2004 in space
well, the year is done. though a sucky year in most respects, culturally, politically, etc, it was actually a great year for space, or rather man’s exploration of space, or more specifically man’s exploration of space via robots and imaging systems. as such i thought i’d share a little gallery of some of my favorite images collected out there in the great black yonder this year. i did not choose these images for any scientific import but simply by aesthetics. though some of these images may make us photographers wince, knowing a brainless cold piece of machinery can manage as well as we can, i still think they’re incredible. wish i could get out there…
wow. pretty cool. for the record i think that image of minimus against saturn’s rings was the most beautiful photo i saw all year, by human or machine. anyhow, for more goodies, and there are way too many for me to show here some good places to start are as follows:
1) hubble site
2) nasa photojournal
3) nasa image exchange
4) soho
5) mars rover gallery
6) cassini / huygens page
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today’s video of absurdity
speaking of entertaining absurdity you guys see the new chemical brothers video? haha. so stupid and great and 10 years late. the song is of negligable founkiness and who the hell listens to the chembros anymore anyway? but i must admit, kroma did a good job on this. can spielberg do better with his recently announced transformers movie adaptation? maybe. but he better bring dat founk!
today’s vortex of absurdity
i have only just now managed to claw my way out of an internet vortext which sucked up a good five hours of my day, the result of which is one miniscule nugget of understanding: in my humble opinion humanity is not equipped in any proper way to deal with absurdity. what began with a short article in the fortean times about ‘pataphysics lead me yet again unknowingly into the territory of duchamp, the sittuationalist, et al, in bread crumb fashion though a veritable laundry list of the alternative viewpoint- alfred jarry, ‘college de pataphysique, dada, london institute of ‘pataphysics, ecco, baudrillard, beckett, ionesco, patapsychology, robert anton wilson, the committee for surrealist investigation of claims of the normal, gorilla ontology, the principa discordia, timothy leary, bucky fuller, marshal mcluhan, wilhelm reich, orgone energy, william s. burroughs, ken kesey, ru sirius, the church of the sub-genius, etc… it was like being taken on a tour by the ghost of counterculture past.
first off let me say i love the fortean times. it fascinates me while simultaneously tempering my near terminal earnestness. the article which set the ball rolling briefly mentions two semi-farcical schools of thought that i found interesting. ‘pataphysics, alfred jarry’s creation for going beyond metaphysics, and the offshoot patapsychlogy popularized by robert anton wilson. the reason i characterize these as “semi-farcical” is because these guys are satirists. the reason i don’t simply call them satyrical, or plain old farcical is that the nuggets of truth inherent in these constructs were palpable enough to see them both embraced in some degree by others. my interest (mainly in the patapsychology end) came from a certain parallel which might be drawn to those opaque notions of my own which lead to the creation of the nonist. let me quote from the article so you can get a sense of what i’m talking about:
‘pataphysics: “jarry’s idea was that ‘pataphysics can shed new light on the world by turning it upside down in a process of creative chaos. we can only get to the truth by escaping from our preconceptions and abandoning our habitual association of ideas.” this is a very broad statement obviously but keep in mind this was 1896, pre dada, pre surrealism.
patapsychology: “the underlying idea is that there is no such thing as a normal person or an average day. the normal, the average, the ordinary even the typical, exist only in statistics, i.e. the human mathematical mindscape. as a result no human can ever be normal but must be abnormal, subnormal, supernormal, paranormal, or some variety of nonnormal.” this happens to be something i believe whole heartedly, and though r.a.w. (as he is often referred to) is largely thought of as a satirist because of the illuminatus trilogy after reading a few interviews with him i’m apt to think he believes this particular nugget whole heartedly as well. for example on the related guerilla ontology he says: “I like guerrilla ontology as a description. ontology is the branch of philosophy that tries to understand what’s real and what isn’t, or what’s the difference between real reality and mere appearance. guerrilla ontology is closely related to french deconstructionism. I didn’t realize this while I was developing guerrilla ontology, but our approach is to knock down everybody else’s attempt to settle the question. what the scientifically illiterate consider the final answer is just the latest model. the latest model, presumably, will include more facts than any previous model, or it won’t become prevalent. the latest model will be the best we can do at this time, but it will be replaced by a better model in five years, if not sooner. our attitude is: there is no final answer.”
