The Tao of Leadership

I love seeking out management books that employ Eastern principles. Here we've got Lao Tzu's famous Tao Te Ching adapted and interpreted for a leader's perspective. The principles are viewed through the lens of a manager/leader.
Perfect.

I really enjoyed this book. It's short, but it takes a while to read because you inevitably have to sit and ponder each one-page entry. Let it ruminate and think about how it relates to your situation. I found myself taking numerous photos of the pages and sending them to people or just saving them to my phone for later.

It will definitely need a second reading. One where I sit down and pull out specific pages or quotes and create a "best of," so to speak. I'll probably snag a PDF and pass it around.

For me, the most important passages were typically about silence, standing back, empowering through being rather than doing, humility, nature and polarity.

"...The rigid group leader may be able to lead repetitious and structured exercises but can't cope with lively process. Whatever is flexible and flowing will tend to grow. Whatever is rigid and blocked will atrophy and die."

"...Good leadership consists of motivating people to their highest levels by offering them opportunities, not obligations. That is how things happen naturally. Life is an opportunity and not an obligation."

One of my favorite lines was, "...All growth spreads outward from a fertile and potent nucleus. You are a nucleus." 

Recommended.

The Black Kung-Fu Experience

Hour long PBS special on the black kung-fu experience. Sounds like a pretty cool, esoteric topic to watch. But the PBS doc' is pretty low rent. The topic could have been delved into on such a deeper level. It could have been really freaking awesome. Instead, it's just a so-so hour long surface look at the black community and its relationship with kung-fu. Nothing terribly wrong with it, but I don't really recommend you spend an hour of your life watching it either. Pass.

Gonchi

Oh look, I watched another documentary. It's about racing. Shocking.

Gonchi came up on my Netflix queue due to my interest in racing doc's. I'd never heard of Gonchi but I'm not one to turn down a subject due to lack of familiarity so I learned a little about his life and untimely death over the following ninety minutes. Sad and inspirational.

Gonchi was a racing driver on the eve of making it to Formula One when his life was tragically cut short in an accident on track. He had the potential to make a name for himself on the greatest stage in motor racing if he had lived. He was from Uruguay. A trailblazer for his country. A good dude. And obviously very talented.

This is no Senna. Obviously. But it's still a good doc for anyone remotely interested in motor racing. Or even if you're not but you like stories about perseverance, dedication, and making a difference...watch Gonchi.

Gun Machine

Probably heard about this from GQ a while ago. I just read it and really enjoyed it.

Warren Ellis is better known as a comic book writer. He created the cult classic Transmetropolitan in the late 90's / early 00's. I have the first TPB but I never got any further into it. But wether you like him from Transmet' or not, this is an enjoyable read regardless.

Gun Machine is a cop thriller. It's about a mass murderer and some NYC cops who have to track him down. I'm not a fan of giving away plots so I won't say anything further. But it's definitely a unique cast of characters. The concept isn't new (bag guy chased by good guys), but Warren puts his own stamp on it. It's gritty. There's some fucked up violence. It's pretty gnarly at times. But it's used effectively. You get sucked into the drama and the chase, then every now and then you get peppered with brains and blood. It's part of being a cop.

Hints of noir, too. But not a ton.

If you're squeamish, stay away. If you like a good cop / mass murderer chase thriller then dive right in.

The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding

There's only one Encyclopedia. There's only one Bible. And they're both called "The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding" by Arnold Schwarzenegger. You do the math.

I've been reading a few books concurrently, this is one of them. I finally just finished reading it cover to cover. About 800 pages covering everything you need to know about bodybuilding. From exercises to diets, to overcoming injuries, to picking out posing trunks, to how to train for Mr. O. It's all in there. It's aimed at anyone who lifts, from n00bs to professionals.

Surprisingly it's not a dry read. I often found myself wanting to get stuck into it. Of course reading it and retaining the knowledge are two different things. It's not like I'm a walking encyclopedia now. Far from it. But it was nice to see what's covered so when I'm looking for a particular answer to a problem I can remember, "oh, that shit was in the encyclopedia, lemme look it up." And there were a few fundamental principles that I pulled out and started applying to my lifts.

I recommend that muscleheads of all sizes and walks of life read this book from cover to cover at least once.

#GAINZ

Man, just look at his traps and chest definition...

Birth of the Living Dead

Here's another one that just popped up on my Netflix queue. It's a 75 minute documentary about the making of Night of the Living Dead.

'The Living Dead is easily one of my all time favorite horror movies so I grilled up a double veggie burger and sat down to check it out.

This is a good doc that quickly goes through the humble inception of the flick, its release, and cultural impact. Most of it done simply through talking heads. Romero dominates the story-telling. He's an affable character who's really reminiscent of Stan Lee. Seriously. I'd love to see them hang out together. Like long lost brothers.

