Books I Recommend | Movies

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Rio

These are books (and movies) that have had an impact on me, and I think you’ll find something special in them.

1.
The Catcher in the Rye
J. D. Salinger (Paperback – Jan 30, 2001)
A must read classic!
2.
You Can’t Say You Can’t Play
Vivian Gussin Paley (Paperback – Jul 16, 1993)
Interesting and educational content.
3.
A Vagabond in Mexico
S Guzman-C (Paperback – Jan 1, 1993)
My Book! Not a travel guide.

4.

The People’s Guide to Mexico (Peoples Guide to Mexico)
Carl Franz, Lorena Havens (Paperback – Oct 25, 2006)
The best travel guide to Mexico I have found. lots of good advice and instruction
5.
Alice In Wonderland
Lewis Carroll
–And the Gryphon said to Alice: “It’s all his fancy, that: he ain’t got no sorrow you know. Come on.”
6.
This book is one of the best on Buddhism!
7.
Excellent book!
8.
A different Toltec perspective
9.
The Pocket Buddha Reader
(Paperback – Apr 10, 2001)
Excellent selections from the Buddha’s teachings
11.
Simple e interesante perspectiva Tolteca.
12.
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
Eckhart Tolle (Paperback – Sep 29, 2004)
Recommended!
13.
To Kill A Mockingbird
Harper Lee (Mass Market Paperback – Jan 1, 1982)
Extraordinary!
14.
Watership Down (Puffin Books)
Richard Adams (Paperback – Jul 26, 1973)
A must read!
15.
The Razor’s Edge
W. Somerset Maugham (Paperback – Sep 9, 2003)
Another must read
16.
Interesting conclusions in this book!
17.
The Brothers Karamazov (Second Edition) (Norton Critical Editions)
Fyodor Dostoevsky (Paperback – Feb 15, 2011)
What can I add about Dostoevsky’s work?
18.
Les Miserables (Modern Library Classics)
Victor Hugo (Paperback – Jul 14, 2009)
Or about Victor Hugo’s work?
20.
Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan
Carlos Castaneda (Paperback – Feb 1, 1991)
The philosophy behind the teachings
21.
A Buddhist Bible: Favorite Scriptures of the Zen Sect
Dwight Goddard (Paperback – Oct 8, 2008)
22.
The Matrix
Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving (DVD)
23.
The Matrix Collection: 4 Film Favorites
Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving (DVD)
24.
The Truman Show (Special Collector’s Edition)
Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Natascha McElhone (DVD)
Food for thought in these movies.
 

.25
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
John Perkins (Paperback – Dec 27, 2005)
How they control third world countries, in particular.
26. The Secret History of the American Empire: The Truth About Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and How to Change the World
27.
The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve
G. Edward Griffin (Paperback – Feb 13, 2010)
The Federal Reserve is a scam, is a private organization.
29.
Avatar (Three-Disc Extended Collector’s Edition + BD-Live) [Blu-ray]
Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez (Blu-ray) 

It is happening now!
30.
Inception
Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe (DVD)
It is a dream! It can be changed!

 

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A Buddhist Bible | Dwight Goddard

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Rio

I was browsing at Barnes and Noble in Hazard Center Mall in San Diego, and I found this verse in “A Buddhist Bible” edited by Dwight Goddard:

Everything changes, everything passes,

Things appearing, things disappearing.

But when all is over — everything having appeared

and having disappeared,

Being and extinction both transcended.–

Still the basic emptiness and silence abides,

And that is blissful peace.

Just sharing.


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The Matrix | The Eye of the Dragon | The Challenge

Posted on June 2, 2010 by Rio

At last, I saw The Matrix. I liked the analogies (the Wachowskis must have read Carlos Castaneda) and implications. For although The Matrix is not produced by artificial intelligence (machines), it actually exists. It is here, limiting human beings, holding us in bondage, and rendering our intelligence useless − it creates a petty and cruel species that preys on its own kind.

What actually pulls the wool over our eyes, however, and forces us to take reality for what is not (and act like nitwits) is our own reflection − that is the part the movie misses. But, of course, being science fiction it is entitled to. I wonder, however, if it will help us realize that we are boundless beings trapped in a crippling system. And we can actually fly!

The Matrix is indeed everywhere, we are trapped in a bubble of perception, but so is the way out, the eye of the dragon, the knowledge to destroy our chains. We have a challenge in our hands, a challenge worthy of us.

There comes a moment in our lives when we are struck by a gut feeling that something is wrong, something is out of kilter. From that moment on it is our responsibility to accept the challenge and take action, do our search. Not doing so will extract from us an extremely high toll.

Be advised.

**********************

Morpheus: … you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.

Buddha: Regard this fleeting world, as a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream,  a flash of lightning in a summer cloud, a flickering lamp, a phantom and a dream. − The Diamond Sutra

Morpheus: I’m trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.

For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length. And there I travel, looking, looking breathlessly. –Don Juan

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Razor Wire Dharma by Calvin Malone | A Buddhist in Prison

Posted on May 18, 2010 by Rio


I recently read Razor-Wire Dharma, and found a true practitioner of Buddhism. Calvin Malone found Buddhism in jail, and through his practice released himself (and others) from the bondage of the ego-mind.

