New albums to check out

Gravebloom - The Acacia Strain
Hydrograd - Stone Sour
Unparalleled Universe - Origin
Vengeful Ascension - Goatwhore
Slime and Punishment - Municipal Waste
Wrong One to Fuck With - Dying Fetus

Cannibal Corpse

I must be really weird.  I just love brutal death metal.  Cannibal Corpse is pretty brutal - they get moderately fast, but nowhere near some bands like Vital Remains or Origin.  But they are just super heavy.  I love the silliness of dripping blood logos and black guitars with red blood stains.

The musicianship in this band is pretty outstanding, but they never sacrifice brutality just to show off.  I happen to really love Corpsegrinder's vocals, even though they're pretty one dimensional.  He ranks right up there with Glenn Benton, Nergal and Max Cavalera as my favorite extreme metal vocalists.

Dimebag Darrell

I consider Dimebag Darrell one of the greatest guitar players of all time.

Had he not been shot and killed, he would have been about a year older than me.  Because we grew up roughly around the same time, his influences are very similar to mine.  That's not super uncommon for guitarists our age, but it makes me feel a sort of kinship and even understanding of his guitar playing.

Of course, he had become an incredible guitarist in his own right, and was and still is highly influential to me, in a lot of ways.

As a guitar player, his feel, his tone, his playing, is unmatched to this day.  He was such a combination of his influences, from the soaring lead guitar playing that he got from guys like Randy Rhoads, to the groove of Eddie Van Halen, to the driving rhythm guitar playing of James Hetfield.  And like those guys that influenced him, he fused his influences into his own recognizable style.

I remember hearing Cowboys-era Pantera on Radio Free Hawaii and Z-Rock in the early 90s, and then seeing the "I'm Broken" video at my aunty's house in L.A. when I took my professional engineering exam for California, and was blown away at the intensity and groove of that song.

As far as his personality, he just seemed like the most genuinely nicest person that wanted everyone to feel at home.  It seems that tributes to him revolve even more around his generosity and spirit, than his incredible musicianship.  He was a positive person....  and I hope to someday leave a legacy, as a person, in even a small fraction of a way that he did.

Style-wise, people in the know see it in me, but most people don't realize that my red-dyed beard and razor blade necklace are tributes to Dime.  It's funny when people that don't know metal say "your red beard is cool" and "I've never seen a dyed beard before", but metal fans will come up to me and say "Dimebag, right?"

I feel fortunate to have a lot of people to look up to, and Dimebag is definitely on the top of that list.

Coincidences - do they have meaning, or do we attach too much meaning?

I listened to an interesting podcast on Hidden Brain about coincidences and the meaning we attach to them.  The author talks about how we might attach more meaning to things that are statistically more probable than we imagine they are.

Multiple Intelligences - New Horizons, by Howard Gardner

This is the kind of thing I ponder all the time, so I really enjoyed reading this book.

Gardner initially postulated multiple, distinct intelligences.  These are:

1. Musical
2. Bodily - Kinesthetic
3. Logical - Mathematical
4. Linguistic
5. Spatial
6. Interpersonal
7. Intrapersonal 

He later added Naturalistic intelligence, but decided against adding Humor, Cooking, Sexual, and Spiritual intelligences, noting that they did not meet his eight criteria for establishing a category of intelligence.

My observation of people supports Gardner's theory - I've seen myriads of different combinations, from some who have great logical intelligence but very little interpersonal intelligence, or lots of interpersonal but very little intrapersonal, etc.  I also get a little bit of sense that there is an overarching well rounded intelligence that some people have, while others have very little developed intelligence in any category.

He talks about how his theory has been used in education, his initial resistance towards getting into that field, and ultimately how he felt a responsibility to lecture in the field of education.

I stopped reading the book here because I'm not that interested in how this theory impacts the educational field.  I think I'd rather read more about the theory itself.  I'm also now prompted to read about emotional intelligence, which Gardner doesn't describe in his theory.

Invisibilia - True You

Trailer for this episode:  "What happens when you discover a part of yourself that is so different from who you think you are?  Do you hold on to your original self tightly?"

This podcast really made me think.  The two stories revolved around the concept about our ideas about ourselves, and what happens when we discover something about ourselves that we didn't think we were.

The first story was about a woman who appeared menacing, being 6' tall with a shaved head and wearing all black, and who kept people at an arms length.  She discovers that she is voicing a young giggly girl in her dreams.  Upon reflection, she remembers some extreme forms of punishment as a young girl, and subsequent dream analysis reveals that her dreams are not answers in and of themselves, rather, they are the way that her mind reduces the trauma of her past.

The second story is of a man who has a very strong Mormon background and gets punished for saying the "f" word.  He grows up to be a very "square" college professor, but finds a voice for his offbeat and often risque humor as a cartoonist with a pseudonym Lord Birthday.

The overarching theme in these stories seems to be early childhood trauma, or repression, and the way that adults overcome that trauma.  It's interesting to me as a parent because I think that bringing up a healthy, normal child involves giving them the power to express themselves in a way that they are loved unconditionally.

We live in turbulent times

Watching the news for the past few weeks, it seems that the world is descending into chaos.  When a Bernie Sanders supporter shoots a Republican congressmen, and when a white man plows a van into a group of Muslims at a London mosque...  a man from a party known to be anti-guns commits gun violence and a white man terrorizes Muslims in a similar manner to how a terrorist Muslim terrorizes white people....  I know these are just two isolated incidents, but when the tables are turned and people do unexpected things, I worry that a cycle of violence has begun.

I worry that, like Israel and Palestine, the cycle won't end.

There was a hint about this after the election.  Prior to the election, Trump was saying that he might not accept the results of the election (anticipating that he might lose).  The left was in an uproar, stating that he needs to respect the process of election.  Then, when Trump won, people were protesting and saying that the electoral college process needs to be eliminated, and I thought that those people were hypocrites.

