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Involver by DJ Sasha

Updated Apr 16, 2008

1st to recommend

Description

Involver by DJ Sasha absolutely rocks. It is one continuous mix broken up into very danceable, very compelling tracks that are both musically interesting and really make your body feel like moving. The first track, grandnational, is totally amazing- slow, pulsing and building. It is a bit dark at times but ultimately hopeful, I think. The remix of Spooky's "Belong" is phenomenal- totally speaks to me and has been a touchstone for me since I first heard it. Amazing rhythyms, orchestral-like arrangements and movements w/in the piece, and ethereal and uplifting vocals that hover on the edge of being understood. Brilliant- without doubt, Belong is one of my all-time fav tracks.

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Kick Ass Karma t-shirt

Updated Apr 12, 2008

1st to recommend

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OK- this is def my next purchase as it is hilarious and I dig the underlying warrior ethos there. Nothing like a little kung fu karma to slay those obstacles of mind and material

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Threadless T-Shirts - Loch Ness Imposter by Ross Zietz

Updated Apr 12, 2008

4 people recommended this item

Description

I have this t-shirt and love to wear it though I am always a bit surprised by how many people either don't think it is funny or don't get it. Maybe the joke is on me and it is not that funny. Who knows. Regardless, I dig this shirt. Faux-Nessie

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Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings by Pema Chodron AudioBook

Updated Mar 27, 2008

1st to recommend

Description

Pema Chodron is was the first American woman to become an ordained Tibetan Buddhist nun and she is one kick-ass lady. She lived a normal life before becoming a nun so she speaks from her real experience w/real life, not a theoretical understanding only. Her main focus on the "warrior bodhisattva" which is basically someone who aspires to be awake during their life. Comfortable w/Uncertainty is sort of a distillation and intro to a lot of her thinking about warriorship and waking up and dealing w/the fact that pretty much nothing other than groundlessness/uncertainty is certain.

If you want to challenge yourself and start to understand one path to happiness, check out Pema's work. She rocks!

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DUNE AUDIOBOOK by Frank Herbert

Updated Mar 27, 2008

1st to recommend

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"Fear is the mindkiller." That is one awesome thought and perhaps one of the most penetrating insights in Frank Herbert's incredible sci-fi classic, Dune. I have read Dune 4 times and recently listened to the unabridged audio version which is really quite amazing. There are multiple readers (though sometimes they seem to use a large caste and sometimes just the narrator and I am not sure why they switch back and forth but it does not matter.)

if you want to see what all the hype is about or want to re-visit paul ma'ud dib's adventures among the fremen, sarduakar, and bene gesserit, I HIGHLY recommend this unabridged version. Dune is one of the most prophetic, politically savvy, and psychologically true stories I have ever read, as well as being an ass-kickingly great tale.

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Shure - SE310 Sound Isolating Earphones

Updated Dec 14, 2007

1st to recommend

Description

I am a huge music fan and love to listen to great music on great headphones while I am out on my mountain bike or at work. Recently, I lost an old pair of headphones and treated myself to a pair of Shure 310's which are kind of pricey (~$250) but sound AWESOME!. The shure 310's have these really comfy sound-isolating foam earpieces that do a great job of blocking out external sounds and make the shures fit a bit better (the 310's are large as ear bud style headphones go so the extra foam helps them stay in your ear better which reduces ear fatigue and keeps them from bouncing out as you are walking or riding.)

From what I gather, the shure 410's sound even better than the 310's but the 310's were good enough since I am mostly going to use them while riding so it is not a silent environment around me. They sound fantastic when playing pounding electronica, spacey ambient, and even the huge ranges you encounter when listening to classical.

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The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Updated Dec 7, 2007

1st to recommend

2 people recommended this item

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Love vampires and scary fiction that is written well enough to call itself "literature" with a straight face. Then I highly recommend The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Totally fun story w/a good chunk of apparently more or less accurate history about a modern day scholarly investigation into Vlad the Impaler's undead personal self-re-invention as Count Dracula, the vampire we all know about. No Bela Lugosi cheesiness here though. The story is scary and Vlad is definitely painted out as a rather nasty fellow. Excellent bedtime reading.

