THIS LIFE - Episode 4

Check out youtube for my other junk: youtube.com/cdaveytriesit

THE ALCHEMIST MAKES GOLD

Finished the first complete rough draft of my script, THE ALCHEMIST MAKES GOLD. A short, probably around 5 mins or so, about...an alchemist making gold...

I'm excited about it, working on preproduction and getting together cast and crew for a little mini-creation. Hope it all goes well!

It's not going to look like this picture...
Which I just pulled from a google search

New Painting

STINGRAY SAM screening in NY

03/05/09. STINGRAY SAM (film). 92YTRIBECA SCREENING ROOM. 8:PM. 200 Hudson Street, New York, NY. USA

www.stingraysam.com

On Display at MoMa

Rem Koolhaas et al

This exhibit is amazing.

David Lynch Interview

This is a nice Lynch interview: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/feb/28/david-lynch-twin-peaks-mulholland-drive

I feel bad for him, but the way he falls is impressively comical.

I like the colors in the movie 'Zodiac'

So much snow!!

"...the ongoing creation of this object leaves it's builders exhausted with satisfaction."

"...estatic in the freedom of their architectural confine."

"I don't forget faces! Or women's figures!"

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - Fear of long words

Vermont Filming

I leave for Vermont tomorrow morning, I'm going to be there for four days. I'm shooting a short film there, or at least the principal cinematography. I've never been to Vermont before, it'll all be new to me. Let's see how it goes...

The Tiny Art Director

this is great: http://tinyartdirector.blogspot.com/

nervous nelly

Time to start my day off with a fudge brownie...

Hoot! Hoot!

a new drawing

yikes.

"Ooh, and you're quite the lady killer!"
"Aquitted!"

Movies, movies, movies

I'm working a few days on Philip Seymour Hoffman's filmic directorial debut. It's entertaining to do, the crew is nice and I'm learning some things. But, damn, I'm tired. They push you on these things and the equipment is heavy(yeesh!), but I'm not complaining. I'm a little bummed because, since I'm working electric, I don't get to be on set much at all, so I don't get to watch them working out the scenes or anything, so mostly it's just a physical labor deal---But I do get a work out and I learn some things about how stuff works. I jokingly told Ray(the best boy electric/rigging gaffer/whatever he feels like that day) yesterday that pretty soon people will pushing carts around like those for my movie, he just said, "Oh, yeah?"

But all in all, I like the job and feel lucky to have gotten it. The 21st I'm heading out to Vermont for a few days as DP for a short using a Panasonic HVX200. In between there I'll be working on my scripts and finishing up some drawings for a book, yay! It's only been a few days on this PSH shoot and I'm ready to get back to my stuff. Gotta leave for hefting things soon.

Working on my script

These are location cards broken up into the scenes where they take place

GEORGE W. BUSH ICE CREAM

Credit Crunch: Ice Cream Flavors "Honor" Bush

Ben & Jerry's created the "Yes Pecan!" ice cream flavor for Barack Obama. For George W. Bush, they asked for suggestions from the public. Here are some of their favorite responses:
- Grape Depression
- The Housing Crunch
- Abu Grape
- Cluster Fudge
- Nut'n Accomplished
- Iraqi Road
- Chock 'n Awe
- WireTapioca
- Impeach Cobbler
- Guantanmallow
- imPeachmint
- Heck of a Job, Brownie!
- Neocon Politan
- Rocky Road to Fascism
- The Reese's-cession
- Cookie D'oh!
- Nougalar Proliferation
- Death by Chocolate... and Torture
- Freedom Vanilla Ice Cream
- Chocolate Chip On My Shoulder
- Credit Crunch
- Mission Pecanplished
- Country Pumpkin
- Chunky Monkey in Chief
- George Bush Doesn't Care About Dark Chocolate
- WMDelicious
- Chocolate Chimp
- Bloody Sundae
- Caramel Preemptive Stripe
- I broke the law and am responsible for the deaths of
thousands...with nuts

(forwarded by Earl Katz)

Source: http://www.pacificariptide.com/pacifica_riptide/2009/01/credit-crunch-ice-cream-flavors-honor-bush.html

I gets lonely sometimes...

