urbandandylondon

Let Your Children Melt Into You

~ Urban Dandy London ~ 5 Comments

The case of the seven year old child, Yamato Tanooka, left in a forest by his parents, was widely covered by the international media. The child was hospitalised after spending six nights alone, sheltering in a hut and drinking water from a tap outside.

Yamato was abandoned by his parents as punishment for throwing stones in the car. His father was already unhappy with the boy for getting in to trouble at school. “I tried to show him that I can be scary when I’m seriously angry” he said.

Shocking stuff but not that surprising when you pause to think of the punitive measures meted out to young children every day in our schools and homes. The parenting style used by Yamato’s parents represented an extreme case of what has become normal in western societies.

SONY DSC

 

Parenting ‘experts’

Phoney celebrity parenting ‘experts’ like Kathryn Mewes (‘Three Day Nanny’) and Jo Frost (‘Supernanny’) have helped popularise the idea that children need to be punished in order for their behaviour to be corrected.

What this really amounts to is punishment of children until they conform to what adults want. This can produce short-term results, with a child expelled from the classroom and a lesson resuming, or a child sent to their bedroom so that an adult can concentrate on what they are doing.

But any immediate result is offset by detrimental long-term consequences. Popular methods, including time outs, the naughty step and withdrawal of treats give the message that the child is not acceptable as they are. Continue reading →

Exclusive Interview with Joe Marshalla Pt.1

~ Angel Lewis ~ 1 Comment

Web_About

Doctor Joe Marshalla is a Wholosopher an Introspectionist, the author of the book Repeatlessness and the producer of audio materials such as Healing Garden and Affirmations for life. His concept of Wholosophy and his introducing the law of Repeatlessness to the world has helped many people on the way to self-discovery.

There are things known to those who have chosen the path of spirit that innately makes sense within, but not necessarily to the logic of the critical, analytical left brain.

In my late teens, I had a keen interest in psychology and became fascinated in how well things turned out for me when I expressed my intentions at the start of my day. This was a short-lived experience as it seemed like spirit and science were fighting each other. ‘Is it me or is it a supreme energy outside of me making this all happen?’ I wondered. 21-12-2012 unbeknown to some, ushered in a series of unique planetary positions and energies for the first time in around 25,000 earth solar cycles. Even those who do recognise those subtle signs of the time still struggle with the emotional and very physical experiences of shedding the ego. A difficult period that made some forget that it is a gradual and not an instant dimensional shift happening within.

Today, Doctors are merging the two beliefs into one with reason and clarity, aiding those who are tickled by science and facts alone. Joe Marshalla is one such Doctor who has an incredible gift of speaking through these dimensions. I suggest you study Repeatlessness and see the range of tools available to cause your cells to also understand as well as your soul or vice versa depending on your angle. 

 In the meantime, we give you the first part of an incredible interview that we recently conducted in Hawaii with Dr. Joe Marshalla. (Via skype, we weren’t really there 🙂 

Enjoy.   

Part one:

It’s 11:34 am in London and  apparently 12:34 in the morning in Hawaii. We are given a poetic answer to the question of our guest’s geography. Joe explains his location as “I’m in Hawaii, sitting under a completely darkened sky with no moonlight, surrounded by millions of stars and looking directly into the milky way.” Joe has a way of creating bliss from…well, unfounded bliss. 

imgres UDL: The name Marshalla is strangely similar to an Arabic word ‘Marshallah’ meaning ‘Gods will’. Does it have anything to do with this?

 JM: Yes, I have been told that before, and spelled backwards it really messes with some people because backwards it’s Allah’s Ram, (laughs). So no, that name as far as I know was given to us by the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service.)  I’m Czechoslovakian and Polish and when my grandparents came over here I guess an Italian guy was checking them in and the name went from something like Marshalchov to him saying “Ah, in America we say Marshalla”, so they Americanized it by Italianizing the name and I now know every Marshalla that exists because they all extend from my Grandma and Grandpa.

UDL: A lot of time when I hear someone’s name and I find out what it means I realize that they are just that. Do you find this with your name at all?

