No posts for awhile, I've been doing alot of thinking, not web surfing. I woke up one morning (1pm being my morning) and started looking at what it had become. Days and night spent in front of a monitor, time had become an abstract concept, weather was nothing. I have been creating fuck all for artwork. Why? And I asked myself a question which I'll propose to all of you too:
" What was your life like before computers?"
For the past couple years I'd wake up and surf the net for news and info as I ate breakfast and had coffe, maybe play a couple games before I went to work to sit
infront of a computer all day. Come home and instead of coffee, I'd have a beer and do the same. Instead of using the computer as a tool to create art, the computer became my TV. My time killer. I have not had a TV for months now because I hated wasting all that time infront of it. It's like a Starbucks, you hate Starbucks because it's corporate and kills all the local long standing coffee houses. But when one pops up in your neighboorhood one morning you find yourself there. But I didn't count on the computer/ internet jumping up to fill that space and taking whatever was left with it. It sucked me in whole and I cozied up into it's warm belly.
And then one morning I woke up and walked into my living room and noticed something was strange, it hit me like a air raid siren. Total silence. It took me a couple moments to figure out what was going on. No cooling fans, no CPU's humming, no flashing lights or monitors. The power was out on my block. For the first time in months my apartment was dead silent. The silence of a blackout is probably as unnatural to us as a eclipse was to primitive people. No humming fridge, blinking ansewring machine or fire alarms. No cieling fans. Couldn't call anyone (which was my second impulse) cause the phone is cordless and need power. So I went about boiling some water for coffee and stood there, normally I would be on the net already, what do I do instead? I looked around and noticed all the dust everywhere but the keyboard, so I cleaned that. Coffee's done, now what? I started to pace cause I could think of nothing to do, I eventually picked up a art history book sat on my porch and read all morning long, having one of the best days I've had for as long as I could remember. So relaxing and focusing. The power popped back on with a chorus of MAC start up chimes, ethernet beeps and monitor clicks and I went about my day as normal. But the seed was planted and the next day I woke up thinking ,"What the hell did I do with my time before the computer?". I realized everything I no longer did; no more morning walks, bike rides, reading or sketching. Just the computer. Which I originally got so I could do more artwork. The tool I bought to help me be more creative turned out to sap it all out of me. All these moments a creative person needs to feed the muse and gather ideas turned into pure information gathering and learning stuff about the computer. Does that make sense to anyone? The computer became a monster that required constant attention instead of a tool to help me express myself easier. "If I learn Flash I could do this kind of project", "If I learn Final Cut I could do shorts", "If I learn a 3d program I could make animations" "Maybe this action in photoshop will give me a good effect". And instead of ever doing these projects I would alwas jump to another thing to learn and not have produced anything. The shear potential of the computer sucked me into it's world and I was hooked. Fuck.
Hell, I don't know what to make of any of this. I guess it's just a strange new modern problem we all have to deal with now. But I set down some new rules for myself so I can to get some of my old life back. No computer in the morning, thats time for playing drums, riding the bike and walks. Time for soaking up the day and getting my thoughts together instead of cramming more information into my hungry brain. And so far it's been great. And as we all know, I can't stop doing this stuff so I'll keep you all posted as to how it's going. Wish me luck.
Dogtown site, if you want to learn more about skateboardings history. Looks like they did a really good job on it too. Here's the Apple quicktime trailer for it also. And if you want to see alot of these legendary skaters today check out Old School Skate Jam. Its a jam that goes down once a year which is becoming legendary. People tell me it was a insane snake session, which is where people skate the bowl with a total disregard for others. Who cares if someone is in it right now, they drop in. No line or order. Whoever is hungriest goes. It's super fun cause it ups the energy level ten fold, but it can be really hard to hang and deal with if your not used to it.
Why is Blogging everywhere in the press right now? Making me feel like a bandwagon jumper, plus you have all these people defining what makes a good blog. Blah, if you like it come back to it, if you don't, don't. Thats whats great about the web, people can throw up whatever they want, no questions asked, no jury to decied if it's worthy or important enough. People can be free to express and create what they want. Who cares if 90% of it is crap, that just makes sites like Follow Me Here, Ethel and wood s lot that much better (those are my personal fav's). I guess I just have issues with criticism.
