My ratty old Nikon had finally run its course (RIP), so last month I felt it was finally time for me to treat myself to a more advanced piece of equipment. I just recently picked up a Mark II 5D and invested in photography classes. Here are a few of the test shots I’ve taken as I practice different methods and techniques. Follow my work in progress as I shoot through the ides of winter. You can expect a weekly or bi-weekly photo journal entry from me for now on. Enjoy! One love, Fisheye.

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med·i·ta·tion? ?[med-i-tey-shuhn]

Me and meditation.

This is my personal experience with a new found activity that has affected my daily life in the best ways possible. Before you read my post, I must advise you that, I am a normal human being grinding against the grain day in and day out. I work the 9 to 5 office job that everyone hates to love and I smoke the daily dosage to keep me mellow. So here we go. About three weeks ago, I was online and for some odd reason I started researching crazy info on 2012 apocalyptic nonsense on youtube and whatnot. I found the usual, ie: planets will align, earth is shifting and disasters everywhere. Felt like I just wasted 2 hours of my life. But something in the back of my head told me to keep searching and finally I stumbled onto this one webpage (LINK).

The site explained more about how 2012 is a time for new beginning, a time of awakening and a time of cleansing. Be aware, I’m being extremely open-minded when I read the post. There was this one post I found called “2012: A Message of Hope”, a very recent article. They have a small part in their documentary about meditation which opened my mind up even more. They showed a clip where they had about 10,000 people meditating in Washington, D.C. for a number of weeks. They then showed an analytical scale of how crime and violence decreased week after week. In another clip, Dr. Deepak Chopra a famous medical & spiritual doctor, lectures about the importance of humanity to have a collective mind towards nature and beings. In short, part of his philosophy states that if our collective mind stores all this negative energy, then the collective mind will reflect natural disasters. Meaning that we are all one, human and nature.

Watch it in the cut and learn a What, How & Why on self-meditation.

I know all this may seem a bit lofty and out there, but after watching this documentary it kind of left me thinking about my own life. If meditation can decrease the acts of violence and stop the tsunami and earthquakes we have today, maybe we should all start to meditate. How I wake up, get ready for work and then sleep and then do the same thing all over again. I never thought about meditating. So I tried it out, googled the position on how to meditate.

I closed my eyes for about 10-20 mins and cleared my mind. I got scared for a bit, thought I got stuck in some crazy hypnosis thing, haha. That was literally it. Clear as night, clear as day, as simple as that. After performing my first meditation I felt really calm and relaxed. I really felt good. I mean I felt dope. I felt perfect like I could go ahead and start my day. Even when I was walking to work I felt different. Hella jolly haha. Felt like I was being upgraded or like I was giving off good energy. After work, I got home and still felt different. Had a positive mind set to everything. I don’t know what it was but I know that after those 20 minutes of complete and utter silence that morning, my whole state of being improved. I mean there were times where I could’ve snapped or could’ve been choked at something or other but I just wasn’t phased. Again, I don’t know if this was all in my head or what but like I said I definitely felt whole.

Anyway, I just had to share that story with ya’ll ’cause meditation has really begun to change my life. I’m still a noob at this, but I still meditate every time I wake up in the morning. The moral of my story is: We all have access to this lifestyle. Slow down, enjoy your day and just meditate. Peace.

Additional links:

http://swamij.com/index-yoga-meditation-meditation.htm
http://mayanprophecy2012.blogspot.com/

Vice Magazine puts together a neat little Party Legends cartoon series asking random musicians and actors like Tyler, the Creator, Nas, Snoop Dogg, Johnny Knoxville and A-Trak about some of their wildest party memories. As expected, Knoxville has the most disgusting story. Illustrations by Jesse McLaren. Videos in the cut.

Either you love him or you hate him. Whatever the case, so far NOIRFANCY‘s That’s Not Me Bro podcast episodes (First podcast with Chris Gibbs of Union LA HERE) have been pretty telling and entertaining. I still have no idea who Noir is, other than that he’s a cultured member of all the goings-on on Fairfax Ave in Los Angeles. Nevertheless, he apparently knows dudes that knows dudes that knows dudes and is able to pull in some great guests. This episode above is with Brick Stowell, probably best known as road manager/photographer for OFWGKTA. Enjoy the recklessness..

Download: That’s Not Me Bro – Brick Stowell (Episode 2)