The Treehouse + The Cave


The Treehouse + The Cave: April 2005 <body><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID\x3d9561264\x26blogName\x3dThe+Treehouse+%2B+The+Cave\x26publishMode\x3dPUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT\x26navbarType\x3dBLACK\x26layoutType\x3dCLASSIC\x26searchRoot\x3dhttps://thetreehouseandthecave.blogspot.com/search\x26blogLocale\x3den_US\x26v\x3d2\x26homepageUrl\x3dhttp://thetreehouseandthecave.blogspot.com/\x26vt\x3d-2611371644715887499', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe" }); } }); </script>

Saturday, April 30, 2005

Orbs

Blogger Mick thought:

Internal lense reflections in a dirty camera.

May 1, 2005 at 11:23 AM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Orbs

Orbs

I'm fascinated by the fact that so may people on Flickr have opted to tag their dusty pix with the words orb and orbs. Some of them do it jokingly (a way of shrugging off the poor quality of the image). While others clearly believe that they have been lucky enough to witness and photograph the paranormal (a Google search reveals many more). Either way, the resulting images are always more interesting as a result of these spherical flaws.

Also, be sure to click through the credits below, the uncropped originals (and the accompanying comments, notes and descriptions) are so worth the time.

Orbs 2

Image 1: Prada Mama
Image 2: astrangegirl
Image 3: GLiTcH-ViXeN
Image 4: JadoreRadiohead
Image 5: ghettodiva
Image 6: b3h0ld3r
Image 7: Mystic Dream
Image 8: z_ionlee
Image 9: Jeremy Dennis

Image 10: Prada Mama
Image 11: b3h0ld3r

Blogger Mick thought:

I posted to "orbs" before I saw this posting. One of these cameras has a colony of mold/bacteria growing inside it!

May 1, 2005 at 11:25 AM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Exscape

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Ex. 1

Treehouse

Another treehouse in Bushwick. I pass it everyday, but had not seen it in light worth photographing until now.

Anonymous Anonymous thought:

i think use of the term "house" is a stretch....

May 3, 2005 at 11:03 AM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Andy thought:

To adults and treehouse connoisseurs, I agree.

To the child who stole the wood to build it, it's a mansion, a fortress.

A.

May 9, 2005 at 9:20 AM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Friday, April 29, 2005

Balloons

Balloons 3

I often wonder why I'm fascinated by certain things; why certain forms, structures inhabit my thoughts for months, years. Take balloons for example, I've made over a dozen posts in half as many months, motivated by their plump presence.

Is it because they're empty?
Is it because they're hollow?
Is it because they're full?
Is it because they're contents are invisible?
Is it because they float?
Is it because they float away?
Is it because they come clustered?
Is it because they're essentially shells?
Is it because they gain life from human breath?
Is it because they don't gain freedom until untethered?
Is it because they're only controllable when tethered?
Is it because they're lighter than air?
Is it because they create the illusion of volume?
Is it because they're subject to the whims of the wind?
Is it because they're a nearly pure form?
Is it because they're taken for granted?
Is it because they catch light like gems or stained glass?
Is it because they have a finite life-span?
Is it because they die?
Is it because they seem anxious to be lost?
Is it because they're born to collapse?
Is it because they pop, loudly?
Is it because they become invisible as they rise?
Is it because they're purchased for potential rather than value?
Is it because they're containers?
Is it because they're colors denote occasion?
Is it because they're colors connote emotion?
Is it because they can be killed with a touch?
Is it because they get caught?
Is it because they fascinated Warhol as well?
Is it because they're multiples, part of an infinite edition?
Is it because they model larger systems?
Is it because they're disposable?
Is it because they're a true commodity?
Is it because they're available to nearly everyone, nearly everywhere?
Is it because they're proxies for lungs?
Is it because they're mass-produced orbs?
Is it because they're only content is spirit?

Blogger pcenright thought:

Is it because you let go of one as a small child and cried while watching it disappear (until we learned the value of tying it to your little wrist)?

April 29, 2005 at 11:17 AM - Comment Permalink  
Anonymous Anonymous thought:

you remind me of thoreau

April 29, 2005 at 8:39 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Chris thought:

Perhaps it's because they make visible the frontier on which contrary forces are in perfect balance -- a membrane between air under pressure trying to get out, and an atmosphere trying to keep it in. I feel the same way about soap bubbles.

May 5, 2005 at 7:29 AM - Comment Permalink  
Anonymous Anonymous thought:

you inspired me to take more pictures
i notice things like this
and wonder things like that
but i forget my camera all the time
and i am too lazy to type it all out sometimes
i will try harder
thanks
edna million
http://goretro.typepad.com

May 6, 2005 at 3:55 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Try Me

Try Me

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Still

Last night, like most nights, I popped into our bodega for some beer. Calling it ours has become a natural thing to do; most New Yorkers have a convenience store that they call their own, chosen most often on the merits of it's proximity to one's apartment. Ours is not half a block from our building's door, and consequently I rarely have a reason not to flip-flop my way through theirs, dropping too many bills on an inner-city six-pack.

