Judd Weiss
Email me at judd@hustlebear.com
Homepage: http://hustlebear.com
Posts by Judd Weiss
Judd Weiss on The Peter Schiff Show!
Feb 11th
Well guys, I got on The Peter Schiff Show. That’s a pretty big deal for me, as I’ve been a massive fan of Peter Schiff for a while. I wasn’t on with Peter, I was on with Neeraj Chadhary, who was guest hosting the radio show. I was talking about connecting with people, and a more effective approach to communicating our ideas, especially when there’s a difference of opinion.
After you listen to my segment, if you’re familiar with Peter Schiff, you’ll realize that he certainly does violate a lot of the principles that I’m discussing, as he’s rather well known for infuriating those who disagree with him. His (lack of) ability to persuade those who disagree with him isn’t what makes him an exceptional communicator, or what makes me such a huge fan. What makes Peter Shciff such an exceptional communicator is that he possesses a legendary ability to articulate complex ideas clearly and powerfully. In that regard he is among the greats, and one of the best speakers I have ever seen. Now I do wish he would stop attacking the character of those who disagree with him, be a bit more considerate to where they’re coming from, I think he’ll be a lot more effective in his outreach. Yet his extraordinary ability to explain these complex ideas simply and convincingly has certainly brought a tremendous amount of understanding to many (me included). I’m so impressed with his ability to articulate, that I’ve learned about as much from studying his technique as I have from studying his ideas (i.e. turn everything into a metaphor).
For a crash course in why Peter Schiff is incredible, check out my earlier article on him here.
Photo Shoot: Shadows
Nov 21st
This is my first time shooting nudes. It’s funny that Monique pushed me to be edgier than I intended to be. This girl is braver in front of the camera than I was behind it. She knew I’d only capture something tasteful, so I guess she wasn’t worried. So much respect for that.
I’m in love with these photos. I was considering keeping them private, but we’re both proud of them, and both agreed they should be shared.
My idea was to create images from some foggy shadowy surreal dream on the verge of disappearing that you’re struggling not to wake up from. I wanted to capture that in a way that was hot as hell and sensual, yet beautiful, edgy, and human.
I’m not pretending to be a professional. I don’t have professional equipment. This is clearly not a professional environment, which is obvious because my cat’s litter box is in many of the shots. And there was no way I was able to keep my damn stubborn cat from walking through some of these, no matter how many times I moved her away. I used my pocketable Sony NEX cranked to the max ISO sensitivity, which did remarkably well in virtually no light, creating the rawer grainier look I wanted.
Hope you like these ;)
Music Pick: The Cinematic Orchestra – Ma Fleur
Nov 19th
The Cinematic Orchestra – Ma Fleur
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| (Click image for Amazon.com) |
Ma Fleur is one of my favorite albums. God damn this is gorgeous! I was reading something when I first put it on in the background. I had to stop reading. I actually laid down in my bed and didn’t do anything until the album finished. Suddenly realizing I’m in the presence of greatness, I didn’t want to dilute my first experience.
I was a fan of Cinematic Orchestra’s earlier albums, because I like well executed jazzy electronic chillout, and I noticed their previous album went in more beautiful and sweeping directions, but it was never anything close to this album. Sounds like a completely different band. Surprised me that they had this within them. Ma Fleur is minimal. This music doesn’t sound like it’s created from nothing. The music here sounds like it’s what’s left after all the fluff has been carved away. Stripped down, raw, bare, honest, open, and so beautiful. Very gentle yet so intense, this is a gorgeous and carefully crafted piece of minimal jazz soul. Maybe this isn’t the aggressive masculine music you would expect from a blog about achievement and hustling called Hustle Bear, but yeah, this is a touching masterpiece of strong emotional impact, and I thought this should be shared.
