Saturday, September 30, 2006

Haven't been writing obviously- too busy dumping all of my sh*t all over town, dropped bed, terrarium, suitcases full of crap off at The Salvation Army (Gracias Mr. Corr!) and 60+ books (ouch!) at Twice Sold Tales, ahhh- the pains of the Bibliophile...

I goofed off with Nanc' last night and went to the Mars bar to see Michael Vermillion play, which was really good- he's pretty much always painfully good to see live (even if he didn't play 7up or Hallelujah this time) "Last Night on Earth" kills it, ouch.
The opening acts were also terribly impressive- a girl called "Tiny Vipers" and... these talented gentleman: Aaron Mannino, Westin Glass. I guess I just rarely see live music that isn't hip-hop so I get hypnotized by someone on stage singing with a gituar...

nadine:
'allo Liebling, deine antworter funktiniert nicht mehr (oder ist zu vielleicht?), schreib mich eine SMS nachricht wann du endlich zu Hause bist! (Kein Notfall, ich will einfach mir dir sprechen, xo-p!~)
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Thursday, September 28, 2006

Bubba and Jamie


Bubba and Jamie
Originally uploaded by TAR ART RAT.
from Jamie and Nicole's wedding on Saturday...
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Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Post titled: NOT MUCH YOU CAN DO NOW IS THERE?

A: I was saddened to see that "Ask a Ninja" is now sponsored by SMALLVILLE Season 5 on DVD. BLAST! Curses, foiled again. Is youtube dead already?

B: (a.k.a. "One small step") For years now we, the audience, have been forced to watch pre-movie advertisements. Ads for shows, Coca Cola, etc. the preshow crap-a-thon is awful and annoying but I have such a neruroses about gettingg the perfect that I show up 20 minutes early and suffer through it every friggin time.
(hmm- Wierd how I can be early for a movie but late for work alost every day for the pas7 months... ) anyhow, so yea the theatre and networks adn marketeers adn feeding us all this crap- but in a small personal victory the other day Lauren and I had just gotten out of "Little Miss Sunshine" and were using the restroom when I heart that magical twinkle-sount (when the animated film reel jumps out of the bucket of popcorn or whater he does right befor the film begins) and called Lauren "Meet me by the boys restroom!' We hopped right from one movie into another- "the Last Kiss" (also quite good, if not slightly brutal), and for once I felt like I wasn't being screwed by ticket prices and advertising hypnosis. heh. Honestly, upstairs at Pacific Place (Downtown Seattle) is the easiest place in the world to theatre hop, I'd highly reccommend it.
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(Insert foto of studio mess HERE)

I finally managed to dump half the pack-ratted crap in my painting studio into the trash and/or hang the old paintings (I really don't care for any longer) around downtown/waterfront/p.square then drag my weary bones up the hill to drop that painting off with Greg at the Hideout... where it will hang until who knows when. Kinda felt like dropping a kid off at sSummercamp,.. hmm. Ouch, After 6 hours of moving and getting sweaty/gross/dehydrated I should've drank water, but -like an idiot- I drank Stella instead (wasn't there Hoegaarden at =some point on tap or am I totally delusional-?) Next few hours were talking to these wonderful Irish folks whose first visit it was to the good ol' USA and they were quite impressed. Seamus (guy they were visiting) is a local guy working in IT and his friend Sean is a politician visiting from Cork with his girrl (name?)
I felt bad because I blurted out:
"Oh, I have relatives in Ireland"
"do ya now-? and whereabouts might they be?"
"Oh, well- I... uh.. County Kerry" (we'd been to so many small towns there and it was 12 years ago I honestly couldn't remember... then Dublin in 2001 for that long confusing Irish Lit. course)... (nope, no recollection).
"The lanscape here is so extreme and interesting" Sean kept saying, which is true. The rainforests, mountains, water, this IS a beautiful part of the world...
He put on Joshua Tree in the jukebox then asked me where it was "California, out in the desert- there are huge round rocks everywhere and cactus trees... it's beautiful" strange coincidence because that was the second time the topic had come up in te space of an hour...
After a few more pints Sean and I were singing Johnny Cash and the Smiths together from the jukebox and it was a beautiful thing.
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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

there isn't really a good explanation for this, I just needed to dance a little bit...
and in response nadine has completely trumped my efforts!

LOVE that girl-
and I WOULD highly reccommend (sp?) playing them at the same time
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POST TITLED: 'NAM

I sent to my dad yesterday:
"Dad,

Reminded me of some of the stories you have told.

His reply:

"I was there, there at Clark Air Base at the end of April, in 1975! And, I got
handed a baby too!"

(an unusual coincidence (sp?) that I would be reading some stranger's blog and come across a situation my father was involved in 31 years ago... intense situation, really.)

Excerpt: (Warning, it gets a bit preachy towards the end) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"4th of July In April 1975, I lived on Clark Air Force Base, at Angeles City, Philippines. I was 19 years old. One night I received a call from the
Catholic Chaplin asking that I come to the church. When I arrived there
were at least 30 or 40 other people gathered in the chapel. We were told
that in 20 minutes a plane from Vietnam was going to land at Clark. It's
purpose was to airlift babies and children out of Vietnam. It was necessary
to establish a temporary housing facility for these children on their way to
the United States. Volunteers were needed to take care of these children
during their stay at Clark.
We boarded buses which drove us out on the tarmac of the airfield. A large
C5 was sitting on the tarmac with it's doors open. We filed off the bus and
climbed up the stairs to the plane. I can't even describe the emotions
going through me as I stepped into the plane, and saw what seemed like
hundreds (though I know it was less) of children sitting on the floor of the
plane. No seats, or anything else that I can remember just children. As we
filed through the plane, we were each handed two children, and we
disembarked to get back on the buses. We rode back to the base gymnasium
where it had been converted. Through out the gym there were mattresses laid
out, and we each were assigned a mattress. As I walked to the area assigned
to me, a young airmen with two infants in his arm came up to me. He was
obviously at a loss with what to do with an infant. I had two toddlers.
Without even exchanging words we switched children. We stayed with the
children, bathing them, washing them with Quell shampoo to de-lice them,
feeding them, playing with them and sleeping with them. I don't remember,
but I think we worked in 12 to 14 hour shifts. I remember going home a
couple of times during the next week, to take a shower (in Quell so that I
wouldn't get lice myself) and then going back to start over again.
Somewhere, I have one picture of me with a little boy I took care of. If I
find it I will post it.
One of the last groups of children I took care of were actually I think
from Cambodia. This last group were obviously children who had been
abandoned. From their clothing and attitudes it seemed obvious to me that
they had been living on the streets alone. With the older children we would
take them in buses to the mess hall to feed them. We would file in with our
charges and sit at the tables, and other volunteers would bring trays of
food to the tables. This last group I had literally pounced on the food,
eating as fast as they could, stuffing the food into every pocket, in their
shirts and pants, and then when they couldn't eat anymore, stuffing their
little cheeks to hold for later. I remember trying to put the food back on
the trays, telling them over and over that there would be more. It was
obvious from the looks on their faces, and the food in their clothes and
cheeks that in their lives, this had not been the case. It was months,
maybe even years before I could sleep without that image in my mind.
I have lived in several interesting places in my life, and the one thing
I
have learned is that freedom is not a worldwide notion. Too many of us take
our freedom for granted. In my mind, unlike what the constitution says
freedom is not a "right", it is a privilege. It is something we must earn.
We earn it every day with the lives of our soldiers who are out fighting for
this privilege. You may not agree with what ever political action is going
on in the world, but we still must thank every soldier who has ever gone to
fight for this country and our privileges. Every soldier from those who
fought in the War of Independence, the Civil War, the Spanish American War,
World War I and II, the Korean War, Vietnam, the Gulf War and now the wars
in Afghanistan and Iraq. Those who go out and are stationed at every base
throughout the world, and every embassy throughout the world. As I
celebrate the 4th of July tomorrow, I will be silently thanking all of them for
giving us and maintaining our freedom.





