Back in August we asked the question, What will be the hit song of summer 2026? There are a few contenders, and the race is very close, but it would seem to be Tame Impala's "Dracula" (Jennie remix), which is still going strong. But still, in the office, we prefer "Lobotomize Me" by Rat Utopia!
Given the exigencies and erratic demands of the music industry nowadays, it is essential that one hit song be pushed to the top of the pop charts to rule each summer. A pop idol's shelf life could depend on it, or it might make an up and comer's career. This summer is tough because there's no obvious frontrunner. Taylor Swift? Yawn. Olivia Rodrigo has a new album, a new festival (Daisy Chain Fields), and everything she's done in the past has been so promising, but a runaway hit?
Who can win the music biz war battle by battle?
Not to our ears, not this time, not even "drop dead" or "the cure." Does it have to be a new song? Technically not because SAINt JHN had "Roses" due to a remix that went viral on TikTok or Instagram or my littler sister's cellphone and dance class. We used to be able to rely on Lana Del Rey to kick out the summer jams.
LYRICS: Party on the sand/ Bring your van/ Tan girls, macho fools/ Fun!/ Punk outing, people shouting/ Lots of fun/ Drugs and sun/ Fun! [CHORUS:] Beach blanket bongout (bongout, whoa-oh)/ Beach blanket bongout (bongout, whoa-oh)/ Beach blanket bongout (bongout, whoa-oh)/ Beach blanket bongout (bongout, whoa-oh)/ We're having the fun, wasted in the sun/ Purple boards, short hair/ We're outnumbered and we don't care// The hippies, they hate us/ We take their chicks/ They beat us up/ They're still the dicks/ Dicks!/ Surf punks, we're not/ Skateboard, we do/ We have the fun/ We're the new crew/ Crew! [Chorus]
(Aubrey Hobert) I have a new song, guys! It's out Aug. 7, 2026!
Now, finally, Taylor "Nazi Barbie" Swift has more to copy, lift, and blatantly ripoff. Thank you, Lana. TayTay may have been running out of ideas for her next mega-corporate release.
"Life on Mars?" is a song by the Vajrayana Buddhist British musician David Bowie, first released on his 1971 album Hunky Dory.
Conceived as a parody of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" [which was more directly mocked by Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols], "Life on Mars?" was recorded on 6 August 1971 at Trident Studios in London, and was co-produced by Bowie and Ken Scott.
The track features piano by the keyboardist Rick Wakeman and a string arrangement by the guitarist Mick Ronson. "Life on Mars?" is primarily a glam rock ballad, with elements of cabaret and art rock. The lyrics are about a girl who goes to a cinema to escape reality and include surreal images that reflect optimism and the effects of Hollywood.
In June 1973, at the height of Bowie's fame as Ziggy Stardust, RCA Records issued "Life on Mars?" as a single in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number three. To promote the single, Mick Rock filmed a video that shows Bowie in make-up and a turquoise suit singing the song against a white backdrop.
Bowie frequently performed "Life on Mars?" during his concerts, and the track has appeared on numerous compilation albums. Commentators generally consider "Life on Mars?" to be one of Bowie's finest songs and one of the greatest songs of all time. More: Life on Mars? (Wiki feature)
It was a contentious year, with many votes for Kenya Grace's "Strangers," which would have won had it not been for the fact that it came out earlier and only broke through later. LIVE / BBC
Artemas (musician): Artemas Diamandis (Greek Αρτέμας Διαμαντής [1]) was born Sept. 23, 1999, and is known mononymously as Artemas. He is an English singer, songwriter, and record producer.[2] He is best known for his singles "If U Think I'm Pretty" and the viral "I Like the Way You Kiss Me" [3]. He is signed to the record label 10K Projects. More
The British song doesn't work at normal pitch and has a horrible video
Here, Johnson poses at the opening green carpet for the 21st Zurich Film Festival on Sept. 25, 2025, in Zurich, Switzerland (Andreas Rentz, Getty Images for ZFF)
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Dakota Johnson was a vision in blue at the Zurich Film Festival, and her jaw-dropping, see-through Gucci gown stole the spotlight. Johnson was on stage at the screening of her latest film, "Splitsville," at the 2025 Zurich Film Festival on Sept. 25, 2025, in Zurich, Switzerland. Artistic Director of the ZFF Christian Jungen awarded Johnson the Golden Eye Award during the screening. More:
Blue is the color. It represents a kind of cosmic intelligence or wisdom, to the extent any color (rate of vibration or frequency) can convey resonance or a mood. The seven main chakras (energy nexuses or "wheels") along the spine represent the aspirations of humans.
We go from the base (muladhara) with our coiled energy waiting to be expressed, where we ground ourselves, aspiring upwards to release (spiritual liberation) at the crown chakra. They are called wheels because they are turning, guiding kundalini energy upward.
