...This LIFE Experiment, Matthew Verzola

This LIFE Experiment, A Mission Statement

2011-12-21T13:58:00.000-08:00

life [lahyf]

noun

1. the condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms, being manifested by growth through metabolism , reproduction, and the power of adaptation to environment through chagners originating internally.

2. The sum of the distinguishing phenomena of organisms, especially metabolism, growth, reproduction, and adaptation to environment.

3. The animate existence or period of animate existance of an individual.

4. A corresponding state, existence, or principle of existence concieved of as belonging to the soul.

5. The general or universal condition of human existence

ex-per-i-ment [ik-sper-uh-muhnt]

noun

1. A test, trial, or tentatitve procedure; an act or operation for the purpose of discovering something unknown or of testing a principle, supposition, etc.

We are Alive.

We are Scientists.

Just as a scientist will walk into his laboratory with the intent to experiment with constants and variables in order to draw conclusions to believe in about science; we, on a daily basis, walk through our lives experimenting with constants and variables to draw conclusions to believe in about life itself.

As a scientist, one's job revolves around building on established truths, beliefs, and scientific law in order to discover things unknown, and take ideas from the category of "Idea" or "Theory" and transition them into the category of "Scientific Law"; As people, we are both blessed with the opportunity and burdened with the task to establish our own set of beliefs about this condition that we have "that distinguishes [us as] organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms"

What a task!

...how does one ever decide what to and not to believe in?

Especially in a day in age when we as a generation are systematically ripping apart and tearing down the religions and the systems of moral conduct that have been established, practiced, and believed in for hundreds and hundreds of years of human life.

Our generation as a whole is very good at telling you what exactly it does NOT believe in, but let's detach ourselves from negative space from a second, what DO we believe in?

...and if we cannot answer that, how do we find the answers?

Let us learn from the scientific method, we establish beliefs only through repeated experimentation. We must experiment with the variables of our own lives in order to find out, subjectively, what habits are conducive to maintaining personal balance.

This blog is an expression of my own perspective on my own personal findings.

Welcome to This LIFE Experiment.

-VERZOLA

Warm Gun - "Let Me Fall" (In-Studio)

2011-12-15T11:31:00.001-08:00

ThisIsWarmGun.com

Stephen Fry: What I Wish I'd Known When I Was 18

2011-12-12T14:45:00.001-08:00

STEPHEN FRY: WHAT I WISH I'D KNOWN WHEN I WAS 18 from Peter Samuelson on Vimeo.

Warm Gun - "NOCTURNAL - Summer's Over"

2011-12-11T20:30:00.001-08:00

FREE DOWNLOAD HERE

Hot off the press from my guy Warm Gun,

Not gonna lie, this album put me in a GREAT mood.

Melodies are catchy as all hell and the samples spring up

From all across the board... SHOW SOME LOVE!!!

Hell's Kitchen Apt. - Interior Biss Design

2011-12-09T17:22:00.001-08:00

I'm absolutely pleased to see this project finalized.

Two of my best friends own and operate Interior Bliss Design

(as well as Sexy Bachelor Pad for a more specific client)

and are GENIUSES with their aesthetics.

Case and point, I'm going to stop writing and let their work speak for itself...

Beautiful work you guys,

So good to see you last time I was in NYC!

50 Cent X Wall Street Journal

2011-12-09T13:09:00.001-08:00

Always good to spend a little time listening to words
Spoken by those who have done.

Wanna talk business? 50 has done.

The M Machine - Promise Me A Rose Garden

2011-12-03T10:20:00.001-08:00

Favorite track for the weekend...

ENJOY!

The M Machine - Promise Me A Rose Garden by The M Machine

Ryan Leslie - "Beautiful Lie" In-Studio

2011-11-19T12:51:00.001-08:00

Jay-Z Covers GQ; Men of the Year issue

2011-11-14T18:26:00.001-08:00

FULL ARTICLE OVER AT GQ

"You hear that silence right there?" he finally says, laughing. "That's art workin'."

Bon Iver X Nabil

2011-11-14T18:22:00.001-08:00

BON IVER "Holocene" from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.
Directed by: www.NABIL.com
Dp: Larkin Seiple
Editor: Isaac Hagy
Label: Jagjaguwar
Post: Peter Sauvey, Gustavo BKR
Producer: Jill Hammer
rep: Lark Creative
color: Marshall Plante
Production Co: NE Direction

special thanks to Hrafn Svavarsson @gaviatravel for you guidance in iceland, and Svana Gisla for hooking up your family

and to little Hilke, for doing a lot of walking for me!

