To the edge of time

There will be time - Mumford and Sons
Pyramid Song - Radiohead
You And Whose Army - Radiohead
Girl from the North Country - Cover by Secret Machines

Flawless launch of JWST. To see it take off beautifully is a testament to the hard work of all personnel involved. I'm sure the science that will come out of it will inspire an entire generation of children and students to be - curious and keep an open mind.

I like to think of this launch and all the other space missions (past, present and the ones scheduled or in the process of ideation) as akin to a Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. All our missions are the monoliths guiding humanity to push the frontiers of knowledge and explore.

A gem of a movie by Sidney Lumet - Network (1976)

Trying to understand the world as it is today is tough! Marx's ideas looks like a good starting point and perhaps navigating further back based on how it sits in my mind. A constant state of contradictions all around which could ultimately lead to an elevated system of equality. Somehow the idea of "matter preceding thought" seems raw. More digging required.

JWST

Pain - The War On Drugs
When Doves Cry - Prince
Rock It - Little Red
Halfway Home - TV On The Radio
Color White - Parvaaz

The rain is pouring down. The wipers go crazy. Flash flood signs. Fellow creatures maybe huddled together beyond those thick trees and thunderous sky as oil guzzling machines whiz by at a nearby road.

Can blind faith be eroded and washed away ? I don't think so. Does it have any merit ? Maybe to some. Not appealing to me. I'd prefer to keep a lid on it and say - 'uck you, stay inside and looped.

 Looking forward to an epic launch of JWST and the amazing science coming out of it.

The heart is a muscle

Keep me in the open - Gang of Youths
Do not let your spirit wane - Gang of Youths
The heart is a muscle - Gang of Youths
Confines - Black Pumas

The privilege of watching different hues at sunset.
The privilege of realizing the birth lottery

Let your life grow strong and sweet to the taste
'Coz the odds are completely insane
Do not let your spirit wane
Do not let your spirit wane - Gang of Youths

Drive responsibly

Bloom in Blue

Deep Purple - Child in Time

The Weeknd - After Hours

Tinariwen - Nànnuflày

 Etta James - I'd rather go blind

Justin Hurwitz - The Landing

A brisk walk to those corners of my mind. Angled, abrupt - like those are in a hurry to show me something quick. The night was cold and the distant trees were barely visible except for the slow humming of the leaves. The highway was close by, and occassionally two beams of light with some trillion photons bombarbed the trees. My synapses instantly direct my gaze to those trees and forces me to recollect how it looked during the day. A big enough clearing straight ahead, wild horses within a fence and cicadas singing aloud. The drama of a loud bright day and the perceived silence of the night - like a see-saw - doing its thing.

This piece on the color Blue was really good. 

Most of my focus will be in avoiding ego traps and to be more mindful of radical ideas/opinions. As I read somewhere, you need to have "strong opinions, loosely held". And breach the boundaries of resistance and explore more. To be meditative and have a strong focus on "what really matters"

Reminds me of this one by Ethan hawke.

  “When you put a log on the fire, the light and heat you see is, in a literal sense, the decades of sunshine that tree basked in over its lifetime.” - Peter Brannen

 

 

Two balloons

Mumford & Sons and Gangs of Youth - Blood
Gordi - In the end cover
Black Pumas - Colors
Coldplay - Trouble in town

Rye whiskey for tonight. It's been a while.

Some Pink Floyd. Some OMAM. Dream theater and some Coke Studio. Followed by numb disco tracks where my unapologetic moves result in boisterous laughter followed by facepalms galore. Missus retires. I continue "nothing else matters". Lost a sense of decency. You know, it really doesn't matter.

Kid wanted to smell whats in my glass.The usual "medicine to make me strong" statement didn't work out. My hesitation was vetoed by the missus. Kid had to smell it and hope he enjoyed the aroma of life :-P

This was a feast for me completing a half marathon! A milestone. Is it ? This was my first half and it was brutal. Thoroughly enjoyed it. More to come. 

Now the serious part..............

We are distracted. A lot.
All I see are distracted people.
I am distracted.
We cannot be.
The raw moments in life cannot be recorded.
Am I thinking backwards ?

PS: Written when my glass was ice cold but the whiskey was half knobbed!

OMAM

Black water - Of monsters and men

A few years ago I found this amazing group producing top quality songs. I was hooked to all their albums and they are original and creative. I was lucky to catch them live this week and I am blown away at the performance. This all seemed like a fever dream :-) All the way from Iceland added a mystic aura to the show. 

What is it about taking a moral high ground ? To be fortunate about what exists and taking a stock of ones true self determines fate to a large extent. And for those less fortunate, keeping them somewhere in the back of our busy minds should be a good start.

Sagan and Spinoza

Once we lose our fear of being tiny, we find ourselves on the threshold of a vast and awesome Universe which dwarfs -- in time, in space, and in potential -- the tidy anthropocentric proscenium of our ancestors. - Carl Sagan


The evolution of science and religion. Understanding that science does not tell anyone to invalidate their beliefs, but rejecting it as baseless, so "self interests" are cared for, is backward thinking. The entire progress of humanity relied on brave thinkers and doers challenging traditional ideas and thinking. If we just pause for a little while and contemplate on this, the feeling is profound. Or as Carl Sagan would say when understanding the universe, it gives "a profound sermon on humility".


Carl Sagan was always at the back of my mind, ever since I first read about Pale Blue Dot and quoted about that in 2010. That was just beautiful prose. I finally got around this year to isolate my mind of petty distractions and immerse into his works. 2019 to me is Carl Sagan.

