Bits and Pieces

Německo (Husarský kousek!)...Unor 2010!

2010-03-24T11:37:00.005-04:00

A long overdue pictorial update...of sorts

2010-03-02T07:03:00.012-05:00

Kyiv to L'viv

2009-07-01T06:03:00.002-04:00

We are headed to L'viv tonight and going to head to Crimea first thing Friday morning. Kyiv has been absolutely amazing. Fashion here is it's own definition. I think most of the clothing I have seen people wearing would land you in jail in most countries. The people have been really warm, the beer really cold, and the food cheap, delicious, and plentiful. We have been eating almost entirely in cafeterias and riding around in cattle cars. We have been visiting monasteries, churches, and reconstructed villages. It has been great, I would love to come back and spend more time here someday... but I am ready for the beach now.

Ukraine

2009-06-29T06:14:00.000-04:00

After nearly 44 hours of travel, we made it to Kiev last night. Our first leg of the journey (the train to Slovakia)- (12 hours) we were forced to pay extra money of course. Our second leg (a bus ride into Uzhgorod) -(4 hours) was cancelled and we were forced to wait for another bus in which we had to negotiate our tickets. We got across (with a giant bag of sausages) and safely managed both border crossings. Our last leg (train from Uzhgorod to Kiev) - (17 hours) was fun. A giant train car full of hardboiled eggs, fried chicken, and lots of stinky feet.

Upon arrival in Kiev, we were able to meet our contact and make our way to the Panelak we are staying at. It is everything I ever imagined and more!!!!!!

...It's been a long time

2009-06-25T15:18:00.006-04:00

...but my sister came to visit and I figured she deserved her very own post.

AND...Rather than filling up space with requite excuses pertaining to health, happiness, and the weather over the past 3 months, I figured a few happy smiling faces should make up for lost time.

Besides, I am heading to Ukraine tomorrow for 14 days with Natasha and should have plenty of stories to share once I get back.

We're famous!

2009-04-01T12:50:00.003-04:00

Apparently, my band's show at Akropolis in February was covered by Spin Earth!
We are now very, very famous among internet surfers and teenage girls in Japan!
Here it is.
Enjoy our fame!

See full report...

...If the video refuses to come up, just click here instead!

Michael Lease: The Home Invasion

2009-03-18T17:28:00.014-04:00

Form over Function

2009-03-16T05:41:00.004-04:00

Most of the time, when we buy some new piece of technology, we brace for a bit of a learning curve. Most of the time it is apparent that the proliferation of "function as quantity" overshadows both design and "user friendliness"
...enter Mac.
Mac has been able to succeed in the market (winning even my own heart) due to its ability to listen to people and make products that are stylish, relevant, and easy to use. In an age where visual communication has conquered the written, it was inevitable that someone was going to produce a line of products navigable by the use of pictures and icons. Despite the high cost of owning their products, I have come to both believe in and trust Mr. Jobs. In fact, I might even go so far as to call him a friend. This being said, I experienced a twitter of doubt last week when Apple unveiled its new "shuffle." Small, sleek, and stylish it is...but functional? I just don't know. Sometimes the pendulum swings hard back to the other direction. It seems to me like design has now managed to conquer function. When something as simple as a music player ceases to have any buttons whatsoever, relying on special headphones in order to work, user friendliness suddenly becomes user complexity. It may look and seem simple from the video link below....but I am not so sure. Making one into two...well, a house divide upon itself cannot stand! Besides, I hate ear buds. I must have mishapen ear holes, because all they want to do is fall out.
I know, I know.. "If I don't like the product, I don't have to buy it."
I am just a bit concerned that this shuffle could become an "apple indicator species." - like frogs and acid rain, or soft shelled eggs and D.D.T.

Perhaps I am overreacting....I hope I am overreacting.

I suddenly feel the need to write a letter...

Check out this link and decide for yourself.

Perhaps the onion was not so far off when they created the commercial for the Mac Wheel

O' Death

2009-03-06T09:29:00.001-05:00

I saw the band O Death play last night at 007 in Strahov.

Amazing....

Seriously, I have not had so much fun at a show in a long, long time.

The intensity of the whole show from start to finish was incredible. I have no idea how they fueled themselves, but whatever it was they have tapped into something really, really, special.

Who knew you could produce so much sweat in winter with a banjo, violin, bass, guitar, and drum kit?

The music bridged an incredible musical gap: folk, bluegrass, rock, and punk spilled forth from every song.

The drummer played as if he were in megadeath circa 1985, the fiddle player forgot that he was holding a violin most of the time and played it like a proverbial "red headed step child," the vocals wavered between harmony and chaos, and the banjo....who knew? who knew?

If you get a chance to see them play. Go! Just go and dance your pants off. Go and sweat through your clothing. Go and scream until you are horse. Just don't go and lurk in a corner...that's just creepy.

New Band, New Music

2009-02-23T10:37:00.004-05:00

Okay, so I don't think it is really all that accurate to call Ocean Versus Daughter "new," as they have been together for a year or so, and I have been playing with them for about 6 months, but seeing as how we have hit a recent growth spurt, the adjective will do.

Seriously, we are really starting to come of age.

If we were a 15 year old Latin American girl, our show tomorrow night would be a quincenera party.

Over the past couple of months we have expanded from piano, synth, and cello, to a full band replete with guitar, drums, and violins. We are now a collapsible/expandable, 5/7 piece orchestra.

Tomorrow night, we will be playing our first show at Akropolis. This is pretty exciting as the venue has been host to bands like the Pixies and Tom Waits over the years. We have been practicing quite a bit over the past few weeks and I think it should be a good show. If you are in town and have 150 KC to spend, you should drop on by. If not, then you should go to our myspace page and listen to the 2 tracks we just finished recording: Burns like the Sun and Take Care.
Both tracks still need violin, and Burns like the Sun still needs drums, but you can get an idea of what "adulthood" sounds like...or at the very least puberty.

...Oh Yeah, we will be playing with The Sads and The Tower of Dudes in case you are interested who else your hard earned money will be going to support.

....Oh, Oh Yeah Yeah. We have buttons that look like this:

...so make sure you bring a few extra Kc in order to get one while supplies last!

Wintery Mix

2009-02-13T11:05:00.004-05:00

This is pretty much what it has looked like here since about the 18th or so of November (minus the crazy psychedelic grid effect). I decided to put this up because something remarkable happened this week...I saw the sky turn blue!
True story.
I went outside on Monday and there it was...I'm not just talking about a tiny hole in a sea of gray, but actual full fledged blue sky. The sun was even able to create shadows! Imagine that! Real shadows! Now, I know I am getting a little prematurely worked up here as the wind was still blowing and it started to snow again on Tuesday...but the fact still remains that I saw blue sky!

Anyway, here it is! The view from my beautiful Anny Letenske.

Savor it.

Pretty soon this view will be obscured by trees instead of clouds, and birds will keep me awake at all hours of the day and night; I will have to block out my windows because the sun will rise at 5:30 and set at 10:00 at night. The beer gardens will begin to take down their shutters and replace their taps, and the parks will be covered in blankets as well as dog poo. Long pants and jackets will be replaced by cut off cords and vans, and pungent smells will once again begin to emit their wonderous magic from a sea of arm pits.
...and the streets. The streets will once again be choked by tourists trying to take pictures of the clock, of the bridge, of the castle... and then....and then....

Well, and then... the pictures will be different.

The city will be different.

The people will be different.

Attitudes will be different.

Things will be different.

Different.

Říp (It's subjective)

2009-02-11T18:40:00.008-05:00

Here is the view from the mountain Natasha and I decided to climb a few weeks ago. Neither view is "exact", but you can draw your own conclusions anyway.
Říp is no ordinary mountain mind you (actually it is more like a glorified hill), but one that is pregnant with meaning that soars well beyond its 459 meter reach.

This is the place where it all began...at least that is what I am told anyway.

"A traditional legend, first recorded by the ancient Czech chronicler Kosmas in the beginning of the 12th century, considers Říp to be the place where the first Slavs, lead by Praotec Čech (Forefather Bohemus), settled down, naming the land after the leader. "

So it is legendary and historical......and not the easiest thing to attempt to climb in the middle of January, but we made it. Slow and steady.

And of course, like all authentic Czech experiences, there was a place to get Svařák or beer once you reached the top of the mountain...
...not that we were in any mood to drink...but we had the option, which means that someone else had to get up that morning and climb that icy mountain just to get to work!
And to think, I complain about the 5 flights of stairs I need to climb down every morning.

It's Official!!!!

2009-01-31T09:27:00.003-05:00

Entropa (The continuing Saga)

2009-01-14T15:01:00.003-05:00

So, since yesterday more and more information has been growing concerning the Entropa piece, and not surprisingly, along with it, the controversy. It was finally revealed that contrary to popular belief, there were not actually 27 artists from participating member countries involved in it's creation, rather it turns out to have been just Cerny and a few of his friends. As if this were not enough, the Bulgarian government has called the Czech Ambassador to Sofia in order to explain their actions (in addition to insisting on the removal of "the Bulgarian segment" of the map.)
Now, with only 1 day left to the official "unveiling" of the piece in Belgium, it remains to be seen, what is to become of the work. I certainly hope that it will be allowed to remain. I think that there is great value in the piece that goes far beyond the thing itself, and feel that it's removal would be a great step backward for the E.U. as an idea.

I think that the real intention behind the work has finally begun to show, and feel that the actions that result from this act will speak much louder than the voices calling for it's removal. Let me explain. I do not condone the deceit that may have taken place in how it was presented, nor do I feel the need to comment on the "funding" and where it has gone, but I do think that what is happening right now is the "real art" and that the thing hanging in Belgium is just a symbol of it all.

It is obvious that Cerny and his collaborators knew that they would be found out. They are not stupid. They knew that the world would try and find the artists who supposedly made each piece in order to interview and do whatever it is that journalists do. Now the real question is, believing that Cerny knew that he would be "found out," why would he attempt the ruse in the first place? I am sure that the reasons are many and that there is a little bit of truth in each of them, but it is the result of this act and intentional controversy that interests me, and why I feel that the real Art lies within the reactions as opposed to the piece itself.

The E.U. is not a singular body as far as I can tell. It is more like a federation of ideas come together for a common goal. It grows in strength and power every year, and as it does so, it learns a little more about itself and its function on the continent and in the world. There is no map, there is no guidebook; the E.U. is trying to understand itself as it enlarges and it will have plenty of growing pains along the way. Mistakes will be made, challenges will be put forth, but that is life. That is how we all come to determine our position and purpose in the world- it is all part of growing up. We live and we learn, and so must the E.U.

Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously. Sometimes we don't take ourselves seriously enough. Sometimes we like our selves and sometimes we don't, but we are all we have, and it is important to not over react and cut off our nose just to spite our face.

The E.U. is made up of people of all various beliefs- left right, and indifferent. It is made up of new democracies, old democracies, grandmas and children. It is an incredibly diverse place and needs to be given a lot of room for dissent and expansion both. It is because of this that mixed signals are consistently spread through the E.U.
For the past few months people expressed their concern that Sarkozy should hang onto the post of the presidency. People have criticised Klaus for being too Europhobic and Topolanek for not being strong enough to deal with the problems that might arise.
Lets face it, everyone has an opinion, and we are not going to like all of them at any given point in time. But that is part of the responsibility being a part of something great.

To me, this is what the E.U. is about - bringing diverse people together for a common purpose.
In order to accomplish this, it must be open to dissent. It must be open to a wide range of ideas and beliefs, it must be open to analyzing, examining, and reflecting upon itself.

Lets face it, if one piece of art, from a member country is enough to cause strife then there is a problem. It is in our faults that we find the material for growth and healing, not in our successes. It is through pain and frustration that we learn how to deal with our problems and find solutions.

Questions must be raised: What has the unveiling of this controversial work succeeded in accomplishing? How will these varying positions be reconciled?

It is because of these things that the piece must be allowed to remain. This piece has come to symbolize more than the humorous/ offensive stereotypes it has manufactured. It has come to symbolize the way the member states deal with dissent within its own ranks. What does it mean when a country wants to "remove itself" from this map? What happens when real problems arise? Will there be room for dissent? Will there be room for disagreement.

I think the piece should stay. Our strengths are more pronounced when we can be confronted with disagreement everyday, and learn to laugh about it, shrug it off, and still get along for the common good.

Entropa!

2009-01-12T15:57:00.010-05:00

David Cerny Strikes again.

As many of you know, the official E.U. torch was passed to the Czech Republic earlier this month.
Aside from being given the power to deal with problems like "the Russian / Ukranian gas misunderstanding of 2009," they have also been given the opportunity to share a little bit of culture with the world as well. Apparently when a country takes the helm of the E.U., they commemorate it with the display of an original work of art. I guess that this can somehow symbolize their own country, (Last year, France created a provocative piece in the form of a balloon containing the French colors.), or even attempt symbolize Europe as a whole, from a specific point of view.

This year, the Czechs decided to take it a step further.

Enter, "Entropa"

According to the official site of the Czech Presidency. "Entropa is the joint work of 27 artists, each one from a different Member State. Each object depicts one Member State using common stereotypes or prejudices. The Presidency commissioned the artists without any restrictions and they were free to create any object they liked."

The piece is a monument to the abolition of stereotypes....or the humorous contents of them. If we can't laugh at ourselves, then who can we laugh at?

I guess that the artists involved took the Czech EU presidency motto, "Europe without barriers," to heart, and went to work.

Some of the depictions of the member states are as follows:

"The Netherlands is depicted as sinking into the sea with minarets rising from the waves.

"Poland, one of Europe's most religiously observant nations where the Catholic Church retains considerable sway, has priests raising a rainbow flag (Iwo Jima?), a symbol of inclusiveness and diversity as well as pride for gay communities."

The map of Bulgaria is dominated by a "Turkish" squat toilet.

"France's map is emblazoned with the word GREVE! (French for strike) in red, a reference to its frequent industrial disputes.

Romania is a Dracula theme park.

Sweden is a do-it-yourself "Ikea" flatpack.

Greece is on Fire.

Lithuania has 5 men in army uniforms peeing on Russia.

Luxembourg is made of gold with a "for sale" sign sticking out of it.

...and Britain does not appear at all."

While, I am sure this will add fuel to the fire in some peoples minds about Czech perspective within the E.U., I really like the piece.

Is it Offensive? Possibly, but I think that is both part of and beside the point.

Whether you agree with it or not, this "Punk" like gesture presents more of an attitude of inclusion and acceptance than can be conveyed through the thick layers of bearuracracy.
It shows a willingness to poke fun of and laugh at those things that make us both different and unique. Perhaps if you can laugh, you will be less reluctant to raise a sword in the future...or at this point in history, a red pen.
For both the skeptics of the E.U. ("a contemporary construct facillitating a bland land in which all custom and tradition will wither away and die"), and those fighting tooth and nail for the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, it adds a bit of lighthearted reflection.

It is true that people will inevitabily unite in offense and anger, but hopefully in laughter as well- for in doing so they must be able to step down, look around, and take a deep breath....because lets face it- once you begin to laugh at yourself, the size and shape of your salable fruit suddenly begins to take on new meaning.

zimní zbarvení

2009-01-11T05:03:00.002-05:00

Creating Confusion.

2009-01-05T14:02:00.002-05:00

It is only the 5th day of 2009 and I have already managed to offend and confuse. I have made my mother embarassed and somehow caused her dogs to pee on the carpet. I have caused my niece to run naked up and down the stairs, and my friends to worry.
I am neither married, nor with child. The bundle of joy pictured below is actually a bottle of Mattoni mineral water, and the girl wearing the scarf is Ida the doctor from Norway. There was no blasphemy or ill will intended, just a bit of healthy fun through a subtext of confusion. Next time I will provide a disclaimer in the form of a spoiler alert (a la imdb) and call my mother before hand as a gesture of good will.
Other than that, it has been a great year so far. It started snowing the other day and has not stopped yet. There is snow everywhere. It is supposed to get down to about -12 degrees tonight. The high tomorrow is only supposed to be about -3. On a bright note, the sun came out the other day. To celebrate I went on another hike through a forest, near a castle, in the snow, and watched kids skate on the ice of a frozen pond.
Today, was the day I had to give up my fantasy life and go back to work.
I first went for a run through the snow and came back home with a frozen white beard.
I got to class and only had two students. It is very difficult to "lecture" to two people. Teaching a small group is ideal, but if I only have 2 students, I am going to have to completely alter my class. It is just so bizarre. The dynamic is so different. I now have to look people in the eye and talk. I love being "teacher as entertainer" and feeding off of the energy of a group....it is really hard to do with two people. I will learn. I am like evolution in action. I will watch, and adapt. I will become..or I will sit and hope for more students to add. (Stark contrast to the class of 28 I will be teaching in February).
Things are good. Ida left the other day, the Finns arrived this morning, and Flanna will come home tomorrow. Our house is like the circle of life Elton John likes to sing about, only different.

Happy Holidays!

2009-01-02T08:05:00.001-05:00

Vesele Vánoce!

