"Asymmetry" Posts on ValleyZen

On Sunday, famed video game developer Richard Garriott launched into space aboard a Soyuz TMA spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. For more than $30 million, he has become the sixth private citizen to travel into orbit.

The Russian rocket lifted off on schedule at 1:01 p.m. (3:01 a.m. EDT), carrying precious cargo including a revolutionary experiment in art —the first in-space art exhibition. Highlighting the importance of private space travel to future generations, Garriott is hosting this zero-gravity art exhibition. Included is an original brush painting by Drue Kataoka, created for this historic
mission…

Yesterday, the Dow Jones fell below 10,000 points. Stress and risk are everywhere: the financial crisis, the deepening recession, the threat of losing one’s job and savings. Staying afloat in a sea of red ink is hard.

Sourcing from the ancient wisdom of Zen provides timeless lessons in a world of chaos. As a Sumi-e artist, the Zen principles are alive in my brush every moment. I take lessons from my brush. Here are three:

1. Spare your brush strokes

Less is more. In my Sumi-e paintings, I strive for maximum…

For Barack Obama’s campaign, the Zen surprise came out of the negative space. In the art of Sumi-e, the negative space (the white space between the brush strokes) is as important as the brush strokes themselves. This is what holds the painting together and makes it take shape and meaning. For the Obama campaign, the ebony-inked brush strokes are Obama himself. The negative space is the countless campaign contributors, supporters and activists who have found meaning and identity in his campaign. They are the ones that have created the surprise…

It’s been an exciting two months for ValleyZen.com. Since launch the blog has been:

• Featured on the home page of CNET News
• At the top of the Science & Technology page of leading Italian paper Corriere della Sera
• Covered by CBS Sci & Tech Correspondent Daniel Sieberg for a nationally syndicated radio segment
• Written up on the CBS TechTalk Blog.
• Feature article in CalLaw.com THE RECORDER.
• Invited as a guest on ABC KGO-TV’s View from the Bay…

Subtracting superfluous energy.


Removing excess light.


Entering the void.

Those ideas resonate with us at ValleyZen.

So, in harmony with millions of others in 25 cities around the world, at 8pm we’re shutting down—for one hour…

Today we are releasing the much-anticipated Episode 3 of Tim Draper VC Samurai. Tim Draper gives us a tour of the Men’s Room at DFJ with his famous sheep painting, a DFJ masterpiece. Follow these links if you’ve missed the trailer and Episode 1 or Episode 2…

Zen lessons from a master of the unexpected. Last night I met Werner Herzog, acclaimed German filmmaker, at a special screening of his latest film, Rescue Dawn, starring Christian Bale. In a career spanning 54 films, Herzog has dragged a steamship over a mountain in the Peruvian jungle, hypnotized a cast for a shoot, filmed on a volcano ready to explode, and boiled and eaten his own shoe…

Tim Draper, Founder of DFJ, gives us an AMAZING interview. In over 50 minutes of high-energy footage, Tim catapults Drue in the air (literally!), shows his art in DFJ’s Men’s bathroom, and reveals his Zen insights on entrepreneurship, business and life.

For the next 5 weeks, every Monday we will release one of the episodes, about 10 minutes each, of Tim’s irreverent wisdom.

Here is a short trailer, to whet your appetite:

Here is the first episode.

Unexpected angles and perspectives lead to invaluable insights.
What does watching a Jazz performance live from backstage have to do with giving your Palm Pilot to a Senior?

Jazz Backstage
Last week, Jazz legend Wynton Marsalis invited me backstage. It struck me—Watching a brilliant jazz performance from behind, where it is not meant to be watched, connects you with the spirit of Jazz like nothing else. Jazz by its nature is asymmetrical, dynamic, improvisational– (one can argue, like a start-up). From this vantage point…