Last night, I stepped into the store, through that door (now tied back and perpetually open, celebrating the recent warmth) and walked past the cans and Coors in the cooler. I walked my comfortable path towards the freezer they keep in the back, stocked with beer kept at 33 degrees. These bottles (Corona, Heineken and Presidente (the only imports)), though free to buy, are tucked away for a reason; preserved for the locals that socialize within the establishment, drinking on sunny afternoons.

Last night, after lifting the heavy lid of the cold chest, I leaned in to select 6 frosty green ones. They were not well stocked, so I was in up to my armpits, my cheeks feeling the chill. As my heels left the floor so that my fingertips could dislodge the first bottle, my ears descended past the plane made by the lips of the freezer and the sounds of the bodega vanished. There were no horns, no flirting, nor arguing in informal Spanish, not the hum of the fridge itself. The air was so cold that it could not vibrate audibly. The quiet within the chest was pleasant (refreshing in a sleepy way), so I took my time selecting the next 5, already drunkenly thinking of physics.

Blogger Mick thought:

New meaning to...chill out.

Careful there...

April 28, 2005 at 8:09 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Aaron Sylvan Lord thought:

given the ethanol and dissolved solute in the beer decrease the melting/freezing point, the beers are most probably chilled past the freezing point of water.

April 29, 2005 at 1:02 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Don't Fear The Future

Don't Fear The Future

Today's response to yesterday's message.

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Ghost

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Quotations

"The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be." - Paul Valéry

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

I Miss The Old New York

I Miss The Old New York

Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

this makes me feel something.

April 29, 2005 at 8:08 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Halo

Halo - Small
Please view the full-scale image as well.

I could see the shadow cast by the plane I was in on the thin clouds to the right; around it a rainbow halo.

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Model

Sometimes I think I've studied the fashion game for too long now. When I'm anxious and walking, or when I know people are watching (which in New York is more often than not) I walk one foot in front of the other (along an imaginary balance beam) allowing my heals to pound hardly into the ground. I tense my jaw, knowing that it's a bit more photogenic. It's infested me.

Blogger Mick thought:

So now it's known...this was written about you:

You walked into the party
Like you were walking onto a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf it was apricot
You had one eye in the mirror
As you watched yourself gavotte
And all the girls dreamed that they'd be your partner
They'd be your partner, and

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you?

Just kiddin'

LUV U

April 28, 2005 at 2:38 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

My Huckleberry Friend

My Huckleberry Friend

Take a look at My Huckleberry Friend. Within seconds, I think you'll see why I see parallels between Tibor's blog and my own. Love it for the look, the links, and the bird songs (a curated page of mp3s, each a song that involves birds).

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Monday, April 25, 2005

Ash

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Sustenance/Supplies

Fridge

Blogger Aaron Sylvan Lord thought:

i always found having ice cream cones at home incredibly decadent, if not somehow inappropriate.

April 29, 2005 at 1:09 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger heather thought:

ice cream cones at home most certainly are not decadent when they're the only sweet thing at the shitbox bodega and you dont fill them before eating.

April 29, 2005 at 7:21 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

full ciggies.

April 30, 2005 at 9:31 AM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Home Lifes

Homelifes 2

Blogger Paige thought:

I have that Hudson's Bay blanket too.. but mine is a fake. Still comfy and pretty, regardless!

April 26, 2005 at 6:21 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Tara thought:

exacto knives...carefully marked plastic boxes from the delivery man...butter and jam...mmmmm

April 29, 2005 at 1:47 AM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Aaron Sylvan Lord thought:

evidence of addictions to physical comfort...

April 29, 2005 at 1:04 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Marginal

Not Sure I'm With You Here

Blogger Aaron Sylvan Lord thought:

cookie sloman, my 5th grade teacher and jew extraordinaire, used purple to mark up her students' papers. although she did this for the sole reason that purple was her favorite color (she was one of those kind of teachers), i cant help but think she was somehow prescient as to the now-known evidence of the negative psychology of red pens.

April 29, 2005 at 1:08 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Friday, April 22, 2005

Caught

Short Hills - Small
Please view the full-scale image as well.

Increasingly, I've been dealing with rent-a-cops who think that I'm a security risk. It's not that I'm carrying a messenger bag into the spray paint section (as I have many times), it's not that I'm looking for a shady place to spark up; it happens every other time I take my camera out. I can be in work clothes, on city sidewalks, mid-day, and they'll approach, chests full of ignorance and bravado. I think they think they are protecting me by advancing the culture of fear that has draped this country since September 11th. Nothing could make me more sickened, and sad.