anyone whose been paying any attention around here can see what would attract me in these statements. granted, these are not exactly revolutionary ideas, these sentiments are part of an endless array of philosophies in one permutation or another, but that does not prevent me from finding pleasure in seeing them propounded by the “known quantities” of the world. i never studied philosophy, never really studied anything but art, which in effect means i never really studied. i feel like an autodidact when it comes to my view of the world and it’s workings, so every time i’m in the midst of spewing some shaky homegrown theory and someone interjects to say, “you ought to read kant” or “you sound like a stoic” i feel somewhat bolstered in my stubborn “i’ll find my own way” mentality. this is essentially why i decided to delve deeper into these two semi-farcical constructs and hop onto google. as is often the case, this is where the trouble started.
following the bread crumbs i navigated through the list mentioned previously, and in almost every instance there was some nugget of interest, some beauty, some wit, some wisdom. the problem, however, was the overwhelming silliness of it all when taken in full. the drug fueled counterculture, the alternative spiritual movements, the avant guard arts, in some manner each and every one manages to drown any morsel of truth it represents in a storm of pomp or self importance and hence completely undermines itself. it’s the believing your own hype syndrome i’d say. this brings me back to my own nugget, that humans are not equipped to deal with absurdity. every dissenting cultural or intellectual movement seems in no small degree to be driven by the understanding that what prevails, what is propped up, what is “normal” or accepted is absurd. this in my estimation is true. it
is all absurd, every ultimate reason put forth, every grand theory, every cherished truth, every high-ground moral stance, every final solution. what our esteemed avant guard reactionaries so quickly forget is that every revolution is ultimately absurd as well. in the end “reality” subsumes each new shake-up, each revolutionary idea, into its absurd bulk, rendering it palatable, powerless, cute, and quaint. this is the reason there can never be a coherent nonist idea, definition, or manifesto. why bother? it’s only reality tempting the absurd into itself. ask the revolutionary duchamp. best i can tell from my uneducated seat it will remain this way either until some super-computer operating 800 trillion terraflops per second finds sense in chaos theory, or forever.
while reading through the many articles, interviews, and histories i came upon today i had many lucid ideas and there were many things i wanted to say to you. i’m fairly positive i said none of them here. but that’s o.k. in the end it boiled down to something similar to my experiences with existentialism via sartre: it rings painfully true, but knowing that being-in-itself has no meaning does not actually help you navigate your existence, and does not change anything. similarly the knowledge that our accepted reality stinks of the absurd does not make it less absurd and does not arm you in any way against it, because i’m sorry, but “laughing” does not keep the electrodes from your testicles and the tsunami from your doorstep, nor does it answer your guttural cries of “why?!” it’s best use is in response to self important answer imposing dogma of any sort.
now that i’ve rambled my absurd take on it all let me share some of the stuff i came across so you can check it out for yourself. contrary to my final descent into “guerilla ontology” in the last couple of paragraphs there is some enjoyable stuff. does any of it bring us closer to truth? most likely not. but it’s entertaining! (i’ll spare you all any leary, reich, sub-genius, etc.)
short jarry bio
aside from being an ordinary madman jarry also had his hand in some really beautiful printed materials. here’s a gallery
alfred jarry and the discovery of anti-matter
how to construct a time machine by alfred jarry.
pata or quantum: duchamp and the end of determinist physics
pataphysics of year 2000 by jean baudrillard.
political pataphysics of the state by one mr. sartre.
atlas press which has some very attractive looking patawhatever books.
institute of ‘pataphysical studies
‘pataphysics: a religion in the making originally appeared in Internationale Situationniste No.6 (August 1961). yup, those jokers again.
