Several months ago I started working on a digital painting of the Frankenstein Monster but I ended up setting it aside to work on other projects. A couple days ago I decided I would take a stab at finishing it but discovered that the PSD file was corrupted. The file wouldn’t open! I immediately checked all of my external hard drives hoping that the file was safe and sound on one of my backup drives. To my dismay all of the copies I had were corrupted. I was totally fucked. I didn’t know if I should feel angry or depressed. I’ve lost files before, but this particular piece was showing some real promise and I was really happy with how the digital painting was progressing.
So I decided I would rebuild the Frankenstein Monster and make him bigger and better than before. I had a couple low resolution images of the piece in various stages of completion and I was able to use those images to begin the process of reconstructing the green beast. So far I’m pretty happy with how the second coming of the Frankenstein Monster is heading. It is always easier the second time around.
But this experience brings up a very important question about digital art and photography – How do you archive your digital files to ensure that your work will survive 100+ years of technological evolution? How do you ensure that your files will always be readable? Will you be able to open and edit a JPG file 100 years from now? Will there be a drive that can read a CD-ROM disk 100 years from now? Will digital art survive a nuclear holocaust? or will a single scratch erase all of history. Is the Mona Lisa the only thing that can survive the end of the world? Who knows.
Film and prints processed and stored in proper conditions have demonstrated the ability to remain virtually unchanged for 100+ years. Why not create film negatives / slides or prints of your digital images to help ensure the longevity of your digital artwork? That might be one solution.
PROTEUS MAG ISSUE #5 AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD
Dustin Parker Arts, LLC is proud to announce the release of Proteus Mag issue #5. Issue #5 features work by Joshua Hoffine, Phil Toledano, André Sanchez, Chris Trueman, Jeff Depner, Sarah Scott, Heiko Müeller, Emilio López-Galiacho, Francesca Popolizio, Géraldine Georges, Tommy Kane, Sauerkids, LYS, Marek Haiduk, and Papermonster.
You can download Proteus Mag issue #5 at www.proteusmag.com or www.proteusmag.com/issues/proteusmag05.pdf
There has been a small outbreak of “zombism” in a small town near the border of Laos in North-Eastern Cambodia.
The culprit was discovered to be mosquitoes native to that region carrying a new strain of Malaria which thus far has a 100 percent mortality rate and kills victims in fewer than 2 days.
After death, this parasite is able to restart the heart of its victim for up to two hours after the initial demise of the person where the individual behaves in extremely violent ways from what is believed to be a combination of brain damage and a chemical released into blood during “resurrection.”
Cambodian officials say that the outbreak has been contained and the public has no need to worry.
General Ary Serey had this to say, “We have obtained samples of this new parasite and plan to learn how it starts the heart and other major organs of the deceased. We intend to use this to increase the quality of life for all.”
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice opposed the plan saying that the Cambodian government holds a great biological weapon and should destroy it immediately. Cambodian officials have yet to comment.
A United Nations team will be dispatched to Cambodia to confirm the safety of biological research in Cambodia.
Playing this weekend with friends “Spoonfed Tribe “at the Nacional in Hollywood and Martini Blues in Hungington Beach. Also playing quick acoustic set at Ghengis Cohen in hollywood on aug4, 7pm as part of BMI’s songwriter showcase. The Angel/Devil are working up a new batch of songs, and we got a new stray dog that was on the kill list at the south central shelter. We named him Silas in homage to Silas Adams from the David Milch masterpiece “Deadwood”. Dokken the cat is still running the place. All is well. xoxo Goob
Went to see “The Dark Knight” yesterday and was blown away on many levels. It’s urgency is so pounding, it’s breathtaking. And it manages to be a comic book movie that actually says bigger-picture things about society, guilt, destiny, human nature and its ability to be sinister and selfish.
And I know it’s been said, but Heath Ledger is brilliant. It’s a complete metamorphose into the character, and it’s never over the top by any means, but very controlled. Ledger’s Joker is actually very — magnificently — frightening. (LOVE the siren sound that starts in the background whenever the Joker shows up.)
My only criticism: I don’t like the way Chris Nolan shoots fight scenes, it’s sometimes hard to tell what’s going on, but it’s a very minor stylistic point, and actually reflects the tone overall (I would just pull back a bit). But the cinematography is nonetheless gorgeous.
I don’t have cable television at my new house and I honestly don’t miss it at all. It is really liberating to be free from the hypnotic clutches of the televisions screen. I’ve wasted countless hours staring at that glowing box. Watching the same shows over and over again. The news is depressing. Nothing but murder and terrorism and kidnapping and rape and religious cults and Republicans. Nothing hopeful or inspiring or uplifting. Just death and fear and pain. Watching the news just makes me angry and paranoid and fearful. So I don’t miss it at all. Its very liberating to be out of the loop. To NOT know. To be oblivious. To be lost in your own little microcosm. Safe inside your own little world. Safe inside your own head. Safe from the talking boxes. Free from the static. Free from the chaos. Free from reality or some dramatized version of it. Free from Flavor Flav. Free from Nancy Grace. Completely Free.
