thoughts etc

cannesinavan.com

francescaprada — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 20:30:23 GMT

Andy, Si and Jamie sat around one spring night last year and hatched a brilliant plan to bring films to Cannes in a Van, guerilla film style, they will be showing films right out of their van. The site has a blog and a forum and they are busily collecting as many independent films as possible. Their plan is to show the films for free and to generate as much buzz for the filmmakers as possible. Think Slamdance, only its CannesDance...I have only one word for this, YEAH! if you want to send them your films or if you're feeling flush with cash, send them money... twoblokes@cannesinavan.com

loveheals.org

francescaprada — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 00:18:02 GMT

A year ago began a descent into a certain kind of hell. I lost my dear old friend from childhood to Aids, Diana Emmet. It was a devastating loss for all of us. She was a true giver, its in that spirit that I share information about LoveHeals.org Love Heals is an organization founded in memory of Ali Gertz by her childhood friends. Since its founding, Love Heals has helped thousands of HIV+ people through their speakers bureau. Diana was part of that effort, making a huge and positive impact on the lives of many people as an educator, advisor and friend. I guess I'm posting this to let you know about Love Heals and hoping that if you're looking to give back this is a great place to support.

Thermonuclear Chicken soup

francescaprada — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 21:15:14 GMT

Ok, too many sneezes on the other end of the line, so here goes: Great Grandma Sarah's thermonuclear chicken soup (slightly updated by Francesca): In a stockpot Clean water- filtered about 1/2 to 3/4 full keep adding water as needed chicken stock (organic-free range) chicken bones & chicken (same) 1 oz vinegar-helps pulls the minerals from the bone Bring to a boil, cook at med heat until meat has separated from bone. take out bones and meat and cool the stock skimming off most of the fat once its cool. In the old days, they would keep the chicken fat in a jar and use it to cook with. Now with all the weird stuff going on, its better not to, just toss it. Most toxins get stored in fat. Now you can add the bones and chicken back, bring the pot to a simmer for 30 to 45 mins or so and add: 7-12 whole cloves of garlic-just score them, no need to slice hand full of red peppercorns star anise-gives it a nice bracing cooling undertone 2 bay leaves-take them out after 1.5 hours 2 whole red dried chilies-gives it a kick and helps detox 1 tbsp paprika-earthy feel Some powdered Sage to taste-goes with chicken but optional 4 chopped and sliced onions-tangy and zaps colds 8 stalks of celery medium sliced-full of minerals 1 fennel thickly sliced-ditto 5 med sized carrots, sliced- beta carotene 1 celery root peeled and cubed-minerals and helps ground the soup 1/2 cup chopped up parsley the dark green chewy kind-loads of vitamin B Italian parsley to taste as a garnish-loads of vitamin B Optional: Other root vegetables-helps ground the soup Fresh sage leaves-yummy this tastes better on the 2nd day sometimes.

advertising short

francescaprada — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 03:02:19 GMT

Ok, this is sort of funny: http://secure.wiredrive.com/clients {I broke the link here so you can paste it} /young/hub/viewPortfolio/0/a0410db4298f1c36078ebd720e5bb141/link

so

francescaprada — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 23:19:11 GMT

how is everbody?

food for thought, food for life

francescaprada — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 21:01:22 GMT

Slow Food Nation By Alice Waters, The Nation Posted on September 9, 2006, Printed on September 13, 2006 http://www.alternet.org/story/41131/ It turns out that Jean Anthèlme Brillat-Savarin was right in 1825 when he wrote in his magnum opus, The Physiology of Taste, that "the destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they are fed." If you think this aphorism exaggerates the importance of food, consider that today almost 4 billion people worldwide depend on the agricultural sector for their livelihood. Food is destiny, all right; every decision we make about food has personal and global repercussions. By now it is generally conceded that the food we eat could actually be making us sick, but we still haven't acknowledged the full consequences -- environmental, political, cultural, social and ethical -- of our national diet.

