Cut all my hair off. Feel lighter.

And last night, finally a respite from work. Tried to go to Atlas Cafe to do some writing, but they were closed, so I ended up at that terrible million dollar Starbucks-in-disguise place, Circadia. Tonita, (who has a bit about her latex clothing line in this month's I.D.) stopped by for a beer, but i was tired and jittery and so not very good company. Went to my studio, loitered. Looks like we're going to be able to keep our studio space at the Art Explosion after all! At least, things look good for now!
LINK | 1:34 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

An enormous database of historical photographs are online here.
LINK | 11:02 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

An excellent article in today's Salon about Sylvia Plath and the publication of her unedited diaries, the first of two parts. She is a baffling figure, at least to me. The more I read about her, the more elusive she becomes.

Also, an interview with the biographer of Laurie Anderson on the Britannica site.
LINK | 11:57 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Went yesterday with Mark and Alexandra to the Oxbow School up in Napa, where high school sophomores come for a semester to immerse themselves in art. It was founded by Ann Hatch, who also founded The Capp St. Project, which has been absorbed by CCAC. (<--the site designed by David Karam of Posttool, I believe.)

The campus is only partially built, but the studios are beautiful, designed by Stanley Saitowitz, who I believe teaches at Berkeley. He designed the holocaust memorial in Boston. Here are some of his online musings on various buildings that he has visited. I thought this passage was interesting:

At Strand Books, in a corner, a pile of full leaf Bowman's Hebrew Thought, which describes the crux of difference through the concept of Being. Greek being is related to the Egyptian notion of the eternal present, as exemplifies by the pyramid which Pliny described as a frozen ray of light, this static condition does not exist in the Hebraic mind. The Hebrew, word hayah, in distinction from the concept to be, involves not only inert condition, but the active notion of becoming. It is neither objective nor a state of rest. In Hebrew thought dwelling is related to the person who dwells. While for the Greek, it is related to the residence and household goods. In the Old Testament, no objective pictorial description o f Noah's Ark or the Tabernacle or the Temple is given, while what is discussed in great detail is the relation to intent, material, methods of construction, and use, without mention of appearance.

We also went to the Oakville Grocery a Napa foodie paradise, where I bought some amazing, and amazingly expensive Golden Moon Rose Tea, and some red sweet pepper spread. It's almost painful to be in that place, you want to pull a chair up to the displays and eat everything.
LINK | 12:59 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Woohoo. Look at the sexy new Barney's site. It's like a clothing commercial. Of course you can't buy anything there, but that's apparently not the point. This is the first commercial site I've seen that has one of those little floating frames in Flash.

Here's a little Flash toy from Method (who have built their site since the last time I looked.) And a nice little timeline thing from joshua davis.
LINK | 2:39 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Young Hae Chang. I love this silly art piece, Stark Naked Love (this from Peterme.)
LINK | 10:37 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

www.edge.org, which the Jared Diamond article is on is pretty great.

Went last night with Mark, a fabulous dancer, to the League of Conservation Voters benefit dinner, at the St. Francis. Excuse to dress up, foxtrot. I could have sworn he told me it was Wednesday, but suddenly he was standing there on the steps (is that a tie? )at 6:15 yesterday. I have never dressed so fast for a chichi event. I think ten minutes or so. Tried to call Emily, who I had plans with, but I don't think she was checking voice mail where she was staying. We arrrived late. A good speech by the founder of Working Assets, who was the guest of honor (can't spell his name), and great fun and hilarity with the people at our table. And oddly clumsy speech by Willie Brown, who is usually so glib. Strange grey aspic thing to start, and oddly biomorphic mashed potatoes in the middle, but nice chocolate thing to finish.

Dancing? Dancing. Glenn Miller, samba and Aiko Aiko? Yes.
LINK | 6:27 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I got an email today asking if the scans of my diary were still online. I've been trying to build them into a less 1995, more 2000 version, but won't be getting to it anytime soon. I looked through them today, and they seem so archaic. I don't even draw like that anymore. But, yes, here they are.
LINK | 5:56 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

At lunch today with Josh, we talked about memes and the mobility of ideas and behaviors and he recommended a book called The Meme Machine that he's been reading, and I remembered a fascinating article I'd read by Jared Diamond, called How to get Rich which was a fascinating study of how organizations (even nations) should be structured to allow for the greatest productivity, innovation and wealth.

