The lack of an organizing principle invites the mind into chaos. That sounds like a pretty solid answer to a question you didn't ask, doesn't it? Well then, we won't dwell on it.
We need some groove music
That's the stuff. Today's SAN was brought to you by the wonderful users of stumbleupon, the people behind taboo, youtube, google, and your grandmother who makes the most delicious pastries and desserts.
Today I am leaving you to your devices so that I can actually go and be in the world for a bit, and possibly paint some pretty pictures for you all to marvel at, and then go spend $50 buying printed merchandise of at a later date (cha-ching).
Actually I'm not going to leave you to your devices because i'm pretty sure your devices are either the type that are illegal in 43 countries or else the ones that cause grave bodily mutilation. But far be it from me to put ideas in your head, unless it involves some subversive motive to detach your paypal credits from your person to feed the monster that is my starving account (groan; cha-ching)
here are some artpad paintings i got suckered into doing:
(don't laugh. i'm very sensitive.)
http://artpad.art.com/gallery/?kiabau15phjs
http://artpad.art.com/?kie2l5dw4xs
http://artpad.art.com/?kihiodzg7ts
http://artpad.art.com/?kil9ge1b70w4
I am indebted to AceQwerty (my only follower) for reminding me about Ninjai. I've also spent a bit of time catching up with the archives of Platinum Grit which reminds me of Opus, Bone, and Strangers in Paradise all at once. Great work Trudy Cooper and Danny Murphy. I also read The Kids Are Alright by Chynna Cluggston one of the trendsetters for today's generation of manga-influenced American and Canadian comic creators. Later on today I'll try to actually get through Russian Ark, Boy A, and Salo.
Oh yeah, happy belated Earthday! You know we get 52 Sundays a year, but only one Earthday! Hope it was special!
and now some mixed classical (see you next time! ^_^)
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Congratulate Me
Today this Sunday April 19, will mark the 17th week since I quit smoking. I know hard to believe! When I decided to quit I began drinking tea with the same insatiability I had for cigarettes. And when the most immediate urges subsided I kept the sensations, both good and bad, of smoking fresh in my memory--which might strike most of you as an odd thing to do. But I think remembering smoking in its entirety has helped me to stay vigilant about slinking back into the habit. Smoking had helped me create positive associations with destructuve behavior, and negative associations with all things requiring will power, follow through, and persistence.
And so every week I post something new to my special place on the internet, my Sunday Afternoon Noodle, I smile deep inside at the fact that I am every week pulling myself away from a pit of despair, surrounding myself with mosaics of images, ideas, peculiarities . . . things that I am drawn toward. It feels good to have something positive to counteract the poison I've been ingesting for a decade.
This weekend was supposed to be for painting. I layed gesso on two separate canvases, experimenting with techniques I read about recently. They are sanded smooth and ready for--well, something, when I find the idea worth painting. But instead of thinking about painting, my day job got in the way of just about everything, and I find myself working through my off-call weekend straight into next week. Its somewhat disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. One day I'll be able to walk away from day jobs for good.
While typing this I caught the last hour of You've Got Mail and I got a case of the warm and fuzzies. Still so sentimental after all these years. Or maybe its just all the tar and grime washing out of my bloodstream. It vexes me that there's something faulty about being a starry-eyed romantic. Why does it have to be so wrong to indulge in what makes you feel the best?
Is there anybody else out there who takes pains to replace the extraordinary and ephemeral with the mundane and ever present? I find it easy to take solace in mediocrity. I'm a college graduate with an advanced understanding of mathematics, language, and diplomacy who works in a construction related field. For the last 6 years I've felt under utilized, and for even longer than that I've felt lonely and bored, with the exception of a brief relationship I had with a woman who inspired something new inside of me. And I certainly don't mean to imply that I am without hope, just that my larger impression of the patterns in my life point to a lack of intertia and enthusiasm. God what I would give to regain my enthusiasm.
