00

Here are what I believe are the first skeletons doing asanas that I drew. I drew them before I had any kind of understanding of human anatomy, but I figured that it would be fun to look at my process. I put them in the front cover of my copy of David Swenson's Ashtanga Yoga: The Practice Manual, along with the opening chant for Ashtanga in transliterated Sanskrit and English translation. They represent a vinyasa. I should probably redraw a vinyasa for the back cover to go with the closing chant.

previous yoga skeletons

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Heavy Band 003: Megadeth

2010-02-28T18:28:00.015-07:00

The only problem that I'm having selecting bands for the heavy band of the week is determining which of the band that I want to feature each week.

In April of 1983, Dave Mustaine was kicked out of Metallica, he was then determined to create a band even greater than them. Though he hasn't had the commercial success that they have, I believe that he accomplished his goal. Megadeth has had more complex music, more intelligent lyrics, and has a much more sinister sound... but first perhaps we should go back to the beginning. The only other constant member of the band is David Ellefson, though from 2003-9 he wasn't in the band. Ellefson has played some of the most influential bass riffs in metal. Dave Mustaine met David Ellefson in 1983 just a few months after Metallica had left him stranded in New York. The story goes that Ellefson heard Mustaine playing upstairs in their apartment building, he went up to Mustaine's apartment and asked if he could bum a smoke. Mustaine closed the door in his face, and Ellefson returned a few minutes later with some money, asking if Mustaine could buy them some liquor. Mustaine replied something like, "Now you're talking." They bought some booze, he revealed that he could kind of play bass, they got drunk and jammed.
The first album that they released was Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good. This album sounds a lot like Metallica's Kill 'Em All album, due to the fact that Dave developed a lot of the songs for Kill 'Em All and he recycled several of the riffs for Killing Is My Business, but in addition to this he added several other riffs that he had been working on since. The album was speedy and thick with truly sick riffs. There were so many riffs in this album that it could have been expanded into 5 separate albums, each of which would have sounded pretty awesome. Killing Is My Business foreshadows the greatness to come. In addition to the kickass title track, the songs Skull Beneath The Skin introduces the band's mascot Vic Rattlehead, who is featured on the front cover, a skull with a visor nailed to his eyes with meathooks holding shut his mouth. The song Rattlehead is perhaps the heaviest song from 1985. It has a speedy feel of the fastest Judas Priest song.
1986 brought Megadeth's second release Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? The title track was a very cynical take on our society. The intro bass riff to the song is one of the most awesome of all time. The bass riff was used as an intro for MTV News for over a decade. Megadeth's cynicism that began on this album was refreshing in the 1980s when no one was questioning societal norms, everyone was just happy to be sheep. Songs like The Conjuring and Good Mourning/Black Friday showed some of the most metal heavy guitar licks, with lyrics about occult topics.
Megadeth's third album So Far, So Good... So What! featured an occult heavy song by the name of Mary Jane that would be worthy of old school Black Sabbath. Mustaine wrote the song In My Darkest Hour after finding out about the death of his former band mate Metallica's Cliff Burton.
Rust in Peace is an amazing work. Every song is a masterpiece. Holy Wars...The Punishment Due is the first song on it. It is the tale of a man who has lost everything that he has, due to the fact that he worships in the wrong church. "They killed my wife and my baby...tried to enslave me." Hanger 18 delves into US conspiracies, specifically Hanger 18 in Roswell NM. The drum intro to Rust in Peace...Polaris leading into the sick guitar riffing makes it one of the hardest songs of all time. Never to be heard on the radio, in part due to its message about nuclear arms. This album is my all time favorite Megadeth album.
In the early 1990s Megadeth continued with their hard rocking with Countdown to Extinction. Countdown to Extinction is the most commercially successful album released by Megadeth. This is in contrast to it being the most political album to be released in 1992. The songs Symphony of Destruction and Architecture of Aggression are about dictatorships and the buildup of the military industrial complex. Foreclosure of a Dream is about the loss of the family farm, as farms were being gobbled up by ConAgra. This was the first album not to feature Vic Rattlehead on the album cover, and he wouldn't be on another Megadeth album for the 1990s.
The last Megadeth album that I am going to write about is 1994's Youthanasia. Featuring the kickass songs Reckoning Day, Train of Consequences, and A Tout le Monde. Train of Consequences opens with the best opening lines of all time, "I'm doing you a favor, As I'm taking all your money, I guess I should feel sorry, But I don't even trust me."

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Yoga Skeleton 15

2010-02-26T23:45:00.006-07:00

Dhanurasana
(bow pose)

previous yoga skeletons

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Heavy Band 002: OT3P

2010-02-21T18:35:00.017-07:00

This is my second installment in my series of examinations of hard rocking bands.

Formed in 2000, Otep has been one of the heaviest bands of the past decade. Otep takes its name from its female lead singer Otep Shamaya, who I will hence call "Shamaya" in order to avoid confusion. Most metal bands with a female lead singer tend to play melodic metal. This is not the case with Otep. Shamaya's singing ranges from subtle to overpowering, from vulnerable to vicious, from weak and whimpering to an empowered guttural growl. Her lyrics are at times ironic and comical, at other times horrific and personal.
The only other constant member of the group is "Evil" J. McGuire, whose bass playing can sometimes sound bouncy like Les Claypool's and other times driving and distorted like Geezer Butler's. He occasionally sings on songs, and the combination of his and Shamaya's growls creates an illusion of being swallowed into the bowels of Hell.
Otep's first release, the EP Jihad was released the summer of 2001. It featured five tracks, four of which that would be reworked for their first full length album Sevas Tra (the phrase Art Saves backwards). The song The Lord Is My Weapon features elements of hip hop and death metal with lyrics that call for an end to religious hypocrisies. The songs Possession and Germ sound like incantations to summon spirits.
Otep's second full length album House of Secrets opens with the song Requiem which puts you in the right mindset to listen to the album. Requiem features the sounds of Tibetan style gongs over sounds of horrific torture culminating in the voice of the victim saying an incantation to a dark goddess calling for vengeance. Requiem leads into Warhead, an indictment of the USA's leaders and lifestyle for getting us into a war in Iraq over oil. Warhead ends with a call to "Break Free!" The third song on House of Secrets is Buried Alive, which begins calmly with the lyrics: "I speak in verses, prophecies, and curses." From there the song slowly grows into a testament of rage. The title track of House of Secrets is haunting and bluesy, anchoring the whole album to a liberation for the victims of abuse.
Otep's third full length album The Ascension is somewhat softer and it has more humor in it that the prior two albums. Though the first song Eet the Children evokes the imagery of the victim, it also contains the lyrics: "Operators are standing by, Some restrictions may apply, Side effects could include, We'll steal the life right out of you." The song Crooked Spoons contains the line: "Take me down... Where the baptized drown." The song Perfectly Flawed is almost a ballad. The song Confrontation brings back the pious rage against the wealthy in their high towers sending impoverished pawns to battle. Though The Ascension contains some softer songs, there is still plenty of heavy songs to get your blood pumping.
Otep's latest album Smash the Control Machine opens with the driving Rise, Rebel, Resist. Smash the Control Machine is Otep's most political album. The album's title track is an outright indictment of capitalism and complacent consumerism. It questions why the quality of life divide between wealthy and poor is becoming so great, and it urges us to wake up and rise up against they who would exploit us. The song Kisses and Kerosene again evokes the images of the victim of abuse's wishes to have vengeance upon her abuser.
Otep is definitely one of the heaviest bands in rock today, which is due to the thrash of their instruments, the dark subject matter that they choose to cover, and their charismatic frontwoman who is equally at home singing a ballad as she is shrieking, growling, whimpering, or reciting ominous passages. Long may they continue to rock in the way that I've come to love them, ever changing and uncompromising.

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

Yoga Skeleton 14

2010-02-20T01:01:00.007-07:00

Here's my 14th Yoga Skeleton. Finally I drew a new one after several months.

Vrishchikasana
(scorpion pose)

Granted, it's a pose that I can't do anymore, but hopefully someday. For more skeleton yoga asanas see here.

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

Sequels and Remakes: '80s TV Edition

2010-02-17T11:36:00.026-07:00

I am finally doing another post on sequels and remakes, for the first post on Disney cartoons, see here. There are countless movies in recent years that are remakes of TV series from the past. When I came up with the idea for this post last year, I wanted to do one on The A-Team, unfortunately there is a movie in production that is a remake of the series. This is my take on some remakes that could be made.

10- Night Court This movie is different from the TV series in that it is no longer a straight forward comedy, but a gritty ironic comedy that follows the lives of the people that work in the court, as well as people arraigned in the court. There are many gritty scenes that make you feel sorry for the people involved.

