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NYC Limits - 2 - Ostia [February 17, 2008]

NYC Limits - 2 - OSTIA

Ostia, late in the morning. After the rain, on the beach, the haze is a cloud of children. Cora sits slacking at a round tripod hanging on the bums at the front porch of a bar shack. On the table a Dior and a Razor. Every five minutes the phone beeps. Cora is going the distance on a puffy roasted croissant filled with thick chocolate cream. Vanilla snowflakes are everywhere: on her fingers, lips, on the black tank-top and on her knees.

A rainbow-striped smack back from a fishing trip hits the shore. Two men are dragging over the sand amidst a crowd of supporting kids, then dock boxes are dropped. Fish is being sold on the spot, at the shoreline, to a growing audience of passers-by.

Cora is fixed on the scene, reminded by the sugar to give her crescent a take.

A morsel falls down splashed on by the phone a quarter of a second later while she detangles from the chair's frame and runs inside the shack. Everything is covered in sand. The flip-phone opens and rings.

Cora grabs a bottle of red wine from under the counter, backs into the light with a victorious cheer, takes a sip then digs the bottle half into the sand, picks up the flashing phone and answers.

- They only trust their Tamiflu. I closed for 28 millions, including hedging on most of the hairy assets. That makes me not exactly happy -

At the other end a soothing voice is crossing legs, moisturizing lips on a glass of Gordon's and sharpening on an ice cube.

- We're liquidating, not taking a bet. Is a good price. When you don't have to give a blow to each of these morons with the package you buy my smile. I'm waiting for you here. Enjoy the weekend.

Struck by warm acquaintance and thrown back into early afternoon, she looks deranged on the leftovers with plans growing to get drunk on the way back to the Hotel. With the Italian allies in the black and a second bottle of wine fit in the suitcase Cora is swiftly getting into her wheeler and on the road to downtown.

The phone, discharging on the passenger's seat, rings several times unanswered. On the fifth call, blinded by the sunlight on the rearview mirror, Cora answers the phone.

- He called?

- I would say yes, yes - She laughs.

- He was here early morning. I'll see him at 3 pm.

- I will most definitely get jealous. Are you going to fuck him?

- Have to think about that. He's quite focused.

- I know and that's my problem. Now I just want to get wasted.

- Take care

Drops the phone ends under her seat and for a while stops beeping. Sticks Dior on and speeds up to her Sheraton's cube. Out of the Mini it's 4 pm and she's framed into the security cam with bright green eyes wide open. Lipstick half gone, half a guesswork, busy with the memories of her conversation and on the stairs to her place Cora opens the suitcase against the door. The red wine is barely fluttering in the bottle.

Posted by lck at 10:01 PM

NYC Limits - 1 - Keren Surrender [February 15, 2008]

NYC Limits - 1 - KEREN SURRENDER

Keren sits alone on the blue leather couch by the window. It’s early morning. She is brushing her long white hair. The sound of suspensions cracks panning from left to the right of the room. Keren is wearing a white Waffle and is barefoot. She is loose, content.

Jimmy Dean sits legs crossed on the vinyl, office-dressed, Reebok Flip and rolled-up sleeves. A thin aluminum suitcase lies by, open and empty. Jimmy looks confused, waves hands. Although he is talking to Keren he is expecting her to ignore him.

- I thought it was the right thing to do. You know me. (whispering) I could not tell she was about to turn me down. Not like that. Not like that -

Nailing on his flap…

- You know, you were the one with a crush on her, I really… last week in Paris, both, did she smile and say anything to you? Or was it the market roller-band and hotel rooms? Did you sleep at Clad Sweeney?

Jimmy pauses, pushes on his legs up to the wall then hangs starring at Keren in silence. Keren is done brushing and is now turning to Jimmy with and idle face.

Jimmy walks to the blue couch and sits next to Keren, opens arms to embrace the cushion behind him and takes a deep breath. Keren turns to the man then speaks, marking every word.

- We were somewhere. Paris… or something. Had more sex than we usually get from these trips. She did not turn you down. You sank the whole affair yourself -

Keren is starring, awaiting, slowly tracking Jim’s breathing and wavering her hands on his lips and neck. The hairbrush has been dropped. Jimmy is amused by the girl’s sudden re-calibrating, legs crossed, toes pushing.

- I could not pronounce her name. We dug the metro and wringing the sadness in cinema-scope coloring at 3 in the morning, a gorgeous, sun-kissed Friday morning like now. I wished you were with us on the up and downs of the vodka outbreak. I really missed you -

- Up next Riverside, Jimmy. Coffee is at 3. Cora is in Rome on the Citi swaps with UBS and stuck up to Sunday. I have an audition in 40 minutes at Atkinson. Just don’t call her -

As the noise from the awakening cloud of chemistry outside starts pouring in Keren disappears.

Jimmy staring at the camera relived, his muscles relaxed. There are after all so many things, he thinks, for him to love.

Posted by lck at 09:09 PM

Coney Island [January 25, 2008]

On the shine of a sunset beach
bicycles on the boy's birthday
fast moving shadows
scratch a twist of stars
in the sand the young boys
pull to picture the scene
now you tell me
breathing and laughing thru your skin
in waves between magazines the rain
the sunshine stumbles in repentance
and though I'd like to laugh
at all the things around us
in the harsh light of day
somehow back though the wavering weeds
like a paper plane in the sun
I'm diving

Posted by lck at 11:10 PM

Feathers - 8 - Quartet [January 01, 2008]

Look around the scene
everyone is dancing
some dead some imagined
some hit the street.

Crack in a motel room
stretch out your hands
like a compass
your practical balance.

Widen to gather
a fine world
the glint of a light
touch-tone your way out.

Posted by lck at 12:36 AM

Feathers - 7 - Sweet Sweet Candy [December 31, 2007]

The sea to its leaves,
the waves to their darkness.

With no ease down
the old language sleeps
through the fire
on a breath
on a step
a subject where
repetition
a body walking
each night into the minutes
trying into existence
one must be careful
a thing or gesture
not attached to where
even darkness and night
have disappeared.

Someone should know
we're no longer human.

Posted by lck at 02:33 PM

Feathers - 6 - Lux Nox [December 30, 2007]

They live on the fourth floor.
When they look out their window all they can see is the other window.
When they awake in the darkness on the phone is the other phone.

They don't know each other's names.

A wire-mesh barrel rolling every 30 seconds
at certain hours
between nightfall and morning.

Beyond the pane is green grass holding back.

He says people make him feel strange.
He knows all the old songs.
He’s fifty years now.
He has moved ahead.

The Winter’s Wheel tramples our singing.
Work out.
Don’t quail.

She stands along the pale dock-light.
She puts on some make-up.
She looks back at those forks along the way.
She has nothing to lose.

The old of the new world's steeples
against the window
nothing will know that you are gone.

What they survived.
What they could not live.
What they were.
What they stood with.

What by their lights is time to.

She didn't want to do
nothing
with anyone.

There's no anger or patience.

They live on the fourth floor.
When they open the door all they can see is the other door.
When they awake in the darkness the hand that shakes is the other hand.

Posted by lck at 02:28 PM

Feathers - 5 - Jesse [December 29, 2007]

Whenever I write in numbers
to seal the water triple cap off
the drowned girl beneath
lifts her head by a slow degree

falls about her knees
like buds upon broken glass
the hands above the head
to get my headphones on.

Whenever I write in numbers
to black with civilization
these phantoms at their innocent gasp
lift glue upon my language run the route fall

in a tethered pose
like Jesse
the dark roses two years later
to a leaf of social furniture.

Whenever I write in numbers
to form a common breathing passage
the river that there alone we followed
lifts the art of each sung through

in walking paper
like the carrying skin
the vineyard stands
to trace our footsteps.

Posted by lck at 02:14 PM

Feathers - 4 - All I need [December 28, 2007]

There's a hush in everything you do
a feeling across the words
 the waves conflected exert
wandering droplets of

your smile
touching places
within this teasing beauty
inside remains

short of the left side
a touch to stifle your steps
which leaves me feeling
you is all I need.

Sitting long after midnight
the eye begins to see the night
Julie and Candy
flowing with birds

after the rain stops
the landscape is another scene
and every rock drifts
but cannot leave

in the broad day
we come at last
which leaves me feeling
you is all I need.

Posted by lck at 02:10 PM

Feathers - 3 - Free-fall [December 27, 2007]

Who we are and all they are
you know right here now
on the board but what comes first
comes along unnoticed

Sunda, Ayla, Reena, the little embrace we must
get to know the young air darker
as we rip for every ground
all that is missing we'll not know 

where I imagine her long fingers
have only ourselves to sell
 and if it grows holding its warmth
 to get the hang of it over the free-fall

and then dying off the nail shooting
at each passage
we have never risen
 from a slant of the evening sun

I picture her here
cracking over the details in her lap
I picture her here 
and no matter how long in grace.

Posted by lck at 02:08 PM

Feathers - 2 - To Walk, to learn [December 26, 2007]

As the tides of human emergency
hitting the dive onstage
rejoice without hitting away
alive at both ends

I have begun
ten minutes past eleven
to refrain from representation
and retracing that it is another sixty minutes

as blood runs out like water
and circumstance irradiates the playground
bordering the cracked walks I walk
astounded

in the snow melted
shivered in the new wind formations
how clouds crumble
silently drifting

before I know
all I want to do
the clock moves to twenty one
as through complicity confidently forgotten

you separate the dark from the dark
to signal forty-four
the trees buck and quake
by the magnetic hectic bang

I know you do not know who I am
engaging downward from
warlike talent downcast glance
every torrent burns.