Having a kid forces you to think about the conditions under which they grow. Teaching yourself to understand nature, so you are in a better informed position to answer all the innocent questions that the kid will come up with. And they are coming! I will be ready :-)

2020 - Practice rigorous rational self-governance. Baruch Spinoza and his ideals. Lets see how that will mess up my head :-)

Courage under Fire

The Manchester Orchestra - The Silence
Agnes Obel - Fuel to Fire
Angels and Airwaves - Tunnels
Led Zeppelin - The Wanton Song
The Yellow Diary - Marz
Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad - Khabaram Raseeda
Rizwan-Muazzam - Naina De Akhay

Human-influenced climate change is real. Almost every major scientific body around the world agrees to this fact. It's always best to listen to the experts than random entities who have no subject matter expertise on this serious topic. There is compelling evidence on this.  Right now a lot of confusion is implanted via the addictive social media. Confusion leads to inaction. Inaction means - carrying on with status quo. This is bad. An interesting comic - funny and scary - to summarize what we are up to if status quo is the norm.


Space exploration has tremendous advantages. Shun all bad reporting on this topic. Fact check all the time. Follow a bit of a philosophical touch with the right narrative.

Kid is growing tall. I click and clack away at my mechanical keyboard. Did a 10K run sometime ago. Marching on for some more before I set my sight at a half marathon. I've learned to see things from multiple viewpoints and give merit to all opinions. Sanity restored :-)

2 decades into the 21st century already! So much ahead for humanity

To live under the false pretense that you will forever have control of your station in life is to ride for a fall; you’re asking for disappointment. So make sure in your heart of hearts, in your inner self, that you treat your station in life with indifference, not with contempt, only with indifference 
- James Stockdale - Courage under Fire

My heart leaps up

My heart leaps up when I behold 
 A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began; 
So is it now I am a man; 
So be it when I shall grow old, 
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

-- Wordsworth

Flip the page. 2019 beckons. Lets try to find heart in this heartless, data driven world.

Kid also turns three. How exciting! I am burning more calories chasing him around, and he is forcing me to have a balanced routine. At the end of the day, it really matters. So keep it coming kiddo :-)

Hello from Oz

Abida Parveen - Ramooz-e-Ishq
Angels and Airwaves - Lifeline, All that we are

You need to be a child again to be a good father. To take pleasure in seeing your kid make whizzing sound as he drags and drifts tiny hot-wheels. 

A truant finds home..and I wish to hold on..
But there's a trapdoor in the sun..immortality.. - Pearl jam

The sound of silence

Disturbed - The Sound of Silence ( Loved the vocals of Dramain )
Glen Hansard - Bird of Sorrow, High Hopes
Of Monsters and Men - Your bones

A lot of things went well
Some went wrong

What next ?

Adjust. Recoup. Make amends. Right the wrong.
Stay on course for the right.

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away" - Thoreau

Untitled

Abida Parveen - Maula-E-Kull
Saathi Salaam - Sawan Khan & Clinton Cerejo

Gems from coke studio. How divine!

When all the organs unanimously embrace and establish trust with the choices we make, the music we pick, the objects we lay our eyes upon.

H.A.L.T

Bon Iver - Holocene
London Grammar - Truth is a beautiful thing

How we do what we have to do. Slipping through different states of mind, no matter how congruous or incongruous they are to our plotted desires, which was molded over years of pampered play with our minds - devoid of wise thoughts.

To run and receive feedback from the calm wind.

Lazarus

Lazarus - David Bowie
London Grammar - Strong

The sax by Donny McCaslin in Lazarus is perfecto! Bowie is exceptional.

"We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking" - Albert Camus

How true.

New finds

Slow Life
Thousand eyes
Wolves without teeth
Empire
Human
- Of monsters and men

This is not a group with a one-off hit. They make good music and show great enthusiasm.

Be. Believe.

Worried moon

Muse - Dig down
The Lumineers - Sleep on the floor

We must all find a way. To recreate. Paint the path & wait. It just will happen.

"And the noise just drowns me out" - Worried moon - Chris Cornell

Chris

Katatonia - Old heart falls
Arcade Fire - Haiti
Beethoven - Egmont Overture
Chris Cornell - Dead wishes, The Promise

"Hunger Strike" was on repeat.

Chris, Chester

Chris Cornell - Nearly forgot my broken heart
Audioslave - Shadow in the sun
LP - A line in the Sand

Special artists. Special songs. Chris had one of the most unique & creative singing style. Chester was a heavy lifter for so many LP tracks. His cover of 'Rolling in the deep' was truly special.

"Unapologetically embracing badass riffs, he eschewed lyrics about dungeons or dragons and instead wrote deep dark soul searching poetry that opened the door for generations of artists who felt empowered to use their brains along with their musical brawn"

"Thank you, Sunshower. Thank you for your love, your friendship, your peerless talent. The body is weak. The psyche is fragile. Things decay and are gone in time. Gardens turn gray. But, Chris, I know two things that are f–king invincible and will endure forever, your beautiful voice and our love for you"

- Tom Morello on Chris

Pearl Jam to Chris

A dose of Thoreau again

..but from Emerson, in his eulogy to Thoreau

Had his genius been only contemplative, he had been fitted to his life, but with his energy and practical ability he seemed born for great enterprise and for command; and I so much regret the loss of his rare powers of action, that I cannot help counting it a fault in him that he had no ambition. Wanting this, instead of engineering for all America, he was the captain of a huckleberry party. Pounding beans is good to the end of pounding empires one of these days; but if, at the end of years, it is still only beans!

Thoreau, always my favorite writer. 

Arcade Fire

How we have to "wake up" when Arcade Fire says so
And synths in the background of "sprawl II"
And Buckland's wavy solo at the end of "warning sign" - Glastonbury 2005