Esthetic/Aesthetic

I've begun to think that the crazy lady who went and had 8 MORE kids without a job, a home, someone to help (parents don't count), and apparently up to a million of dollars of debt already is becoming the best metaphor for why our economy is total crap right now.  Six kids weren't enough??  Was she hoping that she might be able to whip up a better batch, because the first ones just weren't cutting it. 

Watching the Inauguration at Pacific Standard

I've never seen so many people in a bar at 11AM - well, except maybe during the World Cup.  Our original plan was to go to BAM, but everyone else had the same idea.  I'm not sure what was happening in the real "working" world, but it certainly felt like the whole world was watching DC this morning. 

Non-believer

My favorite part of Obama's speech is that he finally mentioned non-believers in the list of groups that make up America.  Finally!  What a change - from a president that told us that God put him in power, to a man (a great man) who knows there is more than one way to see the world. 

Yes, I have hope. But I have patience...a little bit of patience. 

I obviously have not felt compelled to "blog".  All I can tell you is I'll try and do better, but no promises. 

Retro Subway

Look what pulled in to the opposite platform while I was waiting for the elusive D train??  The Nostalgia train!  It almost makes using the subway on the weekends worth it!

Sarah Palin

As terrified I am that Sarah Palin may actually end up one step away from the White House, I'm even more terrified that McCain's camp will come to its senses, make her drop out and the new choice will be Joe Lieberman.  Thereby allowing all the democrats who aren't "comfortable" voting for Barack (aka, the black guy) to vote a little bit Democrat.  I just don't see her lasting through the month.  Unless she gets sequestered to Cheney's bunker that it. 

R.I.P.

Sometime in the middle of college, after a trip to Hastings, I actually spent some of my precious money on an actual brand new paperback.  The book was called "The Broom of the System" and to this day I have no reasoning as to why it struck my fancy so much that I decided that of the few dollars I had in my possession I was willing to spend it on this book that I would probably read in a few hours time, but thinking back it completely changed the way I read books and looked at the way a story could be told.  I even remembering NOT liking the book at the time, and yet discussing it with SO many people, simply because it had affected me so much.  I know the reason I didn't think I liked it was because it challenged me in a way I was not prepared for, so after a second read I realized that I loved that book.   A few years later I decided my summer project would be to read Infinite Jest.  I only got about a third of the way into it - I just don't seem to have the stamina for it, maybe when I retire.  But oddly enough, I just took out my copy of "Consider the Lobster" in order to read again the essay written about traveling with the McCain campaign many years ago, mostly because I think its funny. 

I'm baffled, sad, and disappointed that David Foster Wallace has left us.  So sad.  There seem to be so few people that I can pinpoint as to who opened my eyes and imagination and intelligence onto a world I was not aware existed, he was an original and I'm selfishly sad I won't get to know his take on the world anymore. 

Leon and the Bowtie

I don't know why I chance it and take the B61 bus at Jay street, but I do.  Something keeps drawing me back to the waiting and waiting while I stare at Leon and his bowtie.

Waterfalls

Are they the most spectacular thing you'll EVER see?  No.  Is it an interesting piece of installation art?  Yes.  Waterfalls are something that the environment they're in constructs.  If you build waterfalls into New York's East River would you put rocks and ferns around them?  No!  You'd make them out of scaffolding, the most common structure in our town.   I was thinking about the viewpoint of them as I was biking between the two of the ones in Dumbo and comparing them to Olafur Eliason's other works I'm familiar with.  The Weather Project created a sunlit day inside the Tate Museum. The Take Your Time exhibit at the MOMA altered individual rooms in subtle and shocking ways with light.  Seeing the world in black and white, as you walk into a room is a very unexpected experience.  Seeing the sun shining in the middle of a building is unforgettable.  Basically, he seems to be taking an expected experience (waterfalls, the sun, etc) and placing it in an unexpected place.  Waterfalls on the East River is pretty amazing, I think.  My one issue is that it would be nice if, like in nature, you were actually able to experience the waterfalls in a more intimate way.  The beauty of coming across a real waterfall is that you can walk around it, sit at the bottom and feel the water spray up on you, stand up at the top and watch the water plummet down.  Its a little frustrating to see a waterfall from 60 feet away. 

Of course, everything looks better with a spectacular sunset. 

Thank God For Blogs

Here are the top, pressing matters on CNN.com

Latest News

•    Man sought after 8 bodies found in 2 states    4 min
•    Woman dies on hospital waiting room floor   
•    Inmate death 'vigilante justice,' official says   
•    Chevron chief, RFK Jr. debate energy choices   
•    Ticker: Obama, McCain in tight race, poll shows   
•    Obama works to mobilize 'Christian left'   
•    Report: Jolie in hospital to give birth   
•   Time: Is Osama bin Laden dying ... again?   
•    Why one girl refuses to remember   
• WPTZ: Cops link missing girl's uncle to sex ring   
•    Hostin: It's Naked Cowboy, 1; naked M&M, 0   
•    Florida hours away from executing child killer   
•    Live WWII bombs haunt neighborhood   
•   iReport.com: Wildfire spreads in Greece   
•    Cops say man collected, drank boys' urine    
•    Man struck by lightning, says 'it hurt' 
•    Town pushes to legalize golf carts 
•    Girl, 5, chirps book review; boy, 8, dishes   
•    12 million bees swarm highway 
• CNN Wire: Missing girl probe leads to...

I see maybe 3 stories here that are worthy of my immediate attention when looking for "news".  Hey CNN, hows that war going??  I hear more of our troops are dying in Afghanistan than Iraq these days, any news about that?   Anything about all those people down in Gitmo that are having their rights violated?  No?  What about that pesky FISA bill all the kids are talking about?  Anything we should know there?  Maybe you could at least tell us how California is about to fall into the ocean now that the "gays" are marrying.