My first encounter with this phenomenon was a little over a month ago, in Jerz while visiting my folks. On an errand to berate Verizon for their abuse of my brother, we found ourselves within the Mall at Short Hills (a consumption playground for the North Jersey elite (it's got Fendi, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, etc.)). Bored, while half my family took turns screaming at the arrogant cellular sales associate, I started to take pictures of the mall's architecture, of people walking by, of other totally normal shit. Within minutes of pulling my camera from my bag, a fucking security guard sauntered over to counter this threat.

To his credit, he was a reasonable person who regretted having to start a confrontation. He explained that as a matter of public safety, there was to be no photography within the mall.

All I could think was, "I'm on 200 fucking video cameras right now, they are taking my picture and have been for an hour, doesn't it just seem wrong that I can't take theirs?".

So I've been shooting cameras.

Cameras

I had to speak with three different men in uniform today, all within the 20 minutes I'm above ground on the way to work. Depicted above, are 16 of the dozens of video cameras that caught me along my route to the office this morning. I navigated as usual (and counted at least 22 that captured my image during my 40 minute journey). I guess I looked suspicious.

Related: The MTA Photography Ban

Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

wow. that's wild. i always forget about the fact that i am, well, basically always on a camera every time i go out.

i guess it'll become very clear when i get a knock at the door and they are arresting me for some terrorist shit because i've got dark skin and they have footage of me at an electronics store buying a new mouse and they use my blog in court. heh. AND this post.

i think i woke up on the wrong side of the bed. it's raining. booh.

p.s. hi guys.

April 23, 2005 at 9:47 AM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Mick thought:

I feel tht I understood prejudice for the first time when I became a "nigger." All it took was long hair and bell bottom jeans and I was immediately discriminated against and hasseled by authority figures. To think that carrying a camera is adequate to label one as subversive is something I thought we had left behind us. Sad commentary...

April 23, 2005 at 10:03 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Mick thought:

Who watches the images from the cameras? There must be a lot of video tape sold in the world these days!

April 23, 2005 at 10:05 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Window

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Board

Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

who wrote: sue's cell? are you a leftie??

April 22, 2005 at 9:11 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Andy thought:

I did.

Though no, I'm not a lefty. Definitely right-brained, but also right handed.

I have two kinds of handwriting. One that's very plain and printy, I use that one alot at work, so my co-workers can read it. The other is more my hand-style. Curvy, and leanin' to the left. "Sue's Cell" has got a bit of both...

A.

April 22, 2005 at 10:07 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

amazing flick link. i love words!

can you write something for me so i can put it on my blog? don't make it too mean though. like so poems about how i smell. maybe incorporate sloths or stuff of that nature.

hooooray! please pleaase please. it'll be an early birthday present!

April 23, 2005 at 9:49 AM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

April 23, 2005 at 9:49 AM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Deep Pressure

Occasionally it's wonderful to work for a company that hasn't realized the bubble's burst. I was offered one of the coveted "free professional massage" spots this morning and accepted. Normally I avoid blurring the line between life and work (as well as on-the-job nudity), but after the a couple fatiguing weeks, pragmatism prevailed; I needed it. Now that I'm back at my desk, one warm hour later, I feel like my employer had invited me to a lunch of OC and Soma, and then handed me a Harp to wash it down. I'm syrupy and smiling.

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

420 Friendly

Blogger lucidity thought:

where's the grass?

:)

April 22, 2005 at 12:40 AM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Cast

Blogger pcenright thought:

Nice photo...and it looks so familiar. I love it when you take little pieces of us away with you.

April 21, 2005 at 1:41 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Days in NeoTokyo

Some mornings I awake knowing that the day is doomed. Often, it's because I'm literally overscheduled (and thus I will have little opportunity to steal back time, to have even a single creative thought on the company's dime). Others, it's just a feeling that permeates the air, hanging heavily above my head, waiting for consciousness to lift my eyelids before befalling me slowly yet violently.

I've known since dawn plowed through our uncurtained window that today would be such a day (actually I've known since I awoke Monday that this would be a sullen week, but that's another matter). On days like these, I pound my way down the streets I tread every morning and every evening, down subways steps and down the corridors that lead to my desk, each step synced with the hardest, dubbiest shit I can find within my personal sonic library. I blast it at a damaging volume (killing my ears the way I kill my lungs with hot smoke), littering my environment with the tinny frequencies that escape burrowed earbuds. With each rolling bassline, I imagine that pressure waves of massive power emanate from my head, reducing the surrounding buildings, people and materials to fragments of their former selves; dust dwarfed by pebbles. As I walk, taking heavy steps, my music and my mood leave a powdery wake of dissolution. All that I've passed, gone.

