There are some things in this world that seem simple and ordinary on the surface, yet carry a deeper function when approached with awareness.
Soap is one of those things.
Most people think of soap only as a way to clean the body. And of course, it does that beautifully. But there is another level—one that has been quietly understood in many traditions, though rarely spoken of in modern language. Continue reading
There’s something deeply satisfying about making soap by hand. Not just the process—but the transformation. A simple base, a handful of natural ingredients, and a mold… and suddenly you’re holding something both useful and beautiful.
Oat soap, in particular, carries a kind of quiet reputation. It’s gentle, grounding, and timeless. People don’t just use it—they trust it. Continue reading
What I noticed looking at ASMR content is that a lot of it isn’t really “pure” ASMR anymore. It’s evolved into a blend of visual trickery, detailed sound design, and oddly satisfying mechanics. The feeling is still calming or immersive, but the way it gets there is broader than just whispering or simple sounds. Continue reading
(And Why It’s Not Quite the Same Thing Anymore)
There’s something quietly fascinating happening on YouTube right now. A style of content that was once slow, intimate, and almost meditative — ASMR — is being reshaped into something fast, punchy, and endlessly loopable. And surprisingly… it works. But to really understand what’s going on, we have to start with what ASMR actually is. Continue reading
Okay, here’s how you can create a digital persona. Jim Morrison was a close friend, and we had many conversations about the work ideas. of course I have a few photos but I never was much for selfies. 99% of the time, I was behind the lens, not in front of it.
I wanted to test the new graphics features in chat GPT, so I put some old photos of Jim and some recent photos of me together through my chat GPT, and placed them in a variety of background environments, to create a story about the character Jim Morrison. Continue reading
Nobody quite remembers when E.J. Gold first showed up on Bourbon Street—and that’s exactly how he prefers it. If you asked him, he’d say it doesn’t matter. Continue reading
Music, Preference, and the Absorption of Meaning
There’s a fascinating phenomenon that shows up whenever the same message is delivered in multiple forms, like John Lilly’s “Cogitate” tape. I’m sure you’re aware that we don’t receive each version equally. Give someone forty variations of the same song—with identical lyrics—and something almost inevitable happens. A few versions rise to the top. One might feel “just right.” Another might linger in memory. A handful might become favorites. Continue reading
Every so often, it’s worth taking a second look at the ordinary.
A penny, for example.
Most people wouldn’t bend down to pick one up. It’s small, overlooked, and carries almost no purchasing power in everyday life. But every once in a while, that assumption breaks apart. Some pennies—quietly, unassumingly—carry real value. Not symbolic value, not sentimental value, but measurable, transferable wealth. Continue reading
My mother was a master silversmith, a student of Art Smith, one of the most famous modernist silversmiths on the planet — his work — and her work — appears in several books on modernist jewelry of the twentieth century. Continue reading
