Act without doubt

What I point out to you
Is only that
You shouldn’t allow yourselves

To be confused by others.
Act when you need to,
Without further hesitation or doubt.
- Linji (d. 827)

Q Lazarus, nobody like her

Original video from the 80's. Come back, Q, and give us one more song.

Travel Photographer of the year

Sergio Tapiro spent 20 days lying in wait for Mexico's Colima Volcano to erupt, spending the nights in his truck or just a sleeping bag. This shot clinched his award as National Geographic's Travel Photographer of the Year.

Photographer of the year. Not just one photo. The guy loves volcanoes.

  National Geographic

Cooking With Dog

The New Yorker had a nice article about my favorite YouTube cooking show.

In 2007, one of the oddest and most delicious channels on YouTube launched with a short, lo-fi video on how to make Japanese hot-pot-style soup. “Today, I will show you how to cook sukiyaki,” a male voice narrates, in accented English, over a shot of lightly simmering beef broth. Then the camera pans, abruptly, to a closeup of a poodle. “Hello, I am the host of this show, ‘Cooking with Dog,’ ” the male voice—we realize now it is the dog’s—continues, as the camera surveys his poofy hairdo and frilly purple collar. “O.K., let’s get started.” When the camera zooms out, the dog is perched beside a stove, and a middle-aged woman in a pink shirt begins following his cooking instructions.   ....continued

The 3 Putlitzer music finalists were all female

Here are selections from this year's (2017) Pulitzer Prize finalists for music.

I saw the point made that women's compositions comprise less than 2% of major orchestras' concerts in any year. The complaint may be valid, but the statistic is inapplicable. We need to know -- of the new compositions being played -- how many new works are female vs. male composers.

Ashley Fure, "Soma" (Her nominated work is not online)



Kate Soper, "Ipsa Dixit"



and the winner... Du Yun, "Angel's Bone" (an excerpt)



New Yorker has a stronger case for evidence of bias against women composers. LINK

I have to say Du Yun is a spectacular composer. Give her a listen on YouTube and you may end up buying everything she's published.

Chicken Attack

There's hope in the world. This is proof.



Ready? Begin with angelic yodeling.

Kelly Hogan, again

I'm pretty sure Kelly Hogan could make me sound like a decent singer.
Here she is with Neko Case. Kelly is the one with the dog in her lap.

the cassia bough, already old long ago

The road runs into pine sighs;
From far off, it's even stranger.
Mountain light and colors in the water,
Tufted, raggedy.
On a crag in the middle,
In zazen, all alone,
One monk,
Sits facing the cassia bough:
Already old, long ago.

- Chiao Jan (730-799)

related:
http://mikedayoub.blogspot.com/2016/01/how-lovable-my-cassia-bough.html

Zen at work

Accord and respond without laboring
And accomplish without hindrance.
Everywhere turn around freely,
Not following conditions,
Not falling into classifications.

- Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091-1157)