Posted by lck at 06:45 PM

Feathers - 1 - The Santa Rally [December 25, 2007]

With the Santa rally well underway
behind the long arm of the law,
the crowd has it and the man in the straw hat stands in the red marquee under the ballroom.

The seasonal demand cycle,
the nocturnal pulse,
one need never leave
the front-run it and perhaps get smashed.

What happens to the O-ring when you're wrong,
talking in the tongues again
a band of light across a blade of grass,
when it was never

by a single gesture.
We would move back,
dancing too close,
arriving at the wooden gates.

It courses through the cables laid for,
it mounts to the candles and beats
tender,
blue like the sky

and changes all the time.
Involved with the surge,
in the one-day dialogue meeting,
confines of New York to grab the greenie.

Enjoy some other sign of my will that people do not,
entirely specific of breathing in the spring air,
I am always looking away
or again at something after the photo gallery.

Not yet 10 p.m.,
Ms. Greenhouse takes a drag of her cigarette,
smiles away sweetly.
I wrap myself in slanders.

Posted by lck at 07:48 PM

take it easy [September 05, 2006]

It is not always easy to explain our views.

It is not easy to explain, to a kid for example, that geckos are fun and friendly animals.
It is not easy to explain to an adult that not all that makes sense is necessarily to be pursued and fight for.
It is not easy to explain why the primary and most likely result in not a distant future of the so-called war-on-terror is America drifting to isolationism rather than further gaining in global confidence.

And the most difficult thing for me to explain to others is how I approach the use of white on a web page successfully, that is:

1) embrace CSS circumventing the risk to fall into an obvious and unwanted blog-esque look
2) deliver a minimalist image without turning into provocation
3) give the user hints and hooks without the support of background color panels

I recently redesigned Coruscus, our Agency, following the above conditions and possibly goals. I was not expecting a lot of attention but indeed attention was. I did not explain the following minds what was not needed and because it was not I would like to thank them publicly for the kindness and support:

Carol Guevin of netdiver for including coruscus.com in the Portfolios section, the people behind DailySlurp and DesignMeltdown for showcasing the site, WebCreme for including our site in their beautiful gallery, Thomas Marban of tom.ma for including Coruscus as part of his screen-blog, CSS Smooth Operator for carrying our logo on their home page, Nick Dunn of css-galleries for the work on his CSS aggregator which includes our site.

To all these fantastic people (and the other people, designers and not, that have been supportive of this redesign) Thank You.

Posted by lck at 01:24 AM | Comments (0)

goople [August 30, 2006]

A pinch of salt in the news enchilada may pass undetected: Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, joined Apple’s Board of Directors today, August 29th.
Speculation is green for this occurrence but I remember last time Steve Jobs joined a Board of Directors that was not Apple’s, Pixar was sold to Disney the day next. Not to say Apple will be sold out to the Juggernaut of search engines but possibly something else of the most interesting kind: integration.

1 Two of the coolest brand in IT are partnering on betting that Microsoft Vista is going to be a major embarrassment to Redmond’s agonizing monopoly but see the Zune initiative as a threat in the long run (AAPL needs GOOG).

2 Apple is from now on going full-frontal against the former Gates company (Bill’s out gardening with Melinda) and the miserable states of affair that is called the disbanded Microsoft Software Division (GOOG needs AAPL).

3 Google is going to switch to Apple hardware for most of its numerous factories (AAPL needs GOOG).

4 Google is going to buy on the dozen or so multimedia-oriented and Apple branded software pieces that are iLife and iWork (GOOG needs AAPL).

5 Google is going to embrace the iTunes Store for audio and video replacing the miserable Video store have now (they both need this).

6 finally The Googlians are going to fix .Mac and integrate it with their services once and for all (AAPL needs GOOG).

But the whole package of semi-obvious predictions looks possibly too predictable. Apple is set for exploding sales next year with both audio, video and PC products, what they are going to need is sit side-by-side on the couch with the only other company that is an established nightmare to MS and MS’s lack of understanding of web-as-a-service. WAAS has so far been a thorn on the side in Apple’s crown of jewels with only two, masterfully executed and very successful exception: the iTunes Music Store and the Apple Store.

Some very sweet goo is dripping in Cupertino with new iPods, faster Mac minis and now the right infrastructure to jump 2.0.

A small notch on the paper, one with consequences. Expect a lot of them.

Posted by lck at 02:14 AM | Comments (0)

Interesting Times [August 23, 2006]

Was it not for the insane-wet-wave-hot of the week past, on the way to (aspiring at) getting a taste of Siberia, I should call these interesting times. Perhaps interesting in an unusual way. We have a few answers and a reminder: I have to teach kiddo the proper spelling for big-bang; her big-boom is flatteringly French sounding and unfit to an educated 6-years old. Make note.

Continue reading "Interesting Times"

Posted by lck at 07:31 PM | Comments (0)

7 [August 18, 2006]

We go to the mountains and camp with the fire and lakes, the smell of mint and a chimney. It wasn’t you on the corner in White Avenue honestly I imagined it would spin me out of the picture. Out of the picture, next to the store with Bob, Kate and Lou, staring at all those other shells, rolling down the slide, speaking your team’s language, from nowhere to out there.

Taken in by the wind-works I watch the squirrels gather in the gallery sorting thru water throws some childhood game backwards. Once in the story when they snap off another click I rage to believe downstairs a really good cup of coffee across the tray awaiting for social investment. With the grass, the milk, the devoted family by the runway, a frame of the view someone else covers. Lookout your six when you curl up.

The shattering clouds cut the morning sun off then the line of purples after the storm glancing on the tiles, two wooden poles hold the frame and from their wet narrow track the billboard girls deflect in the other window, brushing where everything is lips closing in a chime of plums, oxygen, gold and regret. Pink as birthday balloons, light the rainbow emerges from the dull lake to the east, the running water, the billboard girls speak.

Humming in the air that masks us clear by the hundreds trafficking droplets of blood warming my hands then up on the beach for a minute. A thousand leaves chained to the air conditioner burst with a puff and roll in the snow speeding away. A thousand leaves for me to give the little laughing, drop the little chainsaw and fall asleep on the pillow.

I live in the land where the waterfall flows thru a pool and thru the ocean the sparrows revolve, the scale grows, a bump or a trail of miniatures, maps and insects crowding to meet me on this street. After and before every morning she gets on the phone and the couch, the wedding gift, a critical stance. I hold in until I begin typing when I step across the sleep I stretch at a fraction of a breath. This is part of what I like.

Two people in the room blinking, falling into place, painting. A backbone kicking and kicking to start the plot in every recess first in the needle. Everyone will work it out right about now.

I am dating no dramatic layouts but a collective fortune. In the face of deliberately misconstruing the wounding as a kind of case, disseminated, faked by frustration, the light indicates no coincidence. Boxes thru boxes, thru 27 miles of shrubby cactus then the 56-foot tall iron gate. You have arrived.

Posted by lck at 06:23 PM

war by proxy [July 17, 2006]

It's hot out, wet and windless.

I missed Valentino Rossi's victorious race and I'm happy he made it with half a wrist and starting from a remote behind everybody. This brings the tournament back to fun with the "Doctor" catching up to the hotspot and on his way to (maybe?) another World Cup. At the other end F1 is behind my back. I can't say for the life of me why or when I grew so unaffected by car racing. Schumacher and his low-charged stamina load, the equally cold and polite Renault crew or the smokey Mercedes, them altogether or is it the weather.

Continue reading "war by proxy"

Posted by lck at 01:11 AM | Comments (0)

going 6 [July 07, 2006]

I was between Thievery Corporation and very very old and to me quasi unrecognizable Red Crayola when I stumbled into the equally old King Crimson's Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1973). This is a very much unknown by KC Mark II, followed by the equally unknown Starless... and the solid and M.O.R. deadline album Red (1974). It makes me wonder why Fripp started with the metrics in this album for his solo carrier, debuting Exposure of 1979, only mitigated by two looping Revox, inheritance of the brief and flashy adventure with Eno, No Pussyfooting and Evening Star.

Continue reading "going 6"

Posted by lck at 12:39 AM | Comments (0)

Now you gotta do her [July 05, 2006]

They're both good at pointing, arent't they?

This is where she is asking for consolation (119 minutes passed).

BZ to all of you guys, err... well done!!! (ah Angela baby blue eyes, I can't stand those watery eyes, 120 minutes passed)

Great shot on of our golie!

More sex inside...

Continue reading "Now you gotta do her"

Posted by lck at 01:03 AM | Comments (0)

Cowboys moving to L.A. [June 23, 2006]

After homo-sex on colt 45 (known to miss its 5th shot by 5 degrees from zero-in, what could be more allusive than a western when it comes to the gun?) cowboys are moving to the San Fernando Valley (L.A.) for some straight time with the girl. The trailer for Down in the Valley is available here. Don't need to point how close this is to O.C., with an obvious avalanche of Oscar nominees. An hilarious movie, I do take my laughings seriously but then is the gay market saturated already?

Continue reading "Cowboys moving to L.A."

Posted by lck at 04:48 PM | Comments (0)

The 21st album [June 22, 2006]

In 1982 Sonic Youth recorder their first album with same name for Neutral.

Few days ago, Rather Ripped, their 21st album was released in Europe, a week after the US release on the 13rd of June.

The whole album is available for streaming on their website, or:

Reena
Incinerate
Do You Believe in Rapture?
Sleepin' Around
What A Waste
Jums Run Free
Rats
Turquoise Boy
Lights Out
The Neutral
Pink Steam
Or

The most accomplished and mature album Sonic Youth have done in years and a muscular candidate to best of 2006.

