BLOG SEPI SEKALI: July 2011

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Cantelope Coconut Mocktail: My Post Yoga Martini

Yes you read that right, a post yoga martini.

Well kind of...

It's in a martini glass, it makes me smile, and i've had 2 and am feeling pretty spunky. Actually i'm on my third as i write this. Clearly i had to keep refilling my martini glass (i'm sure that's not the first time you've heard that) to see how many servings this recipe produced. Three. Three is the answer. And now that i'm all fired up on mocktail spirits i'm running off to the farmers market to see what else i can whip up in my blender, pour, and sip on during this cleansing adventure. Oh yes, i'm cleansing. The summer has come and i'm ready to feel the best i can in my skin, in my body, in my spirit putting only high vibration food in me. This mocktail is vibrating like CRAZEEEEEE folks. I'm seriously about to leap from my seat, hit the ground and go running....and for those of you who know me well, you know i'm no runner. So, here it is. Get out your cleaver, your coconut cracking muscles, slice up half a cantelope, blend & pour, and get drunk on this super hydrating post yoga martini.

Cantelope Coconut Mocktail:

1/2 a medium cantelope chopped (remove seeds and skin)
Water from one large coconut (1 1/2 to 2 cups coco water)
Generous Scoop of coconut flesh (a few tbsp - i scooped out about 1/4 of the flesh)

Blend well and enjoy. Makes 3 martinis.

Glenfiddich MOJO Honours List 2011 Launch @ HMV Oxford Circus

Phil Alexander on stage @ Glenfiddich MOJO Honours List Launch

Last Friday night 31st June 2011 saw the launch of the Glenfiddich MOJO Honours List kicking off with a free gig at HMV in London's Oxford Circus the line up included the fabulous Wolf People, Ivor Novello award winner Conor O'Brien's The Villagers and post punk legends Dinosaurs Jr. Not knowing what to expect from a record store gig was the overwhelming feeling, having not attend such an affair prior to this occasion.

I was pleasantly surprised I arrive to Phil Alexander on a stage. Introducing The Villagers, who 's lead man Conor Obrien sang his heart out to tremendous effect the band supported him superbly having good day on the notes and backing vocals, displaying exactly why they deserved to win IvorNovello Best Song Muscally And Lyrically Award, a truly heartfelt performance of strong material I would recommend the villagers album as a must have.

On to the main attraction that is the legends Dinosaur Jr. As J Mascis walks on stage to applause he makes his way to stage right pick up his guitar greets the crowd and immediately begins fine tuning his guitar and setting his splendid custom built pedalboard, and thus the acclaimed musician begins his music making the crowd is then hit with a wall of sound which is the melodic rifts of Lung to a very appreciative crowd. The set continued with In A Jar which was then followed by the chopping guitar rifts and melodic vocals of The Wagon. Next up was Pain, Heaven, Kracked Sludge and one of my all time skating anthems Gargoyle. A brilliant performance by this seminal band, an absolutely fabulous free concert!

Sudocrem in a tube and NOTD

I don't think there are many people out there who haven't used sudocrem at some point, whether for breakouts, cuts, grazes, sunburn, nappy rash, most people have encountered this product. I for one always have a tub of it for helping soothe and heal any spots, but the thing about the tub is it can be bloody messy! And also, a little goes such a long way that it was often just too much, so sudocrem have introduced this new 30g tube, perfect for keeping in your make up bag for any mishaps on the go.

When I first read about this, I wondered if perhaps the original sudocrem formula would be altered as it is very thick and I wondered how well this would work in a tube, but I can verify it is the original thick white cream we all know and love. This new size retails for around the £2 mark and i highly suggest you give it a go, its much, much more convenient and hygienic!

I had a little play around with my nails earlier (please excuse the broken middle nail!) and this was my rushed attempt at some nail art! I really quite like it, and it was so simple with a mac liquid eye liner.

The colour is from the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection and is 'steady as she rose'. I do like this shade, though i wish it was more pink and less lilac.

Mental Ray's awesome

This is a render test of translucency with the mia_material shader. It's a simple nParticle simulation with a bit of self attraction, reduced self collision and low mass, first instanced with a simple black sphere (for the actual seed), then converted to polygons (for the jelly bit). The jelly outer part is shaded with the mia_material. I tried misss shaders and the mib_glossy_refraction, but neither gave a result like that.

I don't know why I never bothered learning more about mental ray. Okay, it's not the most intuitive option and some of the connections can confuse, but the documentation is actually quite good and there is quite a lot of help on the web.

More important, though, are the results and man am I impressed. I spent the last two days playing around and reading up on some of the shaders and their capabilities. Then it only took me 10 mins to set up the shader for this test and (I think) it's already looking pretty good. The only issues noticeable are the little spots in the mesh, which are either holes (generated by maya when converted from particles to polygons) or the original nParticles poking through.

The rendertime was surprisingly low as well and that with FG and physical sun and sky turned on.

I kinda wished I would have realized a bit earlier how awesome mental ray is, but better now than never.

ATP's Don't Look Back. The Flaming Lips performing Soft Bulletin.

My Pass and Hand Backstage.

"Dont Look Back, the series that celebrates classic records performed as the artist intended you to hear them. The concept is ATP's rebellion of sorts towards the ever changing consunption of music and the ipod shuffle generation. " Barry Hogan ATP.

Wayne Coyne onstage about to perform.