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Murakami- retrospective on his work

Updated Nov 28, 2007

1st to recommend

Description

Murakami is a totallygenius Japanese artist who has built a small empire by creating highly commercial- but very original and compelling- art that he then productizes by putting his images on fashion items, luggage, t-shirts, and vinyl figurines, as well as manga/anime and TV/Movies. I totally admire Murakami's work because I think he has done an amazing thing by seamlessly blending his business and his art into one coherent- and apparently quite profitable- whole! Achieving such an integration of my passions and my career is a personal goal of mine and seeing Murakami do it in such a visually compelling and ground-breaking way is awesome. This book gives a great overview of his work and contains several very worthwhile essays about the importance and method of his work/business. If you dig Japanese pop culture or consider yourself to be a "cultural creative," you must check out Murakami's work.

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Lisa Kristine Migration Photography

Updated Nov 12, 2007

1st to recommend

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I was recently in Sonoma, CA and came across Lisa Kristine's Migration Photography gallery. Lisa Kristine creates really beautiful travel photography that documents peple and places from around the world w/a particular bent toward Asia and 3rd World subjects. Her work is powerful, rich, and nuanced. I love this sort of stuff alothough it always fills me w/wanderlust and a desire for a world-romping, seeking adventure right now.

Her work is large format color photography. What I think is particularly interesting about Lisa Kristine, besides the work itself, is how she has built a business around her own brand. She has made herself a commercially viable artist by opening multiple captive galleries and mass-producing her work. I know the art world purists out there are probably horrified by this sort of behavior, but it seems to me to be the wave of the future. People like Wyland (though his stuff is cheesy), Murakami, and Christo have all shown that there is a strong demand for the commercial high art artist

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Blue Morpho Butterfly

Updated Nov 7, 2007

1st to recommend

2 people recommended this item

Description

I have to say I am a huge fan of evolution and think it has produced some of the most beautiful creations I have ever seen, high among them is the gorgeous metallic blue Morpho butterfly. I have seen morphos in the wild in Costa Rica and they are amazing. At risk of sounding like some weird and maybe slightly cruel taxidermy buff, I also have set of preserved ones glittering over my desk and I never get tired of looking at them (I was really into bugs and nature as a kid and never really outgrew the fascination).

At home, I have a bunch of preserved morphos and other butterflies in a case and my kids totally dig checking them out. I am so happy that they can see and appreciate nature's beauty and complexity at home so they will be really excited to go out and experience the wild first-hand when they get older (they are 5 and 3 now and are a bit young to tramp around the rain forests of costa rica or dive on the Great Barrier Reef, etc).

Suffice it to say, morphos are a striking and beautiful addition to any room and are both modern/sleek/stylish and wild/natural at the same time.

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West Ocean DJ Sets

Updated Nov 7, 2007

1st to recommend

Description

Not a product per se but a site that is an AWESOME collection of DJ sets. I love, love, love electronic music, especially IDM (intelligent dance music) and West Ocean DJ Sets has hundreds of great sets from great DJ's. I used to DJ and, if I had more time, I would totally start doing it again (spinning until the wee hours is a bit at odds w/being a daddy to two toddlers, ceo of a start-up, and a morning work-out person, but hey, one day my sched will relax a bit...)

Most excellent online radio station for cranking thru a powerpoint or grooving out. (via RGold_1999)

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The DUX® Bed by Duxiana

Updated Sep 12, 2007

1st to recommend

3 people recommended this item

Description

The DUX Bed made by Swedish bedmaker extraordinaire, Duxiana, is the Cadillac of beds. I have only slept on one once and it was fantastic- no lumps or ditches, firm where it needs to be, soft where it should be, no bizarrely kinked necks or shoulders in the morning. Ihave friends who have a DUX and they totally swear by it. Though they are expensive ($7K for a bed!), I have come to realize the value of a good night's sleep and think that for the amount of time I spend asleep, investing in a great mattress is a great ROI. If you live an intense lifestyle and need to be well-rested, good sleep is a must.

