| Prep your spoons? |
[18 Jun 2007|03:06pm] |
Onceuponatime....
We all thought ourselves so cutting edge and hip and neo-victorian steampunk drab or maybe neo-bootlegger meets crunchy chic because we'd find a way to get some absinthe and drink it (or use it as a substitute bongwater? good god..... We are truly the inhumans). Perhaps we wanted to be more like giants or wondered what color their vomit (to list a few, Mr. Van Goh, Mr. Hemmingway, Mr. Picasso, Mr. Rimbaud and more). We would have someone smuggle it back from the long ex-expatriated homelands which once scoffed at our liberalism one way and now do it in another key (like an alto-soprano/bassanova carwreck). We hid away in basements and poorly decorated apartments.... Neither of which ever had a proper light to speak of, making for particular fireworks for those of us who tried the fire and sugar method of preparing for consumption. Alas, the only hallucination i got close to thanks to the stuff was watching some plastic melt in the aforementioned controlled blaze and perhaps getting high off those fumes but some of you out there might have fonder memories of green tinted liquid you couldn't possibly drink straight unless you wanted to put hair on your chest and if you already had hair on your chest well really i don't want to know where the hair actually wound up when all was said and done.
Well however you remember it, now the goddamn stuff's available in liquor stores in the U.S.
Oh dear....
Does that mean we were heralding a new age? or an old age renewed? or ahead of the curve? Ahead of our time? Are we BEHIND the times now? If we still drink it, does it make us now like anyone else? Can we still turn up our noses, not only at the pungent aroma of bizarre liquid and wormwood but also at those who would be so silly as to not be like us because now, L00k behold in shock and awe as we purchase the damn bottles from our corner liquor stores. OH GOD WHY WON'T YOU JUST SHOW ME THE LIGHT BECAUSE I'VE ALREADY TOLD YOU THAT THE LAMP IS BROKEN IN OUR LIVING ROOM!!!!
and what's this? it's flying off the shelves "like water" says the stores? can it be? will anarchy descend? will we all become a new nation of miscreants and bastards, streets full of wasteful navelgazing nobody hedonist scrubs like you and I, stumbling along until the next fine brunch and hairofthedogcure pulls us out of groggy sunday morning purgatory? Yeh, we should be so fucking lucky. We could lead that army... right off the cliff. And then the streets are OURS again.
Does anyone smell "party"? Does anyone want to buy me a bottle? Don't hate me because now I want into the game even though all are in. Hate me because I'm beautiful.
let the good times roll
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| More Nostalgia Catches Up To Me: Summer Buggin |
[25 May 2007|12:53am] |
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The Clogs - Lantern |
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Growing up in the suburbs didn't exactly place me at the heart of the wilderness, but close enough that I could find my chances to enjoy it. Many of my strongest and fondest memories come from the natural world around my house or excursions to parks or the middle of nowhere...
Tonight it occurred to me that it has been some time since I've seen a firefly. I've spent the last couple summers in the city, so of course I haven't seen any fireflies there. But even during the summer when I've stopped back in the 'burbs, I haven't had a chance to see any fireflies.
I don't think there's anything unique about my experience of fireflies. Watching them dance in the front or back yard, occasionally having one land on your hand, sometimes putting a couple in a jar with holes in the lid...
But they (much like the cicada which makes up the background of this LJ) were the landmarks of my summertime. I do miss them. And if they've disappeared from my neighborhood I'll be pretty disappointed. Come visit me over the course of the summer and if we can find them, we'll go chasing (even if that means jumping the fence to the golf course).
In Culture:
- firefly lanterns were used in China onceuponatime
- the Mayans sometimes referred to the firefly as Queen of the Stars
- Yayoi Kusama's "Fireflies on The Water"
In Books:
- Hard to think of many off the top of my head (though i'm sure there are many), but this post in particular was inspired by a passage from Norwegian Wood
- Ogden Nash and Robert Frost both have their odes to the firefly.
In Films:
- The television tells me that some movie titled Bug premieres tomorrow. It looks like poo.