2008-12-25T09:02:00.001-05:00

Tek-naw-low-gee

2008-12-23T15:22:00.005-05:00

Like my spelling skills, technology and I have occasional disagreements. While I have special friends like spell check to help me through periods of trying lexical hostility, I just have to grin and bear my electronic grievances. It is usually like waiting out a storm. Acts of God, acts of nature, and acts of technology are to be accepted as part of the normal course of things. People who know me know that electronics and I come together just about as well as oil and vinegar. Tasty?- Yes, but distance is always kept. It is a codependent relationship that provides great amounts of joy at times, but will never completely integrate no matter how hard you shake the bottle. The past two days have proven to be one of those times where I just can't allow myself to get upset. First of all it doesn't help, secondly...well, it just doesn't help.
You see, I just bought myself a new computer for Christmas. (It is working great still luckily, knock on wood). However it is the stuff on the periphery that I am struggling with.

Last night as I was transferring photo files off of my external drive an "error" occurred. Apparently the drive is corrupted and needs to be wiped clean. I was fortunately able to save almost everything, but some of my important photos were lost into the ether. Unfortunately the memory cards that held them originally were wiped clean, and no disk back up was made (part of the reason I bought a new computer in the first place).
After trying everything in my limited "power," I shut the drive down and went to play a game of Solitare on my ipod before going to bed. During gameplay I decided that all of the fruit tea I had been drinking finally needed to be processed. I was winning however and decided to continue playing the game as I relieved myself. Unfortunately, I forgot that I was in a battle with technology and as I stood there looking down the ipod slipped out of my hands and straight into the toilet.

Game over.

(i-bituary..)

"Boris" moved on to that great digital cloud in the sky at approximately 1:30 a.m. this morning . Almost 2 years old, he never got the chance to live up to his full (80gb) potential. It was neither a "full" life, nor a long one, but I hope it was a happy one. He leaves behind him the lovely "Natasha" who, while small is stature (1gb to be exact), will loudly carry the torch he dutifully carried day in and day out each day of his little life.

(To be honest I did not really treat him that well, so maybe he will be reincarnated as a flashlight or a speak and spell and give great happiness to whom ever he graces in his reformed future)

Lastly (albeit only a minor setback), I failed myself as a photographer this evening. I made a rookie mistake, and I should be stripped of my strap (or something). Tonight I decided to go to photograph the annual citywide carp massacre. Czechs have a tradition of eating carp as their Christmas meal. How, when, and why this started I have no clue. Who am I to question tradition. Anyway, carp vendors line the streets and people line up with plastic shopping bags in order to carry home fresh carp for dinner. The process is as follows: A carp is chosen out of a large tank by the consumer, it is weighed, hit over the head multiple times by a rubber or wooden mallet, throat slit, it is then gutted and scaled. Very efficient process, and fascinating to watch. The streets run red with the blood of these most prestigious of bottom feeders. Scales cover a 20 ft. diameter circle surrounding the table, and bladders fill garbage bag after garbage bag. While I do not find this practice particularly strange, I did find it interesting and wanted to shoot pictures for my post today.
Instead, I carried my camera down to the tightly packed center in order to take pictures of nothing. You see, I left all of my memory cards sitting on top of my dresser as I spent this morning checking them for the images that were lost to the world of hard drive corruption.

As you can see, the past 24 hours have not been the most technologically stable period of my life.

In conclusion, since "they" say that these kind of things come in "threes", I can hopefully forget about these things and look forward to a bright and "error free" future from here on out.

Soup

2008-12-21T07:03:00.003-05:00

Ocean Versus Daughter versus Ken Nash and the Sads Live at The Blind Eye (Spectacular)

2008-12-19T09:31:00.003-05:00

River City Rock

2008-12-15T04:09:00.008-05:00

Našrot (Pub core)
Gnu (Hard Core)
11cm3 (Brit Core)

Friday Night

2008-12-12T13:20:00.004-05:00

Friday Afternoon

2008-12-12T13:19:00.002-05:00

Friday Morning

2008-12-12T04:10:00.003-05:00

The weeks run together

2008-12-08T16:35:00.003-05:00

Mikuláš!

2008-12-05T05:04:00.004-05:00

Today is Mikuláš!

The Czech tradition goes that on the evening before the 6th of December, during the night, Saint Nicholas visits the houses where children live and brings them presents, which vary depending on whether the child is good or bad.

In the old tradition a bad child gets a bag of coal or potatoes, a good one gets sweets, nuts or apples, maybe even a little doll or a car, whatever the family could afford.

(Christmas here is celebrated on Christmas eve when "the baby Jesus" flies in through the window and leaves gifts under the tree.)

On the feast St. Nicholas (Mikuláš), Mikuláš himself, an Angel (anděl) who represents good, and the Devil (čert) representing evil walk around town visiting households and scaring children in to being good.

Now this is similar I suppose to the American tradition of Santa's list of "the naughty and nice", but a bit....uh, direct.

Apparently Sv. Mikuláš walks around with the devil attached to a chain and asks children if they have been good. If "good behavior" is confirmed, the children must recite a poem or sing a song in order to appease the three and receive a gift.

If good behavior is not confirmed upon the child...I hope that he or she is wearing a good pair of running shoes.
In this situation Sv. Mikuláš will set the devil free allowing him to carry the child off to "the hell" in a sack, to burn in a torment of eternal hell fire and damnation.

To sum it up:

Bad American Children: No dolly or bicycle under the tree

Bad Czech Children: Eternal hell fire and damnation.

Direct hits and Near Misses

2008-12-02T04:06:00.008-05:00

This past week has left me a little bit "spun"... a bit off balance if you will. I have been working like crazy for this Film school while still trying to maintain the end of the semester rhythm in my own classes, and my "overly healthy" social life. Sleep is like an unexpected guest that arrives on time, albeit the wrong time.

I spent the last week running all over the city photographing Film students...enough said

The weekend was somewhat of a bizarre mix of events in which memories were created, debated, battered, and gathered. In between all of this I managed to play two shows last week. Somehow the last one ended up a living rendition of an unlikely screenplay co-written by Woody Allen and David Lynch. There were no midgets, but contained plenty of self-conscious self-flagellation, and an array of secondary characters moving in an out- shouting, whispering, smiling, spitting, and sometimes acting way too normal for my sleep deprived brain to process.

Here is the breakdown:

Chapeau Rouge was worn on Wednesday.
Joyful water was wasted on Thursday.
Fourth gear was discovered on Friday.
Thanksgiving was celebrated on Saturday.
and...
Diplomatic Spouses were entertained on Sunday.

...Anyway, enough with the words.

Here are some new images.

I Started a series when I arrived to this flat in August.
It is more or less a visual journal based on still lifes taken of the Kitchen Table.
It ends up being more personally revealing than anything I could ever write down, but a bit obtuse to others perhaps.
My perfect kind of Journal.

Here is a sample of mostly tight shots that reveal relatively little.

Enjoy!

Digital Turkey...Analog Family

2008-11-27T13:22:00.003-05:00

This is my first Thanksgiving "away."
I have had to work all day, but I did have an earlier Thanksgiving meal.
I am thankful today for the ability to "be with" my family even as we are far apart.
I am going to have a proper meal in a few minutes with Flanna and Tim...albeit a Czech one.

I have had a crazy week. No "Tuesday funday" for the next four weeks as I have been hired by a film school to take production shots of their student short films. It has felt really good to be working...so I am grateful for that too. I am grateful for lots of things this Thanksgiving. I am grateful for the opportunity to be here, for my friends and family, and for Smazak.
I decided to take some family photos for the occasion...

My Turkey Dinner?

The Colorado Contingent

The Virginia Contingent

Digital Gravy

Digital Turkey

Digital Spinach

My Niece thinks I am a manifestation of the Computer.
She alway kisses the screen goodbye when we part.

When it rains....

2008-11-21T09:23:00.004-05:00

Super Tuesday...

2008-11-18T10:34:00.010-05:00

Not an adjective meant to describe a particular Tuesday, but a general condition that seems to routinely characterize this most auspicious of weekdays.
I know what you are thinking, and no, I was not born on a Tuesday.
..but as you have probably correctly guessed, I went on another adventurous romp around town this Tuesday.
It all started by the same nagging desire to go out and, yes, visit a Sidliste or two in order to get my weekly fix. And yes, as expected, it ended up in a crosseyed zig-zag around duck filled lakes and dusty, diesel choked highways.
This Time Tim stayed home in bed, but Viktor asked me to wake him up before I left so that he could show me "the ins and outs" of the other end of the Yellow line.
We started off with a nutritious breakfast (consisting of black coffee), put on our long johns, and made our way out into the ice cold morning. A layer of frost covered the ground, fingers worked in slow motion, and our breath appeared as puffs of smoke, but we did not care- it was Tuesday and adventures must commence regardless of weather, rabid livestock, or civil unrest.

We began our outing in Hloubetin. We walked around for a while and but in truth I think that we were both a bit bored. The energy was not there. I was beginning to feel as if Tuesday was mocking me. At some point I looked up and saw a map next to an extremely old and drab apartment block. The map showed a large lake just over a hill. I told Viktor that we needed to go there. I told him that it was there that we were going to find our fortune. ...Well, fortune was not found, but we did come across a group of elementary school kid in the middle of the forest dancing with their teacher who appeared to be a twenty-something male with fairy wings mounted to his back, and sequence bell bottom pants.

We thought it best to walk the other way.

We finally found the lake after skirting around a series of Czech cottages (much different than what you are picturing right now, trust me) and running down a steep hill.
We had made our way to the foot of Sidliste Lehovec when we decided to follow an advertisment for Swedish Farm machinery and head into the "village" of Kyje, around the base of the lake.
Dodging dog and goose poo we decided to skip over Hospoda Svjek and go straight to Hospoda Elena to get a warm drink.
Viktor decided to order us up a "Czech Specialty," which turned out to be English breakfast tea, a packet of sugar, a twist of lemon,..and a shot of cheap Czech potato rum.

We left a little lifted and smelling of fried food and cigarettes.

Next on the list was a little trip to Vysocany, but in order to accomplish this it was necessary to climb back up the hill, head back into the woods, and figure out where we were.

(In order to preserve interest) the following list is a summary of the rest of the day:

Somewhere along the way we ended up...

...Watching guys breaking glass at an old greenhouse and (presumably) stealing scrap metal.

...walking along a highway of creeping traffic in which the diesel/oxygen ratio was tipped slightly in the favor of the burning dinosaurs.

...staring at a green woodpecker on a median strip while a man with a plastic shopping bag made his way into the bushes to find his tent.

...taking a tram to an apparent Russian enclave in which we found a Billa...and other things.

...Ate our lunch of day old crossiants and "pizza biscuits" in a metro station in order to avoid the dust that was coming up off the street and falling into our meal.

...waltzed into different sections of an old factory that must have been kilometers long back in its heyday.

...found a group of Vietmese men in hidden shops as we looked for the gravel lot that

a) is sometimes used as a Russian Flea Market

and

b) was used to film an alien and or predator movie

...Waltzed our way into an abandoned section of old factory whose gutting and painted walls has left it looking more like a cathedral than a manufacturing center.

...hiked down the street to Liben in order to see how the other side lives. (don't ask me what I mean by that because I really do not have an answer...it just makes sense.)

...rode a tram up to Kobylisy and watched an old lady stare me down and a young guy stare at my shoes (presumably to see if they would hurt him if he decided to steal my camera and I decided to retaliate by kicking him...for the record, I was wearing slip on vans...)

...Rode a metro to Letnany to admire the future direction of Metro stops in Prague.

...came home, changed, and went to old town in order to see a solo physical theatre performance involving smoke, water, fish dropping from the sky, a rolling desk chair,candles, and music that you could feel as much as hear.

...and finished the night off with a game of Chess and a glass of Gluh Wein at shakes.

Not bad for a Tuesday....not bad at all.

I will post photos once I pry them from my camera.

(Last Week's search for the perfect burger)
Blue=home
Red= Adventure

(This week's search for my lost youth)
colored arrows= stages of development

Les is more...

2008-11-16T18:28:00.007-05:00

…unless you are cooking chicken with extra jam…then more is definitely less.

Most days you wake up in the morning with a vague notion of how your day is going to unfold.
Thanks to the one-two combo of pattern and routine, most of the time you end up being right…at least within reason.
On Tuesday I woke up with a need to get out and walk around. To dive in some dumpsters, to discover some "otherness", and to get lost in a dirty embrace.

Okay, so...

I have had a fascination with the Sídlistes around town. I really, really, like them. There is something very comfortable and inviting about their relationship to the city. This is weird I suppose as I would have very little interest in going to visit prefab apartment blocks back home. Here however I feel an unexpected and seemingly misdirected affection (perhaps bizarre nostalgia) for these places.
…romantic absurdity with very little basis in reality I suppose.

Anyway, I decided I would just hop on the yellow line and bounce around the areas surrounding the various stations. Before leaving, my roommate Tim asked to come along; he wanted to show me a big field and forest in the middle of town before he had to go to work.
I agreed and we hopped the yellow line to Radlica. From there we got off and headed up hill. The hill turned out to lead to a field. The field turned out to lead to a forest. The forest turned out to lead to a giant valley of towering rocks. To me and my "preconceived linear city planning notions," this was amazing. We were still in town, yet completely isolated. Hawks hovered against the wind, diving every few minutes for field mice. The sun light hovered somewhere between the thin yellow light that characterizes autumn, and the bright white sunlight that dominates winter.

After running headlong down into the valley we entered a natural reserve and right back up to the other side so Tim could catch the tram.

The forest bordered a series of Panelaks near sídliste Barrandov so we ran up the other side of the valley and ended up coming out of the woods in front of a modernist sculpture of Charlie Chaplin.

Tim caught the tram back soon after and I spent the first part of the afternoon running in and out of apartment blocks.

Following this I decided to try and run back into the forest and make my way back towards the yellow line.…just a general direction, no path.

Along the way I…

…ran into a camp of transients/homeless/hippies/gypsies/czechs meterologists farmers/frustrated C.E.O.’s/pirates.

…got lost in a bizarre village after emerging from the backside of a lumber mill.

…followed a path into the woods again and ended up face to face with a large dog guarding a cottage.

…ran down the other side of the hill and ended up back in the valley surrounded by trees, in front of a building in the middle of nowhere confronted with a “no photography” sign.

…followed a path that led to a makeshift road/bike path leading…somewhere?

…found a cave with a cross mounted to the top of the hill and some sign in Czech describing its use as a church / prison / or missle silo (I still don’t read Czech well enough to…well, at all.)

…found a lake surrounded by rock faces and filled with swans.

…emerged in another "village like location" where I dodged traffic and ignored the buses that wanted to take me back home.

…found another trail leading me under old bridges and new ones.

…made my way towards the river to a trail heading towards Branik.

…turned around and followed an army of rowers in their long boats making their way along the Vltava.

…ignored the signs I could not read anyway and ended up on an island full of houseboats, Sokols, and caravan parks.

…had to turn around once I realized that there was no way off the island other than the way I came.

…walked along the highway for a few kilometers because I could not figure out how to cross.

…and made my way back home after about 6 hours of walking in a pair of old converse.

So.....

Here are some pictures that will give you a less than vague notion of the fun I had...

Bon Appetit!

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

2008-11-10T04:46:00.007-05:00

Time here over the past month or so has been a bit irregular. Some days I wake up and find myself immediately engaged in a series of exercises just to try and catch-up on whatever it is I should have, could have, or was unwilling to do the day before. Other days I find myself lost and wandering around the city in a kind of aimless pattern that often begins with restless contentment and somehow ends there as well.

Often I find that there is “ a space” embedded in my day to day. It closely resembles the kind of space that magically appeared in the years between when I left home for the first time, and when I had to start paying my own gas and electric bill. To be perfectly honest, it can be an uncomfortable or slightly disconcerting space at times, but mostly it is a space where potential interest and action has begun to manifest itself. Right now it is serving as a vehicle of opportunity, and I am still trying to figure out how to function well within it. I am so used to functioning within a construct in which work is the predominate force directing the decisions I make with time separate from it..but somehow here this has managed to reverse itself. I am slowly trying to develop a bit of discipline in how to approach a functional development, but the tried and true methods I have found to work so well for me in the past have failed consistently on me here. It is exciting to walk headlong into the woods and to forsake the beaten path, but after a while it is necessary to pull the compass out of your pocket and to at least get your bearings.
I think that this is kind of where I am right now. I am incredibly content, I have assembled all of the requsite materials, and I am ready to start building.
Right now I am working two jobs, one teaching photoshop, the other teaching English. This has helped me to ease into life here a bit, but I have now been offered a possible 4 classes to teach beginning in January. This will inevitably require a bit of a restructuring of my time; freestyle tramping will have to give way to specific routes and and pathways I think. Sign post may even have to be erected, but in some ways I am sure that I will welcome the routine. Some people may function better within a sphere of uncertainty and disorder, but I think somehow, somewhere along the line, I have learned to work outwards from structure rather than effectively building it up from chaos.
My experiences have been amazing thus far... I am learning how to slow down and be patient. I am learning to give up control and work within the sometimes crazy and bizarre framework of my situation here. It is a bit frustrating and humbling at times, but it is always an adventure.

Here are some random pictures of the past month. No rhyme or reason to them, but...but...

My First International Exhibition!

2008-10-28T05:45:00.006-04:00

PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC — The Zizkov International Photography Festival, or 'ZIP' Fest, will bring together the people and ideas that are involved in the many different aspects of the photographic community, both locally and abroad. We hope that the festival will evolve into an annual event to showcase the diverse talent of the photographers, as well as be a forum for important topics concerning the photographed world.

Along with gallery exhibitions, there will be panel discussions on the topics of: Legacy of the Slovak New Wave; Gender; Pluralism in Photography; and Education, throughout the week of the festival. For exact times and locations please visit the official blog: http://zizkovphotofest.blogspot.com/

The opening reception will include a Robot Fashion Show and music performances by Ocean Versus Daughter (the band I am playing with now) & Ken Nash.

Participating Artists:
George Allen (US), Olga Baczynska (PL), Dorothea Bylica (PL) Shana Berger and Nathan Purath (US), Denison Bertram (US), Katarina Bričová, (SK), Simon Chang, (Taiwan),Ivars Gravlejs (LV), Scott Groeniger (US), Sitara Ibrahimová (AZ), Daniel Kariko (US, Serbia), Spencer Kennedy (US), Natasa Kosmerl (SI), Dancia Kovacevic (Serbia), Zoran Kovacevic (Serbia), Joseph Morris (US) Kristyna Müller, Michal Novontý (CZ) (Sweden) Gulbin Ozdamar (Turkey), Zuzka Podolska (CZ) Molly Radecki (US) , Vilma Samulionyte (Lithuania) Petra Steinerová (CZ), Natalia Vasquez (US), Rory Wilmer (US)

We would like to thank the following people and organizations for their support: Artěl, Orco, Blind Eye, Bukowski’s, Taky Tiky Bar, The City of Prague, The Multicultural Center of Prague, Vera Rybinova, The Green Lions

Location: The Monkey House Gallery, Vita Nejedleho 25, Zizkov, Prague 3
Date/Time- Opening Reception: Thursday, October 30, 2008, 7pm
Exhibition dates: October 30 – November 11, 12-8pm, or upon request
Trams: 5, 9, 26 (Husinecka)

The forest for the trees (which will eventually be cut down in order to be turned into papers for official documents)

2008-10-15T04:08:00.004-04:00

Stage one of my arduous legalization process has just been completed. I have finally received the paperwork showing that I have applied for the Zivnostensky list (business license). This fantastic journey consisted of gathering documents, procuring addresses, and going back and forth to municipal offices. Stage two will begin next Tuesday when I hop a train to Dresden in order to apply for my Visa proper.
The business license paperwork I have spent the past few weeks trying to secure will act to serve as the "reason for stay" portion of my Visa application. Once there I will drop off this next set of papers in order to get a stamp in my Passport showing that my Visa is in process. From there I will walk around the town, eat a kebob or klobossa, and board a train back to Prague...where I will sit and wait paitently (anxiously) for up to 90 days.
Once I receive a phone call to pick up my papers, I will head back to Dresden, pick up my Visa, eat another kebob or Klobossa, return home to Prague, and prepare myself to move on to stage three.
Stage three, like two before promises to be chock full of fun. As far as I know this stage will consist of once again going back and forth to municipal offices (Zivnostensky Office, Commercial Courts, and the Foreign Police) in order to register myself here in the country and as a bonified businessman, and making photocopies in duplicate of everything I have gathered up until this point.

In the meantime I will not be "officially" allowed to work anywhere until I can prove that everything is properly filed in Dresden. Luckily I have found plenty of things to occupy myself with here.

Thursday: A good day for pasta

2008-10-09T07:33:00.003-04:00

Wood is being knocked, and thanks' are being sounded as I write this, but the sweat on my brow is starting to dry a little.
Municipal offices still need to be visited, documents need to be secured, and mail still needs to be received from Moravia, but I believe a solution to my problem has been found.
My roomate's grandmother in Kostelec has agreed to let me use her house as my business address. I still have feelers out for a "closer commute", but it beats the 14,400 kc I was going to have to pay a company to assign me a virtual address.
I am at least getting closer to feeling more than slightly-somewhat-sort of-relatively optimistic that I will be able to apply for my business license and Visa on schedule.
I know that this will help ease some of the tension in the air, which will be better for everyone's general sense of well being, and lead to a healthier living environment.
Someday I will learn to deal with problems without threatening to hop on a plane and abandon 2 months worth of hard work and dedication.
Perhaps some family style pasta time will take care of the rest...perhaps.

Wednesday: a day for reflection

2008-10-08T17:00:00.002-04:00

Sometimes, when you reach the end of your rope you find a stray thread that leads you somewhere totally unexpected.

...Like when you are standing in line for 35 minutes at the copy shop waiting to pay 7kc for a legal document while techno music is being pumped directly into your head.

...Like when you start to break into hysterical, uncontrollable laughter at the absurdity of your situation, while the people standing in line around you begin to take a step back.

...like when you finally get to the office you have been trying to find and it ends up being closed.

I am glad I can laugh at myself

It helps.

Tuesday: A perfectly good day to overreact.

2008-10-07T06:06:00.001-04:00

I am at my wit's end. My skin is crawling and I feel as if there is nothing I can do to make things come together. I have had the most amazing opportunities open up for me this past week. The whole reason for my coming here has finally started to come together; what was once a bit hazy and transparent has started to become clear. Unfortunately it seems that with with every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I have hit a giant wall concerning my Visa. I am so frustrated that I am willing to just wash my hands and hop a plane back home. It is really demoralizing to work diligently towards something, following all appropriate guidelines and procedures, and to come up empty handed at every turn.
I am running out of both time and options and need to spend the day asking for help.
I hope that help will come because I know that I cannot do this on my own. The people around me make it seem as if these "speed bumps" are natural and common, and that I am just over reacting...which may very well be the case, but it still does not change the situation.
My faith has not yet dissipated into the murk, but I am allowing myself to be carried along in this river of anxiety and frustration, which is of course making it more and more difficult to remain composed. Actually composure fell to the current a few days ago, now I am reacting to everything on a strictly emotional level....which is not always so tactful or pretty.

In lieu of this, great things really are happening for me here. The plan I laid out for myself last Spring when I decided to move here is actually looking a lot like the mental storyboards I concocted. I am really quite grateful for these things. Unfortunately, at the time, I could sense but not clearly foresee, the bureaucratic maneuvering that surrounded its construction.

Now I need to keep drawing...in between the frames I have already prepared... and bit more furiously....if I can hope to see an outcome anywhere near what I have attempted to manufacture in my head.

Andrew Blossom Appreciation Day

2008-09-30T17:14:00.006-04:00

Today is Andrew Blossom Appreciation Day.

If anyone out there bothers to read this, I would like to ask a favor.

If you see Andrew Blossom please buy him a drink for me...buy him two, buy him three.

Unexpected acts of kindness are rare, and when you are living thousands of miles away from home, even the smallest may become magnified. He may not be happy about me mentioning this publicly, but I can't help it.

You may remember a few weeks ago me writing a post about a package that was sent back to the United States because my name was not clearly demarcated on the box downstairs. As it turns out, this package was actually a box of books sent to me by Andrew. For some reason he remembered me mentioning that English books are very expensive here (either that or he is a psychic). A typical paperback (new) will set you back about 18 dollars or so...and if you have been following my blog, you know that I am still unemployed (going on the 3rd month).

Anyway, as you have probably guessed by now, I have been a bit starved for reading material... and as you have probably guessed, Andrew, after hearing that his box did not make it, paid to have it sent to me here yet again.

Yesterday, after two trips across the ocean, I received the box in tact.

I just want to say that I have good friends.

Murakami and Steinbeck, Kafka and Dick....

And of course Mr. Blossom.

Thank you Andrew.

Down with the flu

2008-09-27T06:27:00.007-04:00

Sorry, I have been sick and busy and have had very little time or patience for anything. I am trying to get better, but this foreign occupier is wreaking havoc on my body and does not want to let go. My roommate Viktor got Tonsillitis from it and the doctors had to slice his throat to release the infection. A strange way of dealing with the problem, but it worked. I have just been trying to lay low. Knives piercing my precious throat....no thanks.

...meanwhile

Matt Teel came to visit for the week. I hope he was able to avoid the plague. I felt good one day and we went to the zoo. Other than that I was an old man and unable to show him a good time on the town. Good thing he is a resourceful man and was able to make his way around. Unfortunately, we did not get to hit up any dance clubs or herna bars together....oh well, there is always a next time.

I interviewed for a job yesterday. I interview for another on Monday, and another on Tuesday.

The big news however, is that I was hired to shoot images of director and animator Gene Dietch as he gave a lecture last week. They are not the most traditional type of images, but I think he was really happy with them. Talk about an amazing man. 80 something and still a firecracker. He had more energy than most of the students and was heading to Norway and then to the U.S. the same week. I hope that I am that positive and energetic when I get to be his age. Here are a few of the images:

I really regret not being able to get down to Hungary to see Alicia, Jeremy, and Nyx. Things are just too hectic right now and I am afraid of spreading this foreign illness any further (and trying to avoid the knife of course). I have not talked to them in a while, but I am sure that they are making the best of their time in Budapest.

I have a new Visa appointment in Dresden on the morning of October 21, and hope to be back in time for the photo festival I am participating in (in some form).

Things are going well despite the rain, cold weather, and pestilence. I am really starting to get settled. I hope that by this time next month I will be calm, relaxed, legal, and working....but that is a whole 4 weeks away. We will see, we will see.

The Weekly Roundup

2008-09-12T05:01:00.012-04:00

Friday Sept 5, 2008

After spending the day on on my Tefl course, I played football Friday night in Old Town with a bunch of Guys who hang out at Shakes. I am terrible as I have not played soccer since I was a kid, but at least I can run decently. I kind of play not unlike the way I play basketball, but somehow it works. Afterwords Viktor and I went over to some hidden cafe called the Golem Club to see a Jazz duo (Tony Ackerman and ???) before retiring to the Beer Garden in Riegrovy Sady for a night cap.

Saturday Sept 6, 2008

After spending another 10 hours working on my Tefl course I went out to dinner with Viktor, Tim, and Amanda. I ate 3 pieces of fried cheese (Eidam, Hermelin, and bleu) and a plate of fries before washing it down with a Czech version of a wheat beer. Full and satisfied, we headed on down to a park in Zizkov to see a Russian Clown perform Hamlet. I did not understand a single word of it, but I could tell that it was probably pretty funny. The theatre company, Teatr Novogo Fronta are going to have a full show in Kolin tonight, but I think I am going to have to miss it because...well just because.

Sunday September 7, 2008

I spent Sunday working on a music video for a local band, The Tower of Dudes. It was a lot of fun. I got to meet a lot of new people and feel useful as I was put on lighting duty. We had 2 HMI's, a few red heads, and a few Dedo lights. It was really cool to get the chance to light the set with the director. The band was really cool too and I got the chance to act as "midget hands" for the mandolin player. After the shoot I went down to Shakes and played a game of risk with a few of the people hanging out. I lost, but I took others down with me. You have to love a game based on world domination.

Monday September 8, 2008

I finally finished the Curriculum part of my TEFL course. For those of you who don't know, I spent the past 3 weeks in front of my computer (10-12 hours per day) taking an online course in order to get my teaching certification. I have written over 330 pages on notes, essays, and lesson plans over the past 3 weeks and it is something I do not ever want to do again. As a teacher, I really see what you miss taking a class online versus being with real people in real situations. It is frustrating and a bit lonely seeing the sun make its way across a fading summer sky knowing that you have to sit alone in your kitchen drinking coffee and conjugating verbs. Lonely I tell you. Anyway, I got to leave the flat and go to the actual school in order to set up my teaching practicum and observation. I celebrated Monday night by going for a 4 mile run.
..by the way, I have no idea what this graphic I found means, it is a little disturbing though.

Tuesday September 9, 2008

I decided to run a 10.5K race in preparation for Saturday's 10k through the city. I met up with about 70 people in a forest out on the edge of town for a grueling and intense race on and off trails (Kunratický les). I have not been that challenged in a very long time. I was running up and down hillsides and up and down long inclines/declines most of the time. The forest was beautiful, but I did not finish in the time I would have liked. I ran the approximately 6.5 miles in 56 minutes. I hope to improve my time tomorrow night as this race will be through the city streets with relatively little elevation gain.

Wednesday September 10, 2008

I spent the day in a garden/courtyard located just outside the Czech Senate. This was followed by a trip to a thrift store at the train station, and beer and chess at a secret little cafe/pub in the center called, Unijazz, with Tim Dem (the Frenchy). I lost both games of course. Chess is for people who like to fill their head with difficult things. I spent most of the time admiring the pieces. I am not a very good chess player. To re-cooperate, I went to see a Goddard film at the National Film Archives. It is interesting to watch a French film with Czech Subtitles and try and guess the story line. I think I was way far off. I may go and see the Anton Corbijn film, Control, tonight, it should be a bit easier for me to figure out as it is in English.

Thursday September 11, 2008

I spent the day writing postcards before heading over to the TEFL school to observe 2 hours of teaching. The Czech students did not show up so people in the Tefl class had to sit in and act as students while their classmates taught them their lessons. It was pretty funny to see people try and act like they do not understand what is being taught. It was fun though. I go back on Monday for a Job Fair. Language schools come around and try and recruit you. I might wear a tie.
After I went to a beer garden in Vyšehrad to watch the sunset. It was really nice there. I walked back via the river. It smelled strangely salty. I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Probably the latter, but who am I to judge, who am I to judge.

For no good reason

2008-09-06T12:17:00.007-04:00

08-20-2008

2008-09-03T11:14:00.004-04:00

These are all images from the 40 aniversary of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Aside from the 24 hour television specials, there was a big to do on Wenceslas square complete with faux graffiti and an actual soviet era tank leading up to the steps of the National Museum. It was kind of surreal at first as I walked up to the tank to see mobs of people handing over their children to actors portraying Soviet soldiers- all for a quick kodak moment of course! The whole experience was sort of strange, albiet "nicely produced" (if one can say that about remembering this kind of complicated historical event). The invasion became a bizarre photo-op on the one hand, and a moving memorial to those who lost their lives on the other. It was an interesting mix of proud rembrance and celebration. A makeshift memorial to Jan Palach drew flowers and candles, while Red, White, and Blue (the colors of the Czech flag) lights illuminated the tank from underneath. Photographs and flyers lined the square, while newspaper and T.V. reporters interviewed the troops as if they were there. All in all it was an interesting way to remember the past- part forgiveness, part humor, part pride. Of course my experience of it as an outsider who could read nothing that was posted was, more than likely, incredibly skewed. I had only the visual inundation of these exhibits to go on. Maybe I am completely off base in my analysis of the day, but at the very least I walked away with a photograph of a pretend Soviet soldier holding someone else's baby.
Now that is a picture worth remembering.

Prague (A Haiku)

2008-09-01T13:37:00.002-04:00

Going Postal

2008-08-28T10:05:00.002-04:00

I have finally snapped. The post office has failed me for the last time!!! Most of you know about my disappearing package debacle from March (which still has not been located I might add).

Anyway, last night I received a notice telling me to go pick up a letter / package at the post office on Italska. Excited at the prospect of correspondence I gleefully skipped on down to the post office today. Once arriving I produced the notice and my passport and sat back to wait for my surprise. A surprise I received indeed, when after a few minutes the woman came back just to tell me that whatever it was, sent by whomever sent it, has already been shipped back to America. That is right, less than 24 hours and it is gone. These people don't mess around. In fact, the truth of the matter is, that it was never waiting for me at all, it was returned immediately. All this because of a tiny, tiny, overlooked insignificant detail. Due to the fact that my name has not been scribbled by hand onto the giant group of slotted boxes in the Apartment lobby, my package has been deemed undeliverable. Nevermind the fact that I have already received a post card from Michael, I apparently do not live in this place. It does not become official until I take a pencil and write my name on the box. Of course no one bothered to mention this to me, because no one thinks about it until something happens.

Anyway, thank you to whoever sent the undisclosed items to me in the form of an undetermined letter/package. I really appreciate the thought.

After all, its the thought that counts, right?

...unless you sent me "natural" peanut butter.

Then it is the peanut butter that counts.

Electric eels

2008-08-21T18:12:00.006-04:00

(A proper tram)

Today I fought the urge to run from a tram that looked like it had been attacked by an advertising campaign designed by Christo. In a town caught in a bit of "tug of war" between tradition and modernity, I always shudder when I have to board these moving billboards. I admit, I am a walking contradiction and I constantly sharpen my double standards like helpless sticks predestined for marshmallow kabobs, but these trams put me on edge. I know that buses run all over Richmond covered top to bottom in endless decals promoting Y-101 and the Bill Blevins morning zoo, but for some reason I expect more from my public transport here. The Red trams are a symbol of past, present, and future; they excite the tourists and help children to sleep soundly at night. I don't really even mind the new ones- as long as they maintain the appropriate color scheme, its the scary plastic ones that scare me. Yes, I am new to town and have very little right to complain, but still, color is important- it helps you acclimate to your surroundings, it helps you go through the motions mindlessly while thinking about your dad, your house plants, or whatever else might be on you mind at any given point and time. I am grateful for the ability to always be within a block of transport, I just have a thing for tradition, I guess I am just old fashioned that way.

