The Wheelchair Philosopher

'Esprit de blog' abounds and good things are on the way!

2013-09-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

To whomever the unequaled genius is who made this meme: I would like to meet you to shake your hand in person! Feel free to email me at mike.lapenna@gmail.com.

It's been a long while since I last wrote anything here. But life is moving fast, my fiancée got a new teaching job, my freelance career is at all-time high, and my mashup DJ endeavors keep getting more in-depth with each mash. These are all good things! If there ever were reasons to quit this blog, I now have a multiplicity of them. But for those of you who read this blog, I thank you and I come back to say that this blog will now likely be used as a promotional forum alongside its usual motivational esprit de blog if you will.

So with that said, I ask that you stay tuned and of course, roll on!

Turkish protesters, you have my support!

2013-06-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

About one week ago, a group of anonymous protesters gathered in a park in Turkey to protest the building of a mall in a popular public park to keep the space as a free-to-the-public space. From what I can tell, THAT'S IT. Police and government officials however claim they had the right to use excessive force in the name of preventing "terrorism."

For more information, read it here: http://defnesumanblogs.com/2013/06/01/what-is-happenning-in-istanbul/

Roll on!

This is how life makes art with my unused 'art-icle'

2013-05-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

Life Makes Art: A Brief Commentary on Carl Jung’s Take on Creative Culture

By Michael LaPenna

In his 1933 paper Modern Man in Search of a Soul, famed psychologist Carl Jung denotes a certain pull that a creative person may feel within his or her process, his or her "zone" as many of today's athletes might term it:

"Every creative person is a duality or a synthesis of contradictory aptitudes. On the one side he is a human being with a personal life, while on the other side he is an impersonal, creative process...The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purposes through him.”

But could this be true? Could art in fact be making the artist? And furthermore, how does Dr. Jung's analysis hold up in today's world of street illustration and the Instagram-capable sort of instant coffee, snapshot culture that it tries to predict? As a creative person myself, working in multiple media and bouncing ideas from a piece of music onto a screenplay or taking an idea from a dream and incorporating it into a photo I take of a loved one creeping up out of her bed after a nap, I often find that these decisions are not made by any kind of deliberate thought, but more so unconsciously in the sometimes weird and erratic rhythms of my intuition.

In a similar way, Jung portrays this intuition as what he calls "collective man" who "carries and shapes the unconscious psychic life of mankind." But whereas Jung suggests a kind of giving up of individual freedom, today's digital culture of Facebook food photos and happily self-indulgent baby pictures of our little ones that seem all too capricious and hippieishly free, it could be that these two dueling sides may be cordially acquainted with one another in a way that has never really existed until the advent of smart phones, status updates and the iPad. We the people have the distinct pleasure and opportunity to bring together our intuition with our natural human impulse to express instant gratification with each snap of a lunch photo with a cheesy sepia filter or the joy of our sons' and daughters' Saturday afternoon soccer game with a hint of our collective understanding of what is to be human combined with, for instance, an awesomely hilarious dance-off at a local karaoke bar that you and your family will hold dear for generations now immortalized in a photo stretched and mounted on a canvas to be cherished from the far corner of your livingroom. It is most definitely for me a gloriously happy meshing of capturing everyday life while it also expresses our individual views and interpretations of the world in a way that can make us all as whimsically expressive as Jung’s idea of the creative person might suggest minus the bruiting and tortured moans and groans of making a big deal about it. And that, my friends, is beautiful.

Source: Carl Gustave Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul, 1933, Harvest Book, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., New York, 1961 paperback, pp. 168-171.

'Disabled stand-up' Jack Carroll brings the pain with his comedy - Week 1 Auditions Britain's Got Talent

2013-04-26T02:36:00.001-07:00

This is just a Happy Friday reminder to laugh at life now and again—if not all day long!

Roll on!

The quantum science behind why I think you should follow your bliss in life

2013-04-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

Assuming you don't have a black heart, I fully believe that you, and all people all have a joyful dream inside of themselves. The video below is the probable scientific parallel connection of why I think you should follow that dream.

Roll on!