I am very liberal, but I don't consider myself aligned with the Democratic party as a whole.

I believe that the world would be a better place if two things happened:  1) if people practiced more compassion and empathy in their lives; and 2) if people exercised more humility and worked towards independent thinking and realizing their intellectual capacity.

I like this episode of Huang's World where Eddie Huang gets different perspectives, and bridges cultural gaps through things like food.

My favorite metal bands right now

Nails
Goatwhore
Decapitated
Iron Reagan
Chthonic
Byzantine
Hatebreed

Pretty. Odd.

This is Panic! At The Disco's second album, and the last to include founding member Ryan Ross.

Though Brendan Urie is the lead singer and current songwriter, Ross was the primary songwriter for the first two albums.  Though they achieved commercial success on their first album, "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" with a pop-punk / emo sound, they expanded their songwriting style on Pretty Odd.

Pretty Odd sounds like a lost Beatles album from the Sgt. Peppers era.

The songwriting is amazing, and full of Beatles'isms, from the opening of "We're So Starving" leading into "Nine In The Afternoon" ala "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band"/"With A Little Help From Our Friends".  Nine also has a stringed instrument ending with a trumpet solo that screams George Martin arrangement.  Even the 3/4 beat single bar transitions and the half time chorus suggests a strong Beatles influence.

Where I think a lot of Beatles influenced music might have Beatles elements, what makes the songs of the Beatles stand out is excellent songwriting and catchy and inventive parts, and the way the songs evoke strong imagery and colors.  This is where I think Panic matches the Beatles.  I would have loved to hear the Beatles record all of these songs in the 60s.

The musicianship is magically Beatles too!  The vibrato on the lead guitars sounds like George Harrison, and bass lines have that McCartney-esque simplicity and movement.  Occasional use of slide guitar reminds me of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".  The sound of Urie and Ross harmonizing sounds like Lennon and McCartney.  And I'm in love with the sound of the rhythm guitar on "That Green Gentleman" - that sounds like a Tele through an AC30 with a fuzz box...  like a less distorted tone from "Revolution".

The production took cues from George Martin as well.  Hearing instruments panned hard left and hard right give the listener that Beatles feel without being super overt or particularly effected.

But despite all of the Beatles-isms, this album stands out on its own, and is full of amazing songs that I want to hear over and over.  I particularly love "Northern Downpour" - which will always remind me of driving no place in particular with my 13-year old daughter and harmonizing to this song.

Apple Music

I think Apple Music is one of the biggest things to come out in the past 10 years that has impacted the way I listen to music.  I have unlimited access to everything in the Apple Music catalog, and don't need to worry about the amount of memory that my phone has.

Now, I can listen to whatever I want, wherever I want, and that has been instrumental in discovering new music.  I'm rediscovering all of the music I haven't heard from the past 15 years and sometimes even longer.

Decapitated

Well, I guess it's back to metal today.  I can listen to other genres, but I always come back to metal.

I recently rediscovered Decapitated.  I first heard them on their Organic Hallucinosis album in 2009 and (mistakenly) wrote them off as generic death metal.

Listening to "Homo Sum" from 2011's "Carnival Is Forever" shows syncopation without sounding like Djent music or some carbon copy of Meshuggah.  That song reminds me of a more modern version of Pantera's "Primal Concrete Sludge" that has Dimebag's syncopated riff over a pretty straightforward double bass beat.  In fact, it appears that like me, the guitar player for Decapitated is influenced by Dime.

"Earth Scar" from the yet-to-be-released Anticult is a more straightforward Slipknot style straight ahead rock/metal song.  "Never" from the same album is a fast skank beat with an octave riff, that reminds me of something from Behemoth's Demigod.

Maybe that's what it is.....  the elements of their songs that remind me of some of my favorite bands make them sound very familiar to me.  They can blast beat and riff like the best modern death metal, but they incorporate enough different elements into their music to make their songs interesting.

Like Behemoth, Hate, Vesania, and Vader, these guys are from Poland.  Of all of those bands, I think Decapitated is one of my favorites along with Behemoth.

Taking a break from metal today to listen to some rap and soul

Maybe listening to Maya Angelou is putting me in more soulful mood.  My playlist today includes:

• The Mexican - G.Z.A. featuring Tom Morello (a song that my son's breakdancing teacher suggested I learn, since he knows I play guitar - I was thinking it would be cool to play this song live with breakdancers)
• My Shot Remix - The Roots (What a cool combination of musicians - my favorite M.C., Black Thought, with Busta Rhymes and Nate Ruess from fun.)
• Unfuck the World - Prophets of Rage (Love the combination of Rage Against The Machine, B. Real from Cypress Hill and Chuck D. from Public Enemy)
• Seasons of Love - Rent soundtrack (I fell in love with this song after hearing my daughter sing the lead at the end at a recent performance)

Weapons

I guess I wouldn't normally call guitars "weapons", but these two guitars are so sharp and pointy that I think they might poke your eye out if you're not careful.

These are my two favorite guitars, and the guitars I'm using with my current band.

The one on the bottom of the picture is a B.C. Rich Custom Shop Warlock, made in the United States.  It's a beautifully crafted guitar, super solid, it sounds amazing, and plays really well.  It's also perfect to play sitting or standing.  I bought it used, so it wasn't spec'd out the way that I would have spec'd it out if I had ordered it custom built for myself.  I changed the pickups from passive DiMarzios to active EMGs and they sound great.  I'll need to build a battery box into the back of the guitar someday.  I also took out the second volume control and the tone control, so there are unfilled holes on the front of the guitar but they don't bother me.  This is my main 6-string guitar that is tuned to drop C#, which I can use to play most heavy songs.

