It was February 13, 2005 and this was my first view of The Strip. Subsequently so, it was my first time in Las Vegas, Nevada. I was here to bring REBEL8 to the masses through the Pool Tradeshow.
I remember the room quite well at Mandalay Bay. I think I still remember the price of it. Not cheap even by today's standards. My best friend Cole flew out to support and my girlfriend Vittoria who was deathly sick made the journey as well.
It was a different time; for me, for my brand, and just in general. I mean you'd be hard-pressed to find a tube TV in any hotel on The Strip today. I mean look at the quality of these photos. The Canon Digital Elph S110 at the time was the best mini digital camera on the market. This is what 2.1 megapixels looks like now.
Hours later after arriving I got a call from Giant saying he was downstairs. We went to meet him.
And there he was, Mr. Mike Giant. This is my favorite photo I've ever taken. This moment solidified REBEL8. It was official. We were going to do the damn thing.
Day one of four. Mike Giant & Joshy D.
For a few nights we all lived in the same suite, woke up at the same time, and spent the entire day at the booth as a family.
Over the course of the tradeshow Giant created a few originals right on the spot.
And by the last day when our friend John Hall came through to check things out our booth was complete.
I leave for Vegas again in a few days. It's been 6 years of going to Vegas every 6 months. And although I've mastered where to eat and where to stay it's always an adventure. Thank you for keeping R8 alive. It's time to take it to the next level. Let's go!
Music makes me lose control. These songs pretty much sum up the trip to the islands. In fact we heard so much dance music I had to make a playlist. I'm proud to say I'm a fan of top 40 dance hits. Fuck it. Live a little, stop being too cool and dance to the Black Eyed Peas. Don't take yourselves too seriously. Not even a "dirty bit"
A lot of you have been asking for book recommendations, so here you go...
- Margot Anand
The Art of Sexual Ecstasy
- Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln
Holy Blood, Holy Grail
- Robin Baker
Sperm Wars: The Science of Sex
- Derek Biermann
Samadhi
- Pema Chodron
When Things Fall Apart
The Places That Scare You
- Stevan L. Davies
The Gospel of Thomas: Annotated & Explained
- Gil Fronsdal
The Dhammapada: A New Translation of the Buddhist Classic with Annotations
- Alex Grey
The Mission of Art
Art Psalms
- Manley P. Hall
The Secret Teachings of All Ages
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Being Peace
The Miracle of Mindfulness
Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha
True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart
The Heart of the Buddha’s Teachings
- David Hockney
Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters
- Robert and Ellen Kaplan
The Nothing That is: A Natural History of Zero
- Jack Kornfield
A Path with Heart
- J. Krishnamurti
On Love and Loneliness
As One Is: To Free the Mind from All Conditioning
Freedom from the Known
- Dalai Lama
The Art of Happiness
- Noah Levine
Dharma Punx
Against the Stream
- Terence McKenna
True Hallucinations & the Archaic Revival: Tales and Speculations About the Mysteries of the Psychedelic Experience
- Marvin Meyer and James M. Robinson
The Nag Hammadi Scrolls
- Albert G. Mackey
The Symbolism of Freemasonry
- Dan J. Millman
Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior
- Ayn Rand
The Fountainhead
Atlas Shrugged
- Andrew Ritchie
Major Taylor: The Extraordinary Career of a Champion Cyclist
- Yamamoto Tsunetomo and William Scott Wilson
Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai
Some of the historical Buddha’s most basic teachings are those of The Four Noble Truths. In particular, these teachings may be found in the Dharmacakra Pravartnana Sutra. I have come to think of The Four Noble Truths as a good starting point in practicing Buddhist philosophy. Without a heartfelt connection to these teachings, I think it would be difficult to make much progress on the Path.
The First Noble Truth: If you are alive, you will suffer.
Everything is impermanent. Everything. We are no different. We come into manifestation, we live and breathe in this human form for a time, then we stop breathing and we decay, reconnecting with the base forces of life from which we came. And in this human form, we cannot escape physical suffering like pain, sickness, injury, old age and death. We also can’t escape psychological suffering like sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment and depression.
Duhkha is the Pali Sanskrit word for this kind of generalized suffering. It’s the first Buddhist word I had tattooed on me, back in 1999. I think it’s a very important concept to understand as you begin your practice.
The Second Noble Truth: The origin of your suffering is attachment.
The main reasons for our suffering are craving and clinging. We usually express these things as desire, lust and striving. It is in our nature as human beings to push away the things we don’t like and hold onto the things we do like. As babies, we find that we like this kind of food and we don’t like that kind of food. We like dogs but we don’t like cats. And we continue to make these judgments about the things we encounter in the world throughout our entire lives. And all of these judgments that we make about our day-to-day experience create our Ego. But all of those judgments are just thoughts. They are transient, impermanent. They aren’t real. So when we fight to maintain our preferences, our attachments, our Ego, in a world of impermanence, we suffer. It’s as simple as that.
The Third Noble Truth: You can overcome this suffering.
To end duhkha, we need to learn how to give up our attachment to our Ego, or our idea of self. When we can learn how to cease our sensual craving and attachment to the ideas and discriminations of our thinking minds, we can be free of duhkha and enter the state of Nirvana, a state of being free of worry, fear and conflict. I personally know this to be true.
The Fourth Noble Truth: The Eightfold Path will show you the way.
The Buddha described the Way to ceasing our sensual craving and attachment to our Egos as The Eightfold Path. The Path is also known as The Middle Way to Nirvana, a path that cuts through the extremes of hedonism on one hand and asceticism on the other. But unlike a religious pursuit, the practice of Buddhism emphasizes living the Path. It in no way promotes blind faith in doctrine or counting on some reward after death.
The Elephant Nature Park is the happiest place on Earth. From the moment we arrived I had a grin on my face from ear to ear. ENP is home to 35 rescued Asian elephants who's stories are all heart-breaking (land mine injuries, logging, street begging, etc.). There is no elephant riding or trekking here; just an open place where they can run free and enjoy the rest of their days in peace. If you check out the site you can read bios on each of the elephants. The sancuary also houses rescued dogs, cats, water buffalos and cows.
You are able to interact with the animals as they walk around.
Feed them fruit and veggies.
Hang with the herd.
Give them baths in the river. Look at that smile!
And best of all, a birthday kiss for Belle. This was a spiritual and emotional place. The next time I go back I would like to spend a week volunteering. It's impossible not to feel overwhelmed by this unique experience. It was also a great reminder to take care of those in need, human or not. If you are feeling generous, donate a lunch or medical kit to the elephants by clicking here.
Check out super naughty baby girl taking a mud bath.
Big Joey (Diamond Supply Co.) came up to pay a visit to SF. Naturally we went to Cha-Cha-Cha and linked up with Irish Dougie and English Steve. Good times!
After tremendous succes at Art Basel in Miami, TOTT Global will be showcasing their work for the first time in San Francisco. New works by Donny Miller, Mike Giant, Anthony Ausgang, Claw Money, Tara McPherson, Nate Van Dyke, Greg Mike, Mark Bode, and Oliver Black.
When: Saturday, February 5th - 6pm to 9pm
Where: RVCA San Francisco - 1485 Haight Street @ Ashbury
Here are a few Giant's you'll see. This one is a sneak peek of our REBEL8 x Sal Barbier collab dropping real soon.
And the second REBEL8 x Sal Barbier design.
And of course you remember our REBEL8 x Pabst Ball Busters event!? Here is the original.
