"As soon as there is norm, there is a bourgeoisie."
here is a link to an interview with genet from 1982 over at the guardian. (via mobylives)

i'm out of here for a week - will try to update from louisville.

now i have a silver cap on one of my molars; i'm getting one last crown while i'm covered by petsmart's health insurance. ouch.

today i went to the giant robot store, and hustled around a bit, laundry and such, getting ready for the trip back home.
as far as blogging goes ( you like blogging?) i've been keeping up with derek lowe's lagniappe.

was just digging through some old bookmarks when i found this beaut by the klf - print it out and dig it.

the last two days were all about attending a two day class on resume writing. the classes are never geared for design folks and so there was about one solid hour of really helpful information spread out over two days. while we learned interview techniques, fashion ideas and resume formatting i couldn't help but think that all this information was making me feel that i wanted a job less and less. at least a job where i would have to deal with this kind of stuff.

near the end we were asked: if you could be any type of vehicle, what would it be?
most folks had a pretty good idea of a specific car, or perhaps a brand that symbolized something for them. i chose the vw camper van because it could be far, far away.

spent a bit of this morning playing songs from the beach boys 'smile' sessions and discussing my interest in the bboys with a friend. i ended up with a model that the beatles were much more of an "outward-facing" group, where the beach boys, actually specifically brian wilson, was a high-watermark of introspection.
my friend remarked that the 'smile' stuff (granted it was never finished officially) and pet sounds before it has great loneliness in it, and a noted lack of something - which we tried to descibe as "cool" and its true, there isn't really any r&b involved in brian's stuff; music doesn't get any whiter. there is something else about "cool" that is not there either, there isn't the feeling that your "getting" something - or being shown something unknown or "hip". even the lyrics to work from "smile" deal with 18th century pioneers and western towns, americana through kalidascopes and breezes, fractured picture puzzles and poems.

the beatles, being english, had a particular sense of humor and distance and sarcasm or irony throughout their records up until the white album. always putting on masks, characters, celebrations, colors, exploring fashion etc with the spiritual or sublime coming via george's interest in india and eventually not working out at all for most of the group ( sexy sadie). brian was seemingly all about something essential and inside and spiritual reaching further and further inward and sidewards with, as the legend goes plenty of grass and acid. just listen to 'our prayer' and the end of 'surf's up'. just listen to 'surf's up' period.

as we talked, i considered the loneliness idea and thought that, in spite of mojo magazine calling 'yesterday' the seed that led to the splitting of the beatles, that the beatles had each other as they moved through the world, changing music. i could be wrong but it seems like brian could have been very very alone as he was creating these projects. imagine, 23 years old, creating Pet Sounds in a studio full of studio pros, arranging and creating the music, knowing you've reached yer limit in regards to your ability with words and hiring collaborators (tony asher with p.sounds and van dyke parks with smile) and meanwhile the record label wants more surf songs and your group thinks you've lost your mind. thanks for the support you bishes.

then there's yer hard ass dad. sheesh.

for the record: brian heard rubber soul - made pet sounds - paul heard that and worked on revolver - brian heard that and was werking on smile when he flamed out as sgt. pepper's was released. both groups taking pop music in directions never seen before, making sounds that others have listened to and copied and will continue to forever.

i should admit that i am usually a big fan of the underdog, and though i don't see this as a competition and understand that the beach boys weren't really underdogs and that wilson probably was wired to implode sooner or later, there is sympathy in me and a wish that this smile stuff was more widely known outside of black framed glasses wearing fools like myself. i just dig it thats all.

curious shockwaves this evening as i can't seem to focus on much of anything; hamstering about the house, various musics and staring at the inter-web.

done.
over two years ago, my roommate and i each landed new jobs. the race was on to "put in a year" and get out.
welp, he whupped my ass ages ago. i still remember us sitting around one evening after what was probably a monday and he suddenly realized that it had been 50 weeks already! he was down-sized ages ago, won the game, and i wandered on at petsmart.com for over two years (start date was march 13th) until today.
in more sloppy maneuvers we were asked to pack up our own computers for the "movers". the creative team finally blew out of there a bit after four; looking all san francisco spring '01 wandering down the street with filled bankers boxes and our desk-plants. (thanks to ml mine is still alive and kicking.)

a side note. at 8AM the phone rang. it was my 73 yr. old moms and she had been 'thinking'. she thought that i should probably erase all my personal email off my machine at werk before i leave. good ol' moms.

to say that the leaving of this job bookends not only the hiring, but a number of unforgettable turns and events in the last two years is the best i can really do without digging through diaries and notes from dreams etc. sheesh.

was just in the public men's room here at one colorado plaza where work is located, 'anarchy in the u.k.' followed a missing persons song.
sheesh.
i'm not sold on everything having its own channel, animal channels, sports channels, hitler channels and with "muzak" which you cannot avoid now, 80's channel, country channel etc. i reckon it makes more sense to me for television than for "radio", but then again, the piped in music i was listening to was not really radio, and most radio is clear channel anyway so...

