i am khayyam: 2009

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

#Tweetsgiving this...

What am I thankful for?! For starters, just glad I woke up this morning. A few days in the year people take the time to give thanks?! This pains me to no extent. Valentine's day is one of just a few examples where most people make up for the lack of love they exhibit to their significant others and try to buy it back in one night, sad. Well, I'm going to tell you right now... I'm thankful for things that not many are thankful for.

Sure, I could give you a blanket statement that I'm thankful for all that is, that I'm thankful for so and so, or whatchamacallit, but I'm not going to. Instead, I'm going to speak truth, my truth. Now I have to muster up the courage to dive into the most difficult parts of human emotion. Some wise ones say that fear is only the absence of courage. If you possess the courage, then the fear dwindles. You see, I have a firm belief that all the misery and travesty that is presented to you in your day is only done so because you have the strength and courage to get through it. No need to endure it, just move through it.

I welcome and am so thankful for all the death in my life. I am thankful for all the failure that I have to witness. I am thankful for blowing it with the greatest girl in the world. I'm thankful for the accidents I have been in and the pain I had to suffer through. And I'm thankful for all the ill thoughts, racism, anger, hatred and emotional daggers that have been thrown at me or that I have chosen to stand in front of. Right now you're probably scratching your head and wondering what kind of masochist would say these things. All these things we consider bad or horrible things are just moments in time when we are pushed to exist in a way that challenges our entire beings.

The duality of this little snow globe we live on is inseparable. Khalil Gibran says it best:

“... joy and sorrow are inseparable. . . together they come and when one sits alone with you . . . remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.”

It is often when we are in the darkest realms within our lives do we see the brightest lights. That glimmer of hope that pulls us out from oblivion to exist and breathe life into another day. These are all blessings in disguise. The angels are amongst us, how dare anyone think that they always come in forms of white cloth laden cherubs. They are standing right beside you in the subway, they are sitting on the sidewalk with the courage to ask for help, they are the person serving you coffee in the morning. It's definitely time you woke up to smell the coffee...

With the smallest of awareness, you can be thankful for those angels being in your life. They teach us every day that there is a message waiting for us, if we only choose to wake up. Wake up from the "poor me" or the "life's not fair" and my favorite, "it's not my fault". Yes, poor you for living with blinders up. Yes, life's not fair when you make choices that put you in the predicament you're in. And oh boy, not my fault?! Blaming someone else?! No finger pointing need be done, if it has to be, then please point it at yourself when you have these thoughts. Ain't no one else but you creating your little story.

There was a woman in my life, still is just not to the extent that once was, yet she's with me everyday. Not one day goes by without her energy in my snow globe. She woke me up. She was my teacher, my student and my reflection. Sometimes I did not like what I saw, while other times I wouldn't believe what I saw. Every ounce of me resonates with this woman. Not because she was beautiful beyond all measure, not because she loved me more than any other human being on this planet, but because she helped shape me into who I am. That is what I'm most thankful for. The lens to view life with a fresh perspective.

The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

-Marcel Proust

Images: From a journey once upon a time

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

#18 -♥- Pulp Juice (Hot Buttered Soul)

Another installment of Hot Buttered Soul on CFCR 90.5FM, @iamkhayyam and I'll be the one dropping the beats for your pleasure dome.

I really dig movie soundtracks. They always come up with the most interesting ways to support the drama, action and mood of their guest appearances. There are some that I don't recognize, others that are favorites and the remainder becoming new loved tracks.

So today I thought to prepare a soundtrack that would support a little mix of 'my movie' soundtrack. I mixed in 3 tablespoons of Shaft, 1 part Pulp Fiction, 2 cups of Ocean's 11 with a side of Swingers. After that came to boil, strain in colander and start on the seasoning. Fry up some cumin in some oil, add a little Detroit pepper, some Harlem spice, Salinas sauce, and don't forget the two most important ingredients... soul & love.

The titles are in the flow somewhere and if you listen along then you can play along - the name of the game is Name That Tune! ;)

Pulp Juice

I asked the Universe

what can you bring me?

Smokin cheeba cheeba

ain't gonna do a damn thing.

Then the answer found me:

Hang up your hang ups.

Took one bold soul sister

to finish my crossword puzzle,

instead I played the runaway

Turned it into a sport,

called is Straussmania.

Don't it drive you crazy how many

times you gots to blow your whistle?

What can I say?!

