Friday, 14 December 2007
Niut Meer
For some reason still unknown to me, I did not want to take my paints to Amsterdam. Katie convinced me to bring something, soI chose to bring some acrylics, which I had used ony once before without incident. It was a bit of a disaster. Instead of working outside, I had to work only in my studio to keep them from drying out instantly. This painting, was the culmination of my acrylic adventure. The subject is the nearby park, which housed the memorial to Amsterdam jews killed at Auschwitz, which is barely noted on the extreme right of the composition. Each panel is 18"x24".
postcards home
So, one day in Amsterdam, I went took my large drawing pad to the Van Gogh museum to copy a painting. I found the painting I wanted, a poster of which hangs in the entry of Simon's school. I had to go out to call home before I could sit down to draw and when i came back, they wouldno longer let me take the drawing pad inside. Instead, I purchased postcards to send home and made watercolor copies of them before I would send them back to the states.
Thursday, 1 November 2007
home again
Ahhh, the pleasures of being home.
Yesterday I returned home after being in Amsterdam for a month. Whew!.
It has been wonderful. Simon ran down the security ramp to give me a huge leaping hug. Followed by about 3 seconds by Eloise who toddled over in her Spider costume. That was some serious cute, let me tell you. It was a wonderful night. we got home and Simon and I went out Trick-or-treating on our block. I think we went to about 5 houses, but Simon was pretty nervous for the first couple. But he got into the mood of it all after trick-or-treating our own house. After which, Eloise wanted to join in the fun so I got to carry her around the block.
(What's new about Eloise in the last Month?
She's extra squishy.
She loves candy--I mean LOVES candy.
She's talking alot and will tell you when she does not like what you are doing)
After getting a sack of candy, we came back to the house fo the first dinner as a family in a long long time. Katie made pot roast (incredibly yummy) and Simon made a smoothie. Katie also made a fire which we settled around to snuggle and play until time for bed. I gave out the presents I had brought back with me and showed the art which had actually made it to Omaha (one bag was delivered about 2:00 in the morning). It was a great night.
I got to put both kiddos to bed, reading Simon an extra new book so he would "go right to sleep, i promise". Eloise got books and a nice long snuggle with a bottle. It was great.
Exhausted, Katie and I were in bed at 9:30.
My best night in a long long time.
Yesterday I returned home after being in Amsterdam for a month. Whew!.
It has been wonderful. Simon ran down the security ramp to give me a huge leaping hug. Followed by about 3 seconds by Eloise who toddled over in her Spider costume. That was some serious cute, let me tell you. It was a wonderful night. we got home and Simon and I went out Trick-or-treating on our block. I think we went to about 5 houses, but Simon was pretty nervous for the first couple. But he got into the mood of it all after trick-or-treating our own house. After which, Eloise wanted to join in the fun so I got to carry her around the block.
(What's new about Eloise in the last Month?
She's extra squishy.
She loves candy--I mean LOVES candy.
She's talking alot and will tell you when she does not like what you are doing)
After getting a sack of candy, we came back to the house fo the first dinner as a family in a long long time. Katie made pot roast (incredibly yummy) and Simon made a smoothie. Katie also made a fire which we settled around to snuggle and play until time for bed. I gave out the presents I had brought back with me and showed the art which had actually made it to Omaha (one bag was delivered about 2:00 in the morning). It was a great night.
I got to put both kiddos to bed, reading Simon an extra new book so he would "go right to sleep, i promise". Eloise got books and a nice long snuggle with a bottle. It was great.
Exhausted, Katie and I were in bed at 9:30.
My best night in a long long time.
Tuesday, 23 October 2007
a day in the life
The tally so far:
Drawn copies of old master paintings and Gothic church carvings: 14
Paintings: not very many...about 10
Watercolor copies of museum postcards: 26
Drawn linocuts: 36
With a week to go I may be able to deplete my supply of linoleum and postcards, (although I have more paper to tear down for them).
Since I discovered the grocery store, my dialy routine has been something like this:
Wake up 8:30 or so.
shower
(important not to be the smelly artist, if you're bound to be the dirty artist.)
go on the archaic computer and email Katie/read emails from Katie & occaisonally Simon
Go to the studio downstairs
do a watercolor postcard
go to a museum and draw something
call Katie and the kiddos
Wander around some neighborhood looking for Linocut compositions.
(sometime after its gets dark and too cold to stay out)
come back to the studio do another watercolor postcard
journal
go upstairs and email to Katie & Simon
sleep around 12:30-1:00
I guess somewhere in there I eat. I basically bought all food that you could leave out in the studio for a number of days without worry. I'm going through a lot of fresh fruit and cured meats. Viva la cured meats! (For a better idea, click on the flier for my studio smorgasboard.)
Now, with one week to go, I'm starting to think about what I need to bring home in terms of my remaining materials and the subjects here. Oh, how I want this last week to fly by productively.
Drawn copies of old master paintings and Gothic church carvings: 14
Paintings: not very many...about 10
Watercolor copies of museum postcards: 26
Drawn linocuts: 36
With a week to go I may be able to deplete my supply of linoleum and postcards, (although I have more paper to tear down for them).
Since I discovered the grocery store, my dialy routine has been something like this:
Wake up 8:30 or so.
shower
(important not to be the smelly artist, if you're bound to be the dirty artist.)
go on the archaic computer and email Katie/read emails from Katie & occaisonally Simon
Go to the studio downstairs
do a watercolor postcard
go to a museum and draw something
call Katie and the kiddos
Wander around some neighborhood looking for Linocut compositions.
(sometime after its gets dark and too cold to stay out)
come back to the studio do another watercolor postcard
journal
go upstairs and email to Katie & Simon
sleep around 12:30-1:00
I guess somewhere in there I eat. I basically bought all food that you could leave out in the studio for a number of days without worry. I'm going through a lot of fresh fruit and cured meats. Viva la cured meats! (For a better idea, click on the flier for my studio smorgasboard.)
Now, with one week to go, I'm starting to think about what I need to bring home in terms of my remaining materials and the subjects here. Oh, how I want this last week to fly by productively.
Sunday, 21 October 2007
Tuesday, 25 September 2007
Ailene
About five
in the morning,
we’d sneak
my parent’s car out
and
drive around
the neighborhood until six
and
then put it back.
We did that
for a good
year and a half
before I got caught.
Monday, 24 September 2007
Friday, 21 September 2007
me me #1: Superstar!!
A universal trait that runs through all the painter friends I have known is an interest in the 1990's period of Saturday Night Live and concensus on its funnniest sketch ever. Jon Lovitz did a scene whre he played Picasso at a sidewalk cafe, drunk on his own fame. Every outrageous act followed up by the declaration "I'm Picasso!". The Barrista comes to his table, explains how she has painted for 10 years and never sold a thing and Picasso scribbles on a napkin, throws it in her direction and declares "Now you can retire! I'm Picasso!!".
This is essentially what all my professional aspirations are aiming for.
Without much commercial effort on my part, I am simultaneously "discovered" by galleries, museums, writers, international intelligentsia, politicians, celebrities (who I am able to disdain in "In touch" and "People" magazine, imbuing myself with even more artistic credibility).