once or twice i was in the men's room and some song was playing, cannot remember what exactly, when suddenly, the "hand of god" shuffled through a bunch of channels, paused on one or two, shuffled some more before finally finding a tune that pleased "him".

unpacking desks, stealing pens (although most of the damn things are medium points, feh) deleting files and closing up by tomorrow.

news usually arrives at the workplace when one of us has taken a day off; they come back to a changed world. welp, it was my turn to take the day off, today which was spent buying new parts for my car, cleaning out my closet, bothering my new neighbors etc. late in the day i retrieve a telephone message and reply to find out that psm inc. has suddenly decided to take all our office equipment and computers on thursday, instead of the previously arranged april 30th.
this is good news in that i now get paid for the 29th and 30th which i was going to take as vacation and leave town for louisville, but now they will send us home and pay us through the month no matter what we do.

stupid.

i'm happy to have the time off, but suddenly folks have to snap to and clean out their digs as well as say good-bye. if not stupid then sloppy. our parent company still doesn't have design up and running in phoenix, and if the way the out-sourced engineering team has handled our email servers is any indication of the future, its looking rough.

also, tonight, while in trader joe's, i heard 'september girls' by big star as background music. nice.

my reader clamours for an update! so here is a link to norelevance.com, a site about packaging design that currently has a feature up focusing on 45 label designs. sweet.
a nice bonus when finding a site like this is that they usually have some links of interest, this one does.

last week i house-sat and took the opportunity to copy a pant-load of cd's. i reckon the burner here at the salt-mine (some wak hp product - cheap all around) did the crappy job on sgt. pepper's because if THIS is the quality of theft that the recording industry is so moist about, i don't get it. artifacts, pops and crackles that almost remind me of my beloved lp copy. almost.
maybe my cans are just that good! ;-)

and this weekend i hear 'innoculated city' by the clash:

The soldier boy for his soldiers pay obeys the sergeant at arms whatever he says
The sergeant will for his sergeant's pay obey the captain 'till his dying day
The captain will for his captain's pay obey the general order of battle play
The generals bow to the government obey the charge you must not relent

What of the neighbors and the prophets in bars? What are they saying in the public bazaar? We are tired of the tune you must not relent

At every stroke of the bell in the tower there goes another boy from another side
The bulletins that steady come in say those familiar words at the top of the hour
The jamming city increases its hum and those terrible words continue to come
Through bras music of government hear those guns tattoo a roll on the drums

No-one mentions the neighboring war. No one knows what they're fighting for. We are tired of the tune you must not relent

Beatle John Lennon is shown in this 1965 photo at an unknown location. (AP Photo)
another one of these pics that shows up on the yahoo! entertainment pics for seemingly no reason. usually someone is in-the-news and the caption will reflect this. sometimes, like this time, its just a picture; full-stop. btw, there was a great one of sinbad (the comedian) a few months back.

also, today marks two weeks until i'm on the street.

still 'training'.

but a new song posted.

the phoenicians are still here, so i feel a bit watched, which is not very comfortable. this happens with two weeks and two days left in this job. my introductory day was yesterday so i talked and talked and talked some more. today they meet with the rest of the crew.

fixed the archive link. really won't be of any use until next month, but its there.

just found myself wandering around ye olde pasadena looking for distraction. i still feel that the barnes and noble here (and by extension ANY b&n) is a worthless bookstore. every visit has been unsatisfying, until yesterday. for some reason they do not seem to get the monthly issue of MOJO magazine, but apparently they get special issues - i was fortunate to find MOJO's "Beatles Psychedelic Special Edition - 1000 Days That Shook The World". i'll probably go to pooh-bah's looking for the monthly issue, find the beatles ish there, and regret not buying them both together from a store i would gladly support. feh.

i'm tempted to order some muddy waters and howlin' wolf.

penny lane and moby disc are crappy record stores no matter how many chances given and the art store does not have frames larger than 18"x24". also, there is a new restaurant that specilizes in "braziltalian" cuisine.

spent all day hosting designers from phoenix who will be taking the reins of this joint when its all said and done. not much time for bitchin', moanin' or finding nice stuff to pass on to the world. have set up an archives link though, there it goes and there it is.

new onion: "We're trying our best to rescue these clerks, but, realistically, there's not a lot of hope," said emergency worker Len Guzman, standing outside the 40 Watt Club, where the tragedy occurred. "These people are simply not in the physical condition to survive this sort of trauma. It's just a twisted mass of black-frame glasses and ironic Girl Scouts T-shirts in there." heh.

new song posted.

this just in. a nationwide call for dallas cowboy cheerleaders.
apply here.

took friday off and went way down south, way down to mexico way. here.
now there is actual werk due back here at the salt mine, sigh. more later?

