Two weekends ago in yoga training we discussed the Yamas, the five Moral restraints. The first one is Ahimsa, or nonviolence. Of course this brought up several questions and discussions as to what nonviolence actually means.

To go veggie or not, to go organic or not, to be a fruitarian, to sweep the ground in front of you as you walk so as not to kill any insects, to buy only items and clothing that are made in people friendly work environments. And that is just a few of the concepts that automatically spring to mind.

So I’m curious. What does living a nonviolent life mean to you?

…a blessed distraction from the hours of studying I have been involved in. After hours and hours of the calm and meditative music I’ve been listening to while trying to soak in pages of anatomy this list is my happy escape. Every hour I give myself a one song break, plug into my nano (Lola) and dance and sing away the mind haze.

February Music

The Hill – Bombay Bicycle Club

I like the hint of accent he has while sing/talking. You don’t usually hear peoples accents in songs and that’s what makes this sound different to me.

Painter In Your Pocket – Destroyer

Transom swears he’s heard this song before performed by someone else, and I just feel like I’ve heard it before. Which is why I like it. I think it has some Paper Astronomer sounds to it.

If Nothing Happened – PaperDoll

Yup. Another commercial song. The only thing good about t.v. ads lately is their music. This is from the Vicks sick day commercial if you were wondering.

Poster of a Girl – Metric

A great Canadian group. Go Canada! (That’s for good music and the olympics.) These folks used to work with Broken Social Scene, which I had on my last list, but decided they wanted to produce a different sound. And it’s awesome. They also sing the song “Help I’m Alive” which I had on a list last year. And I would highly recommend it as well.

Use It – The New Pornographers

I’ve never been a fan of this group (however always been a fan of their name). But this song totally caught me by surprise. I love it.

Follow the Arrow – Human & Rosi Golan

Just a happy simple song. Feels like it belongs in a commercial or indie movie.

Vertigo – Anya Marina

Another song that sounds like it should be on a commercial. Probably a phone ad.

Horchata – Vampire Weekend

Love Vampire Weekends last album. Happy this new album is still fun and playful like the last. Taking everyday things and making songs around them makes me happy.

Pursuit of Happiness (Nightmare) [feat. MGMT & Ratatat] – Kid Cudi

I’ve liked this song since it came out, but just haven’t put it on one of my mixes yet. So here it is. It seemed personally relevant. Socio/economically relevant too.

Glitter In the Air – Pink

Another Pink song. She really put something good, real, and amazing together with this last album. And if you haven’t yet seen her Grammy performance please youtube it immediately. It was mind blowing and awe inspiring.

Hey Baby – Stephen Marley featuring Mos Def

Offspring of Bob. I listened to a lot of Bob Marley music in highschool and this brings back some of the same mellow vibes with a more refined sound. Definitely a good “romantic moments” song. And Mos Def is great too.

Major Tom – Shiny Toy Guns

I first heard this song on a Lincoln commercial. I had to have it. I searched for months. Not available on itunes. No one even knew who performed it. There were rumors of Cat Power. And then finally, a light from heaven and it was available on itunes! And performed by Shiny Toy Guns. I love them. (Missed their $5 concert here a few years ago by a day. Poster misprint!) This song is by far my favorite on this mix. Close your eyes while dancing to this one.

Bad Romance – Lady GaGa

Yup. Also a big Lady GaGa fan. And no, she isn’t the next Madonna. GaGa does for music and art what Madonna did for music and sex. So while she does push the boundaries and she is sexually inclined she is not removing the musical virginity of the “like a virgin” masses. She is opening our eyes to personal expression, oddity and the fame game and I love it.

Home – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

I had to end the mix with this song. It’s so goofy, happy and sincerely romantic. I dedicate this song to Transom. And the lyrics are awesome. “Well hot and heavy/pumpkin pie/chocolate candy/jesus christ/there ain’t nothing please me more than you”. Fabulous!

Well, that was a 14 song break. Now back to empowered thoracic inhalation, constricted thoracic inhalation, paradoxical inhalation, abdomino-diaphragmatic inhalation, and thoraco-diaphragmatic inhalation. But maybe just one more one song break first. .

So popupstorybook and I are having a baby. One of the many awesome/crazy/weird things we get to do together is name our baby. What does it mean to name a human? How do you choose a good name? I have no clue. The criteria that I have been using include: a name I like, a name that doesn’t remind me of someone stupid, a name with significance (family or otherwise), and a name that is within certain social parameters (i.e. a name that doesn’t invite ostracizing).