‘pataphysics magazine (they did a kitten issue!) some content of which you can read here
hang the tsar nice interview with r.a.w.
committee for surrealist investigation of claims of the normal, or csicon via r.a.w’s site. begins: “do you believe in UFOs?” somebody asked. “yes, of course,” i answered. the questioner, who looked quite young, then burst into a long speech, “proving” at least to his own satisfaction that all UFOs “really are” sun-dogs or heat inversions. when he finally ran down i simply replied, “well, we both agree that UFOs exist. our only difference is that you think you know what they are and i’m still puzzled.” haha, champion.
a bunch of r.a.w. texts. you’ll notice a bunch of other names to each side of these links… see where i was going with my “ghost of counterculture past” thing?
the principa discordia really is an entertaining and brilliant piece of weirdness.
via this discordia page - how to be a cultist
that’s it, that’s all.
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working the conscious canvas
the ability to directly alter subjective and emotional experience will make mental manipulation an art form. or so says george dvorsky at betterhumans.com and i’m inclined to agree. he gives examples from science fiction of artistic endeavors created by tapping directly into human consciousness, and the technologies which are bringing these fictional constructs closer to reality. artists will co-opt every new technology and work them over. that’s a given. it’s just a matter of the tech becoming freely available. one comment though, i can’t imagine the type of work which will result can possibly be as fascinating as the art being done with genetics already. though this new form will likely not face as much resistance so may perhaps have an easier time proliferating.
memory lane
all you old timers who made mixed tapes using the pause and rewind button ought to get a kick out of this extensive gallery of blank tapes. i know i did. remember when you scored your first 120 minute tapes? oh the possibilities! remember the sticker sheets? i think i still have a stack of those in a box somewhere. i guess it really wasn’t all that long ago that this was still the media of choice, though it feels like a hundred years. this link has been making the rounds lately so i expect to see some of these things popping up in graphic design pieces any day now. it’s in russian i think so just use the brand links in the sidebar. enjoy.
sin city
the trailer for the movie adaptation of frank miller’s sin city went up on the apple site. looks like Robert Rodriguez did a pretty good job capturing the look of the comic. the cast is decent for a non-batman comic property. mickey rourke as marv could be genius… still i can’t help but think it will end up being crappy. but hey who knows. frank millers name is still prominently attached.
modern painters relaunch
purchased the “relaunch issue” of modern painters at penn station yesterday. saw it, saw that something was very different. the size, the logo. picked it up, felt that something was different, the paper, the sheen, the weight. leafed through it and saw that the design was different… purchased it only to find that looks in this case were not deceiving, that perhaps the old adage of not judging a book by it’s cover, though generous and optimistic, may not in fact apply to all publications. had i judged this new modern painters by it’s cover i’d have said “another lame, limp, fashion obsessed rag that dips it’s gnarled little toe into a subject but decides to lay on the beach trying unsuccessfully to look pretty rather than dive in.” and sadly, i’d have been right.
for a long while now modern painters was one of my favorite art mags. it was a well designed, well written, high quality quarterly that never failed to entertain and inform. it’s 4 yearly issues were very gratifying. much to my dismay it has been bought and transformed into a cheap, thin, poorly designed, bi-monthly rag on par with the rest of the shoddy, trend tethered, uninspiring field. a field of publications which might be characterized as follows “light on the good crit, heavy and the bullshit.”
the mag was bought by ‘ltb holdings’ a company founded by louise macbain a french canadian multimillionairess. ltb holdings are on a tear buying up art magazines and resources left and right. earlier acquisitions include art & auction, museum magazine, gordon’s art reference brand, spoon magazine, and even the regional gallery guide, editions of which cover New York, Boston and New England, Chicago and the Midwest, the West Coast, Philadelphia and the mid-Atlantic, the Southeast, and the Southwest. sounds like a bid for some weird art-info monopoly to me. to quote her: “my mission is to help people do better with their lives through art.” to quote the party line towed by all the magazines “The company is realizing a compelling new vision of art and creativity which is pulling together the different strands of these traditionally fragmented sectors in a new and dynamic way.” the ltb holdings corporate profile offers this more specific paragraph: “we aim to become the gateway for everyone with an interest or stake in the visual and performing arts, including governments, business, education and consumers, as well as collectors, galleries, dealers, artist, museums, curators, and auction houses. it is doing this by building a world beating arts market brand based on publishing, information and data provision, a mix of media channels, philanthropic activity, and events programmes and the world’s first think-tank dedicated to advancing the role of the visual and performing arts in society and culture. underpinning this vision is the guiding principle that art and creativity have a central role to influence culture and civilization in a positive way. stimulating and promoting creativity across art, business and science will enable the art world to become more inclusive and open to all.”