9- Cheers Modern movie producers have decided that an ex alcoholic who owns a bar was too depressing, as was the location of Boston. They decided to move the scenery bar to LA. The patrons are far from the working class schlubs in the TV series, now the clientele consist of music producers, people in the movie industry and models. Sam's favorite come on is that he is a casting director who can help actresses with their career. Sam readily drinks, but never appears drunk. The bar maids are no longer surly like Carla, but are extremely attractive. There are many gross out jokes and sexual humor.

8- Perfect Strangers The foreigner Balki Bartokamous is portrayed in a much more offensive manner (picture Borat). His cousin is portrayed as an equally offensive flamboyant gay man. Do not watch this film unless you appreciate truly tasteless movies.

7- Alf This movie turns the sci-fi/comedy into a sci-fi/horror/comedy. Initially the furry protagonist doesn't harm the family that takes him in, but neighborhood cats keep being found mutilated. Talks of the chupacabra abound. The family doesn't suspect a thing until their nosy neighbors start being found disemboweled. Alf finally attacks the family who took him in. And only the young boy of the family is able to survive. He does so by destroying the beast, who will only regenerate and come back for countless sequels. Look for tons of ironic pop cultural references.

6- The Facts of Life A musical adaptation of the sitcom. Produced by Disney with the attempt to ride on the coattails of High School Musical. All of the students at the all girls school are attractive. There is no overweight Natalie, or a tomboyish Jo, Tootie doesn't have braces, and even Mrs. Garrett is pretty attractive. The same jokes are made, though they no longer make sense. No lessons are learned, except through song. Everyone is happy and enjoys each others' company.

5- WKRP in Cincinnati Attempting for an accurate portrayal of the goings on at a modern radio station. Unfortunately many things have changed. There are only three DJs, a news director, a station manager, and a receptionist. Most of the sexual innuendos toward the receptionist have been done away with, so that no one will have sexual harassment charges filed against them, and the DJs are only in for a few hours a piece on Monday to record their filler which is added to computer generated playlists. The one on air personality who is in daily is the news director, who is in for one hour per day to record news snippets.

4- Magnum PI The remake of this classic show is played for ironic humor and has Will Ferrell cast in the leading role. Many jokes are made pertaining to Magnum's hairy chest, with Will wearing a gorilla suit in several scenes. It's the traditional slapstick fare that will only appeal to those with an IQ below 70, with most jokes made just on the differences in style between the 1980s and today.

3- Small Wonder The movie adaptation of this 1980's gem has a scientist creating a little girl robot not to have a daughter for his family, but creating a vicious man killing robot to entrap and kill internet predators. He implants a number of weapons in her including: heat vision, electric touch, and incredible robot strength. The movie is a combination of Bionic Woman and Hard Candy. She is destroyed at the end, but is restored in countless sequels.

2- Bosom Buddies In the film adaptation Kip and Henry decide to move into a women's only apartment building, by dressing and posing as women in order to live there. The similarities to the TV show end there, as they've turned it into a gross out comedy in order to make bank at the box office. Look for Kip and Henry to be trapped in areas with women who are doing the most disgusting stuff: big women who have explosive diarrhea, bodily fluids abound, and maybe even some menstrual humor.

1-Dallas: Who Really Shot JR? Dallas was the quintessential 1980s Prime Time Soap Opera, and Who Shot JR? was the ultimate cliffhanger for the series. In the remake of the series for the big screen a new plot is thrown in. In the movie, JR is given the chance to either be killed or for his brother to be killed. This option is given to him by Frank from Donnie Darko, who we now discover is a time lord and incarnation of the elder god Yog Sothoth. The movie runs like an ironic It's A Wonderful Life with JR deciding that it's no big choice for Bobby to die in his place. It then comes out that the Yog Sothoth will allow Bobby to live, and that it will only appear to be a dream. No lessons are learned in this big screen adaptation.

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Heavy Band 001: Guns 'N' Roses

2010-02-12T23:07:00.021-07:00

I'm going to start trying to post a blog on every Saturday about a Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Band.

The first band that I've chosen to feature is Guns N Roses. Once I started listening to GNR I realized that I could never listen to Bon Jovi again. I saw the commercial for 1988's Dirty Hairy: Dead Pool. It featured GNR's Welcome to the Jungle, one of the heaviest songs of all time. I purchased the album Appetite for Destruction soon after. It's So Easy has perhaps the hardest rocking intro of any songs on the album. The intro is reminiscent of Judas Priest's intro to Rapid Fire with it's driving guitar section. Mister Brownstone is just an awesome track with the raunch of Nazareth (aside from Love Hurts). Far from Nirvana being the end of Hair/Butt Metal, this album made savage wounds that allowed Nevermind to make the killing shot.
Though GNR constantly changed lineups, even in the old days, I cannot bring myself to listen to Axl's new incarnations of what was an awesome band. I like GNR best when Slash, Izzy, and Duff were in the line up.
GNR followed up the huge success that was with Appetite for Destruction with GN'R Lies. The first half of GN'R Lies consisted of a live EP that was released prior to Appetite for Destruction. The album opens with the speedy, driven Reckless Life. Reckless Life is the seminal song for early GNR, showing influences of Aerosmith. This influence is also seen in their cover of Mama Kin on the end of the first side. The second side of the album begins with the acoustic ballad Patience, and ended with perhaps GNR's most controversial song of all time. One in a Million offends so many people with it's xenophobic, racist, and homophobic lyrics. Axl Rose insisted that the song was to be taken ironically, and that he wrote it because of anger that he felt towards specific individuals.
GNR followed Lies with the ambitious double album Use Your Illusion parts 1&2. These albums showed much more blues influence, as is seen in the tracks Dust N' Bones, Shotgun Blues, 14 Years, and Bad Obsession. The album also shows folk music influences on the songs You Ain't the First and Civil War. These albums have the most eclectic sound of any of GNR's, with songs that could be played in a smoky bar, and others that you could only see being played in a packed stadium.
The final GNR album with the classic lineup was The Spaghetti Incident, an album of all cover songs that shows many of their influences. The genres covered on the album include punk, raunchy hard rock, hardcore, glam rock, and even a tune by Charles Manson.
After The Spaghetti Incident, the classic lineup fell apart. Axl Rose took 15 years to write Chinese Democracy, with an indistinguishable band. Most of the other band members united with Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots to form Velvet Revolver. Though all parts make decent music, they have yet to make music that captures the same kind of energy that they were able to capture in the late '80s and early '90s.

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13 Draculas

2010-01-03T15:34:00.024-07:00

Dracula is the most portrayed fictional character in the history of film. Based only in name upon a 15th century prince, the character was created by Bram Stoker for his novel Dracula. Every actor to play him has further influenced our image of him. Here are thirteen men that have taken on the Dracula name.

1) Béla LugosiMost Iconic Dracula

Bela Lugosi's portrayal of Dracula in the 1931 film directed by Tod Browning influenced what most American's think of when they think of Dracula or vampires in general. He honed his portrayal on the stage in the Broadway production of Hamilton Deane's play Dracula. It is his Hungarian accent that we think of with "I vant to suck your blood." It is his portrayal that influenced the creation of the Sesame Street Muppet Count von Count. It is Lugosi's portrayal that all others think of when they prepare to play the Count. It was his portrayal that was thought of when the post punk band Bauhaus wrote Bela Lugosi's Dead.

2) Christopher LeeMost Prolific Dracula

Christopher Lee has portrayed Dracula more than any other actor. He portrayed the count in at least 10 films between 1958's Dracula and 1973's The Satanic Rites of Dracula. Most of the films were produced by Hammer Films, and he is the second most thought of actor in the role after Bela Lugosi.

3) Gary OldmanCoolest Dracula
or
Most Bad Ass Dracula

1992 saw the release of Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula. One of the best portraits of Dracula comes from this film. Gary Oldman was perfect as both the aged Dracula in his castle and the young Dracula, prior to becoming a vampire and after feeding in London. As the young Dracula, he is the coolest; as the aged Dracula he is the most bad ass.

4) Frank LangellaSexiest Dracula
or
Most Disco Dracula

In 1977 a revival of Hamilton Deane's Dracula opened on Broadway with sets and costumes by Edward Gorey. Frank Langella was cast in the lead role of Dracula. Two years later he starred in a film version, and the steamiest Dracula was born. Langella has refused to portray a vampire in any of the films that he has made since, in order that he not be typecast. Thankfully for us he made this movie.

5)John CarradineMost Waspy Dracula

The 1945 film House of Dracula features John Carradine in the most waspy portrayal of Dracula ever. Carradine's portrayal is noteworthy, because it is the most emotionless.

6) Udo KierCreepiest Dracula

Released in 1974 Blood for Dracula is also sometimes known as Andy Warhol's Dracula, because he produced the film. Blood for Dracula was written and directed by Paul Morrissey, who did most of Andy's films. In the movie, Dracula needs to find a virgin to feed from in order to grow younger. Though the film isn't the best Dracula movie, Udo Kier's performance is the creepiest of any Dracula.

