Buh-Bye
Wednesday, July 2, 2008


-jdl

Labels: for real this time, i swear

1:30 PM
4 comments

Awesome Thing With Images and Words
Tuesday, July 1, 2008

As well all know, there are some things that are indisputably awesome. Natalie Portman, for instance, and free samples of ice cream. Well, I have a new entry for the List Of Things That Are Indisputably Awesome, and it is a comic book.

Wait, no, to call it a comic book would be to sully its awesome pages. No, this is an epic about a band lead by a secret agent that accidentally goes to do battle on an alien planet, and did we mention that Vikings suck and Sensitive Guys always win?

Look, I hate internet humor as much as the next hipster. Super-Cheese-Monkey-Ninjas (!!!) don't do it for me. There is, however, nothing to hate about this:


Did I mention that's free and online? Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 have been proven to fill your daily requirements of Vitamin A-- for awesome.

unbearably yours,
jdl

P.S. Oh, and Joss Whedon wrote it, if you're into that kinda thing.

P.P.S. On a far more serious note, the art's gorgeous, which means you get eye candy with your chuckles. Check it out now! 11:09 PM
0 comments

1-800-SUICIDE
Sunday, June 29, 2008

If it wasn't for these people, I wouldn't be sitting here, writing these words to you. And Alice wouldn't have such a devoted stalker. So click play and think about maybe helping out, because the world needs more blogger-stalkers. (Blalkers? Stoggers?)





-jdl 12:45 AM
0 comments

I Don't Look Like Jude Law
Saturday, June 21, 2008

Damn. I guess I don't have a chance with Alice then, huh?


I swear this isn't becoming an art blog. Look, I'll use a big word!*

loquaciously yours,
jdl

* albeit inaccurately.

Labels: alice was trained by the kgb in jude-oh get it?, art, bored, me

7:06 PM
1 comments

I Ate Paint
Friday, June 20, 2008

Which answers every question you ever would have asked, ever. So click through for the pretty zoom-ins!






-jdl

Labels: bored, i kill your eyes with art

1:54 AM
4 comments

Everything Is Better In China
Thursday, June 19, 2008

What does America have? The Rocky Mountains, in case you forgot that mountains were rocky.

What does China have? Dragon-Tiger Mountain.

What does America have? Wesley Theology Seminary, named after Wesley Snipes, where United Methodists study to become even more united and methodical.

What does China have? White Cloud Monastery, where monks and nuns of the Total Perfection religion study to become even more totally perfect.

What does America have? The Declaration of Independence, which is alright, I guess, racism aside.

What does China have? The Mandate of Heaven, although I admit Bush has been stepping up and claiming this one too.

Listen, America, all I'm saying is that our names just lack that extra sparkle, that certain something. No wonder China's economy is growing so rapidly, they've probably named it "Great Blooming Lotus" or something.

nominally yours,
jdl 5:02 PM
3 comments

You Can't Spell Duhkah: or, The Most Unironic Post I'll Ever Write
Tuesday, June 17, 2008

...Thereupon, with the perfectly pure heavenly eye, [the Buddha] looked upon the entire world, which appeared to him as though reflected in a spotless mirror...

Why a spotless mirror? What does this mean?

I raised my hand, having no idea what I was going to say. "Maybe," I began, "I don't know, but there's two different theories I can think of here. Maybe it has something to do with that Buddhist ideal of, you know, first seeing yourself as if in a perfect mirror, then there's no mirror at all. Like, trying to realize there's no self."

I still had no idea what I was talking about; however, it began to come together.

"Or maybe it's all about dependent arising-- like, how everything arises because of other things. Like Indra's jeweled net. Because this world is an illusion, the Buddha, in the sense, was seeing himself reflected in/as it. I mean, it couldn't have existed without him and vice versa.

"I think, on page 103, he talks about how everything, all phenomenon, arises from the mind. So the mirror shows the world because he, and all the illusions attached that idea of his 'Self,' reflected the outside material world."

My favorite classmate ever (FCE) raised her hand and asked, "If it's all illusion, then why would he base a religion off it? I mean, if that suffering isn't real..."

I replied: "But just because it's an illusion, it doesn't make all that suffering any less real for any of us still living in the illusion. Suffering itself, like, comes from illusions of attachment and stuff, right?"

Later, talking about the Noble Eightfold Path...

FCE shook her head and asked, "So if you do these, right speech and right action and right concentration, that's the path to no-Self? But then if there's no self, who's talking and meditating?"

I interrupted the professor and leaned forward. "Well, I mean, if you're not a believer you're not a believer, but the whole point is that there is no self. All those actions just come from your consciousness, which is just a collection of memories and experience and stuff, there's no Self behind it all. It's like what Narasena says on page, uh, page 111, the chariot is just a convenient name for the wheels and the platform and such."

FCE frowned. "But that action has to be done by someone. There has to be something behind it, it doesn't just come from nowhere."

"The action doesn't come from nowhere, it comes from all your experiences and memories and, uh, senses which are just reflections of everybody elses. Behind that, there's nothing there. I mean, I'm arguing for something I don't entirely believe, but that's one of the core tenets of Buddhism, this illusion of the Self." I paused to share the world's cutest smile with FCE. "I guess if you don't believe you don't believe, though," I added, laughing with her.

=============

I love that class, it's so intellectually challenging: How does one expand outwards to Brahman and inwards toward Brahman at the same time. Can a Jain really expect to never kill a living being? Why don't they just commit suicide right off the bat? Why would Sikhs become so militaristic, in contradiction to the original peaceful, non-sectarian message of Nanak? How can the Dao transcend the sacred wu and still remain sacred in the profane outer-world? Or is the Yin and the Yang also sacred? What is the sacred and the profane? What's so special about the age of 30? (The founders of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and devotional Hinduism were all about that age when they achieved their heirophany.)

=============


Experimenting in collage, mixed media, and etc. I really like the individual elements (yes, those are my attempts at note-taking, click to laugh at the larger version) but together it seems too busy. I'll go back and edit it later, I suppose.

uninterestingly yours,
jdl

Labels: art, bored, interesting, religion, whoa

11:29 PM
2 comments


* * *

December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008