Lonesome Jim

Lonesome Jim is a movie directed by Steve Buscemi. It stars Casey Affleck and Liv Tyler. The casting of this movie is great. I really loved the dad and the drug addict cousin. Its a story about a guy who fails to make it in the big city and comes home to live with his family. I like this movie for its sublety, its beautiful imagery, and dark honest comedy. I say subtley because its low budget. You don't need a lot of money to make a great movie. The story, which is very literary, is filled with twists and turns. I liked that one of the main elements is girls juniour high basketball. I loved the tie in of the small town factory that makes ladders. Subtle and poetic. Second the images are done really well, I'm pretty sure this movie was shot digitally. At times, It has this really eerie quality. One of my favorite images is up above, Jim lying on his bed. I don't know, I'm a sucker for ordinary things with great color. And lastely the dark honest comedy brings it all home. The story is about being down in the dumps and having a laugh about it. I think anybody's life, no matter how sad or pathetic could make a great film. A lot of people think their lives are horrible, and rightfully they should, however if you catch a little distance, just maybe you can see the humour of your humiliation. In the beginning Jim goes to all these bars. They are called Riki's, Riki's II, and Riki's III. The first two bars he goes into, he has to leave because he can't just fit in. I guess I can relate , so I laughed. Sometimes you just can't bother to be in public alone. But yeah, I love this movie. It's very midwestern American,, dysfunctional, and funny.

Heaven

This place is in Izu, which is about a 3 hour drive from Tokyo. You can't ask for anything better, truly. As far as experiencing scenery, this is perfection. Everything about this place was strictly designed. Walking out of the hotel, you walk along this path and come upon the changing room. And out of the changing room is this view of the ocean. You sit in the bath and soak it in.

Avril 14th

Date: October 21st, 2007
Location: On the train to work

Music: 'Avril 14th' by Aphex Twin as performed by Alarm Will Sound

The Autumn breeze drifts through the train's open doors. i sit positioned one of the many blood-orange bench seats within this transportation device. The sun shines in from behind; warming my shoulders, my neck. The doors let out a hiss of air pressure release as they close, and the train resumes its ascent. i feel my body absorbing the sun's brilliance as if i am a plant. The train careens its way through tunnels, areas of greenery, residences, the sun's bursting rays. Avril 14th repeats.

The shadows cast on the floor ahead show the silhouettes of my neighbors and i, as we sit together in our common situation. Our silhouettes seem to dance slowly along with the piano's melody, the train swaying and turning as if orchestrated by that golden sun.

i feel synchronicity.

The sun, the shadows, the melody, the moment; a reassurance, an affirmation of life's beauty.

The train continues its course. The sun shines on. The shadows dance. We admire Autumn's presence. Avril 14th repeats.

open space

Some paintings I've been working on....Posted from my email

New Babylon

"# In 1956, the Dutch artist Constant Nieuwenhuys started working on a visionary architectural proposal for a future society; he didn't stop for almost twenty years. Having been a co-founder of the Cobra group of artists in the late forties, he abandoned painting in 1953 to concentrate on the question of "construction". He became a founding member of the Situationist International in 1957 and played a central role in their experiments until his resignation in 1960. New Babylon, as his project would eventually be called, is a situationist city intended as a polemical provocation.
# New Babylon was elaborated in an endless series of models, sketches, etchings, lithographs, collages, architectural drawings, and photocollages, as well as in manifestos, essays, lectures, and films. New Babylon is a form of propaganda that critiques conventional social structures.
# New Babylon envisages a society of total automation in which the need to work is replaced with a nomadic life of creative play, in which traditional architecture has disintegrated along with the social institutions that it propped up. A vast network of enormous multilevel interior spaces propagates to eventually cover the planet. These interconnected "sectors" float above the ground on tall columns. While vehicular traffic rushes underneath and air traffic lands on the roof, the inhabitants drift by foot through the huge labyrinthine interiors, endlessly reconstructing the atmospheres of the spaces. Every aspect of the environment can be be controlled and reconfigured spontaneously. Social life becomes architectural play. Architecture becomes a flickering display of interacting desires.
# Constant always saw New Babylon as a realizable project, which provoked intense debates at schools of architecture and fine arts about the future role of the architect. Constant insisted that the traditional arts would be displaced by a collective form of creativity. He positioned his project at the threshold of the end of art and architecture. Yet it had a major influence on the work of subsequent generations of architects. It was published widely in the international press in the 1960s and Constant quickly attained a prominent position in the world of experimental architecture. But this influence would eventually be forgotten; the project has not been displayed since Constant stopped working on it in 1974."
# Constant died 1 August 2005.
# source
Text by Mark Wigley from 'New Babylon. The Hyper-architecture of Desire' [website lost]

li·brar·y (lī'brĕr'ē) n., pl. -ies.

1. A collection of information, sources, resources, and service

2. An institution or foundation maintaining such a collection.

3. A collection of recorded data or tapes arranged for ease of use.

4. A collection of such materials, especially when systematically arranged.

Darfur and Iraqi refugees in Egypt

I sit in my room. I read two articles today that blew my mind. I realize they are from a newspaper. That the writer didn't grow up here. But the imbalance of the world is just incredible to me. I think I believe in God. I grew up Jewish and went to Sunday School. But I don't even really enjoy my life most of the time. I find it really painful a lot of the time actually. Reading these articles I guess I have it easier, but I don't think it makes its going to make me enjoy my life anymore. I don't understand the world at all. If you read the article you'll find that even the presence of help in some ways is just adding to the problem. I guess we just let it happen, what in the fucking god damn am I gonna do? I've experienced and seen beauty in so many ways, but the destruction and violence in this world is just as sublime.

to read
go to the latimes website
search for "Another disaster brews in Darfur"

and "A refuge without welcome for Iraqis"