7) Gerard ButlerMost Heretical Dracula

In 2000 the film Dracula 2000 was released and it bombed. A then unknown Gerard Butler starred as Dracula, and most of the other actors in the film weren't known at the time, but have become stars since. The reason that this Dracula is the most heretical is that he is also Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Christ.

8) Zandor VorkovCheesiest Dracula

In the mid 90s I ran across this movie on late night TV. Released in 1971 Dracula vs. Frankenstein is important in the history of horror movies in that it was the final film Lon Chaney Jr. starred in. The movie is sincere in its attempts to scare but is funny instead, which is why it is cheesy. The movie wasn't produced by, but was distributed by Troma, the masters of schlock. Dracula doesn't appear until midway through the movie. When he does appear he is portrayed by Zandor Vorkov, who looks like Dracula if he were portrayed by Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy.

9) Jack PalanceMost Intimidating Dracula

In 1973 Jack Palance starred in a made for TV movie Dracula. The movie incorporated elements of Radu Florescu's research into the real Dracula to the story from Bram Stoker's novel. Palance brought a very intimidating presence to the role, as he did to every role that he played.

10) Leslie NielsenFunniest Dracula

In 1995 Mel Brooks released his take on Dracula with Dracula:Dead and Loving it. In addition to being the funniest Dracula movie to date, it actually was pretty close to the book. In fact, this movie was closer to Bram Stoker's original story than 99% of the movies that have been made.

11) George HamiltonTannest Dracula

Dracula is supposed to be swarthy. George Hamilton isn't swarthy, just over tan and waspy. In the movie Love at First Bite he portrayed the bloodthirsty Count in the campiest offering ever. Released in 1979 I remember this film as a staple of late night movies in the 80s and 90s. Since the humor was intended, it can't be considered cheesy. Though this movie was somewhat funny, it was not the laugh riot that Dracula:Dead and Loving it was.

12) Raúl JuliáCoolest Unseen Dracula

In 1978 Raul Julia replaced Frank Langella in the Broadway production of Dracula. Though he never played the Count in movies or on TV, I think he probably made an excellent Dracula on stage and that he would have been excellent in a movie.

13) Vlad ŢepeşMost Real Dracula

Bram Stoker's inspiration for his bloodthirsty count was taken from the Romanian legendary hero. Only in Romania would they have this man as a national hero. Nicolae Ceausescu took the research done by Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally and twisted it into a propaganda that glorified the violent medieval prince. It made Ceausescu seem a little less wicked to be compared to such a "hero". The name Dracula is Romanian for "son of Dracul(Dragon)". This was due to his father being a member of the medieval order of the Dragon, a society pledged to guard the Holy Roman Emperor. Dracula's father sent him to be held by the Ottoman Emperor as collateral. It was a cruel age he lived in and he was perfectly suited to it.

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2009-08-02T15:10:00.002-06:00

A comic I did in Seattle about centering. To me the most important aspect of yoga practice.

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13 yoga skeletons:39=13+13+13

2009-08-01T23:59:00.038-06:00

This is my 13th yoga skeleton, I am now 1/4 of the way toward my goal. Once I reach 52 yoga skeletons, I will redo the ones that I am not happy with in a new medium. 52 is an important number. There are 52 weeks in the year, and 52 years in the Maya long count calendar before the lunar and solar calendars would sync up. 13 is also my lucky number. 39 is a multiple of 13, as is 52. this is my 39th post over all.

Uttana Padasana
(extended leg pose)

previous 12 yoga skeletons

yoga skeletons

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Yoga Skeleton 12: w/ commentary on LA Ink

2009-07-18T00:42:00.007-06:00

Yoga Skeleton XII:

BakasanaCrane Pose

This yoga skeleton I did a little different. Instead of inking the shading I used the shading from when I drew it w/ pencil. Maybe when I redo it I'll ink instead.
This is the first pose that I've drawn that I can't do now. In the past I could... In the future I will... but now I can't.

LA Ink 2009

I've DVRed LA Ink in the past, but I think I may stop. I was more than happy when Pixie was kicked off. She annoyed the piss out of me. She was like a tattooed Urkel with boobs to coast the show along, though she had no talent and was generally crappy to watch.
What irritated me w/ last week's premier of season 4 was the dismissals of Hannah Aitchison and Kim Saigh. Okay, it was only really that Kim Saigh was no longer going to be on the show. I guess that neither of them provided the drama that was needed to propel the show into the publicity that was needed for a TLC show. Now that Jon and Kate + Hate has all of the country's papers burning with hot headlines LA Ink needs to spice it up a little. I liked both of their ink art, but Kim, with her love of Heavy Meatal and Yoga got my blood boiling.
Not sure if I'll continue to DVR it.

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Yoga Skeleton 11: Confessions of a Heavy Metal Yogi, now with more MJ

2009-07-04T01:44:00.009-06:00

Urdhva Mukha Svanasana
Upward Facing Dog Pose

Yoga

Lately I've been achieving the Heavy Metal side of my moniker, but not the yogi portion. I've been stressing out, and having problems falling and staying asleep. I was drinking coffee and beer daily. The coffee before work, the beer after. Usually 16-32 oz black coffee and 1-2 tall boys ~24-48 oz beer. I haven't been doing any kind of regular yoga practice and have been medicating instead of meditating. I was walking to work, but this week that didn't pan out. A couple of weeks ago I did give up beef, and this week I hadn't had any coffee or beer until tonight when I had a couple of bottles of beer =24 oz. I have had a lot on my plate lately, and it would probably help if I could get into a regular practice.

Rock'n'Roll

Michael Jackson died last week and I am so sick of the media coverage. The bands whose videos I've looked up on youtube in the past week include Pantera, Scorpions, Megadeth, Otep, Queens of the Stone Age, Tool, Primus, Melon Galia, Melissa Auf Der Maur, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, They Might Be Giants, Soundgarden, Black Sabbath, Mudvayne, Sepultura, and Guns'n'Roses. After each video finished playing I was given suggestions of Michael Jackson songs. Normally the suggestions would be the same band or a band in a similar vein, but every suggestion like this was paired with a Michael Jackson video. Don't get me wrong, I have a copy of Thriller on vinly from ~26 years ago, and once in a blue moon I will get drunk and play a song or two from it, but the last thing that I want to listen to after Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills or Man in the Box is Remember the Time or Ben.
Is Neverland going to become his Graceland, with people making pilgrimages to honor him? At least there will be amusement park rides and a zoo, so much more to offer than Elvis' pad. It's sick whatever way you look at it. If kids were molested there, the place has so much bad karma. If kids weren't molested there, it was still the house of someone whose life was so tormented that he chose to live in a dreamland.
I hope the coverage ends soon.

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Web Soup? Ugh!

2009-06-28T23:50:00.002-06:00

I enjoy watching The Soup on E! and I used to enjoy Talk Soup when it was on. I even enjoy watching the web videos on G4's Attack of the Show. You would think that I would like G4's Web Soup, but I don't. Hosted by Chris Hardwick, 3/4 of the videos shown aren't even slightly funny. Most of the remaining 1/4 videos that are funny have either already been on The Soup or Attack of the Show. The jokes after the clips aren't funny either. They really seem to have missed the mark on this one. There's a lot more funny stuff out there, they just aren't searching hard enough. For example, they showed a commercial of a Neti pot. It was just a normal Neti pot commercial, ha ha. I think that they should have shown this video instead. It features the guy who writes Toothpaste for Dinner doing routine nasal irrigation, then coffee, and finally whiskey. It is truly funny. It would have been a much funnier addition to the show than the Neti commercial. I think I'll stop DVRing Web Soup.

As a side note I use a neti pot, and find that it helps me sleep at night. I breathe clearer.
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RIP K. Pattabhi Jois 1915-2009

2009-06-27T22:48:00.005-06:00

Last month the yoga world lost a giant. Being a practitioner of Ashtanga Yoga, I am in a great debt to him. I was never able to make it to Mysore myself, but hopefully will someday to study under his grandson Sharath.

While I was in Seattle, a couple of days before he died, I had a dream. In the dream I was living in an ashram somewhere in the forest in Washington or Oregon. I was gardening and sweeping and doing Ashtanga Yoga. The instructor was K. Pattabhi Jois. This was the first time that I had a dream with him in it, and it was a day or two before he died. It was a very odd coincidence. I wish I had had a chance to know him.

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Yoga Skeleton 10

2009-06-27T00:09:00.007-06:00

I haven't posted in almost 2 months. It has been a crazy couple of months. Starting with a few weeks of unplanned vacation in Seattle due to a family emergency and ending with one of the worst weeks at work that I've ever had. Hopefully I will start posting on a more regular basis now. Here's my first yoga skeleton drawing in June.