I didn't know that Romero had Spanish heritage; I always thought he was Italian. He's from the Bronx and he's called Romero...but I'm hardly an über fan, just ignorant, I guess. Anyway, that was just a tidbit I picked up.

But I digress. This is a good, quick doc on the making of the a classic. I imagine you love Night of the Living Dead, so nerd out for just over an hour on this shit. It's pretty good.

The Monster Squad

I saw that this was recently added to Netflix so I had to watch it. C'mon, it's the freakin Monster Squad, man. Classic shit. 1987.

For those of you with deprived childhoods, The Monster Squad was essentially a Goonies rip-off with classic monsters instead of the Fratellis. Now, it wasn't as good as the Goonies, but it was still legit. I loved it as a kid.

Marie had never seen it and she was up for watching it last night. Marie's taste in film has changed quite a bit over the years. She can't really stomach some of the violence and realism that we used to watch together. So this was right up her ally. We've found her niche. B-rated 80's kid movies. She was cracking up throughout the flick. Loved it.

I dug it, too. It holds up. So clearly whether you want a trip down Nostalgia Lane or you just want to watch a lighthearted entertaining 80's flick, you can't go wrong w/ The Monster Squad.

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos: Volume 2

I tried reading Lovecraft years ago and I just wasn't in the right mindset for it. It felt hokey. I was just never really into reading horror, occult, fantasy, sword & sorcery, anything remotely like that for a long time. But after falling in love with Conan that lead to reading the original Robert E. Howard stories. I loved them. And from there I started reading more Howard, and before you know it it's a slippery slope to Lovecraft, Bloch, Moorecock, etc.

The Conqueror Worms by Brian Keene was a killer novel that had overt nods to the Cthulhu mythos without actually being an "official" tale of Lovecraftian lore. I liked that book a lot and I'm definitely open to these occult/horror/fantasy stories now that I've eased my way in.

I had to own this book as the cover is a painting called "Twilight" by Bruce Pennington. Forty-five years after this book came out, Temple of Void licensed the artwork for our debut album. So I had to own it. And since I bought it I might as well read the damn thing.

It's good. Real good.

I have a few Hitchcock books that are collections of short stories, much like this, and I dug reading them. I'm on board with the whole short story thing. The book becomes an "album", which each story being a "song." I can dig it.

There were no duds amongst the stories. Just all typical tales of the mythos involving forbidden books, scholarly protagonists, occult/esoteric wisdom...and monsters and death. There's always a lot of mystery and intrigue. And in most cases curiosity kills the proverbial cat.

Recommended.

Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore

I didn't mean to read this again. I just sort of did it. I was looking for something music related and I figured it'd been a while since I had read this so I cracked it open and it was consumed rather quickly thereafter.

I didn't realize that it was ten years old. Death Metal stops at 2003. Pretty odd to read in 2015 and not hear about what's been going on for the last dozen years. I really should have purchased the newly re-released version which has a bunch of updates. Oh well. I guess I'll just wait another decade and buy the next iteration. ;)

I hope you like Napalm Death, boyeee. Cuz this book is centers Death and Grind firmly around the boys from Birmingham. Somehow they're the center of the metal universe. Ah well.

The book is good, though. It's definitely got a narrow focus. Albert chooses to hone in on about ten very important, seminal death metal bands and follow their evolution over a decade or so. Repulsion, Death, Obituary, Morbid Angel, Entombed, Carcass, Napalm Death, Nile...they're the main players in this story for sure. Plus some others of course. Plenty of cameos from NY, Florida, Cali, and Sweden. There are a million bands you could say "why didn't they talk about so-and-so more", but for me the biggest omission was Bolt Thrower. They have a few mentions in there but to me they could have been another 'big' band to follow their trajectory. Whatever. I didn't write the damn book so I can't complain.

It's gotta be hard to try and write a book of this scope. Ultimately narrowing the focus and crafting a story from characters, rather than a laundry list of releases and dates, was the way to go. It reads well. It bounces back and forth across the pond easily. I remember reading a book on the history of Swedish Death Metal and it felt more like a text book of "this band did this, then this band released that, then this demo came out, then this guy picked his nose on this date." It didn't flow. It was too comprehensive. Of course, I'll read it again, but still, it didn't have the flow that Choosing Death does.

This is a solid read and my only regret is that I should have ponied up the cash to buy the updated and expanded edition and read about the last ten years of DM and Grind. Maybe one of my boys will buy it and then I can borrow it and read those new chapters. ;)

Ultraterranium

Erdody found this on Amazon for cheap. I popped on and snagged a copy for myself. This collection of Pennington paintings includes a print of the one Temple of Void used for our album. It's entitled "Twilight" and was originally used for a H.P. Lovecraft collection. I copped one of those from Amazon, too.

This is a GREAT freaking book. It's cool because it talks a little about Bruce's technique and biography. So you get some good additional info on top of just looking at the incredible paintings. But by and large it's just a book of his images. Each section is prefaced by a few pages of commentary.

If you like fantasy art...pick this up.