Alpine Melancholy

So - the snow came down and covered the city in a blanket of hush. This is what I love about this weather. It's not dramatic, it just is matter of fact - cold, immobilizing and quiet. The city becomes slowed down and people just have to accept -- and/or work remotely. It's a pause button (not necessarily a stop button), long enough for us to realize that nature means business and maybe napping all day isn't a bad thing for us (like bears and other creatures do).

Last year - we didn't get quite the snow, but I had a Joseph Beuyes kind of thing going. Playing up an Ice and Apline rites aesthetic. Kind of a celebration of living along side the elements, embracing the cold, enduring it in a kind of Hegelian struggle, the kind I see the Fixie riders lately riding up snow covered streets with a perversity all their own.

This year, I feel more of a quiet revolution with the snow. More following it's direction which is "get indoors and out of our way". My queue is more "Jens Lekman swedish melancholia", looking out a window, admiring the beauty and watching the quiet death that I hear in Dylan songs (Girl from the North Country)... Things are quiet, and I am cut off from the rest of the world. There is little or no human contact. Ice, Ice baby...

Pushing 40

Well, it's official - I am now on the wrong side of 30. I can no longer claim mid-30's, but can still say '30-something'... I can also say pushing 40 and nearing middle age. It's strange tho - cos I don't feel it. Probably because i'm one of those 'grups' who refuses to grow up and yet, probably old beyond my years, i have no sense of what middle age should feel like (note - I am achy from the gym more and more - less energized, sigh)... In any case, here's a list of things I want to do before I turn the big 40 - so I only have one more year to complete this: 1) Travel to S. America 2) Refi my condo 3) Volunteer more 4) Engage in some team sport that I like 5) Break a few hearts and mend them.

Thanks Harvey

Lotta cynicism that I'm trying to ditch, and not be complacent. I just saw the Milk movie last night and today is coincidentally the 30th Anniversary of his death. Lot I could say -- but other's said it better, so - while I'm getting my Thanksgiving Mix together for dinner up north, I'm going to just say "Thanks, Harvey".

Bachelorette

Again - alot of memes from this weekend's protest march on prop8. Questions of numbers and people and what will happen next. It was good to see large sized crowds (*pictures could not capture how many people were there), but then again the 'bubble effect' - urban areas where people are committed and passionate more about civil rights than say in the hinterlands where the votes came from.
In some twisted irony however, Focus on Family had to lay off a few people. I'm sure there is some religious conspiracy theories that we're causing it, no doubt.
My own conspiracy theories about gay marriage are biological: that only the strong get married, regardless of orientation, so it's probably best to support them. But for me personally - I'm wondering if any solid form of monogamy will take hold at some point (or will I just spinster away like i'm doing now... wandering around my 2 bedroom condo and thinking of getting a pet to fill some void and inevitably die alone)... I wanted to make a sign that made a nod to "lifelong bachelor" or some joke, saying that the #'s of unmarrieds are falsely disproportionate, like the moniker meant a century ago.

Propagator H8ter

The one casualty of the election season of course is prop 8, which it's passing signifies that again the American public has faith-based voting practices, and not sensible ones. That the country moved forward in progress (voting in Obama) yet somehow latched onto the values-voting arguments of the right is sadly not surprising. I wish I had the chance to do my own PSA on the matter and my read-copy would have gone somthing like this:

Hey - Look, I know the words "Gay Marriage" tend to make your blood boil because you feel the uncertain need to race to the back bible each and every opportunity to put us down. You can't discriminate against us now in the workplace nor can you bash us in public without some serious consequences. Yeah - you must feel pretty powerless as the last few civil rights measures passing demonstrated to you that religion and constitutional rights are entirely separate, so you've decided to take your feelings of inadequacy and place them on the one, most single boring institutional right that we're trying to fight to get - the right to be part of the normal status quo. Fine. But have you really looked at what this threat is? Have you seen the gays and lesbians marrying in the pages of NYT or People for that matter? They're hardly the hedonists you worry about at night. They're not the glamorous monsters you have romantic notions of conquering. They're not demons dressed in Folsom Street fetish wear. They're normal. They're boring. They might have kids, mortgages, concerns like yours. They may or may not have superfluous reasons for getting married, but 9 x out of 10, it'll be because they've been through a long , boring haul like you with the same partner of so many years. But hey - you're not fighting to reverse gay personal rights, nor sodomy laws. You're making this about gay marriage - basically benign subject if you look at it objectively. But hey -- I bet you need to lash out at something. I know you really feel the need to kick a puppy right about now with losing a few culture wars in the past, so the defenseless puppy are these gay couples who pose no threat to you. Fine - kick the puppy if it will make you feel better. (However, the puppy grows into a very large, resentful dog who will one day be evaluating you for a loan or possible business deal... And wow, it'll be apparent that you were such a bigot in the past. What will you do then? Will you still keep fighting the "good" fight?) But hey sport, at least you can sleep safe tonight knowing that there's one less married couple in the world troubling you. There's just alot of angry, single voters out there now... Growing in numbers and coming to your town to demonstrate. Good night.

