July 30, 2005
Killing It Linkdump
I'm fucking killing it in the social arena right now, like for reals.
Heads of State keep killing it in the rock poster arena.
S. Britt still killing it in the illo arena.
Andrew Schoultz is killing it.
Andrew Paynter is killing it.
Bay Area Now 4 is prob. killing it.
Erik Sandberg is killing it.
Souther Salazar is killing it.
Maybe It's Just Me & it's commercial partners in no way endorsing killing "it" when "it" is people.
Form+Function = 1 or Retail Therapy
I heard someone say recently that wanting is better than having. I thought about trying to get my head around that one for a bit before something obviously more important like where I should get hamburger buns pushed it out of my brainpan. But then the other night, as I was riding my bike back from the video store, down Centre St. from the more interesting end of JP, MA it popped back into my head and my brain said "huh"? What made me think about it again? My new handlebars. Yeah, bike parts. How dumb/nerdy/pointless etc. What do handlebars have to do that other thing I was talking about? Here's the thing: I've wanted to get new bars for my bike for several years. The bend in the top section of the stock pair is more like a sharp corner than a curve & that's where I put my hands most often when riding. Results = sore palms. Rather than resorting to dorky gloves, I put up with it (for 4 years!) until I finally just went to the damn store & bought them. And what I found out is that not only having them better than wanting them, but I can't get over how they're everything I wanted them to be. How often does something, anything, fulfill every one of your expectations? Hardly ever-ever. And they're pretty, too.
(image from Business Cycles)
July 28, 2005
Mass Artists
(Yeah, that's a shitty pun but maybe you didn't even notice so, whew! who cares?)
Here are some friends plus some other artists (and I don't know about you but I still feel funny referring to myself as one, who knows why, some lingering middle-class stigma or something having to do with it being a viable occupation) who go/recently went to Mass Art that I've seen the work of & enjoy:
Christine Collins
Emily Villaire
Michal Opalski
Brian Willmont
Tony Bevilaqua
Adam Lampton
Nicole White
July 27, 2005
You know you're from Chicago if...
- You have no problem spelling or pronouncing "Des Plaines"
- You refer to Lake Michigan as "The Lake"
more here
July 25, 2005
(I made 10 drawings today, thank you verry much!)
If you need more evidence of how much work I'm getting done today, here is another weblog entry.
The Criterion Collection is releasing Godard's Masculin Feminin in September.
What I learned from the crossword puzzle to-day
mho n - a unit of conductance equal to the reciprocal of an ohm.
scientist 1: since it's the opposite of an ohm, let's just spell ohm backwards.
scientist 2: yeah, that sounds like a good idea.
July 22, 2005
July 17, 2005
Scrumdidilyetc.
T. Burton's Charlie movie is amazing, though me & A.O. Scott aren't feeling the flashbacks (even though they have Christopher Lee as a dentist & Depp as Wonka gets to say something like "Sorry I was having a flashback"). I also wish there was something equal to the freakout scene in the boat with the wild colors & the screaming & G. Wilder's creepy poetry intonation. I'd call it a tie if there was a race or an election or something. Hard to tell when navigating the murky waters of childhood nostalgia (I'm looking at you Star Wars).
Also, Wedding Crashers is exactly as funny as you think it is. How funny that is, is up to you of course, Count Chocula.
Double Also, they've made a sequel to the Transporter, which if you didn't see it, had a scene where the guy deflected a shoulder launched surface to air missile with what I believe was a tea service tray. The new one looks like a 90 minute infomercial for the Audi A6 & kickboxing. And yes, you can go with me when I see it.
July 14, 2005
The chain letter I asked for
I made my friend Ryan invite me to do this because I felt left out.
10 years ago: Moved into my first apt in Chicago, w/my good friend Carlos. Drank a lot of water, ate meals off segmented picnic trays my aunt donated to us, went to shows or the movies 4 days a week, bought a bicycle on impulse.
5 years ago: Got dumped by hand-delivered letter. Immediately after, went on tour for 4 weeks as a friend’s band’s merch guy/roadie. Broke two cameras, got heatstroke, made good friends. Decided it was time to go back to school & finish my degree.
1 year ago: Found an apt in Boston. Was getting ready to move from Chicago to Boston for my first year of grad school. Finishing off my last stint at the record shop, trying to save money. Also, attempting to be better friends with people.
Yesterday: Rode my bike to school. Worked in the photo lab , fixing up janky enlargers, dumping a 6 yr old imac’s os & harddrive so I could reload everything, trying to locate missing tools. Grappled with my own immense to-do list that seems to have no clear starting point. Ate Chinese food from a lunch truck. Looked into buying a plane ticket to Chicago. Tried to finish Nowhere Man but fell asleep.
Today: Rode my bike to school. Reluctantly began printing some of the 100 photographs that I challenged myself to make for a show in August. I have just under 4 weeks to get them done. Also have 100 drawings to finish. Ate leftover Chinese food. Looking at the internet. Later I’m going to watch The Conversation until I fall asleep.
Tomorrow: Ride my bike to school (I’m trying to develop a habit). Measure prints for mid-MFA show that hangs Monday. Buy frames for those prints & assemble them. Process some more pictures. Miss the Dinosaur Jr. show because I don’t know how to budget.