Matyasana

fish pose
Yoga Skeleton X

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Yoga Skeleton IX

2009-05-01T22:09:00.006-06:00

This was probably my toughest yoga skeleton drawing to date.

Eka Pada Sirsasanaone foot to head pose

previous yoga skeletons.

I got a few posts I haven't finished yet. A piece on yoga and back pain...The Thirteen Homicidal Clowns That You Should BE AFRAID of...Another post on Sequels and Remakes.

I'll have one out of the pipes this weekend.

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8...8 yoga skeletons. Ah, Ah, Ah...

2009-04-17T22:14:00.009-06:00

Why celebrate 8 yoga skeletons?.. It's because it's my wife's favorite number. I let her choose the pose. She did cat a lot while she was pregnant.

Marjariasana B (upward cat pose)

previous yoga skeletons:
Padmasana (lotus pose) Virabhadrasana A (warrior pose I)
Vrkasana (tree pose) Halasana (plow pose)
Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle pose)
Navasana (boat pose) Urdhva Dhanurasana (upward bow pose)

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HEADBANGER HAZARDS 2: WHIP IT REAL GOOD!

2009-04-11T04:03:00.013-06:00

Whiplash is a horrible injury. It can come from vehicular accidents...Riding on a carnival ride...or headbanging. Headbanging and moshing can really mess up your spine. Phil Anselmo claims that one of the reasons that he had such a drug problem with Pantera was the result of flailing his head every night while he sang songs like Shedding Skin and Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills. All I know is that I never felt sore after headbanging or moshing when I was 16-25. Now I am sore for days after headbanging.

I headbanged so hard when I saw QOTSA live a few years ago that sweat was raining from my long curly hair onto the people in front of us, and we were in a theater with a slope...the next day. I had to take nsaids and put a heating pack on my shoulders.

When I saw the Melvins at a small bar gig, I moshed like crazy with these skinhead dudes, keeping them from stepping on people. As one of the larger men, I felt that I had to take care of the smaller men and the women. The next day I had to soak for hours in the bath, so weak and sore.

When I was 18 I used to thrash to local punk bands Persecuted Bisexual Rednecks (PBR) and Skoidats and local metal in the form of Bacchus and Contortion. I would leave totally beat after a night of drinking/drugging/chain smoking. By the time that I'd had dinner at an all night family restaurant, I'd be ready to ride again and rock out with a few other dudes at somebodies house, with a few babes in tow. Often I'd end up going to party with the guys in PBR, one of whom was batshit crazy. He'd go and commit crazy acts of senseless vandalism. Stealing from someone's car so that he could spread their map/registration/snow scraper/gloves/tire gauge throughout the neighborhood walking/drinking/pill popping/killing 18 yr old braincells/toking/huffing/chainsmoking. His name was Jack, his bassist was Derek. I would have stuffed myself with booze/lortab/BraincellDeath/ganja/whipits/camel filters/top anyway, but with Jack there was so much more chaos and destruction to balance his creativity. Such a good guitarist/stage presence, Fall asleep and you'd have a dick drawn on your face/toothpaste in your hair/bottles broken where you sleep. Creation Requires Destruction to Exist/Destruction Requires Creation to Exist. Point is I'd never used to feel a sore neck or back when I used to Headbang hard, but now I am sore if I roll out the bed wrong, or lose my pillow in the night.. Could be just age though. At 31, I started hearing music from when I was in highschool on the classic rock station. Not mainstream music but Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction and Soundgarden's Jesus Christ Pose.

I don't believe that headbanging and moshing are good for you. Many of my creaks and groans are probably from when I was too hard on my body.

3-7-77

Urbanite's Irrational Fears

2009-04-11T03:28:00.006-06:00

Ever since humans began living in societies, they have feared the woods. Anything chthonic was dark and unreasoning. It was where the beasts lived. It was a place where you were not safe. The more urban a population, the more it feared what lurked outside the walls of the city. Rural populations were subject to less irrational fears of the woods. For the farmer the fear was that his livestock would be killed and eaten by wolves. The farmer couldn't let his children go outside at night for fear that some beast would kill them. The fears of the urbanite were more irrational. The city dweller created fantastical beasts that were much more horrific than anything that existed. While traveling through the wilderness he feared his imaginary monsters more than the highwaymen who were to rob and kill him.
Perhaps the real fear of the wilderness, was due to the darkness, the fear of the unknown. In the woods you can experience real darkness. Cities have always been lit up with lamps that remove the real darkness. Anyone who has spent a night in the woods on a new moon night knows what real darkness is. When only the stars are visible, and you fear you might not find camp after your 0300 bathroom break. For the urbanite, anything could exist in the darkness. Legends spring up when people, who can't see well in the dark, see shadows moving and tell their companions of the beasts that they have witnessed. Their friends tell others, who tell others, and the image of the beast is soon distorted into something that no longer resembles the animal that it was based on.
For the history of civilization man has feared the things that lurk in the shadows of the wilderness. From the serpent in the Garden of Eden to Jason Voorhees, citizens have mistrusted and feared what they imagine to live in the woods. Since there are so many dangerous animals in the woods, it reasons that anyone who would choose to live in the woods must themselves be dangerous. With all of the dangerous men in the woods, any woman who chose to live in the woods must be truly dangerous. The society comes to think of women that live on the outskirts of towns as witches who are able to control the beasts of the woods. Women who are to be feared and destroyed, just as the animals who live in the woods are. How many wolves were killed, because of the Germanic folk tales that demonized the Big Bad Wolf? How many women that lived outside of town were hunted and killed because of some overgrown fear of the dark? In this blog I will attempt to explore the many facets of the urbanite's fear of the woods, of the fantastical monsters that have sprung up from this fear, and of the things that city dwellers have done because of this fear. Hopefully it's gonna be a good ride.

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Yoga Skeleton 7

2009-04-10T22:33:00.007-06:00

Hopefully I'm back on track. And I'll be posting a new yoga skeleton every Friday night/Saturday morn.

Urdhva Dhanurasana (upward bow pose)

Previous Yoga Skeletons
Padmasana (lotus pose) Virabhadrasana A (warrior I pose)
Vrkasana (tree pose) Halasana (plow pose)
Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle pose)
Navasana (boat pose)

Also YogaDawg posted a link to my yoga skeletons on his site. This led to me checking out his site and there is some pretty funny stuff on there. You should check out his article on yoga in the great depression.

Depression era yogis performing Savasana (corpse pose)
on their old school yoga mats.

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Eddie Campbell's BACCHUS

2009-04-09T00:00:00.017-06:00

The best comic series that I've read recently was Eddie Campbell's Bacchus. I was introduced to Eddie Campbell's work in From Hell. Bacchus is based at the core upon Greek Mythology, Campbell updated the characters with one basic assumption: the gods aren't wholly immortal, they can die, they can age.
The action focuses on the aging god Dionysos going by his Roman name Bacchus. Bacchus has lost what the gods used as a fountain of youth. He has aged poorly because of his debauched life of booze and cigarettes. He looks like a weathered old sea captain, wearing a captain's cap and pea coat. He survives on wine and spirits. He won't touch food or water. He also won't touch ale. He has lost an eye due to a corkscrew accident with the abbot Dom Perignon. He is a drifter, and the series begins and ends with him in a jail cell. He is no longer the fair haired youth of Euripides' Bacchae. He is taunted and seems a weak, pathetic, old man. But as in Bacchae he is a savage force to be reckoned with.
Simpson is his faithful servant. Simpson was a classical literature professor, who met Bacchus years ago as he was leading a group of students on a tour of Greece. Simpson, though physically weak, has a great deal of power as a lawyer to the loud roaring god. Simpson is also the undead. He was taken to Hades due to a clerical error, by Hermes. He managed to escape though and serves as the twice born's only surviving worshiper.
Hermes initially tried to take Simpson back to the land of the dead but eventually made amends with Simpson after the situation was explained by Bacchus.
Hermes is one of the few living gods left. He hasn't aged as poorly as Bacchus, but he is no longer the mercurial messenger of his youth.
It is still his duty to cart away the dead, though Hades himself is dead. Hermes is still strong and virile, but is showing the signs of age. His brow has become gray and he is no longer so swift.

A god who has retained the knowledge of the fountain of youth is Joe Theseus. Though he was only a hero long ago, he has since become a god. He is at odds with Bacchus, not because of his good looks, but because he abandoned Ariadne after she helped him defeat the Minotaur. After leaving her on an island, the god Bacchus took her as his wife, but she eventually died. Joe Theseus is handsome and strong. He has a full head of hair, a beard, and is a financial whiz. He is the enemy of Bacchus. Joe Theseus has a wild card of an ally in the form of the Eyeball Kid.