I hate my current mattress and am thinking about treating myself either to a new car or a DUX Bed for my upcoming birthday. Not sure which way I will go just yet: porsche or a Dux.....

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James Clavell - Tai-Pan: a Novel of Hong Kong (Unabridged)

Updated Aug 19, 2007

1st to recommend

Description

Tai-Pan is an amazing book, I think Clavell's best. Tai Pan takes place at the birth of Hong Kong in the 19th century and focuses on Scotsman Dirk Struan, Tai Pain (supreme boss) of the Noble House (ie the biggest opium/tea trader). The cast of characters is vast and vaired and includes one of my all time favorite characters ever, Mai Mai, the concubine of the Tai Pan. Mai Mai is smart, super-savvy, speaks in a "fantastical good" pidgin English, and is hilarious, hey-yah!.

Tai Pan is the right mix of adventure, history, and fine, insightful writing about the human condition that makes this a must read bordering on fine literature (w/out all the pomp and tedium that often goes along w/that classification).

I have read Tai Pan and am now listening to this audio version. In general, I like audiobooks and the recording of Tai Pain is one of the best I have ever heard. The narrator does an absolutely superb job of capturing the different voices, accents, and personalities of the characters throughout the 25(!) hour recording. I wish I could deliver and read aloud half as well as this guy.

If you run a company, have to evaluate and judge people in high pressure circumstances, and want to see a portrait of how a fictional master entrepreneur conducts himself, do yourself a huge favor and read Tai Pan. I promise you that you will not be bored

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National Geographic Magazine

Updated May 3, 2007

2 people recommended this item

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National Geographic is possibly the most inspiring magazine I have ever read. I started reading NatGeo as a little kid and it really instilled a taste for adventure, science, and exotic locales/cultures in me. I have never lost that interest and always thought running NatGeo would be a blast.

If you are curious, have kids, or just love to look at beautiful pictures, I highly, highly recommend getting a subscription to National Geographic.

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The Blue Planet - Seas of Life Collector's Set (Parts 1-4)

Updated Apr 25, 2007

1st to recommend

Description

Blue Planet: Seas of Life is possibly the best nature documentary series I have ever seen. Costing over $10 million and narrated by the superb David Attenborough, Blue Planet travels the Earth's oceans and captures some truly spectacular footage from the deep benthic depths to the open pelagic ecosystems to tropical reefs and polar environments. It is AWESOMELY done and is the sort of dream project I want to develop/produce.

I think the sheer beauty of the oceans really comes thru and there is enough science to keep an adult interested while providing enough eye candy to enthrall little kids. Highly recommended

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The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

Updated Apr 22, 2007

1st to recommend

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River of Doubt is a fantastic bit of history and partial biography of Teddy Roosevelt, the US president whom I think I most admire as a man (but not his policies). Roosevelt was a true adventurer, naturalist, and bon vivant who lived an outsized life. River of Doubt tells the story of his trip to the Amazon Basin where he set off to descend the River of Doubt, one of the Amazon's unexplored, nearly thousand mile long tributaries.

River of Doubt is a harrowing tale of adventure, misadventure, leadership, exploration, the ecology of the Amazon, and the politics of that day. It reads like a thriller but also does a good job of putting the story in historical context w/out overloading on the minutae that often overwhelm history books. IOW, it is good popular history, not the footnote-laden slog you might have read in school.

I think that being on the trip would have been one hell of a time, certainly historic, and no doubt very trying- definitely the kind of experience that is character-building!!!!