Okay, you want lists, links, and images, so here they are:
library movie rentals: I Vitelloni, Boy A, Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom, Mushi-Shi vol. 1, and Russian Ark.
reading: Madman Vol. 1
reasons I stopped watching Heroes Season 3:
1. Elle Bishop is fuckin' dead. Damn.
2. Because I don't watch tv anymore and hulu commercials are repetitive and annoying and most stream sources are on mega(you have already watched 96 minutes of) video (and I grow tired of refreshing my ip address every 96 minutes of video)
3. Noah Bennet aka "Dwight Shrute Action Figure" who is D.L. of the season to me.
[D.L. of the season aka the dumbest loser of the season previously held by D.L. in season 1 and then Suresh in season 2. Now where did I put those episodes of 4400 I wanted to get around to seeing?]
Acid-tastic, trippy stumbles: vaiavanti, whitneyStereo120.
taboo happy:
1. http://www.comicvine.com/
2. http://www.taramcpherson.com/art/Paintings/Gallery%201
3. http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=5+centimeters+per+second&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3DVFA_enUS246US247&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=ovfOSbTrOabcswOo3NygAw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#
4. http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0S0207IoOtJAW0B_CuLuLkF?p=james+jean&ei=utf-8&iscqry=&fr=sfp
And so every week I post something new to my special place on the internet, my Sunday Afternoon Noodle, I smile deep inside at the fact that I am every week pulling myself away from a pit of despair, surrounding myself with mosaics of images, ideas, peculiarities . . . things that I am drawn toward. It feels good to have something positive to counteract the poison I've been ingesting for a decade.
This weekend was supposed to be for painting. I layed gesso on two separate canvases, experimenting with techniques I read about recently. They are sanded smooth and ready for--well, something, when I find the idea worth painting. But instead of thinking about painting, my day job got in the way of just about everything, and I find myself working through my off-call weekend straight into next week. Its somewhat disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. One day I'll be able to walk away from day jobs for good.
While typing this I caught the last hour of You've Got Mail and I got a case of the warm and fuzzies. Still so sentimental after all these years. Or maybe its just all the tar and grime washing out of my bloodstream. It vexes me that there's something faulty about being a starry-eyed romantic. Why does it have to be so wrong to indulge in what makes you feel the best?
Is there anybody else out there who takes pains to replace the extraordinary and ephemeral with the mundane and ever present? I find it easy to take solace in mediocrity. I'm a college graduate with an advanced understanding of mathematics, language, and diplomacy who works in a construction related field. For the last 6 years I've felt under utilized, and for even longer than that I've felt lonely and bored, with the exception of a brief relationship I had with a woman who inspired something new inside of me. And I certainly don't mean to imply that I am without hope, just that my larger impression of the patterns in my life point to a lack of intertia and enthusiasm. God what I would give to regain my enthusiasm.
Okay, you want lists, links, and images, so here they are:
library movie rentals: I Vitelloni, Boy A, Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom, Mushi-Shi vol. 1, and Russian Ark.
reading: Madman Vol. 1
reasons I stopped watching Heroes Season 3:
1. Elle Bishop is fuckin' dead. Damn.
2. Because I don't watch tv anymore and hulu commercials are repetitive and annoying and most stream sources are on mega(you have already watched 96 minutes of) video (and I grow tired of refreshing my ip address every 96 minutes of video)
3. Noah Bennet aka "Dwight Shrute Action Figure" who is D.L. of the season to me.
[D.L. of the season aka the dumbest loser of the season previously held by D.L. in season 1 and then Suresh in season 2. Now where did I put those episodes of 4400 I wanted to get around to seeing?]
Acid-tastic, trippy stumbles: vaiavanti, whitneyStereo120.
taboo happy:
1. http://www.comicvine.com/
2. http://www.taramcpherson.com/art/Paintings/Gallery%201
3. http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=5+centimeters+per+second&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3DVFA_enUS246US247&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=ovfOSbTrOabcswOo3NygAw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#
4. http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0S0207IoOtJAW0B_CuLuLkF?p=james+jean&ei=utf-8&iscqry=&fr=sfp
Saturday, April 11, 2009
I gessoe
I need to take some time away from SAN to paint this weekend. After a brief thunder and rainstorm the skies are beautiful, the weather is pleasant, and I've stumbled upon a nice hidden away park I want to get out to. So for today (Saturday) I'm gettin' the jump on the SAN.