Assembly Manifesto, Book Release 11.11.11

2011-11-04T16:25:00.000-07:00

AssemblyManifesto.com

"They call usDAYDREAMERS.

We refine ourselvesas VISIONARIES.

We keep our heads inthe clouds,

Knowing that fromthis height

It is much easier tosee the extent

That our ambitionscan reach.

We enjoy spending ourtime

Stretching the limitsof our imaginations,

Envisioning

In the depths of ourminds our deepest desires

That have not yetcome to fruition.

Inside our mind’seye,

We all possess thecapacity

To direct ourthoughts

Forward towards theFUTURE."

-VERZOLA

Assembly Manifesto, 2011

Adele, Recording at Home

2011-10-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

Someone Like You

Love this video...

It's one thing for a musician to have their
Personal space for creation and expression,

And then to venture out into the studio
To get that expression recorded.

But it's quite a different experience to bring
The audio and video equipment

Inside of your own space to see where it comes from.

It's hard to get much more honest than that.

TOKYO RISING

2011-10-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

TOKYO RISING: A DOCUMENTARY ON 3/11

"Tokyo faces a new reality after the tragedy of 3/11. While persistent challenges still lay ahead, the city's creative class is hell-bent on making sure that their hometown thrices. Innovative and resilient, they are defining the future of Tokyo on their own terms. We put our boots on and went exploring."

The beautiful cinematography alone is enough to make this piece worth watching. Palladium Boots and Pharrell created this documentary to explore 3/11's aftermath, interviewing visual artists to get inside their minds on how the tragedy affected the country, through thoughts, feelings, and creative work.

ONE DAY ON EARTH - Trailer

2011-09-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

One Day on Earth - Motion Picture Trailer from One Day On Earth on Vimeo.
www.onedayonearth.org

ONE DAY ON EARTH creates a picture of humanity by recording a 24-hour period throughout every country in the world. We explore a greater diversity of perspectives than ever seen before on screen. We follow characters and events that evolve throughout the day, interspersed with expansive global montages that explore the progression of life from birth, to death, to birth again. In the end, despite unprecedented challenges and tragedies throughout the world, we are reminded that every day we are alive there is hope and a choice to see a better future together.

Founded in 2008, ONE DAY ON EARTH set out to explore our planet’s identity and challenges in an attempt to answer the question: Who are we?

Pharrell X N.O.R.E. Ft. Weezy - FINITO

2011-09-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

I'ma live the dream, yo

No time for sleep, yo

If you know what we know

Y'all niggas FINITO

Frank Ocean - We All Try

2011-09-20T00:42:00.001-07:00

Frank Ocean - We All Try (music video) from High5Collective on Vimeo.
http://www.highfivecollective.com

http://www.facebook.com/high5collective

@H5C

http://frankocean.tumblr.com/

NABIL X Frank Ocean - Swim Good

2011-09-17T15:37:00.000-07:00

frank ocean [swim good] from christopher francis ocean on Vimeo.
directed: NABIL

edited: Eric Greenburg

I'm about to drive in the ocean

I'ma try to swim from somethin.. bigger than me

Ryan Leslie X Red Cafe - "Fly Together"

2011-09-01T11:54:00.001-07:00

Macklemore X Ryan Lewis - OTHERSIDE remix

2011-08-31T11:38:00.000-07:00

Skrillex - First Of the Year

2011-08-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

Skrillex - First Of the Year (Equinox) from HK Corp on Vimeo.
Skrillex - First Of the Year (Equinox)

Réal : Tony T.

Prod : Hk Corp (fr) / Atlantic Recording Corporation

2011

Grinding...

2011-08-31T10:57:00.000-07:00

"When you want to succeed

as bad as you want to BREATHE,

Then... you'll be successful."

Explosions In The Sky
never fails to produce a great ambient soundtrack either

Swizz Beatz Named VP For LOTUS

2011-08-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

Ungh... Do your thing Swizz.

That's what I'm callin creativity on a real level,

One person bein able to translate vision and creativity into any medium.

Whether that medium be going hard in the studio

or in a design studio as VP of Creative Design and Global Marketing

for a company like Lotus

Tyler Durden's Quote of the Week... IV

2011-08-13T08:09:00.000-07:00

"People do it everyday, they talk to themselves...