____________________________---------------------------------_--____--_-_----______________________________________


Post titled:
Invasion of the DUCK-BABY AESTHETIC, THE SECOND

By this I mean: Rachel Bilson, those Kate witht he brown hair, probably the Olsen twins and probably the Olsen twins long long ago...

The first Invasion of the Duck-Baby aesthetic just happened to be Dawson's Creek. All the girls and a few of teh boys look like (cartoon?) baby ducks.
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Monday, September 25, 2006

GOLDEN AGE OF RETARDATION Nummer Acht (#008) and it is truly baffling...
THIS- on the other hand- is actually funny. Thanks MANU!
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Ok, ok, ok, sitting at work supposed to be doing things but my brain is just spinning, whirling-reeling:
Completely obsessing over all the details which sould go wrong in the coming weeks. Scheisse. Since I assume none of my family reads this blog (just like how I assumed NO ONE read it when I wrote about my engagement, then Duck read it- *poof!* blew my own cover!) so, so, so,- yea... I'm worried that my Grandfather (who fought the Germans in WWII) might be upset that I'm marrying a German girl... this is a paranoid fear with no basis in reality because I've never seen my Grandfather get angry at ANYthing- (except when I was lighting matches and starting little fires in his workshop and then lied about it- but even after that, he was just mildly annoyed- not angry.) I guess I'm just paranoid because I assume his brain might react in the same way mine might...
FOR EXAMPLE:
let's say that 60 years ago I was in my late teens fighting the Martians which lead to me being seriously injured by shards of a Matrian grenade in my back- BUT I bore the Martians no ill-will, and I even returned 40 years later to replace the candles I'd stolen from the Martian Church (true story). After all that WOULD I MIND if my Son moved to Mars and raised his children there, (who would then have an attachemnet to it and consider it home) and then -if years later- my Grandson moved to Mars and married a Martian Girl?... I really hope not...
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auuugh! I'm moving!!!, I'm freaking out!!! so much to do so little time... Post office, packing, stuff stuff stuuf that ideally will all be reduced to two suitcases, a carry-on and a box with a turtle in it. I wish I could drug Francoise for the trip, like they did in one of the Benji movies...

oh, how I love the random blogs of others. z.b.: guam girl -I usually (always) keep these types of personal details out of my blog, just because... why put them there? unless you want to attract voyeurs... or just become a provider of voyeristic material? or: who effing cares. voyerism is the backbone of most entertainment these days anyhow... (isn't it?) and reading other random strangers' blogs IS entertaimnet, is it not?
k' back to work.
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Saturday, September 23, 2006

seit Köln, 1995 ...about once a year or so I fall in love with gerhard richter all over again. don't know what it is...
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Friday, September 22, 2006

can you find tar art rat?
(ok, I'm bored, ok. jeez- but not as bored as the guy who made that list, right? right.)
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tHIS pOST tITLED:
YESTERDAY WAS A DAY OF DANCING AND TODAY WILL BE A DAY OF MINIMAL THINKING (NOT MINIMALIST, JUST MINIMAL)

Indeed, from the get-go yesterday I was skipping down the street umbrella-orchestrating a jig to that Beirut album Nanc' burnt for me, it's like a happysad stumbling-wailing gypsy wake, and you can chant along and bop the umbrella to the time back and forth- 1-2-2-1-2-2, excellent stuff, ceas had originally sent me the link to this gorgeous song which is probably the most gorgeous song I've heard in quite awhile. Every time I think "What could they do next" somethign new and amazing and und=foreseen comes along,...somethign to be said for human creativity-

Post Nicole and Jamie's pre-pre-wedding get together at ze Garage we (for some strange reason)went oput dancing (err, danced like drunken lunatics, rather) particularly Bubba and I, (we were dancing so well, in fact, that they pulled our drinks- I think...) and it was genius- I LOVE that sh*T! There's something to be said for letting go and dancing every once in awhile, and it is even better if everyone is celebrating something- like a wedding- or a pre-wedding day when everyone arrives to town, Megan, Bubba, Anna, - all people I haven't seen in years, so life was partcilarly good... being appy from all that and then drinking a lot = dancing fool!

BIG FAT (modern jackass) DISCUSSION about Second Life/youtube/myspace/blogs with bubba, the latter 3 are my current favorite topics, really really really- (well, those and the lonelygirl15 thing which is simple, effective, hilarious and a clashing of worlds- at that. Big eyes and a heart-shaped face, no wonder millions of people were suckered- that girl looks like a adorable baby animal.)
Oh, and "what's with all those myspace friend requests from webcam girls?"
"it's that guy's fault."
"Tom?"
"No- the australian-"
"Rupert."
"Right, it's marketing!"
"But for what? What are they selling"
"I assume the friend requests lead to something you eventually have to buy... or it is lonely computer nerds who get-off/get a kick out of pretending to be slutty 19-year old girls..."
Never really came to any conclusions.
Yao, and all I know about Second Life is what this girl blogged (warning: graphic!) (scroll to April 14th posting if that link will even work because her blogs are set to private) and then the exhibit at Bumbershoot this year... which was, like, tres sci-fi, like... when things are all futuristic n'stuff at a world's fair... Anyhow, yackity schmackity. I'm not supposed to be using my brain AT ALL today, remember. shoot-!

I'm definitely going to miss these goofballs:

"I'm gonna LOL all over myself" -Jamie
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just like those new iPod commercials... (minus the iPod and minus the commercial.):


above inane pictures: more fun lurking around the neighborhood with a huge tube of plastic AND an amazing find out of that library book on Colonization of India by the Brits.
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Thursday, September 21, 2006

Hooray to Jody for being BLARTed:
"Blart
'Communicable 2006' at WET Gallery
BY ANNIE WAGNER

Rivulets of solid filth, embedded pubic hairs, lacy puddles of collapsed lather, the invisible coating of epidermal cells from some anonymous donor—and that disgusting color, off-off white, or maybe scum gray, pearly like rotted teeth, an ivory piano key that's been fingered so often it gleams with a coating of oil and dust. Used soap is the perfect medium to explore capital's solution to communicable disease: It both generates fear of contagion and promises to resolve the danger it created. Just buy more soap. Or, better yet, antibacterial hand gel.

