Shot in the Dark

Books
I read Beth’s note about beautiful mandalas just as I was beginning Thich Nhat Hanh’s Buddha Mind, Buddha Body. He’s a Vietnamese monk who Chris swears by. His writings are poetic, simple but profound and inspiring. In fact, when I read him I found myself smiling not as a result of his cleverness but because his words are so soothing. In Buddha Mind, he describes sanghas as communities where love and harmony exists and he stresses the importance of such a community for maintaining happiness. Hearing from family and friends about all the cool things they’ve discovered helps me feel that I’m part of a geographically dispersed but powerful sangha.

Interviews
I love it when someone I admire writes about someone I admire. If you click on the following link, you can read an article on Cesar Millan by Malcolm Gladwell. It offers some insights into Millan’s background as well as a very cool analysis of his movement by movement therapists. Given how adept dogs are at reading people, it makes sense that the dog whisperer would be an accomplished dog dancer
http://www.gladwell.com/2006/2006_05_22_a_dog.html

Music
Remember when you would cross your fingers hoping to hear your favorite song on the radio? It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to access any kind of music your heart desire for free. If you can’t get enough chilly lounge music in the summer then check out the groovera webcasts. You can go to groovera.com or you can also dial up the channels through the radio stations in Itunes under Electronic. I especially like ambient popsicle.

I know that I’ve mentioned Pandora.com more than once, but I have to shout their name out once more. They have a new podcast available through itunes which explains the musical characteristics of music. I find this particularly cool because as is the case with visual style, I like being able to find the words for patterns which affect me emotionally.
For example, they explain how trance music is able to create a frenzy in dancers.

Links
The following blog is of special interest for teachers who have wrestled with the course evaluation process. It provides a forum for both teachers and students to respond to those evaluations and gives you a peek into those interesting classroom dynamics.
http://rateyourstudents.blogspot.com/


Television
Following the season finale of Entourage on Sunday night, HBO showed a documentary made by Adrian Grenier (Vincent Chase), Shot in the Dark, on his search to connect with his father. I'm sure many who watched the brutal Sopranos and very funny Entourage episodes turned the channel when it came on. But it’s surprisingly compelling and I think part of the reason is that Grenier is not afraid to show his cluelessness about his feelings and his real intentions behind making the movie. As is the case with other successful documentaries, you’re left at the end seeing the “truth” from multiple perspectives and feeling sympathy for all involved.

TheaterIn honor of the Tonys, NYT critics selected their favorite moments on Broadway over the past year. The description of Journey’s End curtain call made me wish I had the resources to do a Broadway tour once a year. At the end of the WW I play, a dugout is blasted into the ground by the Germans and all the soldiers with whom the audience bonded perish. Rather than end the play with the destruction, a black curtain comes down as the “hellish sounds of battle roll forward over the audience. After 30 seconds, a “breath of a bird song” is played and when the curtain flies out the cast of 11 stands in front of a painted backdrop replicating part of the Menin Gate memorial at Ypres, Belgium: rows and rows of names of dead soldiers.” Apparently the audience members were unsure of how to respond because it became unclear what exactly they would be clapping for until the cast removed their helmets indicating that they were actors