People who have never met me, nor people I would wish to be personally close with to desire pieces of autobiographical work fervently. I want this desire to grow so strong that all facets of my life gain a measure of fame, merely by being in my own presence. Crap things I did as a student are treasured because they show my inherent humility, how I'm really "one of us". Articles are written. Documentaries are produced. Streets are named.
Institutions who would not accept me as a student or an anonymous person to wish me to come and instruct them. Places who did not care for my work enough to place it in large group shows will clamor to display it proudly, proclaiming it the best of who we are as a people. They will take it to far off places, as I inspire an untraditional patriotism in Venice, Munich, Sao Paolo.
My ideas find fertile ground across higher education worldwide. Even crackpot saying are taken seriously for a time, until eventually people see the absurdity in what I say and declare undying respect for my layers of dry wit.
Once I was told a story about Jackson Pollock, Phillip Guston and his wife (whose name I don't know). It was in the early 50's and Pollock had been proclaimed by Life magazine as the greatest artst in the world and his splatter paintings had created a stir. He was rich, but his friends, the artist he had matured with, who had probably pulled him out of the gutter numerous times were terribly poor. Well, as the story went, Phillip Guston and his wife were sitting around the table, shivering in the cold and wondering how they could buy food for the holidays when the phone rang. In order to scrape some money together, they were trying to sell the christmas card that Jacson Pollock had sent out--a kind of tiny splattery thing. The wife got up to answer the phone while Phillip and Nic (the narrator) sat at the table tryng to think up a plan. The phone conversation was short and businesslike and when the wife retrned, she was in a bit of a daze. It was the gallery, she said. They wanted to buy the Xmas card after all, for $50,000.
This, too I aspire to.
Tokens of love and friendship translate into a vast underground currency, gifts of immense wealth. I do a portrait of a man without a home, give him the print, then years later, he is offered $50,000 for it from a collector. The lifelong friends who have received special tokens year after year are rich beyond measure, their children without a care for money throughout their life.
This is essentially what all my professional aspirations are aiming for.
Without much commercial effort on my part, I am simultaneously "discovered" by galleries, museums, writers, international intelligentsia, politicians, celebrities (who I am able to disdain in "In touch" and "People" magazine, imbuing myself with even more artistic credibility).
People who have never met me, nor people I would wish to be personally close with to desire pieces of autobiographical work fervently. I want this desire to grow so strong that all facets of my life gain a measure of fame, merely by being in my own presence. Crap things I did as a student are treasured because they show my inherent humility, how I'm really "one of us". Articles are written. Documentaries are produced. Streets are named.
Institutions who would not accept me as a student or an anonymous person to wish me to come and instruct them. Places who did not care for my work enough to place it in large group shows will clamor to display it proudly, proclaiming it the best of who we are as a people. They will take it to far off places, as I inspire an untraditional patriotism in Venice, Munich, Sao Paolo.
My ideas find fertile ground across higher education worldwide. Even crackpot saying are taken seriously for a time, until eventually people see the absurdity in what I say and declare undying respect for my layers of dry wit.
Once I was told a story about Jackson Pollock, Phillip Guston and his wife (whose name I don't know). It was in the early 50's and Pollock had been proclaimed by Life magazine as the greatest artst in the world and his splatter paintings had created a stir. He was rich, but his friends, the artist he had matured with, who had probably pulled him out of the gutter numerous times were terribly poor. Well, as the story went, Phillip Guston and his wife were sitting around the table, shivering in the cold and wondering how they could buy food for the holidays when the phone rang. In order to scrape some money together, they were trying to sell the christmas card that Jacson Pollock had sent out--a kind of tiny splattery thing. The wife got up to answer the phone while Phillip and Nic (the narrator) sat at the table tryng to think up a plan. The phone conversation was short and businesslike and when the wife retrned, she was in a bit of a daze. It was the gallery, she said. They wanted to buy the Xmas card after all, for $50,000.
This, too I aspire to.
Tokens of love and friendship translate into a vast underground currency, gifts of immense wealth. I do a portrait of a man without a home, give him the print, then years later, he is offered $50,000 for it from a collector. The lifelong friends who have received special tokens year after year are rich beyond measure, their children without a care for money throughout their life.
Thursday, 20 September 2007
Amsterdam
In about 10 days I am leaving for Amsterdam. For a month. Alone.
It is terribly exciting. Its kind of the follow-up to the Fulbright I did not get and the residency I have not been doing since we began to have the sweet kiddos.
ah, the kiddos. There's the rub.
I am going to be gone a month. Simon is a sweet and often easily sad boy. Oh, sure he can be mollified with tv pretty much anytime, but I'm worried/racked with guilt.
I have no doubts about Katie with the kids for a month--it will be hard and I certainly appreciate her efforts to bring this all together. In a great many ways, this would never happen without her constant support and enthusiasm. She's a rock star and a great Mom.
At least Eloise isn't talking too much and won't be able to say "are you ever coming home?" to me on the phone, like Simon did when I went away for 4 days in 2004.
I don't know how much I will be talking to Simon n the phone either. I am planning on sending a great number of postcards and emailing daily. But I'm worried about the calls. I think I'm hoping K will just keep him distracted for a month and then when I show up on Halloween, he'll be like, "oh, you're back so soon."
My coping mechanism is to do as much as I can before I leave, so that it will appear as if I have just left the room.
In addition to cleaning up things, getting the house stocked, the pantry organized and filled with the staples that the family could subsist on if the grocery store is out of the question, I am planning on a few treats.
I'm making mix cd's for Katie, Simon and Eloise (although her's is more of the cd where the extra songs that did not fit on the other cds went).
A dvd of me reading books for Eloise, and maybe a couple for Simon. Of course, this in contingent on being able to figure out how to use the IDVD on my mac as well as transferring out DV Tapes onto my computer.
A story cd (Simon will usually request a story in the car--the favorites are "Star Wars", and we are talking the whole trilogy, and various Super Hero stories, usually needing to involve every single traditional superhero he can think of as well as Super Simon (of course), the Teenage Mutant ninja turtles and yoda.) The story is titled "The Superfriends and the legion of Doom VS the Planet Eater". (Simon recently requested a story in which the Superfriend and the Legion of Doom worked together..I'm oddly proud of him for that). This is of course, contingent on figuring out how to convert a Windows Media file into a mp3 format or some such thing.
I'm also making a calendar for simon to mark off days until Halloween. I'm going to be pasting pictures of evryone I know who will be visiting to paste on the days when they are here.
That may be it. I've finished my large work that i had to before I left, so now its all about getting everything else ready.
It is terribly exciting. Its kind of the follow-up to the Fulbright I did not get and the residency I have not been doing since we began to have the sweet kiddos.
ah, the kiddos. There's the rub.
I am going to be gone a month. Simon is a sweet and often easily sad boy. Oh, sure he can be mollified with tv pretty much anytime, but I'm worried/racked with guilt.