Blogger TRUE thought:

dawn plows thru...niice.

April 21, 2005 at 7:46 AM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Partnership

Partnership - Small
Please view the full-scale image as well.

In 2002, within the New York City Clerk's Office, within one of the many partitioned rooms where Heather and I waited to push papers registering our domestic partnership, is a prayer tree of sorts.

The trailing couples, 30-deep in line to speak through clusters of small holes, were pressed up against a thin plexiglass panel that protected the municipal wall from the public's filth. Our predecessors had been as well it seemed: Behind the clear sheet, six inches from each of it's edges, happy hopeful couples had stuffed small notes (messages, wishes, primarily proclamations of devotion), each handwritten while waiting to cut checks and sign duplicates. We loved the marked scraps and spent much of our wait examining their variety and warmth. After queuing through, we paused to add a note of our own; a gesture in appreciation of the inscribed sentiment (the text itself, something short and common once nestled amongst the wrinkled bits).

Images of these brief letters still anchor my recollection of what was perhaps the most human "New York" experience I've had since I could begin calling the city my home.

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Invisibility

"but just cuz i'm invisible doesn't mean i'm not here" - TRUE

Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

true is god.

and by that i mean god is not true as in the truth but that true=god.

and by that, i mean trueboy is the ruler of the world.

ughhhhh.

April 19, 2005 at 11:03 AM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Sunburnt

Sunburnt - Small
Please view the full-scale image as well.

Almost a year ago now; with more on the horizon.

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Breathe

Blogger heather thought:

ah, those bubbles you made with the little tubes of soft plastic. you put a glob at the end of what was essentially a coke straw and blew, sealed it up with your fingers and had a weak ball/strong bubble to play with for a few minutes. my dad would never let us get them at the grocery store bc he thought they were so toxic it was like condoning huffing.

April 17, 2005 at 10:26 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Late Tour

Bicycling

I left the house hours ago, without a destination in mind. Knowing that after I made a preliminary purchase (50 cents worth of air for my soft tires), I'd roll around Brooklyn, under sun that hints at summer on the German bicycle I'd missed all these months. I'd feel the back of my neck, and the tops of my thighs, both burning lightly. I'd watch the shadows grow longer and the broken glass blink, quietly through my amber lenses.

Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

i did the same thing today. except my tires were fully inflated and i was in downtown toronto. much of the same thing, though. i think i'm going to do it again today. a little ride through the market, down jammed city streets where bicycles move quicker than the cars but only slightly faster than the pedestrians.

bicycling's a great fix for a muddy mind. you can't help but feel at least a little bit better when the wind is blowing through your hair. so cinematic.

April 18, 2005 at 8:02 AM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

April 18, 2005 at 8:02 AM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

heh. i posted the same comment three times by accident. stupid blogger. grrrrrr, i say! get haloscan (or is it not as pleasing for the lovely threehouse and the cave)...

April 18, 2005 at 8:05 AM - Comment Permalink  
Anonymous Anonymous thought:

these photos make think of summer evenings, when your skin is warm from being out in the sun all day and you feel happy and full.

April 18, 2005 at 2:31 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Friday, April 15, 2005

Dull

Blogger Ray Nolan thought:

Or, not so dull.

April 15, 2005 at 10:31 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Porthole/Portal

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Pass That Dutch

Sarah's passed the blogosphere's latest fascination to the left:

Behold, the Caesar’s Bath meme! List five things that people in your circle of friends or peer group are wild about, but you can’t really understand the fuss over. To use the words of Caesar (from History of the World Part I), “Nice. Nice. Not thrilling . . . but nice.”

How can I not participate in a invitation-only chain letter for haters? Puff, puff, give:

Spring and Summer: While I fully admit to enjoying the first 10 days of spring and the last 10 of summer, I pretty much loathe every minute in between. Now that the mercury has passed the 70 mark once, maybe twice, the streets are awash in more vapid, glistening flesh than Wild on E! They are flooded with the smiles people think they are supposed to wear. Flooded with an immediate distaste for the independent, quiet, conceptual time that winter fosters. I miss snow, sweatshirt jackets and Jameson and we haven't even hit May.