Cheesy poof song from south park

francescaprada — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 18:45:56 GMT

I was driving with George last week and he mentioned the Cheesy Poof song sounds just like the NPR tune...Coincidence? Strange that. Listen and compare the two some time... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheesy_Poofs

the bittersweet chocolate experience

francescaprada — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 19:37:58 GMT

Walking back from a delightful French lunch on Fillmore, I am drawn to Bittersweet, the ultimate chocoholics destination. Did my nose lead me, was it the color on the walls? The walls glow orange. The incredible variety of chocolates they have all over, tucked into little corners, these little love bombs set to explode. The preverbial kid in a candy store, I darted from case to case, the baked goods, the dulce de Leche chocolate pudding nearly knocked me over, as a kid the only way to get those flavors was to eat an alfajor. I stood there gobsmacked, the overwhelming aroma of chocolate permeates the entire store. It was strong, pungent with a sweet note here and there. Oh there, no there, no There, each flavor offered a short trip. Standing back and straddling my indecision I looked up at one of the paintings and then out of the corner of my eye I saw the ultimate choice. Hot chocolate laced with pepper and roses. Sipping it slowly, tentatively, the first sip nearly engulfed me in a wave of endorphins, easing my way out of the shop, quietly walking down the street becoming increasingly doe eyed, romanicing my cup of cocoa sip by little sip I walked slowly as if under some kind of spell. I felt a strange throbbing in my chest, the lights in the sky seemed somehow brighter and everyone looked so gorgeous, even the dogs. I recognized the signs instantly, it was almost like being in love. (c) Francesca Prada 2006

Cinnamon Peeler by Ondaatje

francescaprada — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 19:00:52 GMT

The Cinnamon Peeler, by Michael Ondaatje If I were a cinnamon peeler I would ride your bed And leave the yellow bark dust On your pillow. Your breasts and shoulders would reek You could never walk through markets without the profession of my fingers floating over you. The blind would stumble certain of whom they approached though you might bathe under rain gutters, monsoon. Here on the upper thigh at this smooth pasture neighbor to you hair or the crease that cuts your back. This ankle. You will be known among strangers as the cinnamon peeler's wife. I could hardly glance at you before marriage never touch you --your keen nosed mother, your rough brothers. I buried my hands in saffron, disguised them over smoking tar, helped the honey gatherers... When we swam once I touched you in the water and our bodies remained free, you could hold me and be blind of smell. you climbed the bank and said this is how you touch other women the grass cutter's wife, the lime burner's daughter. And you searched your arms for the missing perfume and knew what good is it to be the lime burner's daughter left with no trace as if not spoken to in the act of love as if wounded without the pleasure of a scar. You touched your belly to my hands in the dry air and said I am the cinnamon Peeler's wife. Smell me.

my friend eric just directed this sweet little video

francescaprada — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 00:04:20 GMT

http://mirror27.video.blip.tv/OneSmallKreeger-MWardChineseTranslation734.mov or try this: http://videos.antville.org/?day=20060810

Neruda

francescaprada — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 23:42:12 GMT

XC. From 100 Love Poems. I dreamed that I died: that I felt the cold close to me; And all that was left of my life was contained in your presence: Your mouth was the daylight and dark of my world, Your skin, the republic I shaped for myself with kisses. Straightaway, all the books of the world closed, All friendships, all treasures restlessly cram the vaults, The diaphanous house that we built for our lifetime All this ceased to exist; only your eyes remained. So long as we live, or as long as a lifetime's vexation, Love is the breaker thrown high over the breakers' successions; But when death in its time chooses to pummel the doors- There is only your face to fill the void, Only your clarity pressing back against the whole of non-being, Only your love, where the dark of the world closes in. Pablo Neruda 1959.

Rumi

francescaprada — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 20:07:27 GMT

The summer winds down, the wind is cooler, nips the nose in the morning air. The fog still smells of the sea cascading over the hill, dandling the wispy eucalyptus lazily twirling on the hem of my neighborhood to steal one last kiss of sun. FP RUMI-excerpt There is some kiss we want with our whole lives. The touch of spirit on the body. Sea water begs the pearl to break it's shell. And the lily, how passionately it needs some wild darling. At night I open the window and ask the moon to come and press it's face against mine. Breathe into me. Close the language door and open the love door. The moon won't use the door --- only the window. - rumi

Neuroplasticity

francescaprada — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 18:10:03 GMT