This week has kind of been like public transport for me. It has consisted of a lot of waiting, a lot of sitting, and a lot of moving. If I were back in Virginia I might compare it to the beltway at about 5:00 in the evening. Brake, gas, brake, gas...now repeat. I started my "class" on Monday. It is pretty writing intensive and I think I am beginning to develop bed sores on my rear. I wrote 10 pages worth of notes and essays on Monday in addition to my coursework, topping it by adding another 20 pages on Wednesday for a running total of 30 pages already this week. I kind of feel sorry for my "tutor" who has to grade my work within 24 hours in order to allow me to move on to the next lesson. I was bummed at first to find out that I would not be able to "plow" through each lesson, but am now quite grateful for the 24 hour respite between lessons. Tuesday I sat in front of my computer pretty much all day waiting for the green light because I did not understand the "write, submit, and wait" routine of events. Today on the other hand- today was different. Today I went to a gallery, walked around Prague's largest park, celebrated the 40th anniversary of the soviet invasion in Václavské Náměstí, and read Hrabal in a pub while listening to the cure and drinking Hoegaarden. Not such a bad day after all. In fact if it weren't for that silver rocket I had to climb aboard this morning in order to get to the river, I might even use a strong superlative to describe it. For now I will just describe it as nice and relaxing. Tomorrow I hit the digital books again.

Koudelka and Kangaroos

2008-08-16T07:20:00.013-04:00

Invaze68

I saw three pretty fantastic things last week in-between my badminton training and olympic watching. The first was a big show of Josef Koudelka's images shot during the week of the Soviet Invasion in 1968.
In remembrance of the 40th aniversary of the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia on August 20/21, an exhibit of Koudelka's work has gone up in the old town hall here in Prague. Many of the photographs are recognizable, but many were also unpublished images up until now.
Koudelka, who had to smuggle the photographs out of the country did not attach his name to the images for years for fear of retaliation; instead the images were released with the initials P.P. (for Prague Photographer). It is amazing, during that week in 1968 Koudelka shot over 10,000 images. The selection for the show was well planned, and the impact of the images remain as emotionally wrenching now 1n 2008 as they must have in 1968. The young and old alike standing up for their rights in the face of unlawful foreign occupation. It is unfortunate that we seem to live in a giant hamster ball that seems to come around in regular intervals of repetition. These cyclical themes mirror themselves every time we turn on the television or open a paper. I think this show was a good bit of Czech education, now I am prepared for the other exhibition across town. That one chronicles the widely divergent views and reactions of the Czech people from the 1945 liberation through the 1968 invasion. So much history- recent history, history that is still warm to the touch, history with direct application, history that still excites, history that still incites, history with passion, history that is pregnant with relevance.
It seems like no matter where I go or what I do a story follows. Bars and their patrons, buildings with their scars. Heros and myth makers both. 40 year vigils. Things are just so rich. Perhaps this will all wear off soon enough, but for now I think I will just savor it for a while.

The second bit of culture I was able to soak up with dark bread and a sausage then chase down with beer in plastic cup. My roomate Viktor took me to see his favorite czech soccer team, the Bohemians, play Dukla Praha, on Friday night. It was incredible. Rowdy as I would have imagined. Dukla's fans were small in number as they are a newly reorganized team (they were the most famous team for a long time). The Bohemians on the other hand were huge in number and loud as you would expect. I mean they have a kangaroo as a mascot. I was told that he can take penalty shots better than all the kangaroos in the Czech Republic.

The only real downside of the night was that it was raining and about 53 degrees. I can't believe it is August and the mercury dipped so low. At this rate I am going to have to buy a blanket sooner than I expected.

Lastly, I went to see another Czech photo exhibition yesterday afternoon. It was in one of the castle gardens which intrigued me to start off with...and it was great, better than great, fantastic even. The exhibition was called "Nightwalker", and the images were by Vaclav Chochola. They included portraits, still life, and street life. They rose out of the gardens in sandwiched glass cases overlooking the whole city. I could not imagine a more appropriate presentation. I admit that I did not really know who he was before going to the exhibit, but once I got there I recognized many of the images immediately. I had read about him just recently yet my puny little head could not retain the name. Sometimes I think I fill my head full of nonsense like state capitals, lyrics to Poison songs, and nintendo codes to unlimited lives in contra, and forget about the things I really like. I am surprised I aint done forgotten how to speak English good.

Anyway, here is what the show looked like (Courtesy of the Wiki Commons).

Olympic Fever

2008-08-15T09:05:00.004-04:00

Okay, so like just about everyone else I have been swept up in the Olympics. I just found out there was a t.v. in the house the other day, so we have been watching alot in the past 48 hours. Unfortunately the Czech media really likes (listed in order of regularity) Greco-Roman wrestling, Judo, Shooting, and Archery. I also have great difficulty understanding the commentary, but apparently I am not missing much. In between I have been running around town checking out T.E.F.L. courses and I think I have settled on taking an online course with an in class practicum. I will more likely than not be spending the next month locked up in my room studying. Not such a bad deal as it will save me about over $1,000.00. I think that this will be a good compromise between in class and online learning...and most importantly the program should help place me in a full time job when I am done. I have not decided completely if I will do it yet, but I took the placement interview over the phone this morning and was told that I could opt for the online version of the class versus the in-class option. I hope to decide by tomorrow so that I can get going on it.

Anyway, back to the Olympics. We have not had a chance to see Michael Phelps on our T.V., but I read an article about him in the guardian and decided that I needed to share because it sounds unbelievable. It is an article describing his diet. Normally diet would not interest me so much except that he apparently eats a total of 12,000 calories everyday. To put that into perspective the average male takes in 2,000 calories per day...he eats 6x the average!

Here is the breakdown:

Breakfast

Phelps kick starts his day and his metabolism with three fried-egg sandwiches, but with a few customised additions: cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and, of course, mayonnaise.

Amuse-bouche out of the way, he throws back two cups of coffee and sits down to an omelette - containing five eggs - and a bowl of grits, a porridge of coarsely ground corn. He's not finished yet. Bring on the three slices of French toast, with powdered sugar on top to make sure there's no skimping on the calories. And to finish: three chocolate chip pancakes.

Lunch

With breakfast wearing off and the hunger pangs biting, Phelps downs half a kilogram - ie a whole packet - of enriched pasta and two large ham and cheese sandwiches. On white bread with loads of mayo on top. To remove any chance that his body will run out of fuel, he washes this down with about 1,000 calories of energy drink.

Dinner

Time to load up on carbs for the next day's training. Another half kilo of enriched pasta goes down the hatch with a chaser of an entire pizza and another 1,000 calories of energy drinks. And so to bed.

Just reading it makes me a little nauseous.

If you want a little comparison a lion needs 6,000 per day and a cow about 15,000.

Now, since I read this in a British newspaper I would typically be suspect to the content, but since then I have corroborated it with fox news so I am satisfied.

You may now all sleep soundly knowing that the information you have gained from reading this blog is not only accurate, but has probably filled your television with hours of pointless commentary.

Good night and good luck.

Grocery Shopping 2.0

2008-08-12T13:17:00.012-04:00

Albert 0768 Praha

Vinohradska 50

120 00 Praha 2

08.08.08

20:50

Euro Voda Perliva 1.5 L:

Kc 3.90 ($.24)

Krusovice Pivo .5 L:

Kc 8.90 ($.56)

+ Vratna Lahev (Deposit)

Kc 3.00 ($.19)

Slepici 20 G (x2):

Kc 15.00 ($.94)

Krit Canape 125 G:

Kc 14.90 ($.94)

Maslo Jihoceske 125 G:

Kc 21.90 ($1.37)

Chleb Svycarsky 500 G:

Kc 33.90 ($2.13)

Jablka .195G:

Kc 7.80 ($.49)

Cokoladovymi Orion Bila S Kousky:

Kc 21.90 ($1.37)

Cervene Fazole 240 G:

Kc 8.90 ($.56)

Albert Quality Jogurt Bily 150 G:

Kc 5.90 ($.37)

Vejce L/6 Z Podestylky:

Kc 33.90 ($2.13)

S. Excellent UZ. Cesnek 45% .070 KG:

Kc 15.00 ($.94)

S. Excellent Pazitka 45% .078 KG:

Kc 13.90 ($.87)

Gurman NA Zelenem Pepri .090 KG:

Kc 23.30 ($1.46)

Okurky Salatove Hadovky .440 KG:

Kc 11.40 ($.72)

Total:

Kc 244.00 (15.32)

(Results)

Dinner

Breakfast

Interview (x2)

2008-08-08T11:00:00.006-04:00

Interviewing for undetermined positions of employment in a country in which you are not legally eligible to work is....well, it ends up being a little complicated. I will start off by saying that I think that my interviews at University of New York in Prague yesterday, and at Prague College today, went very well. Both Will (from UNIP) and Jeff (from Prague College) were incredibly easy to talk with and I felt very comfortable in discussing both my skills, and in sharing my work. Both were very forthcoming about their respective institutions and the way the education system works here versus in the U.S. It also seems that both institutions are interested in hiring me to teach in some capacity. Jeff even offered to put me in touch with someone here who might be able to help me show my work. The people I have met since I have arrived have been amazing. There is a sincerity in this form of "networking" that seems to go beyond much of what I am used too, partially because much of this "help" has come from people I have met for the first time. There just seems to be a genuine air of interdependence that I find incredibly refreshing. It reminds me a bit of the generosity and closeness of the photo/film community in Richmond...only extended to the outside.
Unfortunately as with every up, there is the inevitable counter force pushing back with equal resistance. It has exerted its power quietly so far, manifesting itself in the guise of a wall, but it is always there; I am learning quickly that I am either going to have to figure out how to climb it or find some way to knock it down. Bottom line, I need to get legal. It may be true that many people continue to exist here in an immigrational gray zone, but in order to do what I set out to do here, I have to become "bonified." Two roads seem to be possible right now, I just need to weigh my options and figure out which one I want to head down. I could try and get on the Z’ivnostensky list, and hire someone to help me, or I could try and find a company (possibly teaching English) to hire me full time and take care of the process for me. Unfortunately I may need to figure it out very soon. If I do figure out what to do, I should be able to develop a class or more for one school, and teach Photoshop (maybe more) at the other. They are very viable options, both of which will be "iffy" (but possible) for the October school session, and more concrete for the January session. Despite these small snags, I am still excited and grateful for all of this. It feels great to set my sights on a goal, formulate a plan, and execute that plan. I hope the results work out in my favor, but regardless I am glad that I made the decision to come over to Prague and "try my luck." It has been exactly one week since I arrived and I have begun to grease cranial gears that have been turning too slowly for too long. As much as I have already begun to both miss and reminisce, comfort and contentment have not functioned as the precursors to action for me, and new experiences have always fueled the fires of influence and inspiration in my little head. Now if someone could just tell me where I left my pants, I will be all set to go.

...And just in case words tend to bore you, here are some random pictures to go along with the week:

This is my new room. I have tried to make it my own:
Step 1: Make the bed
Step 2: Sweep the floors
Step 3: put everything in it's right place
Step 4: do the hokey pokey and turn myself around.

This is Viktor. I hired him to be my guide this week. He speaks both Czech and English very well. He cooks, cleans, and does complex mathematics. He often times like to pretend that he is a doctor. This I do not really understand, but I assume it is a cultural thing. From what I understand, he likes Estonian dark bread and owns half of Prague.

These are peace balloons. They have been released here by the European contingent of the Y.MC.A.- which I understand operates under the umbrella of the F.B.I., C.I.A., and N.S.A. To be honest most of the kids looked too young to be involved in intelligence, perhaps it was really a gathering of Christians on this "square of peace" like they claimed. Sometimes the obvious answer is the closest to the truth, at least that is what I am told.

I like to watch

2008-08-05T17:16:00.012-04:00

Things are starting to slow down a little; I am finally starting to feel settled and have begun the process of laying down some shallow roots. I have a job interview set up for Thursday which makes me both nervous and excited all at the same time. I have a phone now and will get it activated tomorrow. I paid my bills for the month and have downloaded my first compact flash card.

I decided to walk around the city today and orient myself again. All of my prescribed routes have come back to me and the network of trams, busses, and metros, make getting anywhere super convenient.

Here are three of my roomates. They are Tim, Shomit, and Flanna respectively. Flanna left for another country today, Tim thinks he may leave next month, and Shomit will leave in a week. I have really enjoyed their company so far. So much in fact it has been hard to get home before seeing the sun the past couple of days/nights, but I aim to change that tonight.

The photo below is where I spent about 2 hours this evening. It is a park called Riegrovy sady and it is about 2 blocks from the flat. Besides offering an amazing view of the city and spectacular sunsets, the park has 2 beer gardens in which you can eat, drink, and watch soccer on a giant T.V. I have sat and watched the sun set there for three nights in a row now. Tonight I packed a dinner consisting of smoked cheese, a salt roll, pretzel sticks, a bar of chocolate, and a 22 of Staropramen, sat down and began reading "The Cowards" by Josef Skvorecky. I have come to the conclusion that dogs like the park too along with kids, couples, and lonely old people.

This next photo does not really need any explanation I guess, other than the fact that it sits just down the hill from the castle and right on the other side of a beautiful old church.

Giant red poodles once guarded the city from invading Mongol forces in the 19th century. They have been bred for centuries to be fierce killers. This one likes salami.

These last two pictures are what you see as you walk anywhere in the city right now. The first is a perfect example of what you see as you look up and the second as you look down. You basically stand in line just to cross the bridge. It is not really so bad though, the people seem unusually happy. I think it may be gas; cabbage is a popular food.

Pondělí

2008-08-03T07:35:00.005-04:00

So I have survived the first 48 hours without incident. My diet over the past 2 days has consisted primarily of rolls, butter, peppered salami, and cheese. Throw in the occasional "Crocodile" sandwich and chocolate bar and a feast erupts. I have slept most of the days away as I seem to still be on east coast time, but I am sure that will change soon enough. Going to sleep at 4:00 a.m. and getting up at 12:00 seems to be in step with my flat mates' normal schedule however, so it has worked out nicely so far. I spent the better part of yesterday cleaning my new room. I had to wait till yesterday because the French couple did not leave until very late on Friday night. There were dust bunnies big enough to choke a herd water buffalo in just about every corner of my room, so I feel pretty good about things now. I am glad I decided to do it yesterday too because the Estonian girl (Astrid) who will be staying here untill she finds a flat needed a floor to crash on while waiting for Shomit (A fellow American) to vacate Flanna's room sometime next week. Gopal (The British guy who moved out last month and whose room I have taken over) has decided to come back to Prague next week as well. I am not sure as to what this is going to mean in terms of musical bed rooms, but I am sure it will all work itself out in time. Tim (A French guy) is living in the Harry Potter room, Victor (A Czech guy)is secure in his room, but I think Flanna is going to disappear for a few months, so between Gopal, Shomit, Astrid, and I we will work out some sort of equilibrium. I have slowly been trying to make things feel like home. I have even unpacked all of my belongings and put up a picture drawn for me by my niece just before I left on Thursday. I will start sending out emails tomorrow to the Universities I had contacted before I left to try and sort out the whole work thing. In the meantime I will continue to try and meet people and pick the brains of those I know.
The funniest part about being here so far is that I have managed to avoid the throngs of Summer tourists as I have refrained from entering the city center. I have pretty much relegated my excursions to my neighborhood,Vinohrady.

(Namesti Miru, right around the corner from my Flat)

I did run out to the Tesco yesterday to get some mouth wash to clean my tooth hole and it was ridiculous. If you can imagine a British version of Walmart spanning 5 stories in the middle of a city where no one really drives much, you might be somewhere close to picturing a zoo...and you might not be too far off. I will head over to the train station this afternoon to help Flanna with her bags as she has hurt her leg. Perhaps I will sneak on over to the old town and visit Viktor at the bookstore near the castle before I go.

Addendum: (...It is actually Sunday; I have been informed that Pondeli means Monday not Sunday. Google has misled me for the last time!)

Friday

2008-08-01T10:02:00.004-04:00

So I made it. I did not get arrested, deported, or lost. I am extremely tired, but can't sleep.
I met my new roomates and it looks like there may be up to 7 people living here soon....that's the rumor anyway. At least I will probably be able to pay the rent with loose coins floating around my pockets then. Carrying about 150 lbs. of lugggage up multiple flights of stairs was less than enjoyable and I smell like the me of the past, but its nothing a little water can't take care of. The weather is great, the people are nice, and the coffee is good. I feel like a space cadet however. Perhaps I should have tried to sleep a little more on the plane, perhaps I should try and sleep a little now. Perhaps I should put on pants.
Decisions, decisions, decisions....

The Extraction Strikes Back.

2008-07-30T13:34:00.002-04:00

Now, I just hope that there is not going to be a third part of the saga. I went in for my follow up dental exam yesterday and needed to get a few more pieces of bone removed and some more bone filed down. The good news is that my mouth feels like a champ now, the bad news is that we had to cancel dinner reservations because of it. I ended up having a going away dinner with my family, but it was something "a little easier to swallow," now I know why Shepards pie was invented, no chewing necessary. The highlight of the night however had to be when I sliced my finger open with a razor as I was cutting up some prints for my portfolio. I was able to stop the bleeding, but my right index finger is now wrapped, tapped, and bandaged to keep the cut together. As long as the rest of my body stays together I should be good to go tomorrow. I will more than likely be bringing my weight in baggage on the plane, so lets just hope my back doesn't give out. 32 and already falling apart. The hardest part has been trying to keep my bags under the acceptable limit. I have had to keep taking stuff out. In my reshuffling I decided that it was going to be more weight efficient to wear a leather jacket on the flight than it will be to pack it. I just hope August is a little cooler overseas than it tends to be here.

