Why we believe in myths

 Why do we believe in myths?

I just always thought they went along with Jerry Springer, beer, pretzels, twinkies and teen pregnancy. You know, all American stuff.

But apparently, there is more to it than that. Who knew? Right?

Well (again, apparently), Cecilia Beltran and her intellectual hero, Joseph Campbell, knew.

"TED - which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design - offers a series of cutting-edge conferences focused on "ideas worth spreading." This has spawned related, independently organized events under the rubric, TEDx.

"Cecila Beltran, a member of the JCF Mythological RoundTable® Chapter in New York City, describes the background that brought her to the TEDxEast conference on Interconnectivity:

When I was a creative for some of the top advertising multinationals in southeast asia, I began to suspect that nobody really knew what a big idea was. I was largely entrusted with pharmaceutical accounts as a creative because they saw that I actually enjoyed perusing through thick raw data of medical research. I would frequently do projects relating to brain development. It was this background that gave me ability to recognize the similarities of the Kabalistic diagram with certain brain functions.

"More than a decade in advertising where I learned to use metaphors and symbolism to motivate action through ideas, an unusual religious background, and my medical research mindset all came together in my discovery of the parallels between brain functions and certain key themes that recur in myth, and I began to recognize them everywhere I went. I began to put these discoveries in writing and made it my life work. I now live in New York and frequently  participate in the Mythological RoundTable® discussions at the Mythology Café."

Check it out: Read the article from JCF.org

‘Boyscouts vs. Zombies’ Picked up by Paramount

Thanks to the guys over at Deadline, they have revealed that Paramount Pictures have acquired the rights to Carrie Evans & Emi Mochizukis screenplay, Boy Scouts Vs. Zombies which was on that infamous Black List. Evans & Mochizukis are graduates of the Disney Writing Program, who have also scripted the film College Road Trip.The script is said to be in the vein of The Goonies, which follows a local boy scout troop that must save a girl scout troop from an outbreak of zombies, while on an overnight camping trip.Boy Scouts Vs. Zombies will be produced by Todd Garner's Broken Road, Oops Doughnuts partners Andy Fickman and Betsy Sullenger, and Bryan Brucks' Brucks Entertainment. This sounds like it will be a lot of fun, and surely if its in the vein of The Goonies then its just got to be awesome. from Reggie Dwight on Facebook

Good job America the dollar is dying, Ruble and Yuan(?) Not so much.

China and Russia, especially pushed hard by the ex KGB lacky, Putin, has just set up an agreement to use their own currency in product exchanges rather than using the American Dollar. Putin especially, has been pushing to replace the US Dollar with the Euro as the World's reserve currency. All this coming a few months after the United Nations came out with a report (World Economic and Social Survey 2010 - Retooling Global Development), saying that the dollar was an unreliable currency and needed to be replaced by something more stable.

Yes, I added the AI-generated graphic in 2025, so?

Nice one, US Government. Especially, the Republicans. You have screwed the pooch on this one guys. Your incorrect assumptions about how economy works, your tax cuts, your turning a blind eye, deregulation, your Reagan economics, have put the US in lousy place, possibly for the rest of time. And people are still voting the GOP (Grand Old Putins, it would appear, not Grand Old Party anymore) into office. So it would appear US citizens are as dumb as the people running the country.

$4,000,000,000,000 (4 Trillion) goes through the Daily Foreign Exchange system, every day. Most of those trades now, in US dollars. Last Wednesday, Ruble-Yuan Exchanges totaled just $730,000. So what you say? Well, if you're American, having the dollar as the World's Reserve Currency, gives the US tremendous economical and political advantages. And our government, has allowed, over the past few decades, for this power to basically be trickled and shoveled away into nothingness. If we were to get into an ever worse situation than we are now in, we would not have this leverage to get back our status to where it should be.

So, how about we buckle down, and get ourselves out of this mess, that we got our selves into? We need to bite the bullet, and extract the shrapnel that was, and is, the past few bubbles and indiscretions that have become our economic policies.

In the meantime, as Fareed Zakaria said on his program on Sunday morning, let's hope that the Sino-Russian experiment remains a thought, and does not become policy.

See also: Putin's letter to the American People on Syria

I don't belong here?

Have you ever had that feeling, suggested by the line in the song Creep, by Radiohead:

When you were here before,
Couldn't look you in the eye
You're just like an angel,
Your skin makes me cry

You float like a feather
In a beautiful world
I wish I was special
You're so fuckin' special

But I'm a creep,
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here

I don't care if it hurts,
I wanna have control
I want a perfect body
I want a perfect soul

I want you to notice
when I'm not around
You're so fuckin' special
I wish I was special

But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here, ohhhh, ohhhh

She's running out again
She's running out
She run run run run...
run... run...

Whatever makes you happy
Whatever you want
You're so fuckin' special
I wish I was special

But I'm a creep,
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here

I don't belong here...

Naw, me neither....

Mochi Tsuki Festival at Islandwood, Bainbridge Island, Washington State

I have attended this festival, put on by BIJAC at IslandWood School on Bainbridge Island, Washington, for successive years and its always been a fun event. Especially, bring the kids if you have any because they love it. This year it is on January 2, 2011.

