Truman's wife, Elizabeth "Bess" Virginia Wallace Truman. Hands down the most manly in the post black & white era of portraits. Look at her head.
Nancy Davis Reagan & Grace Anna Goodhue Coolidge wore similar dresses. Coolidge is the more appealing broad with those stark black curlsl, and because she poses so openly, coupled with her outdoorsiness, and her beautiful dog. Reagan's hiding something.
I was desperate for something other than exercise or free weights that could serve as some kind of , "zen activity." Something to curb my depression, and help me enjoy the beauty of the outdoors a little more, or make me go outside a bit more often. I think I had also scene that Dogtown documentary. Or I had scene the energetic previews for the fictionalized version of the Dogtown documentary with the kid from the Girl Next Door. And they sell the art of skateboarding very well in the Dogtown pictures. On a very hot day, I took a step off the cliff, and went to Supreme on Fairfax. I figured maybe I would buy a board, maybe a I wouldn't. At the very least I get to see the big wooden bowl they built inside the store that I had seen pictures of and been attracted to. But I did it. I bought a skateboard; a cool looking one with an image of a random stereotypical Native American that I later realized was Johnny Cash. The board cost a lot of money with all the add ons like wheels and trucks, and grip tape. I left the store with the same feeling I had after I bought guitar hero. A mix of shame and excitement and fear that someone would catch me.
For about a week I rode that expensive skateboard that I had no right to buy up and down my block on London Street. Sometimes I would ride the board to the gas station where I bought cigars and groceries. I would never ride it when I crossed the street. And once per ride, I would fall flat on my face, and nearly break something, most likely a wrist. Never felt much zen during the time I attempted skateboarding as a so-called zen activity. I did feel embarassed, and old. And I wondered where the safe, smooth surfaces were in Los Angeles.
The skateboard now lives in my Aunt & Uncle's garage. I need to sell it, badly.
Recently, I will admit that I took up meditation. Slightly before the Lynch book came out.
My favorite new form of censorship in American movies is when they cover the nipple with a pastie or airbrush out the nipple in post. This is becoming a fad by which younger starlets get to do their risky nude scenes, and still keep their sacred nipples undercover and mysterious. They also make their breasts look comically weird.
And I like the idea of people who get off on pixelation. Those who derive excitement from the site of a person's private areas being distorted by pixels in the media.
1) I admittedly prefer straight fried egg on a roll to your traditional bacon, egg & cheese on a roll sandwich. Yesterday, like many days, I walked into the deli, took a deep breathe, and then ordered the traditional sandwich instead of my preference. Why? Because I am such a coward that I am unwilling to ask for what I want from a strange man behind a counter that I will never have any real connection to. But he's going to judge me, right? Him and the guy who rings me up. Why is it so weird to just order plain egg on a roll? It's simple, and with a little salt, can be nice. Like horsefood, nice. I'm a horsefood person.
2) When I was a kid we used to stop at the same deli every morning (between berkeley and union on 7th avenue) and I'd order a sandwich. Without fail the butcher would ask if I wanted anything on my sandwich. I'd say, "lettuce" maybe. He'd say, "tomato? mayonaise?" And I'd say no, and crumble inside. In my head the butcher was saying, "Jesus Christ, he doesn't want anything? It's going to be dry and plain. Give me a break," etc...
3) I used to ask the bartender for, "the cheapest beer." For a long time I did this without shame. Fuck it, that's exactly what I wanted, and I didn't care about the fact its something your not supposed to ask. You want to know what's cheapest when it comes to beer. I felt a little macho in asking too, and I never feel very macho. Never. Alas, my friends ordered me to stop asking for the cheapest beer, they were embarassed by my straight forward talking. I order budweiser now, or stella, and I search and seach for the prices. But the prices are rarely, if ever, listed.
Watched Arsenic & Old Lace the other day for researchical purposes. The introduction of the Villain, capital V, and his tiny German assistant Dr. Einstein, just goes to town. Right to town. That big push on the karloff-like scarface... and I'm a genuine sucker for Egors/Igors. My landlord, Musa, is a bit of an Egor. Here's a pretty amazing image that comes up when you search "musa."
I've been listening to Ralf & Florian, and in the midst of this listening, I found this video of Tanzmusik. Note the tinfoil covered electro-drums, they get you excited. Then I looked up what else was going on in 1973 musically that is available on youtube...
Two lonely songs in a row. A roommate recently admitted to me that when the shower was broken, he was forced to use, "down there," meaning the faucet; he took baths. A bath is a very stereotypically lonely thing. A bath in a tub that has not been cleaned in months, that is excessively lonely, and overwhelmingly depressing. Filth upon much older filth, in still water. And layers of filth are lonelier than filth alone. I'm going to stop now.
I gave up after viewing a few pages. After Radar Love, I had to eat something, and when there was nothing significant enough to eat, I collapsed (in terms of desire). Too much stuff going on in 1973 music wise that is available on youtube. Too much.
End of last yearish (?), I went to see the Ron Mueck show at the Brooklyn Museum. I ended up more impressed by Walton Ford's enormous painstakingly made water color paintings than I was by Mueck's enormous painstakingly made human sculptures. The above painting in particular comes to mind first because I was shocked as to how long it took me to realize that the animal on top was taking advantage of the animal on the bottom. I literally passed and made a point of observing the watercolor three or four times before I recognized the presence of the erect penis lodged inside the leopard/cheetah/tiger. When everything came into focus for me, I would like to think that I suddenly felt the urge to go to the bathroom, or I began blushing uncontrolably. I know a guy, a German, who blushes uncontrollably when he finds out his woman is fertile.
