Yes, even PerezHilton.com posted this video, writing: “LOLs! In an attempt to attract new, younger followers to Buddhism, Buddhist monks in Japan are trying a new approach – rapping! Check out the HIGHlarity of the hip hop monks…” (And comments there have been positive, too, so far.)

What do you think of Mr. Happiness and his drink-pouring extended posse? The more traditional of us may balk, but he’s doubled attendance at his temple. Can you argue with those results? (And really, is this all so “HIGHlarious”?)

Now back online: comedian Arj Barker’s video’d skewering of spiritual materialist Buddhists. It’s not always spot-on, but still…

Thanks to Jesse from Shambhala Sun for the tip!

Ethan Nichtern also posted his thoughts about “The Sickest Buddhist” over on the One City blog, when the video first debuted. Check that out here.

When Melvin McLeod (my boss at the Shambhala Sun) recently asked me if I wanted to interview Wu-Tang Clan founder The RZA for the magazine, I jumped at the chance.

Well, I’m happy to say that a new Shambhala Sun Audio clip from the 45-minute interview is now online at Shambhala SunSpace. Hope you’ll check it out and leave a comment.

And for more from the Horse on the Wu and the hip-hop/Buddhist connection, click here.

Who’s achieved Life After Death worthy of the legendary Biggie Smalls in a silly/fun new bit of photoshopping?

Click here to see the whole image — from the Horse’s friends over at One City.

Get well soon, MCA. You rule.

…plus, Dinosaur Jr., Lou Barlow, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks(!), Mono, Faust, Roxanne Shante, Diamanda Galas, and more — that’s who’ll be appearing at Pop Montreal this year. Quite the lineup, huh? Get more details here.

In this Paste review for the film Died Young, Stayed Pretty, check out the designer Art Charney, says:

What a cool, unexpected kick this film was. Director Eileen Yaghoobian has gone into the dark minds of poster artists asking how they come up with the strange, often times obscene, ideas for their posters that do more than just sell an event or concert. One of my favorites is for The Von Zippers with a collage of wanted-poster style black & white photos of the famous and infamous, each with a zipper over his or her mouth. The artist, Art Charney, disdainfully opines on each photo ranging from Oprah to Charles Manson. “The Dalai Lama, there’s another guy that should shut the fuck up. Here’s Mr. Niceguy, Tom Hanks. I wish he’d shut the fuck up, don’t you?” It may be underground art but the film gives a cultural thumbs up to an art form that deserves more space in the foreground.

Um? What? Seriously?

And speaking of HHDL and, “Um, what?” moments, His Holiness gets namechecked in the new Eminem song, “Must Be the Ganja”:

your dreams of getting the pill, you are literally getting the drill
spitting at will, me and Dre have just finished splitting a pill
you’re submitting to skill, sitting still, I’m admitting, I’m beginning to feel
like I don’t think anyone’s real,
faced with a dilemma, I can be Dali Llama and become a bin gramma a step beyond a Jeffrey Dahmer

…Um — and I listen to plenty of rap, really, but — what?

Two new articles on the Karmapa for y’all, one from the Times Online UK, and the other from the Houston Chronicle. A surprising mini-revelation leads off the latter one: “he likes to relax playing war games on his PlayStation.”

(Sorry, this was previously posted without the links. That’s now been fixed!)

Just a little end-of-year grab-bag-o-’Burgers for ya… (There may be more, but I doubt it; we’re expecting to be shoveling for two days straight in these parts.)

Reader Adam B. sends this one from L.A.: “I saw this in the supermarket today and thought it makes a perfect Dharma-Burger. Apparently nothing says ‘Nirvana’ more than a 50 gift certificate to Cost Plus World Market.”

Funny. (And what kind of name is “Cost Plus” anyhow? Oh, good. I get to pay more than it costs!)

We’ve covered a lot of iPhone apps here, but this one’s particularly cool: introducing the 99-cent Diamond Sutra for the iPhone app, with language support in English and Chinese.

Imagine going anywhere and having the Diamond Sutra (or whatever scripture or text you’re studying in your practice) in your pocket. This kind of use of technology is just so smart.

Expect to see a lot more of it.

Thanks to the always-great YogaDawg for sending this one (left):

“You might find this amusing.  Picked this up in a bar a couple of years ago in Charlottesville, VA.  I thought the inside [which says, 'find enlightenment now'] was pretty creative.”

(I tried to find a website for the BB, but all I found were a couple of references that made it sound notorious. Hmm.)

And while we’re talking Buddhism and “bikes,” check out this shirt, from Buddhacycle.com. Spiritual Materialist that I am, I’m gettin’ one.

Lastly: if you have a TV (and more power to you, maybe, if you don’t), you’ve likely heard about NBC’s coming show Superstars of Dance. It premieres Jan 4 and is worth a mention here — and maybe even worth watching — due to the fact that Shaolin monks are going to be in the competition. Shaolin monks know how to get down.

This review of “screamo/emo/screamcore” band Senses Fail strikes a weird note:

“According to its website, Senses Fail is a pretty mystical bunch. The band members dig mythology, eastern philosophy and the Buddhist belief in nirvana, from which the name derives. I can’t think of anything more stupid than naming a hardcore band after a something related to the peace-loving Buddhist religion. Those are two completely different modes of thought.”

Indeed, the band’s lead singer Buddy Nielsen (awkwardly) confirms that the name “Senses Fail” is derived from the Buddhist belief in Nirvana: “In Buddhism, they believe that being alive is hell, and the only way to reach Nirvana is to ultimately have no attachments to anything.”

The author of the review might do well to bone up on bands like, say, The Firstborn. Or Monkey. Or Shambhala. Or Witch. Or Meshuggah. Or The Wu. Or Asunder. Or Garuda. Or Lamb of God. Or Ruin. Or, for that matter, this one band that came from out of the punk scene of Seattle. (What was their name again?)

Not that these bands’ names were all inspired by Buddhism. Some were, most weren’t. But all of these bands play in an idiom (punk, metal, hip-hop, etc) that many might think could never be the domain of people interested in “peace-loving” Buddhism. The fact is, all of these bands (save the actual Nirvana) have dabbled with meditation or Dharma in their songs, and many, in their lives.

Sure: Dharma and more aggressive music may exemplify “two different modes of thought.”

But what’s wrong with having more than one mode of thought?

If that’s stupid, then our generation of practitioners, it seems, doesn’t want to be smart. Cool by me.

How ’bout you?