It's brilliant, and eminently readable, like his book Guns, Germs and Steel, which is a fascinating anthropological study of why Europeans came to dominate the globe in spite of the fact that Asian and South American technology was far superior during the Early Renaissance, and, obliquely, is a great debunking of the basic beliefs behind racism.
LINK | 6:10 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

My favorite site today: a-matter. Wish I had more time to read every single page. Rereading Delirious New York again too, which I can read in paragraph sized bites. After several weeks of "reading" Tokyo: a certain style, a picture book. Photographs of interiors of Tokyo interiors, not the idealized stylish pads you see in Wallpaper, but the real, middle class, three tatami mat apartments that people cram an astounding amount of stuff into.
LINK | 11:25 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Now what do you all think of the Salon redesign? I worked there for almost two years, and did illustrations for them until about a month ago, so I'm pretty familiar with the interface. I like it. because:

1. Clearly delineated spaces. I like how the lines and table backgrounds set the spaces off from one another. A clear improvement on the white spaces.
2. More information above the fold. I didn't like scrolling in the last design, and wanted more accessible from the first view. they've accomplished that.
3. Division between "Salon" and the Ad banners. Again, the divisions work partitioning content from ad space. My only wish would be for larger text.

It had to happen eventually. Now we've gotGeek Astrology.
LINK | 11:06 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Steamy hot here in San Francisco, where I usually wear a parka and own no shorts. Still not smoking! (except for two moments of weakness this week.) Still, pretty good.
LINK | 7:41 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Funfun party for Braddog Friday nite chez Telstar. Brad, now at Outside, looked calmer and more enlightened from living in Santa Fe for the past several months. Sad to see him go, but good to see him back, if only for the weekend. Todd served the house specialty, microwavable pizza wontons, and celebrated his new ebay acquisition: a vintage Winnebago Tonka truck.

I'm no Anthony Haden-Guest (or whoever that other guy was that ((the late lamented)) Spy magazine followed around one night to see who was the greater debauchee/man about town/playboy -- Morgan Entrekin?), so, exhausted from my 80 hr workweek, went home early, and missed all the good shenanigans, I'm sure. However, I can say that many handsome writers were in evidence.
LINK | 10:44 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"There is plenty of evidence here that most graphic design has a limited shelf life..." A review of the Tibor Kalman show at the SFMOMA.

OK. My search for true love turned up a quote from "Chicken Soup for the Soul" no less.
LINK | 1:19 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Yarg. So I've been quitting smoking (again) this week, and it hasn't been easy, especially given the hours I've been putting in for work, and the stress. I've made it to the gym almost every single day, instead.

So, I was on the Gurl site, because I was backwards navigating from Emily's link below, and I clicked on an ad. I never click on ads. But I got here. Seemed serendipitous to me. Especially since I'd just bummed a smoke off a friend.

We also spoke of meeting incredibly beautiful people recently, and how you're completely incapable of stopping yourself from looking at them. How helpless you feel, looking at them. How you blush and stammer while they look at you curiously. And I put forward my theory of how it's very difficult for such people to find true love, since consciously or unconsciously, instinctually or mindfully, people are attracted to them for their beauty (Cf. Angels and Insects) first and foremost. It's blinding. I advanced my corresponding theory on the luckiness of ugly people. He didn't seem convinced.

Once, Derek saw someone on Search Voyeur searching for 'true love.' I just ran a search for it on Google and it returned this:

True Love Waits: Purpose
...who we are, our purpose, the True Love Waits commitment and how...
Description: A campaign to challenge students to remain sexually abstinent until marriage.
Category: Society > People > Teens > Teen Sexuality > Abstinence
www.truelovewaits.com - Show matches (Cache) - 10k - Similar pages

*sigh*.
LINK | 12:45 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ah, a brief break. Emily sent me the URL for this beautiful hand drawn interface, Word Perhect.
LINK | 12:55 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I thought Shakespeare had the largest vocabulary in the English Language. But perhaps it's Edward Gibbon, Author of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Who would have thought that Oscar Wilde had a pretty middling vocabulary? And wasn't I shocked to find that women writers also tend towards plain speech? Zack has done this fabulous analysis of words in the Guttenberg project.

