Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Six Months of Tasks



A to do list I kept through the latter half of 2011.
In reverse chronological order (most recent first) of completion:


48 chip ship curve
call librarians about childrens book
smoke treat jacket
clean room
go grocery shopping
Friday: marjorie 9
Friday: Ryan noon
Make lunch plans with Ryan
blog gay pickup
final light stock library
revision motion blur real smart motion blur
daniel garber, corn
charles joseph node, roses, tulips, morning glory, delphinium
kazz
email kc about printers
make dinner plans with Alex
ask chris about seatle comp
ask kevin about work
ask kevin about pixar
make doctor, dentist, chiro appointments
coctou twins Aloysius
Monday: 9am Marjorie
Sunday: Margot 12:30 Tartine
Saturday: Monica noon Cheese
Friday 11:00 Iris Cheeseboard
Saturday 11:00 Miette Arizmendi (O)
Saturday: noon Tina Tartine
no t tues, 4 year end post
well I'm frozen liquid darlin, i wont have to cross you when i have to, as weary as sunbliss, it's not enough to believe it's true, i won't have to lie
buy 77mm filters, b&w film
Monday: 10:30 Dr. Patrick
blog business card ask out
download the kinks, iggy pop, nick cave the good son, sonic youth, the stooges, the velvet underground, Bill Withers still bill, neko case
blog street fighter 2010
call Isaiah
blog summer photos
blog lion king
mail prints
Bach partita 1, 2nd or 3rd to last
sell, buy records
Monday pick up prints
FIREHOUSE ART COLLECTIVE, 510 219 8688
beat lion king
edit last of summer
email people about misty tutor
christine 17:00 tartine
upload photos for lab
prep marjorie photos
wednesday: kk at 15:00
Saturday: Jenny 15:00 elmwood cafe
Bronwyn monday 11am
scan polaroids
wed natalia dinner
edit foliage ref
put anya mix on hd
Email Cindy's letter of rec!
pick up film
write cindy letter
email debbs
grade students
marjorie friday 9am
look up records
post research museum of in
drop off film
watch tutorial videos
Wednesday pick up film, buy new film
buy grey card
collect old class material
drop off film
ask ryan about black and white films, slide options etc. kodak supra
The Graceful Fallen Mango
nico
gotye
call anthony about painting
fry up garage scene
collect c&i notes
check mr library
mon mail passport
sun oct 2nd, whit,ang dinner
mail rent
email andrew best of ci, ask about ci TA, projector bulb, mentor group meetings
do grades
vacuum, re-do canvas floor
groceries, tomato, fish
Marjorie Sunday 13:00
alexis lunch
figure out texture and lighting structure
watch two insight movies
scan Marjorie photos
meet alina thai temple 12:45
submit time card
calculate grades
Friday mentor 15:00 Albert
friday tutoring 09:00
buy seattle tickets
thursday 10:30 chiro
wednesday climbing 17:30
wednesday 13:00 mentor
finish scanning Seattle photos
download yes, new paul simon, check if all supertramp, low, rachels no play album, chad vangerwhatever, dirty projectors, fleet foxes, jeff beck, jimmy page, jimi hendrix, pete townshend, gene vincent, submotion orchestra
blog intense student email
set up sf date
Marjorie thursday 9am
send mentor email
Wednesday: 17:00 Marjorie
backup C on main files?
book: the complete japanese joinery
vacuum
wash sheets
work on egypt painting?
7:30 Berkeley iron works
5:30 cheese board
send out grades
electro-lounge post rock comp for kazz
email marjorie
buy book: just enough, lessons in living green from traditional japan
go to bank
check if paid parking
color correct anthony photo
friday andrew meeting 12:30
fridays tutoring philz 1:45
friday class from 8am to noon
thursday 16:00 tartine, Brooke
thursday drop off film
thursday morning dmv
wednesday 16:20 kelly cheeseboard
wednesday jenny dinner
call parents
check work schedule, update, and contact marjorie
wednesday 6am leave for LA
blog no t tuesday
update bench girl
update boy in box drawing
grade 511 grades
monday night dinner?
monday with bob 11am
sunday dinner jenny 6:30ish
watch tree of life
sunday 1:30 philz
sunday tutoring 10am
ask saturday classes to bring inspiration links
friday 4:30 cheeseboard
thursday at insight after class
Philz thurs 9am meet Marjorie
wed 7 meet whit at food trucks
post in cghub
download dr.katz
pay parking ticket
update grades
repost tutoring
retrieve character painting
The rage of love turns inward
take photos to class
mail back book
finish color grading
grades
blog anime class
bring desk lamp to class
pick up film
post art tutor
bonobo
call berkeley typewriter
get super tramp
take eiko light, china ball, to figure drawing to take to sams.
get groceries
finish figure color grading
drop off film
send out grades
meet rachael 5pm tartine friday
get proj.1 and self photo
get figure drawings from school

