shakalsol
its good to be alive
Sum
This book has been making me think like I’m Winnie the Pooh. I sit on my bed like its a log and tap my forehead like its full of stuffing.
Here’s some honey for your head: what do you think happens when you die? My friend once told me he envisions an endless waltz, where you dance casually with all the people you’ve ever known, talking and being happy.
Well Mr. Eagleman has forty cynical, depressing, or upsetting scenes waiting for you, and all of them are good. Divided up into bite-sized 3-page chunks, you can eat the whole cake in a day or read one each night before you go to bed and drift off to sleep wondering if you’ll wake up in some paranoid kind of hell.
This is the kind of thing we need to be teaching in school. Think about it. There is no real cultural dialouge about the afterlife even though everyone has an opinion. And in my opinion, each idea is just as likely and crazy and the next.
Maybe we’re all characters in someone elses dream, maybe I’m dreaming all of this right now, maybe we’ll get to heaven and God is a depressed middle aged woman. Or maybe heaven is just the punchline is some great cosmic joke.
Movies Lately
I watched two lovely films recently
Tarsem’s “The Fall” byDavid Fincher, Spike Jonze
Every scene was at full satuaration. The scale of the shots was beautiful and epic, collecting 15 places from around the globe into a single fantasy. Catinca Untaru, as Alexandria, was perfect and lovable, proving the disney little blonde princess prototype isn’t universal. Gorgeous movie. Bravisimo!
Also “Be Kind Rewind” by the adorable Michelle Gondry
Gondry’s style is so distinct and yet so hard to describe- homemade and bizzare. This is classicly heartwarming and classicly funny. Not to mention Jack Black and Mos Def are as cute as kittens.
(Liverpool Bienniel 2008)
(the Whitney 2003)
totally rad
So I know all the cool kids found out about Paperrad like a year ago, but I just found them. Paperrad is the funniest shit I have ever had the pleasure of being confused about. Well, its not confusing, its just too amazing for the normal eye.
I heart the Problem Solvers, and best of all, their get well cards.
Its like kidpix exploded on the macbook pro of some artsy linux admin. only with more rainbows.
Matt Furie
http://mattfurie.com/
Bri had this guy in her huge comic collection book. His comic Boy’s Club is so fly and totally lol-worthy. Not to mention his artwork is pretty much psycho, in the cool way.
Tron
possibly the best use of Frisbees ever.
also, possibly the best use of kurt russel ever.
> tron trivia
http://www.tron-sector.com/trivia/default.aspx
Todd S. Hale
http://toddshale.com/index.html
I saw his show in the upstairs area of Gallery 6 on First Friday and I was very inspired.
He set up the show in a way that was formal and yet very relaxed. In one of the rooms he let you roam about his studio. It was the way a show should be. His reccent work shows an interest in shells, exoskeletons, and bones. He had some peices that included stacks of resin-painted crab bodies, a 360- part wall poster sized image, and some really neat collages.
This is the kind of thing that makes me like Richmond. He was so nice! He talked to Charles and I about his process, and didn’t really hide anything.
Also, at the Church of Crystal Light, they were playing the Beatle Barkers. BARK BARK BARKRUFFRUFFRUFFF
I didn’t know whether to be upset or enjoy it, although it was pretty damn hilarious. Bri told me that place would be a perfect place to re-create a gringolandia of sorts. I miss gringolandia.