I do miss watching shows like South Park, Weeds, Nip Tuck and The office, but I can catch all of my favorite shows on DVD or watch them online without the risk of getting sucked into the death grip of the television screen.
No more channel surfing. No more flashing images. No more commercials.
I recently watched all 3 seasons of Arrested Development on Hulu.com. The show is amazing! I never watched the show when it was on television and I’m deeply disappointed the show only lasted 3 seasons. The show was incredibly smart and funny and strange and twisted. The show sometimes incorporateed devices used in documentaries such as narration, archival photos, and historical footage which helped make the show unique. Despite critical acclaim, six Emmy awards, one Golden Globe, and a rabid cult following the show never pulled in huge ratings and was canceled after 3 seasons. I can only hope that the show is resurrected Family Guy style but I’m very doubtful that will ever happen. There is word that an Arrested Development movie might be in the works so there is still hope that Arrested Development may return from the dead. Fingers crossed.
Just go to www.hulu.com/arrested-development to watch the entire series for FREE.
first of all, I thought PrettyFrank was dead and then I check it and Dust is keeping things going…. good job Dust.
Anyway, I’m hooked on ABC’s freekin’ amazing show WIPEOUT. Damn, is it one damn funny show. John Henson is one of the commentators and he makes me roll on the floor…. did anybody use to watch him on “Talk Soup”? You know how funny he is.
It really is just a great show with people smashing into things and making total fools out of themselves…. good stuff.
I want to be on Wipeout but I would probably come off as a total “girly man”, so I’ll pass. I like to be girly in private.
Today I stumbled across a blog called www.celebrityapes.com which features digitally altered photographs of celebrities as apes. The results are really disturbing and some are really interesting. The blog is updated daily with a new photograph.
Chubby Cheeks had intestinal parasites that gave him explosive diarrhea. We discovered this when Chubby Cheeks shat all over our bed and ruined a $150 comforter. I was also feeding him copious amounts of Tuna which added more rocket fuel to Chubby’s poo canon. Later that day I discovered him punishing his litter box. The sound of machine gun fire filled the room. Farting cats are pretty damn funny.
We took him to the vet and he is feeling much better now.
Radiohead’s new video for House Of Cards was “shot” using light and laser-based scanning systems rather than cameras, with data being generated in real-time. The video was directed by James Frost of Zoo Films, and was created utilizing two technologies: Geometric Informatics and Velodyne Lidar. There were NO cameras used to film the video.
The Geometric Informatics scanning system employs structured light to capture detailed 3D images at close proximity, and was used to render the performances of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, the female lead and several partygoers.
The Velodyne Lidar system uses multiple lasers to capture large environments in 3D, in this case 64 lasers rotating and shooting in a 360 degree radius 900 times per minute, capturing all of the exterior scenes and wide party shots. Geometric processed their own data while 510 Systems processed the Velodyne Lidar data. The data was then manipulated by Union Editorial and the Syndicate to create the final result.
I’ve been a loyal Netflix customer for a couple years and I’ve had nothing but good things to say about the service. BUT, I recently started using the instant viewing service and I’ve been really disappointed in the selection of movies available for instant viewing. I’m not all that interested in Watching The Glimmer Man staring Steven Seagal and Keenen Ivory Wayans despite it being one of the more appealing selections in the batch. The most promising category is comedy. But it is slim pickens for fans of a good Sci-Fi or Horror flick.
I think the service itself is awesome. It works flawlessly. The video quality is great and the player is really well designed and easy to use. There were zero sound or video glitches.
I currently pay $23.99 for the 4 at-a-time (unlimited) plan which also gives me unlimited instant viewing. However, I would much rather have a limited amount of instant viewing and be able to watch any movie / television show I want, rather than have unlimited instant viewing and a limited selection of movies.
My other beef with the instant viewing service is that there is no Mac support. The majority for the people I know that are Netflix subscribers are also MAC users and none of them can take full advantage of a service that they are paying for. Mac users can use Boot Camp to run windows on their Mac, but why taint your Mac with that horrible operating system? Netflix should work without using Boot Camp. The main reason why Mac is not supported is because the studios require the use of DRM (Digital Rights Management) to protect titles and there is not a studio-sanctioned, publicly available Mac DRM solution. Apple will not license their DRM (probably because of their own movie rental service through Itunes). But Netflix promises to find a solution to this problem and make instant viewing available on the MAC. But how long will that take?
Overall, Netflix is a really awesome service and I highly recommend it.
Our lawn was starting to look like the amazon rain forrest so Katie and I decided it was time to purchase a lawnmower so we could cut down the foot of grass surrounding our house. We decided we wanted to get an electric mower because it is more environmentally friendly than a gas powered mower, and we would save some Benjamin’s by not having to buy gas for the mower. We also decided that it would be best to get a cordless mower to avoid a mower blade meets power cord scenario.
We found a really great mower at Sears but it was on back order and they had zero clue when more would arrive. I don’t really understand how a store can operate under the “shit just shows up randomly and we sell it” policy. Shouldn’t stores order products based on the rules of supply and demand? It just seems like Sears is losing out on a ton of potential business because they suck at keeping inventory. Or maybe I just got some lazy dumbass that didn’t know how to check when the next shipment would arrive. I’m guessing it was a little of both. Fucking Sears.
