Thursday, April 29, 2004

Saw O Z O M A T L I at womad festival a couple of years ago - they have a new album out which you can preview on their site.

Saturday, April 24, 2004

Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power: "George Monbiot
Tuesday April 20, 2004
The Guardian

To understand what is happening in the Middle East, you must first understand what is happening in Texas. To understand what is happening there, you should read the resolutions passed at the state's Republican party conventions last month. Take a look, for example, at the decisions made in Harris County, which covers much of Houston. "
"Han Shan and Shih-te are two inseparable characters in the history of Zen Buddhism, forming one of the most favourite subjects of Sumiye painting by Zen artists. Han Shan was a poet-recluse of the T'ang dynasty. His features looked worn out, and his body was covered in clothes all in tatters. He wore a head gear made of birch-bark and his feet carried a pair of sabots too large for them. He frequently visited the Kuo-ch'ing monastery at T'ien-tai, where he was fed with whatever remnants there were from the monk's table. He would walk quietly up and down through the corridors, occasionally talking aloud to himself or to the air. When he was driven out, he would clap his hands and laughing loudly would leave the monastery."
- D. T. Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, Third Series, 1953, p. 160
Cold Mountain Buddhas (Han Shan): Biographies, Links, Bibliography, Quotes, Poems.

Thursday, April 22, 2004

Going to Glen Coe and Skye later in the year so a colleague pointed me in the direction of this site which has information on some brocks in the area, as well as many of the major stone circles and other megalithic sites in Europe.

Stone Pages

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Foe sent me this link to a site in english on Japanese film. Has lots of reviews and interviews, including interesting some info on Zatoichi, Takeshi Kitano's latest film...
Midnight Eye
Interzone -- Gary Westfahl's Bio-Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Film: Glen A. Larson: "Today, there exists no better indicator of the rampant stupidity, vacuity, and incompetence in contemporary Hollywood than the news that there are now competing factions fighting for the rights to relaunch Battlestar Galactica. The mind boggles; it's like fighting for the rights to make a sequel to Howard the Duck. "