The guitar on the top of the picture is my E-II Jesse Liu JL-7 Katana, made by ESP in Japan.  It is an impeccably crafted guitar, probably the pinnacle of guitar building, but very different from the Warlock.  The Seymour Duncan blackout pickup in the bridge position is dead quiet and sounds great.  It's a little harder to play sitting down, but I can manage.  I was resistant to 7 strings for the longest time, but I really like this one.  I can play songs in E standard by just ignoring the low B string, and it's not that hard.  Or I can play songs that are in B.

I might want to get a third guitar for metal - probably a 7 string that I can tune to Drop Ab.  That way, I can play any song in Eb standard (Slayer!), and anything that's kind of low with the Drop Ab.

Oh, then maybe an 8-string for super low things like Meshuggah or Deftones.  I guess it never ends, does it?

Ghost World

I saw this movie years ago, and revisited it this weekend.

I thought it was a great movie about two friends.  The primary characters are Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johanssen), two recent high school graduates who start out with similar thoughts on how to proceed into adulthood but ultimately drift apart.  Both actresses were snarky, and they felt very "real".

The supporting cast of characters is quirky and fun.  Seymour (Steve Buschemi) is so weird, but there's something immediately identifiable about him....  a vulnerability, but also a jaded cynicism and a confidence in who he is.

It's not a typically Hollywood happy ending, and it's vague and symbolic, but I'll leave it at that so as to not spoil it.

It was a great movie.  I don't like artsy movies that I feel are pretentious.  Black comedies are more tongue-in-cheek because you don't take things too seriously.  In the field of black comedies, it was very smart, entertaining, and oddly satisfying.  I would rank it up there with Pulp Fiction, Napoleon Dynamite, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Sometimes life isn't about happy endings.  With that understanding, movies like this can be oddly satisfying.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou

According to polls and reading recommendations, this is a classic book, and the fact that the audiobook is read by Maya Angelou herself makes the book that much more compelling.

Being born in Los Angeles and growing up in Hawaii, for me, reading about Maya Angelou's early life in Stamps, Arkansas is both foreign and interesting.  She talks a lot about racism and the church, which are a world apart for me.  She also talks about her relationship with her family, and in particular, her closeness with her older brother Bailey is especially touching.

She describes herself on numerous occasions as tenderhearted, and goes through trauma that renders her unable to talk in most social situations, but she overcomes this difficulty and comes of age when she and her brother Bailey move to California to be reunited with their parents.

The numerous chapters of the book cover little stories, from her toothache and the racism they encountered trying to get her teeth pulled, to her mother's con-man friends' tales of conning white men, to her travels to Mexico with her dad.

It's a good book that traverses different themes, some very heavy, some lighthearted.  It's a good biography and interesting from chapter to chapter, but as a whole, it's not one of my favorite books.

To Hell and Back - The Last Train From Hiroshima

Pelligrino writes about the devastation of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  The first few chapters describe the pure annihilation and immediacy of the destruction, but slowly the narrative evolves to describe the physical and psychological effects of the bombings, primarily from the Japanese perspective but also from the perspective of the bombers.

Much of the book reads like a horror movie, with gory accounts of both obliteration and physical suffering of unimaginable measure.  On the one hand, the endless variations on death seem almost gratuitous, yet the shock upon shock of reading these horrors underscores just how cruel and unfathomable were the effects of the bomb.

The book ends with the redemption of forgiveness, and the pledge for peace.  While I feel that the point of the book could be made in a shorter narrative (taking out much of the gore), I think this book is essential reading to put war into a proper perspective.

Whether or not the bombings were justified has been fervently debated, but if innocent human life is sacred, then the answer is clarified by this book.

Invisibilia

I was looking for podcasts to listen to, and Invisibilia turned up as one of the top rated podcasts.

From the description, "Invisibilia (Latin for invisible things) is about the invisible forces that control human behavior - ideas, beliefs, assumptions and emotions."

I listened to Season 3 - Emotions, parts 1 and 2.  There were two primary stories - one about an accident that was caused by a driver whose young daughter died in a head-on collision, and how the family was sued by the driver of the other vehicle who suffered emotional distress from seeing the young daughter's dead arm hanging inside the mangled vehicle.  The other story was about a man studying a tribe of headhunters who had an emotion that the man had never experienced before.

The stories were enhanced by one researcher's idea that our emotions are not shaped by the world around us, rather that our emotions shape the world around us.  This was an interesting thought, and one day, when I was feeling down, I decided that if I changed my sad thoughts, that I could change my world and my perception of the world.  It was quite empowering.

Weekend repairs

I did some really minor home repair things with on one of my dad's rentals this weekend.  We fixed some slats in the storage area under the house, painted the stairway, installed electrical outlet plates, changed lightbulbs, touched up interior paint, and trimmed the bottom of the bathroom door to accommodate the threshold from the new flooring.  Everything was relatively easy, with the hardest part being the trimming of the bathroom door, and even that was pretty easy.

7 string

I've been practicing a lot on my 7 string.  I had a hard time getting used to this guitar, but I've been able to play songs in standard 6 string tuning (Desperate Cry by Sepultura) with it, without much problem.

What's nice is that I can switch between songs like that, and songs that are tuned down as low as B, without changing guitars.

I'm now inspired to pick up an 8 string, as the band that I'm playing in is learning a Meshuggah song in F#.

The Starch Solution

I'm generally leery of all "diets" that sway too much one way or another.  I believe that a healthy body doesn't only involve weight loss, though that's a primary component, perhaps even the most important one.  I also believe that a healthy body is one where blood pressure, artery health, blood sugar, cholesterol and triglycerides are all optimally maintained, and cancer risks are reduced.

Dr. McDougall makes a compelling argument for the consumption of lots of starch with a reduction of meat and dairy, citing older generations of Asians having healthier bodies, and also maintaining diets high in rice and vegetables.  He backs up this statement with evidence from working for Hamakua Sugar Company on the Big Island, and the idea resonates with me, as I know lot of older Asians and see how their eating habits affected their health.

I'm not convinced that, as he states in his book, one can add 4 cups of rice to their diet every day and be healthy, but what I do take away is that starch keeps you satiated, and it's wise to reduce animal protein.

With that in mind, I intend to try to eat just enough starch to keep me satiated, reduce my meat consumption, and eat a lot more fruits and vegetables.

Living Colour

I got to see Living Colour at the Blue Note Waikiki this weekend.

I loved their first album, Vivid.  Back in 1987 when they came out, funk rock wasn't a full fledged genre, but this album kicked it off in a big way.  After this album, I really started getting into funk rock like the Chili Peppers, Faith No More, Fishbone's transition from ska to funk, and later Infectious Grooves and Psychefunkapus.

I didn't follow Living Colour much after their first album, but as I downloaded the setlist in anticipation of this weekend's concert, I found out how good their later stuff is.

They were a really tight band!  Will Calhoun is a solid drummer, and plays perfectly for the songs, though he showed his technical ability during his drum solo.  Doug Wimbish is an amazing bass player, flashy but melodic and technical, always with the perfect groove.  His bass solo was a melodic chord progression looped, that he solo'd over.  Vernon Reid has always been an out there player - with strange chromaticism and frenetic shredding.  At this concert, I finally "got it" - he's such a unique player, and he really stands out because of the way he plays.  As a guitarist, one wants to find their voice, the signature style that, when you hear it, you say "hey, that's Vernon Reid".  I loved his playing!!  Corey Glover's voice has not aged or changed one bit, and he was able to hit all of the notes from the original recordings.  I have so much respect for that guy as a vocalist - such power and soul!!

They didn't play everything I hoped they would, but it was an incredible concert nonetheless!  And The Blue Note is an awesome venue for live music, and I got to see them really up close and personal - probably the closest I've ever been to a really good band like this.  I even got to watch Calhoun's feet hit the kick pedal!!

During the show, there was interplay between Vernon Reid and Corey Glover, and it reminded me of the way that I interacted on stage with our singer, Jim, in Giant Wheel Throw, complete with middle fingers to each other.

When I took the following picture, because Vernon wasn't there, I introduced myself to them as Vernon's replacement.  Corey said to me that "The difference is that I like you!!"  That was a funny moment, and a really nice cap to a great show!

Inspiration

I feel very fortunate to have found inspiration in people that I admire.  Though I've only met one of them (Morimoto), the information that I've found about these people through interviews, online videos, biographies, or even just their music, has given me an understanding of their personal philosophies and enduring spirit.  Some of them have more specific qualities that I admire, such as the conviction of Nergal's independent thinking, while others have a more general quality, like the Dalai Lama's internal center and peace.


The Dalai Lama (center)

I've read "The Art of Happiness", "The Book of Joy", "The Universe in a Single Atom", and "A Profound Mind".  Though I'm not a Buddhist, the Dalai Lama's teachings have a universal message that transcends religious thought.  In fact, in "The Book of Joy", he tells Desmond Tutu that religion will be obsolete within the near future, which further emphasizes the non-denominational and universal appeal of the message of joy.

It's inspiring that whenever he's asked a question, he always has a centered response that makes complete sense within the framework of a peaceful mind.  Some of the questions are difficult, like "how do you find peace when you have been cast out of your home and have to live as a refugee?"  Some are more personal and have a more universal appeal, like "how can you say you are fulfilled when you have never had intimacy with a woman?"

The Dalai Lama wrote the forward to Piero Ferrucci's "The Power of Kindness", and Ferrucci echoes the Dalai Lama's message of kindness, empathy, forgiveness and mindfulness as the foundation to peace and a centered state of mind.

The Dalai Lama has probably developed the most centered state of mind of most human beings.  I know that his life and the circumstances around it are very different from mine.  But at the same time, we are all sentient beings, and we can all achieve inner peace and a sense of center, and his teachings are very inspirational to me in my quest for inner peace.

Barack Obama (fairness)

I have to admit that I don't know a lot about the enduring legacy of Barack Obama's presidency except the Affordable Health Care Act, the killing of Osama Bin Laden, and to a lesser extent, his work with LGBT rights and his work to promote environmental issues.  I fully intend to educate myself more about his White House accomplishments and failures.  But even with this limited knowledge, from a bigger picture perspective, I feel that he was a great president.  His presidency was unmarred by things like the Whitewater scandal, Monica Lewinsky and impeachment of President Bill Clinton, the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina failures of George Bush, or the (many) problems of the Donald Trump presidency's first 6 months.  To that end, President Obama appears to be the best president of at least the past 24 years, if not more.

I read two of Obama's books - "Dreams From My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope".

"Dreams From My Father" dispelled my previous thought that Obama is not a real black man because he had not come from slave roots.  Though he didn't come from slave roots, I was wrong in defining his identity because of that.  Now I believe that his background and experiences allow him to have a much broader perspective of what it means to be American.  His roots were a white family from the mainland U.S., as much as it was a black family that was firmly rooted in Kenya - I believe that helped him understand both longstanding "traditional" white America, and immigrant families.  He understands black American's issues of racism, both from his personal experiences with racism as well as his work with disadvantaged black communities in Chicago.

In "The Audacity of Hope", he talks about his political values, but they don't just tow the Democratic party line.  Whereas I think most Democrats consider issues from a more myopic Democratic position, Obama considers issues from a broader perspective.  For example, he considers environmental issues alongside the fact that it might impact job creation.

He says that he attended Town Hall meetings and listened to what everyone had to say, regardless of where they fell in the political spectrum.

I may be naive or wrong, but I think this came from a very honest perspective of fairness and inclusiveness rather being a calculating politician.  This is the one attribute of Obama that stands out, and gives him integrity.  In some ways, you could say that this was a result of his compassion for all people, and that's very inspiring to me.

I also feel that he is the most intelligent president that we've possibly ever had, and he will probably go down as one of the greatest orators of all time.  His speeches inspire, and make complete sense.

I voted for him in both elections and I knew that there was promise in his presidency.  I feel that his intentions were genuine.  I also imagine that if his policies stumbled in any way, it was probably due to the politicizing and compromises that he had to make with congress.

Regardless, he is a great man that epitomizes fairness and equality for all, and because of that, I feel that he is the embodiment of the spirit of the United States.  That's really inspirational to me.

Dave Grohl (dudeness and respect for tradition)

I was going to list Dave Grohl's inspirational attribute as "kindness", but he's too much of a rock and roll icon to be described as "kind".  I don't think that word epitomizes what he is about.  There's a rebellious spirit that defines his attitude, but at the same time, he has a reverence for what he believes as purity and a lack of bullshit.  Maybe it's the recognition of the bullshit that makes him not so much "kind", as it makes him a "dude".  So for lack of a better term, he epitomizes "dudeness".

I really loved Dave Grohl's drumming in Nirvana, but I love his voice and his songwriting in the Foo Fighters even more.  His songwriting style is a combination of pop influences, hardcore, and classic rock, as evident by the melodic hooks, the somewhat complex guitar arrangements, and the aggression of the instrumentation.  When the Foo Fighters came out, they were more hardcore than Green Day and the Offspring, but at the same time more classic rock sounding than Bad Religion and Pennywise.  The song "Everlong" characterizes a lot of what he's about as a songwriter, and is one of my favorite songs of all time.

Grohl has never been shy about his opinions.  After winning a Grammy, he spoke about the fact that he was able to get his Grammy for an album recorded in his garage, versus the digital perfection of ProTools.  He's advocated for kids playing music in the garage for their own enjoyment, rather than trying to be on American Idol to garner the votes of people.  He makes fun of what he considers pomposity, like the image of an eagle flying onto the lead singer of Creed's arm in their music video.  He laughs at the Japanese interviews excited exclamations of "Rearry?", describing the word as a really excited Scooby Doo.  Underneath all of this, you see that he really roots for the underdog, which makes him a "dude" in my book.  Just an ordinary guy, albeit with an incredible gift for songwriting, singing, guitar playing and drumming.

He also has so much reverence for music that he loves, from classic stuff like the Beatles, to Sepultura and other metal, to newer bands like Royal Blood.  I think it's so cool, that someone who is such an accomplished and prolific musician, to pay tribute to the greats and to promote the up and comers.

His "Sonic Highways" HBO series shows how he can play with a classic guitarist like Joe Walsh, to promoting new guys like Gary Clark Jr.

What I love about him is his love of music, his respect for the traditions of not only musical form, but also of the tradition of playing music in the garage, for the love of music, not for fame.  That's such a great message.

Grohl is talented and funny, but he's also so humble and acts like just another dude.  That's really inspirational to me.


Max Cavalera (humility and enthusiasm)

For a guy that writes brutal thrash metal, Max Cavalera is a pretty mellow and funny guy.

I've been a fan of his music for years.  His early work as singer and rhythm guitar player for Sepultura was pretty amazing to me.  After leaving Sepultura, he wrote a lot of music with Soulfly, and then formed Cavalera Conspiracy with his brother Iggor, who finally left Sepultura.

Fortunately, Max wrote a biography and I was able to read about his early life as a rich kid to an Italian diplomat in Brazil, to the poverty he went through when his dad died, and his rise as a musician in the most influential band from Brazil, not to mention one of the most influential metal bands ever.

I love how he incorporates his kids into his bands.  I also love how he promotes new bands by taking them out on tour with him.  He seems to be very humble in his appreciation of other music, in the same way that Dave Grohl promotes the bands that he likes.  In fact, Cavalera played on Grohl's Probot project, and Grohl wrote the forward to Cavalera's biography.

Though I don't really like the shape of his new signature model, I really love most of his taste in guitars - from his early B.C. Rich Warlocks, to his SG and the SG derived ESP Viper, to his ESP EX - those are some of my favorite guitar shapes ever.

His wife Gloria said that he "shits riffs all day", which means that he easily comes up with guitar parts for songs all the time.  Though his riffs can be pretty simple, they are the foundation of tons of classic and memorable songs.

His influence in the industry is pretty huge, and in fact he has guested on other artists' albums, and has had lots of guest artists on his songs.  He's collaborated with guys like Ice T, Tom Araya from Slayer, Corey Taylor from Slipknot, the guys from Deftones, etc.

He's so prolific, he's an amazing songwriter, guitarist and singer, and humble and truly enthusiastic about music he loves, and that inspires me to try to be the same.

Masaharu Morimoto (precision and creativity)

Morimoto doesn't have a bio per se, but his first cookbook has a section on his early life and his career.  He grew up a kid with a strict dad in Japan, and he had dreams of being a professional baseball player.  When an injury sidelined his baseball career, he pursued cooking.  He started by apprenticing in Japanese shops, which were notorious for demanding perfection in every facet of cooking.  Infamously, he had to wash rice for years at a sushi bar before he was allowed to slice fish.

He told the story about how he rose through the ranks in the United States as a chef for Sony, and later for Nobu, and how he was invited to be on Iron Chef in Japan, where he wanted to show the Japanese chefs that a Japanese chef living in America was just as good as Japanese chefs.

He then become an Iron Chef on Iron Chef America, and opened restaurants all throughout the world.

I've eaten at his restaurant, Morimoto Waikiki, twice.  I really enjoyed the food there.  Maybe I was imagining things, but I remember once when I was having lunch there, that people were glancing over at me because I look a little like Morimoto, with my ponytail, glasses, and goatee.

He is such a creative chef, and has inspired me to try to create new fusions of food that go beyond traditional food of any particular culture.  Though I don't have a lot of successful food fusion recipes, his spirit of creativity makes me try to think outside the box the way he does.

At the same time, he is well versed in the tradition of Japanese food, and seems to go through extreme lengths to perfect his food - even hulling his own rice.  I am so inspired by his pursuit of perfection through precision cooking and preparation.  Not only is a chef like Morimoto knowledgeable about different kinds of foods, but his knife skills are amazing.