- I actually have been meaning to see Grave of the Fireflies
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| A Productive Class Session.... |
[30 Apr 2007|08:40pm] |
So in class today, while debating history versus memory versus "the past" this sorta just happened:
Any suggestions on what I could add to the little guy? is he a little guy? Or is he huge? I'll post updates if I do change it.
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| At this point I'm not even sure it ever even happened... |
[30 Apr 2007|10:04am] |
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A weird memory this morning of something I don't think I've experienced since childhood, but "way back when" I feel like it was something I normally noticed:
Being out in a field on a nice spring/summer day with hardly a noticeable breeze and watching the shadows of the clouds move quickly along the ground, chasing the shade, rolling down hills.
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| Surveying my digital memory |
[20 Apr 2007|02:02pm] |
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looking at my Del.icio.us tags...
by frequency
1.politics
2.art
3.comics
4.history
5.science
6.Bush
Bush is tied w/ "humor"
not that that points to any sort of correlation
just thought it was funny
also, Terrorism and America are just about tied
"Bullshit" comes in at #20, though I've been consciously restraining myself from using it too often (otherwise it'd probably be appended to every mention of Bush as well).
"Archives" comes in at #28. I can probably do better than that.
of the 8 items under "ToDo" i have done one and expect to do 3 others. The other 4 will probably never happen.
This metadata needs some serious house keeping... maybe over the summer?
Curious parties can find it at http://del.icio.us/hungryghoast/
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| "We are already dead. We are Robot Jox!" |
[29 Mar 2007|07:56pm] |
In possibly the most exciting news this calendar year, Michael Jackson has said he wants to build a giant 50 foot robot of himself that will roam the desserts outside of Las Vegas and shoot laser beams out of its eyes.
I am not making this up.
Why is this so exciting? Because we are well on our way to becoming the first country to suffer a giant robot attack. Japan is, of course, the odds-on favorite for this and I'd wager on the good Ol' U.S. of A for the come from behind victory... but if I'm right, that means Vegas gets destroyed and probably the record of my bet with it.....
Is this so far-fetched? Let us not forget that in the Moonwalker videogame, Jackson, when united with his pet monkey Bubbles, can turn into a death dealing robot. It has been foretold. So, Has Jeff Koons doomed us all?
Actually, maybe we're okay if it's just part of a larger prophecy... Wherein our hero of the desert, Tom Jones, will rise up to battle the evil robot. He will, of course, be tragically slain and impaled on top of the Luxor Hotel. And then, in our darkest hour, the pure and noble blood of Tom Jones will awaken the Sphinx at the Luxor who will battle the Mecha-Jackson, win, and become our representative in some sort of twisted version of Robot Jox.
Apparently, the Chinese giant monster has stalled because it has no eyes. But I'm still scared for when it might awaken.
Sadly, the chosen giant champion for the Italians seems to be dead on arrival.
Of course, I could be (sadly) entirely wrong about the Mecha-Jackson ushering in a worldwide stable of giant robots/monsters which will henceforth settle geopolitical disputes.... This could, instead, simply be a ploy by Jackson to reach out and touch Little Giant Children:
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| Random Notes On A Random Topic: Patty Hearst |
[03 Mar 2007|02:14pm] |
- How many people who didn't live through the event of the Hearst kidnapping and her subsequent bank heist actually remember Patty Hearst? I realize now that it's probably more than I figured thanks to her extensive involvement in pop-cult culture and jokes (as evidenced by her acting career and her extensive "trivia" section on wikipedia). It's also amusing that that's how this story should be perpetuated.
I think asking how she is remembered, if at all, is particularly relevant considering how the movie Network saw fit to parody the extensive coverage the Hearst case got. On one hand, I could see criticizing media excess, particularly in the face of a story centering on a popular personality. The portion of the media that covers the media itself has gone nuts recently in frustration over how Britney Spears and Anna Nicole Smith have gotten hundreds of times more airplay than the current government's foibles and beating war-drum/bloodlust for Iran. That said, I think the story of Patty Hearst was one worth covering, particularly since it involved a self-stylized Robin Hood-like organization, a bank heist, and the granddaughter of one of the most important figures in American history. It's was an interesting story at the time that could have inspired (and still can inspire) a lot of questions about what's going on in our society. The only question that Britney and Anna Nicole seem to inspire is, "Why do we bother being so obsessed with them?"