Consciousness--"Ocean of solutions"

MST3

Watched an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 last night. Geeze, that's an excellent show. Laugh out loud funny, some chuckles here and there, but at least each episode usually something that just gets yourself bursting out with laughter. A good thing.

"This is, excuse me, a damn fine cup of coffee"

I think this is so pretty...

I found this image online(I wish I found a bigger version):

EXISITING

Sometimes I feel like I have sillyness in my life, but not enough sillyness. Maybe it's tough to have too much sillyness?

I said to someone today, that life ought to be entertaining and interesting. I think that's really true. Settling isn't a logical aspect of existence. If I don't know what we're 'here for' than I ought to just try and make the most of it, right? It seems to me that that's the only reason anyone is here at all, or more exactly, we aren't here for some reason, and so we should make one. And isn't it nice if that's to be entertained by and interested in, your own life?

I know it's tough sometimes. It is for me. But that's what I mean, when I mention the sillyness.

Upon reflection, I did spend part of my morning looking up images in google related to the search term, "xray vision"

ROBOTS, foo!

PORTRAITS OF VIDEOGAMERS

ick
http://mrtoledano.com/frame_videogamers.php

MORE TEST PHOTOGRAPHS

"Then I really don't exist, do I? I am a non-person..."

"They're alive....and that makes them beautiful."

MY TEST PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are my favorites. They aren't color corrected, just scanned and uploaded. These were all taken with the Canon, I have Olympus photos but they didn't make the elite.

ZOMBIES: Oh, that's fantastic!

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. (AP) -- Hackers are messing with electronic road signs in some states, warning of zombies and raptors down the road. Traffic safety officials aren't amused.

The latest breach came during Tuesday morning's rush hour near Collinsville, Ill., east of St. Louis. That's where hackers changed a sign along southbound Interstate 255 to read, "DAILY LANE CLOSURES DUE TO ZOMBIES."

Similar pranks have been pulled in recent days near Indianapolis and in Austin, Texas.

The Illinois Department of Transportation's Joe Gasaway worries that such pranks distract drivers from legitimate hazards down the road, perhaps endangering road crews.

In Illinois, tampering with an official traffic control device is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $250 fine.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy. (uh ooohhhhh..!!)

Source: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HIGHWAY_SIGNS_ZOMBIES?SITE=ORMED&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

PROGRESSION

Snowy snow

SNOWY DAY!

It's snowy today, when I walked my coat got all wet.

WALK AROUND TOWN

I've taken long walks in Brooklyn and in Manhattan. For the most part, I much more enjoy Brooklyn walks, but they are both very different experiences. Both give me new ideas to add to my script and inspire creative thinking--but I think walking in general does that quite often(inspire creative thinking).

I went and dropped off film to get developed. The first 3 rolls from 2 cameras that I've been testing out. I decided to test them by just taking pictures with them, in an earlier entry I talked more about that. I took a roll of color film with each camera and then a roll of black and white with the camera I preferred using. I'll find out which camera actually looks better once all the film is developed, but I have a sense it's going to be the one I prefer using, it seems to be a better camera--that's the older Canon, big clunkly metal frame, with a satisfying click of the shutter release and a 50mm prime lens.

Sheesh, people are certainly not exaggerating when they discuss how expensive film photography is, I'm already concerned about uprooting my bank account. I want to learn to use a dark room(I don't know how, not at all) and so I went and visited a lab space that was suggested to me by a friend of mine. They are very nice there, and supposedly well priced in comparison to competitors, but I wouldn't know. To me, it's all a whole lot of cash. That's when it feels like it would be awful nice to just be rich, because I could figure out everything I want to know and not also be worried that I wouldn't have a place to live or food to eat if I keep it up. But, I know there are so many things I wouldn't have tried or learned about if I hadn't been scraping by, sometimes what it is that comes to you is that which is most useful to your personality. So, cheers! Hopefully I get a call about work soon, I've got some projects I'm excited about facilitating and they will take a little cash, though not hideous amounts. I feel positive today, so I think it ought to all work out within due time. Chug chug chug(that's the sound of the train picking up pace...)