Morimoto is definitely my inspiration as a chef, not for his specific recipes, but the spirit with which he creates them.  I was fortunate to be able to meet him and have him sign my cookbook, which you can see in another blog post here.

Adam Nergal Darski (conviction)

I love music.  Though I am an engineer by occupation, my passion lies squarely in music, which is why most of my influences are musicians.

My favorite kind of music is metal, which spans multiple subgenres.  But I also listen to other kinds of music, and a lot of times my favorite bands are those bands that come out and fuse different musical elements to create something new, kind of like how Morimoto fuses different cuisines to create new foods.  Bands like Ozzy's first Blizzard of Ozz combined classical music with bluesy rock and early Sabbath styled metal to form something new.  Rage Against The Machine took Zep style classic rock riffs and fused it with rap in a different way from early rap rock collaborations like Run DMC/Aerosmith, or Anthrax/Public Enemy.

In metal, subgenres can be very confining.  There was a period of time when thrash metal bands hated glam metal bands.  For example, Lars Ulrich from Metallica made fun of the guys from Motley Crue early in their respective careers, and the Crue guys couldn't chase them to fight because of their high heels.

Similar animosity happened between black metal and death metal bands.  But Behemoth blurred the line between death metal and black metal, and Behemoth's Demigod is one of the greatest albums of all time.  Adam Nergal Darski is the mastermind behind Behemoth.

Nergal is a huge figure in Poland, not only for his work with Behemoth, but as a celebrity having transcended beyond his work as an extreme metal artist, into the pop realm as a judge on a Polish vocal contest show similar to American Idol.

Nergal write Satanic themed songs, but he is actually more atheist, and anti-organized religion.  The religion he rails against happens to be Christianity, as it is dominant and according to him, oppressive in Polish society.

He has gotten in trouble for ripping up bibles, but despite bans against him and threats from the authorities, he maintains his conviction.

Even after facing his mortality through his battle with leukemia, he hadn't abandoned his lack of faith.  Rather, he embraced the concept that he has the strength to beat his leukemia, which he said would have been in contrast to a believer's acceptance of God's plan.

I love the strength of his conviction, and his ability to draw from inner strength rather than giving up effort to fate.  He inspires me to find my inner strength.  Plus he's just a badass musician.


Paul Gilbert (humility and love of music)

I once got to see Paul Gilbert play a clinic at a local guitar store.  Paul is an insane guitar player, and has the technical facility to do a lot of things.

In interviews, he seems like such a humble guy.  I have to think he knows how good he is, but he never makes you feel like it.  In jam situations, he is always gracious to the guitar players he is playing with, and you don't get a sense of competition from his side, even though he blows most guys away.

I saw a video of a TV show in Japan where he gets together with Marty Friedman and they play a lot of classic songs, and Paul seems to know thousands of songs.  He's a fan of a lot of music, and he always talks about his love of the Beatles and Todd Rundgren.

I love how incredibly talented he is, and yet how he makes everyone feel comfortable when he's around, and how he shares his love of music through his own music.

The Tyranny of Will - Iron Reagan

I'm completely obsessed with this album.  It came out in 2014, and it is incredible.  The genre is called crossover thrash, which takes elements of hardcore, but with more metal / thrash elements.  It sounds a little like Slayer's Undisputed Attitude, but with a more Anthrax-like tongue-in-cheek feel.

There's something strange about this kind of thrash that makes you feel good - despite the aggressive instrumentation and the harsh lyrics, there's an almost happy, celebratory energy.

The Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama

After listening to the introduction of this audiobook (read by Obama), I'm blown away not just by his ideas and belief system, but also by his humility and articulation.  I've always known his politics to be liberal, but he also believes in being all-inclusive.  I don't think it's a function of being a politician - rather, I truly believe that he considers all perspectives, and some of his values seem to emphasize beliefs that are stronger on the right than the left.

Dreams From My Father - Barack Obama

This book chronicles Barack Obama's life up until just before he enters Harvard Law School.  The book is divided into three sections - his early life growing up in Hawaii and Indonesia, his short stints at Occidental and Columbia and his later work as an organizer in Chicago, and his visit to Kenya to discover his roots.  The theme of the book as he goes through these different places is race, and the legacy of his father.

Though I had a hard time following the various family tree relatives in Kenya, it was a great read that described how he formed his opinions on race, social justice and civil rights.

Early 90s New York thrash

I "discovered" this >30 year old band watching a documentary on YouTube.  I had never heard of them until this past week, and decided to check them out.  I wish I had heard them back when this album came out in 1991.  It's stylistically very similar to the thrash I'm listening to these days from that same era - Sepultura's "Beneath the Remains" and "Alive", and Slayer's "Reign In Blood".  This is a great album that I'm sure will influence my songwriting.

Checking out the Wikipedia page for Demolition Hammer - it appears that two of their members left to form Deviate.  I went to iTunes and found this album, though I don't know if it's the same Deviate.  The time period would be appropriate, as this album came out in 1998, and their sound seems to be very NYC hardcore.  Regardless, this is a great album.

Homo Deus

Harari's "Homo Deus" theorizes mankind's endeavors in the 21st century, not so much as a manifesto but as a prediction of what we need to think about in order to change the direction we head into.

He first talks about the impediments to mankind's progress - war, famine and disease.  Next, he talks about conquering those problems, and what mankind will turn our attention to - specifically divinity, immortality and bliss.

He then turns to evolution and the existence of God, and describes the concepts as being mutually exclusive.  Then he talks about consciousness, the soul, and whether or not animals have either.

The following chapter discusses the artificial constructs that allow mankind to co-exist - money, religion and nationalism, which is repeated from Harari's last book "Sapiens".

Next, he discusses global warming, economy vs. the environment, and how the rich suffer less than the poor when either the economy of the environment suffer.