- To those asking about growing hemp here in Italy: no, it's a crime. (That's marijuana by the way. The fact that George Washington was growing it in the backyard won't make you skip our procedurals, which is jail and a few good lawyers to get you on the loose again :) -

Hasta (Over)

Posted by lck at 01:27 AM | Comments (0)

porn-sellsell-porn [June 11, 2006]

Going thru banging my head on the CSS'ed Coruscus out presumably July and kid's anniversary and thru Sonic Youth's A Thousand Leaves, right before they got their equip stolen at CBGB's NYC 2004, just learned the planet has got a quick satellite upgrade by 2 units, not one, and wikiCalc was released in beta form today.

My Sony-Ericsson "bigboy" ear appendix got crushed (finally) in 4 distinct pieces, with keys still lighting blue up to the faraway LC display via the Bluetooth survivor. I have been looking for a replacement for this bulk for a year. I did not want to get too deep with another Sony nor with the heavy and thick Razor V3x, so I gently declined for the original V3, black, 199 on the pocket. We already ripe on a 8MP Nikon camera that holds the job outstandingly and a variety of iPods. Moto has made the Razor a family, why not ridding of the camera a mystery. It lies blackly on the bamboo tap now sucking electrons out of mother cable, claiming 90 grams barely with the prominent logo god knows why Moto wanted boobs in their logo. But I like boobs... and nipples... actually what happened to nipples in the USA? Support and extend the_nipple_project

Linzie Hunter asked me to add pics of my desktop to her new blog-adventure but I'm such a mess right now I dare not to unravel in public. A slimming device, 76 pounds exactly and a wheel lies in the entry waiting for me to unfold manual and learn. That's what I'll send her and excuses.

Salad, sweet Taleggio and beer over Geogaddi, Boards of Canada, work for the evening short just before a shot of Johnny Rotten. Descript-o-logy, which I apparently excel at, keeps me away from eye contact as an archeologist, observation prevents contact, encrypts reality in a convenient scheme, deconstruction is lovable down to signature and sign, single rip and gesture and game.

This website advertises apparel with hardcore porn video. It's a serious job, good photo and good art direction but then again maybe we're growing old and lack the balls to go unabashed the way they do. These days ipods, DRM and certain types of free thinking are taboos, alcohol and sex are collateral.

Ripley once told me we are expendable.
But then again, maybe she was wrong.
Except, she never was.

Posted by lck at 02:29 AM | Comments (0)

Poetry takes time, we know that. [June 08, 2006]

Poetry takes time, we know that.
Music (pop, puff) takes sometimes even more time.

On July 20th, 2005 I posted (under Creative Commons) the following post as part of Dead Engine. The plan was to have UnderWave, a local band, use the lyric for a song of theirs. I'm happy to report they finally did it and the track is now in the wild.

It is here

I like their blend of early Smith with moderately polished Velvet Underground. Can't complain about the English as that's possibly the best you can get around here - Amen.

Poetry takes time, we know that.
But sometimes poetry knocks down early. So it is for Sara Carothers, which first and only piece is here. I read and read this piece and how can I believe this is coming from a 17 years old? Would you? So I asked her. And she sent me 6 unpublished pieces. Sara is on PixArtisan. In a few more days.

In 10 or so years nothing called literature has surprised me more than these 6 little poems of her.

Poetry takes time. Sometimes doesn't.

Posted by lck at 01:40 AM | Comments (1)

Annoying [May 30, 2006]

This post took a total 30 second to build including screenshot and resize. It is known that average scanning of a website is around 6 seconds. Take a chance to learn why you should not do a website the way they did.
End.

Not, actually. To make things a lot worse The Indipendent, a respected and often stimulating source for debate, reports in the Online Edition that... " First major study of online pornography reveals 1 in 4 adults, including 1.4m women, downloaded images last year".
Here. And I wonder is that news?
End. Hopefully.

Posted by lck at 04:55 PM | Comments (0)

Near Happy Ending [May 24, 2006]

It's near happy ending, wrapped around the floodlight, speed,
the drive-shaft spin, the eardrum buzz, balanced the backline
ahead, decorating the perimeter shifting and the factory quote asks,
up stage scenery, one, what do you see?

Her white Dior touch the deck and the weight balance grasping between
then, now, with one eye see, hands soaked red, two figures silent, reclined on the dash, the other on the floor whispers orientation, the afternoon pointing,
up stage scenery, two, what do you see?

Stomping on the grass, black, towards the swamps, the lights at a distance
whisper for a generator, bending under the branches I stare at my nails,
sitting on a rock, catching a breath the waters flow tomorrow a featured synopsis until now, plating a braid, up stage scenery, three, what do you see?

The morning after, papers and the tow-trucks parade, bicycling downhill the sun
smiling, the gear gone, dabbing the sweat, breathe,
mapping the hour surrounding houses,
up stage scenery, taking Polaroids.

Posted by lck at 08:56 PM

Hel-Looks [May 23, 2006]

HEL LOOKS is selected street fashion from Helsinki, Finland. The pictures are taken in the streets and clubs of Helsinki from July 2005 onwards.
HEL LOOKS is a hobby project of Liisa Jokinen and Sampo Karjalainen. The project is a tribute to Fruits and Street magazines, the pioneers of street fashion photography. And is very addictive.

At least as addictive as this absurdity. Karoli Kiralyfalvi (Budapest?) is not exactly bad and at least a very productive. But 411 500x500 px images weight from 70 to 150K each on the same page? The trend is being pushed somehow to limits and if that is we may want to ask Dell, Logitech and HP to use BIGGER wheels on their mices.

Posted by lck at 01:51 PM | Comments (0)

Barbarians [May 15, 2006]

Between a sunny day and then more and family screaming "more of Lost" on the deserted beach not yet stuffed with sweating passengers heading to another holiday season...
Between reality, well packaged into comfortable, acceptable and economical "units" and the equally assuring, impossible and unacceptable Lacan game of hide and seek, so accurate and afar from our psychological needs to buy balance, compromise and acceptance...
In between String Theory and No Theory is a glimpse of History. The ability to read back language and carve sense out of our childish time of panic, reading back fractures, lines and reversals. Legible and usable.

Continue reading "Barbarians"

Posted by lck at 02:20 AM | Comments (0)

Less than you think [May 08, 2006]

Hot Fuss floats boatloads of blasé lyrics about the pressures of being fabulous and the politics of fucking over an easily sippable blend of 80s and 90s British pop influences [...] The Killers are just the latest band to be born too quick inside the popular music vacuum, where expectations...

The above is Pitchforkmedia's Review for Hot Fuss. We know the rest of it. They got it right. A good producer may not be enough to push the Nevada native quarter further than this month's pick on iTunes. 2 tracks are recommended: 2 - Mr Brightside and 3 - Smile Like You Mean It. 2 out of 11 is not bad, consider the above 2 have a better-than-average ipod cycle. If you really want to LOL then buy track 12 - Glamorous... you may get a better pic of where the kids are coming from and why aren't breaking any wall.

RHCP have made an art of copying themselves restlessly. Pretending to come with 28 self-covers hoping to snag a clap is definitely beyond what I am allowed to give. The band is finally entombed in so much deserved past. Tracks worthy .99$: 1 - Demi California. The rest is not on iTunes yet, but stop waiting as none of the other 27 matches the price tag.

Pearl Jam: Pearl Jam, 2006. Reviews put this album as a candidate to Best of the Year. Masterpiece, Perfect, Best Album, etc. Hope is the last thing to give, the album is being splattered for what it is not. Tracks worthy .99$: 4 - Comatose. Not ironic, the band has been in a state for years. Track 4 a fast track, well assembled, honest.

Problematic times to invest money in pop? No. Albeit slightly daunting to casual ears, in the following order, more Frou Frou, more Liars and Takagi Masakatsu.

Posted by lck at 05:58 PM | Comments (0)

com·mu·ni·ty [May 07, 2006]

com·mu·ni·ty (kə-myū'nĭ-tē)
n., pl. -ties.

A group of people living in the same locality and under the same government.
The district or locality in which such a group lives.
A group of people having common interests: the scientific community; the international business community.
A group viewed as forming a distinct segment of society: the gay community; the community of color.
Similarity or identity: a community of interests.
Sharing, participation, and fellowship.
Society as a whole; the public.
Ecology.
A group of plants and animals living and interacting with one another in a specific region under relatively similar environmental conditions.
The region occupied by a group of interacting organisms.

Flip page for more...

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Posted by lck at 03:44 PM | Comments (0)

Sztuka Fabryka [May 07, 2006]

The comming weeks we will be busy with the last "Independent Arts"-Festival.
Drop by check

Sztuka Fabryka is a worldwide non-profit artists organisation, conceived conceptually by Geert De Decker, with technical and creative support of: Bert Rocket (U.S.A.), Stanislaw Dragowanowitz (U.S.S.R.) and Sir Walter Crunckett the 3rd of Paddington High (Scotland).

Posted by lck at 03:31 PM | Comments (0)

Smoking Dope with Thomas Pynchon [May 07, 2006]

[This article appeared in The Vineland Papers: Critical Takes on Pynchon's Novel, ed. Geoffrey Green, Donald J. Greiner, and Larry McCaffery (Normal, IL: Dalkey Archive Press, 1994): 167-78.]

This is a story about the sixties: it's about me and some friends of mine, it's about Berkeley, and it's about Pynchon. It's about a decade in which we were all young together and thought we would stay young forever. Berkeley was our Vineland, a dream of a perfect new world. The time was ripe, America was ours, and we were going to change the world: Paradise Now or Apocalypse Now.