After a couple hours of hunting we found a cordless electric mower at Home Depot for $317. We ended up buying the floor model because they were out of stock, and it would take a couple days before they would have any more in stock. Let me point out that Home Depot DID know when more mowers would be in stock. Fucking Sears. Let me also point out that Sears would NOT sell me the floor model. Sears is a fucking cock tease. Sears is like a hooker sitting at the bus stop with her legs spread eagle but she’s holding a sign that reads “sorry boys, it’s my day off.”
Sears never has anything on stock. I think Sears is just a giant display room for all of the other stores in town.
Me: We would like to purchase this lawn mower?
Sears: Sorry Buddy, That mower is out of stock.
Me: Do you know when one will be available?
Sears: Sorry, I’m a complete moron and I have no fucking clue when another mower will show up. Our computers just have little flickering lights on the screen. They don’t even work. We just look at them and push buttons and pretend we know what we are doing.
Me: Could you sell us the floor model.
Sears: No.
Me: What about the refurbished mower? Does it come with a bagger?
Sears: No. Those cost like $40.
Let me point out that the used lawnmower with the $40 bagger costs more than the brand new lawn mower. And they didn’t offer to pull the bagger from the floor model to make the sell. Fucking Sears.
Anyway….
I ended up getting a homelite 20 inch cordless electric mower. You can go to the link below if you want to know all of the specifications and read the product reviews.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100612273
Overall I give the mower 4 out of 5 stars.
The mower is really easy to switch on and off. You don’t have to pull a fucking cord 50 times to get the damn mower to start. The mower doesn’t give off any exhaust or big black clouds of smoke, and the engine is extremely quiet compared to most gas powered mowers. The mower also has a single level height control that makes adjusting the blade height extremely quick and easy.
I cut the grass in the backyard in about 10 minutes and it worked beautifully. I was feeling really great about my new purchase. But the grass in the backyard wasn’t nearly as wild or tall or thick as the grass in the front yard.
I had to raise the blade to the highest setting in order to get the mower to cut the grass without stalling out. I figured I could always make a second pass if I wanted to cut the grass any shorter. Once I adjusted the blade the mower worked beautifully.
My yard is a pretty good size and the mower ended up running out of juice right as I finished up the front yard. The mower is suppose to have an average mowing time of 45 minutes. It took me about an hour to mow the lawn. If you have a large yard it might take multiple charges to mow your entire yard. Unfortunately, it takes 15 HOURS to fully charge the battery.
The mower isn’t self propelled and it is just as heavy as your standard gas mower, so it took a little more elbow grease to push the mower around than I expected. I remember mowing my grandma’s lawn as a kid and that fucking thing would take off like a rocket and drag my scrawny ass across the yard. But I would have liked a little bit of that rocket fuel today. My body is a complete wreck. I’m out of shape. after 15 minutes I thought I was going to die. I couldn’t breathe, my clothes were soaked with sweat. My eyes burned from the rivers of sweat dripping down my face. My knees hurt from going up and down the hilly terrain. So if you have a history of heart failure you might not want to own this mower.
PROS
Better for the environment and the pocket book (no need for gas or oil)
No more trips to the gas station for gas and oil.
No need to store gas or oil in your house or garage
The mower is easy to recharge and only requires a standard wall outlet.
3-in-one Mulch, side discharge, and rear bagger.
Single lever height adjustment (1 3/4 in to 3 3/4 in cutting height range)
Easy to turn on and off.
CONS
Battery takes 15 hours to charge and only lasts 45 minutes.
The mower is NOT self propelled. More elbow grease required to push the mower around.
Doesn’t have the POWER that a gas mower has and has difficulty cutting tall grass.
Overall, I think the mower was a great purchase and it passed a very grueling test. I’m just glad I don’t have to use my old fashioned push mower all the time. That thing was a real bitch to use.
It is well established that I am a loyal APPLE user and hate anything associated with Microsoft. Apple’s operating system is simply more intuitive and user friendly and far superior in every imaginable way.
Today I purchased a new Toshiba laptop so I can test the websites that I design on Windows. The majority of people that are surfing the web are windows users and I desperately needed to have a computer handy that would allow me to test the websites I’m building on Windows.
A little piece of me died today.
BUT… I can finally take advantage of Netflix’s instant viewing option. Which is wicked awesome.
Speaking of Netflix. If you haven’t signed up for Netflix you really really really need to stop whatever you are doing and sign up immediately. Blockbuster can suck it.
When Katie lived with her sister Kristine, we kept a couple bowls of cat food on the porch for all of the neighborhood cats so they wouldn’t go hungry. At one point we were feeding about a dozen stray cats, dozens of birds, and a fucking possum. We kept the bowls fully stocked at all times. Whenever we went outside we would top off the bowl to make sure a cat never had to experience the disappointment and heartbreak of finding an empty bowl. All of the cats had names…. Silver Chocolate, Butter, Bobo, The Ghost of Christmas Past, Gravy, Choco, and Chubby Cheeks just to name a few.
