Broken Artist

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday, a spokesman said. He was 71.

Carlin, who wrote several books and performed in many television comedy specials, is survived by his wife Sally Wade, and daughter Kelly Carlin McCall.

RIP George. You will be missed greatly.

(via Apartment Therapy)

Von Dada Print

Now why is this important you ask? He was the father of the mind-altering drug LSD and the man who single-handedly enabled the defining consciousness movement of the 20th Century. He died of a heart attack at his home in Basel, Switzerland yesterday at the age of 102.

In 1938, the Swiss chemist discovered Lysergic Acid Diethylamide-25 accidentally while working in the lab and unknowingly became the drug’s first guinea pig when a drop of the new substance accidentally absorbed into his fingertip. “I had to leave work for home because I was suddenly hit by a feeling of unease and mild dizziness,” he wrote in a memo to his boss before mounting his bicycle for the ride home. Later recounting the experience, Hoffman explained, “Everything I saw was distorted as in a warped mirror.” Describing his bicycle ride he said, “I had the impression I was rooted to the spot. But my assistant told me we were actually going very fast.” Hoffman continued to experiment with the psychoactive drug and his next experience was transformative: “I was filled with an overwhelming fear that I would go crazy. I was transported to a different world, a different time,” he wrote. The substance remained legal and easily obtainable until (surprise) the US Government banned it in 1966 after years of secretly testing the drugs’ effects on American soldiers, unbeknownst to them, of course. “LSD can help open your eyes,” Hofmann continued to profess throughout his life, but acknowledged its danger in the wrong hands in his 1979 book, “LSD: My Problem Child.”

IN THE WORDS OF DR HOFMANN:

“Alienation from nature and the loss of the experience of being part of the living creation is the greatest tragedy of our materialistic era. It is the causative reason for ecological devastation and climate change.

Therefore I attribute absolute highest importance to consciousness change. I regard psychedelics as catalyzers for this. They are tools which are guiding our perception toward other deeper areas of our human existence, so that we again become aware of our spiritual essence. Psychedelic experiences in a safe setting can help our consciousness open up to this sensation of connection and of being one with nature.

LSD and related substances are not drugs in the usual sense, but are part of the sacred substances, which have been used for thousand of years in ritual settings. The classic psychedelics like LSD, Psilocybin and Mescaline are characterized by the fact that they are neither toxic nor addictive. It is my great concern to separate psychedelics from the ongoing debates about drugs, and to highlight the tremendous potential inherent to these substances for self-awareness, as an adjunct in therapy, and for fundamental research into the human mind.

It is my wish that a modern Eleusis will emerge, in which seeking humans can learn to have transcendent experiences with sacred substances in a safe setting. I am convinced that these soul-opening, mind-revealing substances will find their appropriate place in our society and our culture.”

—Dr. Albert Hofmann,Thursday, 19th April 2007

Today, as we’re surrounded by digital things, the wonderful techniques and warmth of creation of human hands will start to be reevaluated.

An artist is hired to do “his thing” on a given assignment, and if he is lucky that thing he is expected to provide is more than style or atmosphere; it’s the way he interprets the world.

“If nothing exciting happens on the drawing board, there is no reason to keep drawing.”

2 years ago today a great woman left my life. Marie Fanjoy. She was my grandmother and a great woman.

I still remember going over there every Friday night like clockwork. Sitting underneath the kitchen table eating cookies or candy and having apple juice. She would always have tea ready for my mom when we came over. That was her thing. You couldn’t go over there and not drink tea or something.

As I grew older I didnt stop over there as much. Sometimes I would go over there before going to work and have breakfast. She would always have 5 different boxes of cereal underneath the island in the kitchen. She would get me a bowl and a banana and a glass of orange juice. She would sit there and have her tea and either toast or some kind of bread from Wolf’s bakery. Ask me what I was up to, how school was going, how work was going, anything that came to her mind.

I have a lot of memories of my grandmother. She was the sweetest lady in the world. Hard to believe its been two years already. I miss you grandma and I know your looking down on me and keeping a watchful eye on all of us.

She always cared about us grandkids. I remember for the holidays she would wait til the last minute to say where she was going for holiday dinners because she always wanted to see what house would have the most there. Although the days I remember in her basement over the holidays. The damn dog begging for food or barking and howling because it got locked upstairs. Grandma shaking her fist at us for telling her to sit down and eat. She would always want to make sure the kids were all fed and had food on our plate before she would even consider starting her own plate of food. She was a busy body then.