The Eyeball Kid is one of the funniest characters from the whole series. He is the grandson of Argus Panoptes, the hundred eyed first son that Zeus had with a mortal. The Eyeball Kid has 9 partial pairs of eyes and the power to electrocute with his hands. He stole this power from Zeus and proceeded to kill all residents of Mount Olympus, before going on to kill the majority of the other gods.
There is no reasoning with the Eyeball Kid. Of all the insane characters in the Bacchus universe, he has the least grip on reality. He has gone crazy on power. The power of his immortality and the power of the lightning that he has in his hands. Joe Theseus may only be aligned with him due to the fact that he's afraid of what the Eyeball Kid is capable of.
I think that one of the reasons that I'm such a fan of Bacchus is Eddie Campbell's sense of humor. Though the characters are Greek, the humor is most certainly Scottish. I remember watching Craig Ferguson on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. This was in the years before he had his own show. His sense of humor was so irreverent. Sly but rowdy. His humor was a lot more rowdy on Conan's show. The humor in the world of Bacchus is much the same. You have to pay attention to get the jokes, but when you get them, they are so outrageously funny. I have reread sections and discovered new jokes that would never get past the censors. They are subtle but edgy. Some of the jokes when he was in prison almost made me blush. Though the jokes in Bacchus are profane, they are never obscene. That has a lot to do with the Scottish sense of humor. It is smooth and pleasant, yet coarse and worldly.

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The Dangers of Detox Diets

2009-04-08T03:06:00.005-06:00

It seems that every few years, people latch onto fasting as a diet plan. Since fasting has some negative connotations, Diet hucksters have renamed fasts Detoxification Diets. When it is for religious purposes it is considered a form of corporal mortification. Fasting can bring on a number of unwanted side effects.
The Dangers of Fasting:

Mild side effects include diarrhea, dehydration, and the flushing out of digestive enzymes that are needed for proper digestion.

Without the proper amount of carbohydrates your brain functioning is hindered. That's probably fine if you can sit around all week, but if you are driving a car it can be downright dangerous.

If someone goes on several fasts in their lifetime, they increase their risk of insulin resistance, which leads to Type 2 diabetes.

Fasts can also lead to a sodium or potassium imbalance, which can lead to loss of muscular control, or complete nervous shut down, which could result in death.

The basic premise of Detox diets is that the digestive system does not completely remove waste from your system. Toxins accumulate in your digestive tract that harm your physical well being. This is absolutely false as well as absurd. A healthy individual's digestive tract is very efficient at eliminating waste and toxins from the body. The best way to make sure that your body is eliminating efficiently is by getting enough soluble and insoluble fiber in your diet regularly with water. See here.
Detox diets are an extreme measure which don't figure into moderation. They lead to very dangerous situations, which should be avoided. As with all extreme diets they should be avoided.

BE HERE NOW!

26=13+13

2009-04-06T04:38:00.010-06:00

I've made it to my 26th post, in just over 3 months time. This one has been delayed for a while. Hopefully I can get back into the groove soon, with my posts, my skeleton drawings, and my yoga practice.

Navasana (boat pose)

Nav is one of the most universal word roots in the Indo-European family. Through Greek we end up with words like nautical, through Latin words like navy. Could it be something aside from boat pose?..No.

Previous yoga skeletons:
Padmasana (lotus pose)
Virabhadrasana A (warrior I)
Vrkasana (Tree Pose)
Halasana (plow pose)
Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle pose)

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Sequels & Remakes: Disney

2009-03-24T23:54:00.016-06:00

The hospital must have given our information out to third parties, because we were home with our newborn moments before we started receiving mail for parents. One of the first pieces of mail that I came across was from Disney for 4 Disney DVDs for only the price of shipping. I opened this right away assuming that they meant Disney Classics. Instead, almost all of the movies were sequels to those classics, along with Hanna Montana/Jonas Brothers/ other crap... Hollywood has become too safe in recent years. Instead of giving a chance to a new idea, they go for the movie that is guaranteed to break even... They choose to make sequels, and remakes of older movies and TV shows knowing that they will make money. The problem that I have with all of these sequels and remakes is that they are often mediocre and at odds with the plot of the first movie. The characters are shallow stereotypes of the initial characters, and they act in ways that they would never had in the originals. Instead of allowing someone to write a story that is creative and imaginative, Hollywood executives are more happy to produce something that is mindnumbing that the public is guaranteed to buy. Bet on the sure money. I want some of the money, but don't want to actually create something new (lol, like I could get a new idea through), so I've come up with some ideas for sequels that they could make.

10-Sleeping Beauty II: Insomnia

Sleeping Beauty now has the problem that she can't sleep, thus making her life with the prince a living hell. As a tie in, she finds relief in the form of Lunesta.

9- The Hunchback of Notre Dame III: Judgement Day

Facing Persecution at the hands of an angry mob, Quasimodo decides to out Esmerelda as a witch, which results in her and Phoebus being forced to run from Paris.

8- Tarzan III: Tarzan's Haircut

Tarzan is faced with the challenge of living in society with long hair. He decides to cut his hair to fit in, after many songs praising conformity and cleanliness. Teaches important messages to kids about conforming and getting haircuts. (I'm a little obsessed w/ this I guess.)

7-Peter Pan II: Time to Grow Up

Peter Pan realizes that there is a time to give up on childlike wonder and grow up.

6-Dumbo IV: Dumbo's Rampage

A combined effort w/ the people who did NatGeo's "Dark Side of Elephants: Elephant Rage".

5-The Little Mermaid III: How Ariel Got Her Groove Back

After Prince Eric leaves Ariel, she goes to Jamaica and falls in love with a younger prince, since a woman is nothing without her man.

4-Cinderella IV: The Quickening

Cinderella learns that she and her step sisters are actually aliens from another planet. Every time that she is near to one of them, she feels a tightening in her stomach. She has to kill them all , so that she can be the last one. Realizing that this doesn't make sense with the other films, they return to the roots of the story for Cinderella V: From the Ashes.

3-The Jungle Book III: How May I Help You?

Mowgli moves into the city to pursue the girl from the end of the first movie. He takes a job doing IT Support. After a few months of being yelled at over the phone every day, he decides to move back into the jungle.

2-Beauty and the Beast VI: The Enchanted Channukah

Lumiere's cousin Menorah comes to visit, and teaches everyone about the miracle of the oil.

1-The Sword and the Stone II: Happily Ever After

Arthur marries Guinevere and lives happily ever after. There is never any infidelity in their marriage, and he is never wounded in battle. They do take a Carnival Cruise to the tropical isle of Avalon.

This post took 2 weeks to write. In part due to my new job as a Papa, and in part due to my crappy IP which I will soon be replacing.

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

Yoga Skeleton 5

2009-03-21T14:54:00.007-06:00

Here's my fifth yoga skeleton drawing.

Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle pose)

Previous Yoga Skeletons:
Padmasana (lotus pose)e
Virabhadrasana A (warrior I pose)
Vrkasana (tree pose)
Halasana (plow pose)

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

Another of my first views of Kali: Ray Harryhausen's

2009-03-20T18:58:00.011-06:00

A couple of months back I did a few posts on the goddess Kali and the places I'd first encountered her. I completely neglected perhaps the very first time I saw her. As a kid I was a big fan of the Golden Voyage of Sinbad. I loved Ray Harryhausen movies when I was a kid, and will probably eventually do a post on Harryhausen himself. The reason that I bring up the Golden Voyage of Sinbad was that I believe the first time I saw a representation of Kali was in this move. It was on basic cable when I was ~5 years old. If I recall correctly, she was a statue of the goddess that came to life to fight Sinbad.

(As a side note sci-fi geeks will be thrilled to know that the evil magician Koura was played by Tom Baker of Dr. Who fame. )

Though Kali's appearance in this movie did not follow the traditional mythos, I do not feel that her appearance should be seen as offensive.
Enter Heidi Klum and Seal. That couple has some of the greatest Halloween parties around. A few years ago when she was pregnant, she was the apple that tempted Eve with the serpent wrapped around it. Seal obviously had to dress as Eve. A very clever couple's costume (if a little sacrilegous). They seem to have some great ideas for halloween costumes. Last year they decided to dress up as Kali and Sinbad from the Golden Voyage.

Their costumes raised the ire of many Hindus who didn't feel that one should make fun of their goddess in such a way.
If Klum's costume was offensive, then it's inspiration in the Harryhausen movie should be seen as offensive, but generally it is not seen as offensive. I feel that some people have no sense of humor when it comes to sacrilege. If you want to be offended by a representation of Kali take on Jack T. Chick. His comic on Kali that I posted on earlier is much more offensive.
I believe that part of Halloween should be offending the fundamentally religious anyway. Dress like a pregnant nun accompanied by the Devil.

(as a side note: I believe that whoever designed these costumes did an excellent job.)