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Xoçai™: super-healthy chocolate/acai drink

Updated Apr 22, 2007

1st to recommend

Description

I recently discovered Xocai, a totally delicious mix of dark chocolate, acai, blueberries, and cayenne. Xocai comes as a powder and you mix in into a thick liquid and drink it as a shot 3 times/day. Packed w/tons of anti-oxidants, it is super-healthy and totally tasty. Xocai packs a wallop: drink a shot and then you feel like a super-hero. Great in the morning and before a work-out.

I am way into foods that help you super-charge your body in healthy and sustainable ways. Anything that can do that and has chocolate is a sure winner for me. Highly recommended

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SleepEase by sprayology

Updated Apr 10, 2007

1st to recommend

Description

I LOVE Sprayology's SleepEase homeopathic sleep aid. I have never been a fan of sleeping pills and think making a pot of chamomille before bed is a hassle. But I totally dig SleepEase.

Made w/valerian and chamomille and other herbal goodness, just spray a couple of bursts under your tongue and you will start to chill out pretty quickly. There is no high w/SleepEase but there is a nice mellow/relaxed feeling that you get from it. And it seems to induce the most awesome, occasionally lucid (ie where you can control the action) dreams in me, which I totally love. So not only can I get a restful night of sleep (I am usually a very light sleeper), I often get the benefit of some pretty wild adventures into the subconscious.

Highly recommended

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Gladiator - Extended Cut (Three-Disc Special Edition)

Updated Feb 27, 2007

1st to recommend

2 people recommended this item

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Gladiator is absolutely one of the best big budget movies ever. I know indie film snobs turn up their noses at this sort of content but I think Russell Crowe does a simply superb job of portraying a military commander who possesses both great charisma and great competence.

While the battle scenes are, of course, incredibly well done, it is really the Crowe's character study of a Maximus, the Roman general and Joaquin Phoenix's sniveling emperor that makes the movie gripping.

I also loved watching how Maximus gets psyched up to go into battle and into the gladiator's arena: the mental psych, the rubbing the hands w/sand ritual, the no fear/plunge right in approach. Stud. Great to think about before doing a big business pitch, getting ready to pull down on a hard pitch, or take off on a big bomb of a wave.

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Battlestar Galactica - Season 2.0 (Episodes 1-10)

Updated Feb 23, 2007

4 people recommended this item

Description

Battlestar Galactica just keeps getting better and better. Season 2 is a fascinating character study of how people respond when being hunted, hunting, and trying to rebuild. The Cylon/Human battles are great to watch but the real action is in seeing how Adama, Roslin, Apollo, Starbuck, and the rest of the crew cope and lead in such harsh conditions.

While obviously fiction, there are some great case management/leadership case studies in how to lead and deal under crisis situations: mutiny, treachery, collapse of will, resource constraints.

In the same way that some video games can teach a lot about resource planning and strategy, BSG 2.0 can teach a lot about how to deal w/people under adverse scenarios.

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The Adversity Advantage: Turning Everyday Struggles into Everyday Greatness

Updated Feb 23, 2007

1st to recommend

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Nietzsche said, "that which does not kill you, makes you stronger" (I think the governator also said something similar in Conan: The Movie). And that aphorism is the core of The Adversity Advantage. Co-written by Erik Weihenmeyer (the blind dude who has climbed the Seven Summits and paraglides!), the Adversity Advantage is a book of personal and organizational philosophy that gives the reader tools to identity, understand, and embrace adversity. "Turning into the storm" is how facing adversity is described in the book.

I love to climb and I run a start-up (ie ThisNext) so I am familiar with adversity in both my sports and my work. But I had not thought about how to connect those two passions until recently. And, when you think about it, success-drivers in a start-up and success-drivers in an expedition are not so dissimilar: assuming weather or market conditions don't totally shut you down, your success is really contingent upon how well your team deals w/uncertainty, risk, discomfort, resource constraints, and other forms of adversity.

If you climb or if you just believe in the notion that learning to suffer well can build a lot of character, I highly recommend this book. Great for personal and organizational perspective. Be forewarned: this attitude is clearly not for everyone. The faint-hearted, the entitled, and/or the comfort-obsessed will not like this POV at all.