Then she said, "Souls, sacred contracts,

and new moons. All filled with magic,

and all greater than we could know."

Joyous! The sun shines and

the band sings Mahna! Mahna!

@iamkhayyam and that was a movie soundtrack for your daily funkifiedness on Hot, Buttered Soul.

Some past excursions for your listening pleasure...

Thursday, April 09, 2009

It Took Me 25 Minutes To Design My Ultimate Business Card

I was battling what I should do for a personal card. I've always had two or three different cards to represent myself in different circles. And I think I've branded myself on Twitter quite well, so got me thinking...As of today, these bad boys are off to the printer!! And I have to say that I was fully fueled and pumped up to do so after watching this riveting delivery of whatever you want to call this?! Joel Bauer cooks up some awesome! He's on point on so many different levels.

It Took Joel Bauer 25 Years To Design His Ultimate Business Card

This took me less than 25 minutes from top to bottom. From making it, to finding an FSC certified printer that used soy inks to uploading the files. Boom badda bing. You can still make an impact and be memorable without having to go with the glam. Simple is sometimes better. And this card simply communicates what I need it to and connects me into my hub which reaches to all facets of me, very 3.o isn't it?! ;) I just saved myself 24 years and a lot of change left in my life to enjoy, think about something else, and move on.

Charities are always swell to think of.... how about this one? 12for12k.org

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Wednesday was a good day...

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Topify this!

A quick screencast on a lovely service offered by Topify. A more robust way of having your new followers fall into your mailbox. Makes for some easy pickins'. Injoy.

A simple click of reply and send - you're now following! Simple as pie.

Check it out here: Topify

Monday, April 06, 2009

#followFriday is dumb...

Yup, I said it. It's dumb. My prescription is to another means of 'helping' people get to know one another and that is by way of #imjustfollowing. What does that mean?!

Watch the video, listen to me whine and then learn a new way to truly connect and help people get linked up.
Recommendations go a long way...

If you're still wondering, the format that I follow is as follows:

#imjustfollowing @imjustcreative Why?! He's the reason this exists. Bloody brilliant chap over the pond who's spanks out lovely logos #solid

#imjustfollowing @mmcgovern Why?! Day one those windows spoke volumes of kindness. Amazing eye for photos & always there with a sweet tweet

And that is the way in which I name drop 'round these parts. Doesn't that make a big difference in helping you realize who it is you should actually be following?! If I saw descriptions like these, I'd gladly follow. Those are amazing people and a little blurb to let you know. So use the #followfriday tag to recommend if you want (I'm just partial to the meaning behing the one I use), and do it with the intention to recommend an individual with a reason to follow. Shows that you actually took the time to care, any monkey can cut and paste. For all I care, make up your own. The message under all of this is to genuinely recommend another for someone else's benefit. It's all about interacting and connecting, no? Let's do it with efficiency and detail ;)

Some delightful and insightful ways of finding people are as follows:

#imjustfollowing - no fancy site, just a search result in twitter of mostly my recommendations and a few others
#MrTweet - for a comprehensive recommendation with a reason :)

and if you're new to the game, you can vote for your prom king and queen at the following #followfriday dances:

And just remember: Twitter Is Not A Competition

What it can be used for is to give back to what you may or may not know you've taken from; it's ok, we all do it but we all don't recognize to give back. So for one moment, give thanks to everything that surrounds you. You've been blessed to receive all that you have and in order to receive one must learn to give. So remember to visit 12for12k.org (raising $12,000 for a different charity for each month) and give/donate/support to a better cause than popularity.

A cause for something that really affects change.

So keep fit and have fun....

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Just for today...

And make sure to leave a comment for your chance to win this shirt!

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

#17 -♥- Razor Sharp Wit (Hot Buttered Soul)

Lately it seems there's a lot of people working and finding coping mechanisms to deal with the stress. We each take a moment to ourselves in our own little way. For me, music seems to get my head noddin and some energy flowin. Sometimes I need some deep beats to awaken the creative spirits that lay dormant within my domain. So here's to unleashing the spirits to open up a creative channel of old school beats putting you on point.

The titles are in the flow somewhere and if you listen along then you can play along - the name of the game is Name That Tune! ;)

Razor Sharp Wit

I go to work like I did
last night. Steppin it up
in my adidas and made the
whole house jump around

I got that crazy juice
and I get the job done.
Know this.