Communicable 2006 isn't just a single bar of used motel-room soap, but a whole nasty grid of them, strung together in a curtain. The artist, Jody Wood, collected the stubby bars from motels on Aurora Avenue (the Black Angus Motor, Marco Polo, and Vagabond inns)—and then, just for kicks, added a few from the rather more swank Sorrento Hotel on First Hill. Video projections of various pathogens fall across the soap curtain, but they're unnecessary. Ask the antibacterial industry: We fantasize our own germs."
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Post: regarding morning frivolity
DISCLAIMER: This post may be of little interest to anyone but myself or perhaps the members of "Book Club" and their subsidiaries.

1. Since last weekend there have already been pallet-loads of Halloween Candy in Safeway... where does all that sugar come from? and what ever happened to Tricks? -it's only about Treats now... has been for awhile... maybe the treats would be more meaningful (err- intense?) if they were actually necessary to prevent tricks, like "Trick OR Treat."... conclusion: Halloween is weak!
Either way Haloween IS something I'll miss...

2. Every morning I see dozens of people smoking out front of their places of work between 9-10am. Why aren't there any addictive habits that are healthy? (Besides being psychologically addicted to working-out? It's it odd that addicetive habdits are BAD for you? I realy can't think of a substance addiction that is beneficial... I mean- something that is actually good for you- like broccoli or spinach (when it isn't tainted with deadly bacteria))

3. no three yet. (oh, no- I take that back: 3 is the number of times I'm missed that "1000 years of icelandic music" movie at the NW film forum the other day, GRRRRRHHH!

4. I let my digital audio recorder record a good solid hour of banter at Book Club last night- it'll be interesting to see what we were talking about (can't quite completely recall) besides:
-the ACTUAL reason why Dan Rather was fired, (like, a font-?)
-how "having a blog about baby animals might get a guy laid" (Nancy's theory),
-"So, Jessica Alba's ass, eh?" (yea, that's...uhm,)
-Duuuude, you're effing moving to Berlin-!
-Duuude,you're a homeowner-?!?
-Duuuuuude, we're 26 years old- how'd that happen?
ooh- little did I know there was even a flickr acct. for "stumbling Monk art"- that is, the drunken coaster sketches. huh,.
und soweiter und sofort. Alas, I'll miss the Stumbling Monk and Chris the perfectly stoic bartender there on Wednesdays...
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REGARDING THE RECENT UNACCEPTABLE ACTIONS OF THE SEATTLE POLICE DEPT.
I received this this morning from Councilmember Nick Licata, -which was a nice response to my original email from yesterday (included below)
"I am in receipt of your letter, relating to an incident that happened on
September 15, 2006. Thank you for writing to me about your concerns
about the Seattle Police Department's involvement in this incident.

In 1999 the City Council passed legislation to create a police
accountability mechanism for investigating charges of police misconduct.
This mechanism is called the Office of Professional Accountability
(OPA). Any person who believes that an officer has committed misconduct
may file a complaint with this office.

I have been notified by the Mayor's office that OPA will be looking into
this recent serious allegation.

The steps of the OPA's review are as follows:
1. All complaints are reviewed and documented.
2. The complaints are classified according to their nature and the
seiousness.
3.Complainants will be informed of the classification of the
complaint and the method by which it will be resolved or investigated.
4.The complaint(s) are investigated by police officers who work in
the investigation unit of the OPA.
5.That unit forwards its investigation and recommended findings
for review by the civilian Director of the OPA.
6.The Director may concur with the recommended findings, direct
additional investigation, or recommend a different finding to the Chief
of Police.
7.If a complaint is assigned for investigation, the OPA will send
the complainant a notice that includes a case number and the name and
telephone number of the investigator assigned.
The OPA goal is to complete the investigation within 90 days. If it
appears that the investigation will take longer, OPA will provide status
reports every 60 days.
Completed investigations receive one of seven findings:
1) "Sustained" - means the allegation of misconduct is supported by a
preponderance of the evidence.
2) "Non-sustained" - means the allegation of misconduct was neither
proved nor disproved by a preponderance of the evidence.
3) "Unfounded" - means a preponderance of evidence indicates the
alleged act did not occur as reported or classified, or is false.
4) "Exonerated" - means a preponderance of evidence indicates the
conduct alleged did occur, but that the conduct was justified, lawful
and proper.
5) "Supervisory Resolution" - means while there may have been a
violation of policy, it was not willful, and/or the violation did not
amount to misconduct. The employee's chain of command is to provide
appropriate training, counseling and/or to
review for deficient policies or inadequate training.
6) "Administratively Unfounded/Exonerated" - is a discretionary finding
which may be made prior to the completion that the complaint was
determined to be significantly flawed procedurally or legally; or
without merit, i.e., complaint is false or subject recants allegations,
preliminary investigation reveals mistaken/wrongful employee
identification, etc, or the employee's actions were found to be
justified, lawful and proper and according to training.
7) "Administratively Inactivated" - means that the investigation cannot
proceed forward, usually due to insufficient information or the pendency
of other investigations. The investigation may be reactivated upon the
discovery of new, substantive information or evidence.
I have copied the OPA Director and the Chief of Police. Thank you again
for writing to me and thank you for supporting police accountability.

Sincerely,

Councilmember Nick Licata

CC: Sam Pailca, Director Office of Police
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how does a sonic boom happen? I can't wrap my mind around the threshold that is breached... and why name a space shuttle aftera lost/sunken city?...
thanks ceas. this is amazing
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I hesitated in citing two gorgeous "GOLDEN AGE OF RETARDATION" examples in ONE day, but my resolve wore out, and here is #007, folks. click here. sorry. it just IS.
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Post titled: Tyranny of the Majority's Love of the Game(s)

Swimming amongst streams of foot/baseball fans on 1st Ave each day to/from work these past few weeks, I can't help but wonder if the Ballet (or perhaps Art/Theate itself) shouldn't develop mascots, and have matching cotumes emblazoned with sharp-looking logos which both the participants and observers wear AND thereby give individuals free liscense to act like raving madmen for a few hours each week...
"...THEN-" I thought "then just maybe there'd be the same level of interest in the arts as there are in sports..." heh.

What does it mean- this mass appeal? Physical ability and strategy vs. physical ability and strategy... just very differently expressed and packaged, which I think is wht I got such a kick out of the recent ballgames I attended. "This is really something, somethig someone created adn that caught on, developed adn became valid and important because milllions of people eally cared about it. It it a production requiring near-superhuman strength and resources, the venues, the products, the composition and orchestration and performance..." One of those things that makes one wonder if art and life aren't one in the same... not that I'm saying that sports=art, but the one and only football game I've ever seen was such an event, and the aestetics all fell into their right place, adn people knew and cared for every little detail... what does that mean in the grand scheme?... see what I'm saying? What IS that in us and in all of us (or most of us? Is it just the subveersion of tribal warfare and the need to belong, or is it a form of expression?-... anyhow, yea:Meanwhile, QFC (which stands for Quality Food Center for you out-of-towners) is selling some of THE STRANGEST products EVER in recognition of the start of the Seahawks/Huskies season. Bagels... and flowers which look more like quality Duplos that they to "food", wow:

I couldn't stop recording audio, video and fotos the entire game. Each well of roaring and little video clip was like an added element of surprize...
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shady late night find-
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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

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"our perspectives are really odd sometimes..."
-nice bus driver, bus #10 9:39am 15th & e.galer

Last week (did I write about this already?-) there was a yappy middle aged woman who sat right next to the bus driver, who, in this case was a handsome man in his early thirties with intriguingly severe and defined facial features, a serious face, but not mean-looking... Not like a villain.
The strange little dikey straight woman was going on and on: "I just moved here form (some such surrounding suburban wasteland) and downtown is so different, I just - I don't know it's a busy place down here so different that where I was before- but I'm adjusting- (on and on, etc. for 10 minutes whilst the Busdriver is nodding, *uhm-hm*-ing until the woman asks him:
"You from aroud here?"
"AHm, not quite- No."
"Oh, wll- where- where are you from?"
"Bosnia."
"Ohhhhhh,,,.... that's cool........"
trap shut.
end of conversation.