An Open Letter to all Republicans to drop Mitt Romney for Gary Johnson
Nov 2nd
So, you’re a Republican? That’s your team. You would like a smaller less intrusive government that costs a lot less, right? Great! I’m with you there. That’s why you need to realize that Mitt Romney is NOT on your team, you need to vote AGAINST him and make sure you do what you can to deny Mitt Romney the presidency. Even if it means that Obama stays in office. Why?? Well let’s back up a few years.
Election Day, November 4, 2008. That day the Republican party was officially pronounced dead. Not even on life support. The party was over. Dead. It was embarrassing to say you were a Republican. Obama won in a landslide victory. Democrats increased their control of the House of Representatives and Senate, and became an unstoppable force able to ram through just about any legislation they like. And that they did. Welcome ObamaCare.
Republicans desperately needed to completely re-imagine themselves if they had any hope of continuing forward.
Election Day, November 2, 2010. Republicans swept up, taking control of local office, state office, the House of Representatives, and nearly took back the Senate, removing Democrats’ filibuster proof majority, leaving Democrats sweating it with a razor slim majority. WHAT THE HELL CHANGED?!
Principles. Principles were discovered and defended at a time when the importance of principles became obvious. These principles weren’t handed down by someone’s god, they’re principles of reality. For instance, you spent all your money? No more party. Very simple.
Despite a desperate smear campaign from much of the media, the Tea Party movement that came into prominence had nothing to do with racism towards a black president or the pocketbooks of greedy wealthy elites. The Tea Party sprung up as a mass of Libertarians and Republicans that stood up for their common principles. They hadn’t found religion. To the contrary, they abandoned religion, for the most part, at least politically. They focused solely on economics. They focused on problems of the enormous growing national debt. They focused on reducing our spending and the cost of government and thus reducing our tax burden. They focused on limiting government’s scope and involvement in our lives.
Because of those principles, even as an atheist libertarian, I was as passionate a Tea Party supporter as anyone else; happy to find common cause with any religious supporter on board with these limited government principles.
One of the greatest things that we were all excited about with the Tea Party is their credibility and their unwillingness to compromise it. They knocked out viable Republicans from office if they violated their limited government principles. Because who needs them? Right? What good are Republicans that push for costly bigger government in our lives?
Armed with principles, the Tea Party brought excitement back into the dead lifeless corpse of the Republican Party. The wave of excitement culminated into a sledgehammer of force that overwhelmingly knocked Democrats out of local office, out of State Governor positions, out of the House of Representatives, and almost even cost Democrats the Senate. Nothing could stop the principled Tea Party movement.
Photos: Libertarian National Convention – May 2012
Oct 23rd
It’s October in an election year, so you know what that means.
It’s Politics Time!
Embrace it my friends, don’t fight it. It’s good for us once in a while to think about what the fuck the government is doing with our money. Yeah, thinking about this stuff can get aggravating very fast, there’s certainly no shortage of negative energy in the realm of politics. So I actively try to mix in some positive energy into an often very negative world. One of my tools is my camera, which has become pretty much biologically attached to my arm for the last 2 years:
My Sony NEX.
This was my first time at the Libertarian Party National Convention, and I WAS SHOCKED!! Imagine what would happen if a car company fired all its salesmen and stuck all the car engineers in a room and said “You’ve all helped engineer a truly exceptional car, now we want you guys to work together and agree on this year’s comprehensive marketing and sales strategy for the company within 3 days.” Yeah that’s what the Libertarian Party National Convention was like. All out brutal warfare! Nastier because it’s nerd warfare, and they sharpen their arguments to hit as hard as possible, with no account for the damage and fallout.
Continue Reading >>
Music Pick: Refused – The Shape Of Punk To Come
Oct 22nd
Refused – The Shape Of Punk To Come
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New Noise |
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Look at that knob on your sound system. How high can the volume go? Put it there. My friends, it is TIME to turn up your speakers full blast and piss off your parents, that old lady who lives next door, and awaken all the spirits resting peacefully in the ground below over the last several centuries. Nothing less will do justice to some of the most badass music ever recorded.