Cocaine: Don't get me wrong, I understand that New York runs on the shit; entire industries and social networks would collapse with out the ubiquitous white lines. I just don't understand why people get so psyched to drop $100 on smurf-sized baggie of mystery chemicals that won't last an hour and'll leave your throat feeling as though you drank mace. I've done it, I'll do it again (let's face facts, I hang out with the kind of art/fashion people that pride themselves on living above their means). I just don't seek it out. I'm just not impressed. Growing up, it was impossible to ignore the aura that coke has in our culture. It is the definition of a hard drug. Not only is it supposed to be hard, it's supposed to be glamorous. Of course, I always wanted to give it a try. When I finally did (in college I guess), I was stunned at how minimal the effects were. Maybe it's that my body doesn't need uppers (any friend can corroborate, I'd trade a couple ritalin for a klonopin with a smile). Maybe it's that I'm a pussy and the drip makes me tear up and gag. Either way, coke aint my candy.

The Lower East Side: As much as I try to ignore the city's provincialism, and out of principle try not to frame my hood as superior to any other, I've got to say to all the Lower East Siders: Max Fish is played, and you spend 80% of your salaries on spaces smaller than closets. Why all the attitude?

The Smiths: I know, I know, you can deal with my distaste for cocaine, and my disgust for LES elitism, but how dare I infringe on the last bit of your holy trinity: Moz. Well, sorry, I never liked to be miserable in high school, I was angry instead.

Larry Clark and Terry Richardson: Two words: Victim Photography.

Honorable Mentions: Guinness, Matthew Barney, Interpol.

It's cashed, time to repack. I'm passing it to Etienne, Paige and Mick. Careful, it's hot.

Blogger Aaron Sylvan Lord thought:

1. The NBA
2. Tits
3. Google Maps
4. Celebrity magazines
5. The teenage abstinence movement

April 14, 2005 at 6:03 PM - Comment Permalink  
Anonymous Anonymous thought:

Yes! Hott answers! Esp. the Clark/Richardson double-trouble.

April 15, 2005 at 12:16 AM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

oh man. all i want to do is be your best friend. it's ridiculous. we're going to coney island and take pictures and eat pizza and you will smile and you will mean it.

about spring and summer: i love to wear my smiles. okay? okay.

about cocaine: i feel the same way. also, coke in canada is cheaper and better. though perhaps that is not better, but worse. hrm.

about LES: you are so right. max fish. wahhh wahhhhhh. i'd rather vomit in my own mouth and swallow than spend three minutes there. (i wrote all about it sometime in february i think.)

the smiths: i'm with you there. and, i also highly dislike bob marley and brian wilson's 'smile'. yup. you heard me. fucking listening to music for fashion. so not-cool. NOBODY LIKES IT! nobody.

April 15, 2005 at 11:34 AM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

April 15, 2005 at 11:34 AM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

ha ha. yeah miss heather i am talking about totonno's. i have never actually been there (or to coney island for that matter) - i've just heard about it. last trip to new york i did some lame-ass drinking-at-max-fish-hanging-out-with-oxycotin-taking-fools-who-either-live-in-LES-or-in-jamaica and the time before that i was staying at the plaza and eating $42 club sandwiches. and i want something nicer. i want something in between.

anyway, i am *totally* feeling your idea: let's leave andy and you and i will have a date!! lou reed and his entourage will be like, "we go to totonno's in hopes to see etienne and heather unnecessarily taking up 56482398754 tables all pushed together."

and maybe andy can do my laundry too...

April 15, 2005 at 5:27 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Aaron Sylvan Lord thought:

oh, sorry, my brain interpreted it as whats hot now and i missed that it had to be within your circle of friends. im not really a hater anyways. am i?

who are you etienne?

April 15, 2005 at 6:23 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Paige thought:

I feel so loved to be included! Now I am under all this pressure to make my own fabulous list..

April 15, 2005 at 8:24 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

andy, get heather a d-a-n-g section of the g.d. blog right the fuck now!! seriously. i want it. i *need* it. also, sloths do rule. if you can find a picture of that cute/hilarious/genius cartoon please email it to me at etienneaida at gmail dot come. i'd love to see it.

in costa rica, i called all the men jefe and they loved me. heh heh.

and hipp-o, i'm just a new pup to the sewing circle. also, i have a guilty pleasure of your hates #3 and #4. actually i don't feel so guilty about #3. maps are fucking cool as sin. if i came across some money i would buy myself a really nice atlas but for now it's google maps.

and make it "notes from THE cavedweller" not "notes from a cavedweller."

heather: you are the. not a.

April 15, 2005 at 8:36 PM - Comment Permalink  
Anonymous Anonymous thought:

Hethr, shawly it shud be "looking for sloths. which are, hands" up, not "down"!

April 16, 2005 at 1:40 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger heather thought:

you know, for all your A-levels and your oxford and your cambridge, y'all are pretty clueless. "hands down" originated in the late 19th century as a modifier to describe a sure victory in horse racing, when the jockey is so far ahead, he can relax the reins and/or the whip and come over the line with his hands down.