Extraction

2008-07-21T21:15:00.002-04:00

That was the verdict. After 3.5 hours in a chair I walked out of the dentist office with one less tooth. It was my choice however, so no blaming the dentist. I could have opted for the root canal/crown combo, but there was no guarantee that that would have worked either. The decay was under the gum line. It was not a result of bad hygiene, but unfortunate circumstances that may reach as far back as my wisdom teeth surgery in 1994. The most bizarre part of the morning was the laser brought out to cut away and cauterize my gum as the dentist tried to save the tooth. She did the best she could, but the cavity had just about ravaged the molar. There is nothing quite like seeing smoke come out of your mouth followed by a smell not unlike burnt hair. The removal of the tooth was an incredibly strange sensation as well; first she cut the tooth in half, then she removed it in two parts. It was a combination of pressure and twisting that could be felt way up in the cheek. I felt no pain during the procedure as I was shot full of Novocain, but this afternoon and evening have been a little sore. Eating and drinking have been a bit difficult, but I hope it will ease up a little tomorrow. I have been given Vicodin for the pain, but it does very little for me. I just don't see what got everyone so worked up in college. Advil works just fine.

Healthy Body Sick Wallet

2008-07-17T17:36:00.003-04:00

Who ever coined that adage about "waiting till the last minute" is probably wagging his finger at me from the afterlife and whispering "I told you so" to the wind. I performed a "Medical Hat Trick" today in preparation for my trip. I first went to a general practitioner in order to examine a pulled groin muscle that has been plaguing me for about two weeks now. I then went to the eye doctor in order to shell out enough money to fit myself with a year's worth of contact lenses. Lastly I went to the dentist in order to get a cleaning and an exam. I have been poked and prodded in just about every way imaginable today, but for a good reason I suppose.
What is funny is that I was mostly worried about seeing the doctor this morning. I was afraid that he was going to tell me that I had a hernia and that I would not be able to leave. Fortunately my fears were allayed. He told me to rest myself for six weeks, take some anti-inflammatory pills, and fly away fast. Unfortunately, the dentist, for whom my concern should have rested, did not have the same kind of happy news for me.
The sick humor in the situation is that I was not even planning on seeing the dentist. My mom called me the other day and told me that she had scheduled this visit as a birthday/going away present. I said "great, just what I always wanted," and was grateful for the thoughtful gift. I still am grateful, only I will be the one gratefully paying for my return visit. Due to the fact that it has been 8 years since I have had dental insurance, it has been close to that long since I have seen a dentist. My brilliant plan has been to instead of going in for routine cleanings, to scrub my teeth every chance I get and to pretend that the sensitivity I have been feeling has been nothing more than just that- sensitivity.
This is hard for me to admit, but I do not always make the wisest decisions; apparently high quality tooth paste, regular flossing, and designer mouth washes are not cheap alternatives to routine cleanings, since I will be spending either $1,200 or $2,200 to pay for my dental boycott over the past decade. I guess if you break it down it is really only $275.00 a year, which is not that bad....only that cleanings and check ups are less. Bottom line, I chose wrong. 4 fillings and a possible crown await me on Monday morning. Let this be a lesson to all who have put off seeing the dentist because it costs too much...it costs you more at the back end....it always costs you more. Go ahead, hedge your bets like I did, it worked out great for all of those mortgage lending companies right?

(This message was not sponsored by the A.D.A. ...but if they want to endorse this in exchange for the costs of my dental work, I am more than happy to oblige.)

Final Countdown

2008-06-29T11:43:00.004-04:00

Not only is it an amazing album, from an amazing band, but an incredibly apt title for my perspective on the next thirty days. A little dramatic perhaps, but now with just about one month left before I (at least temporarily) say goodbye to Richmond, I have become incredibly preoccupied. In someways I feel like I am preparing for the move just fine, in other way I feel like there are a hundred things I should be doing that I am unaware of. I am currently trying to purge my belongings, move things I refuse to part with to a small room in a garage in Northern Virginia, pare what I am taking down to two suitcases and a pelican case, gather official notarized documents, make appointments with the dentist and the eye doctor, move out of my apartment, pick up work, AND...perhaps most importantly spend time with people I will not see for a while.
I like to think that I hide my anxious side fairly well. I like to ball it up and swallow it during the day only to regurgitate it as I lay down to sleep so the knots don't get too tight. My new motto is "spend time doing things that don't matter, so I feel better about avoiding the things that do."
Actually...I am not being entirely truthful here. This is how I was feeling up until about a month or so ago. Now my thoughts have kind of gone quiet. I can't decide which is worse, worrying about things while I still have the ability to maintain some sort of control over the outcome, or worry about the fact that I quit worrying. This is the idolatry of self concern I suppose. As they say in those caffeine fueled corners of church basements and municipal buildings, "Let go and let God." Regardless of what I do, or what I forget to do, in the end everything will be fine. While I am still trying to accomplish every thing on my ever changing mental list, I am trying not to lose anymore sleep over it.
It is so easy to see how one can become incredibly self centered under the the banner of "responsible consideration." My sponge like nature sometimes gets the better of me...perhaps I just need to wring out a little bit.

What is not but could be if?

2008-06-19T12:04:00.008-04:00

Have you ever been walking aimlessly down the street and found five dollars lying on the sidewalk but were unsure as to whether or not you should pick it up?

This is a metaphor for the last few months of "no posts"...(in case you were wondering), but seeing as how I like to dwell on the past rather than talk about it I would much rather focus on the present...this week in fact, on two albums I just picked up, purchased actually...(remember when music was something you bought?).

The first of these is the Silver Jews album, "Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea." If the album ended after David Berman delivered his first line, I would have been satisfied. What is not but could be if?...who else could pull off possible perfection in simple awkward phrasing. I think that I could listen to him talk all day long. It is funny, I feel as if his albums are more conversational than anything else. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate the music too, but I get as much satisfaction from reading the lyrics as I do from listening to the albums, of course I am able to replace his cadence with my own having listened to them in context. I have said this for a while, but I think that he is my favorite lyric writer right now.

The second album I picked up is the new Spiritualized album, "A&E." When I first listened to it I was surprised by how different it felt than some of the older stuff, there seemed to be a bit more edge to it, the lyrics even seemed a bit more dark and painful. I think that what struck me more than anything else was the fact that his voice seemed to have changed, become a bit raspier. It bothered me at first because I was so used to a well balanced sound scape where music and voice played off each other. His singing on the album was just a bit more edgy. After putting aside my expectations however, I was able to appreciate the songs more and see how well it all worked. It is definitely not as seamless as some of the earlier albums, but there is something a bit more immediate that I really enjoy. As it turns out, J Sapceman apparently almost died of a respiratory disease while recording this album, hence its title, the change in vocal feel, and the dark lyrics. I can only assume that these things played a part in making this album what it is, but there is a newness to the music that I can appreciate now without having to rely on memories and sentiment to enjoy.

...Oh yeah, and if you are bored come and listen to us play with Calpurnia and Dig tonight at the Capital Alehouse downtown. I think we are going to go on at 8 or 9. We are first on the bill, so come early and bring your Tap Dancing shoes. We dig on the Tap Dance.

A Preview....

2008-05-07T21:49:00.002-04:00

Go here to see a promo of the film I have spent the past month and a half working on. It is far from finished, but I think they did a pretty amazing job putting together this spot..

Taking a time out

2008-04-28T16:34:00.002-04:00

As you may or may not have noticed, I have had to take a small sabatical from the blog the past couple of weeks due to work. I should be able to resume in about a week or so. I have however had my regular website updated. It is still not complete (I don't know if it ever will be), but it will do for now. If you want you can find it here.

See you soon.

Geographical Security?

2008-04-03T20:37:00.008-04:00

"In an aggressive move to finish 370 miles of barriers on the U.S. border with Mexico by the end of the year, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it will waive federal and state environmental laws to meet that goal. The two waivers are the most expansive the department has issued on the southwest border. They will allow Homeland Security to slash through a thicket of more than 30 environmental and cultural laws to speed construction."

So I read this headline before going to bed last night. No wonder it took me so long to fall asleep. Some people fall asleep at night, dream of green beasts with six eyes living under their bed, and call this a nightmare. Other people stay awake all night, think about the news and other such things, and call this a nightmare. I think I tend to fall in the second category.
I guess that this implies that Illegal immigrants are more of a threat to our "homeland security" then....I don't know... polluted water? the migratory routes of endangered species? Cultural preservation?

Maybe I am over reacting a little bit, but so is our government. I just think that politicians are doing this, at least in part, because they are afraid of losing their jobs. Immigration has become such a hot button issue and everyone is rushing to come up with a solution. I guess a fence is as good a solution as any. I believe it worked for Germany for quite a while, only I think that they called it a wall. Don't get me wrong, I am not against trying to come up with a reasonable solution to make the border less soluble, I just think that a long term solution is a much better idea than a wall. Working with Mexico on figuring out an economic solution to the problem may take a while, but ultimately it is the only “really viable” solution. Help Mexico find a way to keep their people from NEEDING to come over to the U.S. in order to work and support their families. This may take too long to do nothing in the meantime, but suspending environmental and cultural laws meant to protect us in order to build a wall that is also meant to protect us just seems a little counterintuitive.
What I want to know is, what is the big rush? Why is this suddenly a big issue? The border has been as porous as a limestone cave for a long, long, time and now all of a sudden, this is something that must be settled by the end of Calendar year 2008? Seriously? I know that border security is a problem, but suspending our environmental laws to do it by some arbitrary date? Isn’t this the problem of the contractors who have been commissioned to build the fence? If they were supposed to contractually have had this done by the end of the year then why aren’t we doing what we do when a normal contractor does not live up to their obligations?- fine them. Instead we are rewarding them. It just makes no sense to me.
Anyway, enough preaching, if you want to read the whole article you can go here.

Solo

2008-03-29T14:38:00.004-04:00

So my first week working on this independent film came to an end at about 9:00 last night. It has been pretty amazing so far. Working in an Art Dept. is a much different experience than working Production. The 2.5 years of Production experience I received from John Adams was great, but it is much more exciting for me to focus on the creative side of a project. Granted, this is a Mexican/ Western Shoot 'em up, so there are a whole lot of guns, drugs, and tequila. As any of you who know me know that I am not really a gun person. In fact, hand guns fit somewhere in-between toxic waste and celebrity tabloids on my list of things that "need to be collected by Superman and hurled into the sun." The director of the film knows quite a bit about them however and is very very specific on what he wants. The prop master and I have spent the past week researching guns and are trying to become educated, but it is not as easy as it seems. Luckily we have found a series of weapons called "Airsoft". Airsoft guns are like B.B. guns with a face lift. They shoot pellets, are either spring or gas powered, and are crafted to look like the real deal. Unfortunately they will not work for everything and an armorer must be hired to take care of the blanks needed for Special Effects shots. Another observation I have made while learning about guns is that there are a whole lot of people out there who have them. People I would have never suspected. They are coming out of the wood work to try and help. At this point I would not be surprised to find out that my Grandparents were card carrying N.R.A. members (They weren't by the way....at least I don't think so). I am not sure but I think we were told by one random stranger at a gun store that he would purchase a real gun for us for $50.00 if we were so inclined.
I think we have done a pretty good job with the guns now; I know more about them than I think I ever really wanted to know. I am hoping to move on to props for the bar next week. Tequila bottles and breakaway shot glasses are looking pretty good right about now.

Spring is here

2008-03-26T21:58:00.002-04:00

I think Spring arrived in Richmond today. I first suspected its appearance when I rode my bike to work this morning wearing my usual 3 layer clothing array. In just the 6 or 7 blocks between my home and the production office tiny beads of sweat started forming in places that have been in drought since about October 16th. This observation was further supported when I had to shed my long sleeve running shirt for the "wife beater" I don in the warmer months. I have decided to celebrate by opening up all of the windows in my apartment and drinking a nice hoppy beer. Here's to slip on vans, picnics, and pit stains!

When it rains....

2008-03-25T20:11:00.002-04:00

The past two weeks have been so full of...stuff, it is quickly making up for the past 4.5 months of "self directed (un)employment. On the way back from my grandmother's funeral I received a phone call to start rendering a mock up of a set for an awards ceremony that is going to be taking place in D.C. later this month. While working on that a friend called me to help him for two days on a construction project. While working with him I was asked to edit a wedding his wife and he had shot the weekend before. While working on the wedding I was called and asked if I could help work on foiling and painting the set from the awards ceremony I made the mock up for. While foiling the set I received another phone call asking me to be the prop assistant on a film that will be shooting in Richmond over the next 6 weeks. After work at the set on Saturday I had to drive straight to a show my band was playing at Poe's pub that night. Straight from the show I had to jump in my car and head to Northern Virginia to be at my mother's house on Easter morning.

As you can imagine, I was pretty burned out by this time. Leaving Richmond at about 2:30 on a week of little to no sleep was probably a dumb idea. As I am fond of not paying attention to my body all the time, I ended up falling asleep at a stop light at 3:45 a.m. less than half a mile from my mom's house and rolled into the car in front of me. There was no damage other than a little paint from my bumper on the car ahead of me. He was a taxi driver and took my information , but called me on Easter to let me know that there was nothing to claim, that the damage was negligible. I decided to take all of this too heart and decided I need to slow down a bit. Unfortunately I needed to start my job on the film in Richmond first thing Monday morning and ended up driving back Sunday night. Other than having to appear in traffic court this morning and having to figure out how to help Adam the prop master wrangle prop guns (which neither of us know much about), everything is wonderful. I think I am beginning to see a little light at the end of the work week, but I know the film is going to ratchet up to 12-16 hour days soon enough. Perhaps I need to start doing Yoga to relax......now if I could only find some time in my schedule.

Video killed the radio star

2008-03-17T10:54:00.003-04:00

The in-studio recordings we did for "Mash up" finally aired this week. I think the child safety lock is engaged on these videos so I can't attach them directly to the post, but be sure to check them out here. The studio looks like they bought it from an MTV auction in 1986, which of course is hip again. I think that the recordings came out great. We recorded two songs for the show; the first one is an older one, but the second one is pretty new. There is also an interview hidden somewhere if you are so inclined.
Enjoy.

Red Carpet and Diet Coke

2008-03-12T12:40:00.010-04:00

My intimate, yet not altogether improper, relationship with our second president came to a close last Sunday. Hundreds(?) of impatient guests and dozens(?) of shutter happy gawkers convened upon the Byrd Theatre in order to receive their complimentary cup of popcorn and large soft drink, and to witness the premier of the long awaited 11 hour mini series. Both the energy and the turnout were great. Aside from a brief power outage and a circumnavigation of the theatre by a rogue drum and fife corps, everything went on seemingly seamlessly. Impassioned speeches were made both by the Governor (Tim Kaine) and by Tom Hanks, but the oscar for the night went to David McCollough. It did not seem like he planned out what he was going to say, but he spoke with such grace and passion, you could have listened to him for hours without getting bored. It was like sitting on your grandfather’s lap and listening to him tell stories. He seems like such an optimist; he has the ability to make you feel excited about our past and makes you feel significant about your position in the present. The episode of the series they ended up showing was thirteen clocks, which is the second of seven. It seemed strange at first that they would show episode 2 at the premier, but it worked out really well. It had both a definitive beginning and end, so it worked as a stand alone episode; you could appreciate it without any previous knowledge of historical events. It was about the lead up to, and ratification of, the declaration of independence.
As someone who works in film production you always hope to like the things you help to make. Whether you spend your days designing the costumes, photocopying scripts, or manufacturing plaster horse manure, you hope that in the end, the parts come together to create something worthwhile…or at the very least something watchable. This proved to be both. It is not that I did not expect to like the series. I have read the scripts more times than I like to admit, and spent more time sitting around the sets then…well probably just about anyone, it’s just that I was not expecting to be as impressed as I was. The sum of all these parts came together in a much greater way than I had anticipated. I was able to distance myself from looking at things as they related to me and my experiences and was able to get lost in the story. I think that this is going to be good. I am not just saying this because I spent 2 and 1/2 years of my life watching this thing grow, but because I was able to enjoy the production in spite of it. If you have H.B.O you should give it a try. At the very least you will learn how they used to inoculate people against small pox.

The precursor to the protagonists of a new existentialist wave

2008-03-07T13:49:00.014-05:00

While looking for the "Uncertain States" literature the other day I came across this statement I picked up from Jan Saudek's gallery in Prague. I don't know how I forgot about it. Not only is it incredibly fascinating and informative, it is just about the most creatively written artistic description I have read in ages. For those of you who are not familiar with Saudek, here are a couple of fairly good examples of his work:

Now, I have to admit that after seeing his images I came away both really appreciating, and really disliking certain things about his work. While asking for directions to the gallery, one person I talked to said "oh, you mean the big butt guy?," and yes, there are plenty of those. However, what I really want to talk about was not the work, but the statement I picked up explaining the work, because regardless of how you feel about his imagery, the statement transcends all of it. I am not sure if it is just the translation that makes it so unique... but unique it is. In case you do not have the time, the patience, or the desire to read the whole thing, here are some highlights:

"Jan Saudek is currently the most renowned Czech photographer. Adored as well as vilified, celebrated as well as despised, worshiped as well as cursed. He holds a unique place in the development of Czech as well as world photography. Because he is distinctive and original, his work is not part of any genre or movement. He cannot be compared to anyone and there is no way to classify him. And even if we tried to do so, ultimately he would be all alone in such a “pigeon hole".