JM: Oh gosh yeah! I have been saying this for so many years. I mean, the Bobs and the Johns and Marys and the Cindys and the Kathys and the Lindas, there’s something about one’s name being repeated over and over that seems to possibly set some type of psychic DNA predisposition for the sound. And all the people I meet with the same names all seem very similar.

There was a period at which I actually changed my name. It was for my own healing purposes. There was so much trauma and things that were associated with the name Joe, Joey or Joseph that I wanted to eliminate those traumas being activated. I mean, someone could just say my name a certain way and for no reason at all I would feel this trauma coming over my body, like hearing a siren or something. I’d get that little shock like experience. And so I changed my name for about four or five years. There’s a whole bunch of people that know me by the name Sudeha (Soo-day-uh) and actually Swami Bodhi Sudeha that was given to me by a teacher named Osho. It was my name for a long time to many people and it really made quite a difference in my ability to heal many things.

I can relate.  I have many other names for similar reasons. I mention getting through our questions (around ten in total) without taking up too much of Joe’s time. He explains that we are not inconveniencing him at all and he appreciates the formality but this is why he’s alive so bring it on. (We all laugh)

Repeatlessness

UDL: Repeatlessness. Do you find the word brings you back to the moment? For me hearing the word, what I understand of it, is that no moment is the same and each one is unique in its own way. Recognising this opens up a whole bunch of potential for me at that moment, that’s what I get from it. Could you explain in a little more detail?

JM: Sitting within the concept of Repeatlessness, within one’s mind, one gets to experience what I call the truth. The T.R.U.T.H… which would be The Repeatless, Unknowable, Timeless, Happening. Because we know it’s fresh and new… it’s Repeatless and if it’s repeatless then it’s never happened before and it’s Unknowable. It’s Timeless because time doesn’t exist… it’s only the now emerging, more now emerging now, emerging now, emerging continuously the now emerging fresh and new… and lastly,  it certainly seems to be Happening, right?  So, T.R.U.T.H. – The Repeatless, Unknowable, Timeless, Happening.

And in experiencing the T.R.U.T.H…  when you have two or more people in that state of awareness… and every moment is fresh and new… then they get to experience P.E.A.C.E… which is People Experiencing A Conscious Existence. Continue reading →

Ten Things We’d Rather Not Know About Sex Addiction

~ Urban Dandy London ~ Leave a comment

 

  1. Sex addiction actually, er, exists

It is a condition or syndrome with a proven neurological, psychological basis. It’s not just a pretext or for the philandering, the promiscuous and priapic. It is an addiction or compulsion to certain sexual behaviors that causes the sufferer to transgress their own values and ruins their lives. Of course, sexual desire is an evolutionary urge, a normal drive, perfectly healthy in most people. But for some, genetic predisposition, family trauma or attachment disorders and early exposure to sexual material has warped this desire, hijacking reward centres in the brain and causing the sexual drive to dysfunction. An allergy of the mind arises; sexual activities are craved but when indulged in they cause mental pain.  This is sex addiction, and it is a ‘thing’ and it affects more people than you think. Perhaps it is because it is a process addiction or because of the shame and stigma surrounding it (see below) it still remains misunderstood by most.

 

  1. Sex addiction is more powerful than crack cocaine

In the book The Porn Trap the authors break down the physiology of sex addiction. They cover the dopamine secreted during the anticipation and the mind-blowing opioids of the orgasm and fulfillment. Gary Wilson in Your Brain on Porn, writes about how repeated exposure to pornography subjects the dopamine reward system to the same fatigue over time as cocaine abuse. Research going on at Cambridge University has shown that the pleasure centres stimulated in sex addiction are identical to those in pharmacological addiction. As Patrick Carnes writes we are looking at a self-peddled, self-secreted drug abuse, and a strong chemical dependency.

Due to neuronal plasticity, (neurons that ‘fire together, wire together’,) using porn and other thrill seeking sexual practices compulsively, eventually recalibrates the brain to such an extent that it cannot snap back and is chronically impaired. The brain then craves this fix. The results can be a skewed arousal template, (not finding ‘normal’ women or intimate sex exciting), diminished libido in the absence of sexual fetishes, or even erectile dysfunction as documented by Gary Wilson in his book. And that’s just the addiction not to speak of the experience of withdrawal.