"hands up", however, is an invention of the kind of 20th century hack screenwriter who eats tunafish from the can and lives in a seedy hollywood building he shares with washed up geriatric actresses and waitresses from the heartland, girls who haven't had a call-back in four years and can never go home again.

April 16, 2005 at 2:58 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Andy thought:

Um... Heather, I think he said hands up beacuse sloths hang. Their hands are up. Thanks for your signature academic/depressing take though.

Love,

A.

April 16, 2005 at 3:06 PM - Comment Permalink  
Anonymous Anonymous thought:

Thanks Andy. Glad I didn't have to explain that one!

"Hands up" is in fact what the police say when they come to arrest the jockey who is clearly so far ahead that his horse must have been doped.

April 16, 2005 at 4:50 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

i've been reading this, and, um, i just want to let you all that heather wins.

hands down.

April 16, 2005 at 10:29 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Home Life

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Quotations

Oblique Strategies

"Humanize something free of error." - Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt

This quotation is from an art object entitled Oblique Strategies, originally released in 1975 (there have been reissues since) by Eno and Schmidt (a British painter whose works grace the cover of Evening Star and the back cover of Before and After Science).

Oblique Strategies, described by its creators as "over one hundred worthwhile dilemmas", was and is a deck of cards. Each card is solid black on one side and white on the other. The white side is marked with an aphorism set in a 10 point sans-serif typeface. The type on each card offers one of the many approaches the two employed while working through the low points in their creative processes. Each set was produced to be used as a creative tool for artists in need of inspirations/complications.

Image by Hotdogsladies

Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

funny that you posted that.

i drew a heart on my palm last night with a sharpie. and in the lab today - with a bic pen - i wrote "two thoughts conceivably merging." who knows why. i should have taken photos.

i am not as deep as that photo though, clearly!

April 12, 2005 at 5:57 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Protest Balloons

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

The Handwritten

At this point I'm sure it's abundantly clear that a portion of my artistic practice discusses/employs handwritten texts, both found and personally created. They've been at the forefront of my recent work, and bubbling beneath the surface long before that.

Maybe they came into the picture early, when I thought comics were my calling. Maybe a bit later when I first picked up a can of spray paint and discovered public walls. Maybe once I found Kosuth, Weiner, Nauman and witnessed the power efficient text can have within the world of visual art. I'm still working on understanding exactly how they became so central, but looking back through the portfolios that are rarely seen, it's clear that they are; that the private/public dichotomy inherent in the handwritten text brands much of what I make.

Currently, I'm fascinated by the rich resource for the handwritten that the internet has become. Google searches for the obvious keywords return tens of thousands of results. Tags on Flickr return much the same. There are dozens of specialized, curated sites as well, cared for by people with obsessive taxonomies and extensive networks of contributors.

Two such sites, ones I've returned to for a while now, are The Grocery List Collection and Pictures of Walls. Both are titled quite accurately, both are bringing the untyped word to the web.

The Grocery List Collection:

Grocery Lists

Pictures of Walls:

Pictures of Walls

Image 1: Grocery Lists #118
Image 2: Grocery Lists #129
Image 3: Pictures of Walls #11

Image 4: Pictures of Walls #13

Blogger Etienne Aida thought:

nothing has ever been as satifying as the grocery lists. seriously.

i am in love with you simply based on the fact that you just posted some.

April 12, 2005 at 12:30 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Monday, April 11, 2005

Indexed Cards

Striped Postcard - Small
Please view the full-scale image as well.

My best friend Aaron goes through a lot of index cards. Easily a 100 a week I'd bet, filling each one with the polysyllabic facts one must conquer in medical school. He keeps them in boxes specifically designed to hold such cards, and has become quite picky about the brands that he'll acquire.

He knows which ones absorb liquid ink, which ones don't; he knows which are long fibred, which short; always looking in cheap drugstores and expensive stationers for something new, something that will hold his pen's interest for the next week or two. As each pack is opened and consumed, the last is dropped in the box, the newest layer in the striated stack. Together, the layers (of mostly pastels and recycled brown) look like sedimentary rock (the kind we remember visible along highways cut into Appalachian hills).

He announced his most recent find (white cards with thick pink stripes) with the charming thought depicted above, handwritten in his signature blue and mailed to Heather several days ago.

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Limousine

Limo 1 - Small
Please view the full-scale image as well.

Trust me, a limo is a rarity in in this part of Brooklyn.

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

The Highline

Highline

Why isn't The Highline ever mentioned in all the controversy surrounding the proposed Jets stadium on the westside railyard site? Looking at the maps it's pretty obvious that the two proposals would have to be integrated in some way...

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Tracers

I've always wondered: If you put nothing but tracer bullets into a gatling gun, would it look like a laser beam when it was fired?