Continue reading "Smoking Dope with Thomas Pynchon"

Posted by lck at 03:19 PM | Comments (0)

nu-logo [May 06, 2006]

lo·go (lō'gō')
n., pl. -gos.
A name, symbol, or trademark designed for easy and definite recognition, especially one borne on a single printing plate or piece of type.

welkome the nu

A preemptive: no, don't come with the cross argument.
I definitely do not see this blog and discussion within related or supportive of that symbol in any special way.

Slight redesign for the cleaner and uncluttered.
- frames are getting me tired
- low-contrast type is decent and coherent to a discreet invitation act
- banner-less is recent discovery in taste that I fully support, strongly

Enjoy!

Posted by lck at 03:33 PM | Comments (0)

Do the strand [May 06, 2006]

Waiting for Lost S02E20 "Two for the Road" to hit the plate off iTunes mandatory it is to go back a few strands to Where-It-Began.

A plane crash between Sydney and L.A., realistically off the coast of Madagascar, fuselage splits in three (that's how B-757 are built), a good chunk of pax payload stranded all over across a not-so-small island, alien presence all over the place from the start to include polar bears at tropical latitude and miracle healing, transceiver only catches a glimpse of a re-played message, in French, coming from the island self. Although French at subtropical spells nuclear, as you may find in subsequent developments related, is initially relegated to Eiffel's tower postcards for tourists.

Lost is approaching edge of second season's closure with no answers but a War to chew on. The show is now running most of Europe, Italy included with terrible dubbing on top, soon to spread across non-EU-ized East Europe.

I find Claire sexier in her 8-months pregnancy than now, on the kid's seasonal temp vars. But the approaching finale means at least one of the main char's inevitable demise, be it Lock, Ana-Lucia, Charlie, you name. But at times of war casualties may spell plural. I only hope Kate makes up her mind and gear up with either John or Sawyer or any of the polar bears. Please settle down now it's time to stabilize it and we've had enough of the wandering round.

From the blackened smoking plane's giant carcass drowned ashore to our art gallery online. We are very happy with PixArtisan so far. Great feedback, polite inquires from known and unknowns and great contributions. I am motivated to carry this one on, much will come with the upcoming May 15th update, which could be (power)grrls only.

By the way, everything happens for a reason when you're 40. If you're not, nothing is true and no reason is better than no reason at all. That is why a remarkable Hollywoodian like Clooney got engaged in an issue that is (unfortunately) entirely political. "If we turn our heads and look away and hope that it will all disappear then they will - all of them, an entire generation of people. And we will have only history left to judge us." Clooney on SaveDarfur.org.

Apple wins a major struggle with the majors for individual song's prince, .99 still and running some of the coolest switching ads ever, gaining on yet another inevitable delay to Windows Vista. Microsoft noted only is for the recent miserable Explorer 7 update.

Winner both hands is Vladimir (Putin) for being able to sell an air-defense rocket-based system to Iran and putting an Israeli's spy satellite into orbit using a Russian vector. If this is a mean to shrink the window to the next war or one to blackmail both, is hard to say.

Firefox is done open-sourcing its own advertising. It's over but take a look here. For now winners are: honorable and absolute.

Who's going to open-source advertising next? And...

Would it not be nice to have a European Portfolio Night? I am late re-porting this I realize, source the always excellent NetDiver. The idea is worthy. Xerox it. Anybody with a portable portfolio and decent shoes?

Posted by lck at 01:18 AM | Comments (0)

I (double dog) dare you [April 16, 2006]

Life is sometimes like a fluff, a cloud, an invitation and an apology, to what you've done and focused on cheeringly for some time. It is good, always, to see your words spreading on by third-party choice to many more, clear or not, bloody or soul and it is just silly to say writing is disconnected from an ear, an audience.

After a year almost Bernard Dewley, Managing Editor of handtoothnail.com finalized finally the second issue of this online poetry mag. I may have different views than Bernard but it is after all a joy to see my most recent flash prose unleashed to the public on handtoothnail. I appreciate what Bernard is doing. Walking Distance and Red Vs. Tan for which I have a special affection, you can find them on handtoothnail.com, April 2006.

The other gift is an easter's Egg. PixArtisan is live, finally. Enjoy.

PixArtisan is being linked from scene360 and reviewed by netdiver

Posted by lck at 02:19 AM | Comments (0)

Benjamin Krain [April 11, 2006]

Photo Journalism at its best.

here

Posted by lck at 11:28 PM | Comments (0)

United we fall [April 11, 2006]

It was the first time ever we follow Italian Political elections start to end on our macs, sack TV. And it was surprisingly good. Thanks to La Repubblica and the Corriere della Sera, both with an informative and agile web presence.

Despite the very close results, a first for Italy, Prodi won the Deputy Chamber with some 24,000 votes over Berlusconi, which gives the Left coalition 340 Deputies versus Berlusconi's 277. The other chamber, the Senate, was also won by Prodi, 158 to 156.

This is a very close margin. Unusually close. It is remarkably important that one coalition has got both chambers, our constitutional procedurals would otherwise nightmarishingly stall. And still this is not what both parties were expecting.

The election law is new, wanted and drafted by Berlusconi, a tailor-made return to the past and to him, paradoxically, suicidal. On the other camp much more was expected that did not happen. If these elections were a call for voters to make a definite choice they didn't.

It is quite predictable now that chunks of the House of Freedom (Berlusconi's coalition) will quietly migrate from one camp to the other. It's Italian genes to follow the power where-ever power goes.

Berlusconi is still the guts and soul to millions. He is only fading, inevitably, away.

Startling and disturbing is, in the news today, Bernardo Provenzano finally captured. Undiscussed boss of bosses, the Padrino from Corleone was missing for 43 years and in power for that long according to informants. Provenzano was captured today by police in... Corleone, the place where he was born. With typical, possibly the only good left to what these men represent, he elegantly and nonchalantly responded to the obvious brigadiere's question, simply: "Yes, I am".

He was captured today. I am sure this is just a coincidence.

In a previous post I was recalling The Economist and the paper's open call to Italians to screw Silvio and sack him from job. He was. But he does not fall alone. Two men fall today. United by circumstances together they fall.

The long-term task of dealing with the ruins he has left behind for us to cope with has begun. It is now up to Mr. Prodi and his very diverse coalition to grow stronger and learn to talk to the other half of this country. This is the daunting task the winners are up to.

Fair winds, Professor Prodi.

Posted by lck at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)

sack him [April 06, 2006]

When The Economist comes out with a cover such as the one above (bigger banner for the occasion) it could signal a few different things:

The Economist is a socialist publication controlled by what's left of the former Russian Politburo (the paper's logo makes this pretty obvious, can't you see?)
or
John Peet (The editor) hates Berlusconi for his much overflowing power and wealth
or
Berlusconi secretly controls the Economist and is coming with an issue that will inevitably inflame the internal debate here in Italy, as he knows well victimization further divides, further conquers (just in case, you never know)
or
None of the above and the Economist is right, plus Peet is so immensely bored and shattered by how much time he is forced to waste everyday on the everyday BS coming from said celebrity's mouth.

Which wins?
The last one wins.
Hands down.

It is difficult to explain how Italians got so flexible, so indifferent and tolerant to their Prime Minister and his Juan Peron-like obsession to be loved, appreciated, every day over every pipe and every channel, apt to almost anything coming from what is inherently a seductive and rules-hater businessman, not a politician by any rate. Impossible, probably, to explain how today still such man can be trusted after countless proofs of his inability to produce any coherent vision and sell that and implement that to a country running on empty.

Mr. Berlusconi requested today that UN observers have a good eye on the incoming elections. Usually the contenders do that call, not the incumbent. But UN observers for... Italy?

Yesterday, in his grungiest and surreal call ever, he called opponent voters "dick-heads", a good approximation in English of the Italian term "coglioni". All said during public debates, newspapers everywhere on the daunting task to translate the term "coglioni", Spanish and French an easy job, a near-nightmare to others. A term once forbidden from public shows, debates and general conversation then literally everywhere overnight. My daughter came to me and asked...

I don't ask politics to solve much, especially under current trade of events and developments that are played more at the global level that any local can cope with. But, yes, I had enough.

Sack him. Legally, decisively and for good.

Thank The Economist to be in agreement with me.

P.S.: It is good practice to always give your P.M. a second chance. A good editor would go and see what other newspapers have to say about. I did. I have been for several days. International Herald Tribune, the New York Times, Financial Times. Apparently, if I can still read English, nobody is crying at the prospects of Berlusconi's downfall. And if the business community is not in tears then the following is also true: You call voters dick-heads, you'll have a chance, Monday night, to call us something else. How about fucking bastards?

Posted by lck at 09:04 PM | Comments (0)

Onother one bites... the dust [April 05, 2006]

Posted by lck at 12:09 AM | Comments (0)

Google Current [March 18, 2006]

Google Current airs every half hour here and provides a look at what the world is searching for on Google. There's nothing like it on television. When Googlians exert criticism "a-la-Wired" CNN-stile with Conor Knighton and Kinga Philipps playing the game things get quite interesting. Highly recommended and highly addictive.

In the meanwhile origami paper was given to the MIT students. This is what happened.