A New Hope

I am so thankful this AM... Having been on capitol hill last night and getting the news about Obama's victory was cause for much celebration. It was like having a true New Year's eve on a dawn of the new century, only it came 8 years later and with much struggle. Obama's speech was moving, people were crying and hugging. There was dancing in the street until 2am. It seemed like maybe the cynicism that America didn't have a conscience was washed away... And for once, Patriotism wasn't some bigoted, divisive tool used to drive the country apart.
But, we'll have to see what can happen in the next 4 years. There's alotta mess to clean up.

Hallows Election Eve

I am not going to dwell on things or think bad thoughts... Nor will i resign to cynicism or be pessimistic. I am, however, going to take tomorrow in stride. Is it any wonder that the eve of the election is so close to Halloween? I think there's some dramatic nature effects that are aligned to make it look like the world is secretly conspiring against you... that maybe things are not going to work themselves out and that we get the president (or despot) we secretly deserve. There's a time where meaning wears masks and tries to trick you into voting against your interests, where such obvious rhetoric flies in the face of things that you know is concocted by spin doctors (who are no better writers at copy than j-school freshmen)... tricksters, how we fall for them time and time again. Will there be more lies and deceit as we draw close on the 11th hour or will things work out themselves? Are systems always corrupt and full of decay or are they self-correcting? I can't say for certain, but I do know that I will be drinking tomorrow night (either happily or unhappily) at the Showbox.

Whoops... Why didn't you wake me?

Oh gosh -- I can't believe how much i've fallen off the blogwagon. A few days went by, then weeks, then months. I've had a few milestones, a few scares, and a few small victories (did the STP in one day)... But uhhh, there's been this nagging sense that I've let this go to pot.

I've had a few moments this election season where I've really wanted to comment, post videos, live-blog the debates, but so many more qualified and interesting people have already done that. Then there's the whole economic meltdown (which I commented on earlier -- hmm, told you so?), but that's just depressed me way too much. Then there's a whole slew of no on Prop 8 stuff out there that I can't even begin to address. So, I guess I'll just ruminate on the changing of the fall leaves... Ahhh, lovely.

That was then, this is now...

Reasons to get out of bed in the morning #95049: This site which asks people to recreate childhood photo's. Sometimes pictures say a 1000 words, but sometimes they say a complete novel when side by side of a photo from the future.

Hedonism, Humility

I have been in a nasty meme these past few days... I've been seeing articles about the pending food shortage, an economic collapse and an environmental threat looming larger and larger every day. I get inertia and depression from thinking about what the next 20 years will bring (or even the next 5. On a smaller scale, my adjustable mortgage goes nova and I'm madly trying to refi)... I have an ugly feeling. I find it hard to get out of bed, let alone through a day without thinking this is all hanging by a few threads. I hear stories about the shit that goes on down in the Congo and wonder how thin resources have to be before people lose it completely. What keeps people working together? What tears them apart? Why are we not able to go 180 from something simples as driving to work as opposed to taking the bus? People are buying green - but the problem is not the green part, but the buying. We as a species are truly out to lunch. Marxists said that religion was an opiate, but i beg to differ -- the fact that we think our world will be corrected in fits and starts of buying green products has been a religion unto itself (See ECB's article in the Stranger). It gives people a big sense of accomplishment with only an actual nano-effort of true responsibility. So what do we do? We should list our sins (like religion) and go about correcting them. With that - I will give you my trespasses:
1) I take long showers. I know this is a cardinal sin. What's worse is that I often shower at the gym and then at home (essentially taking 2 showers a day).
2) I take cabs over public transit. This is basically having a car for however many minutes, I realize and shoots down my 'urban-walkability' image.
3) I am irregular in my recycling - meaning, I try to recycle everything, but I'm never fully sure what I should be putting in (and I often do not clean out the containers)
4) I sometimes use cleaners that are not good for the environment (but then again, I seldom clean so there you go).
5) I buy a lotta crap, made in foreign countries with low environmental standards.
6) I turn the heat on -- often when I do not need it.