Enough of this dance chillout I’ve been reviewing lately, let’s try something heavier. We’re going with something hardcore. I’m in the mood. With this Music Pick I’m gonna introduce you to some nostalgia from my teenage years, one of the most genius and carefully crafted bursts of dirty raw energy I’ve ever heard. I would advice you to click here first before you explore this genre, because then, you’ll know how this music can be heard best. Refused. The album liner notes showcase a brilliant quote I suggest you live your life by.
“If a band ever finds that it is not giving their best effort and playing at the edge of their abilities at all times, then they are not playing the kind of music that they should be playing.”
The theme here is Break The Rules. This album is a protest. No. This is a premeditated ATTACK. Not against the mainstream. It’s an attack against punk. Yes the conservative hardline traditions and strict guidelines of what punk music is allowed to be.
“We made this album (The Shape of Punk to Come ) wanting to challenge people’s preconceptions of what a Punk band could be and what it could play, because Punk is the most conservative musical form there is. Even in Hardcore, there are so many rules about what is and what is not acceptable, and that completely negates the whole spirit of the original idea.” Dennis Lyxzén, Refused
By definition I HATE screamo-hardcore, and I usually don’t like punk, but I love LOVE Refused. Indeed these guys are way too good to be playing to this crappy genre.
I will say it here right now: New Noise is one of the greatest songs ever recorded. I’m not going to even bother explaining its genius. Just play it LOUD, on repeat, study it, breathe it, and don’t stop until you start to realize how shallow your view of reality was before. Here’s a test for you: After you press play on New Noise, see if you can manage to stay still and not jump around wildly.
Movie Review: Atlas Shrugged Part 2 – A Big Middle Finger to Hollywood
Oct 17th
What if you were staring at Jesus as he is lifted onto his cross? Suffering and bleeding as the spikes go in, but he doesn’t turn the other cheek, he doesn’t ask God to forgive you because you know not what you’re doing. Instead Jesus spits blood in your face, gives you the finger, and smiles. Here’s the blood you wanted, now go fuck yourself and die you ignorant fools.
Unfortunately none of our ancestors ever wrote the Bible sequel “Jesus Strikes Back!”. Fortunately we have Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged.
Hollywood has come out with some worthy revenge flicks, like The Crow and Payback and some others that focus on retribution for a few violent thugs. It takes a lot of balls to create a revenge film that delivers retribution to pretty much all of society. You know, there’s a lot of shock jocks and non conformists out there trying to get a rise out of people. Silly amateurs. It is rare to see to see a movie that culminates into such an aggressive and cleverly well orchestrated middle finger. Atlas Shrugged Part 2 is that middle finger. Those greedy businessmen, how many times are they villains in Hollywood films? Well, in Atlas Shrugged Part 2 it’s the back room business deals that flagrantly violate the law that generate the fondest moments of empathy. It is the affair with a married man that is exalted, and the unloved wife who is the bitch.
Can this movie leave us anything holy without disgracing it? No.
The virtue in the concept of the public good? Fucking smashed!
Money is the root of all evil, right? I don’t think so!
Love your brother, I mean your actual biological brother? Pffft
Government must do something to help us in a time of crisis? HAHAHAHAHA
When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of other men. – Francisco d’Anconia in Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
So yeah, I enjoy the attitude of this film. It holds true to Ayn Rand and her vision for the novel. It’s refreshing to see something so bold and intelligent. These are times of extreme political correctness, honesty is very offensive. This movie shows little concern for that. That’s cool :)
About the quality of the movie… Part 2 is a HUGE improvement over Part 1 in many ways. First off, this doesn’t feel like a TV movie anymore, Part 2 is FAR more cinematic and feels more like a studio film. The cinematography, the sets, the action sequences, much better. Being the middle finger in the face of Hollywood that this film is… Continue Reading >>
Photos: Hong Kong – February 2012
Oct 5th
To know me is to know that I’ve had a Sony NEX camera attached to my arm for the past 2 years. I get a million messages a day asking for photos, and I’ve come to realize I’ll simply never be able to physically get to all of them, I have many 10s of Thousands of photos waiting to be sorted through, individually edited, and organized into Facebook albums. Cranking out 2 facebook albums a week isn’t going to cut it, there’s too many. But I will definitely get around to the good stuff. I watermark each photo with HustleBear.com because I have absolutely no intention to ever make a professional career out of photography and figured I might as well bring eyeballs to my blog. I’m not a professional photographer, I’m a hobbyist, but I’m heartened to see so much enthusiasm from so many people over the photos. 
