For those of you trying to figure out what the hell is going on with Chalabi, I direct you to Kevin Drum for a thorough overview of Chalabi's previous involvement. I'm still trying to figure it all out, but I'll keeping posting any resources I can find that seem useful.
Monday, May 24, 2004
Biennial Madness
I did the morning commute by bicycle this morning. I need to do a loop around Central Park on the way home to make it worth my while. I have traded in the Huffy bike for something a little bit zippier. Being able to change gears without problems apparently makes your ride a bit easier.
I went and saw the Whitney Biennial yesterday. This was the second time I saw it and I got more out of it this time. This might have been for reasons that are pretty mundane like the fact that it was less crowded and I had better walking shoes on. I generally feel like I know pretty close to nothing about contemporary art. I would recognize the work of maybe eight contemporary artists, and might be able to identify thematic issues that I like, or that I think I understand, but I can't really speak with any understanding about technique or sensibility. (Sensibility. Is that the word I want to use there?) I still like going to art museums, but I generally feel like I get about 60% of what my friends who actually make or have studied art get.
I went and saw the Whitney Biennial yesterday. This was the second time I saw it and I got more out of it this time. This might have been for reasons that are pretty mundane like the fact that it was less crowded and I had better walking shoes on. I generally feel like I know pretty close to nothing about contemporary art. I would recognize the work of maybe eight contemporary artists, and might be able to identify thematic issues that I like, or that I think I understand, but I can't really speak with any understanding about technique or sensibility. (Sensibility. Is that the word I want to use there?) I still like going to art museums, but I generally feel like I get about 60% of what my friends who actually make or have studied art get.
Friday, May 21, 2004
Away with the Fairies
I don't have much to report this morning. My friend Jessica, who is travelling around the world, just announced that she will be staying for an extra month in South Africa and work in a bar. I'm jealous and admiring. My little two week stints that I can squeeze in on vacation to not-so-far corners of the world never do anywhere I visit justice.
She says of Hogsback, which is in the Transkei, I think:
"This is supposedly the place where Tolkien was inspired to write the Hobbit. I went to a backpackers called “away with the fairies”.... While much of the area has been logged and replaced with pine forest, there are still indigenous forests around the area that are stunning – tall green leafy and mossy canopies, white trunks and dark trunks – streams and rivers trickling through the undergrowth, meandering around rocks and suddenly fallin g over the edge of a cliff or rock face. There are so many waterfalls. The rocks that underlay the waterfalls look like a cubist’s rendition of a rock – very sharp and sheer edges stacked on top of each other. On a walk through the forest, I was swept away by the fairies and have decided to work there for the month of June. So I will not be home by june 1 as I told some of you."
She says of Hogsback, which is in the Transkei, I think:
"This is supposedly the place where Tolkien was inspired to write the Hobbit. I went to a backpackers called “away with the fairies”.... While much of the area has been logged and replaced with pine forest, there are still indigenous forests around the area that are stunning – tall green leafy and mossy canopies, white trunks and dark trunks – streams and rivers trickling through the undergrowth, meandering around rocks and suddenly fallin g over the edge of a cliff or rock face. There are so many waterfalls. The rocks that underlay the waterfalls look like a cubist’s rendition of a rock – very sharp and sheer edges stacked on top of each other. On a walk through the forest, I was swept away by the fairies and have decided to work there for the month of June. So I will not be home by june 1 as I told some of you."
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Some Fine Earned Media for the Blogger Community
Also, I found a feature story on bloggers on the local Fox affiliate in Chicago. They interviewed Wendy McClure of Pound fame and she has posted an overview of the story. It's quite funny.
Salam Pax in View
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
You Like Me!
I have discovered that I have readers, which inspires me to do a bit better with posting. How many readers do I have you might ask? Why I have a multitude of readers, two that I know of to be precise. One of them is someone with whom I am in a romantic relationship, the other is my friend, but they still count. They do!
***
Last night I dreamed that I there was some dire conflict with the property management company in the apartment I am trying to purchase, and I ended up saying well I don't want to apartment anyway. To which the girl in the property management office, (which did not look anything like the property management office does in really life) said fine give us back the keys, and I stormed out. And then I realized, not only had a just lost an extraordinary amount of money, but I had to start all over with looking for an apartment, which was a horrible, horrible position to be in. I love that feeling you get when you wake up and realize that you didn't actually make the dire error that you dreamed you did.
***
Last night I dreamed that I there was some dire conflict with the property management company in the apartment I am trying to purchase, and I ended up saying well I don't want to apartment anyway. To which the girl in the property management office, (which did not look anything like the property management office does in really life) said fine give us back the keys, and I stormed out. And then I realized, not only had a just lost an extraordinary amount of money, but I had to start all over with looking for an apartment, which was a horrible, horrible position to be in. I love that feeling you get when you wake up and realize that you didn't actually make the dire error that you dreamed you did.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Thursday, May 13, 2004
OK, so perhaps it's time for a change in the topic. For today, I would like to share with you my latest musical obsession. U2. I've had Achtung Baby in my work computer for about a week non-stop, except for a short, guilty Ryan Adams-Rock and Roll break. All these songs I heard on the radio for years and years, with out really developing any attachment to, except out of a mild nostalgia for being in high school and college. And now, it's like I am hearing for the first time. I was arguably a lame-o musically in 1991 when Achtung Baby came out. I was obsessed with Bob Dylan and the Indigo Girls, which you know, each have their place in the American folk music cannon, but Jesus, why didn't I branch out a little then? I do have a vague memory of sitting in the dorm room with a boy that I dated my freshman year, while the wierd guy from across the hall, played the intro to Zoo Station over and over again and expounded on how it was lifted from a KMFDM song, but it was all lost on me, both Achtung Baby, and, clearly, the KMFDM references.
I had a brief brush with becoming a serious fan in 1997, when someone offered me a free ticket to the Popmart tour. You remember, the one with the big stage and screen display, that briefly garnered them all this attention. The Raleigh, NC show was canceled because the screen malfunctioned which soured me on them a little bit. (I didn't care much about the screen or the special effects, but I thought it would be cool to see them.) Then in the spring of 2002, when I was living in New York, still feeling the effect of 9-11, dealing with a death in my family, feeling a bit buffeted by inter-office politics, I took a personal day and happened to pick "All That You Can't Leave Behind" up from my roommate's stereo. That was it, I was devout.
I had a brief brush with becoming a serious fan in 1997, when someone offered me a free ticket to the Popmart tour. You remember, the one with the big stage and screen display, that briefly garnered them all this attention. The Raleigh, NC show was canceled because the screen malfunctioned which soured me on them a little bit. (I didn't care much about the screen or the special effects, but I thought it would be cool to see them.) Then in the spring of 2002, when I was living in New York, still feeling the effect of 9-11, dealing with a death in my family, feeling a bit buffeted by inter-office politics, I took a personal day and happened to pick "All That You Can't Leave Behind" up from my roommate's stereo. That was it, I was devout.