Welcome to the official Alan Watts Web Site

Welcome to alanwatts.org

Mark_Watts — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:23:49 -0800

alanwatts.org is operated by Electronic Educational Programs. Inc., a non-profit educational organization, and sponsored by Electronic University Publishing, the Alan Watts audio publisher. The site presented online by Ace Media, and is still under development. In the coming weeks we expect to add regular podcasts and biweekly bits of wit and wisdom from the Alan Watts archives.

Online Interview with Mark Watts about the Alan Watts Film Project

Mark_Watts — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 22:49:32 -0700

Our other website is alanwatts.org, and a new alanwatts.com site is in the works.

1. What is behind this recent outreach of encouraging people to re-mix your father's material?

It came out of the Southpark project originally, and the enjoyment of authentic responses to my father's works that have been appearing on YouTube and elsewhere. I'm not talking about someone posting a picture or two over our audio, but about the sincere dialogs that result when one takes his ideas in and they resonate and something fresh comes out. Personally I view every authentic response regardless of the cultural framework as vital to his work, and I'm very encouraged by the creative response that has sprung up around YouTube. Back when I was studying film and photography in the 70's this forum would have been a dream come true.

2. What are the copyright restrictions on the use of the material? (Creative Commons; Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License?) Do people need permission to re-mix, mashup, etc.and should people contact you?

We are posting clips on the alanwatts.ordg site with the intention that they be available for non-commercial creative use. All we ask is that you let us see what you've done, and let us post the end product on the org site as well if we like it. If you have a commercial project, idea, or want to use something else specific, just get in touch. We're ready to make things happen. The material is still copyright protected, so we aren't too happy when people just grab things and post them as we're trying to keep the energy focused around our sites to create a sustaining community for these works.

3. Why YouTube? It seems to be very 'low-key' -- are you promoting the fact that your father's video programs are available for free on the Internet? (It was a pleasant surprise to me)

Yes, we list our favorite YouTube posts in the Public Video section under Multimedia on the alanwatts.org site. We will ask YouTube to take down unauthorized postings of audio and video that have no creative components.

4. How did you get involved with GPGDS / Reflected Flicks ? Who else are you collaborating with... Trey Parker? Any comment about his work?

Peter sent us a link to the piece he'd done wit Radiohead's piece Videotape and we enjoyed it. Since then we've tried a few things with him, and they all worked out well. So now Peter is working on a full length doc with us. The SouthPark project was a few years back, but we hope to do a few more segments when the film goes into production.

5. Which of Alan Watts' audio lectures seems to be the most popular over the years?

There are too many to pick one, but Coincidence of Opposites which was the basis for Music and Life is always well received.

6. What does the future hold for Mark Watts?

In addition to playing around with my father's works I have a few projects I'm involved in, one having to do with 'rock art; and Native American cosmology (turns out they were way into pattern language in a slightly different vein than the Chinese) and another involving ecological architecture, which is figuring heavily with the Alan Watts Mountain Center. So these will all continue to move forward together as there are many internal connections between the projects.

Original South Park Alan Watts animations featured on Cold Hard Flash site

Mark_Watts — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:46:35 -0800

http://coldhardflash.com/2007/07/flash-animated-philosophy-from-south.ht...
The original three Flash Animations produced by South Park are featured currently on the Cold Hard Flash website

Every week on KPFK

admin — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:00:00 -0800

Alan Watts is heard every week in the Los Angeles area on KPFK radio. The program airs on Sunday from 8:30 to 9:00 AM.
For additional information please go to: http://www.kpfk.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid...

Alan Watts is also broadcast iregularly in Boulder on KGNU, and in Tampa on WMNF, and irregularly on KPFA Berkeley, WBAI New York, and WUOG in Atlanta.

Alan Watts Film Project

admin — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:13:42 -0800

We are currently gathering resources for a documentary film about Alan Watts' philosophical explorations and lifelong fascination with the art of communication. The film is to be based upon his own autobiographical narratives, selections from audio and video recordings, interviews with friends and family, and our ever-expanding photo and film archive. If you have of or know of photos, films, drawings, or other materials of or by Alan Watts, please let us know as we may wish to make arrangements to reproduce them for the film. If you would like to create content for possible inclusion in the film, we invite you to use any of the audio postings in the multimedia section of this site as the basis for short films. We are looking for authentic responses to his works, and will consider any submission for inclusion in the film. All we ask is that you show us what you create, and if we like it we'll post it on the site. The most engaging posts will be evaluated for inclusion in the feature film!

We are also looking for materials on the legendary Vortex experiments held in San Francisco at the Morrison Planetarium in the late fifties, images of Alan Watts the Academy of Asian Studies in SF during the same period, and other related materials that reflect the artistic experimentation that flourished during the late fifties and sixties.
If you have or are aware of Alan Watts resources please contact:

Mark Watts
markwatts02@comcast.net

Inspiration for Architecture at the Mountain Center

admin — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:12:32 -0800

In construction of the Mountain Center function follows form, in this case the forms of the hills and the canopies of windswept Bishop or Monterey pines that stand on California's coastal ridges. Walking through the area it is easy to see why the Japanese art of bonsai, the shaping of miniature living trees, originated in coastal environments of this kind. Many of the largest trees on the ridge were lost in the 10,000 acre Vision Fire that swept the area twelve years ago, and although the Monterey pine is fire-seeded the abundant new forest provides little protection overhead yet from the sun or winds. In his designs the architect Daniel Liebermann incorporated the image of a trunk and spreading canopy as a radial design element, and the retaining walls found on the uphill side of the structures follow the site's natural contours. Listen as Alan Watts talks about the forms humans create, and the wiggly world of nature.