No Future

Will the last developer who loses their sh** over the Pike Pine Belmont mess and now it has to turn into a parking lot because you didn't have the forsight to deal with an angry mob that your building designs offend and always will offend because you just snuffed out independent nightlife as we know it on Capitol Hill thus letting in the throngs of straight barbarians who now deface your land-use signs and puke outside your condos and generally do not bode well for the future of Seattle as we crash into economic and ecological oblivion - please turn out the freakin lights!?!?

Oh yeah, and be sure to tell post-apocolyptic Belltown that curfew was at sundown and they should not overtax the generators lest the gasoline pirates see and they decide to pillage from Bainbridge...

Fools for April

So - sun came out, I refrilled my prescription for contact lenses and spring is in the air... April Fools. Not really. False starts. I feel a stagnancy still... Unfinished business. No time for jokes, no time for pedestrian sensibilities in high traffic areas, no time for fun and games... I am busy, yet I am running in place. Instead, I focus on my new look for spring.

The Unheard Music

So, grandpa decided to go see his favorite olde timey punk band, X - perhaps the greatest American band ever (*with the exception of Johnny Cash and the whole Carter clan)... When I told friends I was going, I got "Who?".... Sigh, People!! X were the band formed in Los Angles in the late 70's with the whole advent of socal punk... they combined punk with a dash of country soul, and quite alot of poetic imagery and American Gothic to boot. They were the soundtrack of my teen years, ironically enough, country purists in the sense of the word (forming side projects the knitters)... Soooo, in any case, they rocked. I was worried that this would be billed a reunion tour (Billy Zoom joining them), and thus it'd be a badly attended affair... Full of a few die-hards like me and my friend Cheryl, but it wasn't... The place was sold out, with a huge diverse crowd (from Punk dad's to rockabilly Betty's to kids)... And the band was tight and awesome... Probably b/c they were sober and had more focus than ever. They played like they had never left off from playing at the Whiskey in 1980, Exene and John Doe's June Carter/Johnny Cash delivery over punk power chords coming from Billy Zoom (looking like Jerry Lee Lewis) and DJ's driving drum beat still sounded incredibly fresh... And finally, the spirit of protest was still inherent in their songs... After over 20 years, the lyrics for "New World" still rings true of the situation today in Amerika:
"....honest to goodness the bars werent open this morning they must have been voting for a new president of something do you have a quarter?" i said yes because i did honest to goodness the tears have been falling all over the countrys face it was better before before they voted for whats his name this is suppose to be the new world"

Your Best Gay Face

So - if you've not been reading the blogosphere, a missive was just fired off by Avenue Q creator, Jeff Whitey, over the inane comments made by Jay Leno while interviewing Ryan Phillippe. No, not anywhere remotely near hate-speech, but the kind of dumb and awkward shortsideness made by most people who shill cheap jokes for a living. Humor is violence, usually, in some form or another... mostly social and mostly to the point when it's effective. However Leno's material has always been a deliver then run kind of thing.... Usually the openers are not good, and fall flat... (*Rumor has it that Leno actually does standup and tries offensive jokes out on the audience thus.... oh, actually, I don't want to print it here. It's not worth it... the problem is context.) So back to the jab. No - this isn't hate speech, but it is deraugatory and just plain ignorant. However, what's awesome is the image that Whittey sends back to Jay... Too many times we take the respectable silence or the 'inflamed op-ed' approach. This is simple, yet bold. Very Johnny Cash (he'd be proud)... We should raise our finger in salutes like these more often!

Dept of Uhhhhhhh

Hmmm, this frightening doco makes me a bit car sick.

Best keep your fingers inside the car at all times in that case...

Today in History

Today in history, Obama talked about race big time, the feds cut the interest rates, another NY gov admits to shenanigans, and the Seattle Times disses SXSW as a frat-party.
In my news, I had a stomach ache for 8 hrs on end and heard an epiphany during a TAL podcast: "You don't get the life you deserve, you get what you get..." I threw up in my mouth.

Drip, Drip, Drip

The "oh shit" moment of truth is not the fact that we're dangerously running into a recession (followed by a big depression worse than the great depression of the 30's), but that we're totally going to f'ed with the rapid rate at which polar ice is melting. This is going to need more conversation and conservation than bricks in the toilet and "showering with a buddy"...

Experts have been monitoring 30 glaciers around the world for nearly three decades and the most recent figures, for 2006, show the biggest ever 'net loss' of ice. Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), told The Observer that melting glaciers were now the 'loudest and clearest' warning signal of global warming.

