Ten Things I have done: 1. Been in a graveyard after dark. 2. Saw the real Michael Jackson shopping. 3. Peered between the crack of the Pantheon doors on a moonlit night. 4. Came somewhat close to drowning twice. 5. Embarrassed myself by sobbing in front of girlfriends. 6. Sailed a boat. 7. Had a spiritual event in the New Mexican desert. 8. Slept on an air mattress for 14 months. 9. Swam from Georgia to South Carolina. 10. Hit a pedestrian with my car (he was alright).
What have you done?
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| 2008-09-03 11:24 |
| Dog |
| Public |
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Beth and I have been wanting a dog for a long time. O.K., maybe I've wanted one a bit more than Beth, she's never had a dog. I grew up with dogs- in fact my very first word was "dog". When we began looking for a new apartment months ago, we specifically looked for a place that allowed pets. We found a 1bedroom three blocks down the street, still very close to the park. The dog search was on. We made a failed attempt to see a specific dog in New Jersey and were denied another dog that was in foster care. Meanwhile we did a lot of research on dogs and even read Cesar Milan's dog psychology book.
Last Wednesday, we were in Rittenhouse Square for a concert series in the park. PAWS (Philly Animal Welfare Society) was walking a few of their adoptable dogs around trying to find them homes. We went over and met "King", a 4 year-old St. Bernard/Collie mix, who was friendly and pretty subdubed. We took him for a walk and talked to Stacey, a very friendly and enthusiastic animal lover and volunteer. We liked him, so we adopted him and picked him up three days later.
His previous family couldn't afford to keep him, in fact they couldn't even afford to feed him. He has bald patches on his back from lack of vitamins and he's super skinny, but steady meals will fix all of that. We renamed him "Hugo" and he's a sweetheart. A little timid, but friendly, he'll let you do anything to him. We've yet to hear him bark and he never whimpers. Unfortunately the poor guy has kennel cough, a hefty dog cold. He wheezes, snorts and coughs. You can tell he's totally congested. He did have a bit of separation anxiety the first time we left him alone. He climbed up on the window sill to look out and knocked everything onto the floor.
The dog is a big adjustment. No more sleeping until 10am. No more spontaneously going out after work. We have an animal living in our apartment! But he's a good dog and we feel like he's going to make a great member of our family.
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What sense does it make to charge people money, so they can recycle their electronic equipment?
How is this going to encourage people not to put their lead and magnesium filled devices into a landfill?
I know I can recycle cell phones for free at Best Buy, anyone know where I can take my monitor where it's not going to cost me $10 (cough, cough, Staples)?
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| 2008-06-17 16:16 |
| Music |
| Public |
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I am trying to put together music to play for the after-party.
Right now I have about 2.5 hours, but if you want to dance until 2am, I'm gonna need suggestions for another 1.5.
Right now, I have lots of 80's music, some classic rap and a little bit of funk.
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| 2008-06-06 16:49 |
| Benji |
| Public |
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Last night Beth, Adrienne and I went to The Electric Factory to see the fabulous Rilo Kiley. They were great, but one of their opening acts was a dude by the name of Benji Hughes. He comes out looking like an overweight mountain man: Hair down to his nipples, with a scraggly beard about as long. By the end of the first song, he's lying on the stage. Everyone in the audience is like "Who the fuck is this guy?" At one point he takes out his phone and says, "Jamiroqui just text me because he wants to sell is Lamborghini to a guy that wants a Ferrari." What? For the last song he took off his shirt to reveal a large bruise on his back and a very healthy gut.
The thing is, he was really great. His songs were good and funny and it was obvious he didn't take himself very seriously. I tried looking him up today and found out his debut album comes out July 22, but you can hear some of his songs at his label's website. Check the man out.
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Whoa, you know those Geico ads with the celebrities? I just saw one with Mrs. Butterworth! I think my head is going to explode!
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A couple weeks ago I was contacted by Philadelphia artist Austin Lee, who was putting together a website of art video pieces.
He asked if I'd like to be on the site with four other artists, so now you can see all my animations without squinting!
Check it all out at ARTVID.NET
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I was finally able to get it up on Youtube. Check it out here.
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Ben, Adrienne, Beth and I watched the SuperBowl last Sunday and after a very exciting game, the Patriots lost (and Ben won a free meal).