This morning I ran through the rain with the painting I need to frame and once again just barely made the bus. The driver is my favorite, she's really nice but doesn't take shit from anybody, and isn't afraid to tell off the rude or unruly passengers. This morning there was a dazed older richie couple who just had NO idea about bus etiquette, they were visiting friend in my neighborhood and were taking the bus into downtown. I witness this type of situation at least once a month: rich older folks from out of town get on the bus with a bewildered and somewhat terrified look in their eyes, clutching their handbags and searching in vain for the perfect seats. In this case the couple chose the handicapped seats even though there was a man in a wheelchair getting on right behind them.
"Alright, folks, you gotta move-" said the bus driver.
"Move?-"
"Yes, you're in the seats reserved for disabled passengers"
"Oh..", they get up, do a funny little dance then sit right by the front door where their boney old kneecaps are in the poor old hunchback wheelchair guy's way. They make very little effort to move and make room for him to pass. Once the bus gets going they start asking the bus driver naieve questions like:
"oh, so do you like to see the city and get out and about- is that why you drive a bus?"
(meanwhile I'm searching for that imaginary brick I thought I had at the bottom of my bag to chuck at their veined, brittle round little skulls)
"Uh, nooo- I started driving the bus a lon time ago because it allowed me to take care of my baby at the same time, it just worked out well, I was able to spend time with him... he's in Iraq now... But he says: 'mom, you don't worry about me- if they printed all the bad things that happened in every American city every day the way they print every little bad thing that happens here- then the morning newspaper would be the size of the phone book every single day! But they DO print every little bad thing that goes on here- so, the perspective is pretty skewed by the media...'"
(pause as the rain falls and she stares into traffic)
"our perspectives are really odd sometimes..."


A BOOK READING, follwed by a Q&A:

I went to the library the other night to calm down, try to collect my thoughts and dodge any actual responsibilities when I noticed that there would be a reading in an hour or so. Ok, I can kill an hour... reading was Edward P. Jones. Never heard of him, but i figured seeing a Pulitzer-Prize winning author read/speak was a better use of my time than having a beer and blogging back at home while some silliness played on the tv in the background, so I did what I always do when i go to the Seattle Public Library: take the escalators to the top and get lost in the spiral on the way down, letting yhe wanderings lead me to whatever they will.
I happened upon the section full of firsthand accounts of British Colonials in India, great fotos and little blurbs... got a few books and retreated to a table with a view of downtown and the water, flipping through the books as I wrote in my journal:
(foto here)

Is it illegal to put your own books on library bookshelves? You know- like leaving a baby in a basket on someone's doorstep? I have to get rid of so many books before I move it is almost terrifying...

One of my favorite things about the library is the Red Floor (the 4th "meeting" floor?) which induces (what I think is called) "retinal fatigue" (a great phrase, in which your retinas basically o.d. on a color). Your brain reels when you go from the red of the halls on the red floor into the restrooms there- which are a pale hospital-toothpase green/white color, a great trick someone decided to play on our eyes/minds.

Anyhow- the reading: I could barely follow the author's words, I get nervous in crowds where you know you'll be captive for the next 1.5 hours and it is socially unacceptable to leave because it would cause such a disruption. The only reading selection I liked was the third, but I can't even recall what it was about, I was to busy being distracted by the blonde in white knee-high go-go boots and a ass-length raincoat down on stage right, the older woman who looked JUST LIKE GOLLUM, the woman's balding head in front of me and the girl next to her who kept biting her nails and applying lip gloss (at a book reading?), and the fidgety guy with a Ershot Jass Fest jacket next to the young black intellectual.
The stadium seating provided a too-good view of all this odd-bookworm sampling of Seattlites.

What WAS interesing was te Q&A (paraphrased as accurately as possible from my memory):

Young black intellectual: "Uhm, Pablo Neruda says the Novel is a dying artform- what do you have to say about that?- the state of the novel?"

Edward P. Jones: "I have nothing to say about the state of the novel, the state of American literature or literature worldwide. I only really feel comfortable talking about with lies between the covers of my three books."
heh.

Old bald wierdo white guy: "How, - I mean, HOW can you imagine these situations in your stories and in your novel, likethe girl on the porch looking out for wolves, and the baby hangin in a bundle from a tree... "

Jones: (briefly explains that the human imagination exists, and it can be used to create all manner of things from nothing)

Super-Old white woman with crazy pink-red hair: "What kind of music do you listen to while you're writing?"

Jones: "I don't so much listen to music hardly... but when I do, I select pieces and record them over and over on a tape and then listen to the tape over and over. For example, while writing these stories I was listening to Judy Garland's "That's no way to say goodbye" and the score from the opening credits of Paul Newman's film "the Life and times of Judge Roy Bean""
(my dad used does this- an unusual habit I could never uderstand. I've kind-of thought that the measure of a musician/band's greatness is how much consistently good music they can make. Example: the Beatles are one of the most popular bands ever, and almost all of their songs are quality pop. The only one I can even think of that I don't particularly care for is "the long and winding road" -dunno why. But my point it, who in their right mind can listen to one song a thousand times in a row- isn't that in direct violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?)

Overall I was impressed- in an unexpected way, that is, maybe not by his writing but by the blunt answers coming from the honest and sure mouth of this thouroughly calm and unpretentious middle-aged slightly overweight balding black man from Washingon D.C.

Side note: There aren't any fireflies here like there are in D.C.- why is that? The Summer nights full of thousands of little glowing bug butts in the air. Good stuff.
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NPR quote of the morning:
"Abbas promised the president that the Palestinians want peace, despite the election of Hamas, who is sworn to Israel's destruction"
Surprising newsflash of the morning: Dubai Ports (managing several major US ports) is still owned/operated by the Saudis, even though the deadline for selling all their US assets has passed.
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very clearly just now heard 5 gunshots out in my backyard, which is odd- bcause the backyard is a rainforest and we never hear anything,,, usually. well, I'm awake now.
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Tuesday, September 19, 2006

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Monday, September 18, 2006

"WE ONNA WORLD TOUR WITH MOHAMMED MY MAN, GOIN' EACH AND EVERY PLACE WITH A MIC IN THE HAND"
-tribe called quest

As a Pseudo Sequel to the Julianne Moore Posting below:

I've been exremely tolerant all these past 5 years, extremely understanding and fair and pretty objective and patient all along but now- NOW photos of angry Muslims just annoy the sh*t outta me. Could't everyone just spend that extra energy praising Allah INstead of hating-on the Pope?... People getting OFFENDED- c'mon, get a hobby, -no joke. Isn't the whole world is wound up way too tight a this point. It the words of one of my fellow bus passengers: "Git you some bidness"... really folks, don't you have something better to do than pick on a (mostly) harmless crochety old man? I mean, shoot- there's no Catholic Militia gonna come rape your daughters and burn your house down!, it's just a whole bunch of pomp-and-circumstance and scared/wierd people who feel bad about themselves all the time. Catholicism is effing harmless, so back off- jeezus.

