Silver Lining

"Roses are red.  Violets are blue.  But diamonds are forever, so I'd rather have those."

-Anonymous 

How many deconstructionists does it take to screw in a light bulb?

"If heartbreak could be measured in words or rolls of film..."

-Love

I was reading a bit on the Big Red and Shiny website (that you all should check out), and stumbled across a few videos an old professor of mine made in response to an "Art in Academia" article.  He will go down in my history to be one of the very best teachers I have ever had, and you will clearly see why.  His website is also pretty awesome.  Without further ado, I'd like to introduce Mr. Steve Aishman.

Porta Potties and Snow: These are a few of my favorite things.

SO this is too small to really see,  but that is probably better as this is a pretty poor stitch.  In any event, this was the lower part of the mall on January 19th.  Apparently despite quads upon quads of porta potties, there still was not enough to fill the  demand.  No pun intended.

Honey you are the sea

"If there were no God, it would have been necessary to invent him."

-Voltaire

In response to several weeks of "scratch disk almost full errors" I decided to do some house cleaning on my mac.  In moving some folders to my one of my portable hard drives I came across this little gem hidden away in the depths of my 500gb lacie.  

I opened it because I was curious after looking at the name (god.tiff).  I remember a frantic 3 day bender of high-res scanning all the film that was remotely interesting before I left SCAD's really awesome facilities.  I imagine this was done during this time. This was two frames of a scanned strip of 120 film, and I thought it was a rather interesting juxtaposition of images.  Still needs some work, but pretty neat nonetheless. 

Science Vs. Romance

By my new fav band Rilo Kiley

I used to think if I could realize I'd die

Then I would be a lot nicer

Used to believe in a lot more

Now I just see straight ahead

Thats not to say I don't have good times

But as for my days

I spend them waiting

Crash sites keep me up at night

Impact division it splits in two

Directly underneath you

As for those things that act as markers in your life

But in between you can't remember

And so it seems that you've grown up and over me

And these silly things I like to dwell on

Test sites keep me up at night

Chain link and meters I talk to you

Its cold out there

But I'm telling you I'm lonely too

Facts versus romance

You go and call yourself the boss

But we're not robots inside a grid

Text versus romance

You go and add it all you want

Still we're not robots inside a grid 

Zeros and ones

Bush's last day in office.

"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful."

-Anton LaVey

This photo is my homage to you George W. Bush: One giant phallus hovering over top of excrement filled plastic cells.  

Lee Future: The Man, the Myth

"Katie, you're the only person I know who can make birthday cake look like suicide."

-Lee Future

I went out in Federal Hill last night with two of my favorites: Love and Lee.  Lee gave me a Christmas present of a used copy of Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus with this letter inside.

Katie,

Merry Christmas.  I hope you enjoy this book even though it was bought used.  I believe a used book is my favorite kind of object in the world.  If used books had sleeves, I would wear them out.  If I could crumple one up and compact it until its component atoms of carbon crystallized into a perfect diamond, that is the kind of diamond I would marry someone with.  If I could stretch a used book till its cover blocked the rain and its pages could support picture frames and windows, mantles and doorways, I would live in it.

I like the stains, the dog-ears and the marginalia.  I like used books because they perch between "this too shall pass away" and "some things are eternal." The author and everyone he wrote about, the purchaser and whomever she purchased the book for have all passed away, some so long ago that their genetic lines have vanished, just as time turns paper to dust.  Yet here they are.  Somehow they live inside the pages and then, even more importantly, in your mind.  The idea becomes a part of you, and you are a part of everyone you know until the idea is an eternal virus, spreading forever onward as if time were no enemy at all.

That is what a used book is: both fading and timeless at once.

I did not buy you a used copy because I couldn't afford the new, but because I wanted you to have a used copy.

So here is your used book.  Like you and I, this book is not a virgin.  It has been used and it has been thrown aside.  But it has not burnt up nor melted away nor petrified.  It can still be read and understood and possessed by someone new, just as you and I can.  Someday new people will read over our pages and marvel at the ideas that comprise us.  Until then, may this book entertain you, now and forever, whether you feel used or new.

-"Lee"

And then wrote me a Love/Hate poem on a napkin this morning as Love and I ate breakfast at Metropolitan.

Love/Hate Poem #1

"I would go to the hardware store with you,"

You claim.

Does that mean I gotta go to that baby shower?

'Cuz fuck that.

I'll go to Lowes alone.

Lee Future: One of my most favorite people ever.

The sound of settling...

"Romance should never begin with sentiment.  It should begin with science and end with settlement."

-Oscar Wilde

Frightening.  Thoughts?

Hate Poetry...

... Instead of love poems.  They were created a few nights ago in an intoxicated fit that I regret not being a part of.  These are courtesy of my friends Love and Lee...

And these are precisely why we are friends.

"Lets make this one count

if you were being pulled

limb from limb

by ravenous wolves

big ones

I'd cheer"

-Lee

"'Of course I still want to be friends,'

is what he said to Eva in the bunker

before they popped their final cocktail."

-Love

"My liver, like my heart,

has taken a beating this time.

Luckily, my liver will bounce back.

I'm not worried about my heart.

I melted it down,

molded it into a bullet,

and loaded it into my father's twenty-two.

It's for you.

You always wanted my heart.

-Lee

I remember this feeling.

"The love that lasts the longest is the love that is never returned."

-William Somerset Maugham

2009.

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts."

-Winston Churchill

2009 will by MY year.