One thing I have discovered in this whole naming process is that people love to name! One of the first questions we get when people find out we are having a baby is, “Do you have a name picked out?” When that question is on the table we have a choice. We can a) deflect and say we haven’t narrowed it down or b) offer up a couple names on the shortlist and watch the person struggle to react in an appropriate way. [Side note: being pregnant affords all kinds of opportunities for social experimentation, like observing how many people will touch a stranger's belly without asking].

Whether we go with option a or b, 90% of the time the person throws in their two cents. “I’ve always liked the name Chopper.” “Bukelele is such a cute name.” etc.  Why is naming such a kick? Even when I was a kid I was always jealous of Adam in the biblical story when he got to name all the animals. BTW, I think I would have done a better job–the deer mouse!? At least Spanish Adam had the sense to name it ratón ciervo.

I’m all up in it. So I thought I’d throw some of it into the cyber womb and see if it gives birth to any other ideas . . . Your thoughts?

How about:

Stay home, don’t have kids

Follow underground fashion, act-wierd

Walk on the grass, read a book

Spend your money, spray illegal grafitti

Repeat after me: I am Free

Or:

Let teachers think for you, know your kids’ behavior is determined by DNA

Buy only what’s available to wear, act as everyone else

Walk where the road goes, watch regularly scheduled programming

Do what you have to to survive, you are forced to obey the law

Repeat after me: I am not free

I don’t know why I bother . . .

One of my favorite parts of preppy is the neckwear.  A while ago I discovered Pierrepont Hicks, A New York based company that makes dynamite ties and bowties.  Peirrepont Hicks is run by a couple that got into fashion to follow their dreams.  All of their products are American Made. Hot.

Be sure to check out my personal favorites . . .

The Giles

The Hobbes

First off, I found myself responding to the film in ways I didn’t expect. Avatar wasn’t a story about how amazing it is to switch consciousness between bodies. If it had been, I’d have been bored for 3+ hours. Instead, I found myself getting drawn into a world that still had some “green” left in it.

This was a compelling story line, not because it reawakened some smoldering environmentalism in me, but because it invited me into another possibility of world.

I couldn’t help but read the film through the lens of Heidegger’s language of Enframing. In a Question Concerning Technology, Heidegger suggests that the posture of human being has been taken over by technology. We don’t see the world anymore when we look at it, we can’t. Rather, in the place of trees we see lumber. Rivers become hydroelectric power. Animals become meat, etc.

This Enframing extends even to human being: as we grow accustomed to ordering the world (into what he calls a “standing reserve”) we begin to re-order ourselves as well. If we’re not careful, we become resources too.

According to Heidegger, this is our destiny. Cameron challenges this outcome, not by disagreeing with Heidegger, but by offering a vision of a different world. This vision serves as an interruption to our frame. It creates the space for us to shift our posture toward the world.

The question remains: what frame do we choose for our world?

Maybe it’s the fact that I just turned thirty, or became a father. I’m not sure, but something has got me thinking a lot lately about what I’m worth. And I’m not just talking about the life insurance policy that I keep putting off.

Everywhere I look, it seems that I’m quantizing things. Twenty cents for the hummus I just washed down the drain. Two dollars for letting the bananas rot in the fruit bowl. Fifteen dollars, one cubit foot of waste, thirty-two minutes, forty wipes, and 1/8 tube of cream for a box full of diaper changes.

It doesn’t stop there. Units of time, Interactions, relationships, they feel more and more like sortable data.

So I can’t help but wonder, am I a quantity? Is that what my life has been reduced to? Fifity years and their corresponding earning power?

That’s what I wonder when I should be sleeping.

Yup, getting the list out earlier this month. Yay for me. Perhaps this bodes well for the upcoming posts in 2010. Probably not but perhaps.

So in the interest of full disclosure, Januarys list is not as complete as I would like it to be. I’ve been feeling a change in the air lately. An artistic change that I am desiring in my music, but I’m not finding anyone who is fulfilling my unspoken and unwordable desire. So instead I opted for a few songs that are almost there, songs I can dance to and songs that you just can’t help but sing along to.

January

Whatever You Like (Single Version) – Anya Marina

I would be lying if I said that after hearing T.I. perform this song I didn’t imagine someone (maybe him) saying this to me. And hearing Anya sing it makes me happy because now I   also want the opportunity to say it to someone (maybe T.I.)

Promise – CocoRosie

Just recently discovered this duo and am really digging them. This may be sacrilege, but I feel like there are pinches of Lauren Hill attitude in here. Add to that  a large dash of innocence and a much less developed     sense of rhythm (in a pleasant way) and this song is an interesting recipe.

Bourgeois Shangri-La – Miss Li

Yes, this is the newest nano commercial song. And no, it doesn’t make me feel like a sell out. (If this disturbs you do not continue down this list.) I can’t help but dance to this song. And yes, this is what I   felt like when I went to a private college.

