.. Speaking in parables, geopolitics and geostrategy, international systems, structure and agency, machine learning, artificial intelligence, various forms of martial arts, stellar astrophysics, game theory, 19th century Mitteleuropean opulence, dragons, geomancy, large machines, tiny machines, urban planning, the transportation issues of tomorrow, inconsistencies and wrinkles in the three-dimensional material fabric, relative reality and absolute reality, stewardship, nightlife, fashion (Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Costume National, DSquared, Yohji Yamamoto, Ann Demeulemeester, Lanvin, Neil Barrett, Paul Smith, Hedi Slimane) international energy policy, water rights deregulation, recovering lost artifacts, Realpolitik, New World Anarchy vs. New World Order, the neo-neo debate, Social Constructivism, soft balancing, Critical Theory, the institution of international law originating from The Hague, the familial plots that have dominated recent Western history, courtesans and international ladies of good breeding who understand my need for privacy, thwarting the sinister plans of various super-empowered individuals and scoundrels, eschewing obfuscation, undisclosed warfare technologies, acquiring the rights for essential industries previously held by the centralized governments of the former Soviet states, granting religious freedom to Tibet, sacred geometry, Super String Theory, open manipulation of the time-space continuum and parallel realities to create beneficial futures, art -- especially from Sienna, Florence, and Venice (14th and 15th centuries), minimalism, French Academic, European alchemical drawings after the public corporal ignition of Jacques de Molay -- and architecture (international style, the castles of King Ludwig II of Bavaria), and gathering the team members who can contribute to the vision that humanity, through its self-edification, can create Heaven on Earth. For more information on this matter please see my blog #1.
The greatest version of you.
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.. In no order whatsoever: Massive Attack, Tom Tom Club, Talking Heads, Bach (especially in the morning), Holst, Ravel, Andres Segovia, Peggy Lee, N.W.A., Tears for Fears, Sister Nancy, Soulwax, Faure, LaTour, Trentemoller, Tiga, Tricky, Derrick Carter, John Digweed, Erick Morillo, Sandra Collins, Enigma, Debussy, Ministry, Depeche Mode, INXS, Prince, Nine Inch Nails, The Black Angels, Teddybears, Luke Chable, Black Flag, Against All Authority, CSS, Minor Threat, Circle Jerks, The Ohio Players, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Spank Rock, Gang Star, Deep Purple, Murray Head and the Trinidad Singers, Bobby McFerrin (gotta be happy), Hildegard von Bingen, Pachelbel, Bizet, Puccini, Elgar, Mendelssohn, Palestrina, Joasquin, Handel, Bookashade, Steve Miller Band, Pet Shop Boys, Jesus and Mary Chain, Fela Kuti, Lorin Bassnectar, Mara Soundystem, Cevin Fisher, Steve Lawler, Boards of Canada, Henry Mancini (especially his work on film themes), Leroy Holmes, Ursula 1000, Karminsky Experience Inc., Chris Joss, Sade, Esquivel, Wolfmother, Goldfrapp, Roots Manuva, Ralph Myerz and the Jack Herren Band, Chris Coco, Tutto Matto, Radio 4, Modeselektor, Stevie Nicks, MSTRKRFT, JustIce, Dire Straits, Portishead, Rabbit in the Moon, Sneaker Pimps, Gregorian chant, Keane, The Mars Volta, The Beat Nuts, Numark, Mono, Peanut Butter Wolf, Joe Cocker (You Can Leave Your Hat On!), Black Sheep, Wu Tang Clan, Bill Laswell, Nightmares on Wax, Joni Mitchell, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Count Basie, Etta James, Tori Amos, The Stray Cats, Madonna ('Justify My Love' is too sexy), Deee-Lite, Parliament, Bootsy Collins, Primus, Metallica, Guns 'n' Roses, US3, Digable Planets, Skatalites, The Selecter, English Beat, Madness, The Specials, Hepcat, Bob Marley, Cat Stevens, Beastie Boys, Interpol, The White Stripes, Three Dog Night, The Flamingos, Mungo Jerry, Ray Charles, Booker T. and The M.G.'s, James Brown, Stephane Grappelli, Django Reinhardt, Richie Hawtin, Erol Alkin, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Filter, En Vogue, The Reverend Horton Heat, Joe Cocker, The Moody Blues, Donovan, Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Bach, Matthew Dear, Ryan Elliot, Green Velvet, Basement Jaxx, Gershwin, Desmond Dekker, Toots and The Maytals, Delroy Wilson, Sister Carol, The Lovin' Spoonful, Franz Ferdinand, Matisyahu, Dead Can Dance, João Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto, Boozoo Bajoo, Stan Getz, DJ Shadow, Midival Punditz, dZihan & Kamien, dj Cheb i Sabbah, The Orb, Björk, David Holmes, Felix Da Housecat, Brian Eno (is next to godliness, I'm sure of it), Thomas Newman, Eluvium, Enya (yes, you can have machismo and still dig Enya), Kanye West, Jay-Z, Amon Tobin, Rage Against the Machine, High Contrast, Pink Floyd, Dieselboy (especially the old stuff, circa 1994-97), Goldie, Ella Fitzgerald, Juno Reactor, Gilles Peterson, Faithless, and Andy Caldwell. I like the full range: things that are entirely root chakra-grindy-sexy-firey, beautiful and etherial, divine, dark, compassion-inspiring, fun, spacious, heavy and clamorous, quirky and era-specific, music to remember golden times to, things that are tribal and kundalini-esque, and above all things... the sound of one hand clapping.