Easter Sunday is tomorrow and the Spring scene has kept my mind on cleaning out the old and setting up a new direction for health and art related things. I just really feel like I've got to start shifting more effort into things outside my day job, which right now is full of unnecessary distress. Do you ever feel like that--like you're off center because of one particular thing?
On Friday I failed a drug test. Three times. FML. I don't do drugs, I rarely drink, and I've been cigarette free for 16 weeks. My boss is going to let me test in another week to clear me, but right now I hear the feces splattering in the fan. Yeah nice image. Needless to say I'm pissed (no double-entendre intend--actually yes, double-entendre intended)
Has anyone (who doesn't frequent the google blog) noticed that you can now search google images by overall color? The pallete is limited, but possibly we'll be searching soon by color composition. How exciting! I used an image content searcher years ago that had access to an image library from the St. Petersburg museum. Our class project was to build a photo-mosaic of Abraham Lincoln and searching by overall color worked pretty well for that.
I found these magnificent pictures of O Cristo Redentor
My thanks to the original authors and posters of the images; please contact me if you want credit or would like me to take them down.
That's all for now, stay positive no matter who or what is trying to bring you down.
Easter Sunday is tomorrow and the Spring scene has kept my mind on cleaning out the old and setting up a new direction for health and art related things. I just really feel like I've got to start shifting more effort into things outside my day job, which right now is full of unnecessary distress. Do you ever feel like that--like you're off center because of one particular thing?
On Friday I failed a drug test. Three times. FML. I don't do drugs, I rarely drink, and I've been cigarette free for 16 weeks. My boss is going to let me test in another week to clear me, but right now I hear the feces splattering in the fan. Yeah nice image. Needless to say I'm pissed (no double-entendre intend--actually yes, double-entendre intended)
Has anyone (who doesn't frequent the google blog) noticed that you can now search google images by overall color? The pallete is limited, but possibly we'll be searching soon by color composition. How exciting! I used an image content searcher years ago that had access to an image library from the St. Petersburg museum. Our class project was to build a photo-mosaic of Abraham Lincoln and searching by overall color worked pretty well for that.
I found these magnificent pictures of O Cristo Redentor
My thanks to the original authors and posters of the images; please contact me if you want credit or would like me to take them down.
That's all for now, stay positive no matter who or what is trying to bring you down.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
the one about raising your own inner child
I picked up Madman Volume 1 this weekend. I also picked up HiFructose Magazine which is new to me. I was surprised to see an ad for a San Diego exhibit curated by Kelly Vivanco of Patches. Too bad it was a month outdated. I was excited to stumble upon the work of Nicholas Di Genova, Andrew Hem, and Bob Dob. There are a ton of other interesting artists whose works graces those gorgeous matte pages, but I need to find time to sit and read it. I was glad to have picked out Madman Volume 1 from the 10 or 12 different books (including: The Spirit collected tpb's, Negative Burn, Strangers in Paradise complete collection, Cerebus collected editions, Scrooge McDuck long-format magazine collections, and Monster Society of Evil) I top-picked while perusing this particular comic shop which I haven't been to in a long time. Why is it that comic shop owners always seem to be watching baseball when I get there?
