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8.20.2001

We're off! Updates will be spotty for the next week as we drive to Oregon.    7:33:04 PM

8.19.2001

For those prone to mailing tremendous amounts of books and other printed materials. I heartily recommend shipping them Book Rate with the US Postal Service, 70 pounds for $23.00. They won't get there in less than a couple of weeks, but the price can't be beat.    1:58:04 PM

8.16.2001

Wow. That's some serious pork.    10:42:40 AM

8.15.2001


skateboarding is fun

The belt is almost ten years old. I remember the transaction at the skate shop, the guy behind the counter, the tiny popsicle-stick boards and 39mm wheels that were popular then lining the wall behind him. The belt hasn't ever been washed, and has taken on a grimy green color from falling in parking lots at night, being stepped on as it lay on my floor, and the general buildup of dirt that comes from nearly a decade of wear. The phrase was screen-printed on it during a night of manic printing that saw any article of clothing within the vicinity getting printed and heat pressed to set the ink. Other parts have splotches of blue paint, brownish blood stains and light pen scribbles undoubtedly from times when the monotony of school drove me to attack myself with a pen.

On Monday the belt broke. As I walked down the stairs, I felt a slight unweighting around my waist and looked to see it in two pieces. The wear had occurred where the canvas cloth rubbed against the metal buckle, nearly the same spot through middle school, high school and college.

It might work to make some comparison between the belt breaking and my moving to Portland in five days, but that seems too easy. Besides, this belt still has a lot of life in it, tomorrow morning I'm getting out my mom's sewing machine and sewing it right the hell back together.    10:00:37 PM

Starbucks in downtown Seattle? Well, take a look.    5:41:36 PM

It's one of the greatest design interventions on records. Brilliant and courageous graphic design.    5:39:29 PM

    4:08:18 PM

8.13.2001

Yikes! Luckily, it happened in Washington, not Oregon, so I'm safe... right.    3:50:03 PM

8.11.2001


Washington, DC
    10:23:22 AM

People are entitled to their opinions, but anti-globalization protests are undeniably having an effect.    8:45:02 AM

8.9.2001


April 18, 2001, Washington DC
    8:30:04 PM

8.8.2001


Barn at 7AM, heat's rising, steam off of freshly cut hay, sweet smell, bugs, fresh vegetables busting in the garden
    6:17:59 PM

8.7.2001

"Space was we see it in the early pictures was not just a matter of long views, but also of distance from people. Many of the scenes are completely unpopulated, lacking any signs of man at all. Where there are figures they seem mostly to have been drafted from the photographer's party. And when there are buildings or railroads they often appear to have gotten the photographer's attention precisely because their presence was unusual.

In front of such landscapes it is easy to sympathize with those who lived out the early acts of our national misunderstanding of space. Little wonder that Americans said so confidently and unqualifiedly that they were free. How could they be otherwise-- they were alone, or so it seemed. And they had gotten there as a result of their own effort. One of the striking things about many pioneer journals is that though the events described sound inexorable (disease, accident, failed crops), the feeling expressed is of having chosen the life. Even in accounts of river travel, where the course was set, there was a sense of liberty; Huck Finn, Twain's incognito, expressed it almost every time he shoved the raft away from the bank, and Major Powell, no matter how deep in the confines of some gorge wrote as if he were carried along mainly by the engine of his own enthusiastic choice.

At its best this equation of freedom with isolation from others has been understood as liberty to know oneself. In the words of Rosalie Sorrels, the composer and singer, the West "ios the territory of space... a place where people have gone so that they could hear the sounds of their own singing...so that they could hear their name if they were called...so that they could know what they think." It is impossible even now, even after our tragedy, not to admire the spirit of that." - Robert Adams, Why People Photograph

    7:15:06 PM

This is wild. In a nutshell, this German artist installed speakers all throughout this huge, falling apart and abandoned mental hospital and played Bach's Magnificat, echoing the music through empty hallways and rooms. What a beautiful and expensive thing to do.    8:07:53 AM

8.6.2001

An excellent new interview with Ralph Nader. Frankly, just reading his answer that included the word "pimpin'" was enough to get me psyched on Ralph again.    5:30:51 PM


Hazy and humid Philadelphia
    4:58:38 PM

The war photographer has always dealt with criticism, being accused of profiting off of other people's suffering, or in James Nachtwey's case, making a beautiful picture out of something horrible. In the end however, these brave people are recording history that needs to be remembered, if only in the vain hope that it won't happen again. Good article on the subject and some of the books that have been part of this debate..    3:56:53 PM

8.5.2001

A strangely poetic piece of writing on the New Jersey Turnpike, a place I've spend entirely too many hours on, that is gray and muted on even the sunniest days.    3:06:11 PM

8.3.2001

Dancing on the grave of Carlo Giulani.    12:56:00 PM


Downstairs at the Pike Place Market, away from the seafood and wooden tie sellers, is an antiques shop which sells broken old chairs, oak tables, and lots of old postcards. Many of them are blank, but some have messages that speak of beautiful weather, warm water, and long, white sand beaches. These messages are all unmistakably, Jack-Kerouac-sad, in that same dusty sadness of old wooden trunks in the attic, filled with tiny black and white photos, ribbons won in contests and grade school report cards.
    9:30:38 AM

8.2.2001

There isn't any time at all to put things off, to postpone what I'm excited about now, lost energy never comes back, great things aren't waited for, they're made.

We are the ones we've been waiting for.    9:47:14 PM

Synthetic zero has been a daily read for me ever since Charlene pointed me to his site. Today, what he wrote (eloquently) touched on a lot of points that I've also reached in writing on this site..

I don't think there's much value in writing what I know, or rehashing old thoughts. This page is a record of my discoveries, things that are new to me, that I've come across just that day, or that week. Sometimes they're simple, like that wonderful orange glow I saw off the streetlamp that reflected off of the manhole cover, or finding someone's words that inspire me to reach much further than I do. Thanks Mitsu.    9:40:51 PM


if nothing else, living in the suburbs is vastly quieter than living in the city
    7:16:07 PM


long exposure while driving
    10:50:11 AM

8.1.2001

buddyhead - there seems to be a reoccurring theme of all night restaurants in a couple of your songs... any reason?

john - i think there is something essential about all night restaurants. it is a place where in the middle of the night someone who is alone can find other people who are alone. the lights in those places at night are great. they are one of the great things about civilization. there are tons of great things about civilization, but all night restaurants would be near the top of my list.

>from an interview with John K Samson of the Weakerthans (thanks to Char for the link).     8:02:26 PM


FDR Skatepark, July 4th
    3:15:48 PM

I don't wish to remain in the margins, comfortable in elitist judgement of the mass. I don't want youth revolution, I want bonds of mutual respect reaching across generations, classes, races, sexual orientations, and genders. The politics associated with bands like Los Crudos and Heavens to Betsy as well as phenomenon like Riot Grrrl and Beehive are hopeful in that they encourage their broader field of concern and action. Punk is where we started--and where we now can hope to go beyond. - Mark Andersen, Dance of Days
    2:53:24 PM

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