wow, sounds so noble and so very grand! too bad it’s a noble and grand pile of bullshit. inclusiveness and openness through consolidation? interesting. isn’t that microsoft’s plan as well? i don’t suppose ltb holdings has any plans to turn a profit on any of this noble work does it? i don’t suppose modern painters will end up the propaganda arm of this conspicuously market-centered empire of openness will it? anyhow, that’s all totally beside the point, motives are complicated things, and can be ignored by consumers so long as your product is superior, which this new mag unfortunately is not. all i wanted to say is that somehow mrs. chairman you’ve managed to screw up a very good magazine. i lay it your doorstep because other than the design team, every name on the editorial board and staff seem to be the same. hence it must be assumed the ever dreaded trickle down edict effect from new ownership is at work. yes you’ve shifted to a bi-monthy. yes your in transition. but this relaunch issue stinks my fair multimillionairess. here’s an idea, how about putting some art on your cover rather than a self portrait glamour shot of richard avedon fixing his hair? how about resisting the urge to do pieces like “the rise of the art band?” and “will digital filmmaking cost cinema it’s humanity?” how about not giving over 50 percent of the content space to artists we were bored with 10 years ago and another 10 percent to book reviews? what is this new modern painters anyway? is it yet another watered down rag trying to cover a bit of everything operating under the misconception that the greater the surface area the greater the weight? give us some fucking fresh insight and some large, crisp, reproductions of art!!!!
the design of this new incarnation is also not very good. it’s needlessly busy and there is
way too much wasted space. how about instead of giant, jarring, geometries of blank space you organize it more efficiently and give us some larger images? there’s not much worth reading in it anyway. do we need full page images of the mekons, ray richardson sitting in a van, and a second floor space in the moma? how about giving that real estate over to some artwork? also, stop trying to design “cool” spreads. please. let the art and the writing speak for themselves. (the artworks already have to compete with those supremely ugly gallery show adds on every other page.) if i want some overwrought graphic design to needlessly muss up any intended informational content i’ll take out my metro card and hop on the subway. seriously. again, i don’t blame the designers, because none are listed in the magazine, and having been a designer myself for a good long stretch i know how that whole game works. but if you fired the old staff who did such a fine job, well then you’re getting what you deserve, but unfortunately we, the readership, are not.
in any case i guess i ought to refrain from passing judgment just yet. it is after all the first issue. perhaps it will improve. perhaps we’ll be treated to a whole lot more modern painters goodness under this new bi-monthly format. perhaps the staff is just shaking off the shake-up and will find it’s legs again. let’s hope so, otherwise the next issue may as well have a glamour shot of lamont sanford fixing his hair before he throws a whole stack of modern painters into the back of his truck.
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a visit from st. nicholas
found this nifty piece written by james thurber in 1927. what if papa hemingway had written the night before christmas instead of clement c. moore? he might have done it something like this:
“Is Saint Nicholas asleep?” asked the children.
“No,” mamma said. “Be quiet.”
“What the hell would he be asleep tonight for?” I asked.
“He might be,” the children said.
“He isn’t,” I said.
hahaha. thurber was a champion. i loved walter mitty when i was a lad.
turds ahead, veer left.
swanksigns. quote: “this website was born of a love for the strange and bizarre, and mocking said strange and bizarre items.” fairly amusing. “only fairly amusing?” you ask. “not a very glowing review” you say. “why not post something that is extremely amusing, or better yet genius?” well, because it’s sunday and i’m lazy, alright. post something yourself why don’t you? now back off.