I have no doubts about Katie with the kids for a month--it will be hard and I certainly appreciate her efforts to bring this all together. In a great many ways, this would never happen without her constant support and enthusiasm. She's a rock star and a great Mom.
At least Eloise isn't talking too much and won't be able to say "are you ever coming home?" to me on the phone, like Simon did when I went away for 4 days in 2004.
I don't know how much I will be talking to Simon n the phone either. I am planning on sending a great number of postcards and emailing daily. But I'm worried about the calls. I think I'm hoping K will just keep him distracted for a month and then when I show up on Halloween, he'll be like, "oh, you're back so soon."
My coping mechanism is to do as much as I can before I leave, so that it will appear as if I have just left the room.
In addition to cleaning up things, getting the house stocked, the pantry organized and filled with the staples that the family could subsist on if the grocery store is out of the question, I am planning on a few treats.
I'm making mix cd's for Katie, Simon and Eloise (although her's is more of the cd where the extra songs that did not fit on the other cds went).
A dvd of me reading books for Eloise, and maybe a couple for Simon. Of course, this in contingent on being able to figure out how to use the IDVD on my mac as well as transferring out DV Tapes onto my computer.
A story cd (Simon will usually request a story in the car--the favorites are "Star Wars", and we are talking the whole trilogy, and various Super Hero stories, usually needing to involve every single traditional superhero he can think of as well as Super Simon (of course), the Teenage Mutant ninja turtles and yoda.) The story is titled "The Superfriends and the legion of Doom VS the Planet Eater". (Simon recently requested a story in which the Superfriend and the Legion of Doom worked together..I'm oddly proud of him for that). This is of course, contingent on figuring out how to convert a Windows Media file into a mp3 format or some such thing.
I'm also making a calendar for simon to mark off days until Halloween. I'm going to be pasting pictures of evryone I know who will be visiting to paste on the days when they are here.
That may be it. I've finished my large work that i had to before I left, so now its all about getting everything else ready.
Friday, 20 July 2007
Monday, 16 July 2007
media day
Huzzah for media!!!
Why you ask? well, for one, there is a third season of Radio Lab available online now. Combined with This American Life, I am pretty well set for my entire studio day. Check it out!!
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab
As if that weren't enough, I also have a new favorite show. It is called "Flight of the Conchords". Very quirky, very funny. A two-man band from New Zealand trying to make it in NY. Its on HBO, but if anyone has digital cable, it is on-demand.
Trust me, its funny.
Why you ask? well, for one, there is a third season of Radio Lab available online now. Combined with This American Life, I am pretty well set for my entire studio day. Check it out!!
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab
As if that weren't enough, I also have a new favorite show. It is called "Flight of the Conchords". Very quirky, very funny. A two-man band from New Zealand trying to make it in NY. Its on HBO, but if anyone has digital cable, it is on-demand.
Trust me, its funny.
Monday, 25 June 2007
Tuesday, 19 June 2007
Bob Rogers
If
a person wanted to be the best
and
take one of the great things to be done
whatever it may be,
I don’t know,
you got to get goin’ on it
and
not be
wasting any time
Robert D. Rogers
Clarence Dennis Smith
If
they come from Alaska…
have your papers,
have your information.
Don’t lose your ID,
because
these people
are not with it.
It seems they hired a lot of people without PhD’s.
Clarence Dennis Smith
Peter Paul’s Number One Model
ACE
Monday, 18 June 2007
Alena
There was this guy
who walked into a restaurant.
He said ”
I want something to eat
and
to drink
and
to play with”.
And the waiter gave him a watermelon…
Alena Barbara Akse
Monday, 11 June 2007
Friday, 8 June 2007
Whew!
OK, so I know I'm totally lame for being away so long. Let's get caught up.
So I've been gone for 3 of the past 5 weeks. Went to Seattle to babysit the kiddos while KWW was in a conference. Big props to Bladio for being awesome. All of this was done with Simon's absurd tonsils and strep throat. An excuse we had actually used to get out of a trip the week before.
The New York for a week of Babysitting the kiddos while KWW was at a conference. This time, for the first occaison in as long as I can remember, neither kiddo got sick as a direct result of the travelling. Spent a good part of every day in one f many parks, and even got to see some Carleton friends--Anupam, Elyse and lttle man Dev. (Pronounced "Dave"--a perfect blend of traditional indian culture and complete assimilation). Also got to have lunch from a street vendor in the park with my man, Ed-Dog. Also very fun and great with the kiddos. For basically spending a lot of every day trying to keep either kid from being kidnapped, (or in Eloise's case, being arrested for baby stroller theft), I got to see a good deal of art. Speant like 3 hours at the Met and went to the National Academy show, where I got to see the work of many of the people I have studied with over the years.
The, the day after we get home, I drive to Chicago for a week to do a portrait commission. I don't really do portraits too much and those of you who have known what my work has been like for many years, you know that its only very recently that the person I'm painting actually looks like the person I'm painting. I was doing this commission for another artist, only one 25 years my elder and far more successful than I am likely to be anytime real soon.
So, I basically figured I'd be in for a week of--What?!? That's Crap!
The subject was the artist's 96 year old mother. seriously, 96. I'm pretty sure she's the oldest person I ahve ever met and I was completely impressed. After I was certain that she worked longer than I had the night before (yes...I didn'y get out of the studio until 10 last night...) she would make me lunch, as me very politely which contemporary artists I liked. Thankfully, we deeply agreed on Richard Diebenkorn..seriously he's great. OK, so its not like he's contemporary, but he only died 15 years ago.
When I was finished, she was very impressed with the likeness (Whew!) but told that all the blacks I used became holes in the picture.
So I've been gone for 3 of the past 5 weeks. Went to Seattle to babysit the kiddos while KWW was in a conference. Big props to Bladio for being awesome. All of this was done with Simon's absurd tonsils and strep throat. An excuse we had actually used to get out of a trip the week before.
The New York for a week of Babysitting the kiddos while KWW was at a conference. This time, for the first occaison in as long as I can remember, neither kiddo got sick as a direct result of the travelling. Spent a good part of every day in one f many parks, and even got to see some Carleton friends--Anupam, Elyse and lttle man Dev. (Pronounced "Dave"--a perfect blend of traditional indian culture and complete assimilation). Also got to have lunch from a street vendor in the park with my man, Ed-Dog. Also very fun and great with the kiddos. For basically spending a lot of every day trying to keep either kid from being kidnapped, (or in Eloise's case, being arrested for baby stroller theft), I got to see a good deal of art. Speant like 3 hours at the Met and went to the National Academy show, where I got to see the work of many of the people I have studied with over the years.
The, the day after we get home, I drive to Chicago for a week to do a portrait commission. I don't really do portraits too much and those of you who have known what my work has been like for many years, you know that its only very recently that the person I'm painting actually looks like the person I'm painting. I was doing this commission for another artist, only one 25 years my elder and far more successful than I am likely to be anytime real soon.
So, I basically figured I'd be in for a week of--What?!? That's Crap!