Japan – CocoRosie

Some funny lines about going places. And try listening to the song and not singing the tag line throughout the whole day. I dare you.

Sleepyhead – Passion Pit

Seems otherworldly and juvenile  in the best way.

Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl - Broken Social Scene

Great mellow sound,  sprinkles of banjo and her voice is so great.

The Iliad – Tapes ‘n Tapes

Not sure what I like about this song.  Maybe it’s because it reminds me of being in high school and listening to boys play guitar in their bands or singing around the campfire. Yup, that’s it.

Believe E.S.P. – Deerhoof

This song has just the perfect amount of cowbell. Dark and upbeat at the same time.

Boom – Anjulie

Love the gritty sounds in the background with her smooth vocals over top.

Love Letter to Japan – The Bird and the Bees

Quirky pop. Pleasant.

Love Story – Taylor Swift

( You can’t say I didn’t warn you.)   I was a hater. But this last year won me over. I can’t listen to a Taylor Swift song without singing along at the top of my lungs. Try it. You might like it too.

Please Don’t Leave Me – Pink

Of all the “pop/rock” artist out there, Pink has some of the most honest lyrics. Yes, I’ve been here. And I love how she can mix strength and vulnerability into her songs.

You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift

Another one. These last songs are here simply for sing out loud and dance like crazy fun and enjoyment. That’s what I’m doing right now. (The dancing isn’t so great sitting, but at least I’m          keeping the beat.)

For Your Entertainment – Adam Lambert

Think what you will of his AMA performance, this song is just satisfying trashy pop and we need that. Plus it totally harkens back to the eighties in that hair metal way. Pass the eyeliner and    blue eyeshadow.

Hot Mess – Cobra Starship

I love Cobra Starship!  And I’m not a gambling person, but I would put money on the fact that these guys are fully aware that they are satirizing pop music.

Unstoppable – Kat DeLuna & Lil Wayne

If I were still into the club scene, this would be one of those songs that I just couldn’t stay on the sidelines for. It must be danced to.

Yes, this list was full of pop music. And no, I haven’t sold out. (Is anything selling in this economy?) However, you were warned both in my first post and early on in the list. There is no genre of music that I don’t love. So feel free to pick through the list, choose the “cool alternative music”. Or just listen to it all and relish in the fabulousness that is music.

I recently went to sell some of my clothes at the Buffalo Exchange in Seattle’s University District. I took with me two full bags of clothes–shoes, shirts, pants, sweaters. Before the woman behind the counter sifted through the goods, she informed me that she would only be taking what the store currently needed, and that the store only traded in the most current styles. Fine with me.

I left the counter, browsed, and came back to find that she had only selected two items. A pair of shoes and a cardigan from Urban Outfitters. I got $22 store credit. Fine with me. Before I left though, she said, “You have some good basic styles, but we are looking for the most current versions.” This was not fine with me.

I don’t care about the clothes’ fashion classification, but it seemed she was trying to make me feel better by giving a stamp of approval.  Don’t feel bad, the Buffalo Exchange employee says that your clothes have good basic style. Well guess what? Your mom has good basic style. We just can’t accept her because we trade only in the most current versions.

This mild annoyance got me to thinking about where we get our sense of success or failure when it comes to fashion. I’m not talking about function, like, “these underwear prevent my burlap shorts from giving me a rash.” I’m talking about the social cues that lead us to say “damn, these burlap shorts look fly! (This rash is so worth it).”  And don’t tell me that you came out of the womb with a fully developed sense of what looks great. I have some photos of your feathered mullet  (your emo fedora) to prove it.  So how about it? What are the voices in your life that help you decide what (not) to wear?

I just can’t take it any more.

The internet induced loneliness. Feeling less like I’m connected by the Web, and more like I’m just caught up in it.

I’m tired. Tired of empty status updates and vapid tweets.  Tired of reaching out for the warm comfort of human contact and stroking my keyboard instead.

What did I expect from the Social Networking Revolution? More connectedness? Greater contact and intimacy with friends? Instead I find myself caught up in some virtual social game, a simulation of the connections I really desire.

Are we honestly happiner now that we can broadcast our tasty turkey sandwiches and flat tires and crappy mondays out into the world? I know I’m not.

So I’m done. I’m out. Ta-ta Twitter. Fuck-off Facebook. Shall we actually Myspace, or yours? I’m gonna go Kongregate somewhere else. I have the delete button pressed to my head and I’m about to pull the trigger.

And if you, reading this, just so happen to be one of my actual friends, out here in reality land, don’t worry about my cybercide. Maybe you’ll get a phone call from me. Or a letter!

Wouldn’t that be crazy?!