“Jerry has asked us up to his place for a drink. Are you game?”
An evening with Salinger.
after farting
I’m not going to sugar coat it.
things I hadn’t posted
16-Person Dodge VanKat is a blizzard of awesome
When I was standing in line at a pharmacy waiting for prescriptions, I saw a box of gentle overnight type laxatives. The name?
Artist Maps Apple’s UI Onto the Louvre’s Masterpieces
Drunk scientists pour wine on superconductors and make an incredible discovery
Hopper’s bullet-hole Warhol sells for $302,500
Hubble Snaps Sharpest-Ever Photo of Dead Green Quasar
London Olympics to Vault Disabled Artists Into the Spotlight
Mice Kept on Unnatural Schedule Go Haywire
Mona Lisa model was a male say Italian researchers
New Glass Stronger and Tougher Than Steel
NFL fighting head injuries with technology
Roger Ebert Will Wear Prosthesis for New Review Show
Shelby celebrates original Cobra’s 50th anniversary with special edition continuation car
Maria Sharapova finds dead spot on Australian Open court
it doesn’t hurt any more than dying
I’ve been an organ donor since the day I got my driver’s license. It wasn’t really something I gave a lot of thought; I’m not going to need them when I’m gone. In the last few weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about how that quick and almost thoughtless decision could end up saving a life. Specifically I’ve been wondering how many 16 year-olds, as quickly and thoughtlessly, ignore the donor card all together and never consider putting that little pink sticker* on the front of their licenses.
Natasha is a friend of mine. She’s 31 years old and in early January she needed a new liver.
The scariest day for my family and friends. I needed a liver bad yet all the ones presented were not good enough and I continued to be in bad shape. My brother was called and told he needed to be there since they were not sure how much longer I would live without a new liver. Basically, they thought I may die.
Natasha got her liver the next day and is doing well. Consider filling out that donor card.
Ok, I’m off my soap box now.
*Does every state have the same pink sticker?
quote out of context
It’s a bold, appealing proposition: Game-addled kids, who spend an average of more than 10,000 hours fiddling with consoles and controllers before they turn 21, could wind up stopping climate change with their PlayStations!
Christian Marclay, The Clock
In The Clock, Marclay samples thousands of film excerpts indicating the passage of time. Spanning the range of timepieces, from clock towers to wristwatches and from buzzing alarm clocks to the occasional cuckoo, The Clock draws attention to time as a multifaceted protagonist of cinematic narrative. With virtuosic skill, the artist has excerpted each of these moments from their original contexts and edited them together to form a 24-hour montage, which unfolds in real time.
(thanks, Mike. thanks, Sheila)
dear clusterflock
Best Ted Talks.
Nurse Jackie
We’ve been watching the first season of Nurse Jackie. You can find out about the series here. It is streaming on Amazon’s video on demand.
finally
Joel and Deron* have put on something over their jockstraps.
*The one he wears like a mask*.
*To block the image of Michael nesting in Troy Polamalu’s hair*.
*A frequent dream of Deron’s that leaves him feeling oddly aroused.
tweet of the day
Let us pause,
as we prepare for the Super Bowl festivities (or not), to consider briefly the Legacy of Ronald Reagan as touted in tributes on the centennial of his birth.
For seven months in 1987 my dear long-time friend, artist Allen Stovall, worked in Nicaragua writing and illustrating a “Graphic Manual for People’s Housing.” This was part of a volunteer project designed to help alleviate the dreadful housing shortage to which the Contras contributed so brutally. The manual was a wonderful DIY guide to siting and building a home, presented in comic book style. (The organization through which Allen worked was Architects & Planners in Support of Nicaragua.) Allen was in Nicaragua when Benjamin Linder was killed by Contra cowards, and he stood honor guard at Benjamin’s casket. Nicaraguan friends of Allen’s were murdered in even more cruel fashion. When Ronald Reagan died, Allen stayed up all night to write and post online his own commentary on the Reagan Legacy. I cannot find it readily, but believe me: It was not kind.
Cowboys Stadium in 3-D
For those who can’t be at the game, Google is offering a 3-D virtual tour of Cowboys Stadium.
I said
I started out singing Magical Mystery Tour but as soon as you pinched my butt it was Crazy Train.
Margarita Broich | Portraits
Ben Becker, Jedermann. Salzburger Festspiele, 17-8-2010. Photograph by Margarita Broich.
As an actress Margarita Broich is one of the big names, but it may come as a surprise to many that she is also a photographer. For the first time the Martin-Gropius-Bau is showing an exhibition of her work consisting of over 60 portraits of her fellow artists, including Ben Becker, Kate Winslet, Veronika Ferres, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Christoph Schlingensief, Thomas Quasthoff and many more. Margarita Broich has captured those fleeting moments when the actor sheds the role in the intervals or a few minutes after the end of a performance. The role can still be discerned on the features of the players when they are still surrounded by the world of scenery and mirrors but not acting any more. They have been sought out in changing rooms, theatre foyers, or with the make-up artist, taking off their make-up while still surrounded by the tools of their transformation.
The exhibition is titled Wenn der Vorhang fällt (When the Curtain Falls) and forms part of the 2011 Berliner Festspiele. It runs at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin from March 18 through May 30.
Yemen
We lived in a flat-roofed house made of stone. The windows were arched, stained glass at the top. A yard walled with mud, crowned with glass shards — the walls eight feet? Ten? Twelve? A metal door lead to the wide dirt road outside.
My sister slept on the bunk bed below me, my brother on the pull-out to the side. The room was filled with light, bright and white off the plaster walls. One summer the roof collapsed during the rainy season. The hole in the entry room suddenly was fixed.
I remember walking next to those walls, on the road outside the house, other houses behind them, each with its own metal door. Someone was walking along the top of the wall in my memory. I don’t remember if this was a dream.
Sparrows alighted in vines next to the garden. I knew before I tried that I could catch them, but immediately was wrong.
photo out of context
Allende, by Suzzy and Maggie Roche (and Ruben Martinez)
If you got a spare 99 cents you might want to try this one.
from the moderated comments
Board Shorts
Amy said
I don’t know why dogs would want to wear an acrylic sweater.
Mr. Boudreaux
Mr. B. enjoys a cookout on a fine summer day. This boy needs a bayou and lots of music and dancing. He doesn’t know it yet. Someday.
Let’s get cool in the pool
At the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, museum goers can dive into the art — literally. They can actually swim in it. The pool is tucked into a dark, back corner of the museum. It’s 3 feet deep, the size of a mini-lap pool, and it’s ringed with small blue lights. An eerie soundtrack plays as large images — featuring lines of cocaine — are projected on either side of the pool.
I spent two hours in this pool today. It’s an interesting experience. After about an hour of being by myself as people milled around, a large group of young children got into the pool and screamed and splashed. I couldn’t decide whether I was angry because my experience was being shaped by circumstances beyond my control or whether it was nice that a bunch of kids were at a museum swimming in a pool as images of cocaine danced on the walls nearby. One girl kept saying “Mommy, what is that?” and this question was met with silence.
Best Ever Pre-Game Commentary
Ain’t nobody can top this from my friend Alison:
It’s the battle of the industrial proletariat tomorrow — steelers and packers. Shouldn’t this be sponsored by the Wobblies, and shouldn’t Woody Guthrie be singing “I’m Stickin’ with the Union” or “Joe Hill” before kickoff?
I wish Alison were in charge of the halftime show.
Yemen
Before coming back to the States, we spent two years in Yemen. First and second grade Kindergarten and first grade. I think it might be interesting to talk a little bit about our time there. My memories. Our experiences. I might take the opportunity every once and a while to jot down some thoughts. Consider this an attempt to get some traction on the idea.
Chevrolet At Randy’s Pawn & Gun.