"His controversial work daringly plunges into human emotions, drives, passions, consciousness as well as the subconscious, has the integrity of great artists, including style, view point, and expression. At no time has he diverted from his path."

"Jan Saudek always remained perfectly ahead of his time. He was staging long before the wave of staged photography. He was manipulating images long before manipulation became fashionable. He was taking pictures of himself long before the protagonists of a new existentialist wave around the world started to do so. He dealt with observing the passage of time long before others incorporated it into their work."

"It is not surprising his uniqueness as well as success give rise to imagined or real ill feelings of other photographers who are not so strongly inspired. And it is rather only Saudek's personal problem that this disturbs him so deeply."

So, I basically just copied most of the beginning of the statement- but seriously, isn't it amazing? ...Such passion, such defiance. In a statement like this there is no gray area; this is how it is. How can you argue with such absolutes? Again, regardless of my opinions of his photography, I admire what this brazen statement says about it. Talk about self assured! I will never be able to see his photography in the same way again.

All hats off to Saudek (and to Daniela Mrázková) for raising the bar in the new art of the Artist Statement.

Alice

2008-03-04T12:38:00.002-05:00

For those of you who can't make it to the show tonight here is a video to keep you company...

Anita Fischer (Dec 1, 1916 - Feb 28, 2008)

2008-02-29T17:51:00.012-05:00

I received a phone call from my mom last night letting me know that my Grandmother died earlier that afternoon. She went quietly as my Aunt held her hand and read to her from the book of Psalms. I felt really close to her for most of my life despite the fact that we did not get to visit all that often. She always looked out for me and my sisters. When my family had very little money she made sure to take us on some sort of vacation every few years. I think my favorite trip was when she took us to Springfield, Illinois in order to visit all of the historical Lincoln sites. My Grandmother was a teacher most of her life, so an educational vacation was something we came to expect, and to love. On the way home she bought both of us books and we read all we could about Lincoln. I think I became a "history nerd" early on, and I have her to thank, at least in part.
Unfortunately I have not been to visit her for years now. She was moved from St. Louis to Houston a few years ago when she became unable to take care of herself. I have written some, but not enough. I know that I will miss her. The feeling of loss has been somewhat detached so far, but as my memories begin to wake, I am beginning to see how much she meant to me. She and my Grandfather both were symbols of strength, stability, and goodness. Of course, they were much more than symbols, they were people, people who gave themselves selflessly to us. They were wellsprings of love, and I am grateful for the time we had.
Thank you Grandma.

The 'Uncertain States of America' are not only uncertain, they are many."

2008-02-25T10:12:00.023-05:00

Sometimes while traveling you get lucky, sometimes you stumble upon an exhibition that fills you with both anticipation and expectation, exhibitions that make you realize just how fortunate you are to be in that particular place at that particular time. This is exactly how I felt when, during my stay in Prague, someone told me about the new show at the Rudolphinium. "It's a traveling show of contemporary American art curated by well respected European curators," they said. Of course, me being a contemporary American who both makes
and likes to look at art, was immediately excited. I tried to go the next day, which just happened to be a Monday, which just happens to be the day all cultural institutions take a well deserved siesta, and so I found myself sitting in front of the museum unable to enter, reading the literature for the show, looking up at the statues of composers lining the roof top, and thinking, this has to be good.
The show, Uncertain States of America: American Art in the 3rd Millennium, is a survey of recent developments in American contemporary art organized by three of Europe's leading curators: Daniel Birnbaum, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Gunnar Kvaran. It is the culmination of a 2 year search by the curators who ended up visiting over 500 studios during that time. Most of the 42 artists chosen were young (in their 30's), and according to one review "reflect an astute, yet contentious, assessment of the current state of American art and culture."

According to the brochure, the aim of the project was to map out a "new generation of American artists" and to reflect "the contemporary situation of American art and culture, which is (apparently) as sophisticated as it is complex." "In a period where the political culture of the United States is viewed with great skepticism on the other side of the Atlantic, it seems important to remind ourselves of the complexity and at the same time variety of the American artistic scene."
As you can probably tell from my tone, when I finally made it in the next day I was severely disappointed. Okay, severely disappointed may be a bit dramatic, there were a few things that really challenged me, a few things that drew my attention, but as a whole...well lets just say I walked away a little bitter. Perhaps the publicity and build up was too much, perhaps bold statements like "American Art in the 3rd Millennium" and "reflections of the contemporary situation of American art and culture," drove my expectations up to unsatisfyable heights, but I am not quite sure. Seen from within the context in which it was presented most of the work just seemed a bit flip and cliche. The Czech friend I went with just kept laughing the whole time. He was an educated person, but could not understand how a rubber cigarette in a glass case, or a room full of paint cans depicted an astute view of American culture. In fact a lot of Europeans I had talked to, who had seen the show referred to it as both "Kitsch" and "shallow." A lot of the Americans I talked to were either embarrassed or angry. One person saw it as feeding an already existing unfavorable European view of America. If this work was to represent a sophisticated and complex view of American culture, then what does it say about us as a society? Art reflects life just as life reflects art, right? I really think that the bold statements were what drove these responses...at least my own. Sure I go to a lot of shows, and I always walk away appreciating some, and disregarding others, but taking this show in as a whole, using this show as a statement for American ideas about culture, politics, etc. "in the 3rd millennium," proved to be as harsh as it was difficult. I think that the hard part for me is that, taken from a completely different context, I would have really enjoyed parts of the show. Unfortunately I took it as it was presented, as being representative of the American artistic Zeitgeist. I came to it with preconceived notions of the ideas it was to present, beyond the work itself. Is this a majority opinion of American Art and culture? I hope not. I did not feel that it was fair to either the artists or the viewers. It just seemed like a specific vision of specific curators, who had an idea of what they wanted to show even before they embarked on the research project. I realize that I am being harsh, I am probably putting too much emphasis on ideas and not on the work itself, but perhaps not. Here is a look at the show, from my viewpoint, which I admit from the start, is slanted. I would be really interested in seeing how this show was received by other people, both here and abroad. I also wonder how different the show would have been if it had been put together by American curators. This is apparently how we are viewed on the other side of the Atlantic. Perhaps, we really should look at this the way it was put forth. We have know for years how we are viewed both politically and culturally by various peoples, now we have an idea of how we are viewed artistically. Apparently the cliche is true, fruit really doesn't fall very far from the tree.

Baltic Sea Spectacular!

2008-02-22T12:12:00.003-05:00

Here is a link to a musician from Estonia whom I have really grown to like. His name is Vaiko Eplik, and I know absolutely nothing about him. Seeing as how the introduction and importation of Estonian music has not yet reached the "viral" stage of development, I thought I would try and help pioneer one leg of what will hopefully become a world wide phenomenon.
If Iceland, a country of about 302,000 can manage to produce three of my favorite bands (Sigur Ros, Bjork, and Mum), then why not a country of 1.3 million?
Before you make up your mind about him be sure to check out both "Kiri Marsilt" and "Sylvester Otsustab Surra."

Now, I understand that we all have different tastes in music, so if the music of this Baltic Sea country does not quite do it for you, might I suggest you check out Detektivbyran from Sweden (pop. 9 mil.) (..and just in case you are more visually motivated here is a link to an awesome video performance in which the acordian takes center stage.)
Enjoy!

Arms and the Boy

2008-02-19T10:28:00.003-05:00

Superhero directed by Joan Sanchez

Sometimes major life events come and go before you have a chance to realize their full significance. Arriving on a series of rapidly building waves, it is not until well after the tide goes out that there even opens an opportunity to process the effects. During these times run on sentences have a tendency to take over. People goers both come and go, and come and go again, not unlike the current that carried in the rocks in the first place, shoveling them indiscriminately along the shore like a line of people waiting to get tickets to the newest Star Wars film.
Sometimes ordinary Superheros can emerge, not through the evolutionary process of genetic mutation as we once expected, but on the wings of very real, very seemingly banal human choices. It is during these times that silence can fill a crowded room, it is during these times that we can finally feel okay in setting down our coffee in order to listen to the ringing in our ears. The sound of dying frequencies. The sound of frequencies lost, frequencies that will never be heard again by those particular ears. It is in these times that we can sit back and remember those moments. Moments with a sound track. Moments with a visual narration. Moments in which you become the superhero you always wished you had been. An everyday hero, a hero of the mundane, a hero over the past, so that the future of Psychiatry could be abandoned into the sheltering arms of lonely Scientologists. It is here that the piano simultaneously begins driving both the melody and the rhythm, powering the uncharged cells of the newly realized Wayback Machine. Driving you on, beyond yourself, into the self that you once abandoned on the beach among the buckets and shovels of countless children. It is only when the music stops that you realize where you are, that your coffee has gone cold, and that you are no longer holding onto outdated perspectives and erstwhile attitudes, but instead find yourself holding a great big pineapple, one with two straws and an endless supply of juice to support you as you walk back to your car, to your job, to your life.

The Optimism of Uncertainty

2008-02-17T18:25:00.003-05:00

"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places--and there are so many--where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

This moving statement of optimism framed the final scene of the documentary, You can't be neutral on a moving train, a film about the life of Howard Zinn. Taken from an longer piece, The Optimism of Uncertainty, printed in The Nation in 2004, these words capture the spirit of what seems to have been buried so deeply beneath the jobs, and responsibilities of so many people I have known over the past decade.
There is an idea that has somehow been stamped into the communal subconscious that a person's 20's can be freely lived with an air of unabashed optimism and hope: a hope for the future, a poet's hope, a romantic's hope, a hope based on faith, a hope based on nothing other than the desire for hope itself. Hope that we can all make a difference if we just believe hard enough. This viewpoint carried on well into a person's thirties on the other hand, seems to be less readily accepted. I suppose it is just as much of a way to downplay the relevance and importance of these beliefs within the community of twentysomethings, as much as it is a method for either questioning the common sense, or the sanity of those who should have already "put away their childish things." Everyone has heard the quote by Winston Churchill in which he stated that "If you're in your twenties and you're not a liberal, you have no heart. If you're in your thirties and you're not a conservative, you have no brain". It should be so nice if everything we faced in this world, every challenge we came upon could be summed up in a single sound bite, but it can't; black and white has been replaced by color and the variations within which those colors flow in and out of one another are infinite.
I really appreciate Howard Zinn and his writings because rather than falling neatly in line he has chosen a path of optimism fueled by hope and founded in fact. As an "authentic" historian he has refused to accept the given answers and predominant positions explaining the "whos", the "whats", and the "whys" of the past, while living on the forefront of the civil rights, and peace movements, in order to use the past to defend the presents and the futures of all who might be here to experience them. He has been a man of both thought and of action, and even now, at the age of 85, continues to promote "hopelessly romantic" causes he forgot to abandon in the mid-1940's.
If you have never read anything by Howard Zinn, here is a list of things he has written. Don't be scared- you will not have to go searching for your youthful idealism among your discarded Journey albums and Hypercolor T-shirts in order to appreciate what he has to say, but don't be surprised if it ends up finding you either.

- The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy
- A People's History of the United States 1492-Present
- You can't be neutral on a moving train
- Howard Zinn on War
- Passionate Declarations: Essays on War and Justice
- The Politics of History

The Future looks bright!

2008-02-15T12:41:00.003-05:00

In 1981, an instrument, so revolutionary that it has taken over 25 years for it to reach "maximum appreciation" status, was unleashed upon the world by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation of Japan. This ingenious device, adopted by the great musical masters of the day (Bryan Eno and Cyndi Lauper to name a few), has had its history shrouded in mystery, primarily due to the forward thinking behind the technology it encompassed.
The ergonomic design, both physical and auditory, has raised significant questions within the ethnomusicology circles as to its origins. Robert Davis, Dept. Chair of Musical Anthropology, at The University of Northern Central Western Virginia (U.N.C.W.V.) was quoted in a 1982 article from the European Journal of Musikal Affairs as saying, "...this instrument is an anomaly within the Linear based Non-Rhizomatic Musical String Theory from which all musical history finds its foundation. Basically, it equates to a giant leap in Human evolution -this is a fish with legs leaping up on land, taking a breath of fresh air and walking for the first time. It is that big!"
While it continues to be debated even to this day, one wonders just how revolutionary this tiny piece of electronic musical equipment truly is. If it was such a big deal, why have most of us never even heard about it? "that's easy," says Sigfried Hausenfreunde of the Austrian based governmental watchdog agency, "Tell the Truth!" "This has been one giant international cover up leading up to the very heads of all the world's governments. S*!t, even the U.S. and the Soviets agreed to keep this thing low profile. There was a giant media smear campaign, and the Omnichord", as it was to be named, "became...well, second fiddle, to inferior musical developments of the time."
All sorts of legends have popped us surrounding the months leading up to the release of this instrument. Japanese villagers living near the Suzuki research and development facility from which this piece of equipment was invented, recall seeing "strange things" coming from the factory. One man, who refused to release his name for fear of retaliation, told reporters that a gentleman referred to only by the nickname "future cop" began working for the company at about the same time; he would come in and out of the Suzuki plant at all hours of the day and night and never said a word. "All that can be said for sure about him", said another villager, "was that he was definitely not Japanese...definitely not" Witnesses say that he always surrounded himself by odd men in tweed suits and bow ties, who would create a diversion anytime someone got within 10 feet of Future Cop. "Sometimes they would sing, sometimes they would dance, but mostly they started hopping up and down on one foot and moan extremely loud, in order to distract the attention of the approaching subject." Some say that Future Cop consumed abnormal amounts of Gatorade and fried cuttlefish snack treats, others say it was not Cuttlefish, but pork rinds. Either way, the community thinks it it just too coincidental not to see the appearance of Future Cop and the appearance of the Omnichord as being related.

Regardless of the veracity of all this historical investigation, one thing is for certain, we will always have the Omnichord, and its successor, the QChord, to fill our ears with sweet, sweet melodies; and while we may never know the true events leading up to the advent of this amazing musical phenomenon, we have made up stories like this one to put our minds to ease and our ears to rest as we lay our heads down to sleep at night.

Thank you Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation of Japan, for fueling my imagination and filling my ears with the sweet sounds of the 80's.

Proper Etiquette

2008-02-14T00:07:00.002-05:00

Generally speaking, etiquette is an unspoken yet agreed upon code that governs our expectations of social behavior. This code however seems to cease to apply once an individual turns the power button on to a cell phone. Case in point....actually multiple cases to point...to. This afternoon I decided to head to a coffee shop in order to read for a little while. Once I sat down I heard a midi recording of a Beethoven piece start playing at the table next to me. The man sitting there picked up his phone, answered "such and such flower shop, how can I help you." This was repeated about 6 or 7 more times over the next 1 and 1/2 hours as I sat trying to focus on my book. I know that a cafe is a community gathering place and that the guy had his calls forwarded to his cell phone so that he did not have to sit in his shop all day, but it just seemed strange to me that he had no problem doing this while others around him were forced to take part. It was near impossible to ignore, and the shop was small enough that you could not escape the conversation just by moving. This was not the first time I have run into this man conducting business on his phone at a coffee shop either, but last time it only lasted about 15 minutes. The funny thing is that he was not speaking incredibly loud or anything, but the very nature of a cell phone conversation in a small public place is much different than two people having a discussion at the same volume at a table; it is somehow much more intrusive, particularly when it turns out to be a business call. The relaxed feel of the cafe suddenly changes, it becomes pregnant with tension, "the need to make the sale." I have been in plenty of cafes while business between two present people takes place and it has never bothered me, but somehow the phone tone charges the environment with a different sort of energy.
Unfortunately, this is not the first negative cell experience I have encountered this week. All through Nader's talk cell phones were going off. One guy, about two rows behind me, had his cell phone go off twice. The first time it took him way to long to find it and silence it, and the second time he had the nerve to answer it and start talking to the person on the other line without even making any effort to leave.
Now I am not trying to become the grumpy old man who no longer finds joy in anything other than complaining about all that is wrong in the world, I just find it strange. Perhaps etiquette is not being threatened, perhaps it is just evolving along with technology. I can still remember working at a coffee shop at the advent of cell phone proliferation, when proper etiquette had not yet been established. One woman in particular would always come up to the counter talking on her phone and regardless of the length of the line would finish her train of thought before placing her order. Often times this was only a matter of a few seconds, but sometimes she would be engaged in a real intense bit of dialogue and we would all be forced to sit and listen to whatever it was she was saying before she could break herself free to order. While it bothered me at the time, I thought "this will all work itself out in time." I was an optimist, I assumed that centuries of common behavioral codes would kick in and etiquette would be established. Looking back though, I think that I may have been wrong. Now, I think that bad precedent was set. We the people did not make our voices heard loud enough. The result of this silence may be the acceptance of the private into the public space. Perhaps this is not a phenomenon, but a way of being that we will all have to adjust to... or perhaps the answer will be to simply stay at home and brew our own coffee. Unfortunately, I do not think that I am ready to become a hermit just yet.

Activate!