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Battlestar Galactica - Season One (2004)

Updated Jan 21, 2007

8 people recommended this item

Description

I loved the original Battlestar Galactica but the revised version is even better. Excellent product values, good acting, great plotlines- everything you want. But it is not just mindless entertainment. Instead the new BSG deals with interesting issues of identity, souls, and what is means to be human. Plus there is plenty of human interest side stories to keep everyone happy.

Finally, sci-fi that my wife likes to watch as well (that is a true rarity)

Get it on DVD and prepare to spend hours fleeing the Cylons

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Andy Goldsworthy: A Collaboration with Nature

Updated Dec 1, 2006

1st to recommend

2 people recommended this item

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Andy Goldsworthy is one of my all-time favorite artists and his book, A Collaboration with Nature, is a really fantastic retrospective of his work. Goldsworthy hails from Scotland and has leveraged his love of verdant nature to create truly unique and beautiful works of art. He uses only found natural materials to create ephemeral sculptures that might last a few hours or days but that are designed to be washed back into nature quickly. Goldsworthy makes some truly amazing scultupres out of ice, autumn leaves, rocks, twigs, and other materials. If I could be an artist, I would want to work on stuff like his. Beautiful and very focused on raising our sense of ecological awareness, as well as the impermance of everything and, I suppose, the hubris of humanity at times.

if you want to get someone who has a strong appreciation of aesthetics, as well as a eco/green streak in them, get them Andy Goldsworthy's A Collaboration with nature. It is a great coffeetable book.

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Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics

Updated Aug 23, 2006

1st to recommend

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Big, brainy, and dense. A good survey on the application of complexity to current economic thinking. The more I learn about "classical" econ, the more I wonder why anyone ever thought it was correct. True, I have the benefit of being able to look backwards w/hindsight, but it does certainly seem that econ is going to be radically shaken up. Since the dismal science rules so much of the world wrt politics, biz, etc, it is important to understand how advances in econ thinking might unfold.

Not exactly light reading but very worthwhile (if you like this sort of thing)

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Baraka

Updated Nov 25, 2006

1st to recommend

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Baraka is one of my all-time favorite movies ever. Shot in 70mm and filmed in 24 countries, it is a logistical and cinematic marvel. The film-makers pioneered several new technologies and techniques in order to capture various time-lapsed and motion-controlled sequences, such as the wheeling starscapes above various beautiful ancient ruins and natural wonders.

But beyond the techniques, Baraka is a meditation upon humanity's place in nature and our relationship to ourselves. There is no dialogue in the entire movie and no plot in the conventional sense, but the movie is, nonethless, incredibly powerful and evocative. The movie is probably best described as a visual poem. Plus it has a really terrific soundtrack featuring Michael Stearns and some Dead Can Dance.

While the DVD is great, I recently got to see Baraka again in 70mm (I have seen it 5x times). I had not seen it on a big screen in at least 10 years and it lost none of its original impact in the intervening decade. Also, Baraka's producer, Mark Magidson, was at the screening and he said he is making a sequel(!) and that a newly remastered version of the original DVD will soon be released.

Lastly, Baraka is, perhaps somewhat counter-intuitively, turns out to be a great movie for kids (though there is one scene at the crematoriums in India which might be a bit graphic for them). My 2.5 and 4.5 year olds sat w/rapt attention throughout the entire film.

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gordon
The Gordon Gould Weblog
Qualifications:
Media junkie. I don't watch much TV except for HBO and SHO. more
About this list
I read many books, listen to lots of music, surf the Net, and watch lots of TV/documentaries/movies concurrently. Mostly I am into science, econ/finance, psychology/sociology, current events/history, and strategy/business. Occasionally, I come across a great epic novel or really quality sci-fi or some book or film that really blows my mind. I love to share when I find mind-expanding media.
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