ArtLung

April, 2007: 38 posts.

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Stray Data

  1. I got an eye exam recently. I have reading glasses coming my way in 7 to 10 business days. I have noticed in recent years my eyes get tireder when I read.
  2. Still no new car. We need to rectify this and have been getting by with rentals. Time to do the deed. *
  3. We need to be moved by the end of the month. Packing and moving sucks. *
  4. Easter was lovely, no kids, but still lovely.
  5. Work is great, thanks for asking.
  6. Taxes, oh yes, taxes. Also on the to-do list. *
  7. Laundry can be kind of fun with help.
  8. I look silly in a bonnet. That’s not really a shocker.
  9. It’s chilly the last few days. Hey! Weather! What gives?!?
  10. Trail-riding on a bike is pretty fun. The bike I got is really not for off-roading though. It can do pebbles and streambeds okay, but anything that Mountain Bikers describe as “a little technical” ends up being more than it’s suited for. But I can see that a beefier bike is likely in my distant future. First though, I need some shorts with the padding in back, dude. And a nice windbreaker.

*Three expensive things in one month sucks.

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I miss the Head Lemur

My feedreader has the remnants of his blog Raving Lunacy, and I mark the point where it is gone now. His last, and now deleted post was:

Wow from The Head Lemur
character assassination by image and psedonym
believe what you will
get some help
goodbye

I have to say, the whole Kathy Sierra thing is just the dumbest trainwreck of a series of events ever in blogging. Very very dumb.

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Post-Presidency

From my favorite geopolitical thinker, Thomas Barnett: NPR : The Middle East and U.S. Policy

And then in a more salient, how the world views us sort of way, I really argue that the Bush post-presidency began, for all practical purposes, with Katrina in New Orleans, when the world basically found out the double message of the Bush administration which is they cant do that kind of stuff abroad effectively, and guess what? They cant really do it at home very effectively.

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Kia Rio Rawketh.

New cute car. I dig it!

The better to commute with, my dear! I really like this car.

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Passing Strange – Discounted

Passing along a neat promotion. If you’re a stew/negro problem fan who can get to New York, check it out!

200704-the-public-theater-joes-pub-header.gif

SEE PASSING STRANGE FOR JUST $35 AT THE PUBLIC THEATER!

SEE THE FIRST MUSICAL TO BE BORN OUT OF JOE’S PUB FOR AS LOW AS $35!*

(A Savings of over 40%)!

Limited Engagement Begins May 1st !

“A terrific show…a musical in the guise of a concert…pulsates with the sounds of pop, rock, funk, punk, gospel, folk and New Wave…Music that feels authentic-a rarity in this world of shiny, corporate musical theater.”
-Oakland Tribune

PASSING STRANGE
Book and lyrics by STEW
Music by STEW & HEIDI RODEWALD
Directed by and created in collaboration with ANNIE DORSEN
Movement Coordination by KAROLE ARMITAGE

Featuring de’Adre Aziza, Daniel Breaker, Eisa Davis, Colman Domingo, Chad Goodridge, Rebecca Jones, Stew

From Los Angeles to Amsterdam to Berlin and back, PASSING STRANGE takes musical theater on a whole new trip. From singer-songwriter and performance artist Stew comes PASSING STRANGE, a daring new musical that takes you on a journey across boundaries of place, identity, and theatrical convention. STEW, a popular performer at Joe’s Pub, was commissioned by The Public to develop this moving and hilarious story of a young black bohemian in search of self and home who charts a course for “the real” through sex, drugs, and rock and roll. A co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

LISTEN AND DOWNLOAD MUSIC BY STEW:

* Stew – The Drug Suite (from The Naked Dutch Painter)
* Stew – Love Like That (from Something Deeper Than These Changes)

THREE EASY WAYS TO ORDER YOUR $35 TIX*:
1) CLICK HERE to order online, use promotion code PSGM01
2) Call 212-967-7555 from 10am-9pm, mention code PSGM01
3) Bring a printout of this email to The Public Theater Box Office at 425 Lafayette Street.

Box office hours are Sunday-Monday 1-6pm,
Tuesday-Saturday 1-7:30pm

*Conditions: *Black out dates may apply. Offer in not available on May 8 or May 10. Offer is subject to availability and prior sale; not valid on prior purchases; cannot be combined with other discounts or promotions. This offer may be revoked at any time. Performance schedule subject to change without notice. Limit 8 tickets per order. No refund or exchanges. Telephone and online orders are subject to standard service fees. Offer Expires 06/03/2007.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
Tuesday May 1 – Sunday June 3
Tuesday at 7pm
Wednesday – Friday at 8pm
Saturday at 2 & 8pm
Sunday at 2 & 7pm

Unavailable Dates: Tues May 8, Thurs May 10
No Performances: Sat May 5 at 2pm, Tues May 15
Post-show Discussions: Wed May 9, Tues May 22

Rush Tix
There will be a limited number of $20 Rush Tix available at the box office for every downtown theater performance on sale to the general public one hour prior to curtain. Limit 2 tickets per person. Cash only.