Our hearts are with Boston... and its helpers

2013-04-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

(CNN) -- Two bombs struck near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, turning a celebration into a bloody scene of destruction.

And as we bring our thoughts to Boston, I'm reminded today...

Roll on!

"The Opus Movie" (Full Length) | Law Of Attraction

2013-04-12T22:40:00.001-07:00

In my life over the years, I've learned that my thoughts have a direct effect on what I do with my life and they are my inspired actions' drives. So knowing this, I ask you to take the leap and find your inspiration, your music, your opus!

Roll on!

Nicki Minaj - Show Me Superbass (Robin S. Instrumental Mashup Beat Jump Edit)

2013-04-02T12:35:00.002-07:00

My latest...

Roll on!

Gotye Feat. Kimbra (Mikey Mystik Galactic Gazz Remix) - Somebody That I Used to Know

2013-03-22T05:56:00.000-07:00

Check out my remix of the 2013 Record of the Year Gotye - "Somebody That I Used to Know" Featuring Kimbra from Gotye's 2012 album Making Mirrors and see if you can decipher the sample I used to make the beat. :o)

Hint: It's just so fresh!

SALE!!! Buy two gigs and get the third free here: http://fiverr.com/mikeywrites0010/create-a-personalized-mashup-of-two-songs-of-your-choice. Pick any two of your favorite jams that you think can go together and I will mix and mash them together in a wondrous blend of musical chaos and debauchery for $5. Please have a couple of backup songs in mind in case I can't find your song or it's blocked by copyright.

Email me at mike.lapenna@gmail.com for more information.

*ALL MIXES ARE FOR PERSONAL, NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY* Protected under the US Fair Use Act of 2007.

Roll on!

Dynamic awesomeness in writing, editing and creative concepts awaits! Book Michael LaPenna today!

2013-03-18T12:27:00.002-07:00

Writing, editing, marketing, ad copy, comedy writing, help with novels, screenplays... and even greeting cards and poems for that special person in your life; it's all a part of the Michael LaPenna creative service guarantee!

I'll work within your budget to ensure you get the best value for your dollar!

For rates, questions and general inquiries, contact me here or call (845) 313-4714.

Thanks so much for your business!

Sincerely,
Mike

Learn more about my service and book me at Thumbtack.com.

Updates are coming to The Wheelchair Philosopher!

2013-03-16T19:57:00.002-07:00

Hello folks, it's been a while—a month or more in fact. But as you know, life gets in the way of living at times. A lot of things are going on: acceleration of my business opportunities, personal adventures—and a fascination with podcasts that has seemingly overtaken the time I would take out normally for blogging on this site.

With that said, I've decided to use the Wheelchair Philosopher forum for more of a promotional tool to accelerate my business opportunities or to pontificate on any certain issues that may arise within the disabled community (and to go "with the grain" of what might be going on in my life if you will). So stay tuned in the coming weeks for some interesting insights into a man on a roll!

Roll on!

Photosophical: If you are not disabled and you park here, you soon will be (FUNNY!)

2013-02-08T12:18:00.000-08:00

Roll on!

Web company Soul Pancake asks strangers to make a friend while sitting in a ball pit

2013-01-25T11:48:00.000-08:00

Soul Pancake is a "new media" company and website that seeks to answer big questions of our current generation in the areas of philosophy, science, religion, the arts and more by asking simple questions (in the old, if you had 24 hours to live, what would you do?" format in so many words).

As I haven't been posting very much at all in the past two months or even longer with the ebbs and flows of my life moving about as they are, and with my new mantra of 2013 being, "Do more, live better, experience more," I thought this video only fitting. In it, a playground-esque, ball pit filled with an assortment of colored balls with larger balls with philosophical questions written on them interspersed among the balls is placed in the middle of what appears to be an urban city center. Over the pit a large banner reads, "Take a Seat & Make a Friend."