The Taiko Drums by Seattle Kokon Taiko (video part 2) is incredible and worth waiting for and attending. Islandwood is an excellent facility on some of the most beautiful acreage on Bainbridge Island, just a 35 minute ride from downtown Seattle.

BIJAC EVENT - Mochi Tsuki

Islandwood Mochi video

The Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community (BIJAC) honors the heritage of the Issei (first–generation Japanese) who came to the United States, and particularly to Bainbridge Island, to make a new life for themselves and their children. We hope to promote a better understanding of the diversity of our nation by sharing their history, customs, and values. BIJAC is dedicated to preserving and sharing an accurate historical record through oral histories and an outreach educational program.
For over a millennium, making and eating the sweet rice treat mochi has been a celebrated New Year’s tradition in Japan, with generations of families and communities coming together to wish good health and prosperity for the new year. Each year BIJAC brings this celebration to Bainbridge Island. We invite everyone, young and old, to bundle up against the crisp winter air, and enjoy the tradition of mochi tsuki (moe–chee sue–key), or "mochi–making."

Mochi–making involves a centuries old method of first steaming the sweet rice over an open fire, then placing the cooked rice into a warm stone or concrete bowl called an usu. Using large wooden mallets, two people rhythmically pound the rice in the usu while a third person uses his bare hands to swiftly move the rice between each mallet crash. After several minutes of vigorous pounding, the rice becomes a thick, smooth dough — mochi. While traditional pounding takes place outside, back in the kitchen modern mochi-making appliances are also running. Once cooked and pounded, people of all ages hand form the steaming–hot mochi into small cakes. Some are filled with a sweet bean paste called ahn. Guests can then eat their mochi warm and fresh, or bring them home to be later roasted and dipped in a sweetened soy sauce.

http://islandwood.org/events/calendar/mochi-tsuki-festival-2>IslandWood has generously provided its beautiful, spacious grounds for this event, usually held from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM on the Sunday closest to New Year's Day. BIJAC's acclaimed Kodomo no Tame Ni–For the Sake of the Children–pictorial history is on display, as is the latest in news about the Nidoto Nai Yoni–Let It Not Happen Again–Memorial. Other activities include performances by Seattle Kokon Taiko, various films about our community, and guided tours of the award winning IslandWood, school in the woods, campus.

This event is free and donations for mochi are welcome.

The next Mochi Tsuki Celebration is scheduled for Sunday, January 2, 2011 from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM at IslandWood. There will be three short Taiko Drumming performances. Free tickets will be handed out on a first come, first served basis.



The Mochi Tsuki Festival celebrates the New Year with Japanese culture, performances by Seattle Kokon Taiko, various films and displays, and of course, mochi!

What    Community Event
When     Jan 02, 2011 from 11:00 AM to 03:00 PM
Where     http://islandwood.org/about/directions>IslandWood School, Bainbridge Island, Washington State USA
Contact Name    Gaye Lynn Galusha
Contact Phone     206-855-4307

Join them as they celebrate the New Year with the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community's 22nd Annual Mochi Tsuki Festival!

Dress for the winter weather and experience the tradition of mochi tsuki (moe–chee sue–key) or "mochi–making" first hand. Pound rice and make mochi cakes along with the mochi masters.

BIJAC's acclaimed Kodomo no Tame Ni - For the Sake of the Children - pictorial history is on display, as is the latest in news about the Nidoto Nai Yoni - Let It Not Happen Again - Memorial.

Enjoy performances by Seattle Kokon Taiko - free tickets available on a first-come basis - as well as various films about our community and guided tours of the IslandWood campus.

This event is free and no pre-registration is required. Although we all love animals, pets are not allowed at IslandWood (service dogs excepted).

YouTube Mochi videos

There are festivals like this in other places around the country. Search your area to see if you have one local enough to attend and if you do, I highly recommend going. One such example is, University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies’ annual Mochitsuki festival. Another is in the Portland, Oregon area.

"Gotcha" cartoon from MPP.org

From: MPP.org

Weekend Wise Words

Twelve great Oscar Wilde quotes:

The truth is rarely pure, and never simple.

A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself.

I am not young enough to know everything.

It is a dangerous thing to reform anyone.

My great mistake, the fault for which I can't forgive myself, is that one day I ceased my obstinate pursuit of my own individuality.

A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.

As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.

This morning I took out a comma and this afternoon I put it back again.

The basis of optimism is sheer terror.

Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.

- Oscar Wilde

With thanks to:
FamousQuotes.com

From Wikidpdia:
"At the height of his fame and success, whilst his masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest, was still on stage in London, Wilde sued his lover's father for libel. After a series of trials, Wilde was convicted of gross indecency with other men and imprisoned for two years, held to hard labour. In prison he wrote De Profundis, a long letter which discusses his spiritual journey through his trials, forming a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. Upon his release he left immediately for France, never to return to Ireland or Britain. There he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life. He died destitute in Paris at the age of forty-six."

This is yet another example of a great mind that was crushed due to society's lack of comprehension and compassion. I only wish people would think twice, those who are in power, before pronouncing insanity upon those who truly do us little harm but cause us distress at reflecting upon our own moral structure and codes.