Student Tickets
$25 tickets are available for advance purchase at the box office for every downtown theater performance on sale to the general public. Must have a valid student ID at the time of purchase. Limit one ticket per person.

Full Price Waiting List Tickets
On the day of a sold out performance, we will take a waiting list for full price tickets in person at the box office. The waiting list will be called no earlier than 1/2 hour before curtain. If you are called and not in the lobby, your name will be removed from the list. While tickets occasionally become available in this manner, we are unable to make predictions or guarantees.

Generous support for Passing Strange is given by The New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

The Public Theater and Berkeley Repertory Theatre gratefully acknowledge The National Endowment for the Arts for its support of this production. Passing Strange was developed with the help of the Sundance Theatre Lab, the Stanford Institute for Creativity in the Arts, the Multi-Arts Production Fund-a program of Creative Capital supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, and the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation.

The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust provides leadership support for The Public’s year-round activities.

Bank of America is the proud Sponsor of the 2007 Season of Shakespeare in the Park.

Time Warner is the Supporting Sponsor of The Public’s 2006-2007 season. Leadership support is provided by Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman and Carole Shorenstein Hays. We are also deeply grateful to The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation for its leadership commitment to The Public Theater’s Endowment Fund in support of new work.

Major support is provided by The Shubert Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The Carnegie Corporation of New York, The George T. Delacorte Fund at the New York Community Trust-Fund for Performances at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, Warren Spector and Margaret Whitton and The Starr Foundation. Pepsi is the official beverage sponsor of The Public Theater.

Additional generous support is provided by Debra and Leon Black, Bloomberg, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Susan Stein Shiva Foundation, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Titan Worldwide, The New York Times, New York Public Radio-WNYC and Google Book Search. Public support is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. Continental Airlines is the official airline of The Public Theater.

Nostalgic Kids

Last weekend we engaged in some nostalgia for the kids, taking them to a park they used to play in, oh, 8 years ago. It was fun watching and hearing them talk about that time. A blessing, really. They look great. I like how they seem a little tentative here. Are they thinking “you can never go back again?” — or merely “Mom, please stop taking our picture!”

A Mii for me.

Mii for Me

A Mii for me.

What’s a Mii?

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Iran: “I ask you, is he irrational?”

Thomas PM Barnett remains my favorite geopolitical thinker. Embedded in his talk (downloadable as a Podcast) from Pop!Tech is a short talk on Iran. He makes a metaphor about Iran that feels very true, and with that short metaphor explains their desire for nuclear weapons:

Two thirds of the oil that comes out of the Straits of Hormuz goes east, not west. America takes about 15% of the oil. In 20 years we’re going to take about 10% of the Oil. Asia will take 80%. So it’s basically their oil, our blood. And they know it, and they don’t like to have that conversation. Three key players in this instance. Iran is the avis of oil and gas. It has two new big friends: China and India. We are not going to successfully isolate Iran under any circumstances. In fact, Iran is the key to making stability come about in the Middle East. They can effectively veto our efforts throughout the region. They have reached for the bomb, go figure! I walk up to a park bench — three guys sitting on a park bench — I shoot the guy sitting on the right through the forehead — I double tap the guy on the left — in the meantime the guy sitting in the middle reaches for a weapon. I ask you: is he irrational? [pause, crowd laughs] Or did I make that choice for him?! Is Iran irrational? Can it be deterred? I think it’s pretty clever. And I think we just got a demonstration of how clever they were, and are in Lebanon. A preemptive strike, very deftly waged. All the reasons why Nixon wanted Iran as a regional security partner are still there. They are Persian, not Arab. They lead the Shia world, not the Sunni, and Al Queda, and the global Salafi Jihadist movement is exclusively Sunni. So I look at Iran, and I see late Brezhnevian Soviet Union, a country ripe for the soft kill of connectivity. It’s the one country in the region where the people like us; and it’s the government that hates us.

The whole thing is worth watching. More about Tom.

Zappa on Miami Vice

I’ve known for years that (my hero) Frank Zappa had appeared on 1980s tv show Miami Vice. Until this morning, I had never seen anything from that show. Thanks to YouTube, I can enjoy it in all it’s (terrible) glory:

Accelerated Decrepitude: Reading Glasses

Spectacles were invented in the 13th century. In the year of our Lord, 2007 — yesterday, in fact, I received a pair of eyeglasses which I will attempt to wear for reading and otherwise. I am 37 years old. Dr. Kubota, the Japanese-American eye doctor I went to was most professional. I really liked the Maneki Neko cat statue she had in her front office. I found it comforting. She even offered retinal scans if I wanted them. I’m still unsure what the diagnostic benefit would be. I’m merely happy to have something to reduce my eyestrain and make it possible for me to read for a longer period of time before my eyes are tired and I flop asleep, or am forced to stop. It’s had an impact and I’ve considered getting my eyes tested for several years. Fear of aging, I suppose, kept me away from finding out whether I really needed anything to help with my vision.

Eyes are a big theme in Blade Runner. Aging and death too. “Accelerated decrepitude” is what Sebastian has.

