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Nutshell

Just read a review of Doshi, probably the best so far. Feels great to read that and remember the times Bijoy and me had going to all those places and just being together observing those wonderful landscapes without perspective. And now I am living that dream slowly, that dream of being with nature, immersed in it. Its all coming together well, slow but really nicely. I have a really good feeling about this move and this house is really like from some fairytale book, appletrees outside my window, apricot trees, fig trees, surrounded on three sides by the mighty pines and in front opening out to the valley, looking from above, and onto the Beas river and onwards to the himalayan panorama. And all those bird sounds all talkiing in that visceral language, so many wonderful different frequencies then finally merging into the frequencies of my tibetan bowl resonating through the wood in the veranda and in the house...
In so many words that's where I'm at. :)

...and to quote Osho Ji

Human consciousness has not grown for centuries. Only once in a while someone blossoms - but in millions of people, the blossoming of one person is not a rule, it is an exception. And because that person is alone, the crowd cannot tolerate him. His existence becomes kind of humiliation; his very presence feels insulting because he opens your eyes, makes you aware of your potential and your future. And it hurts your ego that you have done nothing to grow, to be more conscious, to be more loving, more ecstatic, more creative, more silent - to create a beautiful world around you. You have not contributed to the world; your existence has not been a blessing here but a curse. You introduce into the world your anger, your violence, your jealousy, your competitiveness, your lust for power. You make the world a battlefield; you are bloodthirsty, and you make others bloodthirsty. You deprive humanity of its humanness. You help man to fall below humanity, even sometimes below animals.

So many wonderful things, little things, big things, people, moments, silence, space... all in one day. Vashishta, je taime.

Image (Circa 2001)

It begins tomorrow. But, It could end tomorrow. It could end now. Right now. Like gone.

The Last Calligraphers (May, 2010)

Medusa at the Optometrist

Who is X, who is Y?

W# (Full film)

W#: Victor Wooten's language of music. Divided into 4 parts. Please see it in full screen, queue it up and watch them one after the other in HD.

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W# (1/4) from Hinterland Films on Vimeo.

W#

Victor Wooten is an American solo bassist, composer and author.

Born to Dorothy and Pete Wooten, Victor is the youngest of the five Wooten Brothers, the other four being Regi, Roy, Rudy Wooten and Joseph Wooten, all of whom are highly regarded musicians. At age two, brother Regi taught Victor to play bass, and by the age of five, Victor was playing in front of crowds with his brothers in their family band, The Wooten Brothers Band.

Wooten is most often seen playing Fodera basses, of which he has a signature model. His most famous Fodera, a 1983 Monarch Deluxe which he refers to as "number 1", sports a Kahler Tremolo System model 2400 bridge. Fodera's "Yin Yang" basses (designed/created for Wooten) incorporate the Yin Yang symbol - which Wooten often uses in various media - as a main focal point of the top's design and construction. It is often mistakenly thought that the Yin Yang symbol is painted onto the bass, but in reality, the symbol is created from two pieces of naturally finished wood (Ebony and Holly, for example), seamlessly fitted together to create the Yin-Yang pattern.

Though Wooten's basses receive much attention, his most frequent and consistent response when asked by his fans about his equipment (or equipment in general) is that "the instrument doesn't make the music ... you do". He'll often go on to state that the most important features to look for in a bass are comfort and playability. During a question and answer session at a 1998 concert, Wooten stated that "If you take a newborn baby and put them on the instrument, they're going to get sounds out of it that I can't get out of it, so we're all the best." This philosophy seems closely related to Wooten's approach to music in general, which is that music is a language. According to Wooten, while speaking or listening, one doesn't focus on the mouth as it is forming words; similarly, when a musician is playing or performing the focus shouldn't be on the instrument.

As well as playing electric bass (both fretted and fretless) and the double bass, Victor also played the cello in high school. He still plays cello occasionally with the Flecktones. This is the instrument to which he attributes his musical training.

A Bear Film

a bear film from kris anka on Vimeo.