Chris Mulligan Band Debut Gig

OK. By way of preamble, let me say, the next couple of postings will be mostly photos. I'm catching up on some things that have been happening in recent days. Regrettably, I am not necessarily able to be present for all these things, why? Cuz I'm cooped up in the Yoni School. For Wayward Poets.

Nurse Ratchet has only so many gears. Slow and stop. Sometimes when I ask real nice, she gives me the day pass, and the day passes without incident. Wherever that incident might be occurring. But sometimes Nurse Ratchet says "Whoa there, Mr. Keiler, buddy, what do you think this is? Hotel Yoni? Think you can waltz in and out whenever you feel like? Don't forget, this is incarceration! For Miss Phelonius Spelling. And you too! Sit back and do your time, meter and rhyme awright? And don't bother me so much."

Well, first of all, this ain't no incarceration. It's more like incineration, a conflagration of memorization, insanitization of the po-tic nation. Some days she gets me in that vice grip of hers. You know, she turns the little screw and it slowly squeezes until all the little vices floating around in my cranium begin to squirm and I just want to scream, "All right already! I promise I'll conform. I'll perform. I'll reform. I'll bee the speling bee champ for you. VICE! V. I. S. E! VICE!"

And B: Nurse Ratchet, I don't waltz. I can't rhyme in 3/4 time. Four on the floor for me, see? That's the problem. I can't do that ther Yoni Waltz. It ain't no ballroom. It ain't no Johann Strauss Orchestra. It's the Wayward Poets wandering the halls, climbing the walls, kickin' in the stalls, catcalls and pratfalls. And I need to get out of it sometimes, just to be assured that sweet chaos still reigns in the po-tic jungles of Ontariario.

But a day pass is a pass for a day and some days there ain't no way to get a pass for a day. So I have to rely on outside sources, the primary one being HWSRN. He has the run of the roads. I, in my tiny cell flanked by cafetearias and nursetearias and roll-top desks filled with fountain pens and parchment (the tools used by true potes, not we ersatz versifiers) I at least have the run of the Internet, which is not forbidden to us because there are so many resources available to help us rehabilitate our bad language habits. (I've been ordered to stay away from the comments sections of political and news sites, though, because they're overwhelmed with bad grammar and execrable spelling. Sorry, political bloggers and columnists and Yahoonies, but when I see the level of illiteracy, rudity and downright stupidity in the peanut gallery of the Net, it is to weep.)

HWSRN obliges me, however, by providing snippets of outside life. Mostly related to him, of course. I cannot guilt him into starting his own bloody blog. Mine is too convenient for him, and I too desperate for legitimacy.

So. As my friend Veronica Goodheart is wont to say.

So.

Yesterday, HWSRN played the first gig with the Chris Mulligan Band (CMB). I mean, it was their first outing in public, an event called the Come Together Festival. This took place at a place called the Frontier Ghost Town, a rather sad-looking, bedraggled collection of ramshackle buildings and old cars and campsites a little ways outside of Durham Ontariario. Here are a couple of photos of the venue:






















HWSRN sez the pitchers make it look a whole lot purtier than it really wuz, but it had been raining all day and the pathways were a sea of mud. It's probably much nicer when the weather's good.

Too, bad, sez HWSRN, but there's no photo of the Saloon. Which is where all the bands were playing. There was a big tent set up outside, but the bad weather had forced everyone into the smaller venue. The Saloon, however, was comfortable in its own primitive way, and the saloonistas were rockin'.

So here are a few photos of the Chris Mulligan band. The members are:
Chris Mulligan - guitar
Mark Tonin - bass
Andrew Nowak - drums
HWSRN - keyboards

You can find out more about Chris Mulligan Band and hear some recently-recorded clips at Chris' MySpace page.

Kuan Yin Watches Over London Ontariario

A peaceful oasis of compassion at the Duc Quang Vietnamese Buddhist Centre on busy Hamilton Rd. in London, Ontariario. It seems to me, somehow, that not so long ago, this was a Spanish Catholic church or something like that, and the statue in the courtyard was the Virgin Mary. Plus ça change, eh?

hum-tibetan2

hum-tibetan2, originally uploaded by jayarava.