.. Scent of a Woman, The Big Lebowski, i am sam, Legend, Lord of the Rings, Labyrinth, Amadeus, Dangerous Liaisons, Ben-Hur, As Good as it Gets, A Mighty Wind, Something's Gotta Give, Star Wars, What About Bob, Ghostbusters, The Mission, Last of the Mohicans, Almost Famous, Syriana, The Smartest Guys in the Room, Shakespeare in Love, Love Actually, Fahrenheit 9/11, American Beauty, Interview with the Vampire, The Power of One, The Inlaws, The Ninth Gate, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Cyrano de Bergerac, What Dreams May Come, and TONS of others...
.. Commercials are the best part about television. The ad agencies spend a lot of money to find out what you're thinking, and those are the results of their inquiry. Pay very close attention to them. As for actual TV shows, I don't own a television so my scope is a little narrow, but... Rome, Mysteries of the Sphinx, travel programs, animal programs, Cops is hilarious, Fox News blows my mind (the proven barometer for the most superstitious, provincial, gullible, and often prejudicial side of the American public), Sherlock Holmes Mysteries, Poirot, and the best show ever made is probably Golden Girls. I've got two words for you: St. Olaf. Another thing that I've come to like about television, since I don't have one, is just how random television can get. I highly recommend trying to watch television — particularly advertising — with new eyes. It is the single greatest social experiment that you can conduct in a half hour time-slot.
.. FICTION: The Lord of the Rings, Cyrano de Bergerac, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (or anything else by Lewis Carroll), The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, Great Expectations, What is to be Done?, Homo Zapiens by Victor Pelevin, The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol, A Slap in the Face of Public Taste (just because of the title... so good), and way too many others.
POETRY: Browning, Gerard Manly Hopkins, John Donne, Ben Jonson, Edgar Allen Poe, Rimbaud, Longfellow, Lewis Carroll, Percy Shelley, e. e. cummings, W.B. Yeats, Walt Whitman, John Milton, Andrew Marvell, Muriel Rukeyser, Christopher Marlowe, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Silvia Plath, and others.
NONFICTION: anything by HPB, anything by Rudolph Steiner, anything about the mysteries, Agrippa, Dee, Gregg Palast, Gore Vidal, Noam Chomsky, Beaudrillard, Manly P. Hall, Thich Nhat Hanh, many of the books that Thomas Cleary chooses to translate, Robert Hand, Hajo Banzhaf, Howard Zinn, John Anthony West, Maurice Herzog, and books relating to art from the Renaissance, Baroque, Romantic, Modern, and Contemporary times.
SPECIAL INTEREST: Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline and Fall of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil by Michael Ruppert, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives by Zbigniew Brzezinski, Resource Wars by Michael T. Klare, Corporate Warriors by P.W. Singer, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy, International Systems in World History by Barry Buzan and Richard Little, The Future of Freedom by Fareed Zakaria.
.. Charlemagne, Gandhi, Jesus the Christ, Hermes Trismegistus, Pico della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino, Giordano Bruno, Paracelsus, John the Baptist, Shakyamuni, Padmasambhava, Lao Tzu, Lorenzo de' Medici, the School of Night, the Shakespeare Circle, Mother Theresa of Calcutta, Pythagoras (yeah, he had a lot more than just a theorem going on), Zoroaster, Enoch, Anne Frank, Jacques de Molay, Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche, Yamantaka, the Dhalai Lama, Count Cagliostro, Count Saint Germain, Thomas Jefferson, the 7 (GWB), anyone who defied the lure of three-dimensional living to combine within themselves compassion, bravery, love, wisdom, and the willingness to sacrifice him/herself for the benefit of all sentient beings.