 

  1. Sex addiction is not a modern phenomenon.

Sex addiction was not invented by the publicists of Michael Sheen and Tiger Woods. It’s always been around. Many have a history of it in their families, secreted in rumours, half truths, concealed in euphemism, in understatement, and embarrassed whispers about being ‘a bit of a ladies’ man’ or having a racy love life, when we are talking about a man who died of venereal disease or died in a brothel in a drug addled stupor. Many writers, poets and artists have been sex addicts or have written about sex addiction – it just wasn’t called sex addiction. You can find sex addiction hiding in coy euphemism in the novels of Dostoyevsky, and in descriptions of gentlemen who dishonoured themselves in unspeakable ways. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an allegory for the double life of an addict. Given its long lineage therefore why has it only now come onto our radar? Continue reading →

Sir Malcolm in the Middle

~ Urban Dandy London ~ 2 Comments

Kensington MP Sir Malcolm Rifkind has been suspended by the Conservative party after being punk’d by Channel 4, who secretly filmed him showing great willingness to work for, and acquire information for, a fictional Chinese company.

Pic from C4.com
Pic from C4.com

The obvious question for residents of Kensington is ‘Will he still be my sole representative in parliament?’ The answer is less obvious, but if you live in North Kensington, you’ll understand completely: Rifkind not being in parliament would make absolutely no difference to most of his constituents.

Sir Malcolm, or Riffers to his friends in the numerous jobs he juggles, is nowhere to be seen in North Kensington and doesn’t hold surgeries for constituents to raise their problems and concerns with their representative. He did appear once that I know of, the day after the riots. Somebody who was at the meeting with him told me “he doesn’t care…he doesn’t know anything”.

With Malc as your MP, you might take solace in the fact that as a former Foreign Secretary, he might be able to represent your concerns about Britain’s foreign policy to ministers. But, no, Sir is pro-war, an armchair bomber, who replies to constituent letters of concern about war with what amount to fatuous press releases, steadfastly refusing to address any of their concerns head on. For half a day’s work he charges “somewhere in the region of £5,000 to £8,000” to give talks on the Middle East.

A constituent told me about her experience contacting Rifkind regarding the onslaughts on Gaza by Israel: “It was pointless. He was closed off and unresponsive, the letter I received was a standard template everyone I knew who had written to him had got. I felt as though he was brushing off my concerns”.

So, North Kensington is essentially left without representation in the UK parliament. In the C4 footage, SMR talks of the great amount of free time he is able to enjoy. Most constituency “events” take place during weekdays, he explains. Not commitments, not work, not engagement with the community, just events.

So what does MR MP do with the time he frees up by abstaining from representing us? Turns out he’s a freelancer – “I am self-employed – so nobody pays me a salary. I have to earn my income” he says despite the £67,000 he gets paid, by us, for being an MP. In his other jobs, which pay him three times his MP salary, Malc Talc cannot possibly do much, as he explained to the phoney Chinese company that he spends much of his time “reading and walking.” Great.

So, North Kensington, one of the most successful showcases for peaceful ethnic and cultural diversity on the planet, has a huge democratic deficit. It’d be nice to be represented, but for today we’ll just have to represent ourselves.

Tom Charles

Charlie and the Fear Factory

~ Urban Dandy London ~ 1 Comment

O mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other, not that ye may despise each other – Verse 49:13, Surat I-hujurat (The Dwellings) The Holy Qur’an

The terrifying events in Paris last week have been pounced upon by the political mainstream and many social media users to declare commitment to freedom of speech and vilify Muslims and Islam.

People in Britain have taken to social media to express solidarity with the Charlie Hebdo magazine. ‘Je Suis Charlie’ they say, but had you heard of this magazine before last week? People who have surely never read the magazine are so profoundly moved that not only are they willing to declare sympathy, but en masse have declared that they are in fact Charlie Hebdo.

World leaders flew to Paris to jostle for position at the front of a solidarity rally. Our war mongering, arms selling Prime Minister was there, a man who once ordered the Guardian to destroy hard drives containing information given to them by Edward Snowden.

And there too was the prima facie war criminal Binyamin Netanyahu, a man with the blood of thousands of Palestinian innocents on his hands, whose own government cracks down on free speech within its own borders and in the territories it occupies. Surreally, along from Netanyahu was Mahmoud Abbas, presumably the most uncomfortable man in Paris that day, marching alongside a man unquestionably responsible for the deaths of over 500 children in Gaza last summer during Israel’s ongoing infanticide.

Uncomfortable
Credit: AFP

WC

The list goes on and the point is that these leaders are demonstrably indifferent to the sanctity of life and freedom of expression.  What they are interested is pushing their own agenda, an agenda of fear and perpetual war that does not benefit the majority of people now proclaiming to ‘be’ Charlie.

Charlie Hebdo magazine is part of a mainstream political culture that increasingly seeks to vilify and marginalise Muslims and Islam, failing to provide details of the context in which events take place. The cartoons they published were knowingly offensive and deliberately blasphemous. Why? Political satire should empower the weak and maligned, not target them.

To support freedom of expression is one thing, but widespread support for a racist, Islamophobic publication is something else. The right to freedom of speech comes with the responsibility not to deliberately attack, disgust and provoke ordinary people.

Muslims are the biggest victims of terror in the world today. Not one government represents a majority Muslim country with any distinction and most are dictatorships that act to shore up American economic ambitions. One of the biggest killers of Muslims is US President Obama, who is in charge of the broadest terror campaign in history; the US drone programme.

And the geopolitics of all of this violence affects us here in London. Our politicians, like the murderers in Paris last week have much to gain by dividing us. Both of these groups, who rely on violence for their power and status, are opportunistically seizing on events in Paris to recruit people to their cause and maximise their own power and control. Muslims will be the primary victims of this. Muslims are a minority, an easy target. The mainstream media constantly, daily links two words: ‘Muslim’ and ‘terror’. Slowly but surely these ideas are being internalised and normalised and this is the real threat to our freedom.

Islam is a religion of peace and grace, from which we can learn so much about our common humanity. It never has been and never will be our enemy. The real enemy remains those who seek to disseminate violence, terror and division. They have to work tirelessly to divide us.

The historical precedents are too obvious to mention; in 2015, let’s make sure we embrace our glorious diversity so that we may know each other, not despise each other. The choice is ours.

 

by Tom Charles

For my shhugar Shpun Shister, a dream goal…

~ Urban Dandy London ~ Leave a comment

My dream Liverpool goal:

v A Shee Milan at the Shan Shiro

Shhkrtel pashes ball shquare to Shterling

who shkips past two players & gives it to Shusho

he Shkins another player and pashes it inside to Shhteevie

who drives a Shixty yard pash to Selvey

who plays in Shhhuttidge

firsht time he shivwels pasht a player and Shpots Shhhuarez unmarked & pulls ball back on to the Shix yard line

where Shuarez Shlots it Shidefoot pasht the keeper.

On the Shubs bench Wisshdom and Shahin are Shelebrating.

Shellebratin Shuarez shhtyle
Shellebratin Shuarez shhtyle

By

JSV

For

Urban Dandy London 2013

QR’s hit the UK

~ Urban Dandy London ~ 2 Comments

Well QR codes have arrived, fresh from the Japanese economy, diverted across to the US and finally to the UK. You may ask: what is a QR? This question doesn’t mean you’re out of the loop, just not in the forefront of the technology industry or perhaps you have a department who deals with that, but one thing is for sure you will know pretty soon.

QR codes are Quick response codes that no doubt you’ve seen on posters and publications distributed around London. The little black and white mosaics contain little square blocks of information.  A basic code can contain a few letters and the more complex code can hold up to 1,264 characters of information.

Question: Why hold this information whether small or large, and who cares? Well a QR code feeds into a smart phone with a QR scanner installed, once it has been scanned, it immediately sends the smart phone user to the website for more information on what they have just viewed.

This breakthrough is of the most value to businesses today seeking awareness of their online presence. With this, QR codes are generating more and more diverse possibilities for businesses to reach their core markets. This has opened a new stream of business opportunities and thus revenue around coding.  As QR codes grow in the UK, it is becoming clear that basic black and white codes, to the eye, all appear identical and devoid of identity . This is no doubt why major companies such as MTV, Nike and Ralph Lauren have personalised their QR codes to reflect their brands. These are called Maze QRs or Mazes and are created by a QR coder, similar to a graphic designer but also skilled in code manipulation.

Although there are few customized QR coders in the UK, one of the best UDL has seen, competing with the US in a major way is a company called MazeQR who’s slogan mysteriously states “Be found”. By intention,  MazeQR are nearly impossible to find. They exist in the Matrix and are found strictly by Qr code. MazeQR have been in existence for less than a year yet have supplied tailored QR codes for major establishments such as Comic relief and Jade Jagger. Their tangeable presence in Notting Hill made it possible for us to find a spokeswoman. Joy Daly, whom we managed to catch up with. A concept scout for MazeQR, says “Personalised coding can cost from just hundreds to thousands of pounds depending on the uniqueness and the intricacy of the work”.

QR code readers are available free for download directly to your smart phone here or for blackberry here  and for iphone users here. As for MazeQR, I guess they find you.

Angel Lewis.

Angel Lewis’s Hip Hop Time Machine 3

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From the UK to the US and back these are the reflections of one mans travels and experiences outside of the boundaries of time.

Thrown back and forth in hip hops colourful history. Enjoy the ride

It’s strange how much easier it is now for me to travel in time. I question whether I’m in the future thinking about the past, or if I’m in the past thinking about the future?

I’m reading George Orwell’s book,  ‘1984’ and wondering why he never mentioned anything about scratching, ‘cos here I am in 1984 making horrible noises with my brother’s ‘Ray-gun-omics’ LP. Flash made scratching look so easy in the movie ‘Wildstyle’. I figured by pressing the tape button on the stereo system I could switch from the record player to the tape deck and be like Flash, but it sounded more like screech than scratch. I guess that’s where the journey began. ‘The Girl Is Fine’ is playing on a tape I made, compliments of Radio Invicta. On the other side of the phono button, that pop sound as I switch back and forth from turntable to tape, was becoming a problem, but as my fingers got faster the noise seemed to disappear. Interesting how you can master those compromised tools you acquire.

Almost between an inhale and an exhale, my Bush stereo system became 2 Technics turntables and a phonic mixer. Thanks to my mother recognising my commitment to the cause, she thought a new pair of Technics SL 1200’s worth going into debt for.

Exchanging record titles became commonplace for DJ’s. I gave up, ‘I Just Wanna Do My Thing’ by Edwin Starr for ‘Take Me To The Mardi Gras’ by Bob James. Cut Master Swift was one of my trading partners and thought the, now classic, Bob James song was common knowledge in West London but it wasn’t; maybe to Bertrum and Froggy from Krew, but I wasn’t in their league yet, so he threw in another title for free.

Remember these were just the names. We’d now have to do the searching from record shop to record shop for those rare singles. These titles were songs DJ’s would play but would rarely reveal the Artist or Title.  I remember tearing off the record labels and devaluing the records, a small price to pay, if I was to be true to the exclusive DJ fraternity.

How many times I bought the right artist, wrong song and vice versa. The important part of the song was the drum break but not all breaks were alike.  This is probably the sole reason why Hip Hop absorbed every single genre of music. It was like a monster that kept eating anything funky and growing and growing. I remember when I cut the hell out of ‘The Big Beat’ by Billy Squires it was at the Albany Empire in Deptford. You have just four bars of the break before the singing is followed by the rock guitar, revealing the genre of that song to a mainly dance hall crowd that are barely ready for Hip Hop let alone un- hip Rock! If I wasn’t so nice on the turntables the crowd’s patience would have run out but they let me cue up the next record despite Billy Squires screaming.

But then again DJ Big Bob at Empire Boulevard got away with more than that with a much tougher Brooklyn crowd. It wasn’t all Rob Base and Big Daddy Kane, it was ‘Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll’ to ‘Put The Music Where Your Mouth Is’ then ‘Liquid Liquid’. I remember skating to the whole of ‘The Mexican’ by Babe Ruth (beginning to end) but Big Bob had turned a simple roller skating rink into a church of music from his Tuesday and Thursday contributions.

I broke my leg in one sermon, but that’s a whole nother story. The mid 90’s were just about when DJ’s were getting their props and people were starting to realise how important the DJ was with Zhane’s tribute ‘Hey Mr. DJ.’

Shorty’s even prettier in the flesh… that’s when I realize I am actually in the future thinking back to the past, sitting across the salon and waiting for one half of the singing duo to sit in my chair, while I’m figuring out what to do with these uneven patches in her head and why in hell a public figure at the height of their game would risk a homemade hair cut – go figure. I admit I’m a bit star struck, but you would be too if you were a budding producer. Anyway I gotta figure out how to get her back to the studio…

R.I.P.

Dear friend Shem McCauley DJ STREETS AHEAD.

Angel Lewis’s Hip Hop Time Machine pt.2

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From the UK to the US and back these are the reflections of one man’s travels and experiences outside of the boundaries of time.

Thrown back and forth in hip hop’s colourful history. Enjoy the ride

…Its 1983 I’m on the cobblestoned streets of Covent Garden London, the stomping ground of opportunists and the training ground of many entertainers. Ozzie’s crew are popping in the background, its not new to me although at this time people don’t quite know how to place body popping and break dancing. It’sjust starting to blend in with the juggler, the unicycle rider and the clown. Absent from this type of street scene is the attitude of the street.

There’s a Carousel set up just as you enter the square. On one of the wooden horses right ahead is a girl that looks like baby love, it is baby love! Hey you the Rocksteady crew is playing on a turntable in my head.  The crowd’s star struck eyes supported my hunch then crazy legs, coming into view, made it a fact. At this point in time I saw them as competition. I had ambitions to one day take over their spot.

Fast forward a few years and My ego’s expanded beyond control. I won first prize in a breakdance competition held and hosted in wormwood scrubs by Mastermind Roadshow.  These all day events are held in summer this is a time when ragga, rare groove and hip hop are just beginning to blend. Mastermind roadshow made a name for themselves in the Notting hill carnival and played a variety of musical genres, so they were, at the time, the most likely medium to introduce the hood to this different flavour. Because hip hop was still new in London breaking was misunderstood by most, by rolling around on the floor, I risked my credibility yet who cares when I got my crew with me, besides the Lisa lisa and Cult Jam album I had won was like a trophy testifying to my skills making it well worth it.

Yet I blame all of this on Malcolm McLaren and his Buffalo Gals. See them here.  Who told him to show us body’s twist, spin and lock like that?  It took exactly 3 minutes and 40 seconds, the length of the video to get me over Jeffrey Daniel’s moon walk on Top of the Pops.  But this wasn’t gonna be as easy to get. As a kid all things are impulsive so to me, concentrate in maths class or use those smooth polished floors to figure out this backspin thing wasn’t even a real question. Some believe aspects of the dance came from sailors in the 50s, some believe it came out of lindy hop dancing from the 1920s and others believe its from Brazilian capoeira, to me it didn’t matter I just needed to be spinning.

Freestyle 85

The Crew came together like magnetism as all five of us had seen that video. We somehow found clips of most of the Rocksteady’s
performances, they circulated around the area, our addiction was obvious, Alf broke his wrist in Maths class.  I didn’t have much of an idea where this would take us yet at the same time I didn’t quite picture my future in this doing forward flips through the carriage of the A train uptown before it reaches Manhattan.  Impressive as it seemed, I couldn’t quite write home about that. This aspect of the art form just wasn’t me. This was often the scene on the train to Manhattan to be exposed to even more entertainment as the train pulled in to Times square, it always felt to me like it carried the same air as Covent garden, it’s the street without the street thing, that I couldn’t quite understand. Although the break dancers and poppers had often made a few extra bucks on the train journey back to the hood, you’d think it was legal, I could never quite imagine them doing those maneuvers in the hood, its like they were permanently attached to 42nd street.  Maybe that’s because the lino only came out between 4th avenue and 110th which, for the most part, was the safe, commercial district of Manhattan, tourists and all.

It’s 1998 I’m standing on Broadway outside MacDonald’s in Times square, looking at duke spinning on his neck I realise that I had succeeded in leaving my break dancing addiction back in London. After my crew buried The London Allstars, our adversaries, at Hammersmith’s Riverside studios way back then, I had all the justification I needed to go on to bigger and badder adventures in Hip hop, It was goodbye breaking hello scratching.…..