Chema Madoz

Check out THIS LINK for some very creative photographs. Spanish photographer Chema Madoz sees things from a different perspective, and I like his eye.

Temporal Art; Enduring Image

Chana and I celebrated our 17th Wedding Anniversary a couple of weekends ago. We spent most of it in Santa Barbara, which is about 1.5 hours away. It's far enough away to feel like you're getting away, and close enough to make a day-trip of it. We had a great relaxing day.

Toward the end of the day we saw this sand sculpter had just finished up his newest creation: The Wounded Soldier.


The sun had just set, so the lighting here (and my sub-par phone-camera) doesn't do the work justice. The detail was perfect. These guys looked alive, well... for sand people.

The artist said that he has done a different sand-sculpture everyday on this beach for 19 years. (just off of Stearns Wharf) He said that on average, they last about 5 minutes after he leaves, 'cause some really cool person comes and kicks them over or whatever.

Too bad they can't last longer, but I guess in a way, he must get a kick out of having a fresh, brand-new canvas everyday to work with. That says a lot about a man who is willing to create such fantastic art, KNOWING that it's life-span is extremely short. He must constantly say to himself, "there's more where that came from."

I would like to have that attitude when I'm creating, even though I use more permanent mediums. But to have the confidence in the creative gifts in me, to flow unhindered and in excellence daily; that's the faith I want to have in the source of that creativity.


No matter how long his sculptures last physically, I know that the impression stays with the people who see it.

Patience Is A Virtue

Many people have been waiting for years for The Police to get around to touring again. For me, it's a bit of a full-circle experience, and a welcome one.

Their drummer, Stewart Copeland, is probably close to the top of most drummers "drummers who influenced me the most" lists. His style of pattern intricacy combined with his wreckless abandon approach is a wonderful melding of percussive goodness. I have enjoyed studying (read 'ripping-off from') his playing over the years.


To make good things even better, the Foo Fighters have agreed to open the show I'm attending in June. Talk about abandon in style! I'm sure that both Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins have both taken pages out of Stewart Copeland's playbook when creating each of their approaches.

Foo Fighters

Being patient has paid off now that The Police are playing again this year. Now, I'll have to just be patient enough again to make it to the show in June. Hope to see you there!

Bored With Your Workout Routine?

Give this workout method a try.



(How many takes do you think it took to get this right?)

Dreams in the Midst of Bitter Cold

Today at 3am, I took our oldest son, Micah (14), to the airport for his trip to Lake Placid for Luge Training Camp. I have written about his opportunity before. Well, when he was accepted to go to the camp, we knew it would be cold up there, but we didn't expect this:


We're already concerned to be sending him without one of us (there are chaperones traveling along), but now he's facing a grueling week of training, PLUS temperatures that might be less than fun. Of course my definition of fun and his don't always agree anyway, so he'll probably be in ice heaven.

God-speed Micah, you will need His speed to warm yourself up!

Have We Taken This Technology Too Far?

I saw this short, and it was pretty eye-opening. Tell me what you think about it.

Click here to see the short film. (it's about 1 minute)

Sigur Ros - Glosoli

I have been wanting to share this with you guys for some time now, but have never gotten around to it. I won't describe too much and let you form your own opinion.

Please allow yourself 7 uninterrupted minutes and wear good headphones if possible. (If none are available, then crank it up!) When "the Triibe" played in Spain last year, we used this as our opener.

I am continually inspired by this video.


The Sigur Ros official site

Here is a page you can go to and stream a very good quality version of this video (much better quality than the youtube link too). You can choose high quality Quicktime or Windows Media under the "streaming links" heading. Choose the highest and wait for it to load in - it's worth it. While you're there, you can read the Q&A with the cinematographer, it's very interesting.