It’s insane, but I have over 1000 (!) Facebook profile photos out there among my friends. That’s pretty fucking cool man. Whenever I log in I see mostly my photos in my friends list. To date I’ve got 819 email notifications that someone used my shot as their profile pic, and much of the time I’m not notified, and never when it’s a cover photo. So yeah, that helps make it feel like a worthwhile hobby. Since the pics are watermarked to this site, and with all the activity my Facebook albums have been generating, people often ask me why I’m not posting these photos up on my blog.
I don’t have a good answer. It’s a good point.
So here you go, I’m going to start posting some of my favorite sets of photos more regularly. I’ll start with my Hong Kong trip earlier this year. I was there for only about 3 days, but it’s an interesting story. Continue Reading >>
Music Pick: Govinda – Resonance
Oct 2nd
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| (Click image for bandcamp.com album page) |
Oh hell yeah! Govinda is BACK!! It’s as if “Resonance” sounds like the Govinda I used to love, and yet at the same time it sounds nothing like Govinda. “Erotic Rhythms From Earth” is a classic that humanity should be remembered by (my previously review here). Shane Madden is Govinda, and I’ve always loved his creative dark erotic ethnic middle eastern ethereal chill vibes. But this new release is NOT CHILL. This is definitely the most aggressive edgy music I’ve ever heard from Govinda. And yet it is still very ethereal and atmospheric.
I have to say… I fucking like it! I’m so happy to feel that way, as I’ve kind of lost faith after the foray into bland pop (a la Sound Sutras). I do love it when an artist I love changes their sound and pulls off something amazing. Govinda has DELIVERED with a distinctive new sound. The old Govinda sound is gone, but the heart has returned and is again focused in the right place. Darker and grittier and keeping itself relevant in this age of dubstep; but this definitely ain’t dubstep, and thank god. There’s a lot of great dubstep out there, and I’m glad Govinda didn’t turn into another generic dubstep act with some ethnic elements added. This is definitely palatable to the dubstep crowd while remaining a distinctively different animal. The trademark violin and complex beats are still there in every track, just a lot more aggressive.
“Resonance” is only an EP, but it’s just skyrocketed to my 2nd favorite Govinda Release (maybe a notch higher than Worlds Within). “Erotic Rhythms From Earth” is known as one of the greatest sex albums of all time. I don’t yet know how “Resonance” holds up on that front, but I’ll report back on that soon… ;)
UPDATE: All good on that front, and more! This might now be a rival for my favorite Govinda release to listen to!
Memories from Freedom Fest 2012
Aug 15th
[Photo Album at the end of article]
This is the most epic set of photos I’ve ever taken, not because they are my best shots, but because I’ve never captured so many living giants in one photo album. Just about every person in every photo in this album below has had significant impact, or clearly will have some significant impact, with many people in our culture. These are the incredibles. And I was struggling like hell to try to capture some human element from them. Which is challenging because they are often so guarded, and usually when they see some guy with a camera they tell him to fuck off. So like the bastard that I am, I made it my task to find a crack in their armor and capture that human moment. Not some awkward defensive goofball reaction, but something true and authentic.
Here you go my friends, if you’re a fan of anyone in this album, you can see that the legend is a human, like you. Reach out, pull up, join them.
[more info and MANY PHOTOS after the break]