To be fair I REAAALLLLLY don't like this Pope either. He is NOT a pope for the 21st century, not a guy who thinks globally- he's a stinky old-skool fart, which is obvious from his naieve and thoughtless remarks.

On that NOTE;
did anyone else notice the oddness of the devout Muslim duo being the first to be ruthlessly eliminated last night from the Amazing Race while a crowd of 'ordinary' americans stood around and watched... is this some wierd subliminal desire sh*t or what? Just a thought.
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I knew I kept an art studio for a reason...

...however, WHAT that reason is, I do not know... probably because it is a place where you can find office chairs from 1970 and race yourself down the hallway like a big effing dork. (I would've crashed through the camera- but didn't want to break it...) shoot-!
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Sunday, September 17, 2006

Point of Contention. the Mayor of SF... there's no bigger waste of time that waging a war on graffitti. (Ja,ok, so maybe there ARE bigger wastes of time... ) Wish I could find the letter/response from Mayor Nickels' office... it was absurd. Basically saying that grafitti removal was a top priority to quelch gang-turf warfare... Yea, because Seattle obviously is one big gang warzone... jackass. I often wish kids would JUST tag the graffitti removal guys' trucks, so the guy just spent all of his time washing his own truck, "now wouldn't that just be _____?" (couldn't think of a word.)
But really, why do kids tag sculptures adn small businesses? GO COST THE BAD GUYS SOME EXTRA MONEY if yer gonna do that stuff, k? Shoot-
Oh, just found my new favorite: "adhd"

(the guy in the phone booth almost had a heart attack when I took his photo without asking, but I think he'll live... actually he was just really unconfortable.)

REGARDING NEWER URBAN LEGENDS (or ALL THE WORLD'S A SCAM)
I just got another "Bill Gates is giving away money if you forward this" email... I get these about once a year, as I can imagine anyone might, but reading it this time I realize just how much the content truly and attractively snares and/or seduces one's basic wants, desparations and drives, namely: "I can get paid for basically doing nothing???, whoooa." and "WHoa-one of the richest guys in the world is GIVING away money, and all I have to is forward this email to as many people as possible thenget real paid?!?" Uhm,- so yeah, there are some problems here... a lot of problems... I mean, As far as I know- you can't even TRACK email in the way they say it will be tracked, can you?... and usually isn't beta-testing programs usually done on a volunteer basis through friends, friends of friends and family of Microsoft employees? Dunno, more urban legends... It's so wierd, makes one stop and think: WHY would any wealthy person ever ever ever give away money like this, it isn't even remotely plausible, but solething in ut struly wants to believe thst out of all the spam and scams we get, this one is for real.
anyhow- here's the content, even sprinkles with little personal narratives to make it seem more legit and get one's hopes up- BUT WHAT IS THE TRUE PURPOSE OF THESE, I have nooo idea...
HERE IT IS FILLING SPACE IN MY BLOG...(Note, I have hilighted the loaded phrases):
"
Hello Everyone,

I normally don't forward these kinds of e-mails, but after reading I figured why not. If this e-mail cause you any inconvenience please, forgive me.

Danny D

Hi Everyone. The person that sent this to me is a very trusted, professional friend of my husband. If this is true I would only want to share it with you! Enjoy!
Read carefully...
THIS TOOK TWO PAGES OF THE TUESDAY USA TODAY -
IT IS FOR REAL
To all of my friends
, I do not usually forward messages,
But this is from my friend Pearlas Sandborn and she really is an attorney.
If she says that this will work - It will work.
After all, what have you got to lose?

SORRY EVERYBODY.. JUST HAD TO TAKE THE CHANCE!!!
I'm an attorney, And I know the law. This thing is for real. Rest assuredAOL and &nbs p; Intel will follow through with their promises for fear of facing a multimillion-dollar class-action suit similar to the one filed by PepsiCo against General Electric not too long ago.
Dear Friends: Please do not take this for a junk letter.Bill Gates is sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, You will repent later.
Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.
When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it (If you are a Microsoft Windows user) for a two week time period.For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00 For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives it, You will be paid $241.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a check.
Regards.
Charles S Bailey General Manager Field Operations 1-800-842-2332 Ext. 1085 or 904-1085 or RNX 292-1085 Thought this was a scam myself, But two weeks after receiving this e-mail and forwarding it on. Microsoft contacted me for my address and within days, I received a check for $24, 800.00. You need to respond before the beta testing is over. If anyone can afford this, Bill Gates is the man. It's all marketing expense to him. Please forward this to as many people as possible. You are bound to get at least $10, 000.00 We're not going to help them out with their e-mail beta test without getting a little something for our time. My brother's girlfriend got in on this a few months ago. When I went to visit him for the Baylor/UT game, she showed me her check. It was for the sum of $4,324.44 and was stamped "Paid In Full"

Oh cruel, silly world, heh,...

12 Hours Later...
OH- THanks Mr. Kohler for crushing all our dreams with this and this...it's still a cruel silly world, though. Which brings me right back to the point... what is all this (spam) for?... to make us believe that life offers such outlandish opportunities?... keine ahnung, dahrling.
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2:37am, surreal- I just heard myself reffered to on BBC radio regarding the complaints about the pope...
8:44am...ok, upon ACTUALLY waking up this morning I realize that the above sentance is HIGHLY unlikely and that I am either extremely paranoid (as Nadine pointed out when I told her) but I don't think that was a dream,... I might've just been very very confused inbetween wake and sleep or maybe I'm finally completely delusional... then again- I do send out a lot of wierd emails... what I heard was directly referring to me... but without using my name... it was so creepy.
anyhow, this is only half-baked and half finished, but I don't have a scanner at the moment, so I can't complete the inkiing, and the font sucks....
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Saturday, September 16, 2006

MEANWHILE, (it's happening Franc- you know, when you said "I just want it to be like 'you know:THAT' (pointing to tiny screen and whatever you are trying to explain will magically it'll pop up on your phone and or futuristic communicator')ok, or internet or whatever, but what I mean it that I'm trying to use an example here and I could just say):
"You know that scene in Magnolia where Julianne Moore shouts "Shutthefuckup" a dozen times?"
OR, just drop in the video:

WELLLLLLLL, kids, my POINT is it that is how I am feeling towards EVERY effing little tribe these days... or since this morning, actually. Christians, Muslims, Jews, Politicans, Hollywood, Republicans, Liberals, WHITE HOUSE, Corporate Dads, Soccer Moms, Corporate Moms, Drunken Dads, Young Professionals, Soldiers, Hippies, Activists and Artists can we just take a Queue from Julianne more and SHUTTHEFUCKUP for a year or two?- have a big long silence to thing about our actions? How nice would that be? Wouldn't it be great if I could shutthefuckup?!?
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Post titled:

This is your brain on Fußball.