The part that I found most fascinating was this part:

It would be interesting to know for a given book what words are used uncommonly often or, likewise, uncommonly infrequently. To compute this, the relative frequency of each words is sampled from the database at large and then compared to the frequency in each book.

Not surprisingly, these 'Anomalous Word Summaries' paint an incredibly accurate picture of the work. For example, among Moby Dick's most anomalous words are: whale, sperm, and harpooneer. Of course, proper names tend to dominate these lists; for example, ahab, stubb, and queequeg top out Moby Dick. Just as interesting is what the book is NOT about. Among Moby Dick's most infrequently used words (i.e. words which are common in other books, but not in this one) are: miss, government, happiness, smiled, and machine.

These were particularly interesting:

Paradise Lost; Milton, John
Frequent:  wonderous, heaven, satan, dominations
Infrequent:  country, church, horses, sister

Gargantua and Pantagruel; Rabelais, Francis
Frequent:  codpiece, catchpole, ballocks, dingdong, fart, chitterlings, gymnast, arse
Infrequent:  smile, existence, feelings, british, professor, suffering

What's a dingdong? This and Les Miserables were translated from the French, though.
LINK | 12:45 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Jim suggests adding sections called "my digestive tract" and "bills I've paid recently."
LINK | 12:00 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Bad night of sleep. Work stress? Vivid dreams, all forgotten. No time to remember. Cracking my knuckles, getting to work.

Thanks for all the mail, amici. love to you all!! (especially great to hear from those of you I haven't heard from in a while, Tarik, Schap...)

Random quote from the archives:

When the edge becomes the center, the center becomes the void.

--Robert Coover.

And I'm out..
LINK | 10:45 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

today Cy drove me down to palo alto since my car, Mr. Gomez, 1990 red Honda Civic, has had the do-funnies lately: seatbelt broken and taillights not working. Must keep him going; it's become a badge of honor not to have a new car in this town which seems to be full of 25-year-olds in Lexuses. Lexi. Whatever.

and a day full of meetings. After a day like that it seems as if you've gotten nothing done, only drawn up lists of things you've yet to do. *sigh*.
LINK | 11:31 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The euphoria of my clutter! the books, and paint and colored pencils, guitars, papers, stories records, CDs, glue, computers, keyboards, cameras! nothing you can't do something with, except now, when i have too much else to do and there is only their gravity and scatter.

the clutter. the scatter.

matter.
LINK | 7:30 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

a quick thought before i run down to palo alto for the yellowball meeting:

in feersum endjinn by iain m. banks, one of my favorite s.f. writers, there is a passage about an enormous database where they store the lives of people who die. But they only save the part of you that is completely original, original thoughts, original ideas, original experiences, and the rest already exists there, having been lived by countless other people.

and people are humbled by how little of them actually gets saved.

It occurred to me that with all of us sitting here typing out these weblogs, so much of the surprise and event and incident in our lives is repetition of what others have experienced, typed and stored.

just a thought. off to my meeting.
LINK | 10:25 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

indeed it is working.

today was not much of a day. i worked all day on yellowball stuff, first a schematic, then a design. deadline is thursdayish, when i have to deliver the stuff to lukas. also mostly rainy and grey here in s.f. I did manage to get to the gym though. necessary stress reduction.

yesterday, however, was a wonderful day, also rainy, but spent with derek and heather eating bagels with lox and capers. telling stories. canadians! i love canadians. have met so many lately, and am still missing people I met up at Banff Centre for the Arts. (hi maura!) d and h inspired me to put up this log.

had no idea derek was such a great musician. he sang me some incredible songs he'd written, i plunked out a few folk tunes and wailed. we went to my studio and painted. tim stopped by, exhilarated because he just found a great apartment to rent, that was in a somewhat seedy neighborhood. we wished him luck.
LINK | 11:50 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

first, i must test this thing.

testing...testing...

one more time. anna wong. anna tsue...
LINK | 11:00 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .