altered ego

There is astounding power in reflection.

(32)

fragile frame

The Back to the Future films evoked a sense of home, a sense of wonder, a sense of dread, and so many other things by its simple framing of a car-lined street burrowed under a canopy of trees. Our lives offer us innumerable places with similar emotional arcs, whether they are the street we grew up on that no longer extends to oblivion, or the old workplace that has made way for a condo village, the neighborhood you've lost visitation rights to, or merely the crossroads in your daily commute.

(31)

super 8.

move·ment (n.)

• an instance of moving; a change in place or position
• the suggestion or illusion of motion in a painting, sculpture, or design
• the progression of events in the development of a plot
• a self-contained section of an extended composition
• a mechanism, such as the works of a watch, that produces or transmits motion

Movement.

The word flows through your lips with such power, only to be unceremoniously scrubbed at launch time. Its lifespan appropriately works in similar starts and stops. It is a concept that comes to my mind quite often. My soul was born at the wild intersection between artist, gypsy, drifter, dreamer, and being relatively undefined.

I remember a hastily assembled piece of prose I wrote for my sixth grade English class about my life at thirty. It was etched in the penciled shorthand chicken scratch I used to convey my ideas at the time. It involved a world far from the one I was presently living in, due changes in time, location, status, and level of hope. The actual details don't stand out this far down the road, but it brings to mind a level of longing I have always had. Not coincidentally this was the time that my passion for writing, filmmaking, music, and sex were building up momentum. My tastes were more fully finding foundations, and my sensory development was enhancing.

June 10th of this year, J.J. Abrams new film Super 8 found its way to theaters. My girlfriend and I dropped in on it during opening weekend. Wrapped in a veil of Spielberg worship and with throwaway thrill ride sequences that recalled Cloverfield was the story of innocent burgeoning filmmakers trying their hand at the craft in the brilliant beige of 1979. It was unexpectedly a great work of cinematic entertainment and one that touched me deeply.

Dreams grow old with us. They evolve, find better music tastes, have children, lose aspects of themselves, but never fully disappear. Unless we do.

(30)

all personnel

RIP Harry Morgan (1915-2011)

Some actors live and breath life into characters so eloquently. For me Harry Morgan was Colonel Sherman T. Potter, the dignified, stalwart commander of the 4077th on those later seasons of M*A*S*H, and in digesting that show at such a formative age he became such a key figure in my personal development. I am truly saddened by his passing.

(*)

to simplicity

Recently I discovered the second season of the Bravo reality show, Work of Art: The Next Great Artist which follows a group of artists as they create art brought on by a variety of jumping off points and with vague parameters. On a recent episode, each of the artists attempted to create pop art (Andy Warhol's awkward adopted baby) for the modern age. As I have been traveling through my spontaneous blog picture-taking voyage, I have been thinking a lot about a quote by Warhol about why he originally painted the Campbell's Soup cans. Basically he said it was because it was what he had for lunch. Who says one needs to plod off halfway around the world to find inspiration?

(29)

born free

Artistic endeavor has been on my mind lately. I have innumerable artistically driven friends, who pursue it professionally, spiritually, or simply on the side. I consider deeply my youth born passions toward creative expression of all sorts as a gift first and a curse only in the occasional retrospect. If there's one truth that continually surfaces, it's the edict to know your limitations, but to always do your craft in spite of them.

(28)

rough edges

We know them by rote. We can see them coming from a fathom away. Their absence often becomes the litmus test that sets the standard between friends and acquaintances. They are other people's perceptions of us. I have been quiet or I have been brooding. I have been anti-social and I have been weird. And I have been referred to as rough around the edges.

Though none of these get at the heart of the matter and have been based off past knee-jerk reactions, I have found acceptance of the latter. I need not wear any tag others may don upon me, but I am quite comfortable being an odd-shaped peg ill-equipped to fitting into that geometrically accurate hole most of the world eases themselves into.

(27)

parallel universe

NASA discovered an eerily Earth-like planet in another solar system this week. Why am I not surprised?

(26)

snap shot

Life can be difficult to alter or manipulate, especially given its great ability to become strained by monotony. It doesn't have to be, so find new glory in the familiar moments and discover hidden treasures off the beaten path.

(25)

perpetual motion

You can ponder perpetual motion
Fix your mind on a crystal day
Always time for a good conversation
There's an ear for what you say.
~Creedence Clearwater Revival,
"Up Around the Bend"

(24)

'73 spirit

Happy Birthday, lover.

(23)

this corrosion

Places don't change. We do.

(22)

game day

I often must remind myself that art doesn't appeal to everyone.

(21)

open window

(20)

inside out

Everything is beautiful
in its own way.
-Ray Stevens

(19)

techno fever

The stranglehold technological has over society often drives me crazy. Even though I sell consumer electronics and know far too many seemingly useless tidbits about the ways and means of it all, I care very little about shiny toys and the advances in cellphones and their compatriots. The Florence & the Machine concert my girlfriend and I saw during this past summer was visited by a pseudo-fascist uprising of the smartphone brigade who simultaneously felt the need to video the proceedings for seeming prosperity. The cold glow from the audience resembled a roomful of old school Cylons preparing to overtake the humans en masse.

(18)

black friday.

4:47 AM.

(17)

give thanks

A multitude of simple pleasures create bliss.

(16)

function junction

The optimist already sees the scar over the wound; the pessimist still sees the wound underneath the scar.
- Ernst Schröder

(15)

in communicado

(14)

no comment

!

(13)

mojo rising

Don't neglect to consider the vantage point of someone else.

(12)

filthy beast

For four years, I had long Jesus locks. There were lengths of time when they'd fall halfway down my back, and there were strands of time that I wore it well, and other spurts that I bound it into a ponytail if only to get it the hell out of my way without any thought of appearance.

During the production of my first play, I demanded a beard of a cast member who played a slimy doctor. In what was initially a sign of solidarity with him, I too began to grow out a beard. I had slacked on shaving again and again over time, and soon realized why. It suits me and is a part of who I am that had been lurking underneath for a very long time.

(11)

ventura highway

(10)

say cheese

Smile though your heart is breaking
Smile even though it's aching
When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by
If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You'll see the sun come shining through for you.
- Nat King Cole (1954)

(9)