“the fucked-up leading the hypnotized”
came across this australian news story and found it pretty fascinating. a billboard on a busy commuter thoroughfare reads “get out of your mind.” the source cloaked website it leads to offers almost no information other than a list of what neurocam is not and the chance to register. those who register “are assigned missions, with the threat of grave consequences should these tasks not be carried out. Individuals prove their mettle by completing progressively more complex, riskier assignments - possibly of questionable legality”. the news story is great. it paints this very mysterious picture of what is almost certainly an elaborate piece of art. it’s possible i suppose that the people involved wouldn’t even call it art, that they just like fucking with people, seeing what will happen, and what they can get away with. if so, all the better. here is the story (if asked to register use username: freepass password: freepass) and here is the neurocam website. additionally one of the participants mentioned has a blog. is it art or a marketing ploy? who cares? i love that people actually respond.
you can’t go back, thankfully
let’s face it folks, we’re getting older. many married, some with children. working stiffs one and all. as we all get older, more crotchety, more rooted, i expect a mid-life crisis or two to crop up any time now. before any of us foolishly go off and buy motorcycles or book a backpacking trip through india let me provide a small community service and remind anyone who might be teetering on that sad edge that you can’t go back, and more importantly that you really wouldn’t want to. but as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some pictures which ought to bring the whole chaotic, freakish, filthy mess back to you, and crystal clear. enjoy these, laugh heartily, and thank god you’re not still back there in those most ridiculous of trenches. embrace your burgeoning elderliness and grow a white beard. you’ve earned it. xo.
a joyful holiday for your precious little ones
well, the holidays are very nearly upon us. shopping is in full swing. very many of you now have precious little lads and lasses to shop for this year, and we know what that means, toys toys toys! i’ve searched around and come up with what i think is perhaps the greatest educational toy on the market today, sure to impress itself on any childs sense of wonder and imagination. namely: the cubes. ohh goody! playtime was never so soul crushingly mediocre-riffic! my favorite part: if you look at the “ann figure expansion pack” you’ll notice that along with her flow charts and in box they’ve supplied everyone’s favorite kitten poster- “hang in there.” genius. for extra fun try attaching a hand drawn “there’s no such thing as santa” card to this gift, perhaps on a large post-it, folded in half… ba-rum-pa-pum-pum, rum-pa-pum-pum, rum-pa-pum-pum!
airing of greivances
ok, since we seem to be in a bantering state of mind, let me just say a few things. every morning i wake up, groggy, mind gone, and sit on the couch next to my old lady. she’s already got some morning news show on and while i sit there with my first smoke and maybe a little o.j. awaiting the weather report i sit through 15 minutes or so of t.v…
what the fuck is up with these evil, empty, sickening, phony, pathetic, “suckers of satan’s cock” on television? let me offer a news flash of my own for these twats. the scott peterson trial is over!! ok? it is fucking o v e r. he got the death penalty. there is nothing left to say. a jury decided this guy deserved to sit in a cell sucking down taxpayers money while he waits 30 years to be killed “humanely”. ok? no where to go from there folks. end of the line. stop interviewing the guy who delivered lunch to the jurors and lacey’s third cousin and find a new story. who killed biggie? who killed pac? who killed jam master jay?! just kidding, i don’t give a shit.
similarly: Bernard Kerik has withdrawn. he is no longer under consideration. it’s over! nothing more to be said. enough about the vetting process, about his maid, about his taser stock. enough! katie couric, you silly cunt, shut your mouth! all you newsies, shut it! how dare any of you suddenly start “getting tough” with people on the facts of this meaningless story when you have not held anyone even remotely near, let alone over, the coals on countless serious, important news stories. we are currently engaged in a bloody war in some distant foreign land are we not? you prancing preening bullshit artists.
also: thanks for those stunning news reports and side by side photos explaining that Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned with dioxin. so very interesting. only problem is, we all already knew that, because it had been reported like two weeks ago by news agencies which actually consider world news ever so slightly meaningful. Yushchenko’s poisoning isn’t as news worthy as jessica simpson’s dad or lindsey lohan’s current weight of course… just admit it, you only reported it because there was a hideous car wreck of a photo people could rubber neck and a story line right out of c.s.i.
additionally: the “roomba” is not the answer to all your prayers. ok? it’s a piece of shit little sharper image gadget with collision detection and some weak battery powered suction. that’s all. it will not allow you to sit on your fat filthy ass, dropping ever more bright orange chito crumbs on your rug, only to be miraculously cleaned by your talented and loyal obsessive compulsive go-bot. chances are it would take that thing 6 years to clean every inch of your filthy hovel with it’s random wall bouncing trajectories. so put down the brownies and coors light, get off your ass and plug in the fucking vacuum.
lastly: to the marketers behind lemony snicket, a series of bowel emptying events- eat a dioxin laced turd. i’m sick of the endless stream of your ugly commercials. or as st. hicks once so sweetly intoned “kill yourself.”
that’s it for now. please take this chance and use the comment section to vent your own minor or major grievances.