The Harryhausen movie was probably my first encounter with Divine Mother Kali, and it was interesting to me to see that that image is still influencing others much less geeky than me.

My posts on Kali.

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

Get Better Sleep Now.

2009-03-20T01:39:00.004-06:00

In our hyper-stimulated world, the quest for a good nights sleep has become our holy grail. Humans generally don't function well without sleep. They make mistakes. The mistakes could be as minor as locking yourself out of your car, or as major as having an accident with a plane full of passengers. We need good sleep, but how do we accomplish this? If you are the parent of a newborn, as I am, it may be impossible to get a good nights sleep. I have often had a hard time sleeping, and usually these would help me out some.

Don't watch disturbing or stressful programs late at night. It has always surprised me that shows like ER and Law and Order are on later in the evening when you should be preparing yourself for bed. It probably has something to do with children's bedtimes. Watching shows where there is a crisis situation causes the adrenaline to course through your body, making it harder to calm down.
Make a list of the things you need to accomplish for the next day, then put it away and don't think about it. I know this may be hard to do, but it can help.
Make your bedroom an argument free zone, then use that time to practice relaxation exercises. Just doing relaxation exercises before bed can induce a better quality of sleep. One that I find helpful is to slow my breath down, counting down from 50, paying attention to the rise and fall of my belly, breathing deep.
Don't drink before bed. You can probably have a drink and it won't affect your sleep much, in fact recent studies suggest that a glass of wine could be good for your melatonin levels. Drinking so much that you induce sleep is bad, because it doesn't allow you to go through all of the stages of sleep, which are all beneficial.
Physically exhaust yourself. If you are active throughout the day you will be more likely to fall into a deep sleep. Don't do anything too close to bedtime as this might keep you up.
Early to bed, Early to rise. It really helps if you can set up a regimented sleep schedule. Setting your internal clock to sleep at a specific time will help you fall asleep. Try to even keep some semblance of your schedule on the weekends too. The more you habituate your sleep times, the easier it will be to fall asleep.
Don't Worry. Bedtime is not the time to think about deadlines, or anything else that stresses you out. Once you get your adrenaline going it will be tougher to calm down.
Listen to Relaxing music. Relaxing music before bed can lead to an easier time falling asleep.
Trade massages with your partner. The right type of touch can ease you into a relaxed state which is more conducive for sleep.

This wasn't meant to be a complete list of methods to find that goal of a good night's rest. If you have any more ideas related to this leave them in the comments section. For more ideas read here.

BE HERE NOW!

Healthy Moderation 2: Avoiding Extremes

2009-03-20T01:28:00.005-06:00

Many of the ills that our society faces health wise are directly linked to the fact that we shoot for the extremes. In many cases an obese person has become so through wholly seeking pleasure, through food, rest, and entertainment. These things are not good in themselves, they are goods that are dependent upon some other good. The anorexic seeks to be thin, not seeing that this is also not a true good. Fitness should be the end goal, though it is not a goal that ends. Fitness is the good that is a good in itself. I realize that it is tough to be moderate. I especially have a hard time with this one. I tend to go overboard with anything new that I discover. I have the propensity towards an addictive personality, thus it is very difficult for me to try to be moderate. I used to be a vegetarian, but once I started eating meat, my diet suffered horribly. It was all burgers and juicy steaks, the fattier the better. Around the time that I began eating red meat again I began another unhealthy habit- smoking. I had quit when I was 22, and didn't smoke again until I was 27. from 27-29 I went through periods of quitting and starting again. I haven smoked a cigarette in over 2 years. I generally drink moderately, but once I graduated from college I accelerated my nightly drinking to the point that I was drinking 3-4 beers a night. My health suffered. I was chronically tired, my weight had surged to 250 lb. I generally felt like crap. I was living to an extreme.
When I became a vegetarian at 22 I lived at the end of another vicious extreme. I began exercising a lot. I was lifting weights 7 days a week, running 5 miles every morning without fail, I was doing yoga 5 times a week, I took up Taekwondo, kick boxing, Hapkido, Judo. It was to the point that I was in the Dojo 3 hours a night 4 nights a week. In the daytime I was riding my bike 70 miles round trip to swim in the river. What was the end result of all this exercise? I was physically exhausted. If I missed any part of my routine I would feel intense guilt about it. I was unable to help friends move as my muscles would give out midway through the day. My typical workout consisted of 2 hours of heavy weight lifting. Where now I would count helping someone move as a workout, then I would just workout early in the day so that I would still get my workout in before the moving.
You can't reach fitness goals if you live in the extreme. You should not look at reaching fitness goals as being torn between extremes, you should look at it as practicing to hit a target. Being torn between extremes does nothing to achieve actual health. You should aim not to overeat, nor under eat. You should aim not to over exercise, not under exercise. There is no plan that works for everyone, so you should try to find one that works for you. The most important rule of thumb, it to not beat yourself up if you slip, just get back on the horse as soon as you can. If you are just beginning start slow, if you are continuing look at a way to re tune your workout.

There is a post in the pipes on the true philosophy of Epicureanism.

BE HERE NOW!

HEADBANGER HAZARDS 1: CRABS (& scabies)

2009-03-19T23:16:00.010-06:00

I noticed that while I have been spending time with articles on yoga, which is one of the two main topics for this blog, I hadn't really spent any time on articles pertaining Heavy Metal Music. I have decided that I am going to be starting a new weekly post on HEADBANGER HAZARDS. These posts will cover several (hopefully comical) conditions that could afflict a Heavy Metal star or die hard follower.

I have chosen to use CRABS as the topic of my first Headbanger Hazard post and I am reserving other STDs for future posts.

Crabs are a universal for the touring heavy metal band, and I have yet to meet a band that has not had them run through at least one or two of their members. I even knew a punk band where all the members caught crabs from crashing at a groupie's place. The bassist and guitarist caught crabs from sleeping with the groupie and her friend, while the drummer only caught crabs from sleeping on her couch. They vowed that it would be their last trip to Spokane, and their performances were greatly hindered for the next few nights, as they missed riffs and whimpered to the itching in their groins.
Crabs is a horrible affliction to heavy metal. If you are a headbanger going to a concert with crabs, you will not be doing much moshing. If, on the other hand the band that you're going to see has crabs, hopefully you get pretty wasted before the show, as they are not going to be playing their best as they try to casually itch their nether regions. The pain that they suffer from the crabs effectively wussifies their demonic lyrics as they whimper more than growl. The riffs will not be clean, and the band will not be syncing up very well. I've seen more metal shows that were killed by crabs. Thankfully I usually had the needs to get drunk / stoned enough to enjoy the show. (I have even been able to enjoy Jam Bands with enough of a buzz.
Sadly, I had my encounter with these little demon bugs when I wasn't in a band, way back in high school. They really will ruin your week. Thankfully I also didn't have any concerts to go to.
Crabs can ruin a concert, but thankfully they won't ruin your life.

3-7-77

Yoga Skeleton 4

2009-03-17T01:39:00.005-06:00

This week's post was postponed a little as my wife was having our first child (a boy) on last Thursday night.

Halasana (plow pose)
previous yoga skeletons:

Padmasana (lotus pose)
Virabhadasana A (warrior I)
Vrkasana (tree pose)

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

Yoga Skeleton 3

2009-03-07T23:44:00.007-07:00

Here's my third yoga skeleton drawing.

Vrkasana (Tree Pose)

previous yoga skeletons

Virabhadrasana A (Warrior I)
Padmasana (Lotus Pose)

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

Forrest J. Ackerman RIP 1916-2008

2009-03-06T20:03:00.017-07:00

Forrest Ackerman did more for science fiction than anyone else in the 20th century. He guided numerous writers, helped organize the first conventions, and was even Ed Wood's agent. It would be impossible to list his many accomplishments relating to sci-fi, thus I will focus my tribute to him on two of his most notable accomplishments: Famous Monsters of Filmland and Vampirella. Both of these were were created by both Ackerman and James Warren.

A little backstory is needed to understand why these two magazines were so important to sci-fi. In 1954 the Comics Code Authority was founded, censoring what could be published in comic books. It was theorized by Fredric Wertham that violence and gore in comics had a causal link to juvenile delinquency. Much the same argument is taken with video games, rock and rap music today. For an explaination of my opinion of this argument see here. If media were able to influence society to commit horrendous acts, then there would be massive spikes in violence relating to the release of this media. There isn't... Of the millions of teens entertained by violent comics, video games, et cetera, there is only a very small minority that will actually be violent. This is because people that are prone to violence will be violent no matter what media they are exposed to. Hitler was a big fan of classical music, especially Wagner, yet no one argues that classical music causes violence and genocide, or that the opera Tristan und Isolde should be banned from performance. There could even be an argument that it could cause teen suicide, since that is what the two main characters do in the opera. Because of the Comics Code, many horror comics that were popular in the 1950s were banned. This includes Tales from the Crypt and the Vault of Terror.

There had to be a way to get the kids the sci-fi/horror monsters that they craved. Lord knew that there was a market for the comics prior to their ban. In 1958 Forrest Ackerman created, with the publisher James Warren, Famous Monsters of Filmland. The reason that they were able to publish a magazine that featured terrifying monsters and horrific stories was because it was a magazine. The Comics Code only had jurisdiction over comic books. A little loophole gave Ackerman the ability to expose a new generation of kids to the horror movies that he so loved as a kid. The original Famous Monsters of Filmland ran for 25 years, covering numerous contemporary horror movies as well as the classics. The magazine also had short horror comics in them.

Ackerman weakened the Comics Code with the publication of Famous Monsters of Filmland, and also showed other publishers that there was a market for just such a magazine. Soon there were many others that were copying Warren Publishing's success hit, but none were as great as the original.

Sadly in the 1970s Famous Monsters began copying older articles and it became irrelevant in the world of horror. In 1983 it ended its run, only to be resurrected in 1993 with the help of Ackerman. The new Famous Monsters were never as great as the classic run. Classic Famous Monsters editions can still be found in used bookstores, but the really good ones from the 50s-60s are more difficult to find than the 70s magazines. The magazines from the 70s are still good though, and since they have many of the great articles from the 60s they're a pretty good read.

The Comics Code was weakened, but horror themed comics could still not be published. In 1969 Ackerman decided that the Comics Code was irrelevant and so he created Vampirella for Warren Publishing. Vampirella was first drawn by one of my personal artistic heroes, Frank Frazetta. Frazetta painted the covers for Vampirella and other artists drew the interiors. Vampirella differed from the traditional vampire in that she was from another planet, a planet completely inhabited by vampires. The name of the planet was Draculon. Vampirella was also different in the fact that she was a heroine who came to earth to punish evil vampires from her home planet who crashed on Earth and were running amok. This new science fiction version of a vampire was something that had never been seen before in vampire mythos. In the Vampirella comic there were several other horror stories along with the continuing story of Vampirella herself.
Forrest J. Ackerman was one of the great proponents of science fiction. He was an innovator who changed classical mythos. Anyone who enjoys sci-fi or horror owes a great debt to Forry for his advocacy and creations within these genres. His collection of science fiction and horror memorabilia was rivaled by none other. He was a great man and will be missed.

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

Doonesbury SUV

2009-03-05T11:50:00.011-07:00

This was the funniest Doonesbury that I've read in quite a while. I've been holding onto it for several years, unsure of why I was keeping it, then last night I dreamed of making it into a blog entry so here it is. It's a commentary on SUVs, at the time I was riding my bike exclusively.

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

Yoga Skeleton 2

2009-02-27T23:17:00.009-07:00

I'm posting this a day early because I'm traveling tomorrow. Virabhadrasana A (Warrior I).

Prior Yoga Skeleton post.
Padmasana (lotus Pose).

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

Diets Create the Forbidden Fruit

2009-02-24T03:55:00.010-07:00

The reason that most diets fail is that they work on the elimination of a food group. That food group then takes on emotional value within your mind, and it becomes the forbidden fruit. The forbidden food will always taste better, because of the desire behind it. Diets set short term goals that once achieved, allows the dieter to binge on the formerly forbidden food. It's best to look forward in the long run: if I eat well I can avoid many of the weaknesses that I associate with old age. I have a 79 year old father who eats well, and rides his bike voraciously. Aside from the occasional joint pain, he is in very good health for his age.
There are many long term goals that one could have to encourage healthy eating at any age. When someone doesn't achieve their short term goal with a diet, it results in guilt. That guilt cycles until it results in binge eating or another eating disorder. Eating moderately means being able to enjoy your occasional steak, your occasional piece of chocolate cake, or you can eat a little bit of those things daily. Deprivation is not the way to long lasting health goals.
It's best to eat well in general, not in the specific. What I mean is that if you eat well generally, but occasionally indulge, you will be more satisfied in the long run.
Here's a metaphor for crash dieting: cramming before a test. Does anyone honestly do well on a test after cramming the night before. I can guarantee that they will not have as firm a grasp on the material as someone who studied constantly throughout the semester. When the material links to a class later, the crammer is going to have a hard time comprehending the new material since they didn't know the basics all that well in the first place. Crash dieting works in the same way, it takes what should be a long term health goal and crams it down into a short period of time, but does little for health later on.
Diets that work on elimination usually fail, because the dieter doesn't have the energy to continue, elimination diets leave the person lacking vitamins and nutrients, and so they never gain the energy boost that comes with healthy eating in the long run. Taking a vitamin pill may help, but without fiber and other nutrients it does little. You could combine a fiber pill with the multivitamin, but then you'd end up living on pills. Who really wants to live on pills and meal replacement shakes. The best option is to eat real foods, but to generally choose healthy foods.
It is also important to remember genes have a role in our size and shape. Not everyone can fit into a size 0. Your goals shouldn't be based on size or shape, but on feeling better by becoming more healthy. The longer you live a healthy lifestyle, the more it will be habituated, and the easier it will get.
Try to gain health through moderation and you will end up happier in the long run.

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

13

2009-02-21T11:51:00.012-07:00

Yeah, this is my 13th post. 13 has always been a special number to me. I was born on the 13th. There were 13 American colonies when we fought for our independence. There are 13 heavens in the Mayan cosmology. I have 13 in Mayan numerals tattooed on my chest in the middle of a Mayan ouroboros representing Kukulkan.

I had a better Ashtanga practice this morning. I hadn't been able to do yoga for the past 2 days, because I was really sore from my practice on Wednesday. I made it the whole way through the finishing sequence today. My handstand vinyasas weren't very good and I was only able to hold tolasana for 5 breaths, but it was definitely better than Wednesday. Oh well, that's why it's called practice.

I've decided that I'm going to try and post a different drawing of a skeleton doing a yoga pose each Saturday. Hopefully I can keep it up. This week I'm posting a skeleton that I drew for an assignment in A&P doing padmasana (lotus pose).

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

Anita Blake: Guilty Pleasures

2009-02-18T22:12:00.013-07:00

The first time I encountered Laurel K. Hamilton's Anita Blake was in the novel Obsidian Butterfly. This was 7 or 8 years ago and I was working my way through a lot of gothic literature. It didn't stick out in my mind among the countless other books. Then came the comic.
The comic books are great. They have made me want to check out the other books and proselytize for them. There are some things that I don't like about them, but there's a lot that I do like. Enough to make me want to write a post on them.
This is Anita. She is a vampire hunter and a resurrector of the dead. In the alternate reality of Anita Blake vampires live among us out of the coffin. Vampires are recognized as citizens of the USA, but are still fighting for their rights. There is a lot of discrimination towards the undead. I know what you're thinking "doesn't this sound like the world of Sookie Stackhouse?..." Somewhat, but the novel Guilty Pleasures was written in 1993, a full 8 years before the first Sookie Stackhouse book.
Zombies exist in this reality, but not in the same way as most of popular culture. Zombies are the reanimated dead, brought back to life by a resurrector. They have a very limited shelf life, and will return back to the land of the dead within a couple of weeks. During their second life they can help to solve crimes by recalling their memories of the first life. A good reanimator can coax the memories out of the zombie, and Anita is a good reanimator. The zombie's memories themselves also have a short shelf life, because zombies decline cognitively quickly. Zombies are resurrected from a form of gris-gris, voodoo, magic, etcetera.
Anita is a vampire hunter as well as a resurrector. Since vampires have rights, they cannot be hunted willy-nilly. Anita is hired by the police to hunt rogue vampires who have been killing humans. Vampires are allowed to exist as long as they feed off of willing donors, and there are quite a few fetishists willing to let vampires suckle off of them.

Phillip is one such donor. He is a stripper at Guilty Pleasures, a male vampire strip club. He is addicted to the bite and willingly submits to a wide variety of vampires, hence the scars. He is the main romantic interest of Anita in Guilty Pleasures.

Jean-Claude is another romantic interest of Anita's. Jean-Claude, however, is a vampire. He is also the owner of guilty pleasures. It was he who advised the police to contact Anita to help them solve a series of vampire murders around which the plot of the book revolves. Jean-Claude is in the habit of calling Anita "ma petite", which seems kind of cheesy to me. It seems like a vampire cliche that an old vampire should speak with a Louisiana accent and be a French/Southern gentleman. I know that prior to Anne Rice this wasn't the case, but since she appeared on the scene it has been so overdone. Jean-Claude is an old vampire, but not nearly the oldest.

Nikolaos is the oldest vampire in the city although she inhabits the body of a preteen girl. Another problem that I have with the comic is that 'Nikolaos' is actually the Greek name that 'Nicholas' is based on. It comes from 'nike ho laos' victory of the people. It is a male name, but used on a female. I think this is because Ms. Hamilton didn't know this and simply was trying for an old sounding name.
Nonetheless, Nikolaos is a force to be reckoned with.