Posted by lck at 10:28 PM | Comments (0)

revival [March 11, 2006]

enough is enough and this is a quickie, no Capitalization but, at least, some punctuation, 2 weeks?

it's night revival in casa Zib with Lavigne pumping really loud, that's revival all-ready, and a good load of Warsteiner and Cabernet Franc.

we're split.

how blissfully desperate Avril was. kids can still buy their soft apocalypse for .99 and she's not coming back. what then?

re-play. pouring down. sweet.

enough is enough, my template for PixArtisan is locked-down, I can't make a white whiter than this. which is enough. my whitest.

this online art gallery is going to kick with Adriana de Barros, Liz Wolfe and the lovely Christian Lindemann just to start. The girl at NetDiver that is suggestive to us all and which blessing is pricey has signed her agreement, so I'd be expecting for her portfolio material on the 17th, Green Beer Day.

but Avril, wow, how sweet she was.

[Chorus]
If you're trying to turn me, into someone else
It's easy to see, I'm not down with that
(I'm nobody's fool) I'm nobody's fool
If you're trying to turn me, into something else
I've seen it enough, and I'm over that
(I'm nobody's fool) I'm nobody's fool
If you wanna bring me down
Go ahead and try - go ahead and try

Posted by lck at 01:15 AM | Comments (0)

Iranium [March 08, 2006]

Here we go again. This time we're all up with those tiny exotic radiant compounds Ma'm Curie was in love with. They used to make her counters go blip. They still do.

The people who want permission granted to enrich uranium, this time, are mostly the same people who sell you gas.

Whether or not Iran has the strength to pose a semi-embargo on its clients is uncertain. Whether or not the US has the power to set up a second attack on the same front, everything considered including broader support from the UN this time, is also uncertain.

Do you see China, who has been financing the US huge federal debt so far with massive acquisition of currency and bonds, backing up a second crusade?

Chances for a settlement are good. The US may want to postpone this mess on to the next, sometime in November 2008.

In the meantime this blog has been affected by a spike of traffic coming from wife's friends. My fault was to spin yarn for her using a tool she made herself, something called "a spindle". What it does is spinning raw fibers of yarn (silk, in this case) to make a hank. More on the whole shebang here.

I'm not starting a knitting carrier anytime soon. But if you wanted an interlude, an intercourse, that is what it was. A family trial. Somehow.

What is that for?
A spindle.
A spindle?
Ya know, to spin yarn.
And what are the coupled DVDs for?

She had built a bottom-whorl spindle. Using the kid's DVDs. At home. I first saw it on her blog when I was at the office. There was also a first comment from a friend of her which I thought was translating my nightmares already with more human words. Beautiful, now, how does that work?

Which DVDs did you use?
I used Finding Nemo.
You hate that movie so much?
No, they weren't working anymore.

Talk about naive Americans...

The kid pointed out that DVD 1 was scraped and dead but DVD 2 was fine, and added a pissed face on top of it like rancid tomato dripping hate and fury without saying a single word.

Then I recalled the commentaries' observation: how does "that thing" work?

The day next I was spinning yarn acrobatics, joining the roving, poking a hole in the hankies, playing with the torque and discussing the thickness of the resulting. Even better this one was silk. Spindling away like a sufi which is all you want to be in a rainy day.

Do you know a spinner uses gyroscopic principles?

The kid was given her ration of hankies, which she helped coloring but started being loud when she discovered how difficult was for her to "make a hole" with her tiny hands. It only got worse when she saw me spinning.

Are you envious?

We made some 22 yards of silk and then she swifted it up into a tidy hank, then soaked in cold water to set the twist. Now it's hanging on a hanger and damn it's nice.

The bed is covered with silkworm memories and my nails too. Raw silk is darn easily attached to the host like not even viruses. That is the bad part.

Now we're browsing the web looking for spinning machines and I know she has plans. What does not happen when you let the enemy infiltrate your dailies?

By the way, the spinning business, including converting a membrane into a closed string can be described by good mathematics with a high degree of precision. They do it everyday, over at Stanford

Today, surprisingly, we woke up in a sea of snow. It was snowing.

When I started web-designing some ten years ago white was an obvious choice for a neutral background. The first, second and third instances of our agency's website were all based on white. But in time you learn that white is not as neutral as it may seem.

For one you'll never see white on a consumer's grade monitor no matter how hard you try. Why?

Because your monitor's phosphors combined output tends to aging on the yellow.
Because your monitor likes dust.
Because you like to leave fingerprints on the screen and think that's sexy.
Because white point calibration is a variable of just too many things, including a cloudy day.
Because perception of "neutrality" depends on age, temper and usage.

And finally because blogs and CSS-based content systems use white as if it was for free.

It is not.

Now I'm coping with an online gallery. An (art) gallery's identity stems from its walls. Bare white walls.

So, next in line is, in the process of making this website, what am I going to do? Or, what am I doing?

Posted by lck at 06:41 PM | Comments (2)

Green [March 05, 2006]

Green

I've been checking the grass. Green. Up to where it's blue, blurred and foggy. Lightnings strike in couples on the distant little trees. I've been here for a while, can’t remember since when. There's a large pale rock I'm sitting on that's giving me a cold and a headache that's like a rainbow and a gift. Starring at the grass the landscape changes. It's not all green. The blue is almost white. Sometimes thru the fog I can see a house.

When I get far enough from my rock I can see a tree that's right between base and the horizon. It's a skunk olive tree, burnt down to its roots, praying for resurrection someday. A tiny young branch grows right perpendicular to the floor. The base is very large. I can sit on it comfortably and it gives me relaxation. When it gets dark the ghosts push me back to base.

I can't see her but I can hear her voice clearly. She gets out early when the sun is low and sits outside on the grass, by the house. From the voice I can figure her face, her many layers of expression, her anger and smiles, like dunes constantly changing and getting deeper and then skin deep, casual, ironic, deranged, tired, sleepy. Then the door bangs, around noon and I'm alone again.

Around base is littered with cans, papers, dead birds and skeletons of cars I’ve never seen before. I haven’t got any food in a while. Chasing overflying birds is useless but I feel fine. I miss my brother, my job routine, cigarettes and sex.

Every time I wake up I check the grass. Green. Up to where I get dizzy. I focus on a bush that's slightly taller and start walking. I stop at the tree to check the progress. Disappointing how slow nature is at its business. Then I start playing fingertips.

Half a world away the chords in her tongue are Japanese, Korean, beautiful.

One day it rained all day. I was shaking. I could not move but I could hear her conversation. Lonely, coming down like hail, broken in my eardrums, refracted and shy. That day I talked to her. Loud as I could. We started dueting, something between Jap and French, ice-cream and Chanel commercials as far as I recall.

One day I'll learn all the truth, complete.

Posted by lck at 01:08 AM

Behind enemy lines [March 01, 2006]

1 out of 12 people in the world have a weapon. The problem is how to arm the other 11.

After Fascism, Stalinism, Stat-a-lism and neo-Colonialism we just needed a new respectable enemy that does not just talks-the-talk. Aloha, Islamism.

Puff! Are we a democracy now?

And what shelves should I get and what shoes should I wear when my portable is lying on the two hard-disks-enclosures-combo on top of the ethernet modem which is on top of the hi-fi and did I tell you that boom-boxes were on a returning leg? Your iPod can finally feed the family on Apple-approved speaker-dome. Special events are just to introduce these tiny i-Fi evolutions. here

Tiny evolutions are what Tom Jenkins, a.k.a. Squarepusher, has been delivering for a while. Since "Hard Normal Daddy" and "Big Loada" he's been thru his own "White souls..." with "Music is rotted one note" and now "Ultravisitor". In a few years Tom may be delivering his "Bitches Brew Revisited". Please bring that on. And may Miles Davis understand what we don't.

Our prime minister went to see George. George did not say shit about our prime minister. National newspapers emphasizes Berlusconi has a close deal with the Bushes. Is that gas? Maybe methane.

The 1st of March is set aside especially for pigs. It was started by Texas art teacher Ellen Stanley in 1972 to honour and give thanks to our most intelligent domesticated creature. On this day, remember the good things pigs have brought to us; remember that pigs are sociable, intelligent mammals. They are much like us in many ways, they have noticable personality traits and soaring emotions. You might want to visit a farm sometime in March for a day out (with the kids) and pay your respects to these marvelous animals.

here

There's one thing I like about George Bush. His plane. AF-One, a heavily modified 747-400 is the most beautiful flying machine on earth and you won't find it on Google with its current look. To kill a very widespread misconception, the 747 we associate to the US president is not always the AF-One. Any aircraft that carries the US president bears the call-sign Air Force One. It could be a DC-9 or a little Augusta A109 helicopter. Helos and planes, lots of which draw the line for Lord of War. In the end, Lord of War, the movie, isn't for everyone. In a sense this film is kind of like "Blow" because it's about a man who feels his life isn't complete without selling something that is bad. He has everything he could ever want but still needs to sell the firearms. It's a powerful story which I feel really puts things in perspective as far as Americans look at things. Nicolas Cage's performance is incredible as he seems to not care at all for the people's lives he puts at stake every day and when it comes to his own life he still seems unemotional and doesn't seem to worry. I think this is one of the best film's of year. If you have an open mind about things and enjoy movies that will make you think check out "Lord of War" because it's well worth the price.

In the meantime A. Baricco, one of our Italian novelist-fantastique, is praying for objective criticism, alas "read me before you bash me". Can you read it to me? You want me to buy your story, please read it to me... tell me your story... (no-link-for-you)

I understand you are going to ask for new designs, talents, snapshots of things to come. That has been lagging on Timeline lately. A new project is in progress that will get its wings on pixartisan.com in April. So, be patient, I'm working hard on that.

Posted by lck at 04:10 PM | Comments (0)

Chicken Licking Good [February 22, 2006]

Rain falls on everyone, the same old rain...

