Lily Cole by Wolfgang Mustain

I like Lily Cole because she is so odd looking.  The red hair is obvious but those huge eyes, the doll like face, and those legs! Anyway... the photographer Mustain does a fabulous job with Lily Cole.

Lily Cole 


32-25-35

Morning Beauty | Lily Cole by Wolfgang Mustain



The rest of this excellent pictorial can be seen here.  If your curious about some of his other work I recommend his website.  He works with his brother and they produce unique images, my guess is you'll like it.  



Kindle Time!

I am the happy owner of a new Kindle, so far I'm enjoying using an E-reader.  This picture is silly but the Sunday NYT's, coffee, and a new book is my idea of perfect.


My mom got a Kindle not to long ago and I had a chance to check it out during our Xmas visit.  I was impressed with how light it was and the e-ink is really crisp, no backlighting is easy on the eyes as well.  But the single most important thing was the enthusiastic endorsement from my mom.  She is a lifetime reader and a recently retired librarian (way to go mom!).  If someone who has spent their life around books likes it, I had to take notice.  I'll do a more in depth review once I have a chance to really get a feel for it.


A few obvious CONS to owning and using a Kindle:

1. No sharing allowed.  I think DRM is phony and completely unnecessary.  Concurrent with my new Kindle ownership is research into how to strip DRM from e-books. I'll keep you posted.

2. Kindle's are made of plastic, tons of other nasty chemicals, and use a battery/electricity therefore this little gadget is not PC.

3. It is yet another expensive piece of stuff you lug around and stress out about.  If your book gets stolen, oh well.  If your kindle gets stolen, freak out!  And don't drop it in the tub...

4.  No page numbers?  WTF!

I'm sure I could go on and on but the fact still remains that I love this thing.  Reading!

Julianne Moore January 2011

My favorite redhead being rock star scary!

Julianne Moore for W Magazine January 2011



Neighborhood Coffee - Surf - Food

I love the neighborhood of the outer sunset centered around Trouble Coffee.  Here is an odd review by a women with an interesting website.

Trouble Coffee for a good buzz


Outerlands for delicious food


The General Store for cool shit to buy your girlfriend


Molsuk Surf Shop for the art of surfing


Check it out you won't be disappointed... 


Winter Break Reading Continued

I always look forward to school breaks because I can read for pleasure instead of stressing with my head buried in a textbook.  My goal was to read as much as possible during the frenzied activity of winter break.  Here are the latest two books I have read.


"The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11" written by Lawrence Wright.  Wright tells the story of how we came to the tragic events of 911.  The author is able to condense the information in a readable and informative way that is easy to connect with.  Be warned you will finish this book frustrated and angry due to the knowledge that our leaders really screwed up.  We don't need to be fighting in Afghanistan and 9/11 was preventable.  Wright received a Pulitzer Prize for "The Looming Tower" and I think you'll find it a valuable book to read. 





"Where Men Win Glory" Written by John Krakauer.  It's hard to say this because I have enjoyed so many of Krakauer's other books but.... I thought Where Men Win Glory kind of sucked.  The most alarming response while I was reading this was how I struggled to like the character Pat Tillman.  I just couldn't figure it out.  Tillman is smart and caring with strong moral character, all are quality's I admire in someone.  It is only in the short excerpts from Tillman's journal that I got a good sense of who he was.  It wasn't until reading Melinda's review that I got it.  Krakauer just didn't have enough depth in his material to really pull this one off.  His adoration for the "myth" of Tillman makes for a frustrating read.  Maybe because I had just finished reading "The Looming Tower" and am so pissed off by the lies and deciet from the Bush administration that caused the war in Afghanistan.  Tillman's death was just so useless and everything about the war could have been avoided with first class leadership instead of the bullshit the American people received.  I say skip it you not missing anything.  






MLK An American Icon

A champion of peace,  and someone we can all admire.

Martin Luther King


Below is an excerpt from one of his most powerful writings, "Letter From A Birmingham Jail." The letter was a response to white clergymen who sat on their collective ass and did nothing while King took the message to the streets AND practiced non violence successfully.  

"First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action;" who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season."

Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."
...

"In spite of my shattered dreams of the past, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause, and with deep moral concern, serve as the channel through which our just grievances would get to the power structure. I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed. I have heard numerous religious leaders of the South call upon their worshippers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers say, "follow this decree because integration is morally right and the Negro is your brother." In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churches stand on the sideline and merely mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard so many ministers say, "those are social issues with which the gospel has no real concern.", and I have watched so many churches commit themselves to a completely other-worldly religion which made a strange distinction between body and soul, the sacred and the secular.

So here we are moving toward the exit of the twentieth century with a religious community largely adjusted to the status quo, standing as a tail-light behind other community agencies rather than a headlight leading men to higher levels of justice."

Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Letter From The Birmingham Jail"
April 16, 1963


I love jazz music and when thinking about King a particular writing always comes to mind.  Little known outside the jazz world are King's words written in the forward of the program for the very first Berlin Jazz Festival.  King totally nails what jazz is, who owns it, and why it's important.  

"God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create—and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations.

Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.

This is triumphant music.


Modern jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument.

It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by Jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of racial identity as a problem for a multiracial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls.

Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down.

And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith.

In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Berlin Jazz Festival 
1964

Thank you Martin Luther King. 




Had to throw this in because it's just too good!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE OBAMA
January 17, 1964 

Your beautiful...


A fantastic role model...


And an awesome first lady thank you Michelle..!






The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Comes To America

I enjoyed reading Steig Larsons Millennium trilogy last winter.  Much of what I enjoyed about the books centered around how awesome the character Lisbeth Salander is.  In the Swedish movie adaptation of Larson's books Noomi Rapace is nothing short of amazing.   She looks and acts just like I would imagine Lisbeth to be.  So that brings me to what is happening now, an American film version.  All I can think is "oh shit, this is going to suck." I hear Daniel Craig is going to play Mikael Blomkvist, ughh... We'll have to wait and see what the movie is like but we can get a glimpse of what the American version of Lisbeth is going to look like.  W magazine shows us Rooney Mara in her role as Lisbeth Salander, check it out below...


Swedish movie version promo shot, Lisbeth Salander!

Nommi Rapace discusses the character Lisbeth Salander

Edit:  If you have read Larson's books you'll get a kick out of this piece from a recent New Yorker, The Girl Who Fixed The Umlaut. 


Trouble Coffee

The best fucking cafe in the entire universe..!


There are only three things on the menu.  Coffee, coconuts, and toast. 

My last visit, this is Trouble...




Julianne Moore in Allure

I just love her, she can act AND at 50 she looks amazing!

Allure Nov 2010 | Cover Shoot | by Tom Munro

It is routine to photoshop a fashion shoot but check this out, no digital enhancement just makeup...






An Excellent UL Backpacking Blog

David Loome has an excellent UL backpacking site.  This is not the gear obsessed kook fest that most UL backpacking blogs are.  He has good advice and more importantly great trip reviews from his adventures.  It really motivates you to just get away from the keyboard and GO OUTSIDE.


Currently he is doing a 300 mile unsupported walk through the mountains of Death Valley and should be done on or around today...