2008-02-11T17:31:00.001-05:00

I spent the entire weekend holed up in Byrd theater attending the first annual Richmond Environmental Film Festival. Beginning with The Lorax on Saturday morning and ending with a film about strip mining in the mountains of West Virginia, the film festival exceeded my expectations in just about every way. In fact there was only one incident involving "technical difficulties" the whole weekend, and anyone who has ever been to a film festival in Richmond knows that this is alone is a great accomplishment. The films and speakers were so varied that it was impossible to lose interest; I barely even noticed the springs in my seat jabbing me from multiple directions. The highlight of Saturday was seeing Ralph Nader speak. I know that he tends to be a sore spot with many Democrats, but I really appreciate his political perspectives. I still stand by my vote in 2000 despite the attacks I received by friends and sometimes strangers for my complicity in the election of "W." I refuse to believe that we live in a nation where citizens fall neatly in 2 political boxes.
I went and voted in the Primary today. Even today as I was preparing to head to the polls, I was decidedly on the fence about our candidates. I spent hours this morning researching the intergoogle as a final solution to my electoral balancing act. Of course in the end I just came away even more divided in my opinions. No matter who you vote for you end up compromising on your beliefs in some way. This is part of my problem with two party alignment, but at the same time it is good to have to vote for people who do not share everything in common with you, it shows a voter's ability to have an open mind on some issues. Today I just wanted to create a super candidate named Dennis Obamaclintongravel. Not the most attractive person in the world, but I think that he/she would look pretty good in a cape and red spandex tights!
Anyway, the festival came at a good time. The films and speakers promoted active citizenship and encouraged passion. There was a group of 24 year olds who live on a biodiesel bus and travel the country giving powerpoint presentations about politics and the environment. The was a 20 something year old who spoke about mountaintop mining in Virginia. There was a speaker who informed us about the role of population and environmental change.
I really like the idea of combining social awareness with entertainment. We live in a constant state of visceral bombardment, a hard thing for educators to compete with. It would seem that very few people have the attention span for old methods of education anymore. This was a very good way to inform people of cultural issues, societal problems, and historical events, under the guise of entertainment. I commend Richmond for putting this event on and I hope that it truly does become an annual event.
Here is a list of the films that were shown and a link to the Biggest Picture website in case you want to learn more about the films:
The Lorax
Planet Earth: The Future into the wilderness
(We aren't blocking traffic) We are traffic! ....about Critical Mass
The Corporation
The Milagro Beanfield War
The Forest for the Trees ...about Judi Bari's car bombing and Earth First!
Black Diamonds

Mis(sed)education

2008-02-08T18:05:00.000-05:00

Before I begin my rant today, I have to admit something that may come as a big surprise to everyone who knows me, but...here it goes, I am bad at math. Okay I said it. I barely made it through my general ed. requirement "math for jocks, musicians, and artists," offered only during the summer and never before noon. I barely made it through the math portion of my G.R.E., and I have a terrible time figuring out how much to tip my waitress after going out to eat.
This being said, I do not think that I missed out entirely because I was blessed with at least a small portion of common sense. This common sense however has not saved me from becoming a bad American today, or at the very least a bad consumer. For as bad as my math skills are, my understanding of economics is much worse. I am sure that Coco using her rudimentary language skills could explain the way our economy works better than I can...which brings me to the point of this prelude.
I need someone to explain something to me please. Apparently while I was in Europe the American economy tanked. Sure, it was happening way before I left and is continuing now that I have arrived back home, but something big must have happened while I was gone that has convinced all of our politicians that they need to give us money. According to the NY Times,
"Congress gave final approval on Thursday to a $168 billion economic rescue package, including rebates for taxpayers and tax breaks for businesses, that lawmakers and President Bush hope will set off a rush of springtime spending and spark the slowing economy."
What this means apparently is that each and every individual* will receive a check in the mail for $600.00! Married couples will get $1,200 dollars! Couples with children will receive $300.00 for each kid!
Now as I have already stated I do not understand economics, and now this just makes me feel even denser, it just seems strange to me that this is the best answer we have for fixing a broken system.
I assume that the point of giving us the money is encourage us to run out and buy stuff, lots of stuff, t.v.'s, wii's, Mary Kay cosmetics, tires, dvd's, Guess jeans, etc...You get the idea. As good consumers we will go out and fulfill our patriotic duty and spend, spend, spend! This will apparently get us pumped up and back to the mall. Now, I am not blind to the "economic slow down going on around me. I know that stores need our money to continue running; I just found out that here in Richmond three places I like to frequent have decided to shut their doors for the last time. There is definitely a "course correction" taking place..but is that totally a bad thing? Isn't it better to have sustainability than relentless growth? How many Starbucks does a city of 500,000 need? A big contributing factor to this economic condition we are facing occurred because Americans decided to try and live beyond their means. We were borrowing money we did not have to purchase things we did not need- Big houses, big cars...and what became of all of it? Bank bail outs, foreclosures, and now cash in our pockets. I mean, if it was tax money anyway, then it was ours before the government decided to give it back right? Either that, or it is money being borrowed from China so that we can go out and buy Chinese goods. Anyway, my point is, spending got us into this problem to begin with and the best solution they can come up with is to give us more money to spend on more stuff?
Now, like I said, I am not an economist, but I am not a stupid person either. I just don't understand how this is going to help. Is it just a coincidence that this is happening in an election year? If someone could explain it to me I would greatly appreciate it.

Oh, and by the way, in case you were wondering, I am going to take the money. I may use it to pay for an economics class or another trip to escape the insanity.

You and What Army?

2008-02-07T22:14:00.000-05:00

The V.C.U. dept. of Photography and Film brought Anthony Goicolea in to give a talk about his work this afternoon. I have been fascinated by his photographs for a long time now. I did some work a few years ago that shared a lot of the same characteristics as some of his earlier series'. It was really nice to hear him talk about his manners and methods, because some of the choices he made in deciding to do multiples, he chose for the same reasons I chose to do it. By deciding to include other people in "tableaux type" images the photographer must give up a certain amount of control...at least with my kind of personality. I have trouble really asserting myself and conveying my ideas clearly to others, which is why I think I would have made a terrible film director. By including others in a photograph the images inevitably take on a little bit of a collaborative spirit - not that there is anything wrong with that, it is just not what he (and I as well) wanted to do with the images at the time. Besides, other people have a tendency to bail out on you when doing things pro-bono. I also like the freedom of waking up in the middle of the night from a dream and making an image at 3:30 in the morning. Anyway, I just appreciated hearing him talk about these and other technical challenges he ran into along the way. The most interesting part of the lecture however was hearing him compare his work with the work of Henry Darger. I had never thought about their imagery together, but once he mentioned it the connection slapped me in the face like a wet noodle.

I think that the next artist in the lecture series is going to be Todd Hido. I really appreciate that the school is able to bring these artists in to talk. It is really nice to see the graduate program I went through expanding. I think that I was a little jealous at first, but that is just lame. You can't be bitter about these kind of things, otherwise you just end up old and constipated.

14 + 11 + 7

2008-02-06T11:27:00.000-05:00

A Zara Fashion shoot by Flanna Sheridan

So a couple of years ago I shared my birthday with the superbowl. I don't believe that it played any real significant role in how my year unfolded, but to be perfectly honest, I did not really give it much thought.
This year it would seem that I am to share it with Ash Wednesday. A day of contrition and relflection leading into a 40 day and 40 night period of sacrifice and self examination. I am not sure that this will play any significant role as to how this next year will play out either, but at least it gives me more to think about than the Superbowl did. I am constantly on the lookout for signs from above and beyond. I am one of those people who tries to read in to any and every "coincidence" that occurs throughout the day. Perhaps I just hate making wrong decisions and lean on the cosmos to give me a push one direction or another; therefore I decided to embark on a special kind of photo shoot today that ties in both events as if they truly were intertwined. It is funny, typically I plan for Lent; I reflect and come up with something I need to give up for a period in order to "refocus," and "better myself." This year though, I kind of feel a little far away. In fact I was not even aware that it was Ash Wednesday until late last night. In some ways, I think that I need to soften my focus a bit or redirect it somehow. Perhaps I will be a little more relaxed about it. I'm just not sure. I feel like I am at some sort of party or gathering, but instead of participating in the festivities, I am just sitting in the corner reading a book of poems by David Berman completely content. There in body, but lost in my own mind. Perhaps I just need a change. Perhaps I just need a change in routine. I am excited about this perspective. The ground is starting to feel a little softer and the air a little more brisk, I think that I am going to just keep on walking.

The Multiplicity of Truth

2008-02-05T14:27:00.000-05:00

It is funny how often we assume that age = intelligence. It used to be that just because "an adult" told you something, you were to accept it, no questions asked. Even more than that, you believed it because "adults don't lie," right? Sometimes you make conclusions based upon your observations and these observations ultimately become "truth" as well. As a kid I thought my parents were doctors in all but practice. Whenever something was wrong they could diagnose the problem, prescribe the correct medicines, and feed me the right foods. I always got better, therefore doctors were a waste of time. Now sometimes you find out that adults lie, or at the very least "fool you" into belief for some greater purpose (i.e. Santa Clause, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, etc). The multiplicity of truth sometimes trumps the black and white interpretation of it. As you get older however, you realize that things are not always that simple- that is why I love it when kids discover things that end up embarassing adults. Not just adults, but adult institutions that other adults get their "truth" from. That's right, I am talking about our daily news sources.
While in Prague, I found out from a Finnish girl I befriended, that last Summer Reuters ran some photos showing the Russians planting their flag below the north pole. Of course we all heard about this happening because the "unsubstantiated theory of global warming" has apparently melted some ice up near Santa's workshop, and now everyone wants a piece of the gingerbread house. At least we all heard about the planting of the flag, the photos of this planting that ran in Reuters, most never gave a second thought to.

Cue the kid....

So, apparently a 13-year-old Finnish schoolboy saw these photographs and discovered something that no one else had noticed. The photos were fake, they were not of the Russians burying their flag on the bottom of the sea, but stills from that other iceberg incident- The Titanic.. or more accurately James Cameron's thoughtful film adaptation of it. Upon discovering this the kid contacted a local newspaper to tell them the images looked identical to those used in the movie.

"Reuters admitted that it took the images from Russian state television channel RTR and wrongly captioned them as file footage originating from the Arctic.
RTR had also used the footage to illustrate stories about the North Pole expedition, but it is thought as library footage, and it never claimed it was actually of the flag-planting.
Reuters distributed a package of clips that included the scenes from Titanic, alongside computer animations and footage of ships on the surface at the North Pole.
In its piece on the subject, two of the four Reuters pictures were from the Titanic filming."

So, in conclusion I propose that Kids should not be allowed to watch or read the news. News is for adults. Adults have great trouble "bouncing back" once their foundations of belief are shattered. Kids are spry, the foundations of their worldview morph and change all the time. From what I have been able to determine, at some point along the way adults "figure it all out," they latch onto ideologies that declare absolute dominion on truth and lose their abilities to "see things from any other perspective." Whether it is religion, politics, sports, musical taste, or any number of other things adults come to accept what they are told and become as unmovable as mountains. The are like that chocolate syrup that goes on liquid but hardens into a candy coated shell within minutes. They find their curves, their nooks and crannies, settle in and form themselves around this shape. The only way for them to change shape is to shatter them with a spoon (and eat the yummy ice cream hiding within). Of course this does not hold true for all adults, some stay liquid, some are entirely too viscous, but that is a whole other sundae. So you see, for the preservation of western civilization, for the retainment of all that we hold sacred and dear, we must, MUST, stop children from receiving news from anywhere but their parents lips!

(...if you would like to read the whole article go here:)

Back to Business

2008-02-04T12:17:00.000-05:00

So I guess my psychological grounding mechanism decided that it is time. Somehow things returned to "normal" this morning without me realizing it. Not that I headed back to work or anything, (at least not the kind of work where you go somewhere and they pay you for your services), but I woke up at a decent respectable hour, said my morning prayers, had my morning bowel movement, made my morning coffee, and sat down in front of my computer all in the appropriate order and time frame. By the time I started this post "my daily routine" had been reinstated. I won't be the least bit surprised if I start to crave pretzels and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich sometime in the next hour or so. It should be comforting to know that discipline and routine come as naturally to me as an 8 hour sleep cycle, but its not...it is actually kind of creepy. I have no idea when I became a creature of comfort and habit, but somewhere along the line I settled down and embraced these things as normal, which they are of course, I just never thought of myself as being all that susceptible to these forces of nature. True, I did not settle down in the traditional sense, I do not have a career, a home, a wife and kids- but I do have a French press, a netflix account, a band, and a father who lives with me. Of course I love all these things in their own right, but somehow it has all seemed to become too static. Perhaps I have always been a glutton for the pain of anxiety associated with uncertainty. Or perhaps (more likely), I am fueled and driven by tossing myself into situations of chaos and uncertainty and creating a bubble of stability within it, then extending that bubble ever farther outwards. Perhaps I just have way too much time on my hands right now. I made a list this morning of things I intend to accomplish in the next few months. I am really excited to begin my new photo project. I have everything I need to start, sketched out. I intend to try and pump a little more life and diversity into my daily routines. Life lust may be a sin, but I think that boredom may be just as great of a sin in its own right. I know that it may not sound like it, but returning home after this all too short of a vacation has made me realize that I have a great deal going for me here and that I am surrounded by incredibly amazing people. I guess that I just don't want to take all of it for granted. It has always taken me leaving a good thing to deeply appreciate all that has been. Reflection should happen more regularly I suppose. I turn 32 on Wednesday. Perhaps this will be a good project to work on over the next year. Projects are good, they are healthy. Once you label something as such, it can be fit into a routine, and man am I good at routines!

Dancing and Decompression

2008-02-01T11:31:00.000-05:00

Parukarka bunker -Zizkov

After failing in my attempts to convince Czech Airlines to allow me to give them cash in exchange for postponing my departure another few weeks, I spent my last night in Prague Dancing in an underground bunker built by the Soviets in the 1950's (you know, in case of nuclear armageddon). Entering through a nondescript door in the side of a concrete wall, and descending a spiral staircase, we helped to celebrate the vision of a car free world sponsored by Carbusters magazine. After being graced by Duchess and the kittens, we danced for hours to remixes of Bob Marley, James Brown, and Klezmer music. Seeing as how I still had a couple of hours left before my flight, we headed over to Akropolis to dance to music offered up by a couple of Czech models. These guys could have come straight out of Williamsburg, with one in his Mod style suit, and the other in his Giant 80's glasses and ironic mustache. Louis eventually got bit on the face by a drunk Slovak girl and we decided to leave despite the fact that he became smitten and was unable to control his legs.
We eventually made it home at about a quarter to 5:00, just in time for me to catch a metro and bus back to the airport. Flanna came along and we sat next to a snoring homeless man until I had to say goodbye. An Austrian has taken my place for now, which should allow Flanna a little more time to devote to her writing.
The flight went fine, we flew over both Iceland and Greenland, I spent most of my time looking for Knut, but I think we were too high. Customs did not want to let me back in as I seem to, get this, share a name with a fugitive. I was asked if I had ever lived in North Carolina, along with a few other random questions, a background check of sorts was performed, and I was let go....that is until I had to have by bags inspected three times. Anyway I am back. I have 30 gigs worth of photos to sort through and some sleep to catch up on. I may head back to Richmond tomorrow and resume my identity.
I have not decided.

2008-01-29T06:01:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I have been lost in Berlin. We found a decent squat, but never found the Russian Disco.

Wednesday Morning

2008-01-23T06:35:00.000-05:00

Live from Chateau!

2008-01-20T12:19:00.000-05:00

Here are some images from the show Flanna played with Ism and Ken Nash last night. I got to sit in on three songs which could have gone better had we practiced more and had my hands not been shaking so violently that I had to drink a valium milk shake before going on. Okay, so no drugs, just a glass of beer to take off the edge...just one, and then another... Okay, no beer either, just a bottle of "halfway fizzy" mineral water to make me focus on my bladder the whole time. Good Fun!
The show actually went well. I can just be a bit of a spazz sometimes. The worst part was when the sound guy asked me to sing alone into my mic and I gave him the look a child would give their parents if they told him that the boogey man was going to be his babysitter. Everyone was staring at me as if I had just cracked a bad joke and my voice started to break up until I sounded like a thirteen year old boy singing We are the World with his junior high school glee club. Good thing Flanna has a good voice and nice teeth.
(sorry for the blurry nature of these, too much cheese last night)

A summary of Week 1 in Prague

2008-01-18T06:38:00.000-05:00

I get up around noon and lazily make my way around the city.
It is cold but I don't mind.

I have been drinking more beer than I usually do, but so does everyone else, even construction workers as they tear up streets with large machines.

I have met a lot of interesting people, most of whom are not czech and seem to be running from the police.

I am making lots of lists, many of which will never be seen by anyone else.

I eat a lot of salami and fortina sandwiches washing them down with instant coffee and kefir; Becherovka makes the digestion work a little better and the breath a little sweeter.

"When in Rome" it is apparently customary to drink hot, salty, sulfuric water from ceramic cups with built in straws for good health and hygiene.

I am going to see a rock show with a plastic person tonight and play a rock show with Flanna at a club on Saturday and have nothing to wear.

Here are some pictures:

Ready....Set....