The sun will shine again, one day, and tropical storms will be a thing of the past. Just not yet. And all familiar and fair unless it's Carnival time and kiddo has got herself a princess's suit along with all garments and jewels that fit the trade, schematics of what the princess, prince, queen and king are supposed to look like and Wizard of Oz on, on her G4, with new spanking 160GB of additional storage space. It shines at her place with the firstborn's privileges and the casual nap, deep in the car, back from the store.

Life is grim if your name is Callahar.

Hello, my name is Kallahar (well, it's an alias, but Kallahar really is a family name of an 1800's Irish family Ancestry of William Kallahar, born 1830). I recently tried to create a user on Yahoo with my name. Unfortunately, Yahoo said it was unavailable...

Kafka reborn under the american flag and on the Kodak filtering. More rejoicing can be found in the full PDF with Mrs. Kallahar's narrative here.

Why Allah? Why now? And why an eyebrow when corporations keep shaping the body legal and ethics as they have been for a century, around the economics and an avalanche of lawyers? Or praise American ingenuity vs. opportunity, hailing to First Amendment again and again over our thousand-islands-mushroom-guacamole with taleggio on the toothbrush.

We know where we are going, we just don't know where we are.

Busy as he is in the daily command-post-like blog reporting, Juan Cole gives his best from a comfy spot at MetroTimes. It is an excellent, long interview that expands the topic to American psychology, motivations and trade strategies.

The debate is big about subcontracting handling of major American ports operations to a UEI (United Emirates) contractor. The anger in the face of the possibility that Arabs may acquire control of such operations is visible all over the blogosphere. It turns odd to me that no debate exists over the fact, not just a possibility, that 15% of McDonald's is currently owned by Pakistanis. Hush, your cheeseburger may be listening...

As you can imagine, with no big support from quantum mechanics, shares don't mind what religion you like.

Do you really want to know who owns the remaining 85% of McDonald's? I know you won't. The jucy part is unrelated to Terrorism. Joshua M. Marshall explains it well here.

The administration did not require Dubai Ports to keep copies of business records on U.S. soil, where they would be subject to court orders. It also did not require the company to designate an American citizen to accommodate U.S. government requests. Outside legal experts said such obligations are routinely attached to U.S. approvals of foreign sales in other industries...

The failure to require the company to keep business records on US soil sounds like a pretty open invitation to flout US law as near as I can tell. Forget terrorism. This is the sort of innovative business arrangement I would think a number of Bush-affiliated American companies might want to get in on. Perhaps Halliburton could be domiciled in Houston, pay its taxes in Bermuda, do its business in Iraq and keep its business records in Jordan.

Does that sound better?

Originally on Samizdata a collection of amazing aerial photos of Mexico City, here. Bizarre.

Macs are good at sharing resources with minimum effort on the user. We are sharing our ADSL via Firewire on several macs. The good is Firewire is extremely fast and the whole family can go online simultaneously from several computers. She is playing a DVD but does not really know where the physical disc is actually and I am sucking in data from one of the two storage units that I am not physically connected to and the kid is streaming Disney off of the shared Internet comm. I guess you can do the same on a PC but then again you probably have to be a Microsoft Certified Engineer with lots of days off and a double pack of painkillers. 3 macs just in the bedroom and the kid knows what works on mine must work on her.

Go explain kids to Microsoft.

Fear not, we have an update the finest. here. Yes, Yahoo Mail reverses ban on 'allah' in usernames. As everybody but some know, gods are celebrities. Left out of the grapevine? No way.

Posted by lck at 11:29 PM | Comments (1)

Swan, swan, hummingbird [February 12, 2006]

It finally made it. It made it and I mean here. 21 swans out of a flock of 18 (which is, there's going to be more) found dead by the so-far-deadly H5N1, a.k.a. bird flu, within the range of this province. The event, predictable and in fact predicted, with Sicily main route for these birds to and from Russia on an average path that goes thru Southern Italy (Calabria and Puglia, 3 swans reported dead today), Albania and Yugoslavia, Ukraine and Romania and Bulgaria and, finally, indeed, Russia.

Reasons to be concerned? Cool it there maybe. Several different formulas are being final-tested for a working vaccine, including an Italian and an Israeli, the latter, apparently, very effective. The more the virus is learning from us the more we learning from him. Meanwhile avoid that swan-brushing...

I found Repubblica's special, also outlined by Zib, to be x-specially ineffective and confusing as it tries to merge a forum with structured ambientation. A better source for non-Italian readers may be this.

Did you know that the H5N1 flu virus has been circulating continuously in poultry in south-eastern China for a decade?

A massive genetic analysis shows the virus has mainly been spread by poultry, but also that wild birds carried it from southeast China to Turkey. Yi Guan and colleagues at Shantou University, plus scientists in Xiamen and Hong Kong, say the only way to stop the virus is to control it in southeast China. The Chinese authorities have denied the country is the epicenter of the virus and opposed independent flu research.

One overshadowed aspect so far is the impact bird flu is having in Africa, as detailed in a report from Nigeria, where birds are being toasted by the tens of thousands, indiscriminately. In a strange twist the Nigerian government now claims H5N1 did not reach the country via migratory birds, but through smuggled "pets and birds". Which is???

Small poultry farmers in Nigeria close to where the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus was detected said on Thursday birds were dying in large numbers and they did not know why.

The west African state is the first country on the continent to report the virus that is endemic in poultry in parts of Asia and has killed at least 88 people since late 2003.

The unexplained poultry deaths raise the possibility that the virus has already spread from four big commercial farms to small farms and even households in Africa's most populous country, posing a greater threat to human health.

[...] The Agriculture Ministry said 45,000 chickens had died at Sambawa Farms in Kaduna state, and confirmed cases of H5N1 had also been found at two farms in the neighboring Kano state and at one farm in Plateau state, which also borders Kaduna.

We still lack a single case of human-2-human transmission that we can demonstrate beyond doubt. Viruses, in their struggle for new flesh, can be very patient. Unless they can not figure it out.

Detailing the first significant outbreak (of a disease believed to be deadly) in the country with a constellation of mp3 audio and video galleries that most times break depending on your PC platform and plug-in type is a very unprofessional approach. Italian press is using flash video and WMV and intermixed. Let's hope next time they will get the story in a more old-fashioned way than this.

I can still count on North Korea for the best in denial arts. NK may deny Earth orbits around the Sun along with a sleuth of fancier things, like Microsoft's own anti-virus product (still in beta but being distributed as if it was not) tagging Symantec's Norton Anti-Virus as a virus and prompting you to delete it. Which is crazy enough to an already busy IT staff. But the best is that it is indeed possible (practically) to travel at near-speed-of-light, no headaches. Available here and quickly getting into mainstream. And for once NK would be with the wise guys.

Beam me up.

Posted by lck at 12:41 AM | Comments (2)

A fish for a fish [February 04, 2006]

The day is a feast-full of the weirdest, from a flower-shaped rock spotted on Mars soil, a volcanic formation possibly, to the astronaut's suit filled up with dirty socks and let go to float out and around the ISS space station. By gravity's courtesy the suit won't go far and by way of temperature the batteries will freeze after an hour or so. The so-called "experiment" was videotaped by ISS personnel and available on the web. The narration all but clarifies what the experiment was for.

Do we need to remind our muslim friends and neighborhood that religion is a form of expression? As a form of expression in all its genres, its visuals and not, religion can any other day collide with others, who possibly express their ways differently. Unless we crave to grant religion a special status and protect it legally from collision, which we have been bordering for a while with political-correctness, a common ground has to be found. Burning flags, taking down embassies and threatening journalists does not make anybody better. Common ground to life is that it ends and if you we not cope with the simple idea that religious beliefs are a form of psychological self-shelling ourselves from the unknown and unbearable we need to find a good psychiatrist. This is true not just for muslims, which I am far away from targeting here, it is true for anybody. How great would it be if we all give up and focus on "here and now" versus the "there and after", a place we all know biologically impossible. Don't ask yourself if you are tolerant of others but do ask yourself what you want to do before you die.

The baby wanted a goldfish today. Initially she thought to give it to the turtles and enjoy the slaughtering as she discovered that turtles are predators. The wife was nodding on the same murky design. I hated both and especially their convergence. So there we go and buy a little anonymous goldfish that the kid could carry at home. While carrying it she changed her mind, now she wanted to keep it. Wife hated to push for a second fish to satisfy her need for a grand show. Now we're all starring at little Pierre going circles in a glass bowl soon to be forgotten as fishes don't do anything exciting besides circling around. I guess we all miss the original gruesome intentions now.

Posted by lck at 07:05 PM | Comments (0)

Cal Update [February 01, 2006]

The Cal06 gallery has been updated (banner-click or here) with my Feb06, Wendy's perfect shot of a pretty exotic dye coloring process (the dark silhouettes are leaves) and Christian Lindemann's of lindedesign vector illustration. Cute Whale!

Posted by lck at 05:56 PM | Comments (0)

The Slide [January 29, 2006]

February is looming and the slide to Summer is on the run. Clues are available as to what we're up to. Let me first hand out the template for Calendaring Feb 06 (PSD file) here. "Save Target" in Safari as it now supports layered PSD display.
And my Feb 06 contribution here (In the Gallery by Feb 1st):

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STU tell me if you want me to take care of the Illustration you sent.

Back to the slide(s).

Continue reading "The Slide"

Posted by lck at 03:14 PM | Comments (0)

Ipod Killers Where Are They? [January 22, 2006]

This op-ed (copyright Smart House Magazine) dares to draw a line. The topic is one of the hottest in the industry today: the future of the iPod. According to Chris Seybold and David Richards the outcome is very clear. At least for this year :)

If there is one thing that Bill Gates and Companies like Creative or Samsung or any one hundreds of organisations who are trying to emulate Apple's iPod success can not do and that is win market share up against Apple.

