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MarcoPolo
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Name: Marco
Country: United States
State: Nevada
Birthday: 5/11/1967
Gender: Male
Interests: Verbal car-Wrecks, Creative Uprisings, Discovery, Burning Sheets, And The Endless Drift Toward Unknowns.
Expertise: Forgetting myself. Setting things on fire. Impersonating My Dreams.
Occupation: Artist
Industry: Entertainment
Message: message me
Member Since:
11/8/2001
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| Best Wishes | | |
| This Week In Quotations:"My certainty overcomes your doubt." -James Ray
"The real measure of your wealth is how much you'd be worth if you lost all your money." -Bernard Meltzer
"The last thing a man wants to do is usually the last thing he does." -Buffalo Bill
"You can't break the Laws Of Nature, but you can be civilly disobedient." -Dr. Tiki | | |
| Like This
If anyone asks you
how the perfect satisfaction
of all your sexual wanting
will look, lift your face
and say
............"like this"
When someone mentions the gracefulness
of the nightsky, climb up on the roof
and dance and say
............"like this?"
If anyone wants to know what Spirit is
or what God's fragrance means,
lean your head toward him or her,
keep your face there close,
............"like this"
When someone quotes the old poetic image
about clouds gradually uncovering the moon,
slowly loosen knot by knot the strings
of your robe.
............"like this?"
If anyone wonders how Jesus raised the dead
don't try to explain the miracle,
kiss me on the lips,
............"like this. Like this"
When someone asks what it means
to die for love, point
............here
If someone asks how tall I am, frown
and measure with your finger the space
between the creases of your forehead
................this tall
The soul sometimes leaves the body, then returns.
When someone does not believe that
walk back into my house
............"like this"
When lovers moan
they are telling our story
............"like this"
I am a sky where spirits live.
Stare into this deepening blue
while the breeze tells a secret
............"like this"
When someone asks what there is to do,
light a candle in his hands
............"like this"
How did Joseph come to Jacob?
............"like this"
How did Jacob's sight return?
............"like this"
A little wind cleans the eyes
............"like this"
When I return from a faraway place,
I'll put just my head around the edge
of the door to surprise you
............"like this"
-----------------RUMI-----------------
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| The Flaming Lips at the Palms Pool (photo courtesy of the Flaming Lips website)
... A promotion concert, believe it or not. I had to go to Speedee Mart and purchase an 18-pk of Miller Lite (YEEECCCCCH) to obtain two free tickets to what ended up being the *best*fucking*concert* I've seen here in Vegas. And since I work as a spotlight operator at many, many concerts, I must assure you I would not throw those kind of qualifiers around too flippantly.
We sang along to "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots". We rocked out to "Tangerine". We marveled at the surreal video background. We cried when Wayne Coyne played Taps on an electric bugle in honor of the fallen soldiers in Iraq. We screamed in agreement when he snubbed GW Bush. We wore silly hats and pushed giant balloons around while confetti cannons filled the air with streamers. We looked up at the balconies of the Playboy Mansion Club where everyone was peeking down at the extremely weird (and fun) concert. We smelled cannabis, patchouli, and freaky sweat in the air and avoided falling into the pool, located conveniently in the middle like a big Zen reflection garden.
Who's we? Me. And the other people at the show. I went solo, knowing that no matter the lack of company I was going to enjoy the show immensely.
But I did not stay alone for too long. I made a new friend. And we sang together into my air-microphone to their cover of "what a wonderful world" and laughed as we almost fell into the pool. She made mention of "those little messages from the universe which remind us that we aren't perfect". I replied by reminding her of "those other little messages from the universe which remind us that even if not perfect, we are just right." We were having so much fun we decided to go out for tequila and dancing afterward. I still haven't slept.
The (re)discovery of the evening: I am never alone, the whole Universe is my constant companion. So long as I keep my heart open.
But now I have an 18-pk of Miller Lite (YEEECCCCH) that I don't know what to do with. ~:o)
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| CITY OF DREAMS, pt.1 (photo by Daniel Boud)
From "In the Desert Of Desire; Las Vegas and the culture of spectacle" by William L. Fox
---"The greater the dissonance between perception and reality, the more extreme our cultural responses become in order to compensate. The Mojave Desert is one of the most arid places on the planet, and Las Vegas therefore a correspondingly strong presence within it. Between the open field of view presented to us by the desert and the exaggerated gestures we make in response to its foreign nature, we are provided an unparalleled opportunity to examine social behavior."---
... And I've been thinking about the events that led me to this place, trying to understand what dharmic forces still apply that would hold me here, when my original goal for this city has been fulfilled. And lately a surprising sentiment has been growing inside me:
Las Vegas is an energetic nexus, a focus of global culture, and may in the coming decades become an example of a truly free society.
Go ahead, laugh. I'll give you a couple of minutes.
Done? Okay. Here's what I mean. Deserts have been a sacred destination since the days of Myth. The Aboriginals of Australia go into the deep outback to practice their ancient ceremonies connecting them with the Dreamtime. Oedipus blinded himself and walked out into the sands to fulfill his destiny. Jesus of Nazareth wandered the dry wasteland for 40 days to empower his sacred purpose. Aladdin found his Genie in the desert. And of course we all have friends just barely returning home caked with playa dust, where they lived their dreams and turned fantasy into reality. The desert is where humanity goes to reach into its own subconscious and realize its dream. As with the Aborigines, so with Jesus. As with Burning Man, so with Vegas.
And it is impossible to deny the fact that Vegas is, in financial terms, a massive locus of economic activity. Easily the strongest local economy in the USA, and one of the hottest commercial zones on the planet, this little green spot in the desert flaunts its wealth with carefree abandon. In the driest spot on the Western Hemisphere, and fountains evaporate water into the air by an estimated 30 million gallons a day. Some may see this as wasteful, but there's another way to see it: Fearless. There is no consciousness of lack here, no self-limiting behavior born of a fear of Not Enough. The simple act of spending what you have becomes the prayer and magic spell on your road to receiving more. An active engine of manifestation is one of revolving energies going out as well as coming in. Gotta spend it to earn it, and this town definitely works that flow. Vegas is mutating the face of The American Dream, and The American Dream will always be exported to the rest of the world. Hence, for better and for wrose Vegas is a blueprint for 21st Century living. So whatever happens here, doesn't really stay here.
Lastly, this is a city not of Sins, but of Dreams. Funny that I tend to call it "City Of Dreams Come True", because I find the phrase "Sin City" to be just too gauche. This is the only place I know where a full-time juggler can buy his own home. With a pool. It's also the only place I know that any individual could become a millionaire just by pushing the right button at the right time. Creativity is rewarded here, when mixed with savvy business sense. This is the launching pad for a half-million matrimonies a year, and the only place I know where Elvis can officiate the wedding. And of course there is the over-the-top nature of the spectacle that is Las Vegas's backbone; Walking down The Strip is like walking into the magic land of Oz. And in fact, walking The Strip gives one the palpable feeling of Dreams Come True. Like the Peter Gabriel song says; "All of the buildings, all of the signs, were once just a dream, in somebody's head."
I fought against Vegas in my head, when I first arrived. Full of my own self-importance and judgemental, I was the classic example of a West-Coast Liberal, unable to see a thing for what it is because I was fixated on what it Should Be. But here I am four years (whew!) later, finally able to look past the mirage on its horizons and perceive the core of bizarre, shamanic, economic, creative, and chaotic potential this place is.
Not saying I'm staying here forever. No place can hold me forever. But now, I'm actually glad I'm here, to witness & co-create this incredible phenomenon while it lasts.
.... But yeah, the heat sux.
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All written & visual work copyright ©2001, ©2002, ©2003, ©2004, ©2005, ©2006, ©2007 Marco Land’n unless otherwise stated. No written or visual material from this site may be used, stored or copied to a retrieval system, electronic, mechanical or otherwise without prior authorization from the author. But despite what you might think I'm actually a pretty easygoing guy, so if you ask nicely I may just give it.
