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Thursday, July 31, 2003 Can't help myself: yet another fone foto and of a cat, too! Quel horreur! Blog no-no! Little Red says, Hey, that phone looks like a mouse. posted at 1:49 PM Happy birthday, Jenni! Yet another surreptitious phone photo on the patio of a (different) Mexican restaurant. posted at 11:04 AM Optical delusion day Optical illusions abound. MC Escher and dj.... oh, that's old, never mind.... And these amazing Flash movies of various "lightness illusions". via Reflections in d minor via the Blowhards Then Rodney sent me this wacked out thing. posted at 10:50 AM Monday, July 28, 2003 Happy Birthday, Calvin My nephew is three years old today. (He doesn't like having his photo taken, but he didn't notice my spy phone camera.) posted at 4:34 PM Friday, July 25, 2003 Paynter interviews Chris 'Rageboy' Locke Sandhill Trek Presents... the Avuncular Chris Locke I was glad to hear Chris mention the grammar/glamour connection. posted at 1:31 PM Thursday, July 24, 2003 Phone photo Finally borrowed a Bluetooth dongle and figured out how to synch my phone's contacts with my computer's Outlook contacts and download the photos. Surprise! The quality is not as crappy as I thought it would be. About as good as my old digital camera. posted at 4:29 PM Subject: Re: gullible, Get Your Gold Visa Card with NO Credit Wow, some of these spammers are really up-front honest! posted at 1:52 PM Cremaster 5 Matthew Barney: The CREMASTER Cycle Gerry and I went to see Cremaster 5 last night. Sumptuous filmmaking, scenery, and costuming, glacial pace, weird and self-indulgent as all hell. I just googled "Cremaster + self indulgent" and, just as I expected, found the 2 terms almost synonymous. Gerry saw all 5 (but then he is a total film nut); this was my first and last for awhile. I might check out 3 when it comes out on DVD. The website is just as spiffy as the film, and the trailer (on the site) is much faster paced, but just as beautiful. I really think I would've liked this more when I was younger. When I liked weird for weird's sake; which I still do, to a lesser extent. UPDATE: In thinking more about it, I searched cremaster + masturbation, then, just for fun: cremasterbation. Sure enough, there's plenty there. But that's not necessarily a put down, is it? posted at 10:23 AM Friday, July 18, 2003 The Fall - Wikipedia The Fall's entry in the Wikipedia posted at 2:04 PM The Fall photos Here are my photos of The Fall from Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. Realized later that my posting from after the show, when I said I'd be late to work 'tomorrow morning' that it was in fact the same morning. posted at 1:29 PM Street art the latest underground artform to be co-opted Wooster Collective finds that the underground artform they celebrate, street art, is the latest to be co-opted by the advertising world. posted at 12:44 PM Thursday, July 17, 2003 The Fall Just getting home from seeing my favorite band of all time, The Fall. It's a little late. I'm glad I told 'em I'd be a little late to work tomorrow morning. I may or may not have some photos to post. I dropped my camera and a little while later realized that the memory stick was still laying on the floor in all the beer and sweat. But the camera seems to have survived. posted at 3:09 AM Monday, July 14, 2003 Negativland Mark Hosler of Negativland was in Austin Saturday night, speaking and showing Negativland videos. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Especially during the video "Gimme the Mermaid," which is sheer genius. Or at least, it was for me. I've been following Negativland for 20 years, so it could be an acquired taste. Negativland has been exploring copyright issues for some time (especially after being sued by U2 for copyright violation). In "Gimme the Mermaid," Disney's Little Mermaid is mouthing vitriolic copyright nonsense -- "I own it. I control it" -- while the disembodied head of The Weatherman (of Negativland) sings Black Flag's Gimme Gimme Gimme. Oh, my lord, I was in heaven. You can watch "Gimme the Mermaid" and a bunch of other stuff at Illegal Art. posted at 3:52 PM Friday, July 11, 2003 Shakes the punk I love it. Tempted to buy the poster. Shakespeare looking like a skinny Henry Rollins. Very cool. Colorado Shakespeare Festival via ::: wood s lot ::: On a related note, I learn from my "Forgotten English" desk calendar - thanks Jenni! - that today is the birthday of Rev. Thomas Bowdler (1754-1825), the guy who liked to clean up (censor) Shakespeare (and others) to avoid anything "which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family." He had a best-seller in his 10-volume 1818 edition of Shakespeare's works. posted at 10:15 AM Thursday, July 10, 2003 Banksy When we were in Bristol UK awhile back, we discovered the graffiti artist, Banksy. Now I find, via the NY-based Wooster Collective, that Banksy has a very impressive website. It's done like a narrative. And my fave is the stencil gallery/narrative. posted at 4:42 PM TinyURL.com TinyURL.com - where tiny is better! What an excellent idea. Thanks to fellow Fall fan Chris for turning me on to this. Enter a long URL to make tiny: Try it. I just changed the below link to Ali G at amazon.co.uk, which is long (86 characters): http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005U8PE/ qid=1057853004/026-0566674-1766841 to the "following TinyURL which has a length of 23 characters": http://tinyurl.com/gkmw posted at 2:40 PM Ali G In Da House Damn, but in a totally different sense! This was as funny (smart, funny, and very, very stupid) as Rabbit-Proof Fence was intense and beautiful. The best and worst of British comedy, all in one flick. posted at 12:52 PM Wednesday, July 09, 2003 Rabbit-Proof Fence Damn. posted at 10:46 AM Thinking aloud or communicating clearly, etc In the first blog entry I read this morning, AKMA blogs about speaking or writing clearly. Communicating carefully. In the second, blog I checked, I realized Friedrich von Blowhard, over at 2blowhards.com, had commented on my comment on his blog entry 'Rethinking Kitsch' and felt I hadn't understood his point. And no wonder... somehow I missed that part of my education, how to communicate clearly. Odd, given that I was an English Lit major. Well, I can read, even if I can't write. The 'Rethinking Kitsch' entry brought up a lot more points of interest for me than the point he says he was trying to make. What especially resonated for me were some quotes about Modernism as defining itself against consumer culture. I have been thinking lately about Modernism vs Postmodernism - oddly, the more I read about Postmodernism, the more I realize how Modern my arts and literature education was. And how many 'Modern' prejudices I have. I think that reading 2blowhards has definitely been a factor in helping me see this more clearly. In a sense, feeling 'Modern' makes me feel old fashioned. But one can't skip steps of evolution, can one? Gotta 'get' Modernism, before you can get POMO (as it has come to be abbreviated - by detractors?). But the article also touched on Positive vs Negative feelings and emotions, something I've been reading about and trying to understand. Y'know, doing biofeedback, yoga, regular massage and the like... learning to feel good. Or at least O.K. Punk rock and Modernism (my usual diet) are often more about feeling bad. Johnny Rotten, Kafka, Sartre, y'know. Downers. There was a LOT of stuff in that rather disjointed entry, and I hope both Blowhards take it up again. Also, Friedrich's article introduced me to the Wikipedia! From the Wikipedia: "Modernism only flourished in consumer/capitalist societies, despite the fact that its proponents often rejected consumerism itself." posted at 9:19 AM Tuesday, July 08, 2003 Totally cool symbols   Alchemical symbols for brimstone and glass. Lots more where these came from. Here, via comments in AKMA's blog posted at 11:14 AM Thursday, July 03, 2003 Bubba's Isetta Some photos from last night. Bubba showed us the 1958 BMW Isetta he's been restoring. posted at 1:19 PM Anoles carolinensis While I'm posting photos I took yesterday, I might as well share this green genie (Green Anole) I saw yesterday. Folks 'round here usually call him a chameleon 'cause he changes colors from green to brown and back again. Click him for an enlargement. posted at 11:12 AM clouds We've been having the most amazing clouds lately - after such a long dry spell... but still no rain. I've really been struck by clouds recently. Maybe the lack of them made me appreciate them when they returned. Reminds me of a childhood friend of mine that used to take pictures of clouds. He'd come back from vacation with nothing but cloud pictures. I thought he was a bit weird. "Let me tell you about Sweden Only country where the clouds are interesting."         -The Stranglers, Sweden posted at 11:05 AM Wednesday, July 02, 2003 National Do Not Call Registry I sure hope this works. I hate telemarketers even more than spammers. via spoonful of antimatter via The Austin Index posted at 10:14 AM