Oh man, so last night I ate about a half pound of Gruyère and as a result had this crazy dream. I was on the set of Mr. Rogers but he was just kind of hanging out on a porch when this 10 year old breakdancer walks up with his cardboard and boombox and starts teaching him how to wave. Oh wait, it wasn't a dream:
Catalog of Monsters
In 2005 I went to the Little Boy exhibition at the Japan Society which featured images from the book An Anatomical Guide to Monsters (1967) that I desperately scoured the internet for but couldn't find. Thankfully someone finally posted some more images from either it or a book doing exactly the same thing and has allowed me to tag this post with all my favorite labels: 
On a related note, these are also cool: 
Aloha Mr. Hand
I just realized I missed my blog's 1 year anniversary by 6 days. On the other hand I haven't been contacted by any lawyers yet so I guess it's time to up the ante! To celebrate I'm going to start uploading whole movies and albums! Hooray!
Shipwrecks and Whales
I momentarily considered starting a parallel blog just of images I liked but figured I already posted on here too infrequently. Here is an image I found on Brian Wood's (creator of my favorite graphic novel DMZ) website. No information available other than that I love Japanese prints:
I have to add that the shadow of a rock in the lower left reminds me of these fantastic Right Whale photographs I just saw on National Geographic's website (via Zooillogix):
I have to add that the shadow of a rock in the lower left reminds me of these fantastic Right Whale photographs I just saw on National Geographic's website (via Zooillogix):
Future New York
I know, I know, I'm supposed to be Mr. Post Apocalyptic New York but I'll have an odd day where I get excited about the possible non-wasteland New York of the future. I had read about Herzog & de Meuron's new apartment building a few years back and got really excited about it. A lot of people have been talking about how without Yamasaki's twin towers, New York's downtown skyline is both unrecognizable and unremarkable (I guess the Woolworth building doesn't count). This would be a great step forward for the city–issues with it being an aerie for the mega-rich aside. I would place it in the company of 30 St. Mary Axe in London in terms of excitingness. Sure it will kind of stick out for a while, interrupting the kind of hill/valley/hill skyline between Wall Street and midtown but I always think about a 3 second shot of the Manhattan of the future in the movie the Fifth Element and how the city is destined to grow higher and higher and how ridiculous it is that our tallest building was completed in 1931. Really long and convoluted story short, I'm really excited about this:
PS. I can't wait to see what the first acid-etched graffiti piece is going to be on that sculpture...
PPS. Whomever just anonymously sent me this NYTimes article, thank you very much.
"What a ruin it will make!”
—H.G. Wells upon seeing the New York skyline for the first time
—H.G. Wells upon seeing the New York skyline for the first time
All I Want for X-Mas:
An MPC 4000:
[Update: Fixed broken video]
[Just Blaze makes a song in 10 minutes]
(I'd settle for a 1000...)[Update: Fixed broken video]
Many Men Blues
My friend Pearl was at a junk shop in Asbury Park and found this old record. I thought I'd share it with you:
Many Men Blues
[right-click to download]
I am so fried...
I've slept 4 hours a night for the past two nights and I am totally fried. I also seem to be noticing weird things. Last night I was walking through Washington Square Park late at night and there was a guy sitting straight up and motionless on a bench with a black plastic bag wrapped completely over and around his head. Then tonight as I was walking home I watched a little kid maybe 4 years old pop out of an empty Village Voice box like it was his little house. To top it off, yesterday on my morning walk to work I saw this (that I must have walked by 200 times without noticing):
[Victor the cleaner makes his appearance at the 5:38 mark]
[Victor the cleaner makes his appearance at the 5:38 mark]
The Only Book Club I'd Ever Consider Joining
Fuck being poor and working all the time just to pay rent. All I want to be doing is reading and blogging (and drinking and sleeping and watching movies and making music) so on that note...:I just came across both these websites about Lost and the books that are referred to or are seen being read (i.e. by Sawyer) in the series (the ABC.com website even links to the full episode that features the book). Reading some of these would probably be a much better between-season-time-waster (early 2009?! Ugh!!) than my previous one of watching all 105 episodes of J.J. Abrams' first series Alias (I can't believe I'm admitting this). Anyway, here are some books that I either have already read or am looking forward to reading and their possible symbolism in the show (I'm going to quote heavily without attribution from the Lostpedia website):
Lord of the Flies / Golding
This one is easy.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Carroll
Girl goes to alternate reality (maybe) where things are definitely not the same. Through the Looking Glass is also the name of an episode.
The Chronicles of Narnia / Lewis
Narnia is a hidden world where time passes faster than on Earth. It is guarded by Aslan, a figure who appears after death. Only certain people chosen can enter Narnia.
Dune / Herbert
Moving the island is similar to the spacefold technology used by the Spacing Guild to move the heighliners from one location to another. (I don't know what this means...yet)
Jurassic Park / Crichton
Scientists conduct illicit experiments on a remote island with lethal consequences.
The Moon Pool / Merritt
The Moon Pool of the Looking Glass DHARMA Initiative Station is a possible reference to this classic, pulp-scifi/fantasy novel concerning the strange adventures of the botanist Dr. Walter Goodwin on mysterious, otherworldly islands in the South Pacific
The Mysterious Island / Jules Verne
In the novel, several people and a dog crash-land a balloon onto an island in the South Pacific (as the actual Henry Gale apparently did), where odd things happen.
The Odyssey / Homer
Odysseus takes 10 years to return to his wife Penelope, maybe, possibly a connection to Desmond trying to get back to his girl Penelope? Nah, forget it...
Slaughterhouse-Five / Vonnegut
Desmond's experiences of becoming "unstuck in time" are similar to those experienced throughout the book by the protagonist Billy Pilgrim. Both Desmond and Billy Pilgrim experience these in a military setting, and become shunned by their squadmates. One of Desmond's squadmates is called Billy in reference to the novel's protagonist.
The Stand / King
The producers of the show said this is an influential book on the series. It deals with what happens to society after a virus kills almost everyone. Interesting until God and the Devil show up (I was so disappointed by the miniseries...)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz / Baum
Dorothy Gale's Uncle Henry is assumed by many to be named Henry Gale, although his and Aunt Em's surname was never established in Baum's books. The Lost character Henry Gale came to the Island in a balloon (and Ben claimed he had done so when he was calling himself "Henry Gale"); the Wizard arrived in Oz in a balloon.
And finally, the two books I am most interested in reading, The Invention of Morel by Casares (published by the New York Review of Books who in my very very limited experience can do no wrong) and Island by Huxley. Don't tell me what happens in them, I'm trying to find cheap used copies. [Update: my review]
One last thing. Here is what you get when you enter the Lost number sequence (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) as GPS coordinates (Latitude 4.815, Longitude 162.34) in Google Maps:
They moved the island!
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