holaolah

Dang Near Made Me Cry

My buddy Lisa has taken to writing more on her blog, Wide Eyed Wonder. Her post from Monday was one of the best things I've read anywhere in quite a while. I'm blessed to know Lisa and the gang she rolls with. Hope you enjoy her stuff as much as I do.

Laundromat Poster

I just cleared the photos that have been storing up on my phone and this is one that I took especially for you. I spent my Black Friday, or Buy Nothing Day, or just the day after Thanksgiving at the ever so awesome Surf & Suds Laundromat (where you're always bound to lose a buck or two... or find $20). This poster was one of the more compelling decorations in the joint. What the hell is it about? My half-hearted attempts at detective work turned up nothing.

Ahh, Young Love...

In case you didn't know, Dan and Cindy are getting married! If you read their little love story, you'll see that I also assist in the forging of the legend of their love.  This isn't all about me, even though it is. It's always good to see two good kids get hitched and set out on their own to do the best they can in the heartland (NYC) because I told them to and insisted that marriage is the best thing for people of their condition and general mental disposition.  I give the best advice.  Bless ya'll,  I'm a believer in your love, lechiem (all over your floor)!

DOH! That's What Amazon is For!

So we thought we were being all slick and stuff by getting our cutest nephew (disclosure: he's the only one at this point, but he really is cute) a digital camera for his birthday. Silly uncle Ryan failed to read the product reviews for the camera on Amazon.com. Silly Ryan, now a piece of crap is on it's way to you via UPS! I think I'll return it as soon as I sign for it. I can't believe this, I feel like a schmuck. I am supposed to be hip to this stuff.  I don't think Josiah wants a raincheck or Amazon credit for his birthday.  Gotta think quick! Anyone know of a good affordable not too crappy camera for a really cute young dude?  Anyone got photoshop skillz enough to superimpose some pooh on the picture of the crap camera speeding ever closer to me?

The Reason for My Recent Lack of Blogging...

    ...but I promise that I will fight through the leftovers to continue my continuous coverage of my most important micro-news. Peace be with you until that time.
Special thanks to Kaitlin and my dear mother, tryptophan pushers so hard core they should be getting kickbacks from Butterball.

Thank you both for sufficiently suspending my animation. Culinary credits: Brother Brent & Sister Susan, cutters of turkey/makers of Lauren (above); Kaitlin's bird (below).

I'm Thankful for...

My niece Lauren!

Catch Up + Wex n FX

Sorry for my lack of effervescent posts as of late (or perhaps since day one). A lot of that had to do with being away in Columbus, OH at an art symposium that was part of the “Part Object, Part Sculpture” exhibit at The Wexner Center for the Arts. It was an amazing show, and with the help of the Metallos, with a special appearance by Father Michael of Gardenia, it was made even better.

In lieu of posting a mediocre review of the show, I thought I would share my two pages of bulleted steno notes that I took during the symposium. I attempted to do some live blogging at one point but I got the sense that crowd would have passively and aggressively choked me. When you see quotes it’s where I was quoting one of the presenters/panelists. The quotes will go un-attributed because they are not complete. The others are just thought points that I plan on thinking about at some not too distant or far off date. Most were probably generated because of something loosely related to the topics at hand. Perhaps when I find myself incapacitated or laid up in some unforeseen, but not too painful, way. Here’s the list. If you’d like me to elaborate, drop me a comment. I would love to be assigned to elaborate. I live for that stuff. ROCK!

Wexarts.org – part object, part sculpture – an art symposium
•    What can art do to be more exciting / of the people, relevant to commoners. non-art geeks?
•    Hollywood as culture, ministry of
•    Political struggle of “who gets to assign meaning”
•    Mis/disinformation
•    “The function of the joke” – introduced in a …
•    Fragmentation leads to one hand clapping – audience splits and divides and splits and divides again
•    “What I was trying to complicate” – why the hell would you try to complicate something? Is there something I am not understanding about the word?
•    Maybe there are things I understand more now. This works w/theory and Marx and more previously thought complicated items of learning
•    “The way that I understand it to mean”
•    The discourse of reception
•    Something that I’m learning about myself is that I’m usually unwilling to learn or take up something that doesn’t come naturally or stuff I have an immediate take to. I’m learning that there are some things that I need to work on to learn. DUH. I think I’m also learning that I’m willing to learn. So, when will I finally be willing to learn math?
•    The encoding of objects
•    Viral carrier
•    “Duchampian authorial in laudatory terms”
•    Certificates of authenticity
•    Set of quotes makes art. It also makes suckers.
•    Why are we still talking about Duchamp? Because he is the father, he’s rocked the common world art; he’s generated a world of joke tellers.
•    The term publics is brought up + used a lot. Therefore, is art public relations?
•    Concretions – Alan McCollum
•    Do we need curators, theorists, and critics to explain artists and their works? If they’re left to do the job themselves, is it better? Less special? Are the above-mentioned parties mythmakers?
•    You are not a unique flower – beyond 30 we start to make stereotypes, classify, categorize
•    They don’t have a good chemistry
•    Knotty problem … with a “K” knot special
•    Depp in “Charlie…” reminds me of Shelby French
•    Special as in not identical
•    “Not coincidentally perhaps”
•    Does this pen work—it smells like choco mint
•    True reincarnation—passing on of occupational identity/trade/persona –there can’t be a new Dylan or Warhol until the old one is gone. Individuals who replace “greater” individuals are then left to pass on their lesser character roles.
•    Visual culture

What's She Building in There?

This is Janell's work in progress. The Tom Waits song What's He Building really sums up what her studio work has become as of late.  She really is one of the coolest and most creative people I know. Sleep well my lovely little mad scientist.

Scratch & Sniff the Gas Odor

Yesterday I got a message from the Delaware Natural Gas folks letting me know why they add a funky smell to the gas that I may or may not use in my apartment. The message on the card got my inner 12 year old laughing: "Scratch this flame with your fingernail and sniff the gas odor." Huh huh!

Sorry for the weak pic, Janell has the scanner in her studio de artes. I am sorry also for the lack of meaty posts as of late. I've been rather busy for a guy who's hardly ever busy. I also think that the flu shot I got this morning has rendered my left arm useless. One quick thought before I go to bed -- if you get pissed off or disappointed about something during your day, it's best not to follow up that disappointment by dusting off the Radiohead classic "Creep." It is better to shuffle over to Jay-Z's "Change Clothes"

Element

 As I was reviewing the day's posts at Jaffe Juice, I came across a link to this little gem of an Element site. Thanks for the tip Joseph! Since this venture is about keeping up with the Olahs, I figured you'd like to know about the kinds of adventures we have while driving in our vehicle of choice. This kind of stuff really happens to us. An interesting thing to note, the voice of the Element in the game has about the same affect/vocal delivery as my brother-in-law Todd.