Sometime around dawn this morning i was livestreaming Deutsche Welle Radio online and there was live football- on the effing radio, which I quickly realized was like taking a speed-comprehension test because they're speaking superfast German... it was good.
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hi claire and nigel.
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GOLDEN AGE OF RETARTATION EXAMPLE #004 (and a stellar one at that.)
On that note, such a glorious shining example of the Golden Age deserves and equally quality film review to supportit, WHICH I'm about to write:
(right now, in fact):
I was inspired to Netflix "Into the Blue" (working title was originally "Into that-next-shot-of-Jessica-Alba's-ASS, Bro!") and really loved it... I was supposed to watch this movie with Issara, but then he moved- hmm, the idea to rent it developed (err, something along the lines of): "Dude, what's that one movie with Jessica Alba in the water?... Blus something...?" So one IMDB search, Netflix Queue, and month later it was in my living room.
Now, this is a fantastic movie, I spent some quality time with our tiny "new" TV and I'd have to say that Into the Blue is a particularly amazing film. First off: it IS very blue. But not sad. Watching "into the blue" is like GOING into the blue via your tiny tv screen... There are pretty shots of fish and people. This is a good film. Into the Blue is probably my new favorite movie, See production stills:



Fortunately I also have "Fantastic Four" in my Queue and will be reviewing that a.s.a.itarrivesandIwatchit.
For more Images from Into the Blue, click: HERE
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Top Local Favorites on Netflix for Seattle, Washington Sept.16, 2006

Deadwood: Season 1 (6-Disc Series)

Project Runway: Season 1 (3-Disc Series)

Six Feet Under: Season 2 (5-Disc Series)

Project Runway: Season 2 (4-Disc Series)

Twin Peaks: Season 1 (4-Disc Series)
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Friday, September 15, 2006

"yoo-hoo!"

(a 3 second video of my sister.)
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came home last night and there was a flurry of news on the BBC regarding the Pope having made a speech that was percieved to be offensive my many Muslims around the world... this upset me deeply somehow... I guess I'm used to having the government and the politicians say thoughtless things, but not the so-called "pope"... granted there are all the issues where the Catholic Church and I go our separate ways, but overall I like to think of the church as a vagely kinda-sorta force of good in the world, and there is evidence of that, but I've never liked this new pope... he resembles "the Emperor" (from Star Wars) so much that I half expect him to shove back his sleeves and shoot blue lightning from his fingers.
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Revolutionary Army of the Baby Jesus
Dear RABJ,
PLEEEEEZ smite that kraut pope and the pres of the u.s.a while yr at it, thnx,
TAR.
ART
RAT
p.s.
'k, maybe I'm a bt drunk, but at LEAST incapacitate them, shoot!
here's the vatican's mail addyress: office@net.va
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Getty LA, standing around-5.2006

just found this. I make a point to go to the Getty every time I'm in LA, it's just so gosh-darn pleasant there... and how/why the outside is usually more interesting than the insideis beyond me (except for that Bill Viola show) gosh... my aunt lives down the hill... I feel like it'll be YEARS before maybe I've just missed all the interesting shows... ho-ho-hummm.
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Gremlins with rabies in the mind today, pay no mind.
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Thursday, September 14, 2006

CORRESPONDENCE

On 9/14/06, John wrote:

Hey Paul, what's the purpose of literature?

Paul to John:

John,the purpose of literature is entertainment, just as the purpose of art is decoration...
I thought you knew that...
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Desparately icky Marketing Strategy:
I usually just delete the hundereds of spam emails I recieve in my work email every day, but THIS one just caught my eye:
"Your wife prefers your dog’$ penis to yours? Viagra Soft
Tabs will make her pick your penis in a million. hxPep9pktlLzm Need an
extra boost for extra sensitive sexual experiences? Viagra Soft Tabs!"

What marketing wizard concocted that? ICK. gross. thanks, that really makes me want to buy your magical pills.
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Dedication:
In case you didn't know, Vern missed his calling as a Celebrity gossip columnist. I base this on a small example of the kinds of links I recieve from him daily:
EXHIBIT A.
EXHIBIT B.

MEANWHILE, back where everythingmattersmore
GOLDEN AGE OF RETARDATION, EXAMPLE #003
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zis post iz titled:
THUMB-WRESTLING YOUR INNER ART-NAZI
ceas sent me a link to a very fun sculpture called "fat car" , BUT then i ws reminded of art cars- and the difference between the sleek "fat car" and the "art cars" made my inner ART NAZI hopping mad, hmm...

SLIGHT RETRACTION PRINTED ONE DAY LATER:

ok,so apparently that piece (artwork) "fat car" was really the photo- not the sculpture itself, so... I have clearly lost against my little art nazi which dances on my shoulder from time-to-time and whispers in my ear... grrr.

in other news,
wow- a truly great idea Women of Columbia...

In other news- I have been completely obsessed with cocorosie since seeing them last week. all I did yesterday was youtube them. (WHILE writing emails for work, thank you.)
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Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Dream: Michael Jackson was singing on a televised benefit show with ALL the other Jacksons. He was black again, looking like he did in thriller except puffy and bloated with age (apparently in his 60's). Dressed as perhaps a 19th centruty Russian diplomat might've, his voice was hoarse and awful... James Brownsy, even. ew.

If I hear the phrase "makers of the Herman Miller Airon Chair" one more time I might gouge my ears out with sporks. Thanks NPR!
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angsty teen blogs found: GIRL, BOY ... poetry, ugh. ugggh.
could it just be cut off? say, "ok, ok, enough poetry, thanks humanity, but enough now. thanks. move along, move along... there's noting more to see here, folks..."
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I may just drop off the face
of the earth for awhile because I finally thought
to youtube kate moss, which is genius. (sorry, dahrling
but you gave me the idea)




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Tuesday, September 12, 2006

somehow I don't think the crocodile hunter would've wanted this...
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Monday, September 11, 2006

There is a county in illinois called "switzerland"...

which also happens to be one of the counties highlighted in pink.(see above)
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*sound of head hitting linoleum* on a day when the biggest news is somethignthat happened 5 years ago, there was this little gem: GOD BLESS BANKSY.
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Sunday, September 10, 2006

congrats to soon-to-be ex-roomate Mr. Willenskomer on his totalllly lovely artsy award-winning "porn" and best down south to you, Sir.
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Saturday, September 09, 2006

several weeks ago at the Cult of Youth board meeting we were throwing out ideas about what might be important all encompassing themes. I suggested "uhm, the Golden Age of Retardation...?..." as a good description for life in the year 2006, "What's that, how would you define that?-" I was prodded by a Ms. Grofroer and I honestly didn't have a good answer- "Uhm, you know, when... it's, like, the Golden Age...but of Retardation" (perhaps my very words were enought to explain the stagnation of the modern mind after steady overdoses of useless information)
BUT todaaaayyy I found THE VERY DEFINITION!!!: Perfect! Or this lonelygirl15 thing- almost better!!! and THAT was on the front page of the LA Times online- 'nuff said,... or is it actually the very act of "blogging" that is the most goldenly retarded thing about the age?...
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Well,...if art isn't fun then what is it? (Un-fun!)
When I say "Unsolicited Public Art Installation" ideally this it what I mean, I'd like to do more stuff like this more often:

Thanks David Midbon for fotoing this. "Miguel" (the robot) was about to be disposed of by the building mgr so I installed him on the Seattle waterfront for a few days where tourists, joggers, cyclists and even cops happily fed their limbs, children and bicycles to him! Watching from a distance I'd think "That's what I like to see. Shoot-, man! People getting silly, adults acting like kids and taking fotos with a 'sculpture'..." Alas, the elements (wind, I guess) and then public utilities broke him and dragged him away...
Date on photo should actually be something like 6/20/2006, hmm- well,
R.I.P. Miguel. He can be seen in action on www.pilkey.com where I am incorrectly credited and he is in top form.

P.S. (added several days later): Just noticed that Migel is right next to the Alaskan Way viaduct... like a poster-boy... if it were to collapse like it is supposed to... it would surely eat a few people.
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If I lose my pen for my ink I can't do anything, like when the Tin Man gets rained on. My desk is to messy to find it, but it also might be in my leather bag or laptop bag or backpack or WWII grenade bag (which is often called a “man purse” until I explain that it is a “grenade bad, see, you put the grenades in it and swing it like this over your head like in young Indiana Jones.” After that explanation it is still often called a purse, despite the serial number and the fact that it came with a little tin full of gadgets that were once useful and maybe even life-saving, but now to our eyes – just 60 years later these little disks, vials, and metal tools are completely unidentifiable, probably to the Swiss even... who invented the “Swiss Army Knife”, which might have replaced the “Swiss Grenade Bag Tin”... Or my backpack.
and the pen... (is it called a fountain pen? It is just a sharp piece of metal at the end of an attractively curvy plastic shaft) During lunch I explained to Herr Stark that the ink pen obsession. “Look at the lines! And you can thin the ink with water and it turns gray!” Showing him the pseudo-text-based comic strips I'd jotted in the past few days. The very things my parents complained about having to learn to do in the 50's- dip the pen in the inkwell and make a mess, which really doesn't have to be a mess, and really IS worth it. I've even found dozens of old ink tips in an old desk at home which I assumed were mom and dad's or the grandparents'. Weird. I remember searching my grandfather's desk as a kid, finding those pens and wondering why they were so useless- not thinking that ink COULD or WOULD ever be separate from a pen. Now, lo-and-behold, I'm in love with pen and ink. “It is the quality, the obvious hand-made-ness of it that is the attraction...” The attraction of something imperfect and human... this is a growing desire in us, and nothing new... the more high definition and flawless things appear, I'd guess the more backlash of threadbare and from-scratch original creations may appear,... may... maybe this idea isn't even interesting...
This was apparent in one of the Bumbershoot art shows (I mean, they at least called it out) the use of craft techniques to make fine-art objects. Reminded of the tiny crayola crayon totems, Tofer's eggs... or the huge art installations that awe us with the sheer tedium of their assembly, that Maya Lin mountain of 2 x 4's ... I dunno,... and this is boring me already.

Last night was my very last last artwalk here, which was nice because we closed a bit early and I was able to hop on over to the new Occidental Park renovation dedication and dig on some free corporate handouts and Indiana Jones on a 20-foot tall inflatable screen. Hit-up Platform too, where I pretty much ALWAYS like their shows (which is sad because I only make it there once or twice a year during artwalk), and SOIL which is alawys on the excitng side of boring... caved and got my Timberland's shined- much needed since they still had scars from the lavarock of Iceland... Ieven bumped into Brian Murphy, whom I hadn't seen in awhile and was very happy to happen upon- then Christine Carlson, Elise's sister and even got hollah'd at by Fankick! who was getting harrassed by every drunk a-hole in the neighborhood. Walked/ran to catch a bus and chatted on the ride home with the neon-lace/tutu clad girls... small town, small town. Went home early...
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Friday, September 08, 2006

Letter sent to the GAP today, in which I'm not really / really not joking:

Dear GAP,
Thank you so much for ruining one of my favorite scenes in a movie ever just to sell a few pairs of your "Skinny Black Pants" you mediocre culture-fu*kers.
DIE, GAP, DIE!
This is war, I sh*t you not.

Sincerely,
TAR
ART
RAT

p.s. ok, ok- by "war" admittedly I mean: "I'l grumble and glare a bit more as I walk past your store." But jeez, can't you even raise your own cow and milk it?

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Thursday, September 07, 2006

green eyes. blue eyes.

fotos.
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Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Just listened to the Preisdent's Guantanamo speech, which was like a scolding, and ended with "May God Bless you all." This ain' Sunday school, -How does that bitchass cracker get away with that sh*t? Relatively it would be the same as saying "May Allah smite/smote your ememies and your brother's enemies" -eh? ugh... *grumble* sometimes I wish the news would just focus on baby tigers at the zoo...

eugooglizer!
"You know, a eugoogalizer, one who speaks at funerals. Or did you think I was too stupid to know what a eugoogaly was?"
Derek Zoolander
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Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Uhm, Dahrling- is that even a real helmet?......

Some banal things of note seen on Labor Day, at Bumbershoot for the most part:
7 girls in astro-turf green skirts or dresses.
1 opossum followed by:
1 raccoon (5 minutes later)
my turtle catch a worm outside in the park and eat it whole (who knew she could hunt? she's been in a terrarium for 13 years!)
14,537 white girls of scandanavian descent.
5 or 6 black people -and 4 of them were on stage. (jusssst kiddddding)
3 girls with unusually long torsos
4 people I almost mistook for Gelflings
1 vintage Joker t-shirt I remember being owned by Than Tran in 1989,
1 "Super Mario Bros. 2 Fan Club" t-shirt worn by a 15-year old asian kid.
1 replay of a tearful andre agassi farewell speech on the usa network
2 girls with unusually long hair
35,672 people on mobile phones texting or talking about next-to-nothing, (like me TOO.) i.e. "WHERE? No, NEXT to the Hemp Hat stand- yea... no TOP of the STAIRS."
3 girls with unusually long legs
35 guys in their early twenties with blonde or dishwater dreadlocks
1 toddler carrying a flower half the size of his head in each hand...
2 muscle-bound white guys being assholes at a show, shoving people/me for no reason and giving the 'asshole at a large event' glare. That "go ahead I'm so drunk I just wanna act tough and look like a date-rapist' glare... I smiled back like an idiot. Wish it were ethical to kick people's faces in with my 10-pound Timberlands, but it is not... and I'm a pascifist. I can't even spell pass--ifist...
dozens of kids who would've been in pampers in the early 90's
some art
3 women with dark skin but bright BlueGrayGreen eyes.
1 fake neighborhood/trailer-park
56 barefoot kids
42 hippie moms not paying that much attention to their barefoot kids
4 times at which I smelled burning plastic on my walk home. th smell (which burns the nostrils) hung in the air for a long time, but in different parts of town...
1 time when i awoke and couldn't figure out what was going on... in my life or my house or anything. wat day/year it might be or my age... that only lasted for a few seconds.