To me, a cool thing about Anita is that she is obsessed with penguins. There is this fearless vampire killer who can resurrect the dead, and she wears penguin shirts with a bed covered in stuffed penguins...stuffed animals that is. It is also pretty cool that she is easily the shortest character in the books, save Nikolaos, the preteen girl who is a thousand years old.

The last part of the alternate reality of Anita Blake's that I think is so cool is the ghouls. Instead of having ghouls that are tied to a master vampire, ghouls are demon beasts that have a resurrector for their master. Ghouls are created when a reanimator dies and is resurrected. Ghouls generally live in cemetaries and rip apart any living thing that they encounter. They cannot live in cemeteries that are consecrated. It is possible that a resurrector that is reanimated will have as many ghouls as zombies that he resurrected in his lifetime.
Overall I love the Anita Blake comics and cannot wait for the Laughing Corpse cycle to be released in graphic novel format.

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

New Beginnings

2009-02-18T10:57:00.003-07:00

Today was my first Ashtanga practice in a few months. I use the David Swenson book at home. Once in a while I'll go to class as a sort of tune up.
It wasn't my best practice ever; It was blocky and awkward, I was exhausted before the finishing sequence, but I did have a good savasana. I could almost feel myself aging backwards.
Oh well, that's why it's called practice. It'll get better as I do it more.

I'm hoping to be able to do the Anita Blake post tonight...

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHanti

New posts in the pipes, hopefully just from the clean pipes

2009-02-08T03:11:00.011-07:00

There are two new entries I'm planning, the first will be done in the imminent future.

This first posting will be a critique of the Marvel comics series Anita Blake : Vampire hunter. I will discuss the ways in which the book followed traditional mythos allowing for the newer motifs. It will be in depth and you will come to understand my enjoyment

The second I have been working on fine" Due to the subject matter this one may be prosponed, I think I may have to do my tribute to Forrest J. Ackerman on the anniversary of his death, but that is along way off.

Here's some clips of Vampirella to tide you over until the Ackerman blog is ready. I really want to do him some honor

I hope to see you soon on these.

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

Can I have an african american on that?...

2009-02-07T22:40:00.006-07:00

A while ago my wife took a picture at a Wendy's restaurant. The picture was of their drive through menu. I hadn't an outlet to express my humor on this until now.

Look at that a little closer.
Let's see, thats:

ketchup...cheese...lettuce

mustard...pickle...onion

mayo...tomato...Black Dude...?

wtf?... I am uncertain what the point of this marketing campaign was, or if it worked to their advantage.

Why is their a black man in the spot where there should obviously be a condiment?..

At least it's been worth a few chuckles for me.

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

Healthy moderation 1: exercise ideals

2009-02-07T19:47:00.012-07:00

There is a precipice that we must try to balance on with weight lifting, and all other forms of exercise. What is this hilltop that we must straddle? It's finding the right amount for you. With weight lifting it is being able to have good form while challenging yourself. If you have good form, but feel that you could go on doing reps for hours, then the weight is probably not heavy enough. If you feel exhausted at the end of three sets, but can only make it through by sacrificing your form, then you are trying to lift too heavy a weight. The right amount of weight is the one that can be performed for three sets with good form and feel as though you couldn't lift it any more by the end of the third set.
Running has a similar balance. How far can you run and how fast without sacrificing your form? If you are able to keep good form, but feel that it is not challenging, you are probably not running far enough or fast enough. If you can run a long distance at a good clip, but your form is very sloppy, you are putting yourself at risk for injuries. The right way to run for best results is to run at a challenging pace and distance that you can perform with the correct form.
The balance of form and challenge is also seen with yoga. If you can attain an asana, but only after sacrificing your breathing rhythm you are trying to do too much. On the other hand if you can keep the rhythm of your breath, but don't feel any stretch, you are not challenging yourself enough. The right balance is the one which is challenging for you, but not so challenging that you can't breathe properly. It's never a good idea to hold your breath while exercising, it may lead to the embarrassment of passing out.
Healthy moderation in exercise is finding the balance of form and challenge. You know your body better than anyone and can fine tune this over time until it is easy because it becomes habitual. Making a concerted effort to balance these two elements will lead to a healthier body with less injuries in the long run.

BE HERE NOW!

Metalhead Haircut

2009-01-31T23:29:00.017-07:00

A week ago I decided to cut my hair. There's kind of a spiritual element to it. I cut it so that I would have no hair when my son Hektor is born. I will continue to grow my hair until my wife is ready to have our next child. As you can see I started w/ long hair and a beard

I shaved that off on 1/22/9. I still had my hair though.

The night of 1/23/9 I shaved my head, still got a tuft to play with.

Then that went too.

I freaked out everyone at our baby shower. Usually the cycle I follow is, grow it out for 4-6 years then dye it all black, last time this included the beard, which was freaky. I then get tired of redying it a year or so later and I cut it off.

Me w/ my sweet Meggie as Haides and Persephone on our first Halloween as a married couple in 2003.

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

Chick Tracts: my dirty little secret

2009-01-26T23:02:00.002-07:00

I abhor fundamental Christianity, which is why I am so conflicted when it comes to Chick Tracts. For the uninitiated: Chick Tracts are small comics, booklets in a strip format that focus on the founder Jack Chick's extremely rigid boundaries of Christianity. They explain the problems with being anything other than a fundamental Christian. I am conflicted because I don't appreciate the rhetoric, but find humor in the propaganda. Some of them are also quite funny. I was reminded of my love of these ridiculous comics since I've been on my Kali binge. I recalled a Chick Tract entitled The Traitor. It is about how Kali worship and Hinduism in general lead to
evil acts.

Another of the many issues targeted by Jack Chick is rock'n'roll music. One of the Tracts that he wrote on the topic of rock'n'roll was Angels?

The premise of Angels? is one of a Christian Rock band The Green Angels that falls under the influence of a shady manager named Lou Siffer (Lucifer?). In the end it comes out that all rock music including Christian rock is the work of the devil.

The Absolute classic of the series is Dark Dungeons. It explains how role playing games lead the innocent into a coven. Personally I've always known that D&D is the gateway to Devout Satanism. Never mind all the debunking that has gone on since the 1980s.

I enjoy reading these greatly and received several as tips at a burger joint I was working at, perhaps it was Jack Chick's Kali that I first encountered. I don't agree with anything in them, but am somehow addicted to the cheesiness of the strips. I have almost gone into a Christian Bookstore (which is itself terrifying to me) to buy a wad of tracks to relish the glory of their trashiness.

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

OOPS SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

2009-01-25T18:31:00.004-07:00

I Screwed up. I said in my last post that the first time I encountered Kali was from Batman. It was not Kali, it was a demon that had similar attributes. The Batman demon has facial hair, and Kali was never depicted as a bearded woman.

from Detective Comics 603, 8/89 $0.75

Perhaps the first time then that I encountered her was in BE HERE NOW.

Ram Dass, 1971 $13.13

Coming Soon: my commentary on my drastic haircut w/ pics. Plus a post on Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter

BE HERE NOW!

OBEY MOTHER KALI

2009-01-13T22:54:00.005-07:00

This is a picture I drew over about 4 nights. I started out drawing the whole thing in mechanical pencil, then I inked it and finished with colored pencil.

I think the first time I encountered Kali was in a Batman comic in the late 80s. Next I met her through the BE HERE NOW. I began to understand her true nature. She is nursing with one hand and has a bloody weapon in the other. She is ugly, she is beautiful. She is Creator and Annihilator. She is mother, she is murderer. She creates a new era by destroying the old. Her Nature is of a nurturer and killer. When she kills her husband Siva she is bringing about a new era as our incarnation is tied to his. I really love the myth of Kali.

Om SHAnti SHAnti SHAnti

Accident @ Work

2009-01-06T01:46:00.000-07:00

Looks like I'm not going to be doing any Yoga for a few weeks. I cut my hand at work while making dinner and had to get three stitches. I had to wait in the waiting room for 1 hr and then with my hand in Betadine for another 1.5 hrs, before they sewed me up. Also the last time I had a tetanus shot was in 1999, so I had to get one of those. My hand hurts worse than it did before.

I was complaining about how bad the tetanus shot was hurting my arm, so my wife asked, "You want me to hit it for you?" I responded sarcastically, "Yeah, why don't you hit it really hard?" Then she did and it has also hurt worse.

I always feel guilty when I go to see the Dr, like it's not as bad as I'm making out. Though I wasn't thrilled about getting stitches, I really didn't want them to say "Oh, it's okay. Let's put a band aid on it."

It's been nearly 9 hrs since I cut my hand and it's still bleeding a bit.