The problem could lead to failing infrastructure, mass migration and even conflict. 'We're talking about something that happens in your and my lifespan. We're not talking about something hypothetical, we're talking about something dramatic in its consequences,' he said


Yes, I've heard this before, and I can't think of a single reason to wake up and go to work tomorrow if this keeps up.

They Make Kembra Pfahler Dolls? I want one...

In the They-don't-make-them-scary-performance-artist-types-like-that-but-they-really-outta-start-reissuing-them-soon-cause-complacency-in-the-arts-and-feminist-backlash-is-really-chaffing-my-behind, Kembra Pfahler and the Voluptuous Horrors of Karen Black get their due at this year's Whitney...

Run-ins With Rufus

Ok - my brushes with Rufus:
1) Sometime near the dawn of the new century (1999 or 2000?), Ian and I went to see him play at Areospace (at the old/neu-Moe)... Ian commented that he was wearing his mother's patchwork bellbottoms (Obviously seen on the Magarical Family Christmas specials), and he made sure to touch his hand while getting his CD autographed (as he is want to do with any celebrity).
2) Sometime a year or two later (2001?), Ian and I are in line at the Cha Cha and Rufus is standing behind us. We comment on how good his show was. He describes the green room below in Areospace and ask if we've ever been. I make some lame comment that it must be pretty big that kills the conversation right there.
3) A few years later (2004), my then BF and I are staying at the Dufferin in Vancouver, watching bad strippers and gravitating towards equally bad karaoke next door. Rufus has just finished his concert in the Orpheum and is at the Dufferin bar with entourage. We stand about 10 feet away, newly sober and wearing lifts.
4) 2008 After much shunning of the Garland album, I break down and purchase 2 tickets for Paula and I to see him at the Paramount. Even though he was slightly far away - his voice still carries and his charm was still ethereal and acoustic.

Afterglow Light Pattern from Years Ago

Shrinking universes aside, I'm wondering if I'll be around to see anything else other than microwave patterns, the only proof of a relationship with the infinite... Lipstick traces of the big bang, or maybe it was just a passing fancy that expanded into a universe... then subtracted back into a small, dull ball that crushed everything... and never got invited anywhere. The universe decided to stay in on Friday nights, surf the internet and get caught up on past seasons of Lost and 30 Rock. But at least we can tell the people who support Intelligent Design to shove it.
Some forces in the universe however, are predestined collide like a supernova...

Total Tilda

By the way, a few days late, but can I say how awesome it is seeing Tilda Swinton getting the oscar for Best Supporting Actress? I still haven't seen Michael Clayton, so my gushing is purely based on character and the fact that she's got such an amazing, underutilized presence in cinema. I've been a Tilda fan since watching Derek Jarman's Carravagio way back in the 80's. Her character was in the background as a poor, peasant wife who transforms into a femme fatale in a homoerotic love triangle. She was more than just a film muse for Jarman, she helped him in many ways which helped her support many film projects of her own... Seeing her win was like having one of your favorite underrated bands suddenly recognized in a good way (and not used to sell products of some kind)... It's like watching the smart kid make good. Heck, Gawker couldn't find anything mean to say about her, so just goes to show that America is not necessarily falling into cynicism and illiteracy yet...

Hillary is Mom Jeans

Obama or Hillary, Tina Fey comically articulates why people do not want to buy Hillary and the misogyny that pervades the political rhetoric of the campaign (Bitch is the new black!)... However, if you need to find a reason to not to vote for Hillary, you can use the Random Reason Not To Vote for Hillary Generator (and submit a few yourself)...

Temptation

While I can blog poetic about the Oscars, or the fact I rode 38 miles in the Bainbridge Chilly Hilly, I won't, and will instead leave you with the rockin version Beth Ditto and Jarvis Cocker did on Heaven 17's "Temptation":

Gilded Ages

I've been laughing my a** off at Wendi McLendon-Covey's shorts on 60frames. She plays a character not unlike her trashy Reno 911 persona, improving a 37 yr old grandmother with a wildly inappropriate sense of self-entitlement. It got me thinking today how 'American' this persona is and how this is truly great comedy: she's going after the contemporary people who think the book "the Secret" actually works. This is truly a gilded age that we've gone back to the Dale Carnegie school's of rhetoric where we just push people to their desires and all will manifest itself. The in joke (of these shorts) is of course that reality and perception are two different things. Case in point, see how the "Law of Attraction works here:

Powerpoint Rocks!!!