When we're young, we're taught to not talk to strangers and are warned of "stranger danger" by shows like Sesame Street and guided by our confidence in our families and neighbors to protect us from harm. But while our elders might only have our best interests in mind with regard to criminal elements, such as pedophiles, and identity thieves and the creepy guy who might put a razor blade in your candy apple at Halloween, isn't there something to be said about the idea of, "I don't know you, so I can't talk to you" being a cold and all too distancing approach for socializing and making new friends? Have we taught our children the beauty of small talk with other children? Have we taught them to recognize a helpful adult and not just a hazardous one? More to this point, have we taught ourselves that it's okay to give a simple nod hello to somebody we make eye contact with on a given day on random street under the right circumstances? And finally, could the experiment in the video below be the start of it? Judge for yourself and of course…. Roll on!

Can money buy happiness after all?

2012-12-21T04:06:00.000-08:00

After a much-needed hiatus from the blog world, I come to you refreshed and invigorated for the coming year. 2012 was a bit of an amazing year for me. I expanded my freelance writing business in general while also adding a new career or "micro career" as you might term it as a mashup DJ, took my friend's Feng Shui blog to a number one spot in the Google rankings and I got my first credit as a contributing editor to a self-help book (available here)—and I did all this while experiencing the joys of becoming a Mac user. (For as any Mac user can attest, Mac's are mavens of productivity which thereby gives them a special place on awesomeness lists the world over). :-)

In the interpersonal and social realms so to speak, I was able to travel a bit more: I finally was able to take a beautiful trip to Universal Studios in Orlando with my fiancée and I was also able to attend two internationally televised World Wrestling Entertainment events within a six-month period after previously never having gone to any events of such magnitude. (Seeing as I'm a lifelong fan of professional wrestling, This. Was. Epic!) Experiences such as these along with the smaller yet still poignant experiences of meeting up with Long Island relatives I hadn't seen in more than maybe three times in my whole life. made for some illumination conve I also found myself connecting and reconnecting with distant uncles and so forth at family events—family from Mexico, Italy and the Philippines (at least from a first-generation American cultural standpoint) for instance while equally expanding my willingness to say, try exotic food, brave roller coasters, and visit niche museums in New York City, it all sums up a year that can only be described as one of my happiest ever!

One reason I was able to do some of these things was because of a very modest yet noticeable increase in my income that meant more money to fly to Orlando for a friend's wedding and a personal vacation, money to buy tickets to wrestling matches and money to expand my software lexicon to include a voice-activated dictation software (which I am actually using right now) and money to expand my business' productivity and even to make similar overtures in my social long-distance relationships via video chatting software such as Skype and FaceTime. So, as it turns out, in particular serendipitous instances, money and more of it has brought me a level of happiness. But in saying this, I realize it was not a particular amount of money that made me happy this year, nor was it any material gain. Rather it was that I used the money in such ways as to increase the quality of my life by increasing my quality of experiences in life with people, with ideas, with charity toward others, with clarity as to my intent and most importantly doing so with an open mind.

As the video below will show, this is not an uncommon occurrence among happy people who gain money. The premise: money can sometimes buy happiness, but the magic trick to experiencing joy is much of the time, as with most tools ilife, all in how you or I choose to use it.

More on money and happiness:

Roll on!

You are not so 'special' after all

2012-11-27T14:13:00.002-08:00

Having grown up in a world in which Mr. Rodgers told me how special I was five days a week and anxiety ridden parents demand and command that their children be played more in Little League and soccer practice—a world where everyone gets a trophy for just showing up to play, the following speech is the refreshing drink of water some of us have been waiting for for the past 20 years.

Watch as a veteran high school English teacher tells his students so proudly graduating high school that they are not as special as they are so often told. In fact he says, one in a million means that there are around 7,000 people just like them. Instead, he suggests to find a way to make an impact regardless of what numbers of people might be feeling every bit as special as you on any given day.

Roll on!

George Carlin solves homelessness in ten minutes

2012-11-20T00:53:00.000-08:00

George Carlin, master of comedic cacophony and effortless alliteration waxes poetic about solutions to homelessness. Among these: changing the name to "houselessness" and foregoing what he calls a useless elitist sport of golf (and until the Tiger Woods era according to Ol' Georgie, a racist sport that takes up entirely too much time and land—hundreds of acres of which, says Carlin, could be used to house the homeless). 'Tis a novel idea if I've ever heard one in my near-32 years on this spinning orb we call Earth.