click for larger pic.
wandering around and found this dude's site today. have no idea HOW i missed out on the exploits of the destroyer, but his site has some amazing pics of his career, action shots, backstage pics and some of the best, casual photos of wrestlers i have ever seen. when have you ever seen abdullah the butcher in a turtle-neck and black blazer?!
dig it!

walked to werk today. nice to do it while i can, an easy hour.
some morning news of snappage for ye, here: Owner takes out frustration with a sledgehammer. (via obscurestore)

on a related note, as i walked this morning listening to npr's marketplace, a segment focused on marketers growing branding to children, including very small children for products that are not for children at all; harley-davidson, taylor made etc. one analyst stressed marketings use of Fear Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) to generate product and theorized effects of future generations growing up "branded" from the get-go, more and more deriving identity from products at an earlier and earlier age would lead to societal changes. the npr anchor asked about the possibility of "more cynicism" and the analyst's response was towards a potential for "more violence" i.e. haves and have-nots.

good luck with yer kids.

click
Music legend Ray Charles poses by a slot machine for the visually impaired in Las Vegas in 2001 publicity agency photo. Charles is lending his name to the first series of the Bally Gaming Systems machines which include audio-clues and a Braille button deck and feature a 30-year-old recording of Charles singing "America the Beautiful," are being shipped to casinos in April 2002. (AP Photo/Dave Sadleir) from yahoo!

ended up at a thai restaurant last night. dangerously close to amoeba records.
i heard the siren's call and couldn't resist. happily i found billy thorpe's "children of the sun" (lp, used), a used copy of aphex's "selected ambient v.2" (when i see used aphex i'll get it more often than not) and i picked out a lead belly cd.
"lead belly?" you say.
this weekend i was listening to a mix tape that was made for me years ago when i left louisville for los angeles. this tape has a bunch of folk and blues on it, classics really, like 'mannish boy' by the muddy water and 'king bee' by slim harpo. i've often had the same relationship with blues as i've had with jazz, intimidated until guided in some direction - so on a friends rec, i grabbed this.

i should also note that smithsonian folkways has me almost tagged perfectly as the target market: classic recordings, historically oriented, satisfying packaging and a label that is not immediately associated with time/warner or universal vivendi. they'd truly love me if i bought more new cd's. i would have bought a smithfolk muddy water collection, but didn't see one, time for research. but i did buy their woody guthrie box when one couldn't throw a rock without hearing someone singing goddamn 'god bless america'.

yes i like to buy records.

here is an interesting article on the raising of beef. (nytimes, may need to "sign up") it is a biography of one cow, bought by the author on a ranch and turned into steaks. its not about squallid animal care so much (he is not allowed to view the killing floor) but it does break down the costs and implications of factory farming. cattle is the way nature turns sunlight and water into grass into meat as 'ruminants' have stomachs that can do this, as opposed to us. factory cows don't each much more than fat and corn which raises the pH of thiet stomachs from the normal ruminants neutral to more acidic, the new opportunities for e. coli are heart warming:

Most of the microbes that reside in the gut of a cow and find their way into our food get killed off by the acids in our stomachs, since they originally adapted to live in a neutral-pH environment. But the digestive tract of the modern feedlot cow is closer in acidity to our own, and in this new, manmade environment acid-resistant strains of E. coli have developed that can survive our stomach acids -- and go on to kill us. By acidifying a cow's gut with corn, we have broken down one of our food chain's barriers to infection. Yet this process can be reversed: James Russell, a U.S.D.A. microbiologist, has discovered that switching a cow's diet from corn to hay in the final days before slaughter reduces the population of E. coli 0157 in its manure by as much as 70 percent. Such a change, however, is considered wildly impractical by the cattle industry.

the article isn't a san franciscan'ed out screed promoting veggie lifestyle, but the author does address beef production as any other venture, is it sustainable? what are the costs? why is it run this way? are there alternatives? he mentions 'grass-fed' sources at the end of the article (http:www.eatwild.com is one) and describes the taste of this kind of beef. you get what you pay for.

new song posted to the left.

here's how its supposed to work:

the far left lane is the passing lane.
not the sitting lane, not the cruising lane, not the 'i like it here' lane, not the 'i'm going fast enough, they should slow down lane'. it is the passing lane. this lane is used to pass slower traffic which has been asked repeatedly to keep to the right.

the far right lane is the entrance/exit lane, it is the slowest. stay here if you are the slowest.

any middle lanes are for maintained speed.

if you desire to pass, you do so on the left, using the passing lane, as it will be open and free of slower traffic. faster traffic will have already PASSED you in that left lane. they will not have passed you on the right because it is much more dangerous to approach other drivers from the right/rear, and besides, the slower traffic will be to the right, there won't be room to pass. once you have passed slower traffic, passing on the left, you will move back into a middle lane, out of the passing lane - as it is used for passing.

in addition, TRUCKS will be driven in the two right-most lanes, this includes uhauls and ryders and other rental trucks, especially ones with cars on trailers - only under unusual conditions or under direction of an officer of the law will these vehicles be driven in the left most lane.

thanks!