I did notice that the promo they filmed over the summer with the Marines standing in front of Independence Hall was absent. I'm sure it was originally made for that segment in the very beginning where they read the entire Declaration of Independence. What was that all about? Who thinks anyone (especially people three or four beers in) paid any attention to that after the first three sentences?
We were joking that we wanted to see a Bald Eagle swoop down, land on Tom Brady's arm and salute the American Flag. Maybe next time they can CGI that in.
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Right now, I can't get enough of Brad Neely's simple animations. Tripped-out, crude, weird, ridiculous and funny.
Check out the Professor Brothers who sing about JFK and tell their history class about movies and bible stories.
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I'm going to try and get a real job for next fall. This February, I will be attending the College Art Association conference in Dallas, TX.
There, I will hopefully have a few interviews for teaching positions for Fall of 2008. Most of the applications are due the middle of January, so right now I'm going over all my Teaching Portfolio stuff that I haven't looked at since grad school. It is loads of fun.
My biggest problem is I don't have a whole lot of teaching experience. I taught one six week class, but I did graduate from a good school and I do have a college teaching certificate from Brown. So, I'm hoping that will all add up for me. We will see. The competition for these jobs is immense. You have thousands of people like me, who got an MFA, have been out of school for a bit and decided that a steady paycheck would be nice. If you can actually get a teaching position, the pay is good and many of them are tenure-track, although those are even harder to get.
Everyone wants the jobs on the coasts and many of my professors say you have to do your time in Kansas or Oklahoma for a few years before you can land a job in Boston or San Francisco. I'm sorry, but I really don't want to teach in North Dakota, even if it is only for a few years. But, I am doing a nationwide job search, even though Beth and I have mixed feelings about leaving Philadelphia. We feel that we haven't been here for very long and Beth started a new job a few months ago that she likes. I'd like to get the position teaching printmaking at the Univ. of Delaware, which is only an hour away. That way I could commute from the city and Beth and I would have enough money to actually buy a house and start having a family.
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So, we put the movie "300" on our Netflix and watched it the other night. Visually, it is a very attractive movie. Most of the scenes were shot in front of a green screen, so the creators were really able to control the atmosphere and the lighting. It also seemed like half the movie took place in slow-motion, probably so you could see in detail, all the bloody violence that was well choreographed.
As I was watching it though, I was thinking to myself, "this movie is somewhat dangerous."
I remember that when it came out over the summer, it did very well in the theatres. There was also a small uproar from Iran because the movie depicts ancient Greek soldiers (the West) defending themselves from the Persian army (Modern Iran). Its not hard to see how that could cause a stink. Many were also surprised that a country that is so tired of war, would go see a movie that glorifies war, and I guess that's my point. The movie is dangerous because it romanticizes war and violence and it does it while shouting "freedom".
Over a month ago, I was reading an article in the New York Times Magazine about German film-maker, Michael Haneke. He had an some interesting things to say about the American media:
“Political manipulation is rampant in the American media, it’s present in the movies too, of course. It’s everywhere. I teach film-making in Vienna, and I like to show my students ‘Triumph of the Will,’ by Leni Riefenstahl, then something by Sergei Eisenstein — ‘Battleship Potemkin,’ for example — and then ‘Air Force One,’ the movie in which Harrison Ford plays the U.S. president. Each of these films has a distinct political agenda, but all make use of exactly the same techniques, all have a common goal — the total manipulation of the viewer. What’s terrible about the Harrison Ford film, though, especially terrible, is that it represents itself as simple entertainment. The audience doesn’t realize there’s a message hidden there.”
I was struck by his thoughts on "Air Force One", an action movie I had never given a second thought about. It turns the American president - an elected politician - into an action hero. Cut to six years later and we have our Cowboy-wannabe president strutting on the deck of an aircraft carrier in a flight suit. Talk about manipulation. I thought it was outrageous then, but looking back, you can clearly see how everything was choreographed as slickly as a Hollywood movie.
Am I making too much of this? Is "Air Force One" and "300" just stupid entertainment? Is there so much visual information out there, that we all just take it passively in?
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After a very exciting playoff series with the Cleavland Indians, the Red Sox have made it again to the World Series.
It should be an interesting Series. The Rockies have won 20 of their last 21. But they haven't played a game in over a week. It'll go to five games if not seven.