In the following chapter he talks about Humanism in it's different sects.

He talks about liberalism, socialism and evolutionary Humanism...  where the latter is described in terms of Nazi-ism, which I find a little strange that the Israeli author finds some agreement with.

The latter part of the book discusses dataism vs. humanism, and how homo sapiens will be taken over by dataism, and how mankind will transform.  He says this not as a premonition, but as a warning about where homo sapiens will evolve given our current direction and reliance on technology and social media.

It was interesting and food for thought.

Romeo and Juliet

After reading "Shakespeare Saved My Life", I think I'll try reading Romeo and Juliet, which is supposedly one of the works that is easier to understand.

The Power of Kindness

This is a great book that helps one to find peace through the power of kindness.  The author breaks the book down into different sections, each describing a different kind act.  He often references stories that teach a lesson applicable to each section.  The sections are:

Honesty
Harmlessness
Warmth
Forgiveness
Contact
Sense of Belonging
Trust
Mindfulness
Empathy
Humility
Patience
Generosity
Respect
Flexibility
Memory
Loyalty
Gratitude
Service
Joy

I really love this book and its teachings.

Shakespeare Saved My Life

This was a really cool book!!  It's about the author's experience teaching Shakespeare in the solitary confinement ward of a maximum security prison, and highlights her experience with one particularly enthusiastic and brilliant prisoner.

I loved this book and it was so easy to read.  And I'm thinking if Shakespeare could be read and analyzed by criminals, maybe reading Shakespeare isn't as daunting as I think it is!

Star Wars: Rogue One

I watched this movie on DVD this weekend.  I saw it in the theater when it originally came out, and really enjoyed it then.  I enjoyed it even more this second time.

I thought it was one of the best Star Wars movies made so far.  Part of that was the connections to the very first movie (Episode 4), and the frequent use of the word "hope" was a prelude to "A New Hope".  I enjoyed the few monologues about rallying the rebellion, as they portrayed the spirit of the rebellion in a way that the original didn't capitalize on.  Scenes like those definitely set a context for the rebellion.

The scenes alternating between the aerial dogfights and the hand fighting on land were really great war scenes.

Spoiler alert.....

The concept of hope and the transition of that from this movie to episode 4 made the death of the all of the characters that much more significant.

The Universe In A Single Atom - The Dalai Lama

My studies into the teachings of the Dalai Lama continue through this book.  It is very interesting, though difficult at times to understand.

I was surprised at the Dalai Lama's level of understanding of science.  Some of the comparisons of Buddhism to scientific inquiry resonated in me, whereas others left questions in my mind.  I appreciated the comparison and contrast of scientific thinking with philosophical questions, while recognizing that science has philosophical components of ethics and morals.

This is another book that I'm having difficulty comprehending, so I think I'll need to listen to it again.

A Profound Mind - The Dalai Lama

In "A Profound Mind", the Dalai Lama teaches the cultivation of wisdom and peace through Buddhist practices.

Unlike "The Art of Happiness", "A Profound Mind" focuses on Buddhist spiritual teachings and concepts in achieving inner peace and reducing suffering.

I found the concept of emptiness of self to be difficult to understand, so I think I'll need to read this again.  Typically when I don't understand something in a book, I'll continue reading in order to grasp the other key concepts.  Fortunately, one need not understand this concept completely in order to continue his teachings.  Still, I think to grasp the concept would probably reinforce the rest of the book.

Buddhism is interesting to me.  It touches upon facets of religion but is more a philosophy.  It's more inward facing and teaches compassion towards the world around us.  And though I don't know much about Christianity or Islam, it appears much more inclusive in the sense that Buddhism doesn't talk about "sins", doesn't talk about repenting, or doesn't weigh heavy with guilt.... rather, it advocates for the reduction of internal suffering.

I'm not sure about the concepts of lack of self or reincarnation, but I definitely incorporate facets of Buddhism into my life now.

As I said before, I will read this again.

Qingming

Qingming is an annual Chinese tradition of honoring our ancestors.  This past weekend, we went to the graveyard to honor my Chinese grandmother.  It's a very ritualistic experience that starts with the presentation of food, symbolically.  We offer our prayers, pour tea and/or whiskey near the grave, then offer more prayers.  Next, we burn simulated money, which we call "hell notes".  The significance, or so I'm told, is to give our ancestors money to keep them out of hell.  Next, we pop fireworks, presumably to ward off the bad spirits.

It's a fun tradition, gives us an opportunity to get together with family and reminisce about grandma, and keeps our culture alive.

On the thought of keeping our culture alive, I watched a video of "The Oldest Dim Sum in San Francisco", and laughed when the host talked about making potstickers on New Years and wearing bread on their faces with holes cut out while cutting onions to prevent crying.  Then I thought about how Qingming, Moon Festival and Chinese New Year are the three cultural practices we enjoy, and how I don't know enough about the meaning behind them, nor do we have fun traditions like that.

For Chinese New Year next year, I think we'll make potstickers with bread masks.  I also think it would be fun to pound mochi on New Year's Eve to keep our Japanese culture alive.

Culture and traditions are very important in establishing your identity, and I think I need to cultivate this more in my kids.

Vices & Virtues - Panic! At The Disco

My daughter is slowly converting me over to all of the albums she loves, with Twenty One Pilots and My Chemical Romance already in heavy rotation on Apple Music.

Vices & Virtues is an amazing album.  As with all Panic songs, the songwriting is super catchy, and sung and performed with so much energy.  There's something a little more serious about this album compared to their other albums, and I think that's what has drawn me to it.

There are lots of string arrangements, synths, and cool little parts.  The album starts with "The Ballad of Mona Lisa", a catchy song that's more a romping anthemic pop song than a ballad.  Catchy songs follow, maybe not concise and simple enough to play on pop radio, but definitely easy to listen to. 7 songs in is "Always", a soft acoustic number that is one of my favorite songs on the album.