Monday, January 16, 2012

Six Month Stickies # 8
March '11 - August '11


As usual the tracks of music that got stuck in my head in the last six months, in order.

Apologies that it's five months overdue...


* Click image to download a ZIP of the compilation:






Purple Rhinestone Eagle - Thirteen Cycles


An awesome all girl band I just randomly saw at a smelly little house party in Oakland. They rocked hard, and I went home that night with this album. I like the methodical guttural development; almost like a darkly magical call to arms.


Paul Simon - Train in the Distance, Song About the Moon

Both songs by someone who is so comfortable with song writing, he can make it seem effortless. Playful, deeply yet abstractly penetrating, and some how carefree, all at the same time.


Kate Bush - This Woman's Work


I don't know if I've already spoken of my creepy infatuation with Kate Bush's music, but this song is a perfect example of how she can take something so simple and execute it in such an unintuitive, powerful, at times alarming, yet perfectly coherent way. Her music is so singular and impactfull, I often just sit back after listening to one of her songs, awed and slightly confused as to how I can be so altered by a woman's voice and seemingly simple instrumentation.


Paul Simon - Gumboots


At this point I think I've had every song off Graceland stuck in my head at one time or another. I really like the upbeat jubilance of this song.

I was walking down the street
When I thought I heard this voice say
Say, ain't we walking down the same street together
On the very same day
I said hey Senorita that's astute
I said why don't we get together
And call ourselves an institute


I had that passage stuck in my head for about two weeks singing it with a smile, riding my bike to work in the bright sharp morning light.


Brahms - Denn Wir Haben Keine Bleibende Statt


Not often that I get orchestral music stuck in my head. 3:15 is the sticky point for me. Normally I like more austere orchestral music where the beauty and feeling comes from it's intelligence and structure as in the case of Bach. But sometimes when a more forceful piece isn't too indulgent but properly harnesses the power and grandiose options of a full orchestra just right, it can be pretty amazing.


Daft Punk - Recognizer, Arena

It was my brother who first turned me on to Daft Punk when I was ten, so not surprisingly he was the one to tell me that the newest Tron film featured a soundtrack composed by Daft punk using a mixture of orchestral and synthetic instruments. He played me the album during a long car ride and it is every bit as good as I could have hoped. I've never heard synthetic/analogue blended so perfectly outside a rock or ambient context. My favorite thing is the sense of space in the music. It's so easy to close your eyes and suddenly imagine giant sweeping vistas open up beneath you, or towering monoliths eclipsing the sky above you.


Norah Jones - Don't Know Why

... Okay let me explain... I had a dream that Samuel L. Jackson and I were crying the this Norah Jones song... Okay I realize that doesn't explain how I let this happen. I attempted to dream analysis this occurrence with limited success ( http://artofali.blogspot.com/2011/05/weird-dream-i-had-weird-dream-few.html ) Now let us never speak of this again.


Radiohead - Lotus Flower

What can I say, my stock answer since I was twelve years old, as to what my favorite band was, had always been Radiohead. I was one of those true believers in the nineties that thought O.K. Computer was the best thing musically of that decade. But the last twelve years has seen the band allow themselves to slide into complacency, dripping out music doodles that have none of the fire and ardor of their hay day. Of course a mediocre Radiohead album is still better than 99.999 percent of music being produced. Still each album always has at least a couple tracks that I think are brilliant. The King of Limbs was the first to actually not offer up a single brilliant song. I think Lotus Flower comes closest, but it's certainly no Paranoid Android.