Pleased to say that I was able to cram in nouvelle vague, cocorosie, feist and tribe called quest in at Bumbershoot today, all with careful planning and quick venue- hopping. NV was cute, CocoRosie was lovely and made me cry a few times, feist is adorable and talented of course, but TRIBE CALLED QUEST blew my effing mind. I love love love some live hip-hop. Especially if it is group you've been listeing to since 8th grade (in my case-1993). They just don't make it like they used to, now do they?...
Funny thing that happens at Bumbershoot: the drastic age differences. Last year I was next to a huge guy who must've been my father's age with a tattered straw cowboy hat which just barely corraled his nest of filthy blonde dreadlocks, puffing away on a huge blunt and talking about seeing Iggy Pop back in the day. This year there was a group of girls next to me in the crowd who couldn'tve been more that 12 or 13, which means they were in papmers when Tribe Called Quest was getting popular...
It is extremely rare to ever see a rock show that gets people nearly as excited as a good hip-hop show. Live rock, for the most part, is passive- so it seems... the folded arms, the calm kids. It is almost much better to listen to it recorded where you can be along and sing along loudly, or in a car on a road trip... unless it is Sigur Ros or Andrew WK or Beck or something that is actually EVEN BETTER live... The audiences usually come off as passive and uptight... ugh. The Nouvelle Vague singer remarked "you're so well behaved!" to the audience... are we well behaved to just well-trained? What silly little people we are...
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Monday, September 04, 2006

poor CROCODILE HUNTER that's really sad... stingray barb through the chest,...
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Warning: some VENOM here.
Once again, couldn't help it: images from walk home last night from Downtown/Pioneer Square through INternational District/Central District:


1. 2nd and Seneca: I do not know (and/or can't quite fathom) what "CORPORATE WELNESS" is... (ok, it's probably n exercize plan) but it is available for 29 bucks! shoot!.

2. 14th and Yesler: Some genius rented a retail space on street-level to a wheelchair store at the base of a new condo complex, which is hilarious because then the young and busy professionals/gymsters may/might be reminded daily of thier own frail mortality and how, if they live that long, they too will ride around in a rascal or use a tennis-ball buffered walker. love it. "Corpotate wellness" still worth that $29? Ugh, gyms... I loathe them. Hamster balls and meat markets. FITNESS for fitness' sake is BORING, people!, more boring that CNN. Play tennis. Climb a tree. don't just run in place watching CNN. But if it works for you- be I'd prefer you were indoors and not out on the street where I can see your sorry ass.

3.Wide variety of wheelchairs. Shiny new wheelchairs. standard and automatic...

4. Jackson St.: Huge paper flowers in the entryway of a Vietnamese jewelery shop closed for the evening. Wish that photo was larger...
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This is friggin adorable, found it in the park outside my house in the park on 15th and E. Garfield, signed "Jason Ralls and Tara Wike":


I went to Liberty this morning and everything was half-off, wtf $.75 cent coffee! Hellyea, not that I really had anythign to do but gmail chat with Nadine but it was nice.
I did hoewver realise that this was in order:

REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES TO INK,PEN,AND MARKER PRODUCERS OF AMERICA AND EUROPE AS READ ALOUD BY BUSTA RHYMES:

"ALVIN, YO' 'PENSTIX' IS BITCH! 'A black 'india ink quality' FALSE-ASS MARKETING BUUUUULLLLSH*T muthafawka WHAT'S DAT PUSSY-ASS SH*T?, SH*T! YOU X'SPEKT ME TO ACCEPT THE FACT DAT DAT SH*T FADES AFTER A YEAR-AND-A-HALF?!!! SH*T'S BITCH! AUSTRIAN MUTHAFAWKAS! and SHARPIE, DON' MAKE ME COME AFTER YOU- CUZ YO' SH*T'S BITCH TOO! 'PERMANENT MARKER' MY ASS! TRY WRITING ON PLEXIGLASS! DAT SHIT FADES! DON' LIE TO ME, SHARPIE, DON' LIE! HIGGINS, YOU OFF THE HOOK- BLESS YO' 'MAGIC BLACK'ASS, AMEN. SAKURA Micron, you japanese fools know WHASSUP!"
...and that's pretty much how I feel about the ink, pens, and markers I've been using for the last 10 years. Nevertheless, if Busta could just read it out-loud, I'd be more than satisfied...
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Saturday, September 02, 2006

no disrespect to the Brit plane tragedy in Afganistan today, but IF you name a plane Nimrod... then...

sculpture of Raphael, I almost forgot about this one... but like the colors. Wierd how you can completely forget making or writing things, how is that possible?... But to DO remember watching "An American Werewolf in Paris" because of Julie Delphy... it wasn't worth it, but why would my brain cling to that but not the conscious and time-consuming things... stupid brain.
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Friday, September 01, 2006

LETTER I SENT TO HP THIS AFTERNOON:

"Dear Hewlett-Packard,

I was watching the U.S. Open this morning on the USA network and saw your latest television commercial featuring the hip-hop artist known as "Jay-Z". Of course I am a big fan of your commercials, I find them to be not only visually stimulating but thought-provoking as well, so my compliments. My concern, however is about your choice of Mr.-Z as an HP spokesperson. My cause for concern, HP, is that there is a certain quote in one of the tracks on his album "the Black Album" (track 9 to be exact) that sets off a few little alarms in my head as soon as I realized he was featured in the spot and I'm actually quite surprised it didn't do tha same for you. The lyrics I am referring to go as follows:

"I'm like f*ck critics you can kiss my whole a**hole
If you don't like my lyrics you can press fast forward
Got beef with radio if i don't play they show
They don't play my hits well i don't give a sh*t SO
Rap mags try and use my black ass
So advertisers can give 'em more cash for ads...f*ckers

I don't know what you take me as
or understand the intellegence that Jay-Z has
I'm from rags to riches niggaz i ain't dumb
I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one
Hit me"


Now, I can't vouch for Jay-Z's intelligence and I don't quite understand his lack of want for a girlfriend (or desire to be 'hit' for that matter), but when he states point-blank that his "black ass" can be used for advertising, I was a bit worried. Not worried for him, HP, but for you and your Company, HP. He seems to be taunting "rap magazines" for using him to generate revenue, and since I would assume the aforementioned "rap mags" are dearer to his heart than a company like yours which makes printers, I simply can't imagine what he might have to say about you in lyrics to come.
It made me wonder: "Have you been had, HP? Is Jay-Z taking you for a ride?" Have you considered that he might be taking you for a ride, HP? And I'm not talking about a ride in his lowrider, no- I mean a RIDE.

I'm a big fan of your products, HP, I'm just looking out for your interests, really, just in case your marketing department hasn't listened to the Black Album through-and-through 5 dozen times as I and my children have. I mean, Mr.-Z is a very talented guy, my son (who happens to be half black) told me that Jay never even writes down his lyrics beforehand, (it is all freestyled!) so perhaps when he said those things about cash and advertising he was just having a bad day and it spilled out. I'd like to extend the benefit of the doubt... If he'd had time to sit, think, draft and revise then I'm sure he wouldn't've said such things and then I wouldn't feel the need to write you this letter at all.
Well, that's all really, best to you and your company and Mr. Z (if he ever puts out another album- you know he sprinkles innuendoes all throughout "the Black Album" that it would be his last album, so we'll see-)

Sincerely,
Latonya Bowers,
Germantown, Maryland

fettenjahresindvorbei@yahoo.com "

LINK TO LETTER



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