...in more awesome realms, someone actually went to the trouble to create graphs and charts for pop songs. Yes, it's webtarded, but extremely gratifying (once you get what song they're doing)...

Thru Being Cool?

So -- Gawker today gawked at the NY Observer's claim that Williamsburg has finally seen it's day: So, with its mix of hipster residue and tragically suburban folk, Bedford Avenue finally completed its transformation into the new Avenue A.... Me being no resident of NY saw of course the same "No Duh" parallels with our own beloved Capitol Hill. We've got our Bridge (520) and Tunnel (i90) crowds coming in, as well as people who have decided they want that 'artsy urban livin' that is pushing my friends out of overpriced neighborhoods and causing all kinds of tensions, criminal and otherwise.
I caught myself thinking the other day -- where did the party move to? It seems that right after the Belmont/Pine Block blew up, there isn't anything on the hill that's spectacular. Things are starting to lose their luster... (case in point, Septieme's new color change). I started to think about maybe there is some surburban enclave where bohemians are actually doing things (versus buying things). I hypothesized if I were to open a really interesting bar in someplace like Renton, would I get the hip, single-somethings or the burb-family's looking for a night out?
But maybe not... A few interesting coffee shops and bars will just bring in the same people. And the whole issue of "gayborhoods" going the way of gentrification. And not just in Seattle... There seems to be a drying up of interesting places. I've heard the death knoll for neighborhoods like Silverlake, all the way to cities like Berlin which are unfathomably huge and too big to sustain the influx of bland-minded urbanites.
Maybe the creative class is too big. Maybe it's inclusive of too many people who appreciate the arts, but not enough. Maybe the lure of moving to somewhere for the 'interesting people' ends up enveloping itself with imitators. Maybe the people who do stuff are people who have a low profile, live in obscure corners and acknowledge noone. Maybe the party isn't. Maybe it's all hermetically sealed and not allowed for public consumption. I know this is elitist, but hey - i would group myself in the team that's probably not doing alot... so maybe I am one of the boorish masses who spills out onto the pavement at 2am and breaks my beer bottle against a parking sign, gets in fights and then wakes up on monday to do it all over again.

Close to the Knives

So, today I get my usual email update (spam) from Vice mag, included in their do's and dont's is a picture of a young AM'd out hipster with the quote "There isn’t much more of a DO than looking like a freshly reincarnated David Wojnarowicz (but this time around without the AIDS)", and I just thought - hmmm, really, Vice? Do you wanna go there with me?" Lord knows they've said worse (wayyyy, wayyyy worse) but this comes off as praise for an artist they've given little thought to.
Wojnarowicz had an anger that is still apparent today and while he seems a bit didadatic (I had watched a short film in the Butt Shorts festival this past November and the film techniques were dated, and thus it did seem to drag), it's all still relevant. Homophobia and AIDs are still tearing through America like a divisive knife, being used by the angry right to drive up votes and justify hate-crimes like the outrageous death of Lawrence King (as boys will be boys).
Wojnarowicz was angry - he took the downtown NY art scene to the death and disease that was killing his peers, the gay bashings that were happening with regularity throughout the crime-ridden city (and not acknowledged) and showed them how bad it was... I had his NEA picture (the one w/where his lips were sewn shut), on my college dorm-room door in protest of censorship. I admired his honesty, his fire and fight with the AFA with his virtually last breath.
So -- when a stupid hipster journal decides the look is "Wojnarowicz without the AIDS", it's like the "Think Different" campaign from Apple back in 97: Too stupid to be heresy. It just makes me wanna call the cultural authorities and have their 'irony license' revoked is all.

Doctor Fish

18th Century cures like cupping and leeches are back in vogue apparently - there are a few places in the world, mostly in Asia, that use Doctor Fish to help treat dermatological disorders like Psoriasis. The fish eat affected and dead areas of the skin leaving the healthy parts alone. More recently a few spas started touting this service as a means to clean dead skin from your body. Courtesy of Coolhunting.

Hauntology and Home Taping

I've been blind for so long - how could I not know about or ignore Ariel Pink? I've seen the name pop up, noticed he played a few shows up here and haven't really bothered to listen to his music until just recently... A young man who basically records perfect/yet-distorted anti-fi pop songs on a 4-track so relentless that they sound always in context of something else. Hauntology is the word I best believe is used to describe this effect and the effect is amazing... Listening to his recordings, I feel like he's capturing any of the following:
1) You're driving late at night listening to AM radio in rural towns and due to the strange static, it all sounds like Captain Beefheart trying to sound commercial (but doesn't).
2) An Alternate Universe in the 70's where Bowie and president Nixon never existed and the arrival of the moog happened 30 years earlier.
3) You're in a recently democratized country and they're playing their local pop music (which was filtered through Eurovision contests).
4) You find a VHS tape with the following video

Ballardia

I was in Ballard last night with my friend Will. We tried the best kept secret 'Coppergate' - a cute little resteraunt/bar in the 64th block of Ballard, tucked away in one of the more sleepy blocks. They feature a nautical theme with nudie pictures (*and somehow the theme works in a very irreverent way). The food was awesome Norski fare (as if my people knew to finally throw a spice or two into a dish) and an amazing assortment of Aquavidt. We later tried to get into the Mamie/Awesome show at the Tractor, but it was sold out (along with most of Old Town Ballard. It's no longer the sleepy, quaint block... It looks more like Capitol Hill with drunk het's n' hipsters swaggering between bars...) In any case -- I'm off to get my locks cut off today by Eug'. No more looking like an old fisherman... [Update, 2/21 - the times just reported that the Ballard Denny's was saved as a historic landmark. This comes as a big suck-it to developers wanting to de-colorize the area as much as possible and encourage more traffic gridlock. Heh-hah.]

Have you met Karen yet? She's Pretty Ordinary

Much like the Miranda July aesthetic that art embraces everyone, the English produced Karen Magazine promises to be just that: highlighting the ordinary over the gloss and overhyped: KAREN is more interested in the weather than what to wear, sell by dates than celebrity....
Unfortunately, their web presence is scant, but it is refreshing to see a mag that tells it like it simply is... No Brittany, No wars, No surface analysis of the 08 electoral process, just articles on your husband's feet and breads you like to buy.

Valentine's Day Redux

Well humph - my plan to upload the video I had been working on in imovie and final cut didn't exactly take off like I hoped. Final cut is a bit complicated to learn and the backup video in imovie timed out with you tube. So alas, I cannot give you the video I was hoping to make. I'll just use this as a place marker however and leave you with this offering from Wian Treetin.

Cut Above

I'm playing around tonight w/my Final Cut Express. It's the cheaper version than the larger $1k editing suite and figuring I'd first get my feet wet here before doing anything foolish. It's pretty impressive. The video and title effects are good and I'm amazed at how extensive it is. I should add that while Final Cut is evolved, iMovie has rather devolved. They've taken the adaptability out of it. It's sad that Apple did this. They've raised one bar, and then lowered another... Sigh.
In the meantime - enjoy this video by Dirty Bros (courtesy of Jockohomo): Anal-Oral Issue Kitty

Caucus Ruckus

So - I just ducked out of the Beacon Hill (on Capitol Hill) Caucus. It was kinda fun to connect w/neighbors and such, but I was really there to cast my initial vote. I didn't exactly want it to consume my entire afternoon off (afterall, I have a mountain of laundry and have to have to have to clean my floors today... No question.) Needless to say, I hung out for an hour and was starting to get that "sweaty, stiffled over-layered" feeling and surrounded by the B-Hill precinct was starting to wear on me. I wasn't exactly wanting to be 'swayed' from Ob to HRC, so I just signed and dashed out. And yes - I cast my vote for O. I might regret it (or who knows, he might not make it into the primary) but hey - i did my part...

Frozen in Time

I'm sad to say that I totally forgot tomorrow was Super Tuesday. I'm even more embarrassed to say that when asked, I could not rightly remember what it was (and mistakenly told my trainer that it was our primary -- it wasn't). Ok - mea culpa, when I was asked - I had just finished benching about 140 (almost getting to my goal of benching my weight), and the blood was not exactly making it to my cranium... but yeah, I feel really dumb. I also feel out of touch. I read the occasional analysis of the candidates, but I seldom watch the debates nor take interest in what their message is. I know HRC's voting record and that Obama is great communicator, but aside from that, my voting pref' is based purely on show-biz intuition - who's gonna have wide appeal in November (ahem - Obama)... Gawd, am i that shallow? Meanwhile - the eastern seaboard will sound off who might actually have a chance against the Mccain...
In any case - here's something also in NY.

Crime and the City Solution

Today the fed cut interest rates by .5%... My financial analyst tells me that they might even go lower in March if i truly wanted to refinance. The glittery mortgage shackles just get more appealing... At the same time, I am battling the sense of shiftless identities this city is hemorraging. Innercity spaces are not becoming urban, they're turning suburban and people less trustful, less community based. It might have to do with this recent article on partitioning where i see my neighborhood looking more and more like Auburn (and in a strange twist - the demographic now moves to Kent???)... Maybe it's not that all, but the increase in crime in the news... Urbanism is eating it's own. But, maybe not according to statistics. In any case - is Seattle the kind of town where you can run free in a museum, or is it one that has the "Hand's Off the Sculpture Park" signs?

Hurt until it Gives

I'm going to a friend's benefit party with an idea to auction off several home-made t-shirts with the phrases that provoke dialogue and make the wearers my sentence fragments. I'll tell a long and rambling narrative which will have people wondering what I'm saying, but ultimately be a big apology to everyone i've ever wronged. Maybe that - or maybe it will be just a collection of fashion-forward hyperbole and mistrust. I will work in fabric paint and googley eyes. Fashion on the edge!!

However, in the meantime, if you want to give to venerable causes, I suggest donating to a site like Kiva where you can give microloans to true startups in other countries. I just got back my $50 after a year and reinvested it into countries Africa and Asia.

SOTU is Suture

I won't watch the SOTU. I am instead concentrating on getting through my routine and 25 minutes of intense cardio. I know what the transcript is already going to say. Yay us. Look what we did. I know that people will stand and clap and they won't represent our interests. I know that W will throw around vernacular that will defend wiretapping and bombing Iran. He'll suggest the surge is working (it's not). He'll mention facts that are not entirely true, but with enough rhetoric, he'll take credit for a few datapoints of success while we are sliding into a recession. I can't be too angry, I'm just too tired at the moment. Instead, I suggest you do a little reading up here...

Seattle Style Crash

I've left an angry rant over on SLOG with the post that they finally got the Chinatown arch up. It is pretty to look at, but it's like putting a new door on a house badly needing it's foundation fixed. The potential for the ID to really take off has been stifled and with the boom kinda nearing over these days, I think they (the landowners) missed the boat on opportunities to make the ID more urban residential. A few years ago - i was asked to participate by the ID Development Authority on what I thought would bring more people/growth the ID. Simple - I said, Let some of these spaces that are in need of repair (those that are not condemned), rented out to artists and push the artwalk east from P-square. Ok - kinda a wacky idea, but that's pushing growth forward if you get more creative elements and small businesses opening up (KOBO at Higo is a great development!!). As it stands, I see more and more businesses failing and moving out. I don't think there's enough to sustain these overtime - especially as Uwaijimaya is the dominant grocery store and now there's talk of a big box retail development to open up on Dearborn.
Granted, my ethnic identity is not tied up in the ID, and the Asians that do participate are there for mostly commerce and a certain % cultural identity. But even so, it's underutilized and quickly becoming the Chinatown like Vancouver (known drug area), and has created a wall between first wave immigrants who can't afford to live in the suburbs and the office workers who quickly vacate at 6pm (and with Amazon moving to SLU, it's going to be even more empty).
I guess it just makes me angry that whole blocks of healthy retail on Pike/Pine (Belmont) are taken out while there's actual properties that could be renovated. Maybe it's the cost of repairs -- and if that's the case, some dialogue should happen if having a building that's a health menace should still be around if no one can live in it (read - Rainer Cold Storage), or if it's worth saving some heritage. Ironically enough, the arch is right next to the empty Publix Hotel, a scary lynchian building where all of it's residence were sent packing last decade. Across the street from there is a sports bar where the indigent and drugged out loiter all day. I don't see revitilization coming any time soon.

Cancelled Due To Writers Strike

Today was one of those days where I felt like Bruce Dern in Silent Running; running around the space station with very little human contact. I've been sick and coming out of quarantine, but decided not to go to the company party at EMP. It's literally 30 degrees out and miserable (and since I've been good about not drinking and taking it easy this week, I figured don't push it). Instead I stayed in, cooked a salmon and watched Deadwood (*which I've had out on Netflix for ohhh, 3 months?)... I've come to conclusion that while I find it interesting, the characters intense and nasty (kind of like a corporate environment on steroid rage, surrounded by mud and bad grammar). I don't think I'll finish the rest of the season...
Instead I've been catching up on various gay art blogs. I found this image courtesy of Kaiserin (tagline: A magazine for boys with problems). I've been actually reading on zine assembly (courtesy of a little book called Stolen Sharpie Revolution). It makes me wanna get my sharpie and start something. I've still held the rites to Indiefag.com (or maybe it's gone... not sure) - but something where I can put my manifesto up for all to see... But then again, I really don't have a manifesto (except, be nice and try to give people some room in life), and it wouldn't take up more than 2 pages. Oh, and isn't this what this blog is for? I guess I wanna be prolific in some fashion...