But the lady don't tek no for
an answer and always in need of more.
Iesha, sadly enough and this is for real,
you're about to find out about milky cereal.

Hey mama, you're juicy, gimme a hollar .
I like your crafty ways, let's rock n roll y'all!

@iamkhayyam and those were some old school schoolin on Hot, Buttered Soul.

Some past excursions for your listening pleasure...

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Killer ReTweets with as little work as possible...

Riding @JesseNewhart's coat tails on his "How To Find Great Links For Twitter That Get Retweeted Like Crazy" post found on http://jessenewhart.com

Just supplementing his informative tutorial with some of the tweaks I use to simplify link digging and how to put them into the stream.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

#16 -♥- Mind Grapes Don't Forget

I'm down in Austin, TX at the #sxsw festival and have stayed up all night working and putting this lil' here mix together for all y'all.

Yes, this is Hot Buttered Soul and @iamkhayyam.

The melange of this fine Irish day consists of some of my favorites in the soul department. Had to be resourceful since I didn't have my usual Tickle Trunk of Funk with me. A nice little mellowly stroll through the clovers and gold coins that fall from the sky today! Erin go Bragh ;)

Joining me today in the mix are the fat cats of melodious vibeology:

Mind Grapes Don't Forget

For what it's worth, time in & time out,
I give the people what they want.

You're that lovely one that allows me
to dance to the drummer's beat.

No doubt that 90% of me is you because
that's some love when you gimme the night.

You bring out the best in me girl
and to be with you fuels my fire.
I only wish I had a time machine
with the pieces I know now.

For once in my life I finally
get it. The summer madness.

@iamkhayyam and that was a piece of my soul on Hot, Buttered Soul.

Some past excursions for your listening pleasure...

Monday, March 16, 2009

Right Hand, Left Hand.

Shot just outside the Mashable party in the heart of Austin, Texas.

Radio Raheem: Let me tell you the story of "Right Hand, Left Hand."

It's a tale of good and evil.
Hate: It was with this hand that Cane iced his brother.
Love: These five fingers, they go straight to the soul of man.
The right hand: the hand of love.
The story of life is this: Static.
One hand is always fighting the other hand;
and the left hand is kicking much ass.
I mean, it looks like the right hand, Love, is finished.
But, hold on, stop the presses, the right hand is coming back.
Yeah, he got the left hand on the ropes, now, that's right.
Ooh, it's the devastating right and Hate is hurt, he's down.
Left-Hand Hate K.O.ed by Love.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Hot Buttered Soul #15

It's a #steamtuesday and what way better than though music to resonate rhythm, harmony and emotions balanced in one brilliant note...

Yes, this is Hot Buttered Soul and @iamkhayyam.

Love is an action and those below have taken just that in the movement and sharing of love in it's many obtuse corners to their wonderful parabolas. The mathematical variables behind this particular equation of love are as follows:

The titles are in the flow somewhere and if you listen along then you can play along - the name of the game is Name That Tune! ;)

Get Your March On

Inside out you got me flippin'
front to back, fatbackin'.
Dreamin', about them
hot pants road way...

I got to get up,
in that heartbeat.

I got to get up,
in that Genevieve.

The reasons for me are just too many.
Tired of having soup for one, plenty.

What you won't do for love?
These are the reasons for me...

@iamkhayyam and that was a chunk of funk from my chest to yours on Hot, Buttered Soul.

Some past excursions for your listening pleasure...

Monday, March 02, 2009

It was Dr. Seuss who had a birthday today. Yes it was!

I am Khayyam and do not eat green eggs and ham, Khayyam I am ;) As you can tell Dr. Seuss has a special place in my heart and was re-introduced to him a few years back by someone who has an even bigger and more special place in my heart. So you see, this man and his works move me deeply and would like to take a moment to celebrate this man, this literary doctor...

DR. SEUSS: Theodor Seuss Geisel

Dr. Seuss was born March 2nd, 1904 and left us September 24th, 1991.

Dr. Seuss grew up Springfield, Massachusetts to Henrietta Seuss and Theodor Robert Geisel. His father operated a brewery and later went on become head keeper at the zoo. As a young doctor in training, this was Theodor's most treasured and favorite places. He "used to play with the baby lions and the antelope." Because of this his relationship with his father was very close.

Dr. Seuss goes to school at Darmouth, where Giesal joined the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern, eventually rising to the rank of editor-in-chief.^[1] While at Dartmouth, Geisel was caught throwing a drinking party, violating national Prohibition law s of the time.^{[citation needed]} As a result, the school insisted that he resign from all extracurricular activities. In order to continue his work on the Jack-O-Lantern without the administration's knowledge, Geisel began signing his work with the pen name "Seuss".

From Seuss to Dr. Seuss came after he married a woman he met while attending Oxford intending to earn his Doctorate in Philosophy. He returned in 1927 to the United States, sans degree. The "Dr." in his pen name is an acknowledgment of his father's unfulfilled hopes that Geisel would earn a doctorate at Oxford.^{[citation needed]}"Seuss" was not only his middle name but it was his mother's maiden name. Another pseudonym he used was "Theodor LeSieg" which was cleverly just his last name Geisel spelled backwards ;)

Dr. Seuss becomes an author and began submitting humorous articles and illustrations to Judge after working as a writer of ads for magazines and , The Saturday Evening Post, Life, Vanity Fair, and Liberty. The company he worked for wouldn't let him write for adults, but he could write for kids. So that is what he did.

His first book came in 1937, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. He had great difficulties in finding a publisher that was interested in his works. He was determined and continued until the lucky number rang out, lucky number 30!! Can you imagine those other 29 publishers kicking themselves when Dr. Seuss was a first class success?! Priceless ;)

The stylings of Dr. Seuss in both illustrations and rhyme were brilliant. The illustration were heavy, simple black drawings with strong and limited colorings while the words flowed with a pattered delivery, similarly after he has said something that you would interpret differently ;) The idea of his first book came to him while on a boat from Oxford back to the United States and having to listen to the clink clank boom of the engine room.

Dr. Seuss makes a list and checks it three times. You see, in 1954, Life magazine published a report on literacy in the early and elementry years in the education system. The results determined that children were bored with what they were reading and were starved for some kind of inspiration. And with this report funneled down and inspired Dr. Seuss to take a list of words used in early readers. Of the original 348 words he shortened it down to 250 and was challenged by his publisher to write a book using only these words. Close to a year later Dr. Seuss used 236 words to produce his magnum opus, The Cat in the Hat.

Everyone just loved this book, I just loved this book! This colorful cat with a striped hat invoked all kinds of creative thoughts in tandem with the wonderful patterned words sent kids into just loving this and parent the same. Have you ever read it? It's absolutely a lovely experience and you see a lovely little nuance in language use with hidden and double meanings. It's a wonderful mystery to read and re-read these classics.

Dr. Seuss published over 60 children's books, which were often characterized by imaginative characters, rhyme, and frequent use of trisyllabic meter. Combined there are more that 220 million copies of his works around the world. Among them are The Cat in the Hat, (1957)

Green Eggs and Ham (1960) and his last book in this lifetime, Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1990)

Dr. Seuss changed the world single handedly to create a lovely rhyme filled learning experience to millions of children, generation after generation sealed with timelessness.

As I was researching this and combing my google search for images for this post, I came across one of the most profound quotations:

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

If you want to find more of Dr. Seuss, check out the following what, what, what dot com's:

http://www.seuss.org
http://www.seussville.com

http://www.ilovedrseuss.com
http://www.suelebeau.com/drseuss.htm

Friday, February 27, 2009

Now your followers are friends. Now what?

A follow up to Jesse Newhart's post on "How To Turn Your Followers Into Friends"

Links from the video that I recommned you view:
Twitter Goes Mainstream | ABC News - Tweet Like a Bird: Your Guide
How To Turn Your Followers Into Friends | JesseNewhart.com

*Music provided by Hot Buttered Soul which can be found below ;)

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Hot Buttered Soul #14

It's that time again for another ride along the soul train. Yes, this is Hot Buttered Soul and @iamkhayyam.

I go back into the vaults to something I refer to as "Seems Like Old Times". These were my first "mix tapes" if you will. They involved deep emotions and lyrical carpet rides. I got lost in a moment and went back to a time when things were simple and when love had a height.

So, joining me today to help me reminisce are the following smooth singing slingers of rhyme and reason:

The titles are in the flow somewhere and if you listen along then you can play along - the name of the game is Name That Tune! ;)

Till You're Satisfied

I get lifted whenever I feel
all this love I'm giving up.
It reminds me of my boo,
she's the beautiful low rider.

I got the blues about how
outstanding this girl is.

I just couldn't do it. You know,
what a man is supposed to do.
Stop the rain, write of true love
in the stone & make time stand still.

Bottom line through all the
lessons is to enjoy yourself.
The King of sorrow is dead!

And now there's nowhere left to go,
cause you can't hide from yourself.

@iamkhayyam and that was a blast from the past edition of Hot, Buttered Soul.

Some past excursions for your listening pleasure...

Monday, February 23, 2009

Social Retards Dream Big

There were more than 34,000 people from 200 countries that submitted their efforts and wishes to take up a position in the Great Barrier Reef for $150,000 for 6 months.

What I'm speaking of here is the Tourism Queensland's Best Job in the World promotion. Get this, it's a 6 month gig that will land the winner some posh accommodation at the deluxe Hamilton Island Villa.

Job description: Clean the pool, feed the fish, collect the mail and explore the island and report back.

The campaign took off with the viral push from twitter (who are we kidding here, you know it did) and trickled down from there to the point where the site could not handle the traffic and rendered it useless. The overwhelming traffic resulted in more that 2.5 million people going to the site initially. I can't imagine how many they've had now. Probably one of the most successful tourism campaigns of in the history of humankind (did I go too far?). The process for application is to submit a 60 second interview/video that will be shortlisted to 50 by the end of this week. There is also a wildcard based on voting that ends on March 24th.

This weekend alone, over 3000 entries poured in as the cut off date of Feb. 22nd approached.

Admittedly, we are two social retards that are confined to the indoors in the tundra-like and barreness of the cold recesses in northern Canada (Saskatoon, SK). We were sick of the cold and decided in one day (the last day) to shoot and edit. The time difference was 15 hours, which gave us a deadline of 7am and I had less than a few hours to put this together.

I had never used iMovie before but remember playing with it once and making two pictures fade into one another. So I loaded up the videos, imported them, and they didn't show up. I started freaking out. I ran everykind of conversion software there was and re-importing them. #FAIL. Since, Voodoo was already asleep and these were the witching hours, I had to make an executive decision ;) Was one of our other videos approximately 60 seconds? Just upload it in the raw and hope for the best? I could do it...

I ran some 3ivx or Divx codecs, I have no idea what they really do other than sometimes you need and sometimes you don't to watch video. That didn't work. I tried using the camcorder software and it seized up my computer. I just walked away and prayed to something that it would work. I came back and it worked!! The video imported - 4:32am. It was fun looking up tutorials on how to make movies in iMovie just didn't have the time for it. By the way, I commend Apple for providing very comprehensive and useful tutorials in their support section for iMovie ;)

And with 5 minutes remaining on the countdown, I uploaded and submitted the application. I did the same with Voodoo's video as well. We used the same video application since we promote one another and doubled our chances... so we thought. The video file had uploaded and an error came back because the profile pic was in tiff format. So quickly one, twoed a jpg off and hit submit. Problem is is his was delivered past the 11:59pm cutoff. On the island reef job site, it states there are NO EXCEPTIONS with NO DISCUSSION. So I guess that means you up the creek with no paddle.

So, hopefully it made it in before the 11:59pm Australian cut-off and the RIAA doesn't suspend my video because I used copyright materials. They sent me an email and told me that there would be an email in my mailbox this week! Until we get our voting link on the official site, what we can do is present to the jovial application to make for an entertaining motley crue of two that will represent and bring Island life to you.

Please vote us up ★★★★★ on YouTube. Thanks to you!

Here are some outtakes and bloopers during our process to make the video.

Take #1

Take #2

Take #3

Take #4

Take #5

Take #6

Video submissions can be viewed at http://www.islandreefjob.com

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Love me some of that Helvetica

I continually find more and more wonderful typographic treatments in my perusals of the interwebs. Especially since the installment of #typeThurs (formerly known as #typographyThursday) my link pool has grown two-fold.

Graham Smith aka @imjustcreative has another website which is a dedication to all things Helvetica, lovehelvetica.com . And since doing so I think everyone is Helvetica crazy. From special Moleskine editions to coffee mugs. Helvetica is making a comeback! That is if Helvetica had ever gone away which it hasn't, just a little more popular than usual in some realms.

Below is the next level of typographic mashups. For me type had this permanence to it. It's been letter pressed, silk screened or printed and now it comes alive with the accompaniment of a wonderfully timed soundtrack. Here for your viewing pleasure is a dance of one of the classiest cats out there, Mr. Miedenger ;)