What is the milestone? It is another tremendous mass of views. Without realizing it, Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal crossed yet another big tick on the ticker. With each such bundle of hits or views, most of them taking place in just the past month, we are filled with gratitude for our enlightened teacher and his successful American student (to preserve her privacy, let's call her Kalyani, the noble friend), who are inspirations that we, too, can attain such things as are described in the Buddhist texts, particularly the Abhidhamma preserved and made practical in little known Burmese Theravada tradition of the great Pa Auk Sayadaw. (All forms of Buddhism may be beautiful and exotic, counterintuitive and koan-like, but how many produce enlightenment and liberation, bodhi and nirvana, in this very life?) However, in our worldly foolishness, we tend to intellectualize everything. And for that we have our root teacher, American JuBu Bhikkhu Bodhi (BAUS.org).
What is the Path to Enlightenment?
Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
Seven energy-wheels or chakras of the body
The "path" (Pali magga, Sanskrit marga) may be summarized in many ways. Because Buddhism as recorded in ancient, memorized recitations (the oral tradition of proto-India before most people read and wrote), there are lists. So it's fun to play with them so long as one knows the map is not the terrain, only an indicator along the way. If only ONE thing were needed to awaken to enlightenment (bodhi), that
one thing would be insight (wisdom, direct knowing-and-seeing, panna, Sanskrit prajna).
If the list had two things: Serenity (jhanas) and Mindfulness (satipatthana) producing liberating wisdom.
Three things: Compassion, Tranquility, and Mindful Attention to the Four Foundations.
Five things: Finding a suitable teacher, giving ear, mental attention, applying oneself, and perseverance until success.
Six things: Sitting, calming, absorption (jhana), emerging, and immediately mindfully placing attention on phenomena (ultimate mentality and materiality, discerning cittas and kalapas), and reflecting.
Thirty-seven things: (The Seven Requisites of Enlightenment or the bodhipakkhiyādhammā, all the key things, or dhamma, the historical Buddha taught pertaining to awakening that leads to knowing nirvana).
The Hungry Ghost Festival, also known as Yulan, falls on the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. In 2025 it happens on Saturday, Sept. 6th, when the "gates of hell" (peta-loka) open.*
The Hungry Ghost Festival (known as the Yulanpen Festival in Buddhism and the Zhongyuan Festival in Taoism) is a traditional observance held in East and Southeast Asian countries. According to the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar, the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in parts of Cantonese Southern China). In Chinese culture, the 15th day of the seventh month in the traditional Chinese calendar is called Ghost Day or (especially in Taiwan) Pudu (Chinese 普渡, Pinyin Pǔdù, Pe̍h-ōe-jī, Phó͘-tō͘ [3]). And the seventh month of that calendar is generally regarded as Ghost Month, when ghosts and spirits, including those of deceased ancestors, come up from lower realms (diyu, preta world). More
(Pasadena Weekly) Nostalgia is everywhere. The 90s are making a comeback. Baywatch actress Pam Anderson is on the silver screen in the Naked Gun reboot. And the wannabe-Beatles Oasis is at the Rose Bowl Saturday, Sept. 6, and Sunday, Sept. 7. They've buried the hatchet and reunited. And with apologies to Beyoncé and Lady Gaga, this spectacle featuring the Brothers Gallagher is the concert of the year. More
"Where were you while we were getting high?" asks Oasis singer Gallagher Brother 1 ("Champagne Supernova"), probably talking to Sally and referring to their meteoric rise to stardom in the UK. They were the "new Beatles" for a moment. They couldn't sustain it, and they couldn't stop their sibling rivalry. But how much $$$ for a reunion? Money talks. So welcome to Pasadena!
The Rose Bowl is sold out, and the streets are going to be jammed with traffic troubles on the worst night of the year -- Hell Night (Saturday, Sept. 6th, 2025) of the Hungry Ghost Festival. That's bad luck. But "that's just superstition," others will argue so close to JPL and Caltech.
There are lots of things not to do this whole Ghost Month, but particularly on this night. Or the hungry ghosts will be upset and may take action. And if they do because, you know, they're pretas, don't look back in anger. Just walk away quickly or run. Not being fans of Beatle-esque schlock-pop, Oasis will be echoing through the canyon and foothills in the spectacle that is any big Rose Bowl event.
But they do have one really good song sung by Brother 2, Noel Gallagher, who wrote it (so we see who has the talent in the group, which one hopes they don't start fighting about), ripping off John Lennon's "Imagine," according to Nick Beato.
Pathetic and miserable hungry ghosts (petas, pretas) scrounging for any foul form of sustenance.
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Why are you sad? - My enemy is getting ahead of me.
THE BUDDHA TAUGHT: "Meditators, seven things befall one who is angry that are gratifying and helpful to an enemy. What are these seven things?