I got on a Paul Pope kick for a few hours. I've known about him and his work since Tom Palmer's article in Wizard about THB so many years ago, but the only thing I've read of his was Batman Year 100. I came across a bio of him on Read Yourself Raw, which quickly became my new favorite place to go to for info on Indy Comics. I also discovered this great article about Mister X at Paul Gravett's. I have Viva Cuba and V for Vendetta on DVD out from the library this week. Although I stopped halfway through it (damn sleepiness) Viva Cuba was growing on me much like Jim Jarmusch's Stranger than Paradise. At Border's I got lost perusing Mike Mignola Books: BRPD, Abe Sapien, Lobster Johnson and suddenly felt flabbergasted at how much work he's put out on these characters. The graphic novel area kept me captivated for a good 20 mins with Essential X-men, an Adrian Tomine 32 stories special edition, Flight 1-4, A couple Teen Titans collections, RASL, Justice League collected editions, Superman for Tomorrow, and other random things that seemed interesting to look at in the moment. I'm much indebted to Mike Allred's forward to Madman Vol. 1
Comic books can combine what's fun and exciting from virtually every other form of pop culture. Sure you can't literally put sound in a comic book. But you can echo the raw form, the vibe of any kind of a music, or any kind of art in a package of pictures and words. That's what the best comic books do for me. They give me a vibe, a feeling, a . . . something. Something that just plain makes you feel good.[ . . .] I wanted to capture the joy those childhood comics gifted me. But I also wanted to continue using the medium to ask the big questions. I wanted to strike a balance between the thrill of childhood and the intellectual spark of being all growed up.
I haven't turned my tv on in months. Out running errands I decided to invest $4.95 in a GE universal remote, but apparently the preset code for this tv/dvd set doesn't work. So for an hour I found myself repeating a 3 step process to manually search for the appropriate signal to store in the memory. By that time I had landed on some late night pulpy tv show called Legend of the Seeker, that instantly reminded me of pulpy tv shows of yesteryear: Xena, Hercules, Cleopatra 2525, Jack of all Trades, Mutant X, Fortune Hunter. I know I've left out quite a few. The idea is stirring in my mind of putting together an ode to pop culture pulpy entertainment from dime novels to 50's era science & mystery stories, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Bradbury, to overnight-slot tv shows with small-studio production values. I'll call it Pulp & Mediocrity - the termite art of the masses.
But while we're on the subject of tv shows, I wanted to mention I caught the 1st episode of Are You Being Served? and instantly marvelled at how clever the script was. I've caught reruns of the acclaimed Brit tv show on PBS for decades now, but this was the first time I ever caught episode 1. It's funny to consider how these characters are prototypical for characters in the Office (the U.S. version).
I found myself wandering tools & automotive recently and I realized I've unknowingly become handy. I always figured I'd be one of those guys whose consumer-guyness came out in his electronics obsessions--but no, I want a Vein multi-function tool and a set of Ridgid power tools and maybe a jawhorse too. In fact, when I can finally afford to buy a house I'd like to fabricate my own cabinetry. But I still have no interest in plumbing. Blechhh.
So I have fond memories of watching Kimagure Orange Road from 1994 to 1995 via Arctic Anime fan subs. Its one of my enduring favorites despite being so dated. For years it bugged me that one of Madoka's recurring saxophone themes sounded so familiar. About 5 years ago I figured it out (scroll down). If you haven't ever watched KOR and/or heard its soundtrack, I've left a sample of what you're missing--a score that absolutely transports you to a particular time and place and setting during the summer of one's youth. And for those of you interested in the can of worms I was getting ready to open: below is a playlist containing a few anime theme songs and music that I suspect bore inspiration.
IN LOVERS ROOM - KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD OST
EUROPA - SANTANA
WALKING AROUND FOUNTAIN - KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD OST
BACK TO RED STRAWHAT TIME - KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD OST
KIMI TO ISLAND CAFE - KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD OST
AI WA HITOMI NO NAKA NI - KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD OST
AKAI MUGIWARA BOUSHI - KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD OST
I like bands from the 70s: Queen, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, Heart, Chicago, The Doobie Brothers. Almost as much as this baby loves Michael Bolton (thanks Canucklehead)
I got on a Paul Pope kick for a few hours. I've known about him and his work since Tom Palmer's article in Wizard about THB so many years ago, but the only thing I've read of his was Batman Year 100. I came across a bio of him on Read Yourself Raw, which quickly became my new favorite place to go to for info on Indy Comics. I also discovered this great article about Mister X at Paul Gravett's. I have Viva Cuba and V for Vendetta on DVD out from the library this week. Although I stopped halfway through it (damn sleepiness) Viva Cuba was growing on me much like Jim Jarmusch's Stranger than Paradise. At Border's I got lost perusing Mike Mignola Books: BRPD, Abe Sapien, Lobster Johnson and suddenly felt flabbergasted at how much work he's put out on these characters. The graphic novel area kept me captivated for a good 20 mins with Essential X-men, an Adrian Tomine 32 stories special edition, Flight 1-4, A couple Teen Titans collections, RASL, Justice League collected editions, Superman for Tomorrow, and other random things that seemed interesting to look at in the moment. I'm much indebted to Mike Allred's forward to Madman Vol. 1
Comic books can combine what's fun and exciting from virtually every other form of pop culture. Sure you can't literally put sound in a comic book. But you can echo the raw form, the vibe of any kind of a music, or any kind of art in a package of pictures and words. That's what the best comic books do for me. They give me a vibe, a feeling, a . . . something. Something that just plain makes you feel good.[ . . .] I wanted to capture the joy those childhood comics gifted me. But I also wanted to continue using the medium to ask the big questions. I wanted to strike a balance between the thrill of childhood and the intellectual spark of being all growed up.
I haven't turned my tv on in months. Out running errands I decided to invest $4.95 in a GE universal remote, but apparently the preset code for this tv/dvd set doesn't work. So for an hour I found myself repeating a 3 step process to manually search for the appropriate signal to store in the memory. By that time I had landed on some late night pulpy tv show called Legend of the Seeker, that instantly reminded me of pulpy tv shows of yesteryear: Xena, Hercules, Cleopatra 2525, Jack of all Trades, Mutant X, Fortune Hunter. I know I've left out quite a few. The idea is stirring in my mind of putting together an ode to pop culture pulpy entertainment from dime novels to 50's era science & mystery stories, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Bradbury, to overnight-slot tv shows with small-studio production values. I'll call it Pulp & Mediocrity - the termite art of the masses.
But while we're on the subject of tv shows, I wanted to mention I caught the 1st episode of Are You Being Served? and instantly marvelled at how clever the script was. I've caught reruns of the acclaimed Brit tv show on PBS for decades now, but this was the first time I ever caught episode 1. It's funny to consider how these characters are prototypical for characters in the Office (the U.S. version).
I found myself wandering tools & automotive recently and I realized I've unknowingly become handy. I always figured I'd be one of those guys whose consumer-guyness came out in his electronics obsessions--but no, I want a Vein multi-function tool and a set of Ridgid power tools and maybe a jawhorse too. In fact, when I can finally afford to buy a house I'd like to fabricate my own cabinetry. But I still have no interest in plumbing. Blechhh.
So I have fond memories of watching Kimagure Orange Road from 1994 to 1995 via Arctic Anime fan subs. Its one of my enduring favorites despite being so dated. For years it bugged me that one of Madoka's recurring saxophone themes sounded so familiar. About 5 years ago I figured it out (scroll down). If you haven't ever watched KOR and/or heard its soundtrack, I've left a sample of what you're missing--a score that absolutely transports you to a particular time and place and setting during the summer of one's youth. And for those of you interested in the can of worms I was getting ready to open: below is a playlist containing a few anime theme songs and music that I suspect bore inspiration.
IN LOVERS ROOM - KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD OST
EUROPA - SANTANA
WALKING AROUND FOUNTAIN - KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD OST
BACK TO RED STRAWHAT TIME - KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD OST
KIMI TO ISLAND CAFE - KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD OST
AI WA HITOMI NO NAKA NI - KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD OST
AKAI MUGIWARA BOUSHI - KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD OST
I like bands from the 70s: Queen, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, Heart, Chicago, The Doobie Brothers. Almost as much as this baby loves Michael Bolton (thanks Canucklehead)
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