Beth and I felt a little bad for the Indians (her more than me), they played hard. In 2004, we couldn't give a crap about the Yankees, because they were the Yankees, and we didn't feel anything for the Cardinals, because they sucked and we took them in 4 games.
I've missed watching the games, we don't have ESPN or satellite radio, so the only time I get to see them is if they're playing the Yankees or in the playoffs. Of course, I haven't gotten much done the past week and a half because my job has been working me hard and I've been watching baseball.
I wish I was back in New England for this. There is such a fervor and a sense of energy when the team is in the playoffs, let alone the World Series. When they won the Series in 2004, I stepped outside of our apartment and it sounded as if the entire city of Providence was cheering.
Philly is nuts about the Eagles, but they're stinking it up this year.
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Holy crap! I just checked out google map's StreetView option that they have for major American cities. Craziness!
Try it out:
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So the other week, I was downtown giving my tour, and they had the area around Independence Hall blocked off because they were filming a commercial. The Marine Honor Guard was lined up in the street with their dress uniforms and their rifles. They were not there, however, to make a commercial for the Marines. They were there to make a commercial (or a promo) for the f-ing Super Bowl!
Give it a rest people. Stop equating a professional sport with freedom, the Constitution and a branch of the military, who are being killed overseas. Its like that Chevy commercial, have you seen it? Its the one with the John Mellencamp song "This is Our Country" playing in the background - . . ."and this is America's truck."
What other abstract ideas or ideologies can we commodify and sell?
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You can see my new video on Youtube .
Let me know what you think.
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Beth turned 30 Friday, so we rented a hotel for the night downtown. I met her there after I got off of work and we partook in the pool and jacuzzi. We then got dressed and walked to a restaurant called Alma de Cuba, a fusion Carribbean place. Wow. Fantastic meal.
The next night we got together with all our friends in town and some from out (Melissa, Adam, Chris & Jennifer came down from NYC). We met up at the Standard Tap and had food and drinks and after some confusion, found a bar called N 3rd. They had a pin ball machine and big paintings of boobies. From there we went to a place called Abbaye and then jumped in a taxi home.
We slept-in the next morning and then walked with all of our NY friends to brunch at the White Dog. All in all, a superb weekend, even though it rained pretty much all day Sunday.
While Melissa was here, she was raving about this HBO show, Flight of the Conchords. You can watch their music videos on Youtube and they are hilarious. All genres of music and they're all good. Here is one of my favorites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY8jaGs7xJ0I have a show coming up here in Philly. I submitted a proposal for a show in a space in Kennsington called Little Berlin. Its a warehouse from the 1800's that two artists are using for studio space and they decided they wanted to show some work. My show is called The Reality Show and it opens Sept. 14. It deals with the blurring between truth and fiction, subjective realities and its implications on politics, culture and morals. I am going to be pretty busy the next few weeks.
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Hello All,
I've talked to a lot of you, but if you have not heard by now, Beth and I got engaged!
While we were in Boston, I proposed sitting on a bench in Boston Public Gardens.
She said "yes", so we're gonna get hitched! We're thinking next July here in Philly.
Beth also has some photos up on-line of our different trips and the ring. Check 'em out.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95107964@N00/
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I am reading an interesting book right now, it's called After Theory by Terry Eagleton. Basically it charts the rise and gradual fall of critical cultural theory. He makes a very interesting point that I had never given much thought: There was a time when culture and capitalism were at odds(up until the 1960's).
"Culture was about values rather than prices, the moral rather than the material, the high-minded rather than philistine. It was about the cultivation of human powers as ends in themselves rather than for some ignobly utilitarian motive. . . It was the rickety shelter where the values and energies which industrial capitalism had no use for could take refuge. It was the place where the erotic and symbolic, the ethical and mythological, the sensuous and affective, could set up a home in a social order which had less and less time for any of them."
Eventually culture became a commodity that has been sold back to us. The perfect example is music or the lifestyles that surround music. Rock N' Roll and these days especially Hip Hop. They use it to sell clothes, jewelry, cars, soft drinks.
Look at the Peace movement in the 1960's. Its been packaged for nostalgic boomers.
What does everyone think? We've been living with it our whole lives. Does it have an impact on what comes out of a culture? Does everyone sell-out eventually? Is it inevitable?
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