Time Travel

Hot on the heels of being ambushed by friends from high school to make it to my 20yr Reunion, i decided to time travel back to teenage bedroom, circa 1984. It's part of the Miranda July assignment to draw a picture from your teenage bedroom... So here I am, drawing it... Hopefully, I won't pollute the timestream too much. The old 14yr old is asking me a ton of questions about the future... I simply nod and say nothing. I am trying to capture all of the 80's new-wave britmania I had going on at the time. I think most of it came from the English music tabloids (complete with lyrics and posters) and large scale posters I purchased from Rising Sun Records. I was prematurely convinced that these bands would change the world, as they did my hairstyle at the time... Little did i know then that the posters would change (some more obscure bands, giant photo's friends took at the time, eventually a chaotic mural i painted that would later be painted grey)... Now it's the southwest room (redone shortly after i left) probably going to be renovated into my parent's own masterbedroom at some point.

WianTreetin Roxxx!

Ok - sometimes you have one of those holy shit, i've just discovered innernet gold, and I think it comes in the form of video artist Ryan Trecartin's body of work posted on Youtube. I was lost, then I was found:

King and Economics

Today was an interesting blip or perhaps even an unravelling of the market... While America took the MLK day off at the stock exchange, the EU took a nosedive over fears that the US recession is a' brewin on the horizon. EU stocks dropped lower than 9/11 levels. This is going to make Tuesday's market all the more frightful and I'm anticipating this being a mad scramble. This seems like a replay of the late 80's Black Monday, but i've heard there's an inevitable crash (housing market and all that) possibly even deeper. My limited understanding of this comes less from facts (I barely have time to read the business section) but more intuition. Having lived through a few recessions and drops in the market price (my own strike price often underwater), I have that wince factor kicks in and can only wonder if we're going to be facing some kind of crisis...
In any case - MLK did have a few things to say on the subject of wage and economics himself, and warongreed.com has come out with a very interesting short docu on Buyout Billionaires...

Up with Dead People

Probably because I was backtracking from recent articles on the death of Brad Renfo, I came across the new Bruce La Bruce film, Otto, a gay zombie movie. It looks like the obsessions from politics have gone to death... I am not sure how the usual earthy sexiness will translate into the zombie movie... I kinda liked his sensibilities these past few years. He's gone a bit more somber, a bit less biting, a bit more genuine... Less irony, more real and gritty. (Uhh - wait, do I know what i'm talking about? No, not really

Real Girls, 77 Behavior Patterns

I went with Darryn last night to go see Lars and the Real Girl at the Crest. I was pleasantly suprised at how heartfelt the movie was -- in addition to it's subtle satire on modern relationships. It made me think of this interesting article from Salon a while back on men who buy "Love Dolls". It's very similar (probably inspired the movie at some point), these guys who can't seem to make a connection in real life so they tailor it in private. I think goes without saying that the next nonbio-logical leap will be of course Robots. Yes, this elicits a big "eww" out of alot of people, myself included. Probably the thought of anything mechanized doing the dirty is well, kind of suspect. It's not that it's simply automation, but usually people prefer to have a consciousness and desire at the other end. However I think, like the townspeople in the movie, they realize it's sort of like letting some people have practice until the real thing might materialize...

Upward Mobility

Ok - so sorry for the delay in posts... Lotsa things happening, among them a new beaux (pictured) and an old, dying mac (not pictured)... I've gotten the bug for a new mac after the old one got one and had senile dementia. Thus, Darryn and I crossed the frozen tundra of lake washington today to purchase this lil' diddy here... A shiny macbook pro. I am luvin the speed, apps and ability that it's providing me... The imac was nice, but it was clunkin and not loading the goods. This new, titanium steel board and awesome graphics and load time are making me want to go to every coffee shop in town and start fervently writing my epic in daily blog posts... This makes it soooo easy.... I am thus making a New Year's reso to become one of those "Scary Blog Friends" as my friend Ian once put it...

Dirty 30

1. I will give a damn.
2. I will be more honest.

Those are the two resolutions (or reso's for this year that I can only think of at the moment. I've already signed up for the STP, RSVP, Chilly Hilly and the Flying Wheels (if you're not a bike rider, those mean nothing to you and probably it's for the best). I've already attained some physical stature from last year, but I really do not want to become any more fanatic (or else I'd do triathalon's and where's the fun in that? No really, I ask). Sooo, resolutions. I've nothing to say that I can do better in the new year (except be a better friend/boyfriend/son/coworker/boss, and believe me, it takes some work).