ALLTOMORROW'S PARTIES Don't Look Back presents The Flaming Lips performing The Soft Bulletin at Alexandra Palace supported by Deerhoof and Dinosaur Jr, from that description alone it should be widely accepted it going to be a good show. The grand stature of this building is an ominous prospect for its cavernous size but alas not a problem for ATP even though this Don't Look Back show would be the biggest they have ever done, they really do know how to put together the freshest line-ups and fill venues.

View from the stage during The Flaming Lips performance.

Opening the show was the one of the most acclaimed live acts in the world, Deerhoof performing the fan favourite 2004’s Milk Man impeccably, pleasing the crowd and fellow musicians alike with their fantastic live performance. The next act to follow was the influential post punk legends Dinosaurs Jr performing their 1988 classic Bug, an album which heavily influenced the early Britpop scene wowing the audience with their anthemic catalogue.

Wanye Coyne inside the SpaceBall.

Wayne Coyne take first steps onto the crowd.

Coyne far aways from the stage in the SpaceBall.

Then to the final act, The Flaming Lips performing the Soft Bulletin an album released in 1999 to critical acclaim, an album which ended the decade as one of the top three best album of the decade, alongside My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless and Radiohead’s OK Computer according to Pitchfork in 2003. The Flaming Lips gave a touchingly intimate performance, Wayne Coyne totally connected with the audience starting with a crowd walk in a space ball, fully involving the crowd then going on to give a truly emotion stirring performance engaging all who came out to experience. This brilliant live performance consisted of songs such as Do You Realise, Waiting For Superman and Race For The Prize. In its entirety the whole show was absolutely brilliant!

Monday, July 4, 2011

Premier Screening of Robot's of Brixton

Robots of Brixton from Kibwe Tavares on Vimeo.

Alas! the day is here for the much anticipated premier screening of Robot’s of Brixton By Kibwe Tavers and the launch of Factory Fifteen @ the brick box Brixton, a sizable crowd congregated around initially thought were “An Ok turnout“, as the rest of the crowd around corner the cornes it becomes clear to me that this event has had a fabulous turnout, the multitude were strong. A D.J is set up in front on United80 providing a great score to very enthralling scene beautiful people, food. drink and laughter, the bars and eatery’s in the immediate vicinity delivery delicious foods and liquids of your choice. The mood had been set for an interesting and enjoyable evening, the atmosphere is buzzing with smiles of joviality and anticipation.

Kibwe Travers

Kibwe is seen standing in a small clearing in the crowd looking slightly pensive, approached he is asked if he feels proud/pleased/confident of this eventuality? And he responds “ I’m not sure, no one’s seen it yet!, They/you might think it rubbish.” and reveals a subtle smile was it a little cheeky smile or nervous smile generated by the mounting anticipation of the impending premier of such a publicised piece of work.

Eventually the lights are extinguished and on to what appeared to be an artists canvas about 8ftx8ft begins a projection of the animations created by Factory Fifteen that we have all so intently wanted to view. In total their were five short animations, the first four of which were visually very impressive of those four a couple were very surreal although all were challenging the way we look at and perceive space, technology, architecture and humanity.

Animation Artwork Board: Robots of Brixton

The final animation is what people really came out to see, Robots of Brixton by Kibwe Travers a some what sci-fi supposition of the Brixton Riots of the 80’s dealing with the inequities felt by the Nubian population in the are at the time, but this telling of these event are set a future were autonomous robots are subjected to being treated in this way, in a word where exiting buildings become the foundations of what I could only describe as a vertical urban sprawl were compartmentally upward extensions are proliferated without regulation. An absolutely brilliant piece visually, atmospherically superb with a strong narrative, my only displeasure came from knowing the I would not be able to have the opportunity to enjoy this piece in a cinema over 158 minutes accompanied by adequate nibbles. Tisk tisk I will have to settle for a very pleasurable evening supplemented with good animated short films. I would do that again. Contrary to Kibwe’s earlier sentiment everyone thoroughly enjoyed his work judging by the solid 2 minutes ovation.

Animation Artwork Board: Robots of Brixton

Posted by Michael.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Happy 4th of July: Easy Raw Livin' & New Jane Jewels

Official Business - New Jane Business Cards!

Happy 4th of July Friends! I hope there are some fireworks in your near future along with a sunny day, some bike riding, maybe a BBQ or two, and lots and lots of smiling faces! This is one of my absolute favorite days of the year! I'm a HUGE HUGE HUGE lover of fireworks and for me this day really marks the celebration of summer. HOLLAH!!!! Here's a great little Independence Day note my girlfriend Melli sent me earlier this week. I especially like the second "D" I've highlighted for you.

I     accept my unique preciousness, loving myself unconditionally
N    ewness awaits me in every area of my life
D    oubt evaporates as faith surfaces
E    ach day brings promises of spiritual surprises
P    eople in my life are messengers of God
E    very moment is a gift from God
N    ever depend on any person for your well being
D    on't just spend time - invest it by planting positive seeds
E    njoy your day/week/month/year/life
N    ever say 'never' - with God everything is possible
C    hange your 'thinking' - change your Life
E    very demonstration happens in time and on time

D    elays are temporary - be patient
A    lways maintain an attitude of gratitude
Y    our first success comes after your last failure

I also wanted to share with you how flippin' AMAZING this month's issue of Whole Living Magazine is. There is an awesome section with raw food recipes and beautiful photos (i've pasted a few below with links to the recipes). Reading through the recipes, they are simple and easy for even the kitchen novice to approach.

Sprouted summer salad: click here for recipe

Strawberry Oat Bars: click here for recipe

Zucchini Pasta: click here for recipe

And news on the Jane Front: Sculpt Fusion Yoga is now carrying my line of jewels. All pieces are made with semi precious stones for their healing properties. New business cards read: