This is a glimpse of Deer Park, a community established by world renowned Zen monk, teacher, author, and peace activist, Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay). His teachings are in the tradition of Engaged Buddhism and the practice of mindfulness in everyday life. What does that mean exactly? It means to be aware of every breath, every step, every moment in your life. When you step foot on Deer Park’s 400 acre property, the normal stresses of life seem to visibly lift away. A normal day begins with 5am morning meditation and follows with vegan meals, working meditations, walking meditations, and the practice of noble silence in the evening.

What we took away with us from our weekend there is that life is the present moment, not the past nor the future. Meditation practice reminds us of this. Thay teaches us something simple, something we can all do daily…. he teaches us to be mindful of our breath, follow it, be aware of it and silently repeat, “Breathe in, I am breathing in. Breathe out, I am breathing out”… a simple reminder that we are here… now.

Hope lies in dreams, in imagination and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality. -Jonas Salk

Designed by world renowned architect, Louis Khan, The Salk Institute is described as the single most architecturally significant sites in San Diego. It’s view of the Pacific, the clean lines, the angles, and mix of concrete and wood are gorgeous. Built in the 60s, it will continue to age gracefully, a truly timeless, modernist architecture.

After the talk we gave, we toured the UCSD campus and it’s dotted with world class art installations. The students are so lucky to be surrounded by the likes of John Baldessari, Tim Hawkinson, Barbara Kruger, Bruce Nauman, Nam June Paik, Terry Allen, Michael Asher, and more. I wonder, do they end up taking it for granted as they walk by them day to day?

At nearly 24′ high and over 180 tons, “Bear” is a massive work by Tim Hawkinson.

Starting from the bottom of a hill to the top, “Snake Path” by Alexis Smith was enjoyed by dogs, cats, joggers, and students going to and coming from the library.

The Geisel Library. Amazing, it’s like a space ship. But, what I want to point out here is the “Trees” installation by Terry Allen. This one, specifically, a silent tree…. as opposed to the bottom two images.

This is also part of the “Trees” installation. But, it’s in a different location among a grove of trees. Among the grove of trees, there is a single tree. The cool thing about this is that it’s a talking tree. Meaning, there is a crazy loop of experimental sounds, music, and “talking” coming out of the tree! If you look closely, that single tree is not real, but, looks like the others from afar. This was my favorite.

John Baldessari’s invitation to the entrance of the library. Perfect.

Barbra Kruger’s “Another”.

Was this really our 6th year at Comic Con?! Wow, time flies. Not to toot our horn, but, our booth was pretty killer. Five days of fanatical madness, we are zapped of energy, but, it’s all good. Here is a little recap from the week.

I really wanted to play this group dancing game… I would have ruled! Kind of.

Wow, Kristen Schaal of Flight Of The Conchords came by because someone told her she had to see Poketo!

We all crushed on Justine Bateman in the 80s…. they don’t make good shows like Family Ties anymore. She’s got some good stuff coming out soon.

Thanks guys for supporting us every year!

Oh man, can’t wait for these Daft Punk, Tron dolls to come out.

Adult Swim and Cartoon Network definitely had the best marketing at the con this year.

Whoah, Shepard Fairey’s first vinyl toy with StrangeCo!!

Munky King knows how to throw a party… good times with Joe Ledbetter and Yoskay Yamamoto.

Poketo is a lot of fun and games… when you think about it, our hardworking crew have a pretty fun job. How often can you say that your job entails cutting letters out of cardboard in to 3-D shapes and painting them bright colors? And then continue to brag by saying that we are taking a caravan road trip down to San Diego Comic Con, build a little booth with these letters and hang out with crazy fanatics. It’s all good.

Come say hi, we’ll be at booth #4634. Another year of crazy fans. Love it.