5 snacks I enjoy: Dots, Fuji apples, Nutty Bars, chilled grapes, bbq flavored anything.
5 bands/artists that I know the lyrics of MOST of their songs: the Beatles, the Kinks, Slint, Run DMC maybe, the Promise Ring
5 things I would do with $100,000,000: pay all the bills (mine & my parents & maybe some friends), buy every LP I ever wanted & a building somewhere besides Boston to store them, a Volvo station wagon like the neighbors have, maybe donate some to somebody (it’s 100 million!)
5 locations I’d like to run away to: California, Japan, France, Sweden, the Philippines.
5 bad habits I have: eat very poorly, drink coffee on an empty stomach, wear my socks too many days in a row, always forget to floss, return books to the library/videos to the video store late every time.
5 things I like doing: taking pictures, reading, riding my bike, going to the movies, listening to records by myself
5 things I would never wear: pleated pants, a speedo, long hair, jewelry, tight anything
5 tv shows I like currently: Mythbusters, Arrested Development, This Old House, Tour de France highlights, MTV2 Hip-Hop Countdown
5 movies I like: off the top...the Apartment, Weird Science, Dune, the 400 Blows, Miller’s Crossing
5 famous (living) people I’d like to meet: Stephen Shore, William Eggleston, Michel Gondry, Ricky Jay, the Four Tet guy I forget his name.
5 biggest joys at the moment: Friends (home & away), my cat, used bookstores, air-conditioned movie theaters, bottled water
How to not make/keep friends
The scenario: Someone is relating a pointless anecdote or talking about how much they loved the remake of Solaris or trying to get you to listen to Yo La Tengo bootlegs. You cannot stand it anymore so you pretend to be getting a call on an imaginary phone (or you can use your smellular phone as a prop I guess).
(make this sound like a phone)
borrRING!
borrRING! borrRING!
(pretend to pick up said phone, hold to ear)
Hello? Yes, hold on a moment. Thanks.
(hold hand over talking part of fake phone)
It’s for you.
(hand imaginary phone to person)
July 13, 2005
I've never said this to a beverage but I love you Iced Coffee
One of my favorite things about reading, whether fiction or non, is when the author puts something into words that I've never been able to myself. For example, from the aforementioned Nowhere Man, on the subject of stereotypes:
"...no one around, except a square-shouldered man in a dark suit, a cubical jaw, dark sunglasses, a gadget in his ear, his hands lethal weapons - exactly how I had imagined a presidential bodyguard. I get a kick out of meeting someone who is a cliche embodied. That produces a pleasant feeling of a world completed, of everything arranging itself without any of my involvement, yet not veering out of control."I dislike being stereotyped yet enjoy encountering them or at least perceiving them that way. Weird?
July 12, 2005
Just Finished...
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
I recommend it.
Here is a nice word that isn't in Cloud Atlas but it is in Aleksandar Hemon's Nowhere Man
su·sur·ra·tion n. A soft, whispering or rustling sound; a murmur.
More on that book later.
July 3, 2005
7 Seconds
It's Tour de France time, which means watching the same 90 secs. of clips over & over again on ESPNews because Comcast doesn't have OLN. Or does it? Wait, they do & what's this? It's part of the shitty cable package that I have!? Now I can watch the 90 minutes of clips over & over again. Yay!
Lance is in second after 2 stages, btw.
July 2, 2005
Somewhat less than 100 Flowers
Sculptures, paintings & drawings that involve the forest, the trees & its creatures by Brendan Monroe.
I've already forgotten what it was that I was looking up in (on?) the Urban Dictionary.
Maybe you've seen it 100 times already but rewatch the backyard dancing antics of ex-Chicagoans OKGO.
Purpology is a music video review weblog where I found a link to the Spoon video for I Turn My Camera On, directed by Autumn deWilde.
My friend Sue is a integral part of the DIY force that is the Renegade Craft Fair, now bi-coastal (ahem, Midwest & East).
This company, Continuum Audio Labs, makes a turntable that looks like an iPod & a Airstream had a baby & costs a kajillion dollars.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Miroslav Sasek, whose This is... series has been recently reissued. I wish I had owned all of these when I was younger. Actually I wish I owned some of them now.
I did own some books by David Macauley when I was younger & wish to re-own them again.
History Shots - "history-related prints that tell stories about subjects, time periods and events"
A History of Violence is David Cronenberg's new movie that stars Viggo Mortensen & Ed Harris among others.
The American Diner Museum website.
The MOMA has a series of prints by Marcel Dzama on display in its New Work/New Acquisitions show. Dzama was/is a member of the Royal Art Lodge (CANADA).
Sandow Birk's newest work, called Paradiso, is his interpretation of Dante's Inferno.
I wonder if any of Allen Tannenbaum photographs of 70s nightlife are the skeletons in someone's closet. Seems entirely possible.
July 1, 2005
Me & You & Etc.
In 3 words (not incl. parentheses): Totally worth seeing (and then some). Ebert uses the phrase "fragile magic", which I quite like.
Also, when was the last time it was sunny when you came out of a movie. I couldn't remember either. I think the feeling I had was nostalgia. Afternoon movies used to be my shit forever & then what? Dunno. Stuff I guess.