Chris Seybold of Apple Matters a web site that tracks the Apple market daily writes. There are a million iPod killers floating around. Some feature more capapcity, some feature more gizmos, and some feature lower price points. None of the iPod killers are actually doing any iPod killing because they're too busy trying to be more iPodish than the iPod.

Continue reading "Ipod Killers Where Are They?"

Posted by lck at 07:30 PM | Comments (0)

The Night Clerk - Chapter 5 [January 21, 2006]

The crying game

Aperture is just right. I'm taking measurements of the landscape before running to work. Talking funny and looking funny, shy by the sudden glimpse of a luscious pair of twin legs getting on the bus. I bet from a distance for a prize meticulously taken care of and a head start. The Sony barks off with a loud unknown on the wire. At the other end a man is looking for a Sophie, which (unfortunately?) I don't know. Sophie? With two fingers on the flip he's crying single syllables off the speaker. The girl pays for a routine and sits down, hands on her knees firmly. Make my way back with the tune pounding, sick, awake and calm in the jungle, breath out and catch her on the eye-wire.

Finger-picking on the heels and off the bus. Is this where you live, Sophie? You and your copy machines? I work at the Ambrosia, down the block. Her soothing dark eyes speak of three legged stools, scattered Polaroids, napkins and crumbs in the sun, a casual eye musing for Paris every other day.

Can I buy you breakfast?
You're going to wear that funny hat and spin?
May I survive thru the night...
9 a.m. at The Wall, bring a tie.
A tie? What for?
I only date boys with ties, no questions.

The phone rang for the rest of the night. Unfair affair and the crying game. Who's there?

Have a tie to spare, John?
Talking to me?
I missed the crowd, pie-hole.
Who's getting married this time?
Friend of mine.
Got friends? Black tie far-out these days?
I'm all highway on the silk. Cheers.

Don't talk to anybody, lick away the dancing until it's go on the watch and wave to the Wall, a recessed spot by Metro, hiding by Regent's and the neon lamps. I'm not supposed to see what I see: she's at a table, crisscrossing in the black suit, mirror-shades to the overcast, a cream pullover and a smile, chin and jaws dipped into psychology.

I had coffee early on. I like your shades.
Sophie... Sophie, right?
What happened to your funny hat?
Traded in for a tie. More coffee?

I learned everything she could possibly tell about the place, the 1970's styled neon signs and their manufacturing process, the font faces in the menu, a list of drinks and the snow melting at 46F. I mumbled with myself that I never spotted her before and of the guy who loves my wire so much and how sleepy I was and of 404. So this is where you work.

You lost it. How exactly?
Do you want phone, room number, eye color or social security?
Ah! Hell, the tie would be enough.
John, forget it. I'll buy you one.
Is she one of ours?
Naa. One of ours?
Did she like your phone?
No, but she wanted a clamshell and I needed a new one anyway. Now you're questioning way past work ethics. I dunno if I want to talk to you.
404 was looking for you today.
I know. I'll touch base.

On the second day of the shooting season, rock bottom, away from buses and neon lights, it's 48F outside and the snow is starting to melt. I like my new phone. My girl loves it too. Once she asked about the old Sony. We were at the hotel having croissants and she was experimenting with cornrows style, which made her look as if she had been intentionally distressed to look older. Maybe that's why I told her that I lost it.

Posted by lck at 08:42 PM

Mieke is Calendaring [January 17, 2006]

Mieke sent her January Calendaring. You can see it here direct or in the Gallery along with the rest.

Mieke makes the cutest and simplest puppets on earth, so naive and expressive they are stunning. We adore her work. Don't miss it!

Posted by lck at 12:33 AM | Comments (0)

Annette Bugansky [January 13, 2006]

Annette Burgansky trained and worked in fashion and costume design, becoming a ceramicist. She worked as a cutter for Jean Muir as well as the BBC costume department. Graduated in 2003 from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in Ceramic Design.

Her work is greatly inspired by her experience in the fashion and costume industries and this has influenced her approach to ceramics.

Very inspiring work.

Posted by lck at 09:52 AM | Comments (0)

Create an e-annoyance, go to jail [January 09, 2006]

Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.

Read more on cnet here, by Declan McCullagh.

A good definition for "annoy" can be found on Answers.com here. Quite a wide range ah?

Just a ridiculous prohibition?

Let's move to deeply interesting (and highly controversial) matters with Leonard Susskind, one of the fathers (and prime discoverer) of String Theory, panning over his recent book. The video, on Edge.org is here and I highly recommend watching it as it depicts clearly at least the following:
1) how wildly open-minded one can be at 70
2) how bad David Gross and Edward Witten must feel about their whole carrier in lieu of the recent developments in String Theory (badly looking like a re-run of Einstein's God playing dice debating)
3) if we believe and embrace arms into Susskind territory we are (necessarily?) waving goodbye to mathematical physics as searching for certainty. Un-less, here comes Susskind hardcore view, the Theory predicts ONLY local landscapes with their own local laws BUT predicts ALL of them (10 power 500 or so).

Quantum Mechanics (re-born)?

Posted by lck at 06:51 PM | Comments (1)

Bound for Glory [January 08, 2006]

Bound for Glory: America in Color is the first major exhibition of the little known color images taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information (FSA/OWI). Comprised of seventy digital prints made from color transparencies taken between 1939 and 1943, this exhibition reveals a surprisingly vibrant world that has typically been viewed only through black-and-white images. These vivid scenes and portraits capture the effects of the Depression on America's rural and small town populations, the nation's subsequent economic recovery and industrial growth, and the country's great mobilization for World War II.

The photographs in Bound for Glory, many by famed photographers such as John Vachon, Jack Delano, Russell Lee, and Marion Post Wolcott, document not only the subjects in the pictures, but also the dawn of a new era -- the Kodachrome era. These colorful images mark a historic divide in visual presentation between the monochrome world of the pre-modern age and the brilliant hues of the present.

Continue reading "Bound for Glory"

Posted by lck at 02:38 AM | Comments (0)

MacWorld, here we go again [January 04, 2006]

The first and early run of renderings for Caledaring 2oo6 runs very much in the family, while other friends are working on it. The Gallery is available here and a permanent link to it is now available on the main menu. Zib gave a boot to the photo illustration chapter as limited to yarn with her close-up, at which is very good, followed by Elizabeth Morrison, with a sample of lower contrast with good weaving and a rich bordeaux. Peter, a design student based in London sent his contribution, a raw sandy drawing that I appreciate for its simplicity and impact. A template for February will be made available around the 10th as well as my first sample for that month. The gallery is not optimized for Explorer. I've had it up to here with the pesky uber-abortion and Richmond-made.

In a few days Apple will kick off Macworld at Moscone, San Francisco. Everybody expect about everything but few are clear. Apple has been selling 100,000 iPods (figures are for the nano only) every day throughout December.

Continue reading "MacWorld, here we go again"

Posted by lck at 08:34 PM | Comments (0)

Frozen, a piece from The Bamboo Book kicks off the 2006 premiere issue of Sleep©, an alternative magazine in London, UK. All the best to the mag. I'll be standing and waiting for my copy. That's a good year!

Posted by lck at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)

The Back of Beyond [January 02, 2006]

Belmont Club has so far the best commentary on the current gas war between Ukraine and Russia. The post is followed by a massive discussion, spanning several topics from the emerging role of Iran to China's supply plans. For more on Gazprom here, via Jeff Kouba's "Peace Like A River" or Martha Olcott's paper study for Rice University here (PDF).

Posted by lck at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)

Calendaring for 2oo6 [January 01, 2006]

Welcome into 2oo6. Hope there's still fresh leftover to drink.

The focus is on change. And best way to change is to change what we know best. January 1st: a calendar. The first one for January 2006 is available here (or banner-click). 6 different resolutions are available that will fit most desktops and portables. Left over are the few guys who own a Cinema Display. Feel free to work the canvas up to 3000 or more and request by mail, if needed, my original artwork.

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Change is not much on what I've done but on what you all can do. Your own artwork illustration (or own photographic), on this same template. The template is available as a layered PSD file. Paste your artwork and name and send it. Copyright will stay with you. Distribution of the flat JPEG file is encouraged, realize that each artwork bears copyright and name. The template itself is free to travel with no modifications (unless you find errors, please call). We are staying off of print for now, 72 dpi will work.

Photoshop Template for January 2oo6

All submissions will be reviewed and posted in a Gallery. The best authors will be invited to work in the near future on a similar theme, by that time we'll have a shop set up to sell the artwork.

Clear like Joe Pesci, I hope.

P.S. You don't have to produce 6 different sizes of your calendar, I'll take care of the technicalities. You'll clearly need Photoshop, the template is bulky to stay compatible with ANY VERSION of our pet graphic program. Again, I do not necessarily expect submissions from professional Illustrators as I am not technically an Illustrator myself. Stay with us and remember to have fun.

Posted by lck at 04:46 PM | Comments (0)

Raindrops, 2006 [December 29, 2005]

Was it a good time? Did you miss anything? All you could to make happy? Of course not, and yes.

For my crew and agency, it was a good time. 2 major assignments delivered to overseas clients and a third one in progress. A host of side-projects, smaller, with more freedom and for which inventions and turns were in the game. Cashed in, grown up, harvested well and, hopefully, seeds and occasions for new growth that will materialize in the future.