LEGO ART

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/i-lego-ny/

SALAMANDER

Here's a salamander I made. The original is black ink on white paper, I obviously added color on the computer...
This position is one that a poisonous salamander assumes to display to predators that he/she is, indeed, poisonous. I saw it on a nature documentary about wildlife, I thought it was such a beautiful thing...

GO, GREASE LIGHTNIN'!!

It sounds like someone upstairs is practicing a guitar riff for the slower part of the song at the end of the movie musical 'Grease' when they are saying, rhythmically, 'You're the, you are the one I want..."

Beautiful Paintings

I love these.

http://www.kollaranderson.com

"Fellas, don't drink that coffee! There was a fish in the percolator!"

It's time for the percolator, it's time for the percolator

I just got a new percolator for coffee, haven't decided how I feel about it...

New Things

Picture

the televisions at the SALVATION ARMY THRIFT STORE

I just had the best experience, it was unreal.

I went to the Salvation Army to look at clothes, because my clothing is finally seeing it's last days and I'm tired of trying to constantly sew up holes that never seem to end.

I'd never been to this particular one before, it's a number of blocks straight down the street from my apartment in Bed-Stuy.

At the entrance, spray-painted above the door is a sloppy written graffiti-style sign that reads "STORE" with an arrow pointing up. You walk through that door and you enter into a warehouse-style set of stairs, grimy and beaten up. The railings up the stairwell are lined with that neon orange plastic that looks like chicken wire...?
This:
...but thinner than that, and more of a crossing weave. Anyway, you get the idea. The sides of the stairs are lined with that stuff. So, you walk up the stairs and go two times around before you get to an opened door where you can see that the light is on and there are various items, like vases and such, so you know you're in the right place. I went inside there and looked around and it was pretty much a normal thrift store from there on out.

Except that there were about 8-10 television sets against the wall, they were all turned on and there were about 4 different things playing on the tvs, so some had reptition of visuals. But none of them looked the same. One was playing As Good As It Gets, one was playing the end credits of something, two were playing the same television channel, and the others were playing alternate things I can't remember. The two that were playing the same channel has opposite color spectrums, like one was normal and the other was in negative and it kept rolling the image and flickering. The TV playing credits was playing a VHS tape, and the tape must have gotten stretched over time, with major tracking issues, so that the sound kept occilating between being elongated, short, and fuzzy. All the TV sets had the sound on, so that they were playing the most bizarre chorus I have ever heard. It sounded like the soundscape for a horror movie, the song playing for the credits sequence was indiscernable due to the amount of damage the tape had sustained, so it was playing this wonderfully strange humming, spread out sound.

I stood transfixed by the television sets for a while, it was eerie.

Then I bought the two t-shirts I had chosen, and before I left, the tape on the TV set playing credits ended and it went to snow, so along with the various other channels and films, there was a TV playing loud static. It was great.

And it was one of the few times I neglected to bring along my camcorder. Next time I go, I'll bring it along and see if anything so stupendous happens again...

SCRIPT

I just added two new characters to the feature script I'm working on. I'm very excited about it.

The characters were influenced by a conversation I just had with a good friend of mine, I want to try and get him to play one of them. He's great and I used him quite often for my projects in college. yay!

ANOTHER QUESTIONABLE ADVERTISING LINE

"No other leading yogurt has fewer calories than delicious"**

**(it turns out that the completion of the sentence is 'LIGHT & FIT', but it's written in a font that is so much larger than the other words, that it appeared that the tag line was to read as I wrote it above, and that 'light & fit' was the name to which the tag line referred, not a part of the sentence. I understand it all much better now...)

However, another aspect of the advertisement is that it is actually fully stated as such:

No other leading yogurt has fewer calories than delicious LIGHT & FIT*
*per 6 oz

Now I don't know how to trust it, considering that I don't know how common 6oz light yogurts are, and if perhaps 6oz is not standard. At any rate, I only bought this yogurt because it was that which was on sale at the grocery store. And since I mis-read the tag line the first time, it's got me wondering how much delicious you can have per 6oz.

SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2009

I had a really great time and continue to feel that pretty much each individual who worked on Stingray Sam is an amazing person.

More about that, possibly...

An Upside to the Economic Downturn

It's the little things, right?

:: "The economic climate may, in the end, see Sundance making a return to its roots as a launchpad for the best in independent film-making, rather than a freebie-filled Hollywood knees-up in a ski resort."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/jan/16/sundance-film-festival

New Painting

I just finished this one today

ALWAYS a video

I just uploaded my first flash animation to my website. It's from about 3 years ago, called "Always"

This is fun

http://www.viyo.com/kerstkaart/

GIMME DEM BONES

From The Guardian:

Japan strikes gold from cremated ashes

City authorities profiting from sale of precious metals recovered from cremated teeth and artificial bones

• Justin McCurry in Tokyo
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 January 2009 16.05 GMT
• Article history

Japanese cities are profiting from the sale of precious metals sifted from cremated ashes, it was revealed today, as the country attempts to cash in on a potentially huge "urban mine" of gold, silver and palladium.

Several cities, including Tokyo, have earned millions of yen from the sale of rare elements found in capped teeth and artificial bones, the Asahi newspaper said.

The Tokyo metropolitan government made 3.2m yen (£24,700) in 2007 from the sale of 700g (1.5lb) of gold, 500g of palladium and 1.9kg of silver retrieved from cremated remains.

The city earned 90,000 yen from coins placed in coffins before cremation, the report said.

One of Japan's biggest crematoriums, in the central city of Nagoya, collected 12kg of metals worth more than 10m yen.

The precious metals are being retrieved from ashes and bone fragments left behind after the family of the deceased have completed the ritual of packing some of the bones into an urn for burial.

While the practice has ugly historical precedents – the Nazis routinely searched for gold in the ashes of murdered concentration camp prisoners – the Japanese authorities have the law on their side.

In 1939, the supreme court ruled that any leftover ashes not taken away by bereaved relatives belonged to the municipality; any income they generate is considered part of the city's miscellaneous income.

According to one estimate, 1,850 tonnes of bones and ashes were produced by cremations in Japan in 2007.

Although one local council said it had stopped searching for precious metals after complaints that it was profiting from the dead, most families are unaware of the practice.

Japan has a huge quantity of discarded mobile phones, PCs, televisions and MP3 players, which, if properly tapped, could turn it into a major producer of precious metals.

About 20m mobile phones containing minute quantities of silver, gold, palladium and other precious metals are replaced in Japan every year, but only a tiny percentage are recycled.

While the government is encouraging the stripping down of gadgets, experts have mixed feelings about profiting from crematoria treasure hunts.

"There's nothing illegal about it, so it's not something we can condemn outright," said Yuji Moriyama, of the Japan Society of Environmental Crematory. "But personally, I think it's wrong. We're talking about human beings, not mobile phones.

"Human remains should be treated with just as much respect as they were before cremation. Whatever ashes and bones are left should be packed up and taken to the nearest Buddhist temple to be blessed and looked after properly."

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/14/japan-cremations-gold-metals

SCRIPT WRITING

Today I'm working on two scripts that are in progress. One is a feature that I'm co-writing and one is a short(approx. 5mins) that I'm trying to have completed(written, shot and edited) in the next few months, the main actor and I brainstormed the story yesterday.

"There is no prayer like desire" - Tom Waits

Chug-A-Lug

I've been working on several projects at once and sometimes my mind spins in circles.

What's on my brain most specifically at this moment is a picture I've been working on. It's sort of a grasping at things/birth/death painting/drawing piece.

Lately, a lot of the same concepts have been infiltrating the work I do. From video, to writing, to drawing/painting. I actually like that very much, as if everything is starting to coalesce. Except that I still don't have identification with who I am--like, I don't get it.

THE DUSHORE, PA PROJECT

The birth of the colorful cards(click it to make it bigger---oh yeah...):::

I made this while visiting my parents at their home in Dushore, PA. It's colored pencil on cardboard with ink on sketch paper cut-outs glued on. And photos. Compiled as one unit in the granduer of photoshop!

Also uploaded this to facebook.

I ended up making 12 in all during my visit, but only photographed these 10(I can't remember why the others didn't join ranks...I guess I just made this and then made the others and didn't bother to include them post-digital-creation...)

"And I'm afraid I'll be awfully peeved at you, honey"

SPEAK NOT, LEST THE MASONS HEAR YEE

Today I walked by a beautiful Masonic Temple. I noticed an open door and considered peeking inside, but felt cautioned by tales of the Masonry. Then I noticed that the main doors of the Temple were opened wide and I approached quickly, to peer inside. Outside was a delivery truck and a man loading boxes onto a cart. I wondered what fiendish delivery the Masons might be receiving--only to discover that it was a large order of chocolates. This made my day.

Oh, that's a great line.

AWARD QUALITY MOVIE GREATS

right off the box...I have a hunch about what that really means.

BUSHISMS

Here are a bunch of good ones from BBC:

The 'misunderestimated' president?

All politicians are prone to make slips of the tongue in the heat of the moment - and President George W Bush has made more than most.

The word "Bushism" has been coined to label his occasional verbal lapses during eight years in office, which come to an end on 20 January.

Here are some of his most memorable pronouncements.

ON HIMSELF

"They misunderestimated me."
Bentonville, Arkansas, 6 November, 2000

''I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe - I believe what I believe is right." Rome, 22 July, 2001

"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again."
Nashville, Tennessee, 17 September, 2002

"There's no question that the minute I got elected, the storm clouds on the horizon were getting nearly directly overhead."
Washington DC, 11 May, 2001

"I want to thank my friend, Senator Bill Frist, for joining us today. He married a Texas girl, I want you to know. Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me."
Nashville, Tennessee, 27 May, 2004

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

"For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times."
Tokyo, 18 February, 2002

"The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorise himself."
Grand Rapids, Michigan, 29 January, 2003

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." Washington DC, 5 August, 2004

"I think war is a dangerous place."
Washington DC, 7 May, 2003

"The ambassador and the general were briefing me on the - the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice."
Washington DC, 27 October, 2003

"Free societies are hopeful societies. And free societies will be allies against these hateful few who have no conscience, who kill at the whim of a hat."
Washington DC, 17 September, 2004

"You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror."
CBS News, Washington DC, 6 September, 2006

EDUCATION

"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"
Florence, South Carolina, 11 January, 2000

"Reading is the basics for all learning."
Reston, Virginia, 28 March, 2000

"As governor of Texas, I have set high standards for our public schools, and I have met those standards."
CNN, 30 August, 2000

"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.''
Townsend, Tennessee, 21 February, 2001

ECONOMICS

"I understand small business growth. I was one."
New York Daily News, 19 February, 2000

"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."
Reuters, 5 May, 2000

"I do remain confident in Linda. She'll make a fine Labour Secretary. From what I've read in the press accounts, she's perfectly qualified."
Austin, Texas, 8 January, 2001

"First, let me make it very clear, poor people aren't necessarily killers. Just because you happen to be not rich doesn't mean you're willing to kill."
Washington DC, 19 May, 2003

HEALTHCARE

"I don't think we need to be subliminable about the differences between our views on prescription drugs."
Orlando, Florida, 12 September, 2000

"Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYN's aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country."
Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 6 September, 2004

TECHNOLOGY

"Will the highways on the internet become more few?"
Concord, New Hampshire, 29 January, 2000

"It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber."
Washington DC, 10 April, 2002

"Information is moving. You know, nightly news is one way, of course, but it's also moving through the blogosphere and through the Internets."
Washington DC, 2 May, 2007

OUT OF LEFT FIELD

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Saginaw, Michigan, 29 September, 2000

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."
LaCrosse, Wisconsin, 18 October, 2000

"Those who enter the country illegally violate the law."
Tucson, Arizona, 28 November, 2005

"That's George Washington, the first president, of course. The interesting thing about him is that I read three - three or four books about him last year. Isn't that interesting?"
Speaking to reporter Kai Diekmann, Washington DC, 5 May, 2006

ON GOVERNING

"I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is someone who brings people together."
Bartlett, Tennessee, 18 August, 2000

"I'm the decider, and I decide what is best."
Washington DC, 18 April, 2006

"And truth of the matter is, a lot of reports in Washington are never read by anybody. To show you how important this one is, I read it, and [Tony Blair] read it."
On the publication of the Baker-Hamilton Report, Washington DC, 7 December, 2006

"All I can tell you is when the governor calls, I answer his phone."
San Diego, California, 25 October, 2007

"I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office."
Washington DC, 12 May, 2008

SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7809160.stm

Antony & the Johnsons

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jan/03/antony-hegarty-and-the-johnsons

ALL WORK AND NO PLAY...