Anonymous Anonymous thought:

andy my friend, i know nothing about these kinds of things. however i was looking up "345 eldert" on google cause i lived there and i miss it and i see i also went to mica probably at the same time you did.

congratulations on having your injoke be sweated by the new york times. i personally like it because it has the escher-print house-of-mirrors can't-even-talk-about-it hipness quotient of vice magazine but also kind of soft and self-mocking. and helpful too. we all need to know this stuff when we move out of bushwick to sheepshead bay and actually start being original.

just joking. i was always original. anwyay, feel free to drop a line. i am that refreshing non-ironic person everyone says they want to meet in their friendster profiles, except they don't know what to say to non-ironic people, really.

haha, toast. that's great.

-toby
#318, 2002-2003
MICA, 1998-1999
tobiqua@yahoo.com

April 10, 2005 at 4:59 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Mick thought:

The tracers would be somewhat discontinuous and maybe not as well collimated. Sort of like the "tear along the dotted line" type of line.

Don't you think "Tearalong" would make a good name for a dotted lion? Then you could have a cartoon called "Tearalong-The
Dotted Lion."

April 10, 2005 at 8:21 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Andy thought:

Mick,

I figured that a General Electric 7.62mm mini-gun (they fire at rates up to about 10,000 rounds per minute (166 rounds a second)) combined with a supply of only phosphorus bullets (normally the ratio is one tracer bullet to every 5-10 standard rounds) might be sufficient to create the illusion of a solid beam.

Don't think so?

A.

April 11, 2005 at 9:52 AM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Andy thought:

Toby,

Glad you're reading. I always knew there had to be Micans in 345. You were only in Bmore for a year? What major?

A.

April 11, 2005 at 4:29 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Mick thought:

Collimation...I'm not sure about the tracer projectiles. I somehow doubt that they have the precise aerodynamics of the lethal projectiles. On the other hand, they wouldn't be much good for "tracing" unless they were somewhat accurate...

April 12, 2005 at 11:17 AM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Andy thought:

You're correct. The tracer bullets do fly a little differently than standard rounds. Gunners who use helicopter-mounted gatling guns, learn to aim the tracers just to the right or left of the target (depending on wind), knowing that the lethal rounds have a slightly more accurate trajectory.

Still, with only tracer bullets being used as ammunition, they should all fly the same. Or at least very similarly.

A.

April 12, 2005 at 11:29 AM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Toast

Someone should open a gimmicky bar called Toast. It'd be gimmicky because of the dual meaning, this bar would serve toasted bread instead of pretzels or peanuts. They'd have two of those industrial conveyor-belt toasters right on the bar, left and right of all the booze. One set to regular (the toast would fade gradually from untoasted to a rich golden brown) and one set to dark (some bits burned black). Light would be a custom request, though one happily honored (the bread would appear untoasted until touched). With every drink purchased, the patrons would be free to request a small ceramic plate topped with two buttered pieces of toast (toasted as much as the customer wanted, selected from a rotating list of available locally-baked breads, and buttered with real salted butter). Over time the bartender would learn to suggest certain kinds of toast to go with certain drinks, like wine with cheese. I'd go for sourdough with Guinness and seeded pumpernickel with Stella.

Wait a minute, am I the only person who likes warm toast with a cold beer?

Anonymous Anonymous thought:

No, see, said bar would need to have toaster ovens that burn pictures into the toast--like the Hello Kitty model my mother graciously gave me for my bridal shower, infantilizing me to the death. It does rule though.

April 10, 2005 at 2:18 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Chris thought:

Once upon a time, Bob Elliot (father of actor Chris Elliot) and Ray Goulding were the hosts of a New York radio program which if you never heard of Bob & Ray is a little hard to describe.

They started in the 40s, and were hip and cult-popular enough to be selected as Saturday Nigh Live hosts in the early days of SNL. (http://www.radiohof.org/comedy/bobray.html)

Their show featured short comedy segments which included a running soap opera called "Mary Backstage, Noble Wife." And one of their regular mock-sponsors was a family restaurant called The House of Toast. Toast was all you could order, but you could decide whether to have it buttered "on the near side or the far side."

Those were the days...

April 11, 2005 at 9:16 AM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Paige thought:

There is a toast restaurant in Toronto, but I don't know if they are licensed to serve beer.... (it's a small place)

April 11, 2005 at 12:24 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Saturday, April 09, 2005

Color-Aid

Color-Aid

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

This Morning's Light

Rainbow Self Portrait - Small
Please view the full-scale image as well.

Ever since the time change, I've been unable to sleep in on the weekend. Today, the sun woke me at around 6:00. I was able to doze for a while longer, but only after milling about, getting a glass of water, and realizing that a prism that has never made a decent rainbow, had caught the newly timed light. It was throwing a 6 by 8 inch rainbow on the side of our fridge. The air was calm, and the spectrum sat still, so I sat in for a self portrait (something in which I'm normally reluctant to indulge).