W., partner in life, gone from amateur fabric design to partnering with distributors on yarn designs and projects. That's the growing-fastest. And a sweet dealing daily, complications considered, I'm in love with a beautiful mind.

M., now 5, speaking both lingoes, with her astounding on-the-fly switching that impresses and scares and now learning French and getting confident with the parent's tools: Photoshop, Painter, her G4, as well as drawing and sketching in the real world, reminding us that she is a baby, still.

Timeline, once private place, grown from few afics to few hundreds of curious minds enticed to buy and come back, enjoying the widescreen and colorful plethora of emerging talents from around the world.

To all of you a big high-6 and the same enthusiasm for life.

Now for a few more bullets:

8 The Kenyon Review
Solid website design, conservative, balanced color matrix.
The mission of The Kenyon Review is to identify exceptionally talented emerging writers, especially from diverse communities, and publish their work (fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, reviews, etc.) alongside the many distinguished, established writers featured in its pages.

7 Andrew Kreps Gallery, NYC
Clean, almost bare site and an impressive array of non-compromise visual artists.

6 Stereohype
Pop tarts.
Stereohype.com is an online boutique offering limited editions and rare products. The stereohype range is focusing on fresh, innovative and inspirational works and expands regularly. Products include exclusively commissioned artworks for stereohype. London-based stereohype.com was launched in October 2004.

5 Inksurge, updated
Brewed in Manila, Philippines since 2002, a bigdaddy to anybody in the field.

4 Tronic Studio, updated (broadband required)
NYC directing, design and animation studio founded 2001 by Columbia Architecture graduates Jesse Seppi and Vivian Rosenthal.

3 The Stubbins Associates
Very strong and edgy website and copy.
The Stubbins Associates is a full-service architecture, planning and interior design firm with offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Las Vegas, Nevada.

2 Violet Blue
Podnography
The internet is an amazing thing, nowhere else in the world can you find this much porn.
Former SRL member, Fleshbot assistant editor and podcaster extraordinaire Violet Blue. (for mature adults only) Her blog has earned an immediate attention and is listed off 2005's top ten sexiest geeks (Wired).

1 The Book of Tags
Sharp and clean website for this DROPDROP project.
The Book of Tags is a DROPDROP project, published by KITCHEN 93 and made possible by the collaboration of over 300 worldwide graffiti writers. The project attempts to analyze and also give voice to one of the most demonized yet pure means of expression within the graffiti world, the Tag.

0 If you have not noticed yet, our grand 06's postcard (go top and banner-click or)

-1 In 1973 when Brian Eno had more and better stuff to care of than producing Bono Vox, he came out with this

We hit the floor, off to drink some, thirst is timeless, see ya next year. No, before that drive to one of the boss's favorite, this girl that always cracks me up. The making of a loser. Crack.

Posted by lck at 04:06 PM | Comments (0)

Eleanor Yap [December 29, 2005]

The endtail to 2005 is fireworks of amazing Illustration work.
Check out Eleanor's gallery (Australia, again). Very pretty for a young design student, with good cards for extremely attractive packaging assignments in the future.
Good job Eleanor (and all the best).

Posted by lck at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)

Lillian Piri [December 27, 2005]

Little Galaxie is the website of Lillian Piri, born 1985, Australia.

A naive website but a truly breathtaking portfolio.

Posted by lck at 12:48 AM | Comments (1)

Poetry takes forever [December 26, 2005]

In Our Own Words:A Generation Defining Itself, Vol. 6, Marlow Peerse Weaver (2005) is out.

210 authors contributed to this International Anthology of Poetry from all over the world. One of the 210 is me, contributing with the titles:

Bi-directional prediction
and
Song for Edweena - YOU OWE ME FOR THE FLESH

This book series is a platform from which a generation (born 1960 to 1982) is speaking out about its realities, dispelling the narrow, simplified stereotypes created by the mass media and commercial marketing. The series now includes nearly 900 "voices" in essays, poetry, music lyrics, short stories and verse from more than 70 countries.

Volume 6 is distributed by Ingram and Baker & Taylor, and can be obtained or ordered through most book stores, worldwide. The title is also available through Barnes & Noble, Borders, ChaptersGlobe, Amazon.com, and most other online booksellers.

Product Details:
ISBN: 0965413675 - Format: Paperback, 288pp
Pub. Date: August 2005 - Publisher: MW Enterprises

on Amazon.com
on Borders (USA)
on Barnes & Noble

Posted by lck at 01:53 PM

Highway Robbery [December 24, 2005]

thread will be updated continuously thru the night, long as it goes

Given the socioeconomic significance of this time of year, not to mention the psycho-pathology embedded, it is worthy to dig into the Bible, at least once. A good source is Slate.com. Jesus and the Gospel, What Really Happened is a good start. The idiosyncratic habits of the American consumers, with special regards to the Christmas dinner is another, ergo, What Beast is This?. Third in my list is The Meaning of Life, who does not want to dig that? Alast, The Maccabees and the Hellenists or Hanukkah as Jewish civil war.

While Slate does a good job at offering interesting views on a matter that is after all relevant to believers as to non(s), my shopping spree sports a short list of essentials that has no much to do with the deep thinking.

If anything you want me to buy just convince me and I shall.

List below, gifts included unless undisclosable. All acquired via 2 separate runs, one in the morning, another between 1400 and 1600 (when traffic rating is low). At evening last-minute shoppers are packed in their cars in a horrible smoky mess. You want to stay away from this war of nerves.

Here we go, by brand and/or country of origin:

6 avocados, Israel
2 plates, mushrooms, large, local produce
2 boxes of falafel, Lebanon
sev, refried beans and tortillas, imported, Texas, USA
sev, Ice Cream, which must include, for the joy of many, Amen, chocolate
2 green tea and 2 "turkish" tea boxes, Aze Baba, Istambul, Turkey {a real kick-ass}
1 "fedora" hat, dark blue, size 57, by Fred W. Taylor, made in Italy (gift to myself)
3 2 x lit. carton boxes of juice, Pfanner, Austria
2 bottles of Domaine Capendu, 2003, France (N/A in Italy, thanks Mario, my wine pusher)
2 bottles of Chateau Tarreyrots, 2001, France (same + thanks as above)
2 bars of Lindt Chocolate, Swiss
1 kg Cous Cous, unbranded
1 kg long grain Basmati rice, India
1 "box turtle", our second barnyard animal (gift to Rosie), referred to as "Romeo". If these guys end up in a friendly couple, they will be reffered to as "Rolls Royce" (they were spotted taking the sunbath together today [they have a lamp just for that])
1 fluffy cat, white, black, gray and pink by LR-kids, Italy (gift to Melissa who wanted a REAL one)
1 box Walkers, shortbread, Scotland, UK
2006 Calendar, Fairfax Photos, Sydney NSW (gift from Fairfax, a just-in-time)
6 skeins of wool, 127 Print (for Wendy's scarf project), Italy
8 skeins of Grinordette, Shetland (for Wendy, TBD), Italy
6 skeins of Brilla, three yellow and three purple (for a striped top project that I pushed on the spot), Italy
1 can giant pickles, Poland (startling new entry in my list)
Warsteiner, Germany (enough to support 6 people for 2 days)
6 bottles of Corona, Mexico
6 bottles of Fisher, Germany
1 "Patrick", balloon, the Spongebob's Cartoon Series (gift to Melissa)
4 corn-on-the-cob, USA
Rambol, soft herb cheese, France
Taleggio, soft cheese, Italy
2 Pinot-Chardonnay, Italy
1 Malesan, bordeaux, 2002, France
2 Sanderman, port, Portugal
1 Sheridan's, Portugal
2 kg tuna, sliced, bloody and local
Feta, Greece (heavily used in our salads)
sev, swordfish, thin-sliced, local (I will be basically make "sushi" with these. I'll explain Sicilian sushi on another occasion.)

Glaring omission (could not be found): Cointreau
Down this year: vodka

Not in the list, accessories or prime necessities. Absent is meat, this year, we have stock sausage and steaks for the carnivore friends, absent is pasta, which we rarely eat.

colors of this week: bore brown and crimson red

suggested local policy amendments (active thru the week):
#1: mandatory 1 hour aft. nap (kids may skip this)
#2: give up the car and walk
#3: do not ALLOW guests to turn TV on during lunch/dinner

what made us so happy: advance deposit from xxxxxx.xx

2345: fireworks - what are we watching: Constantine, 2005... taking from Dante's Comedy... The Spear of Destiny has been missing... Kiddo gives it for sure that Santa is not bringing ME anything, not because I've been bad but because Santa only makes toys. Brr... but I know 2 beer mugs and a shirt are on the way. (kiddo will get a Musical Box, glass-made, and truckloads of beads)

2355: First bottle of Capendu to hit the deck. Is almost impossible to rate this wine. The entry smell is balanced, distinct, the body amazing. A rose' that is almost peachy.

It's midnight. If anybody wants to go to the mass I am available to escort, my iPod is fully charged. None of the crew seems to be interested (a church is 2 blocks South).

0010: Osama Bin Laden's niece is a cute black headed 26 old that has never met the Uncle. She experiments with pop, guitar, pic of guitar between skinny legs and another, spreading in bed on a pose worth a "fatwa". The cherry ice cream fits the soft-porn niece's pics. Not looking bad.

0015: I love Tilda Swinton. Here they get as close as 2 inches, lips by lips. She is Gabriel, the Archangel, unfortunately, the only sex they have is when she spits it out about his lung cancer, You're fucked. Is baby Jesus born yet?

0025: I have to remember not to wear my hat with my black leather jacket. If