So what Dr. Kubota told me if I drove a truck for a living my eyes would have gotten bad in about another ten years. Quite literally, my job made my eyes worse.

Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be web developers.

I’m okay with glasses. It’s the kind of identity hack I’m pleased to try out. I remember a class I had in High School — I answered to “Art” as my name in that class. It’s my middle name, and it was almost entirely people not from my own grade (I was a senior at the time). I liked exploring this other person.

In my twenties, I grew my hair very long, and sported a full beard or goatee. This was an effort to not look so babyfaced, and to be somewhat fearsome. A friend of mine recalls being asked who “that scary guy” was with him. That still makes me smile. Not that I wanted to look scary, but it was a shift from the “new kid”, the chubby kid that was my identity growing up.

Now of course I am older and wiser and to some extent people recognize me for more than my appearance. But like I said, I like the notion of the glasses. Here I am this morning, half awake, with the device that takes photographs and can transmit them, via the global communications network, to anywhere on the planet.

My friend Chris pointed out that here we are in 2007, the year that the TV miniseries Wild Palms was set in.

My first ever reading glasses

I just do eyes. Genetic design, just eyes.

It’s really okay, aging. I kind of like it, and I’m glad of the fact that I do have some measure of control over the process. Not total control of course, I could come up with a cancer any day. But the means are there to wrest fleeting control over inevitability. This is a comfort I am learning, slowly, to take advantage of.

If only you could see what I’ve seen with your eyes.

It’s no surprise that futurity is what’s on my mind these days. I’m feeling much more like a father than ever before. I am a breadwinner in ways I never previously understood. I’m getting right with the universe and I think I have a slippery handle on what it means to be a spouse. What the twentysomething version of myself would make of where I am now, I have no idea. But Me, now, thinks the twentysomething me has some pretty screwed up priorities relationship-wise. I’d love to tell that kid it’s alright. But such time travel is not in the offing, as Napoleon Dynamite showed us, I suppose.

The 17 year old version of me was obsessed with Blade Runner. The current me really likes Blade Runner too. But I think Children of Men must join it on the shelf of my brain when I think about possible futures. 20 years ago me would marvel at the machine I’m typing this on: I can look at music and movies, I can photomanipulate images in a way Soviet autocrats would salivate over. I can instantly talk with people on any continent I choose. I own a device that is basically a Star Trek communicator. I can contact anyone on the planet with a similar device, and more, I can play electronic games on it that in 1987 were housed in cabinets the size of a refrigerator. If I choose I can send email directly to some of my heroes: particularly Bruce Sterling, but I see this as no big deal. The world is at once small, and yet vast in scope. The apocalyptic thinking of my 17 year old self would be satisfied by terrorism and chaos the world over. He would be shocked to learn that the Soviet Union no longer existed. He would be shocked to know that no nukes were fired in anger before the year 2000. I know, because I lost that bet with Chris. The bet from the 1980s was that a nuclear device would be used in anger before the 21st century. I was right, but I missed the point, right? The world is scary in different ways. I think too, that my young self would be shocked to hear that I had been divorced, ever. I was convinced that this would never happen to me. I think I’d be shocked to hear how much the Star Wars prequels basically stank. I would marvel at things like Google Earth and Wikipedia. I’d marvel at the fact that the person with whom I had associated eyeglasses with the most in my life, my father, no longer wore them because yet another eye doctor had used a laser ( a laser! how much more science fictional could you get in 1987?!?) to alter the shape of his eyeballs such that his vision was corrected surgically.

My having eyeglasses is a kind of reversal, maybe. “My boy, was just like me” indeed.

I’m not sure what any of all of this means, other than it’s early, I’m tired, and feeling a bit philosophical about these new glasses, which feel pretty good.

It’s a brand new day y’all. And without further ado, let me say, onward.

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Juuke!

Necessary silliness of the day:

juuke-h4x.jpg

@Work

@work

eyeglasses, earbuds, web browser, programming tools.

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For Devon

Diesel Sweeties

I love Roger Ebert

Ebert: We spend too much time hiding illness :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State

I have received a lot of advice that I should not attend the festival. I’m told that paparazzi will take unflattering pictures, people will be unkind, etc.Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn. As a journalist I can take it as well as dish it out.

Fred Fish, R.I.P.

Fred Fish – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fred Fish died at his home in Idaho on Friday April 20, 2007 at the age of 54

I was free software before free software was cool. 20 years ago, we all were.

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Moving to Moorpark

This weekend we are:

Moving to Moorpark

Please begin transmitting positive energies our way NOW.

Thanks,

Joe

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For Auction on eBay: WebSanDiego.org Banner

We’re so moving. Anyone want to buy this lovely WebSanDiego Banner? Own a piece of history!

WebSanDiego Banner.

eBay: WebSanDiego.org Banner (item 160111743932 end time May-05-07 12:20:52 PDT)

Gimme some truth, Joe

OK: MOVING SUCKS.

On-The-Scene Agents Report

Move complete.

Stay tuned for more data.

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