PLEASE put this on your status...

PLEASE put this on your status if you know someone or are related to someone who has been eaten by DRAGONS. Dragons are nearly unstoppable, and in case you didn't know, THEY CAN BREATHE FIRE. 93% of people won't copy and paste this, because they have already been eaten by dragons. 6% of people are sitting in the shower, armed with fire extinguishers. The remaining 1% are awesome, and will re-post this. Will you?

[THX to ErRo for this!!!]

milhaus.

from ETSY.

many thanks to Little Mountain (MiTau) for this! :))

Avec Eric: Ripert with Bourdain, Chang, Achatz, Fearing, Andres...

best episode EVER. i love...
José Andres' cigars and airs; Dean Fearing's throwback respect; Achatz' matter-of-factness; David Chang's intensity and high-strung Asian-ness; Tony Bourdain's insecurity (he sounds like Marc Maron!).

you gotta watch the entire episode.


The CAYMAN COOKOUT , avec Eric Ripert and friends, is happening 13-16 January 2011. this year, we're talking $3k for TWO DAYS, people! total bliss.

a music snob's not so humble opinion of 2010's best records

i wanted to get this out tonight; otherwise, i won't ever (see last year). i'm not gonna comment on everything cos a lot of my choices are a lot of other people's 2010 choices... although i bet the reasons i have for picking these are different.

didn't get a chance to look over my FB archive (i'm only going to post music stuff in tumblr now so i will have a permanent record) so here are, let's say, over a dozen titles, in alphabetical order by band/artist's first name...this time in electronic and non-electronic forms:

Electronic-ish/Dance Music - like
FOUR TET: There is Love in You on Domino
ESKMO: Eskmo on Ninja Tune
GROOVE ARMADA: Black Light on Om Records
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM: This is Happening on Virgin/EMI - ok i know i said i wasn't going to talk about the albums that everyone else listed but i must point out here that if you are pooh- poohing me and everyone else who dug this record, i suggest you go back and listen to it again!
SEI A: White Rainbow on Turbo Recordings
TAKE: Only Mountain-beat music is beautiful... especially when it sounds like Take.

VARIOUS ARTISTS: Five Years of Dirty Bird - just as i thought i was getting over my San Francisco envy of pesto pizza and the Hardkiss Brothers, i discovered the fabulous, most brilliant label Dirtybird Records, fronted by the almighty Claude VonStroke and anchored by the very talented Martin Brothers, Justin and Christian. Dirtybird's brand is what tech-house music should be all about: obscene titles/names (a la VonStroke); carefully crafted production, with sparsely placed, minimal tracks; AND voices or sounds that are tweaked just so it will drive you crazy and running to the dancefloor. listen to Sascha Braemer's "Club Foot" to hear what i'm talking about...it's on the second disc, song #12...and it's totally sick.

NOT Electronic-ish/ NOT Dance Music-like
the ALBUM LEAF: A Chorus of Storytellers on Subpop
BLK JKS: Zol! on Secretly Canadian - forget all this indie-meets-Paul-Simon crap, a la Vampire Weekend. listen to BLK JKS. they have hooks and rhythms, a great voice that requires several listens to understand, far-out guitar and compelling songs that you can't ignore...these guys are the real deal.
DANGER MOUSE and SPARKLEHORSE: Dark Night of the Soul on Capitol - not recommended for communal listening and party situations, but such a freaking perfect record, despite the David Lynch freakout vocals...for solitary drives or rainy days home alone or late nights at the office or quiet moments with your partner or times when you have nothing to say.
PHILIPPE JAROUSSKY: La Dolce Fiamma - Forgotten Castrato Arias on Virgin Classics - gorgeous music of J.C. Bach with Jérémie Rhorer conducting Le Cercle de l'Harmonie

JAMIE LIDELL: Compass on Warp
MENOMENA: Mines on Barsuk
SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS: Disconnect from Desire on Ghostly International/Vagrant - not to be mistaken for Sleigh Bells or Broken Bells!
STEVE MASON: Boys Outside on Domino - seriously, probably the best record of the year for me. [mostly because, there was once a band called the Beta Band, and before i could begin to dislike them, they vanished...poof!...never to be heard from again. and so, this is the record i was waiting for them to release.]
TOUBAB KREWE: TK2 on National Geographic
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Next Stop...Soweto Vol. 1-3 on Strut Records - fantastic deep jazz and abstract funk, straight outta South Africa. for all the unabashed praise i and others give the Luv n Haight label, Strut has been releasing hard-to-find gems and little-heard-before tracks from the vaults.

honourable mentions:
THOMAS ADÉS: Tevot; Violin Concerto; Three Studies from Couperin; Overture, Waltz and Finale from 'Powder Her Face' on EMI Classics - various performers including Simon Rattle and the Berlin Phil.

DAFT PUNK: Tron Legacy soundtrack- most impressive. hope they tour this year.
GOLD PANDA: Lucky Shiner on Spectral/Ghostly International- a fantastic record from an artist (sorry, Matthew Dear fans...) at one of my most favourite labels!
CONAN O'BRIEN: The Minty Theme Song - the less said, the better. otherwise, i'll wake up singing this damn song again and again and again...
UNDERWORLD: Bark on Om Records
DOMINO RECORDS IN GENERAL: i don't want this list to look totally out of balance, but 2010 was such an excellent year for the Domino label. you really have to hand it to them...i mean, there was TRICKY's Mixed Race, CLINIC's Bubblegum, THE FALL's Your Future Our Clutter and CHIEF's Modern Rituals.

2010 grievances. yeah, i got 'em.

i figured, if google can do their 2011 thing two hours before the 31st of December (i'm in the pacific time zone), i can list my first-world problems with 2010 on the penultimate day of the year.

and so, in honour of Festivus, i would like to list a few of of my grievances for the year 2010. [however, unlike the Seinfeld Festivus tradition, when one "tells their friends and family all the instances of how or when they disappointed the person during the year", my grievances are toward/with the world in general. this is because i have no control over a lot of stuff and i like to complain, but it is especially so because i am extremely fortunate since my friends and family were the only things to NOT disappoint me this year.*]

venus' grievances are as follows:

• Dr. Alexander Shulgin is unable to afford required treatment for a stroke, experienced earlier this year, and for a stubborn foot ulcer. ** speaking of which, reminds me of...
• Gov. Schwarzenegger's vetoes against Assembly Bill 3632 [AB3632].*^ for more info, please also see CA Dept. of Mental Health website.
  
• KCET in Los Angeles is no longer carrying PBS programming as of 1 January 2011. what to do, southern california? hellooooooooooo KOCE!
  
• whenever i highlight a word to edit in my Blogger entry, an extra word is deleted along with the highlighted word.
• Twitt'r accounts used by cities, government, entities, professionals and/or organisations in general to simply market and advertise, instead of providing real or true information, action, interaction and/or feedback.
  
• the prevalence of Liz Lemon/Tina Fey-shaped eyewear, and the dearth of Penelope Garcia/Kirsten Vangsness-shaped eyeglasses. speaking of which, reminds me of...
  
• the mediocrity of my optometrist's front office staff. they can't be bothered to find the right eyeglass frames for me...and they're too busy upselling stuff that ends up falling apart. s.o.w.r.m.o...
• the rude front office chicks at my doctor's office.*** s.o.w.r.m.o...
• good therapists who don't take my insurance. and, the bad ones who do.
• our PS3's broken blu-ray drive. s.o.w.r.m.o...
• TV repairmen in Orange County or Los Angeles who refuse to make housecalls to repair CRT televisions.**^ s.o.w.r.m.o...
• Guitar Hero haters. s.o.w.r.m.o...
• the small number of available Rockband keyboard songs and Pro songs.
  
• CREDO formerly known as Working Assets for having a terrible online payment system which forced us to lose our long distance telephone service.^*
  
• blizzard entertainment. love what they do, but i hate how they make you register for an account to get a stinking gametime gift for someone.****
• product placement in general, but especially on the Jeopardy game show.
  
• sites use the FB to login with, more often than openID.
• point-and-shoot/point-and-click digital cameras have all these supposedly cool features one can adjust and use...yet the user manuals give no information as to how or when they are to be used...just that they can be used.
• sebastien loeb.*****
• city of Buena Park's city council election, which was won by the highest spender(s).
  
• hipsters' (and others'!) outright rejection of MySpace. s.o.w.r.m.o...
• the absolutely pathetic web presence of most stand-up comics/comedians and magician/illusionist types i like.*^^^
  
• ALEX WONG's injury.***^
• Jack in the Box has no fish and chips. And Wendy's has no baked potatoes.
  
• water + gravity = yikes.
• celebrities. these non-experts're taking away all the voiceover jobs and officiant jobs and other jobs traditionally held by other experts. s.o.w.r.m.o...
• --$ha and the Beebs.**^^ s.o.w.r.m.o...
• Kristen Wiig.
• jerks still email me nasty things about how i don't deserve to have the mdma.com domain.
• MAX KARAOKE is too far away and too expensive.
  

==because footnotes are next to impossible on blogger==
* omg I LOVE MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!! [here are a few of them.] i also love a lot of other things, such as animals, my job, music, health and... um...my family and friends.
**Dr. Shulgin is a man who, through his tireless scientific research of 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (and many other chemicals with true therapeutic potential) in the face of mounting scrutiny, has benefited, and continues to benefit, many of us. as far back as 1985, MDMA was vilified by the media and was made a Schedule I drug by the DEA in the United States. it is a total shame that just one dollar has not been given in thanks to this brave man, by every person who has been touched by ecstasy in a positive way...especially, in this supposed world of "happy happy raver" b.s., also known as PLUR (or Peace Love Unity and Respect). see articles in Time magazine, May of the year 2000 and in June of the year 2000
*^ not to mention, the effects of his attempt to balance the California state budget, at the cost of helping those with homelessness and autism.
***however, i love the nurse at my dr.'s office.
**^i will pay a couple of hundred dollars cos we cannot afford to buy a new flatscreen/LCD/plasma television for several more hundreds of $$$!!!!
^*YES, i DO KNOW i should use skype or some other VoIP thing.
****yes, you can buy WoW gametime at amazon, but, um, not for one month.
*****as opposed to: HURRAH PETTER SOLBERG!
*^^^THANK YOU, marc maron, wonderground in Las Vegas, StandUp! Records and Punchline mag!!!
***^see more non-SYTYCD videos here.
**^^despite my love of the song they used on the Simpsons and the song they slowed down.

POST SECRET: not really 6 of one...and half dozen of the other

i admit, this "secret" is not much of one, unless the person who submitted it is keeping their condescending attitude toward mental illness and psychiatric drugs, specifically toward antidepressants, a secret...

i should get like i do, and tell this person that the enjoyment of music is more often related to stimulation of the limbic system in the brain, and been shown to be related to the activity of the neurotransmitter phenethylanine. in contrast, sertraline or Zoloft® and fluoxetine or Prozac® work in/on different parts of the brain, inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin, which is a completely different neurotransmitter. (please leave a comment if you need me to cite references...)

i suppose both brain mechanisms result in some sort of euphoric feeling...but then again, so do endorphins from running and opioid/mu receptours when we bang our hand by accident and experience pain. i just didn't want this person to get it twisted.

Dr. Shulgin helped us, so now let's help HIM!

To Read Click Here: http://shulginresearch.org/imgs/helpsasha2010.jpg

last night at the MAPS event, i learned some very unfortunate news: one of my personal heroes, Berkeley pharmacologist DR. ALEXANDER SHULGIN, experienced a stroke in November 2010. Dr. Shulgin's pioneering discoveries, relentless drive and tireless work in psychopharmacology has personally touched many of our lives, very deeply. If you, or anyone you care about, has experienced the effect of Dr. Shulgin's contributions, now is your opportunity to give back and show your appreciation. You can send Dr. Shulgin a donation via PIRYX if you don't use Paypal. And here is a link to donate if you do use Paypal.

Please see this new Blogger page for further details, links and information about Dr. Shulgin.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

= = =

Credited with MDMA's popularisation in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Shulgin also championed the treatment of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through the psychopharmaceutical use of MDMA. In subsequent years, Shulgin discovered, synthesized, and bioassayed over 230 psychoactive compounds. This means he found, made and tested over 230 psychoactive compounds in vivo , or in a whole, living organism...namely, himself! In 1991 and 1997, he and his wife Ann authored the books PiHKAL and TiHKAL on the topic of psychoactive drugs. [Excerpted and adapted from Transform Press bio.]

You can follow updates from Ann, Dr. Shulgin's wife, on CARING BRIDGE, and see the documentary film DIRTY PICTURES which was made about Sasha's life and work. If you use the Facebook, there is now a page dedicated to fundraising for Sasha:

If button doesn't work use THIS LINK.

maps.org afterparty in downtown l.a. was fun and hot (photos & video)

for AlSto's #39, we stayed home as AlSto received dozens of visitors, phone calls and FB good wishes. otherwise, since we went to PhiLe's studio to play cards and Rockband until late the previous night, we just watched Scarface on TV and not much else...

in the evening, we went to see friends and hear DJs at a party at the Temple of Visions art gallery in downtown L.A. MAPS.org (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) was in town for their CATALYSTS conference. some events were to raise money for their upcoming research project which will study therapeutic use of MDMA on Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who have chronic post-tramautic stress disorder (who have not responded to other treatment).

**NEWS: DR. ALEXANDER 'SASHA' SHULGIN NEEDS OUR HELP. PLEASE SEE THIS PAGE FOR INFO.**

what a serious people-watching bonanza: attendees included physicians, scholars, authors, artists and overall enthusiasts who wandered, danced, sat and slept (see a few photos here). we met pharmacist NICK BERRY (and contributed to his sharpie-decorated labcoat), a girl named Tammy/Tami and ___ , who i remember as 'Rock' for the namepatch on his blue speedsuit/jumpsuit...

on to the music. at the turntables (oops i mean CDJs!): Dela played a squelchy dub set first; EASTERN SUN's Brian Saitzyk (Ball of Waxx) was next with a set of chilled breaks, minimal dubstep and some beat music (i think he played a song by Take!!?); i think Imagika followed. the inside of the gallery was almost unbearably warm so we ran up the street with BriKa to Seven Grand bar, arriving there right before last call. when we got back, psychonauts filled the dancefloor and Moontribe's DJ BRIAN was in full effect. (sorry for the poor video quality! 'tis super short cos i was running out of battery!)

stuff my husband sez

re: Nicholas Cage

"He named his kid Kal El* !? i hope he beats the crap out of him when he gets old enough."

* superman

the holidaze make me think of the crumpus...

'tis actually spelt KRAMPUS. he's a.k.a. the holiday devil!

Gruss vom Krampus / Gruß vom Krampus (Greetings from the Crumpus) Everyone!

"On December 5th and 6th, in Austria, Switzerland, Croatia, Germany and other regions of European, children greet kindly St. Nicholas with his bag of toys and sweets only to find the Saint's devilish assistant trailing behind. Hideously costumed as a devil or wild man with a whipping switch or chains, Krampus comes to frighten the mischievous children into contrition."

...and see more info on this awesome website, KRAMPUS.COM!

video from A VERY VENTURE CHRISTMAS on the Venture Brothers