Tibetan calligraphy. Tough to do. Well, maybe not so tough, but you need proper instruments to really do it write. I've practised a little bit but all my calligraphy comes out looking like doodles. I'd like to learn to do it better. It's hard to do effective visualizations during meditation of syllables like this Hum. I imagine it would be easier if I knew how to draw it. Easier to recognize, easier to distinguish from other syllables, easier to remember.

Jayarava is pretty good. Check out his stuff here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayarava/

How Many Photos Are "Enough"?

I mean, I'm just curious...

Credit: Doug Mills/New York Times

The Brodhagen Eagle

Carved into the remains of a tree at the side of Perth Line 44, the entrance to John & Mary Van Bakel's place.

Tibetan Hunger Strike at Chinese Embassy, London

Photo by toastyoneuk
Published in Mother Jones

Spring in the Air...

Some photos of a morning in southern Ontariario. Just a few days after the heaviest snowfall of the winter, and just a couple weeks or so before spring...

Does Beckham have Buddha-Nature?

According to the monks at Pariwas temple in Bangkok, he most certainly does. They're all football (soccer) crazy there, and included an image of him in their altar statuary.

BFB Impersonates Oktoberfest Band

Here are a few photos of BFB during Oktoberfest.

Phil In, Drummerguy, who replaced Helmet admirably for the 9 days, Helmet being temporarily unavailable cuz he was impersonating the president of the Lunchbucket Oktoberfest Committee.

Dozey (trumpet), HWSRN (accordion & keyboards) & Sonja (Jodelette)

BFB with Canada's Polka King, Uncle Wally Ostanek

Audience members perform the Polka Head Salute during the world-famous BFB Hokey Pokey

8 Wonders of the World by Internet

The LA Times is reporting that voters on the Internet have chosen the modern version of the Eight Wonders of the World. How come I didn't know about this? I always find out stuff like this after it's over.

Here's a little of what the Times says about the process:

The popularity contest was the creation six years ago of Bernard Weber, a Swiss filmmaker and self-styled adventurer. Nearly 200 early candidate sites chosen by Internet balloting were scaled down by a panel of experts to 21 finalists, each from a different country, from Greece's Acropolis to the Statue of Liberty.

Online and telephone call-in voting on the finalists began a little over a year ago. Nothing prevented repeat voting by fans, citizens, governments, tourism agencies, you name it.

Weber promoted the project with flashy appearances in hot-air balloons, on camelback and inside a blue blimp, traveling to each of 21 final candidates.
I believe they only chose seven winners and included the pyramids at Giza automatically because the Egyptians were insulted by the mere suggestion that they should be subjected to a vote.

So here's the list. I don't know if they're in order. Or if there is any order. Some of them might be out of order. (I think there's been an Out of Order sign on Chichen Itza for some time. Most of them were undoubtedly made to order, however. Also note that nearly all of them are not what you might consider "modern".

1. Great Wall of China (China)
2. Colosseum (Italy)
3. Taj Mahal (India)
4. Petra (Jordan)
5. Christ the Redeemer statue (Brazil)
6. Machu Picchu (Peru)
7. Pyramid at Chichen Itza (Mexico)
8. Pyramids at Giza (Egypt)

And here are the photos:

Possible Epitaph #5

Bill Gates Endorses Mental Blog!

Dalai Lama Displays Emanation Body

Well.


This photo comes (as you can see from the logo in the bottom corner) from Worth1000.com. They run periodic Photoshop contests and apparently get all kinds of clever entries. This one is from the MiniMeMe contest. ie. takeoffs on celebrities based on the MiniMe character from Austin Powers. You can see the original and all the other mini stars here.

