Air Guitar

I read the first few essays in Dave Hickeys Air Guitar today, and he really struck a chord with me that previous readings had not.

When Hickey writes about the small stores that serve as places where people exchange things they love for money, but really they exchange these beloved things for the privilege of talking about them with other interested parties, it seemed true. I feel like that may be true. I have a prejudice against the idea of money. I much prefer things to money, and I prefer ideas to things. In my Utopia I would not live in a futuristic jungle with a treetop house made from biodegradable plastic sheets that capture solar power, my Utopia would be having a situation where I would not have to worry about this primate body and could live in a world purely made up of ideas and images. Maybe with my entire personality existing on a tiny computer chip, that had access to all the information available anywhere to that point: I would exist as the tiniest physical presence and roam the most massive world available, economy at its best. Just thinking about things at my leisure. I guess that is what the internet is like, but unfortunately I have to be in a human body. I think eventually they will make technology that allows people to become machines, and that the people who remain people will be left behind while the machine people spread through the Universe like dandelion seeds.

Wow, that took a turn I did not see the previous paragraph taking.

I have had different escapist fantasies my whole life. The two most recurring are one where I bike across country on a ten speed bicycle with a back pack and one of those little one person tents. The other is finding some independent income and then going off the grid living in a Winnebago, parking it at truck stops, state parks, Wal Marts, and Casinos.

A close third is a house boat, but I am not sure if I would get sea sick or not so this never gets that far as a fantasy.

The Language Change, Positive Experience

I picked up a copy of Kevin Hooyman*s The Language Change at Printed Matter on my Wednesday in the city, and man this book is smart and funny, from banter between the heads of disembodied wizards about the nature of time to forest animals musing about identity, this book has it all. It is drawn in a style that is somewhere between cartoon, Celtic knots, and faux naive contemporary painting.


His website is pretty amazing, with lots of animation, weird circular links, and clever banterish writing. A totally enjoyable experience if you are looking for something to kill some time* (or answer questions about time)!


I tried all kinds of tricky ways to get the cover of The Language Change and post it here, but apparently it is trick proof, and I can not get an image short of scanning the cover, and the scanner is in the basement (I am on the third floor) so you will have to content yourselves with looking at it on his website.

Until next time.

David Dunlap and Jesse Albrecht

I admire these guys: Jesse Albrecht and David Dunlap, here they are holding a drawing that they made together.

Jesse went to school with me, and David was one of our professors. Knowing them has changed my life in subtle ways.

For instance to hear David talk about how when he was young he tried so hard to carve out an identity among his peers with his art, to seperate himself, and now he will tell you it is better to be involved with other people making art together. He built a pool in his backyard beneath a walnut tree, when the walnuts fell they stained the water and made the pool water into ink, so David started an ink farm. It took me 5 years to appreciate that appropriately.

Jesse makes gigantic ceramic statues which resemble columns or warheads or urns, and creates representational reliefs that wrap around the form. One example is a snake unhinging its jaw to swallow a self-portrait of Jesse when he was a baby. Great big images that someone can sink their thoughts into.

Thanks David!

Thanks Jesse!

I have to take some time

I have to take some forced time away from my computer, check out Brandon Buckner's blog instead.

Working Alot

I have been working alot, which is good, because now I will have money. I will try to think of something creative to stick on here over the weekend.
One thing I recently saw that is interesting and odd, is the website www.secondlife.com Apparently people spend all their waking hours living a virtual life on this page. They buy and sell things with currency from the website, and the currency can be converted to US dollars in the real world like money from a foreign country. Sweden has a virtual embassy, which is bizarre and fascinating.
Secondlife was inspired by a book called Snow Crash, which I have not read but probably will in the next 2 weeks, it is part of the popular cyber-punk genre.
Ok, I am off to bed, I have to work again tomorrow!