Ok, I'm off the soap box now. Guess I'll just munch on my frozen pizza and get ready for work.
interview with joe frank, one of my sources of inspiration at work. ever heard of the "taos hum"? well, i guess its happening in my home state of indiana. scary thoughts / facts on the president shrub, his oil ties and sept 11th. link to mp3's of william gibson reading "neuromancer", the entire book. almost lasted me a full shift tonight at work. must drink beer and numb myself now. self medication never tasted so good.........
very interesting... it seems that blogger does not like the opera browser at all. The entry window is two lines tall and about 20 characters wide. Hmmm, be right back
Ahh, much better. I've been using "Opera" as my browser and I like it alot better, seems to have alot of useful functions like a handy side bar for Google searches and stuff, plus it just looks cleaner. But it doesn't get along with Blogger or Hotmail though, oh well. So North Korea has responded to "the shrub" calling them a "Axis of Evil" by calling the U.S. the "empire of the devil". Gee, I didn't see that coming did you? Good job dipshit. Found a good site about pool skating for all of you who have no idea what I'm talking about when I talk about skateboarding. BTW, I went into gnarly hermit mode this weekend and didn't do ANYTHING at all but drink and play video games, so no skating was done. Actually, nothing at all was done. No cleaning, laundry, web stuff, etc. I did skate alittle bit around the parking lot at work today though. I like second shift ;-)
Found some rumor mongering about the LotR FoTR DVD (I just had to type it like that. For all you non-geek people with a life that translates into "Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Rings DVD"). I guess it's gonna be about 4 hours long and have alot more from the book in it. Gimli falling for Galandrial (sp?), more on the escape from the Shire, etc... Sounds great to me, supposed to be out around the end of summer. And lastly I thought I post some of Dave Barry's musings on the Olympic Games:
"On a more positive note, it turns out that, contrary to the rumors, you can get beer here. All you have to do is ask. And then take a simple blood test. Then you must fight the giant snake.
No, really, it's no big deal to get a beer. Unfortunately, because of strict Utah laws, the beer has roughly the same alcohol content as Yoo-Hoo."
Thank you all and have a good night.
In a “mood” today for some reason or another. No desire to leave the house or have any form of human contact. Fuck everybody. ezrael at “once I noticed” sums up my mood pretty well. And in this happy spirit I’ve been searching the web for strange and bitter tales to back up my current mood. In LA one of the first things you learn is DO NOT DRINK THE WATER. Its full of all sorts of heavy metal and other bad stuff. Heavy Metal, of course, rules if its been played by bat eating Englishmen, but sure does fuck up the nervous system if drank. Actually, Heavy Metal music might do some damage to the nervous system too, but that’s not my point. I got to the LA department of water web site and found this funny/scary FAQ page .
Samples from the page starting with the best question and answer
Q: Is Los Angeles City water safe to drink right from my faucet?
A: Probably yes.
Yes, the site says “Probably yes”. I imagine that gets all the lawyers off their back by saying “ Probably”. And the next question is even better!
Q: Is there any lead in my water?
A: There might be.
Good answer, good answer. One last entry….
Q: Do I need to treat the water before I use it for my fish?
A: Yes. Your drinking water contains disinfectants to inhibit bacterial growth. These disinfectants can kill fish.
So it will kill a fish because it has so many chemicals it, but it’s fine for little Johnny. That’s the great state of LA drinking water right now. Joy of joy.
While we are on the topic of LA synthetic zero has some observations about driving in LA. Which is favorable and for the most part true. When I let someone in front of me I get the “thank you wave” and I have noticed that people merge here much better then in Chicago where it was all about not letting other people in. BUT, I have never seen any other town where you’ll be driving along on the freeway and suddenly everyone slams on the brakes at once. Literally going from 70 to a complete stop in 30 yards. And then picking up all your cds , your briefcase and lunch off the passenger side floor. Usually for a backup caused by someone having a flat and everyone stopping to look. 10 feet past the car on the side of the road and traffic clears. Plus, I have swerved around some of the craziest shit on the highways. Mattresses, aluminum ladders, a desk, a couch, a homeless guy in the left hand lane of the 101 with a shopping cart at 7pm. And what defies logic is that these very large car-mangling objects do not slow traffic at all. Everyone is going along at 70 and you see the car in front swerve and then you see a freaking desk in the middle of your lane. But if it were off to the side everyone, of course, would have came to screeching halt to look at it and try to determine if it was a veneer or solid wood. Maybe even set up a small panel to determine if the desk has any "Vinatge" value, then starting a auction for the desk which would go on for weeks because it's not just a desk but "THE DESK" that started the traffic Jam on the 10 eastbound that begun ten years ago today. I could go on and on, so I won't.
On a more upbeat note. I really enjoy this guy’s comic. The parking lot is full. He’s humor is right in line with mine. My favorite comic right now is strip number 253:
“Crimes against monkeys are rarely reported to the police, and when they are reported, nothing much is done... mostly because crimes against monkeys are, really, really funny.”
He understands about the monkeys. You didn’t think I’d let a post slip by without mentioning those furry bastards did you? Oh no, the monkeys are all around. Right now though they have busied themselves with a game of poker so I am free to type what I wish for once. They have forgotten me in the excitment of their game, but how long will I be free of their torments? Vile demons.......
Diabolical evil plan number 1:
1: Study Tesla and frequencies to learn which ones could cause a humans head to blow apart.