More than a year ago now I worked a job based out of a hotel adjacent to ground zero. I wrote about it sometimes over at bronsonvsgod. Never had the guts to share the above image though, from my supervisor's own personal webpage. The image is, I guess, my old boss's logo. A picture taken of him from his youth and then run through photoshop to achieve an iconic look.
My old boss also had two bright white dogs. Happy and hairy, pure breeds. He brought them into work one day, and they left hair all over the copy room. We had to sweep up all the hair, and use one of those high pressure air dusters inside the machine; it took nearly all day. Of course, I am also allergic to damn dogs. But how can you be seriously allergic to dogs as handsome as something like this...
Oz Malul, who I am proud to call a roommate of mine, created this kinetic sculpture. He would tell you turn the volume up. The sound is part of the experience. We got into a small argument the other night about whether sculpture is a form of entertainment, and I felt offensive afterward. A lot of my conversations with people end this way.
I don't think I've ever met anyone whose witnessed a tidal wave in person. I want to see a really huge wave, badly. Why are there so few videos of huge waves without surfers? I don't want to look at the tsunami ones. Don't these enormous waves just happen day to day in certain beaches in Australia, Hawaii and Japan?
And yesterday, I thought I was going to get frostbite on my hands. 10 degrees outside yesterday, and I decide to stop wearing my insanely warm to the point of mild embarassment winter coat. I wasn't wearing a scarf, or gloves, and I'm carrying equipment so the skin of my precious hands is exposed. Three more minutes, and I'm frost bitten. Fifteen more minutes, and I look this guy below. At least my shirt was tucked in. The key to staying warm is closing up that gap, tucking that shirt in, keepin gthe warmth inside. I never bought long-johns this season, and think it's too late. How far do long-johns drop in price come spring? I never do it. Never buy long johns on time. And your thighs, they get cold so easy.
Every morning on my way to school, I pass a store-front that serves as the home of a small Spanish legal services office. They also sell sneakers, or at least there is no wall between the office and the wall of sneakers. I don't think they've gotten a new pair of shoes in there in a while; the law must be where the money is being made. On the foggy, scratched store-front window there are bunch of damaged looking photos advertising the firm's potential services, one of which is of an unhappy looking couple and is titled, "DIVORCIOS."
Above, more images advertising divorce proceeding services from other Spanish speaking law firms...
Digital pregancy test. Wow. How long have these been out? Why did I miss out on this for so long? I almost wrote huge for the post title and of course I thought of Trump. If only this product innovation was a Trump innovation. And all the commercials featured Trump. Alas this is more a finally, than a huge. Digital pregnancy tests are a big relief. For women especially. But also for men. I hope that eventually analog pregnanct tests become cool. I've been to frat parties where guys jokingly take pregnancy tests.
When you search for "digital pregnancy test," this image also comes up...
Video from Pervert's Guide to Cinema with Slavoj Zizek.
Slavoj Zizek. Apparently, if I was in the know, I would have known about this guy much earlier. But I don't stay much in the know when it comes to the academic world, let alone most worlds. I'm late to this Zizek party, and I don't know what to think of this guy, but what an amazing presence. The ego is palpable. He must haunt people close to him. I don't think there are many people that could hold a conversation with him based on this video alone. But many men could sit in a sauna with him and just listen. I would like to be one of these men, but I don't think I'm quite there yet. There are videos of him on youtube lying in bed with his shirt off.
I've seen Avey Tare and Kria Brekken play a couple times. I don't even know if they've played more than a couple times in NY, so I might be able to say that I've seen them everytime they've done a show in town. I get a bit fanboy when it comes to animal collective, and I feel oddly pathetic about this sometimes. Not as pathetic as Sly Stallone meeting Rocky in this video...
A week or so ago, pitchfork posted the first track, "sis around the sandmill," from the Avey & Kria's upcoming album Pullhair Rubeye. (Please forgive me for not including accents where they belong here, I don't have the patience.) Apparently Avey & Kria listened to the playback of the posted track backwards and decided they liked that version better, and decided to put the reversed version of the song on the album. A ballsy move. Now the entire record has leaked, and word is that every single track on pullhair is played in reverse. Some songs were sped up and fucked with before being reversed. Some stripped of their vocals before being reversed. On the AC message boards, some fans complained, and others expressed their love for the backwards songs. People are already trading versions of the record where the reversed songs have been reversed, and edited back to their original state. Suprisingly, Avey responded to these messages fairly quick, and with a not so subtle degree of annoyance at the people who were up in arms. Avey goes by the name "wheeter" on the messageboard. Read the thread here, avey's response is somewhere in the middle of that page.
In other AC news, Deakin, the guitar player who I think I pissed off at one of the avey & kria shows when I accidentally knocked over avey's guitar and responded a bit too neurotically, will not be touring with animal collective at least up until the release of their next album.
And Person Pitch, the record by AC's Panda Bear, is my favorite new album of the moment. Go find Bros and Take Pills on hype machine.
Here's a couple of decent quality videos of some of the new AC jams...
Peace Bone, at the Malta Festival, with too busy camerawork.
and Reverend Green, at T in the park. This song is going to be fucking huge on the next record if it makes the cut.
