Mort

Great thread going on here folks. I sort of fell into a practice a couple of years ago and have been exploring a few paths to see what fits. Reading Jack Kerouac's On the road and Dharma Bums got me interested and it lead from there. For me I started with guided meditations on my ipod that i poached off Noah Levine who runs www.dharmapunx.com . if go to the mp3 links up the top you can download or stream them . His books are well written as well and explain the core Buddhist teachings in pretty easy to understand language. I've collected a few freebies links so I'll drag them out to share zencast a great range of podcasts from various teachers plus some timers for iphone/ipod Middleway Some more guided Meditations and Overviews Punkrock Zenmaster Brad Warner's Blog + great Zen based links and Information Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha, An Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book A very good guidebook that doesn't muck about . BuddhaNet's eBooks another free ebook repository Also I'd like to recommend http://www.whataboutme.tv/ from the 1 Giant Leap guys. ABC2 have been showing it here on OZ. Interviews with Tim Robbins Ram Dass ,Eckart Tolle, Norm Chomsky mixed with some vibrant world music..

I got to go to both the Sydney sideshow and the BDO I loved both shows. Loving the brighter look of the 10000 days shows with the Alex Grey artwork , I found after I had pushed my way through the mosh to get up close that its actually a lot better the further back from the stage you got. When you can fit the whole band the stage comfortably into you forward vision it makes for a stunning audio and visual show. Tool is so much more then just one person and the latest tour really allows the band to shine. Fingers crossed they should be back the end of this year , MJK said at the BDO " See you in December " Photo from [email protected]

Awesome awesome day ;-) It was actually a very casual affair all in all. I saw a lot of people with Aussie t-shirts and the temp Tats but the only flags I saw were wrapped around the drunk 15 year old boys running around trying to look cool. Its my 13th year of going and I'd have to say I found it a lot more relaxed then the past couple of years have been. They have changed a few things to keep it a little calmer . 2-drink limit @ the bar and spirits only in plastic cups($6 bucks a pop ouch ) The boiler room is now HUGE but can now handle a much larger crowd ( was in the dome @ around 6K max ) D bar / mosh pit entry has been modified to make it safer . Might just be me but I did notice a lot more drug use this year , what with the drinks being harder to get it was easy to get on the pills . Not sure if thats a good thing but makes for a more loved up crowd. ;-) TOOL were very very good too btw