Fan of Kubrick and King makes Jack Torrance's famous book...

STREET ART IN NY

I haven't seen this here yet, but I'd like to:
http://www.wimp.com/streetart/

THE DEVIL BAT

"This is my idea of nothing at all, sitting here waiting for an animal to give us an argument."

The Internet Effect

I find posting on this strange, I'm uncertain of why I do it. I don't actually even expect anyone to read it, though while I write I am certainly addressing an 'audience', even if that audience doesn't exist...

It makes one feel strange. I should say, it makes me feel strange, I don't know how it makes everyone else feel. I've been finding it more and more difficult to understand myself as personal expression through language. I love to talk, that's true, but on here, I type and then later I look at it, and it reads like someone else typed it. The language I'm using is not relatable to me, does that make any sense?

I guess I've often felt that locking something down in writing that expresses your personal opinions is very difficult to do, because opinions shift so often. That's why I prefer to try and express myself through fiction and abstraction, it feels more real somehow, probably because it's fluid, the way I think minds are.

There are things that people can say that very much illustrate the way they feel, but the way we all feel changes, I think. Maybe not, though, maybe a lot of people are very comfortable and direct with how they feel and it is close to constant, with subtle shifts that don't much effect how they talk about things...I don't really know.

I like the idea of a page that is easy to upload and designed for personal expression, but I'm not sure I can figure what to do with it. I guess this is it, what I'm doing.

Dreams

I've been reading a book on dreams, it's really beautiful. It explores how different cultures/religions understand and relate to dreams.

I fell asleep and had a bunch of strange dreams. The only one I remember with any clarity, involved, at one point, a man sitting on the back seat of a car, though the car seat was out in the grass on this woman's lawn. He said the one thing he wanted was to not be made a fool of, and then he fell over sideways, car seat and all. Laying there, he said that something had stung him, but sitting on his side was a squirrel with a taser gun. It tasered him again, and again he said something stung him and then he started running. I ran with him, we ran down the street and we started getting stung by horse flies, though they looked like fly-robots, like they were made of metal and were oversized and didn't look really like flies, more like wasps. He was yelling and pushing them away, even though he was saying they were simply regular house flies. I was laughing at him for thinking this, but then getting stung by them. They were landing all over my clothing and I was using a pile of about 30 sheets of paper to push them off my body.

I woke up. The End.

Automated Phone Systems

I get so angry at automated answering systems. "If this is correct say 'Yes' or press '1', if this is incorrect say 'No' or press '2'"

Argg, it's unreal.

"Yellow Fish"

OUT OF BODY AWARENESS or ENLIGHTENING

THIS IS COPY AND PASTED FROM AN ACTUAL CRAIGSLIST LISTING THAT I CAME ACROSS:

OUT OF BODY AWARENESS or ENLIGHTENING Doc
Reply to: gigs-969755347@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-12-26, 12:29AM EST


Interviewing for those who have had out of body awareness or bind bowling experience. If that is you and would like to share your story, please email us.




* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
* Compensation: TBD ( may be small stiplet)

Canker Sores Arent Cold Sores

Definition

Canker sores, also called aphthous ulcers, are small, shallow lesions that develop on the soft tissues in your mouth — under your tongue, inside your cheeks or lips, and at the base of your gums. Unlike cold sores, canker sores don't occur on the surface of your lips and aren't contagious. They can be very painful, however, and can make eating and talking difficult.

Most canker sores go away on their own in a week or two. Check with your doctor or dentist if you have unusually large or painful canker sores or canker sores that don't seem to heal.

Learn something new everyday, I s'pose.

I Want to go on a Trip

Hmph. I want to explore.

Happy Holidays Comic!

I Really Like Shorts

It's snowing outside. But I'm wearing shorts. That's because we can't control the heat very well in this place, it's either sweltering or freezing. We try to balance it by turning on the heat for a little while, then turning it off for a while. But sometimes one forgets. So, I get to wear shorts today and think about how that's pleasant.

Feathered Dinosaurs! Whoa!

Oh, that's Right!

You should watch this,

I worked on this movie and it's going to Sundance. The director, Cory, is an amazing guy, the crew was awesome and I think the movie is going to be great. (positive, positive, positive, good word, good word, good word[but it's the truth!])

I Made This

Totally flattering, right? Ha!
(click it and it gets bigger [oh yeah, it likes that])

Tonight was a Nice Night

I watched a movie about a vagina that bites off penises.

And a movie with Robert Downey, Jr.

I haven't been feeling well, so I was taking it easy. I thought it might be a bad night,

but,

Tonight was a nice night.

They serenade with honking here. Choruses of honking. They honk so much sometimes that it makes me smile, like someone is telling a joke. A humorous amount of honking. It's their comical frustration, Move Faster, Damnit.

A puppy escaped under a fence and flattened out at my feet. Gosh, what a cute thing. I picked it up and gave it back to it's owner.

At a club, talked to someone about videoing dancers, that's why I went to the club. We met there. Bright lights, loud sounds.

I went home smiling.

I'm very tired and somewhat dizzy. It's time for rest.

Yesterday, I watched this movie:

I really, really liked it. Except that they give away his loss of hair on the cover...
I really don't like knowing much about movies before I see them, especially good ones. And I thought this one was great.

"See ya later", "Bye"

Went to the Laundromat

Last night,

And experienced my first contact with racism in this neighborhood.

A large black man stood tall in the doorway and stared us down as we entered into the room. He asked, in a deep, low voice,

"What are YOU guys doing here?"

With a smile I said excitedly,

"Laundry!"

Not to be a smart ass, but because I didn't know what else to say/do.  His expression didn't change and he maintained eye contact, and said, almost as if giving us permission,

"...Okay."

And then gave us sideways glances as we passed him on our way over to the washing machines.  We began the process of doing our laundry.

I thought I might not do mine at all, the place was packed and I felt very uncomfortable.  I didn't know if the large man's attitude fit with the whole place, or if his discrimination was more singular.

Maryann exchanged the quarters for tokens and I told her to use the only empty washing machine, since she had work in the morning.  I put my clothes bag on the floor and waited around.  I said I might not do my laundry, but I would wait with her.  Not long after a machine opened up and I shoved my clothes in. 

Both of us stood with our backs against the machines, looking out.  It took a while, but eventually I got comfortable.  The large man seemed to be the only one harboring a hateful attitude, everyone else didn't particularly notice, or not blatantly so.

The man didn't talk to us again, though he was there for a while longer.  I thought about what I might say if he did confront us for a second time.  And not what I would say in some attacking manner, more what I would say to add some humanness to the situation.  To see if I could touch something that lives inside, beyond the nature to size one up based upon physical appearance, there is some expectation he had of us that was incorrect and based entirely on our physical looks.  I know often that people with such an outlook are unreachable, certainly there are plenty of whites who discriminate against blacks and have thought it through.   Who have gone through school and have been confronted with literature about slavery, the KKK and other abominations in human history, and when they form a position of hate, they have formed it even with this background.

And I can't pretend to know what was going through the large man's mind when he chose us, but I have guesses.  I know that there are people who are presented such a history and it fills them with an opposing hate and then they watch as their neighborhood, that was primarily one race, begins to become many and then buildings that cost more are raised and rent starts going up and oftentimes a white person in a mostly black neighborhood is a sign of this happening. Gentrification, it's called.  He may have, consciously or not, read us as being a sign of that in his own neighborhood, for as they say, Bed-Stuy is changing.  I can't say for certain whether we're a part of that sign or not, we chose to live where we did because the apartment was beautiful and we could afford the rent, we couldn't afford anything higher.  We did notice that the neighborhood was primarily black, but didn't feel one way or another about it.  The people here are nice and it doesn't seem unsafe.  But I guess we do stand out, I have felt it somewhat before, but we stand out for the wrong reasons.  We aren't well-to-do, we don't come from stuffy neighborhoods filled with white people and we didn't move here because we thought it was hip and up-and-coming.