This article has blown me away, imagine the amount of positive change this could bring about. By SHARON BEGLEY Scans of Monks' Brains Show Meditation Alters Structure, Functioning...WSJ All of the Dalai Lama's guests peered intently at the brain scan projected onto screens at either end of the room, but what different guests they were. On one side sat five neuroscientists, united in their belief that physical processes in the brain can explain all the wonders of the mind, without appeal to anything spiritual or nonphysical. Facing them sat dozens of Tibetan Buddhist monks in burgundy-and-saffron robes, convinced that one round-faced young man in their midst is the reincarnation of one of the Dalai Lama's late teachers, that another is the reincarnation of a 12th-century monk, and that the entity we call "mind" is not, as neuroscience says, just a manifestation of the brain. It was not, in other words, your typical science meeting. But although the Buddhists and scientists who met for five days last month in the Dalai Lama's home in Dharamsala, India, had different views on the little matters of reincarnation and the relationship of mind to brain, they set them aside in the interest of a shared goal. They had come together in the shadows of the Himalayas to discuss one of the hottest topics in brain science: neuroplasticity. The term refers to the brain's recently discovered ability to change its structure and function, in particular by expanding or strengthening circuits that are used and by shrinking or weakening those that are rarely engaged. In its short history, the science of neuroplasticity has mostly documented brain changes that reflect physical experience and input from the outside world. In pianists who play many arpeggios, for instance, brain regions that control the index finger and middle finger become fused, apparently because when one finger hits a key in one of these fast-tempo movements, the other does so almost simultaneously, fooling the brain into thinking the two fingers are one. As a result of the fused brain regions, the pianist can no longer move those fingers independently of one another. Lately, however, scientists have begun to wonder whether the brain can change in response to purely internal, mental signals. That's where the Buddhists come in. Their centuries-old tradition of meditation offers a real-life experiment in the power of those will-o'-the-wisps, thoughts, to alter the physical matter of the brain. "Of all the concepts in modern neuroscience, it is neuroplasticity that has the greatest potential for meaningful interaction with Buddhism," says neuroscientist Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The Dalai Lama agreed, and he encouraged monks to donate (temporarily) their brains to science. The result was the scans that Prof. Davidson projected in Dharamsala. They compared brain activity in volunteers who were novice meditators to that of Buddhist monks who had spent more than 10,000 hours in meditation. The task was to practice "compassion" meditation, generating a feeling of loving kindness toward all beings. "We tried to generate a mental state in which compassion permeates the whole mind with no other thoughts," says Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk at Shechen Monastery in Katmandu, Nepal, who holds a Ph.D. in genetics. In a striking difference between novices and monks, the latter showed a dramatic increase in high-frequency brain activity called gamma waves during compassion meditation. Thought to be the signature of neuronal activity that knits together far-flung brain circuits, gamma waves underlie higher mental activity such as consciousness. The novice meditators "showed a slight increase in gamma activity, but most monks showed extremely large increases of a sort that has never been reported before in the neuroscience literature," says Prof. Davidson, suggesting that mental training can bring the brain to a greater level of consciousness. Using the brain scan called functional magnetic resonance imaging, the scientists pinpointed regions that were active during compassion meditation. In almost every case, the enhanced activity was greater in the monks' brains than the novices'. Activity in the left prefrontal cortex (the seat of positive emotions such as happiness) swamped activity in the right prefrontal (site of negative emotions and anxiety), something never before seen from purely mental activity. A sprawling circuit that switches on at the sight of suffering also showed greater activity in the monks. So did regions responsible for planned movement, as if the monks' brains were itching to go to the aid of those in distress. "It feels like a total readiness to act, to help," recalled Mr. Ricard. The study will be published next week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We can't rule out the possibility that there was a pre-existing difference in brain function between monks and novices," says Prof. Davidson, "but the fact that monks with the most hours of meditation showed the greatest brain changes gives us confidence that the changes are actually produced by mental training." That opens up the tantalizing possibility that the brain, like the rest of the body, can be altered intentionally. Just as aerobics sculpt the muscles, so mental training sculpts the gray matter in ways scientists are only beginning to fathom

Guerilla Distribution & Film Marketing

francescaprada — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 23:38:54 GMT

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/107/open_revenge-of-the-nerds.html Great article a very independently minded pair document their love and hopefully will recoup their investment through social marketing. My great grandma Sarah (imagine a very cute petite little russian woman with sparkly cat eye glasses, a penchant for turquoise and a yiddish accent) "for everyone there is always a someone, now go catch a big fiiss bubeleh" I think this too applies to finding your audience

tikkun olam

francescaprada — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 07:36:21 GMT

Tikkun Olam, meaning: The preservation of life and our planet by caring for our environment and all of its inhabitants. Striving toward equal opportunity for all mankind.