They see themselves as they'd like to be,

They don't have the courage you have,

To just run with it."

-Tyler Durden

...why is that courage so scarce?

At a certain point while becoming an adolescent,

We all realize that we talk to ourselves.

Our minds run rampant,

Trying to make sense of our surroundings.

Trying to make sense of ourselves.

Trying to make sense of ourselves IN our surroundings.

As we become self-aware, Our insecurities make us self-conscious.

We want to express our souls,

We want to change our surroundings,

We want to create a life that is as unique to history

As we are unique to the human race.

...but for some reason along the way,

those in charge of helping build our vision of the world

show us nothing but boxes, limits, and expectations...

...forgetting to encourage us to color outside the lines.

To explore.

To Experiment.

To stretch the limits on what these bodies that we have been

given are truly capable of.

UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS A DIFFERENCE

BETWEEN THE THINGS WE ARE CAPABLE OF NOW

AND WHAT WE WILL BE CAPABLE OF IN THE FUTURE.

Our bodies grow organically.

Our minds grow organically.

Why would we let any other body,

Or any circumstance tell us when to

Stop our LIVES from growing organically as well?

Remember what it was like being a child,

running around, playing outside and having fun?

Those days when we would come home

With bruises on our knees, scratches on our arms,

and stains on our clothes were, by far, the days when

we learned the most about life, and had the time

of our lives doing it.

We need to start being honest with the fact that there is

a difference between who we are now

and who we want to be in the future...

...and it's not going to be instant perfect change,

life's not perfect, sorry.

It's going to be an organic growth process.

And why would we model that process off of anything

but when we go through the most rapid growth of our lives,

When we're children?

FUCK SHIT UP

...and see how it responds.

We need to talk to ourselves.

We need to see ourselves how we'd like to be.

And we need to FIND the courage,

To just run with it.

Motivate.

Execute.

Appreciate.

Repeat.

-V

Jay-Z & Kanye West - Otis

2011-08-11T23:26:00.000-07:00

My favorite part about this video...

...not that they're ballin enough to just gut that Maybach like a fish...

...not that there's mad fireworks goin off just cause...

...not even the fact that there's 4 model's in the backseat...

But that AZIZ is in there chillin. Doesn't even have any lines in the video

and his presence just cracks me up.

The Death of The Age

2011-08-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

Just think about this for a second...

All of the great "Ages" of history are behind us.

All thanks to technology,

we're caught right smack on the cutting edge

of a period of societal growth like no human has ever seen before.

(Although after America's credit rating got kicked out of the TripleA club

last weekend, maybe we are already collapsing... haha... anyway...)

We, the generation of Echo Boomers, will not experience what it is like

to be part of a great age defined by a new human use of a natural element

such as a Stone, Bronze, or Iron. We are not having an easy time

defining ourselves by great art movements and newfound modes of

expression that are slowly refined over decades, or even centuries.

Even now, we hear reference to the "50's", "60's", and "70's"

and find it hard to fathom what devoting your entire youth

to a movement shared by the majority of our generation would be like.

(relevant rant about "Hipsterdom" to come in future blog)

(Santorini, Greece. Photo: Unknown)

"Every generation needs a new revolution."

-Thomas Jefferson

I'm not complaining... In fact, quite the opposite.

I'm celebrating.

I find it absolutely fascinating that while Great Ages

are getting shorter and shorter, our average human life

expectancy is the highest it has ever been.

Weird right?

By every historical generation that's ever existed,

(thanks to history and the internet)

we have been handed more resources and more time with which

we can be creative with those resources

than any generation has been handed.

Ever.

We have instant upload-able knowledge, and

access to thousands of years of human wisdom.

We can see through the mind of any great historical figure to have ever lived.

It's slowly becoming less and less taboo for one to develop their

own moral foundation with which they base their life's decisions off of...

...or in other words, we should be encouraged to establish new

patterns of thought process that are blatantly more refined than those of

our parents, grandparents, and especially those of our peers.

For our sake.

Just because we can read about wisdom and knowledge of the greatest

Artists, Philosophers, and Entrepreneurs, doesn't make it a replacement

for real life world experience.

We NEED to experiment with these grand concepts within our own lives

to understand how this knowledge's application

will help spark our futures, create our presents, and solidify our pasts

Motivate.

Execute.

Appreciate.

Repeat.

-V