The Cranberries -
Ode to my Family, Zombie, Empty, Ridiculous Thoughts


Speaking of the nineties. I've been weirdly obsessed with the cranberries since I was eleven. My friends throughout middle and high school, most of whom were in hardcore/punk bands, were always confused why I was so committed. I still don't really have an explanation. But even this many years later when I hear a cranberries song I think "Damn, this is amazing." I cant get enough of the vocals, the controlled voice cracking, darkly hopeful themes and just the right amount of poetic abstraction. Emotionally touching delivery that never crosses over to affected or maudlin. Yay Cranberries!


Supertramp - Breakfast in America

Not sure why it took so many years for this song to become stuck in my head. Anyway, another example of the high pitched fun catchy music that Supertramp does so well.


Paul Simon - The Cool, Cool River

Paul Simon is just an amazing song machine. I don't understand how he seems to so effortless produce the most shockingly powerful yet unindulgent music.

And I believe in the future
We shall suffer no more
Maybe not in my lifetime
But in yours I feel sure
Song dogs barking at the break of dawn
Lightning pushes the edges of a thunderstorm
And these streets
Quiet as a sleeping army
Send their battered dreams to heaven, to heaven
For the mother's restless son
Who is a witness to, who is a warrior
Who denies his urge to break and run

Who says: hard times?
I'm used to them
The speeding planet burns
I'm used to that
My life's so common it disappears
And sometimes even music
Cannot substitute for tears


Toe - Temolo + Delay

I'm not sure how I went so long without hearing about Toe. It's like a Japanese extension of Mogwai with ridiculously good drumming.


The Byrds - You Ain't Going Nowhere

I have a feeling the older I get the more I'm going to like The Byrds. This song is so irresistible. Don't even try.
No Talking Tuesday # 224

January 10th 2012

No list nothing. Nothing special to report.

No Talking Tuesday # 223

January 3rd 2012

No List. Nothing special to report.

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Gay Pickup





A few months ago, while on lunch break, I was walking to a small park to eat lunch.

A silver sports car was passing me on the street and I noticed the driver suddenly do a double take in my direction. I watched the car as it slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road and stop. The car stopped up ahead of the direction I was walking, so I soon came along side it. As I passed, I looked into the car and saw a young Asian man looking towards me. When he saw I noticed him he began beckoning me across the street. I walked around to the other side of the car so as not to be in traffic and leaned down to speak with him through the open passenger's window:

Me: Hello?

Him: Hi... And how are YOU doing?...

Me: Um, good. Is there something I can help you with?

Him: (mumbles something in a coy effeminate manner)

Me: What?

Him: (More clearly) I want to have fun wich-you...

Me: Oh. Ha. No, that's not how I roll. I thought you wanted directions or something.

..And walked away.

Now for the record I'm thin, and was wearing white shoes, a scarf, an argyle sweater, a leather/canvas book bag, and tight-ish pants. So I don't make an argument for American masculinity the way a thick necked jock in jeans and a tee-shirt might. But I hadn't considered that my dandy-ish leanings would be so potent as to cause a gay man to suddenly pull off the road.

I walked away with my back to his car, into an empty park at dusk. These thoughts made me feel a bit unnerved especially as his car hadn't driven off afterward as I expected it to...

I realized that feeling of vulnerability was probably something slightly akin to what a woman must feel when they're being asked out by a stranger (Something I've done many times and hadn't considered how it might be threatening) Of course I was stronger and more capable then this guy and had a sushi knife in my bag to boot, and there was nothing the least bit aggressive or overbearing in his manner. Still, I couldn't help but feel unsettled afterward.

This experience has taught me to be much more empathetic towards the possible uncomfortably vulnerable feelings I may inadvertently instill in a woman when asking her out, no madder how affable and nonthreatening I may think I'm being.

Monday, January 02, 2012

No Talking Tuesday # 222

December 27th 2011

The last Tuesday of the year found me in Santa Barbara relaxing at my parents house. Reading on a blanket in the backyard under fruit trees, watching art tutorials and drawing and getting fat on copious amounts of Persian food.


No Talking Tuesday # 221

December 20th 2011


No list. Nothing special to report.



No Talking Tuesday # 220

December 13th 2011



In light of that disturbing realization that I forgot a handful of no talking Tuesdays a little while back, and my chronic laziness in updating on a weekly basis; I thought it would be best to start specifying the date associated with each Tuesday.

This way it will be easy for me to look back and make sure I don't accidentally skip a week.


The List:

1 prawn super burrito
- black beans
- spinach tortilla
- to go please

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