My favorite chapter is the one about the apple, in which, through mindfulness he sees the Whole in an awakening moment. It is similar to what Brad Warner experienced while eating an orange in one of his books (Hardcore Zen?).

What makes Mr. Malone’s book so remarkable is his position; he is practicing under adverse circumstances, and under extreme pressure at times. He is being a guide to cellmates who sometimes even steal from him. He is practicing compassion and balance in a place in which a wrong move can cost you your life, and obscene, offensive language is the norm.

He is an example for all of us.

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The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism and Asperger’s | Temple Grandin

Posted on March 28, 2010 by Rio

Movie Poster

An Interesting book, and a different perspective on autism.

“As a child, Temple Grandin could not speak. Her silent existence was broken only by rhythmic rocking and occasional fits of screaming and thrashing. Diagnosed with autism, Temple’s many caregivers eventually helped her contradict her doctors’ morbid predictions and go on to become one of the autism community’s most beloved success stories. Temple Grandin, PhD, is a popular international lecturer on autism and the author of Emergence: Labeled Autistic, Thinking in Pictures, Animals in Translation, and Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships. One of the world’s leading experts in livestock facility design, over half of the cattle in North America are handled in facilities designed by her. She credits her visual thinking and her systemizing mind, both characteristics of autism, for her ability to be “the woman who thinks like a cow.” Temple continues to be an inspiration and role model to millions.”

Link to follow: Default.aspx

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The 800 Mile Wall | John Carlos Frey | Mexican Border Fence

Posted on March 25, 2010 by Rio

The Fence

Since the beginning of the so called “Operation Gatekeeper” more than 5,000 immigrants have died trying to cross the border to find work in the United States of America. This documentary film by John Carlos Frey exposes the folly and inhumanity of the 800 mile wall along the Mexican border. Excerpt:

“From 2007 to 2009, I followed the construction of what is now close to 800 miles of border security infrastructure along the U.S.-Mexico international boundary. What I found was a mess. Dozens of environmental laws were being waived in order to acquire land to build the new border walls. New technology for border security enforcement was over-priced and non-functional. The natural landscape was permanently scarred to ‘protect’ us from migrants. The assessment from scholars, government agencies and even the border patrol was that this multi-billion dollar effort was not going to solve America’s immigration problems. All of these details on their own would have made a compelling documentary. But there was something even more conspicuous and tragic than the blunders and cost overruns: increased border security was proving to be a massive killer.”

To see the whole article and video follow the link below:

The 800 Mile Wall – John Carlos Frey

John Carlos Frey is an award-winning director. His directorial debut, “The Gatekeeper,” was lauded for its realistic depiction of illegal immigration in the United States by Amnesty International, The Anti Defamation League, Human Rights Watch, National Immigration Forum, National Center for Farmworker Health, The League of United Latin American Citizens, The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), The Joan B. Kroc Institute of Peace and Justice as well as the Hispanic Congressional Caucus.

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Alice in Wonderland | A Brief Quote | Lewis Carroll | Johnny Depp | Mia Wasikowska

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Rio

From ‘Alice in Wonderland’: They had not gone far before they saw the Mock Turtle in the distance, sitting sad and lonely on a little ledge of rock, and, as they came nearer, Alice could hear him sighing as if his heart would break. She pitied him deeply.

“What is his sorrow?” she asked the Gryphon, and the Gryphon answered, very nearly in the same words as before,

“It’s all his fancy, that: he hasn’t got no sorrow, you know. Come on!”

From Paradise Lost: “The mind is its own world, and, in itself, can make a hell out of heaven and a heaven out of hell.

Amazon.com Widgets

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You Can’t Say You Can’t Play | Vivian Gussin Paley

Posted on February 25, 2010 by Rio

Several weeks ago a heard author Vivian Gussin Paley on National Public Radio. She was talking about her book, You can’t say you can’t play.

You can’t search inside the book here but you can at: Amazon.com Widgets

From the interview I got the feeling that Ms Paley was liberating her children (students) from the ego’s dominance. I guess her method is something that we need in all schools. You can’t say you can’t play.

Check it out!

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A Vagabond in Mexico | New Edition Available Now

Posted on February 18, 2010 by Rio

The new edition of A Vagabond in Mexico is available at:
Create Space

The book was originally published in 1993, and it is as timely today as it was then.  Although it is not a travel guide anyone traveling in Mexico will find it useful. And anyone who thinks that the new border fence is anything other than a waste of taxpayer’s money will find it instructive.

The “Search Inside” feature will be available in about 8 weeks, but you can see excerpts and reviews right on this site: A Vagabond in Mexico

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J D Salinger | The Catcher in the Rye

Posted on February 1, 2010 by Rio

J D Salinger dies at 91… Not really!

This is from ‘The Catcher in the Rye’, the first sentence, I believe:

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”

But if you really want to know about his “death”, I found this:

“J. D. Salinger, who was thought at one time to be the most important American writer to emerge since World War II but who then turned his back on success and adulation, becoming the Garbo of letters, famous for not wanting to be famous, died on Wednesday at his home in Cornish, N.H., where he had lived in seclusion for more than 50 years. He was 91.”

To know more see: Books

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