Is this photo irreverent? No more irreverent than when I put a tiny Canajun flag between His Holiness' hands. The Buddhist take on images is that they are emanations. A statue of Buddha is in fact an emanation of the Buddha, a replication created by the Buddha to increase our awareness, or our devotion. If you think the Buddha statue or the Buddha painting is created by the artist or the manufacturer, well, that's true. But it's also the Buddha using skillful means to spread the Dharma, to plant seeds which will grow when the conditions are ripe.

Same with this photo. The Dalai Lama replicating infinitely. Skillful means. It's worth noting that of all the celebrities pictured on this site, the Dalai Lama is the only spiritual leader. Why would that be, I wonder?

15 Textbook disclaimer stickers

Wording for the first disclaimer is taken verbatim from the sticker designed by the Cobb County School District ("A community with a passion for learning") in Georgia. The other 14 demonstrate the real meaning of a scientific "theory" as well as the true motivations of the School Board members and their creationist supporters....

I discovered this while cruising Digg, which I've only just signed up for, as if I have the time for this. You have to click below to see the article/page.

(This post was sent directly from Digg, which is interesting, because so far they're the only external site that seems to be able to post directly to the blog. (Except for Googledocs, which, of course, doesn't seem to be able to include a title...)

(But then, Digg didn't include my line spacing. I had to come back and edit it.)

read more | digg story

Change of the Guard

Out with the old...

















...In with the new.










Minnie Van Nice is being sent out pasture after an intense and productive career on the mad highways of southern Ontariario. 670,000 kilometres worth. Even at that, she still runs pretty well, and it was a shame to let her go. But the body just wasn't holding up. Still, HWSRN is sorry that the photo shows her in such a salty and dusty state, because she actually looks pretty good when she's fresh out of the carwash.

The new van has no name. Perhaps you would like to name her/him. It's a 2003 Oddity, with just over 80,000k, which is rather remarkable in itself, if you ask me. Bigger inside, cuz the second row of seats comes right out, unlike Minnie where they just folded up. This bodes more and possibly heavier work. HWSRN thinks the guy who sold it to him (and also sold Minnie to him) thought it was a little too extravagant for courier work...electric side doors, electric everything...but HWSRN insists if he has to live in his vehicle, he wants it comfy.

So there they are, the Road Warriors, the old soldier and the new recruit. Send your suggestions for a name.

BTW, you'll notice the prevalence of snow. Winter arrived late in Lunchbucket, but since it came, we've had just as much as we would have anyway.

Stealth Fighter

Since I'm on photos at the moment, here's another one.

Go here to find a whole bunch of photos & videos of planes crashing & crashed. Doesn't it just make ya wanna fly?

I don't have time to look at them all. This was the only humourous one I found.

The Child is Father to the Man

I don't know where this picture came from or who took it or who it belongs to,
but it made me laugh out loud.
You can click on the title to go to the original.
Which looks a lot like the one here.

GIFs

Trying to see if these animated GIFs will stay animated.

Save a Life, Raise Your Insurance Rates

Here's an interesting, not so trivial factoid.

If you see this little guy here on the side of the road and he suddenly decides to jump out in front of you, the insurance companies in Ontario want you to hit him rather than swerve to avoid him and maybe end up in the ditch or hitting a tree.

Why? Because if you hit him, there's proof that an animal was involved in your collision. Therefore you're not at fault and your insurance rates won't rise. If you miss him, however, and hit a tree, you can't prove that there was a deer on the road. Therefore, it looks like and is treated as a single-car collision, and you (you compassionate, caring, deer-saver) are totally...100%...utterly...completely at fault.

(I hate to say it, but I can see the insurance companies' logic here. However, I'd still be doing my best to avoid hitting Bambi.)

(More Trivia: During mating season, early November, 65-70 deer are struck on the highways per day! Not sure if that's just Ontario, or all of Canada. Just Ontario I think.)

Canada Post?

Try to figure this one out. I saw three of these driving in a convoy down the highway towards Hawgtown today. All of them had Minnesota licence plates. One of them was towing a car that had Michigan plates.