Anonymous Anonymous thought:

thats an interesting picture

April 9, 2005 at 6:08 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Andy thought:

thats an interesting comment

April 9, 2005 at 11:03 PM - Comment Permalink  
Anonymous Anonymous thought:

whys that, sporto?

April 10, 2005 at 1:27 AM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Dawn

Dawn

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Friday, April 08, 2005

Around

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Shattered/Scattered

Shattered Scattered

Image 1: The front door to our building, whole as of last night.
Image 2: Consumed packets of fois gras, left by APT.

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Mirror

Mirror 2

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Highline Sky

Highline Sky

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Memory Maps

Within hours of Google's announcement that they had added satellite imagery to their already elegant mapping service, a new and quite brilliant image pool has developed on Flickr that takes advantage of the feature. Called Memory Maps, users are taking satellite images of places they have lived or experienced from Google, and then annotating the images using Flickr Notes feature. The notes vary from simple location descriptions to elaborate stories about entire hometowns (and the people that inhabit them).

Again, I'm amazed at the speed by which people create new forms from the free tools now available; this has a lot of potential. Aaron, Heather, when can I expect the annotated Kanawha Valley?

Blogger Andy thought:

AL/HL:

Turns out the Google Map of Chas is pretty low res. If you want something better, take a look at TerraServer.

A.

April 7, 2005 at 10:31 AM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Aaron Sylvan Lord thought:

the weird thing is, from satellite photos, the projects look like the nicest places to live.

April 7, 2005 at 11:43 AM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

PostSecret

Post Secret

I complain regularly that I see so few blogs that aim to be art. It just seems like such an obvious thing to do with the blog format. I don't understand why there's not more experimentation out there, why artists aren't taking advantage of these free tools.

Occasionally of course, I find a gem.

New on my radar, PostSecret is an art blog that solely features scanned postcards received by the author. The idea is that anonymous contributors write secrets (anything they want, as long as it has never been disclosed) on postcards and mail them in to the creator of the project, who then makes them public using Blogger. The results are rich; sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying, every card dripping with honesty and relief. Visually impressive as well, the cards tend to take on a graphic quality, attractive to any student of typography, and familiar to any fan of mail art.

Image 1: PostSecret - February 13th, 2005
Image 2: PostSecret - January 7th, 2005

Blogger heather thought:

i love these! theyre the most economical stories i've ever heard. why aren't there more?

April 7, 2005 at 1:24 PM - Comment Permalink  
Blogger Andy thought:

You should make one/some.

I think I might as well. The PostSecret project is not unlike the issue of Bonus that I had a piece in, so I think I'll address secrecy similarly.

A.

April 7, 2005 at 2:16 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Google Maps

Google Satellite

Today, Google announced that they've added satellite imagery (via their acquisition of Keyhole) to their Google Maps service. All of the features that are normally available have now been integrated with Keyhole's detailed overhead photography. In satellite mode, the system still superimposes driving directions, still pinpoints businesses, and still displays web links. Best of all, you can still drag the maps around with ease.

When Google Maps first debuted, people said that quickly dragging the maps felt like flying over land; they didn't know how right they were.

Blogger Paige thought:

I found my house and high school and elementary school in Toronto... it was weird and voyeuristic but coool!

April 8, 2005 at 2:45 AM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Mirror

Foil

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Mirror

Mirror

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Quotations

"The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet." - William Gibson

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Lost Balloons

Lost Balloons

Image by Urbanbohemian

Post a Comment
Hide Comments

Sunsets

Sunset 6

Last night's sunset was the first I had seen from home in months. I've left the office within minutes of the setting sun all season (just after in 2004, and just prior in 2005). Now, with the recent spring forward, I see the beginning of the dimming glow just as I exit the subway a borough away, the actual dip below the horizon minutes after I drop my overstuffed bag from my shoulder to an overstuffed chair at home.

Last night, after depositing my things, catching my breath, and cracking a freshly purchased Beck's, I climbed the stairs to our roof. I climbed again, up the loose ladder that leads to our deck (really, the augmented framework beneath an absent water tank), and watched as our star steadily descended behind the Manhattan skyline. The wind was strong, and as I stared at the sun, my eyes dried.

Images from that 15 minutes:

Rooftop

Blogger Mick thought:

Superb! Beautiful photos, beautiful layout.

April 5, 2005 at 7:59 PM - Comment Permalink  
Anonymous dissertations thought:

Cool! Author the best! Thank you!

May 12, 2011 at 12:21 PM - Comment Permalink  

Post a Comment
Hide Comments