June 2005

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Anonymized.


She parries and weaves
She dances
She struggles with her faith
She dances and the world is new
She talks and shows her self
She has unlimited potential and reminds me of mine

It seems a bit like poetry, though it’s about someone who I don’t speak to anymore, so it’s defiantly bittersweet. I’m hesitant even to post it, but by posting it here I can get it out of my system and throw it away.

I’m reminded of the scene in A River Runs Through It, when the father has the son write something, a story. The boy gives it to the father, the father approves and says “throw it away.” Then the child is released and eagerly scampers off to play.

Writing can be transient, and be safely thrown away.

Though here, the writing is permanent.

Or, at least as permanent as the hosting of artlung.com, and attendant backups.

I’m reminded of William Gibson’s book Agrippa: A Book of the Dead, from 1992. It is described here as “Ruminations on memory and family, fragmented. Released as a limited edition encrypted program on floppy, designed to self-destruct when read. Some versions came with self-destructing artwork by Dennis Ashbaugh. Eventually decoded by hackers, versions of the text are available on the net.”

My 22 year old self wanted to buy it. It was far too expensive.

But indeed it is available on the net.

The net wants to remember. The real world, possibly, wants to forget.

Entropy.

I’m reminded of the Love & Rockets song No New Tale To Tell, with its’ line “You cannot go against nature / cause when you do / go against nature / it’s part of nature too”.

The theme is recursion, catch-22, and entropy this morning.

Anyway. The paper will now be recycled into something else. And time flows onward.

Or maybe the theme is impermanence.

Or maybe the theme is permanence.

Today, the net remembers.

I remember too. Today is the anniversary of my parents, and I remember or misremember that it was either me or my sister, when presented with photos of my parents’ wedding, asked “Where was I?”

Which is a neat question.

Neither of us existed, yet. Not yet conceived. Not yet born.

The trick is that maybe we didn’t exist as we know existence to be, but perhaps in the minds of our parents as an idea of having children. Or perhaps in matters of the soul or spirit. Or in a materialistic sense, our matter existed somewhere on the earth. Or maybe something else, elusive.

So where were we?

It’s a good question.

Onward.

The following story is a big signifier for how stupid airplane security has gotten in the United States.


komo news | ‘This Is Not Right’
DES MOINES - Cecilia Beaman is a 57-year-old grandmother, a principal at Pacific Middle School in Des Moines, and as of Sunday is also a suspected terrorist.

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KESQ NewsChannel 3 Palm Springs, CA: Rove says Reagan had “a first-rate mind”... I think this explains what the handful of protesters near the Reagan Presidential Library the other day.

Karl Rove was in the neighborhood.

Update: And the Moorpark College Democrats were there. Dude. Another local blog. Looks like it needs some proofreading.

I awoke so sleepy this morning. Busy day yesterday.

What do I get in this morning’s email? A wonderful note of naissance: the birth of Julien Joseph, to Laura et Joe, two friends and former employers. Where? In France man. France. What was I just saying? It’s a whole French thing happening lately.

Here’s a pic of the little garçon:

0

Man, that kid is cute. Check also the special appearance of Ceasar, Joe and Laura’s other kid in the photos. ;-)

Muchos felicidades to Joe, Laura, and Julien!

More at lwilber.com.

The France Theme

On Saturday the theme seemed to be France. Leah and I awoke and took it easy. We watched some TV, and the first thing we settled on was most of La Femme Nikita, a downbeat French thriller with a downbeat ending. Nikita is a killer in the movie, trying to carry on a relationship. The premise of the film is impossible—junkie trained to be super-assassin—but it is handled with such delicacy it feels plausible and sad. It’s a perfect mating of an art film and an action movie.

Later we had on Forget Paris, which I did not care for very much. I didn’t think much of it the first time either.

I thought a few times about Andrew Phelps, a San Diegan travelling in France now and blogging and taking pictures about it. I also thought about Francophile Tom Bickle whose blog gravitates to France the way mine gravitates to Frank Zappa.

Also on the France tip: the photos associated with the little giant and the elephant are amazing: see Royal de Luxe
at Nantes
for photos of the most astoundingly beautiful steampunk marionette artistry ever.

I have been to Paris twice. Once with my family, and once with my ex-wife. The second time I was sick as a dog. Funny to think of it. I wish I had blog entries from that time. Hmm.. actually, I did keep a scrapbook from my first visit. Pretty extensive I think.

I think sometimes about retroactively blogging. That is, taking old scrapbook entries and old calendar entries and putting them online. To what end though? Who is interested in me passing a Physics test in 1990? Or taking care of someone with ARDS in 1994? I have records and data to support these little moments. But what do I remember of them? Is there something to be gained? I am certain many people must have done this and are doing this. I wonder if it would be worthwhile.

Leah and I got to bed late last night. She went directly to sleep tonight. I’m not quite ready, but will also retire early.

Garage


Garage
Originally uploaded by artlung

This weekend, we actually made headway on this. We have a pile of cardboard to recycle. Books on our bookshelves inside thanks to Leah. Oh, and the garage no longer looks like this image from two weeks ago.

A lot of work got done this weekend, of this kind, and others too.

Lullabies Lyrics: Patron Saint Of Mine:


I climb on through sweet midnight’s window
leave the cold behind
and sit down on your bed and drink red wine
observe me from a distance
I’m ugly and genuine

sing oh sweet patron saint of mine

now your boutique is so unique
I’m glad I stopped to browse
the poetry and colors you arouse
upon your neon divan
mild beyond divine

Insomniac Cinema

Live in Simi Valley or anywhere in Western Ventura County? Check out this—Insomniac Cinema. Here’s the email I just got via their mailing list.
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Tips

Don’t wait too long to cook your asparagus.

Don’t leave the ladder on the lawn.

Don’t watch That’s So Raven.

Don’t call a 7” bookcase a 10” bookcase.

Don’t run out of ketchup and soy milk.

Don’t leave the car windows unrolled when the sprinklers are scheduled to turn on.

Don’t sit too hard on the $19.95 beanbag chair.

Don’t go to Wal-Mart.

Don’t tug on Superman’s cape.

Don’t spit into the wind.

Don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger.

Don’t mess around with Jim.

Meg Vader

Star Wars, Episode III, originally uploaded by ellison.

Last week Devon and I sneaked away and saw an afternoon showing of Revenge of the Sith. We were greeted with the startling visage of Meg Vader, pictured here.

Oh, on the right, that’s also Blockerman, sporting his custom-made “Prequels Suck” t-shirt. That man has style.

Related: Read Leah’s true story from the other night: Darth Devon at Ralph’s.

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