The subject was the artist's 96 year old mother. seriously, 96. I'm pretty sure she's the oldest person I ahve ever met and I was completely impressed. After I was certain that she worked longer than I had the night before (yes...I didn'y get out of the studio until 10 last night...) she would make me lunch, as me very politely which contemporary artists I liked. Thankfully, we deeply agreed on Richard Diebenkorn..seriously he's great. OK, so its not like he's contemporary, but he only died 15 years ago.
When I was finished, she was very impressed with the likeness (Whew!) but told that all the blacks I used became holes in the picture.
Monday, 23 April 2007
50's dad
Yesterday after being with the kids all afternoon, kww got back from Master swim, uh sorry, Mas-Tah Sweem. Anyway, I had been attempting to read the Sunday paper unsuccessfully all day.
I want a bath and to read the paper. "shall I make you a martini?" Why...yes...
OK, those 50's suburban fathers of Leave it to Beaver fame did have a few things figured out. It turns out that 5:00 is the perfect time to have a martini while reading the paper and negecting the kids. Especially if the martini is vodka, dirty with 3 olives.
I want a bath and to read the paper. "shall I make you a martini?" Why...yes...
OK, those 50's suburban fathers of Leave it to Beaver fame did have a few things figured out. It turns out that 5:00 is the perfect time to have a martini while reading the paper and negecting the kids. Especially if the martini is vodka, dirty with 3 olives.
Friday, 13 April 2007
bachelors
Kww and the baby girl got back tonight from Chi-Town.
Here I am legally oligated to give a huge shout-out to Mamie for her rock-star work with aforementioned baby girl.
For the past week Simon and I have been bachelors.
A familiar refrain:
What do bachelors eat?
Anything they want!
What do bachelors do?
Anything they want!
Now a week is a long time for a small boy to be a bachelor. The first couple of days were spent sick. Actually, on Sunday, Simon puked in two diffferent states and in the air--probably over Iowa. It's like he's already in high School...but I digress. He went to L Cook and then eventually to school. Only one day was spend in full bachelorhood.
Now it seems being a bachelor boiled down to a few dearly held beliefs. One should get to watch a lot of TV. One should be able to play a game where your father is actually your brother and the two of you can spend your time conspiring to undermine the authority of the unseen "mom" who makes you do what it is you want to do already. "You mean I HAVE TO fast forward through all the boring commercials, but HAVE TO watch all the kid commercals?" "You mena I ahve to have ICE Cream again?" It Means the occaisonal doughnut breakfast. Plenty of Poppa sleeping in your room, especially if you have been puking for the better part of 500 (air) miles. TV Dinners are not merely for babysitter night anymore.
Frankly, I'm just glad I was the only one drinking.
Here I am legally oligated to give a huge shout-out to Mamie for her rock-star work with aforementioned baby girl.
For the past week Simon and I have been bachelors.
A familiar refrain:
What do bachelors eat?
Anything they want!
What do bachelors do?
Anything they want!
Now a week is a long time for a small boy to be a bachelor. The first couple of days were spent sick. Actually, on Sunday, Simon puked in two diffferent states and in the air--probably over Iowa. It's like he's already in high School...but I digress. He went to L Cook and then eventually to school. Only one day was spend in full bachelorhood.
Now it seems being a bachelor boiled down to a few dearly held beliefs. One should get to watch a lot of TV. One should be able to play a game where your father is actually your brother and the two of you can spend your time conspiring to undermine the authority of the unseen "mom" who makes you do what it is you want to do already. "You mean I HAVE TO fast forward through all the boring commercials, but HAVE TO watch all the kid commercals?" "You mena I ahve to have ICE Cream again?" It Means the occaisonal doughnut breakfast. Plenty of Poppa sleeping in your room, especially if you have been puking for the better part of 500 (air) miles. TV Dinners are not merely for babysitter night anymore.
Frankly, I'm just glad I was the only one drinking.
Thursday, 29 March 2007
nightmares
OK, so everyone has been so helpful in compiling a cd for Simon I thought I would put out a call for other helpful tips.
Simon has been having nightmares. It has been upsetting for him and has been difficult to think of solutions for it. Simon has told me in no uncertain terms that the way I have been trying to help has not been very effective in his case.
It has been a vey long time since I had nigtmares myself. It seems that my own nightmares stopped about the time that my own dreams became more lucid. One you knew you were dreaming, you could fly. If you could fly, there was nothing to be worried about. Monsters chasing you? Fly away. Plus, it is only a short hop from flying to any other abillity which would help you more easily deal with those scary things threatening you. My plans with Simon have been centered around trying to get him to fly in his dreams. He tells me it does not work. Yet, I hope.
KWW reads lots of books, and in the past has read even more. She has said to me that seeing as now he is so consciously concerned with becoming powerful (please refer to "oedipus ox") that he subconsciusly balances it out and becomes un-powerful and scared of monsters. Makes a certain sense to me, but I'm not real happy with just waiting it out.
Do you remember any good nightmare solutions? I'm sure Simon will be happy to give any of them a shot.
Simon has been having nightmares. It has been upsetting for him and has been difficult to think of solutions for it. Simon has told me in no uncertain terms that the way I have been trying to help has not been very effective in his case.
It has been a vey long time since I had nigtmares myself. It seems that my own nightmares stopped about the time that my own dreams became more lucid. One you knew you were dreaming, you could fly. If you could fly, there was nothing to be worried about. Monsters chasing you? Fly away. Plus, it is only a short hop from flying to any other abillity which would help you more easily deal with those scary things threatening you. My plans with Simon have been centered around trying to get him to fly in his dreams. He tells me it does not work. Yet, I hope.
KWW reads lots of books, and in the past has read even more. She has said to me that seeing as now he is so consciously concerned with becoming powerful (please refer to "oedipus ox") that he subconsciusly balances it out and becomes un-powerful and scared of monsters. Makes a certain sense to me, but I'm not real happy with just waiting it out.
Do you remember any good nightmare solutions? I'm sure Simon will be happy to give any of them a shot.
Wednesday, 28 March 2007
cookie
So, on Sunday, we were cooking out, as we are wont to do. Afterwards, we are hanging out on the couch enjoying some fine--may I say very fine, even--chocolate chip cookies that Simon made. Well, picture this: the baby girl is making a bee-line for her lovin Poppa. Cruising along the floor, she gets to my knees reaches for my own sweet dessert and demands "Cookie".
Yep, she said cookie. It was independently verified by others in the room, although none in the immediate family (evidence which makes the story seem all the more verifiably true to everyone but KWW). I believe her other pronounced words to date are "mama" "thbbthbbthb" and I think, "buh buh" once. She may have said "poppa" after much prodding, but not nearly as clear as "cookie"
Those of you familiar with family lore are aware of SImon's versitile use of "turtle", his forst two-syllable word, when he was 18-20 months. I'm telling you, "cookie" is some kind of amazing testament to KWW's incessant reading while pregnant and the undeniable lure of sugar.
Yep, she said cookie. It was independently verified by others in the room, although none in the immediate family (evidence which makes the story seem all the more verifiably true to everyone but KWW). I believe her other pronounced words to date are "mama" "thbbthbbthb" and I think, "buh buh" once. She may have said "poppa" after much prodding, but not nearly as clear as "cookie"
Those of you familiar with family lore are aware of SImon's versitile use of "turtle", his forst two-syllable word, when he was 18-20 months. I'm telling you, "cookie" is some kind of amazing testament to KWW's incessant reading while pregnant and the undeniable lure of sugar.
Tuesday, 27 March 2007
famousity
Hey, check it out--I can now be found in about 5 bookstores around Chicagoland.
http://www.roosevelt.edu/oyezreview/current.html
I know, I am lame and haven't figured out how to paste this as a live link yet...but someday, I will. I promise.
http://www.roosevelt.edu/oyezreview/current.html
I know, I am lame and haven't figured out how to paste this as a live link yet...but someday, I will. I promise.
Monday, 26 March 2007
Omaha Cool
Boy, let me tell you, Omaha is oh so very hip. A cultural moment is going on here, yep, that's what it is, a cultural moment.
I went to the Southern Graphics print conference in Kansas City this past weekend. I laid my portfolio of prints out on the table and when anyone asked where I was from, they always responded in hushed tones full of awe "Omaha....what's that like?"
The, I realized they must get the NY Times before me.
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/travel/tmagazine/03talk.omaha.t.html?ref=tmagazine
After reding this article and the one about how LA doesn't get any respect at all, I realized that, yes, we are all that and a bag of chips--"cool Ranch" I imagine. And I had heard of one of he bands that is mentioned, which means I'm not yet "Omaha Cool"
I went to the Southern Graphics print conference in Kansas City this past weekend. I laid my portfolio of prints out on the table and when anyone asked where I was from, they always responded in hushed tones full of awe "Omaha....what's that like?"
The, I realized they must get the NY Times before me.
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/travel/tmagazine/03talk.omaha.t.html?ref=tmagazine
After reding this article and the one about how LA doesn't get any respect at all, I realized that, yes, we are all that and a bag of chips--"cool Ranch" I imagine. And I had heard of one of he bands that is mentioned, which means I'm not yet "Omaha Cool"
Monday, 12 March 2007
the big dig
Paleontologists.
Has there ever been a profession more well suited for child-level pop tunes?
Simon will be 5 on the 30th. Apparently, I now must make a cd for every party for the goodie bags. Birthday number 5 is a "paleontologist party". I'm thikning dinosaur songs and poems. That brings me up to 2 and the poem, Shel Silverstein's "if I had a brontosaurus" is only 10 seconds long.
"If I has a brontosaurs, I would name him boris or morris. If one day he had a lot of little brontosauri, I would change his name to Lori".
Seriously, if I have to listen to a disk of cloying kids tunes about Barney every day in the car, I will go insane.
Please help.
Has there ever been a profession more well suited for child-level pop tunes?
Simon will be 5 on the 30th. Apparently, I now must make a cd for every party for the goodie bags. Birthday number 5 is a "paleontologist party". I'm thikning dinosaur songs and poems. That brings me up to 2 and the poem, Shel Silverstein's "if I had a brontosaurus" is only 10 seconds long.
"If I has a brontosaurs, I would name him boris or morris. If one day he had a lot of little brontosauri, I would change his name to Lori".
Seriously, if I have to listen to a disk of cloying kids tunes about Barney every day in the car, I will go insane.
Please help.
Friday, 9 March 2007
Chomper
Eloise has her first tooth. It was discovered this morning by yours truly, because I am always sticking my fingers in her mouth.
For those of you wagering, first tooth--hereafter known as "Chomper," because, as in the discovery of new bugs, I have naming rights--was spottted at 10 months, 3 days at 7:55 am.
From here on out it will be all steak all the time for the little girl. Possibly some lamb chops thrown in for variety.
Monday, 5 March 2007
oedipus ox
So Simon wants KWW to be his girlfriend.
Graciously, he will allow her to be my Momma. But his Girlfrend.
Thankfully, he has yet to mention anything about killing me to finalize the deal. Nor has he shown any bouts of eye-gouging guilt, even when he inadvertently broke the mother's day pot he made for her at his old school.
To this point of fatherhood, I have been reuctant to accept what the past hundred years' worth of experts say will inevitably happen. I want to belive in the individual, that perhaps I can concede that if you have a wide enough view things do track that way, but individually, it is not so. Not my kid. My boy won't be shooting up the house soon. The girl isn't going to be decked out in the frilliest pink, before bringing some guy home who looks a little too much like me to be comfortable with. They will have individual interest, molded completely by the controlled environment in which I keep them hermetically sealed, until they are old enough to go and get me more beer.
I was listening to Radio Lab online, as I do. They told the story about Sir francis Galton, 19th century elitist founder of Eugenics (the theory of broad racial superiority, used to great effect by your average Nazi or Charles Murray). Anyway, he went ot a county fair where they were selling tickets to have ordinary peasants guess the weight of a giant prize steer. Of course there was not a single steer-weighing savant in the crowd and everyone was wildly off. Then Galton asked if he could have all the lottery tickets, ostensibly to see if there was a pattern to these foolish chumps, who probably shouldn't be allowed to have kids anyway. It turned out that the AVERAGE guess was within one pound of the exact weight of a steer that was in excess of 1300 lbs. it is like the mob knew what no one part knew.
So, in listening to the freudian mob of child development, I will try to to say anything to Simon in the near future that could, potentially, drive him to patricidal rage.
I should even get the book to see how this all turns out in the end.
Graciously, he will allow her to be my Momma. But his Girlfrend.
Thankfully, he has yet to mention anything about killing me to finalize the deal. Nor has he shown any bouts of eye-gouging guilt, even when he inadvertently broke the mother's day pot he made for her at his old school.
To this point of fatherhood, I have been reuctant to accept what the past hundred years' worth of experts say will inevitably happen. I want to belive in the individual, that perhaps I can concede that if you have a wide enough view things do track that way, but individually, it is not so. Not my kid. My boy won't be shooting up the house soon. The girl isn't going to be decked out in the frilliest pink, before bringing some guy home who looks a little too much like me to be comfortable with. They will have individual interest, molded completely by the controlled environment in which I keep them hermetically sealed, until they are old enough to go and get me more beer.
I was listening to Radio Lab online, as I do. They told the story about Sir francis Galton, 19th century elitist founder of Eugenics (the theory of broad racial superiority, used to great effect by your average Nazi or Charles Murray). Anyway, he went ot a county fair where they were selling tickets to have ordinary peasants guess the weight of a giant prize steer. Of course there was not a single steer-weighing savant in the crowd and everyone was wildly off. Then Galton asked if he could have all the lottery tickets, ostensibly to see if there was a pattern to these foolish chumps, who probably shouldn't be allowed to have kids anyway. It turned out that the AVERAGE guess was within one pound of the exact weight of a steer that was in excess of 1300 lbs. it is like the mob knew what no one part knew.
So, in listening to the freudian mob of child development, I will try to to say anything to Simon in the near future that could, potentially, drive him to patricidal rage.
I should even get the book to see how this all turns out in the end.
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
heroes
So I made Simon a cd about heroes.
It started out intended to be about superheroes, but it turned into be a necessary examination of the "hero", a deconstruction of the elements out of which a hero can appear. The playlist is as follows:
Nature Boy---------------------David Bowie
Super Baby---------------------Matthew Sweet
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots----Flaming Lips
Flash Gordon-------------------Queen
Goldeneye----------------------Tina Turner
Secret Agent man----------------Johnny Rivers
Kung Fu Fighting-----------------Edwin starr
Superfly------------------------Curtis Mayfield
Hernando's hideaway-------------Snatch Soundtrack
Killer Queen--------------------Queen
Godzilla------------------------Blue Oyster Cult
Save Me------------------------Queen
Holding out for a hero------------Bonnie Tyler
Theme from Superman------------John Williams, score
Superman----------------------REM
Superman----------------------Five for Fighting
Jimmy Olsen's blues--------------Spin Doctors
Ode to a Superhero--------------Weird Al Yankovic
Spiderweb----------------------No Doubt
So Queen is perhaps over-represented, yes. But they are oh-so-very dramatic. I also think its funny to have "save me" after "godzilla", like they are being chased.
There is a stretch of songs about secret agents and badasses from the 'hood. I think these are both occupations that Simon could and should aspire to. Selections 5-9 are more like career training than anything else. Plus, the boy has got to learn his funk from an early age. My youth was distinctly funk-less and look at me now. Hopeless.
What I am proud of is really tracks 10-13/14. I realized that this disk is not propaganda for already fantastically powered fantasies, no sir. What it should do is get Simon to realize the symbiotic relationship between good and evil in this world. What is hero without a villian? Well, probably an annoying bully, I guess. If his attraction to the crazy maraca action in Hernando's hideaway is any indication, he's right there with me on this. Plus he wil now sing "godzilla" on request.
I also think it is a small accomplishment to put the Weird Al at the very end, so Simon has to listen through all the stuff I want to before he gets to the gooey center of Spiderman. It would get annoying to have it in the front and have to listen to it every time I get in the car.
So far, the favorites are, in no particular order, except track order: Flash Gordon, Hernando's Hideaway, Godzilla and Jimmy Olsen's Blues.
These CD's are available upon request. Seriously, if you want one, I'll send you one.
It started out intended to be about superheroes, but it turned into be a necessary examination of the "hero", a deconstruction of the elements out of which a hero can appear. The playlist is as follows:
Nature Boy---------------------David Bowie
Super Baby---------------------Matthew Sweet
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots----Flaming Lips
Flash Gordon-------------------Queen
Goldeneye----------------------Tina Turner
Secret Agent man----------------Johnny Rivers
Kung Fu Fighting-----------------Edwin starr
Superfly------------------------Curtis Mayfield
Hernando's hideaway-------------Snatch Soundtrack
Killer Queen--------------------Queen
Godzilla------------------------Blue Oyster Cult
Save Me------------------------Queen
Holding out for a hero------------Bonnie Tyler
Theme from Superman------------John Williams, score
Superman----------------------REM
Superman----------------------Five for Fighting
Jimmy Olsen's blues--------------Spin Doctors
Ode to a Superhero--------------Weird Al Yankovic
Spiderweb----------------------No Doubt
So Queen is perhaps over-represented, yes. But they are oh-so-very dramatic. I also think its funny to have "save me" after "godzilla", like they are being chased.
There is a stretch of songs about secret agents and badasses from the 'hood. I think these are both occupations that Simon could and should aspire to. Selections 5-9 are more like career training than anything else. Plus, the boy has got to learn his funk from an early age. My youth was distinctly funk-less and look at me now. Hopeless.
What I am proud of is really tracks 10-13/14. I realized that this disk is not propaganda for already fantastically powered fantasies, no sir. What it should do is get Simon to realize the symbiotic relationship between good and evil in this world. What is hero without a villian? Well, probably an annoying bully, I guess. If his attraction to the crazy maraca action in Hernando's hideaway is any indication, he's right there with me on this. Plus he wil now sing "godzilla" on request.
I also think it is a small accomplishment to put the Weird Al at the very end, so Simon has to listen through all the stuff I want to before he gets to the gooey center of Spiderman. It would get annoying to have it in the front and have to listen to it every time I get in the car.
So far, the favorites are, in no particular order, except track order: Flash Gordon, Hernando's Hideaway, Godzilla and Jimmy Olsen's Blues.
These CD's are available upon request. Seriously, if you want one, I'll send you one.
Monday, 26 February 2007
trifecta of crapitude
So Friday was not the best day.
First, we had received a gas bill for the house we are still trying to get rid of in Chicago. This is a house we have not been inside in months. Heat set at 55 to keep pipes from bursting, from freezing, anyway. Nothing cooked since early september. It seems to me like the expenses to maintain a house in suspended animation should be rather small. The gas bill received was $330. For one month. This, I thought absurd. No one must have been able to read the meter (we aren't there, after all). It must have been some crazy estimate, assuming we would have used much more gas than last January, when we actually lived there. The last time I was in town I did stop by for just this eventuality, and read the meter myself. I call the gas company with reading in hand. "Oh, no no noooo, they say. We read the meter with a satellite, they say. It must cost $11 a day to run your water heater, which surely you haven't turned off, have you?"
*^!!#$$%%!!!!!@!! satellites!
#@#$W%(&^%@! Gas company!!!!
Then, the gallery director in the big O! (seriously, that's like a town slogan. Its Everywhere. O!. It looks like either Oprah has bought the town outright and is making it a subsidiary of the magazine or the town has decided to adopt a whiny, jewish accent "oi" when discussing itself, but I digress) came by the studio. Didn't really seem to care for the work I have here, reiterated that "everyone knows you have to wait at least two years between shows". Then she suggested I do some "scenic views of downtown", as that's what they really like here. You know, Nebraska stuff/Crap. Really makes one wish for a decent gallery in this town. Some place to actually want one's work.
Then, I get a call on my cell phone. Its Sandy, the real estate agent. The last time she called me like this I was very excited until she told me about the drunk driver who had driven his car through the intersection and into our garage/fence. Needless to say, my excitement did not last long. So I was able to restrain my hopes of a story that begins "I have some good news...". What I got was "I've got something to tell that will make your day worse..." Water, lots of water. Thankfully, the water was probably plenty warm (see crap #1 above). But it was gushing into our kitchen from 1-5 days. The pipe did not burst, like a normal pipe, but instead, pulled off the other pipes, pointed straight out int the room and fire-hosed unabated. Luckily, Sandy pointed out. that's what we have insurance for. However, seeing as we have not recieved any reimbursement for the sewer work we had done early last spring, before Eloise was born, nor the drunken garage killer from this fall, so the wonders of Erie Insurance aren't thrilling me on the inside.
Here's pulling for Monday.
First, we had received a gas bill for the house we are still trying to get rid of in Chicago. This is a house we have not been inside in months. Heat set at 55 to keep pipes from bursting, from freezing, anyway. Nothing cooked since early september. It seems to me like the expenses to maintain a house in suspended animation should be rather small. The gas bill received was $330. For one month. This, I thought absurd. No one must have been able to read the meter (we aren't there, after all). It must have been some crazy estimate, assuming we would have used much more gas than last January, when we actually lived there. The last time I was in town I did stop by for just this eventuality, and read the meter myself. I call the gas company with reading in hand. "Oh, no no noooo, they say. We read the meter with a satellite, they say. It must cost $11 a day to run your water heater, which surely you haven't turned off, have you?"
*^!!#$$%%!!!!!@!! satellites!
#@#$W%(&^%@! Gas company!!!!
Then, the gallery director in the big O! (seriously, that's like a town slogan. Its Everywhere. O!. It looks like either Oprah has bought the town outright and is making it a subsidiary of the magazine or the town has decided to adopt a whiny, jewish accent "oi" when discussing itself, but I digress) came by the studio. Didn't really seem to care for the work I have here, reiterated that "everyone knows you have to wait at least two years between shows". Then she suggested I do some "scenic views of downtown", as that's what they really like here. You know, Nebraska stuff/Crap. Really makes one wish for a decent gallery in this town. Some place to actually want one's work.
Then, I get a call on my cell phone. Its Sandy, the real estate agent. The last time she called me like this I was very excited until she told me about the drunk driver who had driven his car through the intersection and into our garage/fence. Needless to say, my excitement did not last long. So I was able to restrain my hopes of a story that begins "I have some good news...". What I got was "I've got something to tell that will make your day worse..." Water, lots of water. Thankfully, the water was probably plenty warm (see crap #1 above). But it was gushing into our kitchen from 1-5 days. The pipe did not burst, like a normal pipe, but instead, pulled off the other pipes, pointed straight out int the room and fire-hosed unabated. Luckily, Sandy pointed out. that's what we have insurance for. However, seeing as we have not recieved any reimbursement for the sewer work we had done early last spring, before Eloise was born, nor the drunken garage killer from this fall, so the wonders of Erie Insurance aren't thrilling me on the inside.
Here's pulling for Monday.
Monday, 19 February 2007
race I'm scared to win
So...about a year ago I began applying for a fulbright grant. The baby Girl wasn't born yet and KWW and I were planning out the next few years. First came maternity leave. Working on her dissertation while romantically living abroad with a young family seemed ideal. I began working on applying for a grant. I attended a seminar at NU on applying for a Fulbright Travel grant.
I can only speak a rudimentary form of english and was interested in doing work with a prominent art museum, --that narrowed down the world into London and Amsterdam. I figured everyone would be interested in going to London, so I crafted an application outlining a course of study and work in Amsterdam. Lots of things fell quickly into place. A professor at Carleton is a durch painting specialist and gave me the contact information for the head of pretty much everything I care about at the Rijksmuseum, who wrote on my behalf. I received help from the Art Institute of Chicago. Artists I know wrote effusive things in my recommendations. Emailing resulted in opportunities to have two exhibits of my work in Amsterdam.
THEN..., KWW got a job in Omaha and took a leave of absence from NU. This job has ups and downs, but even at its worst is probably not one that any idealistic scholar would walk away from eagerly. Kids are thriving here. We currently own two houses.
I recently found out that my Fulbright proposal has been recommended to the Foreign Scholarship Board and some equivalent set-up in the Netherlands. I have not been awarded anything, but my chances have increased from, say 10% to 50-66%. I applied as a student (there is a 5 year window), but would not be abe to do so again at a later date.
What seemed like a great idea a year ago now would, if I were to be awarded it, require me to leave my family for long stretches of time. Ahh my dilemma. In some ways, getting turned down now would be the best result. I would feel good at having made it so far, but would be able to craft a smaller residency and make things easier on those in Omaha.
Dilemma...dilemma.
I can only speak a rudimentary form of english and was interested in doing work with a prominent art museum, --that narrowed down the world into London and Amsterdam. I figured everyone would be interested in going to London, so I crafted an application outlining a course of study and work in Amsterdam. Lots of things fell quickly into place. A professor at Carleton is a durch painting specialist and gave me the contact information for the head of pretty much everything I care about at the Rijksmuseum, who wrote on my behalf. I received help from the Art Institute of Chicago. Artists I know wrote effusive things in my recommendations. Emailing resulted in opportunities to have two exhibits of my work in Amsterdam.
THEN..., KWW got a job in Omaha and took a leave of absence from NU. This job has ups and downs, but even at its worst is probably not one that any idealistic scholar would walk away from eagerly. Kids are thriving here. We currently own two houses.
I recently found out that my Fulbright proposal has been recommended to the Foreign Scholarship Board and some equivalent set-up in the Netherlands. I have not been awarded anything, but my chances have increased from, say 10% to 50-66%. I applied as a student (there is a 5 year window), but would not be abe to do so again at a later date.
What seemed like a great idea a year ago now would, if I were to be awarded it, require me to leave my family for long stretches of time. Ahh my dilemma. In some ways, getting turned down now would be the best result. I would feel good at having made it so far, but would be able to craft a smaller residency and make things easier on those in Omaha.
Dilemma...dilemma.
Friday, 16 February 2007
among the short
Today, Simon hosted us at his school for a "love Lunch".
I wanted to say "hosted" so that I could have the mental image of him in a tiny tuxedo, showing us to our seats, recommending wines and serving us a meal.
Anyway, in a room where it is hard t understand how a class of 13 3-6 year olds can function properly, those kids' parents sat with them and enjoyed heart shaped pasta and green beans. It was packed and I had to strategically plan a path to walk through the makeshift lunchroom because those tiny chairs are hard to get out of. It was also clear that some of the parents had a more difficult journey getting up and down then others. It was very sweet, although I was definitely relieved to go back to the studio bbefore the ice cream sundae bar really kicked in.
Simon is always proud to show off his friends and one of my purest joys of fatherhood has to be watching him run and play with his friends. I'm telling you, if you haven't seen the boy run and play with kids who are also running and playing, it is adorable. Although I fear that it will lose some of the cuteness as he gets more able to run without falling down. If any of you have gotten to see him run and fall down while still having fun with other little friends also running and falling down, hoo-wee THAT is adorable.
I'm sure after the sundae bar kicked in, there was plenty of running, and it was probably loud and less than adorable.
I wanted to say "hosted" so that I could have the mental image of him in a tiny tuxedo, showing us to our seats, recommending wines and serving us a meal.
Anyway, in a room where it is hard t understand how a class of 13 3-6 year olds can function properly, those kids' parents sat with them and enjoyed heart shaped pasta and green beans. It was packed and I had to strategically plan a path to walk through the makeshift lunchroom because those tiny chairs are hard to get out of. It was also clear that some of the parents had a more difficult journey getting up and down then others. It was very sweet, although I was definitely relieved to go back to the studio bbefore the ice cream sundae bar really kicked in.
Simon is always proud to show off his friends and one of my purest joys of fatherhood has to be watching him run and play with his friends. I'm telling you, if you haven't seen the boy run and play with kids who are also running and playing, it is adorable. Although I fear that it will lose some of the cuteness as he gets more able to run without falling down. If any of you have gotten to see him run and fall down while still having fun with other little friends also running and falling down, hoo-wee THAT is adorable.
I'm sure after the sundae bar kicked in, there was plenty of running, and it was probably loud and less than adorable.
Wednesday, 14 February 2007
already old
I am finding that there are some good things about Omaha.
One whch occurs abundantly to me now is my studio. It is a great studio. Easily 2 perhaps 3 times larger than my previous studio. And, thanks to the landlord's website, it comes with an internet connection.
I have used this to kick my former addiction to music on tapes with Internet audio. I have my computer in the studio and it has been transformative. I have lots on itunes, which works easily for my music fix. I am perhaps afraid of the sound of an empty studio, so I have something on non-stop. However, I have been sucked into the wealth of great things online to listen to.
Radiolab is one. There have only been two seasons but it is endlessly interesting. check it out if you have the time for it. http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/ Unfortunately, I have plowed through all of it and moved on to other things.
This American Life is great. I also keep listening to A Prairie Home Companion, which is hard to expain to KWW, whose passionate dislike for it is a rare an inexplicable thing. Its hard to think of exactly why I like it. The stories are long-winded and the jokes leave me chuckling, but are never anything I would dare to recount to anyone. They just don't seem like they are that kind of funny. Although I notice that in the 15-minute long tales of a fictional youth by a man in his mid sixties, there is often a theatrical de-pantsing. And, really, who doesn't like a theatrical de-pantsing?
Perhaps it means I am already old.
One whch occurs abundantly to me now is my studio. It is a great studio. Easily 2 perhaps 3 times larger than my previous studio. And, thanks to the landlord's website, it comes with an internet connection.
I have used this to kick my former addiction to music on tapes with Internet audio. I have my computer in the studio and it has been transformative. I have lots on itunes, which works easily for my music fix. I am perhaps afraid of the sound of an empty studio, so I have something on non-stop. However, I have been sucked into the wealth of great things online to listen to.
Radiolab is one. There have only been two seasons but it is endlessly interesting. check it out if you have the time for it. http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/ Unfortunately, I have plowed through all of it and moved on to other things.
This American Life is great. I also keep listening to A Prairie Home Companion, which is hard to expain to KWW, whose passionate dislike for it is a rare an inexplicable thing. Its hard to think of exactly why I like it. The stories are long-winded and the jokes leave me chuckling, but are never anything I would dare to recount to anyone. They just don't seem like they are that kind of funny. Although I notice that in the 15-minute long tales of a fictional youth by a man in his mid sixties, there is often a theatrical de-pantsing. And, really, who doesn't like a theatrical de-pantsing?
Perhaps it means I am already old.
Tuesday, 13 February 2007
superheroes
The boy loves superheroes.
Yes, when I was a boy, I loved superheroes. I collected comic books. When I bought my first house, my comic book collection was the only thing I rescued from my parent's house. I think there's like 600 of them, all of them old and beat up and worn out. Although I have not shown them to the boy yet, I will have to at some point. In a couple years, I guess, when he will read them instead of needing me to read them all to him, as would be the case today. But regardless, I get the superhero thing.
I am also attepting to replace the "outer space dance mix" compilation cd that was made for his last birthday with a new cd to listen to every day in the car. Every Day. Seriously, it is hard to get him to not want to just jump to Weird Al's "Yoda", which is almost always followed by a request that I then tell him the story of Star Wars. And the Empire Strikes Back. And then The Return of the Jedi. He will alllow me to pause the story after the car ride is over, only to start it again when we get back in. He always remembers. Always. But, I digress.
Anyway...I am selling him on the idea of a superhero themed cd. I could really use some suggestions, as my tendencies go a little afar afield. The boy received a cd with tv show theme songs, but I can't locate it yet.
Please note, I am considering the following:
Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult
(this will undoubtedly require making the successful argument that Godzilla is, in fact, a superhero and is sent to save us from ourselves)
Iron Man by Black Sabbath.
(ok, I'm worried that this woud totally freak him out..after all, he's still only 4.)
Kung-Fu Fighting...by someone I can't recall, but its on Pure Funk Vol 1...and its already on the playlist.
KWW is making the case for the peter cetera song that says something about "I'll be your knight in shining armour".
Yes, when I was a boy, I loved superheroes. I collected comic books. When I bought my first house, my comic book collection was the only thing I rescued from my parent's house. I think there's like 600 of them, all of them old and beat up and worn out. Although I have not shown them to the boy yet, I will have to at some point. In a couple years, I guess, when he will read them instead of needing me to read them all to him, as would be the case today. But regardless, I get the superhero thing.
I am also attepting to replace the "outer space dance mix" compilation cd that was made for his last birthday with a new cd to listen to every day in the car. Every Day. Seriously, it is hard to get him to not want to just jump to Weird Al's "Yoda", which is almost always followed by a request that I then tell him the story of Star Wars. And the Empire Strikes Back. And then The Return of the Jedi. He will alllow me to pause the story after the car ride is over, only to start it again when we get back in. He always remembers. Always. But, I digress.
Anyway...I am selling him on the idea of a superhero themed cd. I could really use some suggestions, as my tendencies go a little afar afield. The boy received a cd with tv show theme songs, but I can't locate it yet.
Please note, I am considering the following:
Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult
(this will undoubtedly require making the successful argument that Godzilla is, in fact, a superhero and is sent to save us from ourselves)
Iron Man by Black Sabbath.
(ok, I'm worried that this woud totally freak him out..after all, he's still only 4.)
Kung-Fu Fighting...by someone I can't recall, but its on Pure Funk Vol 1...and its already on the playlist.
KWW is making the case for the peter cetera song that says something about "I'll be your knight in shining armour".
Friday, 9 February 2007
I used to have a tell
Lets start with a little about me.
I used to have a tell. I am the kind of guy who likes to tell jokes. However, my jokes used to often take the form of an elaborate lie. Didn't really matter what it was about, but, oh the joy I would get if I could get someone, anyone, to believe the most outlandish lie even for a minute. It was not too long after I convinced someone--and you know who you are--that the practice wedding cake we had left in the car while running into Zio's for a slice fo pizza had melted into a chocolate puddle int he back seat, that I was revealed.
Every time I began a sentence with "Apparently..." the sentence was a complete lie. Then every time I said the word "apparently" , it was repeated again and again. This has made my work only that much more difficult.
I used to have a tell. I am the kind of guy who likes to tell jokes. However, my jokes used to often take the form of an elaborate lie. Didn't really matter what it was about, but, oh the joy I would get if I could get someone, anyone, to believe the most outlandish lie even for a minute. It was not too long after I convinced someone--and you know who you are--that the practice wedding cake we had left in the car while running into Zio's for a slice fo pizza had melted into a chocolate puddle int he back seat, that I was revealed.
Every time I began a sentence with "Apparently..." the sentence was a complete lie. Then every time I said the word "apparently" , it was repeated again and again. This has made my work only that much more difficult.
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