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the elimination dance
“anyone who has lost a urine sample in the mail”. a man hides his face and is led off the floor by his equally embarrassed partner. “anyone who has been penetrated by a mountie.” a man is slapped by his mortified partner and dragged off. In this way, the ranks of the eliminated swell. The rules of the dance are simple: if the caller announces a circumstance that has occurred in the lifetime of you or your partner, you must leave the dance floor at once. The elimination dance- a short canadian film based on the poem of the same name by michael ondaatje. (via mefi)
in a better world
last week a friend of mine sent me a link for a non-profit that trains capuchin monkeys as companions for quadriplegics. he said he saw some footage about it on t.v. and was blown away. evidently these little guys can cook up a quick meal in the microwave, play a video on the vcr, and otherwise help out the chair-bound and motionless among us. it is pretty fucking cool. hot on the heels of seeing that i came across a site called the great ape project. these folks are pushing for “human rights” for all the higher primates: chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans. here’s their video. i like the idea, i think apes are amazing, but all humans can’t seem to secure human rights, so what are the chances for gorillas? nill, zilch, zero, nada. perhaps in a better world these noble ideals would be viable. in the meantime…
how much is that doggy in the window?
tom and i had planned on going to the all new, re-designed, re-shuffled, re-priced moma this weekend but we never made it, and seeing as how there was nothing on any of the internets i deemed worthy of posting, i decided to search around and look at some art. in my travels i came across artnet’s 300 most requested artists list. artnet is essentially an art market designed to funnel you and your wallet toward the art which interests you. so i guess the 300 most requested list reveals, in it’s own humble manner, the artists people are most interested in paying for a piece of.
the list includes pretty much everyone you’d expect i suppose, but i took the time to click through all 300 and the cumulative effect is a bit discombobulating. seems equal parts crowned and sainted masters, smaltzy romantic, clever new-school, and, well, “simply available” i guess. make no mistake mixed in with the great art unboubtedly present is some very ugly art. seeing as how the only work included here seems to be work readily available for sale, it’s no surprise really, but hey, to each his own right? who can afford a 20 foot canvas painted in 1948 anyway unless it’s an ugly one?
one thing i can say for sure after looking through this stuff, the surest way to get included in a list with the heavies is to take nude photos of women. seriously. whether dead-pan, dramatic, or gussied up, it seems to be that simple. there is some extremely “magazine rack” level photography included here. but again, to each his own.
i was happy to see mixed in with the barney’s, koons’, warhol’s, and hirst’s some of my current and also lapsed faves were present: walton ford, matthew ritchie, uta barth, bill viola, amy cutler, joseph cornel, andy goldsworthy, good ol’ lucien of course, barry mcgee, john currin… even inka essenhigh and lisa yuskavage made the list. the fun part was coming across interesting stuff from people i’d never even heard of, like photographer elger esser whose work is gorgeous (though artnet does not show the best of it unfortunately). all in all a nice one stop window shopping experience, though again, since the images are all of work for sale, in many cases a particular artist’s best work is not present. but hey, still fun to look.
also here’s artnet’s full, and i mean full, list of artists. they even have adami! it’s sunday, take a stroll, enjoy. and hell, if you’ve got a bunch of cash to blow, buy me a walton ford.
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my fate: second level of hell
“you have come to a place mute of all light, where the wind bellows as the sea does in a tempest. this is the realm where the lustful spend eternity. here, sinners are blown around endlessly by the unforgiving winds of unquenchable desire as punishment for their transgressions. the infernal hurricane that never rests hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine, whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. you have betrayed reason at the behest of your appetite for pleasure, and so here you are doomed to remain. cleopatra and helen of troy are two that share in your fate.” or so says dante, or rather this divine comedy fate tester.