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Roll on!

Focus on what you DO want

2012-11-05T03:45:00.000-08:00

Motivational Thought: Never focus on what you lack, what you fear or what you don't want in hopes to get rid of it. You won't. Rather, stay on course to thinking about what you're grateful for and what you would most love to have, to be, etc. The mind doesn't understand otherwise. It hones in on what you put into it.

Roll on!

Where do ideas really come from?

2012-10-26T02:00:00.000-07:00

For sure, the idea is not singular, it is networked. Rather, the first idea is ill-formed and the complete idea is fully formed by the network. But the temporary ownership of the idea is essential for the idea to take hold in the world. This reinforces the idea of the narrators: people who can connect and explain the idea and communicate more or less exactly the idea as far as it can be understood by those taking an interest. In this way, the idea can take hold. -Tim Greenhalgh, YouTube user comment

Steve Johnson takes some time in this TED talk to analyze, scrutinize and utterly break apart the notion of an idea as a single moment in time: a "eureka," a "lightbulb" or any number of terms used to suggest a singularity in concept of any particular idea. Rather Johnson argues for networked creativity wherein one idea might be borrowing from another and groups in the same way, might be cross-pollinating, if you will, with other groups.

This blog, while sometimes strong in its advocacy and championing of those with disabilities, is ultimately about championing difference as a form of unique contribution to the world and its various cultures. This video exemplifies that particular aim.

Roll on!

50 Things I'm Going to Do Today

2012-10-24T03:00:00.000-07:00

This free lecture by free-thinking intellectual "shakerupper" Brian Johnson lists 50 of the most comprehensively motivating things for us, abled however we are, to do today. I agree with most of the things on this list except the whole "Stop milking the cow" part -- for I doth love me a milkshake now and again.

Listen here.

Roll on with yo' 50 things!

The Bucket List Series: The Bucket List Book by Angie Webb

2012-10-12T02:46:00.000-07:00

Paulo Coelho is the author of one of my favorite books, The Alchemist

Here is some boisterous and beautiful inspiration from an inspiring person whom my fiancee had the pleasure to meet and befriend while working at a youth summer camp recently:

The Bucket List Series: The Bucket List Book: THE BUCKET LIST FOR EVERYONE: 100 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU KICK THE BUCKET

Roll on!

Henry Rollins INSPIRES YOU LIKE CRAZY in under five minutes!

2012-10-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

No matter how hard life has been to you, you have been given tomorrow as a sign to NOT give up!

Roll on!

My writing, editing and creative services are now available!

2012-09-25T18:19:00.000-07:00

Reblog - Let me tell you a story about moving past limitations

2012-09-25T18:05:00.002-07:00

Check out this reblog and as always... roll on!

The Wheelchair Philosopher: Let me tell you a story about moving past limitati...: This image of rapper-singer Drake is taken from an anonymous source on Facebook. Copyright is granted in full to the original owner of ...

Photosophical: Your life is yours to live

2012-09-24T13:10:00.001-07:00

Roll on!

State.com calls out ESPN on its lack of Paralympics coverage

2012-09-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

The Paralympic Games of 2012 have been going on in London since August 29, but judging from the media coverage or more precisely, the lack of it, no one in the US would know that. While this kind of omission is not uncommon for unpopular topics in news, it is however a little glaring. Yet, honestly, I can't say I'm surprised any more than I would be at America's lack of interest in UK cricket. There's no reference point and no public outcry amid the home runs from early September Major League Baseball and touchdowns of the first few weeks of NFL football.

The following piece from Slate.com takes a stance of inexcusablity toward ESPN, its affiliates and subsequent sponsor relationships therein. The piece points to the usual inspirational go-tos: indomitable spirit, the triumph of the will over the hardships of the flesh and body, etc. But as someone who has competed in similar games and as your wheelchair philosopher, I ask that you reserve your judgment until after you read the article below.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/five_ring_circus/2012/09/07/paralympics_2012_espn_s_lack_of_coverage_is_totally_indefensible_.html

Like the Paralympics' wheelchair events... roll on!