Smithsonian | East Wing

I shot this today from the underground walk way at the East Wing of the National Gallery in Washington DC. Keep watching as the pattern goes disco after about 15 seconds.

Farm Time Lapse

I posted a camera that automatically takes a picture when it senses movement. I stitched the last round of images into a quick movie. Being an artist, I like seeing how much the barn changes in the light at different times of the day, the flowers move, and people show up now and then.  Beautiful in its subtlety.

Darnells | December

Felipe and I DJ'd Darnell's Backroom again last night. That place just gets better and better. For a small venue, there is a ridiculous amount of spirit in the people who show up on the Saturdays when we play.

For something real on NYE --with complete hands-in-the-air boogie time, join us.

New Years Eve

If you plan to be in Washington DC and want to boogie this new years, we are again hosting something worth checking out. This time at Darnell's --a place that proves to be ever more entertaining every time we DJ there.

The theme is not set up, but judging by every other NYE party we've thrown, it will be a spectacle and a lot dancing. So...the name and theme are in the works, but get organized. This space is not huge, so it will fill up entirely.

Here are some shots from the other parties we threw for NYE and more DJ pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/christopherbaer/sets/72157624829845467/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/christopherbaer/sets/72157624829757741/

Who Does the Mind Work For?

Those of you who have seen the movie Austin Powers, will know the meaning of, "Who does number 2 work for?!" as Austin is attacked by a spy while in the bathroom. (If not, visit Youtube to be enlightened).

My version of the line is one that I address to my own mind frequently "Who does the mind work for?" In other words, when your mind spins off on some tangent other than what you're doing, what gave it the right to run amok?

"Mind, get back here this minute, or you'll get a time out. I'm not playing around."

[Yes, I'm arguing with myself again, and I really hope I win this time.]

Focusing the mind is the root to being present.  Being present translates to enjoying or experiencing the moment.  When those moments are added up, the result translates directly to living.  Specifically, it's being alive and being aware of it.  My friend, Beatrice Pouligny, a Georgetown University academic and a shamanic healer, sent me this article today about research on the unfocused mind, which I am reposting.

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Mind Wandering May Lead to a Bad Mood

 by Jeremy Hsu | From Live Science

For the sake of your own happiness, don't let your mind wander while reading this article. Setting the mind adrift from the here and now may lead to a worse mood regardless of whether the daydreams or thoughts are pleasant ones, researchers say. 

In fact, a wandering mind had a bigger influence on happiness than any other activity a person happened to be doing, according to their new study. Such findings confirm many philosophical and religious traditions, which teach about finding happiness by living in the moment, and train practitioners to resist mind wandering.

Humans have made good use of mind wandering to reflect upon the past or plan for the future, as well as to learn and to reason. But the study also showed that it comes with a powerful emotional cost, despite mind wandering appearing to be the brain's default mode of operation.

"We do hypothesize that it's a cause [for unhappiness]," said Matthew Killingsworth, a doctoral student in psychology at Harvard University and lead author on the study detailed in the Nov. 11 issue of the journal Science.

Killingsworth and Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert tracked the happiness levels of iPhone users by asking participants about their happiness at random times. Participants rated their happiness on a scale of 0 to 100 and included what they were doing, and whether their mind was wandering beyond the task at hand. (Yes, there is an app for that experiment.)

People's minds wandered almost 47 percent of the time, and were more likely to think about pleasant topics than unpleasant or neutral ones. Yet thinking pleasant thoughts made people no happier than focusing on what they were doing – and unhappiness spiked when thinking neutral or unpleasant thoughts.

Such mind wandering appeared to cause unhappiness even when people were doing the least enjoyable activities, such as daily work. A time-lag analysis suggested that mind wandering caused foul moods rather than the other way around.

Another surprise: Whatever people were doing had only a mild impact on whether their minds wandered, and almost no impact on the pleasantness of the topics they chose to think about. Mind wandering took up at least 30 percent of the time during almost every activity, including playing, exercising, praying and taking care of the kids.

So what was the only exception? Apparently people focus most intensely on making love.

"[Making love] was 10 percent [for mind wandering], which was the lowest," Killingsworth said in an e-mail. "The highest was 'grooming, self care' at 65 percent."

Source Article

Panna II | NYC

I have honestly been putting more thought into creating posts that are substantiative, relevant and interesting.  Alas, failure again: here's another cotton candy post about eating at a bizarre restaurant.

Last night I was fortunate enough to both dine at one of my favorite (and cheap) NYC experiences on the Lower East Side, and do that with my buddy Josh who happened to be in town.

Before you go much further, listening to Naladri Kumar might set the mood and help the pictures make sense.

Panna II, and it's evil twin next door (and a newer competitive triplet mutation downstairs) are known for the door men that argue for you to come into their seemingly identical Indian restaurants.  The restaurants are literally mirror images of one another, each with a rosy, christmas-light decor and very peppy, encouraging door men.  I can attest that the door on the right does in fact lead to a scintillating nirvana. I have never gone into the left doorway in 15 years of eating at this mind-boggling siamese establishment.

To the point, the Indian food here is excellent and inexpensive.  Beer or wine can be purchased at the deli next door and brought in.  If you have problems of getting over stimulated by saturated combos of color, music, and scent -avoid this place.  In fact, just stay out of NYC all together.  But if you are in for something different, delicious and visually unforgettable, go.  It's worth it.

Panna II

93 1st Ave (between 5th & 6th)
New York, NY 10003 | Tel. 212-598-4610
Read more about Panna II's history.