voice

My son (11) and I saw it, knowing that it would be bad, because we love the TV series so much. It was very bad. But, my son insists that it was better than "Toy Story 3"! Strange, because reviewers give TS3 99% at RT and give Airbender 8%! He insisted that TS3 was too childish for him. So, children can have a different way of looking at movies!

I can recommend (in the spirit of "The Magus" and "One Hundred Years of Solitude"): 1) Anything by Neil Gaiman, especially "American Gods". 2) Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac 3) Anything by Herman Hesse, especially "Magister Ludi". 4) Litte Big, by John Crowley (His Aegypt cycle is supposed to be good too). 5) Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin. 6) "DaVinci Code" by Dan Brown. Fluff, but a page turner; I got the copy with copies of art in it. 7) I second the suggestions of Wilson's "Illuminatus" trilogy and anything by Douglas Adams; and I second (or third) avoiding "The Alchemist" and all things "Celestine"! 8) "The Island", by Aldous Huxley. 9) Anything by Henry Miller. 10) "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", by Milan Kundera. 11) "Possession", by A.S. Byatt. 12) "V" by Thomas Pynchon. 13) "Trout Fishing in America" by Richard Brautigan.

This video shows how just knowing how to "pick up" a girl, doesn't mean you've got the game to keep her. Note: in case you can't speak Italian, the classic line that the woman speaks to the boy is "suck, don't blow!" Fellini's "Amarcord"

So, Haryutun, what book/tape/resource do you recommend for the decent heart-based PUA?

Aiwei, if you are talking about "The Fountain", then I agree. It had some beautiful visuals, but my wife and I both found it hollow. I listened to the director's commentary, and they clearly were just trying to do something significant, but it was based on ideas and not on experience. It is based on Mayan ideas about the center of the galaxy being a spiritual place, and for trying to be faithful to their beliefs I do give them credit. Cat - did you enjoy the film? One of the best films I can remember for acting is "House of Sand and Fog." Ben Kingsley and, especially, Shohreh Aghdashloo gave amazing performances. I also found the acting and story in "Closer" very good, especially Natalie Portman and Clive Owen.

I tried the big draw a few times many years ago and hated it the forcefulness of it, and have never done those manipulative, external sexual practices again. But, I can deflate a raging hard-on fairly rapidly by shifting the sexual energy into the Lesser Kan and Li...if I am willing to find the energies of the woman inside me.

A problem in the hands is probably due to compression in the shoulders, which is due to an asymmetry of the spine, which is due to...a web of compensations spun through your body due to a life of western living. If the above rings true, look up a Feldenkrais practicioner and prepare to have your world rocked.

I've never seen fairies, pixies etc., but friends of mine who are very energetically sensitive (and very rational!) see them regularly. These "nature spirits" exist in a different dimension, and so you have to be sensitive and not too stuck in our 3D world to see them. But, you do need a strong grounding in Earth energy to be able to see them and not lose your center to their dimension (and thus the many warnings in fairy tales, about avoiding fairies).

As time is accelerating ever-faster...forever just isn't what it used to be!

The inner smile can be applied always An inner smiled focus to your lower tan tien can keep you grounded in yourself when classes and assignments and desire for escape pull you away from the task at hand. When heading to sleep, simple massages of your organs with a smiling intent to them will help with deep sleep.

Thanks Lozen - I appreciate you! I didn't know about Pandora and it is great with all the indie artists in it that the other music sites I used (finetune, radioparadise) don't have.

Welcome! You probably have many positive attributes (e.g. bright feathers, nice song), and don't just take up space. And, the apartment has some energy/consciousness as do its neighbors. So, if you are of value to that apartment/area, you might be "chosen" by it as its occupant. Thus, you don't have to fight, but go with the larger flow.

Thaddeus wrote: "It's basically all about reducing the ego. When you're ego based, you want to receive for yourself. When you can transcend the ego, then you want to receive in order to share." Chris writes: I'd say that what you describe is an increasing of the ego beyond your skin to include the center of others. Identifying with the self and others is increasing the ego. In Tao Alchemy, we work to ever increase the extent of our ego, our sense of self, to include all. But, you probably have something more specific in mind in your use of the word "ego"? Chris

a stone in the mud is obscure

When I began learning these methods I did try them during sex. But, unlike you, ended up with low-quality experiences. Training and living can be two different things - we train in a controlled environment, and live in an uncontrolled one. Training in some martial arts may not help you in real life, if your opponent doesn't employ the same constraints that you trained under. Training in an internal art, like Daoist practices, lets you explore your inner world in a controlled manner. Sex, is an uncontrolled situation - using some of our training practices in that situation can reduce the complexity of it. Indeed, reaching into the core of someone's being, as we do in sex, is a very priveleged setting, and to "do" things is to miss out on the great power and richness of that field. Keeping the basic motivation of our practices, of developing communication between the inner and outer, is certainly key to fantastic sex. But I do it instinctively, like an animal -- sometimes in sex I follow an energetic track that dead ends, or we build an energetic field that dissipates, and so like an animal, go hunting in some other direction.