2: Remix all the bad 80’e albums out there starting with “Flock of Seagulls” and include that frequency. BUT, make it so that only the combined frequencies of the song playing and a person SINGING that song to causes his / her head to blow up.
3: Distribute CD to every bar on Earth.
OK, so maybe this is not all that evil. What bad things could come from this? I see no possible negative effects. Anyone that would willingly sing to “Flock of Seagulls” in a bar deserves to die. It’s in every Holy Scripture ever written, from the Tao to Scientology as far as I know. I can see it know.
“So I raaaaaaannnnn, I ran so far awwwwaaayyyyyy…"
POP. Dead guy instead of drunk singing guy.
Pretty sweet huh?
Really good story here. Maybe a little overdramatic, but a good read. I thought this was agood line,
"Guns and blood taste about the same, except guns are oily and blood is salty like the sea."
'Tis true too, if you ever spent a night chewing on a gun you'd know......
Still no urge to go combing the internet for interesting stuff. Maybe I'm just content with Joe Frank right now. Plus, I'm busy as all get out at work (but not to busy to blog, heheheheh) so no time spent surfing on the clock. But some more interesting family drama occured over the weekend. First some background; my dad was ditched by his family at a young age and bounced all around the country from distant relative to distant relative till he landed in Hammond, Ind. I never heard much about his dad, I met one of his real brothers once when I was in 4th grade or something. Supposedly, he's a millionare out here in California, but I just remember he bought me a pair of cowboy boots and what 4th grader doesn't love cowboy boots? But I digress. I never heard much about his real father, but I eventually learned he lived in the same area as us and all that. Dad simply would not speak about him. Well, I guess he died this weekend and my mom went to the funeral. Why? I don't know. She mentions it in passing in a email followed by a much more involved description of the weather (it's cold). So she goes to the funeral while my dad WAITS IN THE CAR. Yes, he drives her to the funeral home and then sits in the car and refused to see him one last time. Hmmm..... issues? And just to make things stranger I guess he kept a book of articles on our family. Wedding annoucments, birth announcments, all sorts of stuff about Vietnam and my sister's rise and fall. I quess everyone was surprised as hell. Then my mom talks more about the weather. It's cold in Indiana right now in case you were wondering. I had no idea it got cold there, did you? Strange, I wonder what happened in my dads family that he would be seperated from them like that. But I wonder alot about what that man went through. I really don't know shit about his life and what he did in Nam and all that stuff. Just another story I guess...
Ahh, the morning coffee trickles through my veins and I awake. Well, I guess if you change “morning” with “ afternoon” it would be more correct. It seems that I can no longer wake up before 1pm; no matter what time I get to bed. Last night I went to bed around 2:30am ( which is EARLY for me now) and still could not get up. I set the alarm telling myself that I will get up at a descent hour. “Tomorrow is the DAY I shall wake up proper!” Alarm goes off and I shut it off immediately. I think the cause of this is when I start getting into the 10th or so hour of sleep I start to have the most amazing, realistic dreams. This morning I was walking in a winter wood, where everything is blanketed in that silence that only a fresh snowfall could bring. There was Ice on the tree limbs giving them that glass like quality and I was walking on a ledge overlooking a small winding creek that was gurgurling along over and under ice sheets that didn’t completely cover the river, only in areas where fallen tress gave the ice a place to take hold. But in the stream and under the ice I could see bright red salmon swimming along and mating. So all these ambient sounds and beautiful things to look at all around and in perfect clarity. Would you want to get up? I sure as hell don’t. But this dream was odd because I was actually myself in the dream. Lately I’ve been dreaming in the third person. Like I’m watching a movie or something. These can get really strange, but I can’t think of one off hand now. Maybe I’ll post more dream stories here and that will give me an excuse to sleep in ;-) "I’m collecting dreams for my blog you know…"
I’ve been busy all weekend so I haven’t had much time to find any new links to share but I have a new favorite Blog called “ once I noticed I was burning, I decided to enjoy the fall" . Awesome content there right now, good story about a Viking, a lovely essay about coffee and he tries to explain why he “blogs”. Which pretty much sums it up for me. Except he didn’t mention the monkey that threatens to bite my head every time I don’t do what he commands. Goddamn monkey. He’s a real motivator though, like a little, mean, furry personal trainer that bonded to you and won’t go away.
I had an interesting story about love I was gonna share but now I fell like getting some exercise. It was brought on by listening to Joe Frank last night at work. Particularly the story called “Endings”. If you never heard Joe’s work I highly recommend checking it out. He’s got a large archive of past shows and it’s great to kick back and listen too. All very meditative and strange. Kinda like Haruki Murakami and Tom Robbins thrown into a blender and spit out in Real Audio format.
So now it’s off to ride around the Silverlake hills till my lungs pop...