February 27, 2005

I am avoiding writing a paper for organizational behaviour, listening to Paul Simon and eating cookies my cousin Jessica made. I am back home safe and sound.

My cousin is an excellent baker, my brother is an excellent chef, I think I should take up fly fishing so I can contribute something to the family dining experience. As it is, all I can do is make compliments.

My Bubi (grandmother) moved into a home this week, and I went to visit her with my aunt and uncle. She is ninety-three years old and certain that each day will be her last.

It's actually not really a home, it's called a "wellness and vitality centre" and it's more like Melrose place for oldsters. There's a dining room and a lounge (with foozball no less) and a movie theatre and a work-out room. My Bubis floor had an internet lounge/laundry room. She refused to get an email address to humour me, I am not terribly surprised.

I actually learned a really important lesson about listening to other people while I was there. Here's what happened.

February 24, 2005

I am listening to the Garden State soundtrack, which is a singular sad and moving collection of songs that go with a singular film.

Barb over at dykes do digital just wrote a post called

Blogs, openness, emotion, authenticity

which goes well with some of daniel lemires recent posts.

Barb especially makes reference to the idea that if we are all emotionally open/honest on our blogs than we will become more so in our lives as well.
So according to that type of analysis, the blog is performing a function similiar to a novel, letting people see each others raw humanity. With a blog readers don't even have the protection of calling it a fiction.

However there is still this interface to deal with. Unlike the old saturday night live sketch about the alien race who could read each other minds and got really offended the truths being published here are still subject to a certain editorial process.

There's the blog structure itself as well. we are still writing from our own singular visions. Anything that tries to develop a collective sense of truth or catharthis like for example grouphug.us is anonymous.

I think it's a good start, and my dad who thinks one should remain stoic in the face of pretty much everything thinks this kind of behaviour is crazy, but I like it, even though I still think we are all still in the training wheels stage.

I think having truth is one thing. Taking responsibility for the effect of ones words hasn't yet happened in the blogosphere. The blogoshpere is brilliant because people don't have to take responsibility if they don't want to, so I guess it's kind of a negotaition.

"I've got it all(most)
I've got it all(most) all figured out
but always when I get there
always when I get there
the pieces they just fall apart"

-"I've got it all(most) modest mouse

Having a modest mouse-y kind of morniing here's another line or two;

" Woke up this morning and it seemed to me,
that every night turns out to be
A little more like Bukowski.
And yeah, I know he's a pretty good read.
But God who'd wanna be?
God who'd wanna be such an asshole?
God who'd wanna be?
God who'd wanna be such an asshole?

Well we sat on the edge of the river,
the crowd screamed, "Sacrifice the liver!"
If God takes life, he's an Indian giver.
So tell me now why, you'll tell me never.
Who would wanna be?
Who would wanna be such a control freak?
Well who would wanna be?
Who would wanna be such a control freak?

Well see what you wanna see. You should see it all.
Well take what you want from me. You deserve it all.
Nine times out of ten our hearts just get dissolved.
Well I want a better place or just a better way to fall.

But one time out of ten, everything is perfect for us all.
Well I want a better place or just a better way to fall.
Here we go!

If God controls the land and disease,
keeps a watchful eye on me,
If he's really so damn mighty,
my problem is I can't see,
well who would wanna be?
Who would wanna be such a control freak?
Well who would wanna be?
Who would wanna be such a control freak?"

- Bukowski by modest mouse

wow.somemtimes i don't even know why I write because I shouldn't bother.

February 23, 2005

Yep. The dog sure is happy to see me. Evan and I and Daniella got some Korean barbeque and bickered a little ( I actually enjoyed the bickering, it was like a familial sort of bickering that I don't get as often as I should, living all alone dans la belle province)

I was supposed to exit the train at Guildwood but for some reason it didn't stop long enough for me to put on my shoes and get my coat off the rack, then the two concierge's yelled at me for being a slow-poke and I watched my dad get out of the car in the parking lot and look confused, as the train picked up speed and headed into downtown TO.

We called him later from Evans and he said he arrived and pulled into his spot and the train had stopped and by the time he had killed the engine and stepped out of his car it was moving again, so I guess the engineer had a bit of a lead foot.

Toronto, it just moves to quickly for its own good.

I am doing research on leadership and on-line arts audiances.

heady stuff. phewf.

One article from the vancouver sun 2000 is about a site that was called Artstar.com

"Artstar.com, the Internets's first art mega-site, had 2.2 million hits in the first four weeks following its launch in October... here visitors can research information on art take virtual tours of famous galleries and museums, buy art and antiques, arrange to have a painting restored or an heirloom appraised, take part in a lecture series, buy a rare art book, or even learn to appraise, restore or preserve works of art for themselves, all at the same location."

Okay not only is that a run-on sentence, but artstar.com sounds like the Bad Boys (arcane toronto reference) furniture warehouse of culture.

Funnily enough the first major collection auctioned at artstar.com was 12,000 coca-cola artifacts.

I just erased a pseudo-academic sentence where I lined up some theoretical ducks and then shot them all down. You know high/low art, cultural artifacts in a post capitalist economy, the revenge of kitsch, learning from las vegas that whole thing.... blah blah. Oh look, the sentence is back again, how did that happen?

So what are the good people at Artstar doing now? Well, go check it out.

oh well. ars longa, vita brevis.

February 22, 2005

fac.etio.us
a faceted del.icio.us feed.

neato

evan and I are hard at work on our metropolitan cooking site. We have a name and a url (that is good enough for now). I think i am pulling a bit of an older sister though. I keep telling people about these great ideas 'we' are having and than Ev's like; " i didn't know we were going to do that..." etc.. Hopefully the four hours we spend on the train will give us time to write a strategic document and make a work flow.

I better go I have an RSS feed plug -in to install

Oh and re: aroundme I got it installed but there are all sorts of litte noodly bits that aren't easily modified, like for eaxample max file sizes for uplaods so I will probably have to pay to join.

What's that thing Groucho said: I wouldn't want to be part of any club that would have mme as a member...hyuk.