Bobo was one of the first stray cats that started hanging out at Kristine’s house. Bobo was a very sweet and affectionate cat. We named her Bobo because her tongue hung out of the side of her mouth like a stroke victim. We suspected that someone had abused her because most of her front teeth were missing and her jaw was a little crooked. Besides having a minor drooling problem and a droopy mouth, she was the perfect cat.
We ended up giving Bobo to Katie’s younger sister and Bobo is very fat and happy now. She has been extremely spoiled. And we still get to see her whenever we want.
Tonight we went over to Kristine’s house to move the rest of Katie’s stuff over to our house and discovered a very skinny and hungry Chubby Cheeks. When we first encountered Chubby Cheeks he was a hefty boy. He was easily the biggest cat of the bunch. But when we found him tonight he was nothing but skin and bones. When he moved you could see the bones moving beneath his skin. Katie was really heartbroken to see this and we quickly decided that we should take him home and nurse him back to health.
So far Mr. Chubby Cheeks has been very appreciative of his new home and all of the great food we are feeding him. I’m sure he’ll be fat again very soon. The little fucker loves tuna. He can’t get enough tuna.
He has been very affectionate and really seems to love people. But our other two cats aren’t exactly keen on this strange new cat invading their territory. So it has been fun keeping all of the animals separated so we don’t end up with a bloodbath. Mr. Chubby Cheeks still has his claws, and I’m worried he might backhand one of these bitches if they give him any attitude.
Hopefully he will adjust to the new environment and all of the cats will start to get along and not try to kill each other each time they bump into each other.
Yesterday I purchased tickets for the July 17th Midnight showing of The Dark Knight. My nerd boner is vibrating with anticipation. I haven’t been this excited about a movie in a very very long time.
Right now I’m listening to the new Beck Album (Modern Guilt) and trying to find the motivation to work. Maybe I have bats on the brain. Maybe I just hate my job. Maybe I have attention deficit disorder. Maybe I simply don’t give a shit. Who knows.
The new Beck album is pretty fantastic. I really like it. But I pretty much like everything Beck does.
I’ve also been listening to Joy Division (when I’m not obsessing over The Dark Knight, or falling asleep at my computer). I recently watched CONTROL, a film about Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, whose personal, professional, and romantic troubles drove him to commit suicide at the age of 23. I thought the film was really beautiful and tragic. Ultimately it is a portrait of depression and squandered potential.
After watching the film I couldn’t get the songs out of my head. I didn’t own any Joy Division albums and before experiencing the film I had very little knowledge of Joy Division. I was aware of Ian Curtis’s Suicide and that Joy Division became New Order after his death, but I was pretty much clueless beyond that. I ended up downloading a “best of” collection from Itunes and I’ve been listening to it religiously for the past 2 days. I can honestly say that I like Joy Division more than New Order.
Last Wednesday, Katie and I went to Kansas City to install Katie’s solo exhibition at the Nine Zero Eight Gallery. The Gallery is located in the lobby of Rees Masilionis Turley Architecture at 908 broadway.
The space was perfect. The gallery had brick walls, hardwood floors, high ceilings and a row of large windows that filled the gallery with plenty of natural light. The hanging system was a little tricky and we had to add new hardware to all of Katie’s pieces to accommodate the hanging system. The hanging system was comprised of steel cables that hung from the ceiling, and each cable had a picture hook that could slide up and down the cable to the desired height. The hanging system worked perfectly except they had the cables hanging about 6 inches away from the walls and the photos dangled from the cable rather than resting flush against the wall. At first I was a little dismayed by this but once we finished hanging the show I ended up liking how everything turned out. I think a piece of duct tape would have easily fixed it.
Everything was going smoothly until I broke a piece of glass. I felt horrible. We ended up going to a Home Dept and bought two sheets of plexi glass. Then we went to Kinkos to have a large poster printed for the front window of the gallery. While we were at Kinkos we tried to cut the plexi glass but ended up ruining both pieces of plexi glass because it kept cracking on us. The plexi glass was really poor quality. Plus we didn’t have access to all of the tools we needed to properly cut the plexi glass.
While we were at Kinkos a stranger was kind enough to offer directions to a frame shop that was only a mile away from the Kinkos. He gave us a crude little map he drew on a scrap piece of paper and we quickly darted off to find the frame shop. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the frame shop that the stranger described to us. The map was completely useless. And the details of his directions were a little hazy in my mind. I started to worry that we would never find a new piece of glass.
Luckily we found a frame shop / gallery and got a piece of glass for $25. At this point they could have charged me $200 and I wouldn’t have flinched. I would have paid anything for a piece of glass.
The gallery owner had two full grown sheba inus that kept us both entertained while we waited for the glass to get cut. I also thumbed through a really awesome retrospective book on James Rosenquist. I’ve never been a huge fan of Rosenquist’s work but this book immediately made me a fan. It included many of his sketches and collages that he created as studies for his paintings, and I thought those works were really incredible and inspiring.
If you happen to live in Kansas City or plan on visiting in the very near future be sure to stop by the Nine Zero Eight Gallery and check out Katie’s work. It is really incredible work.
TIME LOOPS
INFINITELY REPEATING
NEVER ENDING
NEVER ESCAPING
EVERY DAY IS EXACTLY THE SAME
THE ALARM GOES OFF
I CRAWL OUT OF BED
GROGGY EYED
LIMPING LIKE A ZOMBIE
BRUSH MY TEETH
TAKE A SHOWER
CHECK MY E-MAIL
FEED THE CATS
KISS THE GIRLFRIEND
OUT THE DOOR
WORK
WORK
WORK
WORK
GO HOME
EAT
WATCH TV
PAY BILLS
FUCK
SHIT
SLEEP
REPEAT
I apologize for being so MIA and low on the totem pole of contributions, I’ve been so busy and I know that’s not an excuse. Since I got back from my trip, I’ve been doing a couple of different jobs, I love it. It’s not steady and it’s a bit frightening, but it’s so liberating.
I’m trying to move to New York in August/September and I’m mortified. I was talking to Wade about it the other day, and I gather the move doesn’t bother me in the slightest, but being able to live there and possibly having to share a place after having lived alone for so long is kind of daunting.
Some of you might ask why I’m even bothering in the first place?
Well the answer is really very simple; I want to be able to work in production and sadly, that’s the place to be right now. I’ll try to post something before I leave, if I don’t get a chance I will from NYC…wish me luck!
The season finale was last night and I enjoyed myself greatly. I think the creators of LOST have not “lost” it… they just keep getting better and better.
Now, I’ve looked at the show differently since I read www.timelooptheory.com. It’s a website with a theory on the whole LOST world and what is actually going on… it’s really good stuff, go read it. It basically says the whole show is about “fate” and fate correcting itself because of time travel. The theory has been pretty damn correct up until this point. They did reference time travel last night with the “time traveling bunnies” experiments… so the Time Loop Theory may be on to something….. but, they were wrong about one thing, who’s in the casket… they predicted Ben. Oh well. But, their theory does explain a lot, and if LOST is not about what this theory thinks it is… it should be. Or the creators are going to have to work really hard to “out do” this theory…
I suggest you take 15 minutes to read their “theory timeline” and have your minds, officially, blown.
Very interesting article, in more ways than one. And I agree that far too often movies get made that are merely regurgitated from other movies before them.
But, yeah, you’re right. Making a movie is a completely daunting task. I’ve talked about this with Wade at length. I’ve often said that I wish I could knock out a film like I could knock out a painting (not that that’s by any means easy). Then it would be quicker to define my “style.” It took literally five years to get my first movie made.
And gearing up for another feature was difficult. Part of me was like, “GAWD, do I really want to do this again?” Go through the heartache, the worrying, the sleepless nights, the countless hours, the logistics, everything. It’s kind of like going through a gang of people swinging baseball bats. You know you’ll get hit and it’s going to hurt, but you grit your teeth, cover up all your vulnerable spots and head on through.
Because it’s not supposed to happen. We’re not supposed to make movies. I think with my limited resources and knowledge, just making a movie is breaking a rule unto itself.
I love all the movies on that list for different reasons. I can only hope to defiantly pursue my visions with as much tenacity as they have.
Currently before Congress stands the new Orphan Works Bill. If passed, this bill will adversely affect visual artists, as it would drastically affect copyright laws.
Right now, anything you create is protected by copyright, whether you register it or not (although if you don’t register it, you cannot later claim copyright infringement.) Under this new legislation, nothing you create would be protected unless you commercially register it. You would have to pay to own rights to anything you create, commercially or just for your own pleasure, so that other people cannot steal your work.
The idea behind the Orphan Works Bill is to “free up old work” from copyright owners who have passed away (currently copyright laws last through the owners lifetime, plus 70 years.) But what if you’re still alive and making new work? You basically get screwed. In a sense, it will “orphan” anything you’ve ever created.
Unless you want to digitize all your work, or pay big bucks to register your creativity, you’ll want to check out more on this legislation at http://mag.awn.com/index.php?article_no=3615
and take action with this helpful site – http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/
I do. I really really do. I hate to type and it takes me forever to think of anything worthy to post, and I can “gab” with the best of them, but when I have to “write’ it, I’m fucked. I feel like a total dipshit (is dip shit two words?).
I have a lot to say but not a lot to write. I need a secretary who can take dictation. But then I would just sit there and say nothing… and she/he would just stare at me. Maybe I need to blog “drunk”, then I would let the words flow. And then I would go on about some of the chicks I find really hot on TV like that girl named Crush on “American Gladiators” and I would just yell about all the racists fucks in Kentucky that fear a black President, and…. never mind, fuck Kentucky… and Ohio…… and Pennsylvania…. except for those good people who did vote for Obama while their white trash neighbors stayed in 19th century.
I am quickly discovering that the longer you live in a house the more blemishes and scars and bloody holes you find. When we first walked into the house it was love at first sight. It was the perfect house for us. And we quickly signed on the dotted line without any hesitation. It was beautiful and perfect and flawless. All of the little pimples and pockmarks were cute little things that gave it “character.” But the longer you live in a place the bigger the pimples get, and they start to ooze puss and grow gnarly little hairs.
When we moved into the house, the basement was full of puddles of water and a dead bunny was floating in the sump pump. This was perfectly ok because my parents house had a leaky basement and I had grown accustom to the routine of mopping up the water after a hard rain. The floors and walls are all unfinished / unpainted concrete so I don’t need to worry about the water causing any real damage. And I just need to put anything of value up on a shelf where the water can’t ruin it. No problem.
Then the air conditioner went out. The air filter needed to be replaced because it was black with dust and grime. A sticker on the air conditioner read “air filter replaced 1984.” There is a chance that we’ve been breathing in dead skin from the person that lived in our house in 1987. Secondhand smoke from a cigarette burnt out in 1995. pneumonia from 1992. Old farts and coughs repeated over and over again.
The air conditioner also had a coolant leak.
I took off most of the afternoon so the repairman could come to the house and fix the air conditioner. I ended up watching ‘Margot At The Wedding,’ a film written and directed by Noah Baumbach, who also directed ‘The Squid And The Whale’ and Co-wrote “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (One of my favorite Wes Anderson films). I really liked the film and thought it was one of Nicole Kidman’s best performances. Jack Black was pleasantly good despite a few moments of overacting. I highly recommend it.
After waiting for 3 hours for the repairman to bring me the gift of cold air he suddenly vanished without saying a word. I was a little frustrated that I had to take a 3 hour lunch but I quickly reminded myself that I was renting and I wasn’t responsible for the bill. I still had to work late to make up for the lost time but it was reassuring to know that all of the pimples and blemishes aren’t my financial responsibility.
Tonight Katie washed dishes for the first time and the dish washer started leaking soap suds and water all over the floor. I’m guessing Katie put to much soap in the dish washer. But there is also a chance that the dish washer is rabid. So I might get another 3 hour lunch break later this week. I should have a good movie handy.
Today Katie told me that the neighbor told her that our house has some foundation problems and that it is fairly severe. Apparently he spends a fair amount of his day watching our house settle or sink or whatever you call it.
I remember seeing Time Code at Cinemas East, a four screen multiplex that showcased obscure art and foreign films. The theater lobby was dark and melancholic. Most of the light bulbs had died months ago, and the few remaining fluorescent bulbs were left gasping for life. The theater looked abandoned, as if human civilization vanished and left nothing but stale popcorn and boxes of petrified Mike and Ike candies. The sole survivor was a pimpled face teenager with greasy hair and random patches of facial hair. This teenage mutant worked the concession stand. He served your popcorn. He sold you your ticket. He ran the projector. He did everything except clean the carpet. Popcorn kernels were embedded in the fibers of the carpet’s loud designs. Large areas of the carpet were stained from Coca-cola spills.
It was my favorite place to be.
I remember the first 20 minutes of Time Code had a soundtrack that sounded like sonic youth on acid, later I discovered that all of the screeching and static and fuzz was the result of a faulty speaker. I remember that Cinemas East always had technical problems. The sound didn’t work or the projectionist would play the wrong reel in the wrong order.
I also remember that I absolutely hated Timecode. I was intrigued by the idea behind Timecode. I was very much impressed with the technical achievement of filming 4 continuous frames of action that converge and collide through out the film. All 4 frames were shot in one take at the same time, so if one camera made a mistake then all 4 camera would have to start over. This was much more ambitious than Russian Ark, but both films were equally uninteresting and mundane. The technique doesn’t really add to the story like Christopher Nolan’s use of reverse chronology did with Memento. The editing technique put us in Leonard’s shoes. It made us disoriented and confused and paranoid. It added depth to the story. Whereas Timecode is just 4 really mediocre movies playing at the same time.
Reservior Dogs is hands down the best film that Tarantino has ever done. Memento, Psycho and Requiem For A Dream are all in my all time top 10 favorite films. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back is by far my favorite Star Wars film. And Goodfellas is one of the best gangster movies ever made. This is a great list of films. Everyone should run out and see all of them.
Wednesday night I witnessed the amazing power of Radiohead at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in St. Louis. The concert was incredible and beautiful and inspiring and perfect. I can die happy now.
Set List
All I Need
Jigsaw Falling into Place
Airbag
15 Step
Nude
Kid A
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
The Gloaming
You and Whose Army?
Idioteque
Faust Arp
Videotape
Everything in its Right Place
Reckoner
Optimistic
Bangers & Mash
Bodysnatchers
Encore 1
Exit Music (for a film)
Myxomatosis
My Iron Lung
There There
Fake Plastic Trees
Encore 2
Pyramid Song
House of Cards
Paranoid Android
I never knew who Robert Rauschenberg was.Somehow he had gotten by me.Don’t get me wrong though, I know art.Oh yeah.I can nod knowingly when the name Jasper Johns is mentioned, even throw in that I like his flag picture best.And I can claim to have been a big fan of Roy Lichtenstein, beginning when he worked as an illustrator for DC Comics.AND that I am a big fan of his country, even if it is kind of small and basically only produces Nordic alpine skiers that you hear about once every four years as they whiz by to the accompaniment of cowbells and drunk German cowbellists.
But really, the Europeans are like that.They will camp out for two days in sub-zero weather to watch their favorite skier for all of 1.8 seconds as they fly by at 100 kph. Where, but in Europe, can you be a TRACK star?Where but in Europe can you get a group of people to sit still as they listen to Richard Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde,” an extravaganza that builds tension for five hours, never settling into key until the very end.Actually the whole thing is about sex, so it really kind of makes sense.Obviously Wagner was thinking from a woman’s perspective.If he was thinking like a guy the whole piece would have been the length of a TV jingle and would have just ended in a big explosion.I guess Wagner was thinking of the guys when he invented the Power Painter.
But when it comes to real power painters, I know art.I sat through two semesters of art history.
“You know this won’t count toward your major?” asked my academic advisor.
“Yeah, I know,” I said
She just stared at me, assuming, I am sure, that I surely had a better, or at least more involved, response than that.
“But you still want to take Art History?” she asked in a tone that would have been better suited for the question ‘And you still want to remove your own appendix with a blunt shoehorn?’
“Yes I do” I replied.
I might as well have said, “Oh, and hand me the dull, rusty shoehorn just to make this more interesting!”I am glad she did not ask me why I was a music major.You can only explain “because that is where the money is” so many times and then you begin to sound shallow. Continue Reading »
The other day I started working on a digital portrait of JFK. I thought I would share a screen grab of the work in progress. As you can clearly see I have very little done at this point. But I probably have a solid 3 hours invested in it thus far.
I’m not exactly sure where this piece is going.
I fucking hate Adobe Illustrator, I’m a Freehand loyalist, but since Adobe has snuffed out their best product I decided I would try to slowly migrate over to Illustrator so I’m not left in the dark ages. I decided I would use Illustrator for a freelance t-shirt design gig. The design turned out pretty decent considering my lack of experience with Illustrator and the rage I was holding back the entire time I was working on it. Freehand is just quicker and easier to use.
Right now it is 5:49. I’ve been up all night working on various freelance projects. Tomorrow I’m going to St. Louis to see Radiohead, but luckily I’m not driving so I can sleep most of the way there. Ha Ha.
The current housing market/credit crunch is certainly no secret. But getting a grasp on what happened and is now happening is a real trick.
Driving back from Florida on Sunday I caught NPR’s “This American Life.” I am not always the biggest fan of the show, but this Sunday they laid the whole thing out in very real and understandable terms, and did it with very human interviews of people involved on both ends, those making obscene amounts of money on a housing market they knew was overheating, to those who are losing their homes because a bank was willing to loan a half million dollars to a man with three part-time jobs, no assets and who was so undependable that a loan shark would not even loan him money.
This was one of the most engaging programs I have heard in a long time. Well worth an hour investment to understand just why our economy is in the state it is in. Here is an mp3 of the entire hour program. Download it to your ipod or other mp3 player, or burn it to a CD and take the hour to check it out. You won’t regret it.
NEW YORK (AFP) — Robert Rauschenberg, 82, one of the towering figures of 20th century art, died at his home in Florida overnight, a spokeswoman for the Pace Wildenstein gallery in New York told AFP Tuesday.
Rauschenberg, perhaps most famous for his “Combines” of the 1950s, was one of the celebrated figures of the Pop-Art scene, often using “found” material in his iconic works.
“I wanted something other than what I could make myself and I wanted to use the surprise and the collectiveness and the generosity of finding surprises,” he said in a 2005 interview with Art Info magazine, in which he discussed the iconic series.
“If it wasn’t a surprise at first, by the time I got through with it, it was,” he explained. “The object itself was changed by its context and therefore it became a new thing.”
Rauschenberg worked across genres, and was known for assemblage, conceptualist methods, printmaking, painting, sculpture and was even active in the field of choreography.
He was the first American artist to win the Grand Prize at the 1964 Venice Biennale, one of the art world’s most prestigious honors.
He shares a place with art giants Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns as a forerunner of American Minimalism and Pop Art, breaking what had until that time been a stranglehold by Abstract Expressionist artists in US galleries and museums.
Rauschenberg was named one of “the Century’s 25 Most Influential Artists” by the influential publication ARTnews in its May 1999 issue. He was also the first living American artist to be featured by Time magazine on its cover, a sign of how deep was his influence in shaping and reshaping the US cultural landscape.
Born Milton Rauschenberg in Texas on October 22, 1925, Rauschenberg was raised in a Christian fundamentalist family and originally wanted to become a minister.
He discovered a talent for drawing when he was 22 and serving in the US navy.
After leaving the military in 1948, he studied art at the private studio school Academie Julian in Paris, but moved to North Carolina less than a year later to continue his studies at Black Mountain College in North Carolina under masters including the Bauhaus movement’s Josef Albers.
After North Carolina, Rauschenberg, like many other Black Mountain alumni, moved to New York, where he took classes at the Art Students League between 1949-1951.
He worked in New York City and on Captiva Island, Florida where he died early Tuesday.
“I’d be a lot happier with Hillary than what we have, and I’d be happier with Hillary than John McCain. But you have to put these things in order — my first choice going back was John Edwards. When he dropped out then Barack became my first choice. If he loses to Hillary then she’ll be my first choice. So we’re always playing want-settle-get. You know, you want Alec Baldwin, you settle for Billy Baldwin, then Stephen Baldwin.” – Bill Maher
Last night I started packing up my belongings and began the task of transporting my precious cargo to my new home. I quickly realized that moving might take more time and effort than I had originally predicted. I decided that getting my office up and running should be my first priority, because I can’t survive a day without my precious computer. I cleaned out the stack of old art magazines that were collecting dust in my desk. I disconnected the countless wires that connected my computer to my scanner and printer and all of the other technological wonders that cluttered my desk. I packed up my DVD collection and my extensive library of art books.
At this point my room was a maze of magazines and boxes. I was surround by walls of CD cases and clothes. At this point i was feeling a little claustrophobic. I was already exhausted. My muscles burned and my back ached. I caught myself wishing that the new house was fully furnished so I could abandon everything I owned and start over with a brand new sparkling pile of junk. I wished I could burn everything. I wished I could just start over with a new life. I wished I wasn’t tied down to all of these materials things. They suddenly lost all value. I suddenly didn’t care about any of it.
Then I tried to move my desk out of my bedroom and discovered that the desk was too wide to fit through the doorway. I didn’t want to remove the door off of the hinges or dismantle the desk into a dozen little pieces. I instantly gave up. I didn’t care. I left the desk to die. fuck it.
Moving has made me realize that I own a bunch of shit that I don’t need. And maybe I need to free myself from all of this clutter.
So Jason Castro was a complete joke on “American Idol” last night, and if there is any justice, he will be voted off immediately. His song choices were terrible, his stage presence worse and his singing downright stunk up the place. Really, he could have taken a crap on stage and it wouldn’t have stunk so bad.
How in the world did he ever make it to the final four? He constantly sings in his throat, tries to hit high notes in his chest voice and it all sounds so gutteral. Ugh. And don’t get me started in his hair or that stupid smile.
Archeleta rocked, as usual. Hope THIS kid wins.
-rawd
this one comes from my friend sarah when she worked at kiehl’s. i was reminded of it in a recent e-mail:
“oh, don’t forget correctify … that’s the one that J used to always say … frank thought maybe she was actually a genius—cuz it’s a pretty good word … too bad she didn’t realize she had made it up.”
tricky. derived from error and ignorance it brilliantly blends two synonyms into a superlative: tweek, fix, correctify. to be reserved for the most extreme fuck-ups: financial, legal, cosmetic surgery, teen parties, etc. when used to its full potential.
contextual use:
“…Warren Buffet correctified Bear Stearns’ collapse by purchasing remaining stock for $15 billion and absorbing it immediately into Berkshire Hathaway.”
“…Sarah, not to correctify you, but tangerine-banana candles don’t go with pine-pond moss ones.”
I have moved my production blog over to WordPress (thanks Fuel). It will be easier for me to update, now that I will have PrettyFrank and FOUREYE Films side by side.
I’m 50 pages into my new script KANSAS GOTHIC, so I thought this would be a good time to start fresh on my production blog.
I have committed to updating it at least once a week… maybe then I will actually stay on top of it.
So, as some of you might know I got back to Wichita about 4 weeks ago fresh off of working as a line producer on a television series in London. Since I’ve been back, I’ve had some good sleep, caught up with friends and finally started looking for a job. The sad thing is that I know I need to move away to do what I want and have deemed the best most suitable job for me, finally something I’m really completely happy doing.
This job was one of the few times in my life where I haven’t felt utterly mind-numbed, severely bored and completely underutilized. Matter of fact, I was overwhelmed most of the time, but I think that brings out the best in me. I never got enough sleep the whole time I was gone. I learnt something new and solved a major catastrophe every single day.
I’m in Kansas now and I do love it here, I wish it were LA already or even a tiny movie making hub of sorts. (Pardon the corny sentimentality that’s about to take place) I couldn’t ask for a more inspiring, encouraging and just all round perfect people to have in my life. I am so far away from home, but I’ve managed to have a family of friends here that has become a seamless and intricate part of my life. It occurs to me that I have had most of the same friends for about 11 years; these aren’t just my friends anymore, they are the people that I’ve spent my adulthood with; people that have seen the better (sometimes worst) part of my growing up; my urban family.
I can’t quite understand why it’s always one thing but not the other in the ICT; it always comes down to this; friends and environment or career and who knows what sort of friends and what kind of environment?
It’s utterly terrifying to have to try to make that decision…and I’m constantly torn between home (Mid-East), home ( Wichita) and career (LA, Dubai, NYC?)..
Very interesting article, in more ways than one. And I agree that far too often movies get made that are merely regurgitated from other movies before them.
So Jason Castro was a complete joke on “American Idol” last night, and if there is any justice, he will be voted off immediately. His song choices were terrible, his stage presence worse and his singing downright stunk up the place. Really, he could have taken a crap on stage and it wouldn’t have stunk so bad.