2008-01-08T18:48:00.000-05:00

Well, I leave for Prague tomorrow. It would be a understatement to say that I am ready. I think that I have been ready since last November when I bought my ticket. I have had my bags packed for a few days and been more or less biding my time twiddling my thumbs ever since. I am loaded down in electronics, which is a new direction in my "travel identity," but I refuse to give up the backpack. My plan is to post images every few days, and maybe a few words, but mostly I want to spend as little time as possible on my computer. I have promised myself a vacation, and for me that especially means no email, no drudge report, etc. Photos are easy however, and I would like to at least try to do that. We will see however, I may enjoy the technological break too much. I think the best part will be shedding my cell phone. I can't remember the last time I have spent more than a couple of days without being attached to a phone...sounds like paradise without the sun.

The Art of Performance

2007-12-27T17:07:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you get a gift for Christmas the make you scratch your head and do a double take. The kind of gift in which you have to wipe off the look of surprise before you can get out the words "thank you!" I must admit that when I opened this gift from my mother, I was a bit confused. Books can be those "iffy" kinds of gifts. Often times they are the perfect gift. I usually prefer books to just about anything, but this book just looked strange. My mom said she picked it up because it "looked interesting" and when she opened it up there was a page with a grid of self portraits the author had taken which reminded her of my polaroid project, so she bought it.
Despite my initial confusion I gave it a try, and I am so glad that I did. It is absolutely hilarious. As the title might imply, the book is about a (nonreligious) guy who decides to live a year of his life as a biblical literalist/fundamentalist. It kind of reminds me of Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods," only without the comic relief provided by Katz. Jacobs does a good enough job on his own however.
Within the first month he finds out that he cannot touch anything a menstruating woman has touched for a whole week. After telling this to his wife he comes home from work one night and attempts to sit down on the couch. His wife tells him he shouldn't sit there because she was sitting there earlier. She then tells him that he might not want to sit on any of the chairs because she systematically went through the house and sat on each chair in protest.
One of my favorite parts so far is when he talks about a book that describes the old testament prophets as the world's first performance artists.
Hosea named his kids "Not pitied," and "Not my people" to scold Israel for its idolatrous behavior.
Isaiah walked around Jerusalem naked and barefoot for three years to protest a political alignment with Egypt and Ethiopia.
Jeremiah walked the streets wearing a wooden yoke to protest Babylonian rule.
Ezekiel carved a picture of Jerusalem into a brick, laid down on his left side next to it for 390 days, then rolled over to his right side for another 40 days to symbolize the Jewish exile that was to come.
I love the idea of thinking about relevant performance finding expression in the ancient world. Eat your heart out Vito.
Anyway, if you are in need of a good laugh right now, this book should do the trick.

Final Critique

2007-12-21T12:50:00.000-05:00

Every semester seems to culminate in the highly anticipated event known to everyone as final crit. You could liken it to the two hour season finale of your favorite program, only without the frustrating cliffhanger. It is typically characterized by a lack of sleep and up to the minute preparations. This semester was particularly interesting because each one took over 4 hours. It used to be (way back when Republicans controlled congress and adjustable rate mortgages were all the rage), that students would mat their final prints and place them on a print rail to be scrutinized by their peers. Now however, this method seems to have become outdated and stale. It would seem that evolution has been hard at work in the department and that students are becoming aware of "power of presentation." This of course has come to mean that time and real estate have both become more valuable. I would guess that it took a good 15 minutes per student to hang and arrange their work, this does not include the time it took to look and discuss. My first class seemed able to keep it together, and while 4 hours, is no small feat of attention retention, they continued to remain engaged until the end. My second class however "lost it" with two people left to go. The room was silent, no more than silent- energy was being sucked out of the discussion with such great force that the sighing and groaning became a chorus...except for me of course. It was up to me to talk, and talk, and talk. I had no problem doing this, and could have gone on for another 4 or more hours...Lightweights.
Anyway, here is a sampling of the work they produced. Some of it was pretty fantastic.

Do you mind not reading so loud?

2007-12-14T16:20:00.000-05:00

While reading at a coffee shop the other day I decided to eavesdrop on a conversation some of the employees were having. The person working the espresso machine was telling the cashier that until the middle ages the majority of western civilization was unable to read silently (granted the majority of western civilization was probably illiterate to begin with). He said that people (obviously referring to the wealthy) had separate reading rooms so as not to bother their family while they read. This seemed like a preposterous notion to me; I could not help but laugh thinking about the absurdity of everyone at the coffee shop I was currently at, reading aloud. There were at least 15 people there studying, reading novels, reading newspapers, etc. I think it would have been hilarious, like some sort of bizarre Beckett inspired reality. Anyway, I assumed that the whole thing was a bunch of nonsense anyway. However, after checking it out, there might possibly be some truth to this idea. While there is some controversy, there is also some support. Apparently this belief is based largely on the writings of St. Augustine. Augustine was from North Africa, and upon coming to Rome was surprised by the way a particular Bishop (St. Ambrose) read scripture.

"his eyes scanned the page and his heart sought out the meaning, but his voice was silent and his tongue was still."
"To Augustine, however, such reading manners seemed sufficiently strange for him to note them in his Confessions. The implication is that this method of reading, this silent perusing of the page, was in his time something out of the ordinary, and that normal reading was performed out loud. Even though instances of silent reading can be traced to earlier dates, not until the tenth century does this manner of reading become usual in the West. (Manguel)"

Anyway, to make a long story short, St. Augustine has been credited by some for making silent reading a common practice (that is again, if you were fortunate enough to be literate to begin with).

I don't know why I find this so fascinating. It makes sense. I mean, we all learned to read by reading out loud. It was a separate learning process from reading to your self. I remember that for the longest time as a kid, the only way I could read to myself was to mouth all of the words I was reading.

It is still funny to imagine a world in which everyone had to read out loud. Waiting rooms, coffee shops, libraries, buses, etc. would be a lot more interesting. It is especially funny thinking about the stereotypical relationship between the "American Housewife" and the romance novel. Now that is a little league soccer practice with an X-rated twist!

Good for your health?

2007-12-11T10:53:00.001-05:00

About a month ago, I converted. I had been a faithful supporter for almost 10 years, but after listening to people tell me repeatedly that my Nalgene bottle could have adverse effects on my relatively good health, I decided that it was time. Caught between threats of PCB's in the plastics and the unusually high levels of estrogen, I decided that enough was enough. Thankfully, market forces had been able to smell my fear and figure out a way to cash in- an alternative was produced just in time! Stainless steel is back, and with a complete makeover no less. A far cry from the tire shaped, fabric clad canteens of my scouting days, these new bottles are sleek, slender, and in technicolor! Seeing as how I had just given up my job, I decided I needed to do something to fill up my time, and since I like water so much, I thought I would run out, purchase a new vessel, and spend my days drinking away! While shopping at Ellwood Thompsons Market one Sunday, I noticed they had caught wind of this phenomenon as well, and placed a stockpile of bottles over by the fair trade coffee. I immediately picked up a pound of Shade Grown Nicaragua and one copper colored water bottle. Nothing could stop me from total hydration now!
That is until Monday came around. I started carrying my bottle around with me immediately. Since it came with a carabiner, I could just hook it to my pants and go. As long as I had a belt strong enough to hold up the extra weight of a half liter of water. I was set. As I left my house however, things got weird. I noticed people looking at me funny. At first I thought that they were people laughing at the guy with the water bottle hooked to his pants. "I can handle being uncool" I said to myself. After all I am hydrated and my skin is full of elasticity (which is more than I can say for these hip kids and their snickering doubt)!
After a while I realized that it wasn't just the hip kids staring, it was everyone!
I was getting stares at the grocery store, at gas stations, at restaurants- people were constantly coming up to me asking "what is that thing?" Like I said, I am not usually bothered by such things. I am however bothered by the fact that I have also been stopped now by two cops wanting to inspect my bottle."
That's right in the span of a month I have been pulled aside by 2 cops for my water bottle. I guess it looks intimidating, because I sure don't.
What I failed to consider upon donning my new accessory is that we are now living in the "post 9-11 era." Suspicion has become a part of who we are. I do not blame the gawkers. I might very well be a gawker in ways I am unaware of as well.
The first time I got called over by a cop I was in D.C. I obliged and thought it was a one time deal. He looked at the bottle and sent me on my way. The second time I was less cordial. It was about 2:30 in the morning and we had just finished playing a show. I was tired and all I wanted to do was go home. As I was walking to my car I hear a "Hey you! Yeah you. Come here now! What is that thing hanging from your belt." Rather than diffusing the situation in a cordial manner, I looked up and said "You've gotta be kidding me," "I am sick and tired of people giving me a hard time for this. It's a water bottle see!!!!!" (at which point I opened it up and took a sip). He took a much more respectful tone once I did this. I am not proud of my reaction. It was just the proverbial straw.
Since this happened I have been asked by two separate people, (both of whom I respect) "If it causes so much trouble, why do you insist on carrying it around with you everywhere you go?"
The answer "It is good for my health" seems to have lost its power and persuasion at this point in the game. It is a very good question. Why do I insist on continuing on carrying it around with me? Has it become a matter of principle at this point?....a matter of pride?...a matter of insolence?... or a matter of good health. I can tell you know that even if it does prevent plastics from leaching into my body, it is creating a new problem with my blood pressure.
Ahhh....the things we concern ourselves with. If membership does indeed have its privileges, then maybe my membership should be revoked.

By the way, I do not really blame people entirely for their concern, here is what a camping fuel bottle looks like:

Exciting news!!!!!

2007-12-07T15:42:00.000-05:00

Actually, there is no real exciting news. It is just that I have always wanted to lead into a post with this anticipatory tagline. Things have been both extremely busy and uneventful this past month. I think that my muse has fallen asleep or fallen down a well somewhere. If anyone out there has seen him I would greatly appreciate his return. There will be a reward in the form of butterscotch pudding and puffy glitter stickers. Apparently he has severe A.D.D. and often times forgets what he is doing from one moment to the next. I tried to install lojack in his hat but he kept leaving it at the bowling alley (he is on a league). Because I cant ever get out of there without eating at least two hotdogs and a pile of onion rings, I decided that enough was enough and just left it there last time.
Anyway, my band played last night with two great bands from D.C. (These United States and Justin Jones and the Driving Rain), and we will be playing again on Saturday with Langley Holland and Bridges and Powerlines. Some of my students have started showing up to the shows which is great. They are now threatening to start a Marionette cover band. They have been practicing sychronized clapping during class time.
Playing out is always great, but the late nights are difficult. Somewhere along the line, I have trained my body and mind to shut off at midnight. I will fall asleep anywhere or while doing anything. I usually try and refrain from operating heavy machinery after 11:00 just in case.

I also am going to have two images in the 1708 small works show which opens tonight. It is the first show I have participated in since this summer, so I am pretty excited.
If you get a chance, you should come out to the show this evening. I will be there bar tending from 7:00 until 8:30.

A January Artist Residency

2007-11-14T11:10:00.000-05:00

....Well kind of....not really.....
At the very least a self imposed and self sponsored version of a residency.
Okay, so all I really did is purchase an airline ticket this weekend.
I decided to finally quit thinking about it and just buy a ticket before I come up with another excuse not to go. So, it looks like I am going to go to to Prague for most of the month of January. I will be leaving on January 9th and coming back on the 31st.
A good friend of mine has been living there for years now and has listened to me spew a slew of empty promises ever since.... "Maybe I will visit this summer...maybe this spring...maybe next summer". Work and money always found a way of interfering with my plans.
Now, out of work, and free from everything except all my bills, responsibilities, and debt, I have decided to quit worrying and just go.
I am going to rent a room in her apartment for $100.00 for the whole month. Granted, while according to "the lonely planet," January is the coldest month of the year over there, I think I will enjoy myself regardless. Here are two pictures of the room I will be living in. It may look small in the picture, but what you can't see is the hot tub, marble fireplace, and bear skin rugs lining the "main part of the room" behind the camera. I think that her camera must have run out of batteries before she had a chance to turn around.

R.I.P. John Adams (May 2005 -October 2007)

2007-11-02T09:56:00.000-04:00

Wednesday was my last day at the warehouse, my last day with H.B.O., and my last day of full time employment. I was there for almost 2 and 1/2 years. I was expecting to feel this great sense of loss, but ended up with a sense of fulfillment and completion instead. I walked out of the door the last time without even turning around. I felt a much greater sense of sadness when I left the first time (Feb of 2006). I do not know how much these images can convey the magnitude of the cleanup over the past month, but when you have a 200,000 square foot warehouse, filled to the brim, to empty, it feels pretty good to see it finished. Unfortunately, I do not think I have ever seen that much waste generated in my life. A small subdivision could have been constructed just by salvaging the wood from our dumpsters.

Puppetry and Politics

2007-10-29T09:57:00.000-04:00

The bread and Puppet theater came, saw, and shared some bread with lots of curious spectators in Monroe Park yesterday afternoon. Performing what they referred to as the "DIVINE REALITY COMEDY CIRCUS," we were greeted by about 2 dozen singing, dancing, and satirizing performers. Accompanied the whole time by a makeshift "brass band" (and one lone accordion), the show took place in front of an old school bus in which hand painted backdrops were attached by large shoots of bamboo. In addition to the high energy and positive attitudes of the cast, I was incredibly impressed by the ability of the theater company to create such a highly political spectacle, in such a way as to be appreciated by people of all ages. The crowd was full of children captivated by the puppetry and theatrics, as well as adults moved by the message. Charged issues including, corporate farming practices, war, environmental responsibility, public spending, technology, and national infrastructure were attacked in such a way as to promote understanding and education in the form of entertainment. The show concluded with a communion of bread and garlic aioli. I think that my favorite thing about the show was the attitude or spirit behind the whole event. I may not understand their intentions in their entirety, but I was struck by the fact that they did not focus on the perfection of the performance, but on the communication of the message in the spirit of Art. Their Art, while taking the form of music, puppetry, and performance, is mostly about the message of community, truth, responsibility, etc.
For all who are interested, they will be participating in a parade on Halloween at 7:00 p.m. sharp. This will begin at Monroe Park. I don't really know what to expect, but I am sure it will be interesting

Last Night

2007-10-15T12:18:00.000-04:00

We played a show last night with Matt Seymour (Pedals on our Pirate Ships) and the Hellblinki sextet. Despite the fact that there was not a great turn out, it was a really fun show. I was just happy to see these two bands. It was probably the first time in the history of rock and roll that two bands sharing the same stage on the same night had a melodica/glockenspiel player. I think that she was my doppleganger. Any check them out!

Morris Part Deux

2007-10-05T15:14:00.000-04:00

Check out part 2 of the Erol Morris article here:

Regarding the photographic intents of others

2007-09-26T10:19:00.000-04:00

The New York times Published Errol Morris' article "Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg? (Part One)" this morning. It is a fascinating look at photographic interpretation. Every year, discussions in my classes surrounding the nature of photographic truth are tossed around ad nauseum. What I am coming to accept more and more now, is that the "inherent truthiness" of the photograph as a document, lies not with the photographer or the viewer, but with the critic, and with the historian. Errol Morris does an amazing job uncovering different "truths," about these two photographs in a way that is both entertaining and informative. If nothing else he helps to remind us that quite often our notions of historical truth are not always based on fact, but on interpretation and viewpoint.
Towards the end of the article Morris writes, "Much of the problem comes from our collective need to endow photographs with intentions," "The minute we start to conjecture about Fenton’s reasons, his intent – his psychological state – we are walking on unhallowed ground. Can we read Fenton’s intentions off of a photographic plate?"
In my opinion, This is the crux of the situation; this is also the reason that "photographic truth," tends to be just as "flawed" as historical truth. Anyone who has read Howard Zinn's, A People's History of the United States," could tell you that they have a hard time accepting that this is the history of the same country they teach you about in grade school. Maybe I am being a little harsh here calling it a flaw. In the end it is just human nature. You cannot ever escape yourself completely. We are all giant filters that see the world in our own individual way. That is part of the beauty of being human. Truth may indeed be absolute, but we are like rubbers rulers as we move through this life trying to make our measurements.

Pleasant Surprises

2007-09-25T16:06:00.000-04:00

Sometimes mornings aren't so bad. Take Monday for example. As usual, I forgot to buy coffee over the weekend; As I drove into work I decided to stop by the local "Miller Mart" to pick up a cup to make my day a little brighter. As I was getting ready to pour my cup I noticed that the pot said "Fair Trade" on the handle. As I looked up, there on the wall was a big poster proclaiming their choice to help coffee farmers make a fair wage for their coffee. I was really really excited. I have been trying recently to make a conscious effort to purchase fair trade coffee and chocolate, as well as to buy locally grown produce. I have no delusions that "I am saving the world" by such measures, it is just after reading more about the coffee and chocolate industries, I feel that I must be a more conscious consumer. It is hard to believe that my need for a chocolate fix has the potential of causing human trafficking, but it happens. I get ribbed all the time by a friend who claims that I am just acting out on my residual "white, middle class, male" guilt complex...which in turn has at times caused me to feel a little guilty about feeling guilty, but honestly I don't care anymore. I don't care because I really care about what is happening in my name, with my tax dollars, and with my paycheck. I know that I cannot fix all of the problems of the world by spending my money better, but I can at least try and make better decisions. I am very glad that big companies are starting to pay attention as well.
Good job Miller Mart, you will be receiving more of my money in the future!