I believe the album was partially produced by Butch Walker, who is, IMO, a genius producer and musician.


I've heard of people dismissing Panic as emo, or saying their music is background mindless music.  I feel that if Brendan Urie (who basically at this point IS Panic) continues putting out such diverse and incredible albums, they have the potential to achieve the same kind of legacy as the Beatles or Queen.

The Law of Attractioon, Plain and Simple

I heard about the Law of Attraction recently.  I thought it sounded interesting, so I looked it up on the internet, and found a lot of skeptics.

I fancy myself as a critical thinker, so I wanted to find out for myself what this was all about.

LOA uses a lot of the techniques that the books by The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu teach, namely forgiveness, letting go of the past, harnessing positive energy, etc.  In some respects, it's also very similar to Deepak Chopra's The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success.

However, the fundamental premise is getting all that you desire, rather than finding inner peace.

That general premise seems to be contradictory to me.  Finding inner peace implies being satisfied with what you have, but getting all that you desire almost suggests dissatisfaction with your current situation.

I believe in moving forward, and I do believe that the positive energy that LOA suggests is a great way to move forward.  I just think there's a fine line between moving forward and getting more and more.  The Dalai Lama teaches you to be happy with what you have and not to place your happiness on material things, on money, on the perfect spouse, because with the disappearance of those things, you will lose your happiness.  On the other hand, if you find peace and happiness, and can eliminate suffering through the compassion that you share with people, then you will always have inner peace.

I will take the message that this book presents with proper context.  But the whole premise is a bit counter intuitive to me, in terms of finding peace and happiness in your core.

I still feel like I can learn from anything.  And in this case, the LOA and the seeming lack of calm and inner peace associated with wanting more, reinforces the teachings of the Dalai Lama.

Phantom Limb - Pig Destroyer

How can you not love a band named "Pig Destroyer"?  I don't know how to classify them, but I've always been a little confused about genre labels.  Their songs are pretty short, some just over a minute long.  The songs are fairly complex, which reminds me of Cryptopsy's "None So Vile", but somewhat more hardcore like Nails' "You Will Never Be One Of Us".  In fact, they sound like the connection between those two albums.

Those two albums are full of memorable riffs and vocals.  I'm not quite sure how this Pig Destroyer fares in that department, but time will tell.  It has promise though - stylistically, I love what they are doing.

The album cover art is cool too!!

The ultimate

I love heavy metal.  Music with fast drums, distorted guitars, and most of all, the energy of metal is like a drug to me.

There have been lots of bands that I love who have a combination of musicians that write / play magically together.

For me, those rare bands that have made magic are early Metallica, the mighty Pantera, Vivian Campbell-era Dio, Ozzy's original Blizzard of Ozz band with Randy Rhoads, Vital Remains with Dave Suzuki and Glen Benton, Cannibal Corpse's current line-up, Angela Gossow-era Arch Enemy.....

But the ultimate band for me is the original Slayer line-up.  Dave Lombardo is just about THE sound of Slayer, and his drumming is so musical.  Tom Araya's voice and swagger is the face of the band, lyrically and sonically, and Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King's riffs and ridiculously unmusical leads propel their songs forward with aggression and drive.  Their song structures are complex enough to weave them through different forms of aggression, but have the simplicity of hardcore punk that get delivered with more evil than hardcore that brings a brutality to the music.

Sadly, the passing of Jeff Hanneman means that the original Slayer line up will never play together again.  And unfortunately, Lombardo will probably never get along with Araya and King.  Fortunately, I've recently discovered the entire World Painted Blood album, which update the sounds from the classic three albums (Reign, Seasons, South).

I finally got to see Slayer in 2015, and though Gary Holt and Paul Bostaph were fucking excellent, it still wasn't the classic Slayer, even though they were still mighty.

I didn't forget pi day yesterday

I made a peanut butter and chocolate pie and had a slice last night.  As you can see, my piping wasn't so good.  I should have made more chocolate to pipe, but I would have wasted some.  Is it more important to look nice, or not to waste?  :)

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

The format of this book is very simple.  The author lists each spiritual law, then gives examples of how to put the laws into practice.

1. The Law of Pure Potentiality: Take time to be silent, to just BE. Meditate for 30 minutes twice a day. Silently witness the intelligence within every living thing. Practice non-judgment.
2. The Law of Giving: Today, bring whoever you encounter a gift: a compliment or flower. Gratefully receive gifts. Keep wealth circulating by giving and receiving care, affection, appreciation and love.
3. The Law of Karma: Every action generates a force of energy that returns to us in like kind. Choosing actions that bring happiness and success to others ensures the flow of happiness and success to you.
4. The Law of Least Effort: Accept people, situations, and events as they occur. Take responsibility for your situation and for all events seen as problems. Relinquish the need to defend your point of view.
5. The Law of Intention and Desire: Inherent in every intention and desire is the mechanics for its fulfillment. Make a list of desires. Trust that when things don’t seem to go your way, there is a reason.
6. The Law of Detachment: Allow yourself and others the freedom to be who they are. Do not force solutions—allow solutions to spontaneously emerge. Uncertainty is essential, and your path to freedom.
7. The Law of Dharma: Seek your higher Self. Discover your unique talents. Ask yourself how you are best suited to serve humanity. Using your unique talents and serving others brings unlimited bliss and abundance.

After contemplating this book and meditating on how this book is put into action, I've started to see that the core premise of a lot of these books imply a certain degree of dissatisfaction with what your current state of life is.

Certainly, none of the above laws imply that, but examples given in the book point out that people can apply these laws, as the title suggests, to the end of "fulfillment of your dreams", and the subtitle of the book is "Creating Affluence".  I believe in constantly improving oneself, but when the pretext for a methodology is somehow garnering more for oneself vs. cultivating happiness, satisfaction and altruism, then I'm a little more cautious about that methodology.

Still, I believe one can put these laws into practice in a non-selfish way.