I know that there are millions of people in this world who have experiences far worse than any I could share.  But it wasn't the action itself that struck me, it was the sentiment behind the action, the sheer back movement of attacking a person for their looks.  I want to think that these things can change, I like to think they aren't still around(though obviously sentiments based upon people's skin color still rage strong, just look at our next president and the huge response of the public and how many times he's been asked about the relation between his skin color and his threat to safety).  I know there are many issues, and a bigger one is Gentrification itself and what it does to people, and how that's immensely disproportionate between people with different skin color.  I'm not blind to these things, I don't live in a fantasy world that 'it's all worked out'.    However, all these thoughts, feelings and examinations get brought to life when one is confronted directly with a comment about where they belong based upon how they look.

Well,

I took my clothes off for a panel of strangers today. And then I struck some poses. That was awkward. Let's see if I get to be drawn by art students...

Drinky drink/Dancey dance

Went to the Brooklyn Museum of Art tonight, where they host a first Saturday free event. You can view all the exhibits for free and there are lectures, performances and, at 9pm, a dance party. Missed out on all the lectures and performances because you have to get there early and get tickets, which we hadn't realized.   I drank a few plastic cups of wine and danced for a while. Ended up getting anxiety for any number of reasons, but still enjoyed myself. I don't do that often, dance that is, or go out for that matter. I don't regret doing it.

Picktours

I've been teaching myself about manual non-digital photography. My friend Alan lent me his old camera(Olympus) that he no longer uses and my friend Dan lent me his grandfather's old camera(Canon), so I've been alternating taking photos with each camera using cheap Kodak color 200 film, to get an idea of how the cameras work and how the different settings effect the image. I write it down in a list. I've been really enjoying using the Canon, it has such direct and simple functions, the Olympus has a couple added features which I don't entirely understand yet. Once I get the photos developed I'll have the sheet to compare to and I plan on writing the settings under which each picture was photographed on the back of each picture, so I have a reference for what settings achieve what.

I took a few pictures around the neighborhood, biked around a bit. But it will be much better once I can adequately choose what camera to leave the house with, because having the two swinging around my neck is a bit of a hinderance and distracts from the search for pictures. There is a building near here I really like, at the bottom it is a laundromat, but the top is apartments and it's painted a neon green, the building connected to it with the same layout is painted a deep burgundy. They look nice, I took a few pictures of that.

I biked through the park that's a few blocks from here, it has a baseball field, I photographed that. But I assume the park will be much more aesthetic at a different time of year, the grass is turning brown and the trees have no leaves. I'm not a winter person.

(don't pay too much mind to the quality of the digital pictures here, the digital camera I have is pretty crappy and is total hit or miss on picture quality being almost completely automatic)

The Post of Posts: Or How the Internet pulled from another's personal supply is not up to par

The Internet is not so spicey here. The connection la a g g g g s s s s s s, a fix should be coming on Friday.

I feel inhibited writing on this thing, it has a strange effect on one's sense of self. I thought I might attempt entertaining, but instead I feel like not sharing.

Perhaps another time...

The Budget Truck

Drove big truck for first time from Philadelphia to New York. It worked out well. I felt powerful. Vrooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom.

Body Drawings

Present Ones:
Back


Ankle




I had a strong desire this morning to get another tattoo, but I don't know what to get. I've thought for a long time that I would want one of my characters, but I haven't been able to decide on one that fits with the other stuff that I have. The ones I have were drawn by a friend of mine, he designed the back one, I designed the ankle one, but they were both drawn by him.

Gosh, I'm tired.

this one felt too personal...so I deleted it.

I'm learning how I want to relate to the internet.

NumberOne

I've gone and done it. Now, let's figure if I've got things to say...