- Has anyone else noticed how the Symbionese Liberation Army's symbology is a rip-off of Marvel Comics' terrorist organization HYDRA? Granted that the Hydra is a pretty effective symbol to be utilized by terrorist and subversive organizations... "Cut one of us down and two more will take our place," and all that... But I just can't take the ideas of the SLA seriously knowing that Stan Lee, in all his dramatic non-sensery, beat them too it.
- HYDRA also have their own lady representative in the form of Lady Hydra:
Dramatic? yes... And those HYDRA agents sure seem into it with their lit torches. But I'd take Patty and her full auto M1 Carbine over Ms. Fanatic there, personally.
- From the aforementioned Patty Hearst wiki trivia section:
"Singer Madonna arguably based the cover image for her 2003 album American Life on Hearst's famous photo; however, she instead called it a tribute to Che Guevara."
Hmmm... the Che thing was played out at least a good decade ago and unless Madonna was making a comment on the absurd commodification of the Che image in America (she might have been, but I'm inclined to doubt it if she calls it a "tribute"), she probably would've been better off referencing Patty. Actually, by 2003 even that sort of comment about Che (and his image) had been done to death (and probably most intelligently done by the International Center of Photography's exhibit "Che! Revolution and Commerce"). Moral of the story? I dunno, maybe it's that we all get old and unchallenging eventually? Or maybe that remaining so is reserved for the select few and special among us? Notice: I said "unchallenging." Madonna, at this point, might never be "irrelevant," but she's certainly nowhere near the rebel she once was or imagines herself to still be.
-Also from the wiki trivia:
"Washington, DC area sandwich shop chain Booeymonger offers a sandwich named after Hearst. It consists of fresh turkey breast, bacon, melted provolone cheese with Russian dressing served on a French baguette"
Hmm... Can anyone figure the rationalization for this combo of ingredients? I think I could do better.... (I don't fool around when it comes to sandwiches)
-Also, via my poking around for this post:
http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/madamehydra2.jpg
"only by purifying my soul -- by the spilling of others' blood by the blood lust of my own -- will i be worthy of my trust"
Wow, that's a doozy
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| The trial of my life... My Bookshelf |
[06 Feb 2007|02:09pm] |
Warning: post may be of interest to librarians, archivists and extreme bibliophiles only. And even then....
So I am wondering.... How in the heck am I to catalog a book like Beasts!
Perhaps this is a ridiculous thing to obsess over, but I take this sort of thing (i.e. organizing my personal papers and book collection) pretty seriously. I spend all day organizing the papers of other people and organizations that I wonder... When I die after being rich and famous and someone needs to organize my papers, what sort of state will they be in? Actually, no, I don't have nearly that inflated sense of self legacy (yet). Frankly, this is just the way my brain works. Besides, I admire fellows like Thomas Jefferson and apparently he took this shit seriously too.
So Beasts!... The reason I know about this book is through my monitoring of happenings within the comic book community. The book is filled with art by various comic book, comic strip, and graphic novel artists who each took one cryptozoological creature and provided an illustration for it (with some pretty fantastic results). I even bought the book at my Local Comic Shop. So I'm fairly compelled to include it with my other comics, collected editions, and graphic novels. That said... I just don't feel comfortable putting it there. There's no narrative here, no panels... It's published by Fantagraphics, but it just doesn't cut it as a comic book. So let's take it as a book on Cryptozoology, since really that's what it is. More specifically, and especially since it is set up in an entry style manner, I'd put it under Crytozoology-Encyclopedias or even Crytozoology-Handbooks, manuals, etc (all LCSH's). But then would I put it with reference books? Or books specifically on animals? NYU has a couple books classified under these LCSHs, so I thought I'd browse the shelf to see what sort of books reside alongside them. What caught my eye on this shelf were terms like "beastly folklore" and "animal lore in English literature." In the end, Beasts! will find its way onto my shelf within the general area of literature, but particularly next to my books on Italian folklore and the tales of the Brothers Grimm.
Beasts! is just an example. Most books are pretty easy to place into my intellectual organization, but every now and then something like this comes along that I find particularly hard to place and... I enjoy it. I actually have more fun the more troubling it is to fit a book into my idea of how the intellectual world is organized (and I'll probably have similar, and actually more difficult problems with Borges's Book of Imaginary Beings). In the days when I was simply juggling a couple part time jobs (and actually had MUCH more free time on my hands than I do now in my graduate-student career) I used to re-organize my entire bookshelf whenever I got bored. Most people probably find this insanely pointless and even boring. But I'm sure at the same time there's a subset within those people who completely sympathized with the main character of High Fidelity constantly re-organizing his musical collection, particularly when he decided to do so "autobiographically."
It is no only what we collect which expresses who we are, but how we decide to organize, keep, and portray it. There are debates over whether this is important (believe it or not). One such debate goes on over Yoshio Kishi's archives of the Yellow Peril. This one filmmaker decided to accumulate documents, art, and ephemera related to the demonizing of Asians in America. To some it's enough that all this material is collected and displayed. The collection can be broken up, cataloged according to the standards of whatever repository it winds up in and, if possible, cross referenced as having come from the Kishi collection. To others, however, the very organization of this material is important. In other words, how it is grouped and set up is an expression of the collector himself. For those that subscribe to this philosophy of collecting as art and expression, to break up the organization of this material that Kishi himself has imposed would be a violence against both Kishi's expression and the collection itself.
As I've already said above, to some people this sort of philosophical agony over the organization of books or collected materials is completely asinine. But perhaps, without being fully conscious of it, you've projected your intellect or personality onto a collection of your own. If you're a collector of any sort, be it music, books, or even Hummel figurines, take a look at how your collection is organized and wonder for a moment, Why did I do things that way, after all?
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| *cough* |
[22 Nov 2006|10:30pm] |
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I didn't mean to start this thing up and then suddenly disappear, but I've been sick.
I hate being sick. I find it terribly frustrating. It doesn't bother me so much that I do get sick, I just can't stand when it goes on and on.
It's prolonged weakness that I can't seem to do anything about which really gets to me. Wooziness. And the inability to think.
Here's hoping I can be productive in spite of it all. I've been posting to the blogs and getting to some work Friday (or maybe even tomorrow) shouldn't be too much trouble, I guess....
And yknow, it's Thanksgiving so I could manage to be thankful. And there's certainly enough to be thankful FOR....
Hello family.
hello friends.
hello good eats and fun toys.
(funny enough, last year I didn't say I was thankful for my health. Ha.)
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| Back? |
[13 Nov 2006|02:52pm] |
So I've gone and resurrected this old thing (with some help). But here's the thing, I don't know anyone out there in the LJ world... The only real "friend" I can recall having on here has a habit of regularly dissapearing from the Internet for long spans of time. So I'm still trying to figure out how to reach out and touch, LJ style....
Anyone out there? Hello?
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| The Inequality Among Mankind |
[13 May 2003|07:35pm] |
The body being the only instrument that savage man is acquainted with, he employs it to different uses, of which ours, for want of practice, are incapable; and we may thank our industry for the loss of that strength and agility, which necessity obliges him to acquire. Had he a hatchet, would his hand so easily snap off from an oak so stout a branch? Had he a sling, would it dart a stone to so great a distance? Had he a ladder, would he run so nimbly up a tree? Had he a horse, would he with such swiftness shoot along the plain? Give civilized man but time to gather about him all his machines, and no doubt he will be an overmatch for the savage: but if you have a mind to see a contest still more unequal, place them naked and unarmed one opposite to the other; and you will soon discover the advantage there is in perpetually having all our forces at our disposal, in being constantly prepared against all events, and in always carrying ourselves, as it were, whole and entire about us.
---Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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[11 May 2003|03:11pm] |
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If i could explode into a fine mist, then you could water your plants with me.
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thewolpertinger's journal
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