1. "Herein, meditators, an enemy wishes this for an enemy: 'Let that person BE UGLY.' Why is that? No enemy relishes an enemy's beauty. Now when this person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, be that person ever so well bathed and well anointed, with hair well cut, clothed in white, yet that person is ugly through being prey to anger. This is the first thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is angry.
2. "Also, an enemy wishes this for an enemy: 'Let that person BE IN PAIN.' Why is that? No enemy relishes an enemy's lying in comfort. Now when this person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, for all one may lie on a couch spread with rugs, blankets, plush with covers, a canopy, and red cushions for head and feet, yet one lies only in pain through being prey to anger. This is the second thing gratifying to an enemy that befalls one who is angry.
3. "Also, an enemy wishes this for an enemy: 'Let that person HAVE NO PROSPERITY.' Why is that? No enemy relishes an enemy's prosperity. Now when this person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, one mistakes bad for good and mistakes good for bad, and each being taken wrongly in the other's sense, these things for long conduce to one's own harm and suffering, through being prey to anger. This is the third thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is angry.
4. "Also, an enemy wishes this for an enemy: 'Let that person NOT BE RICH.' Why is that? No enemy relishes an enemy's being rich. Now when a person is angry, prey to anger, should that person have riches gained by endeavor, built up by strength of arm, earned by sweat, lawful and lawfully acquired, yet the ruler's treasury gathers (in fines) through being prey to anger. This is the fourth thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is prey to anger.
Let's never fight or be angry again, Brother-jii!
5. "Also, an enemy wishes this for an enemy: 'Let that person NOT BE FAMOUS.' Why is that? No enemy relishes an enemy's having fame. Now when a person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, what fame one may have acquired by diligence one loses through being prey to anger. This is the fifth thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is prey to anger.
6. "Also, an enemy wishes this for an enemy: 'Let that person HAVE NO FRIENDS.' Why is that? No enemy relishes and enemy's having friends. Now when this person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, the friends one may have, one's companions, relatives, and kin will keep away from being prey to anger. This is the sixth thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is prey to anger.
7. "Also, an enemy wishes this for an enemy: 'Let that person on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappear [be reborn, rearise] in a STATE OF DEPRIVATION, in an unfortunate destination, in perdition, even in a hell.' Why is that? No enemy relishes an enemy's going to a fortunate destination.
"Now when this person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, one misconducts oneself in body, speech, and mind. And by this misconduct of body, speech, and mind, on the dissolution of the body, after death, the angry person reappears in a state of deprivation, in an unfortunate destination, in perdition, even in a hell, through having been prey to anger.
"This is the seventh thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is angry.... More: accesstoinsight.org
Slip inside the eye of your mind/ Don't you know you might find/ A better place to play?/ You said that you'd never been/ But all the things that you've seen/ Will slowly fade away/ So I start a revolution from my bed/ 'Cause you said the brains I had went to my head/ Step outside, summertime's in bloom/ Stand up beside the fireplace/ Take that look from off your face/ You ain't ever gonna burn my heart out
[CHORUS] And so, Sally can wait/ She knows it's too late as we're walkin' on by/ Her soul slides away/ "But don't look back in anger," I heard you say
Take me to the place where you go/ Where nobody knows/ If it's night or day/ Please don't put your life in the hands/ Of a rock 'n' roll band/ Who'll throw it all away/ I'm gonna start a revolution from my bed/ 'Cause you said the brains I had went to my head/ Step outside, 'cause summertime's in bloom... "But don't look back in anger/ Don't look back in anger," I heard you say/ "At least not today"
What makes this song great?
*When exactly is 'hell night' of Ghost Month?
Lunar/Lunisolar superior to Gregorian calendar
In 2025, the Hungry Ghost Festival falls on Sept. 6th. Ghost Month usually starts in late July or early August. Why? It follows the lunar calendar, which is generally about a month behind the Gregorian calendar. For example, the Lunar New Year in 2025 is on Jan. 29, so many would expect the seventh lunar month to start around late July. However, it begins on Aug. 23 this year. The main reason is due to how leap years and calendar adjustments work.
The Gregorian calendar based on the solar year adds a leap day every four years to account for the extra 0.25 days it takes Earth to orbit the sun, keeping the calendar accurate over time. While the Gregorian calendar follows the sun, the Lunar calendar tracks the moon’s cycle, with each month lasting about 29.53 days. This means a lunar year has only around 354 days, which is 11 days shorter than the solar year. If left unadjusted, over time festivals like Chinese New Year could drift into entirely different seasons. However, in reality, the “Lunar calendar” used in Chinese traditions is actually the Lunisolar Calendar. This system combines both lunar months and solar year alignment to keep important dates consistent with the seasons.
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