Serengeti Appreciation Month: Week 3: Part 1 - Dennehy, Taoism, and Debussy

There's a track from Dennehy (Lights, Camera, Action), with enough meaning it deserves it's own post. The re-release of the original Dennehy has a few additional songs, and more interludes to connect the story line. Two of the worst songs, Derek & iPod, are shorter but all of the added songs make buying this re-released album worthwhile.

The other day at work I met a painter working at the same property where I garden. Homeboy was nodding his head while painting on a twenty foot ladder; bursting out "Yeah!", and  "Ohhh!". I asked what he was listening to and he said the Roots covering J Dilla. Two of the greatest hip hop artists of this generation. I told him about Serengeti Appreciation Month, but I doubt he will be able to find this post. Regardless, I'll dedicate this song to him. From Dennehy (Lights, Camera, Action) - Here is - Go Paint:

  
Download now or listen on posterous

04_Go_Paint!.m4a (8454 KB)

The song that inspired this post is called: the Neeg. Out of all of Geti's songs, the Neeg is the most meaningful for me. The lines "With so much rushing, and so much discussion over nothing [...]", and "I went to sleep and missed all the hoopla, stunning facts of who's hot [...]", are so awesome it's almost insulting to explain why.

  
Download now or listen on posterous

15_the_neeg.mp3 (5329 KB)

http://mooseprints.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/tao-of-pooh.jpg

These lines remind me of the book, the Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Hoff, and the chapter: Bisy Backson. Rabbit goes to Christopher Robin's house, and finds a sign he reads as:

  

  GON OUT

BACKSON

BISY
 BACKSON

              - C.R.

We all become path dependent to our regular routines. Hoff writes, "If you want to be healthy, relaxed, and contented, just watch what a Bisy Backson does and then do the opposite" (p. 94).  Working too much makes you crazy.  "The athletic sort of Backson - one of the many common varieties - is concerned with physical fitness, he says. But for some reason, he sees it as something that has to be pounded in from the outside, rather than built up from the inside. Therefore, he confuses exercise with work.  He works when he works ,works when he exercises , and, more often than not, works when he plays . Work, work, work. All work and no play makes Backson a dull boy" (p. 94).  Are we all working out for some imaginary idea of perfect health or immortality?

Oh, and does this sound familiar?

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvFH_6DNRCY&feature=fvst]

"This is rap music, something you feel. Word up"

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The Tao of Communication

Two mysteries: What is a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Communications, and what is Tai Chi?

Mention Prof. Comm., or Taiji, those two questions arise, followed by: "What can you do with with that Tai Chi practice?", "Chi is like Zen, right?", or "What can you do with an degree in Communications?".

The most common assumptions are that Professional Communications has something to do with telemarketing, and Tai Chi is something like yoga or pilates: only magical, meditative and mystical. There are many people feeding the superstitious reputation of Tai Chi, and many greasy snake-oil salesmen marketers out there giving the name of communication a black eye.

In everyday communications, and in professional communications, there are negative and positive aspects. There is a damage control side, where the aim of communication is to save face for ourselves, or a company, and a promotional side aiming to gain face or respect.

In other words, there is a positive, and a negative aspect to communications.

The foundational exercises in the Practical Method of Chen Style Tai Chi are called positive and negative circles. In these drills, the elbow moves in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, while moving inward the hand moves reluctantly, and on the outward the elbow moves reluctantly forward.

Elbow in - No Hand in. Elbow out - No hand out.

For a More Detailed Explanation:

The idea of positive and negative should not be confused with an idea that in communicating, or in Tai Chi, all actions are black and white. Think of the Ying-Yang symbol, there is a small white circle in the large black wave, and a small black circle inside the large white wave. The same theory applies to communications, there can be a dot of hesitation in your celebration, or some pride in wallowing in the mire: a bit a doubt in your love, or a bit of enjoyment in your hatred.

In Tai Chi class we laugh, and have all round good time with friends, while practicing movements with quite horrible applications with the intention to defeat opponents without mercy. This opposition is natural, and a thread throughout life.

I am not a Taoist scholar, and much of the theory is beyond me; however, the value of practicing to communicate, or learning a skill like Tai Chi or Qi Gong, becomes more obvious upon reflection. These are skills like any other, the more time spent on task the more effective and efficient you can become.