doing cartwheels on sugarcubes

Things like the recent death of Ray Manzarek, the Source Family documentary, and other events ended me up in a spree of watching old episodes of Dragnet...especially episodes that involve sub-culture.

From the ridiculous and improbable situations, to the amped-up lingo, all filtered through white bread, it holds a bounty of commentary, ready for harvest and reinterpretation.

Never been much of a fan of The Doors (think Love kinda conquered that territory in a better fashion), but Mr. Manzarek was a true taser master. Something I heard him say in an interview, kinda zapped me. I'm not gonna repeat it here

thinking out loud with andrew irving

pretty taser project...

grabbed from kpcc-

[Despite all of our mass communication technologies – from smart phones to emails to smiley face emoticons — It can still be pretty hard to tell what other people are thinking. However, a new study by anthropologist Andrew Irving, attempts to bridge that gap and "gain a better understanding of the interior dialogues and imaginative lifeworlds that constitute people’s experiences of urban life."

Irving asked more than 100 New Yorkers to wear headsets and record their thoughts as they went about their day. Participants went about their daily lives while speaking their innermost thoughts aloud as they walked through the city. 

Though the study does not claim to be a comprehensive approach to understanding a person's thought process, it does offer a glimpse into human thought patterns. Some of the examples Irving shares include a woman who's  thoughts dart from trivial to tragic to a man engaging in an inner argument with himself.]

though i often get caught talking to myself, i feel i would not perform very well at this. wish i had time to write my take on this. rather powerful.

i CAN stop smiling

i've been a velocity girl fan since like '95 or...so, i have no idea why i'm posting this video. super weak when compared to anything from the noisier, shoe-gaze, love-pop gem copacetic, or the slumberland release before that, but i like this video at the moment.
maybe it's that i work on the outskirts of the photo industry i think it's fun, or my current obsession with post-murphy brown ladies styles, or the retro-'50s guy thing that reminds me of the mid-90's, ren + stimpy(?), being stoned on my parents' couch and watching conan o'brien...when it was new.
sarah shannon was also my dream girl, though i think bridget cross was better.

break a leg(s)

a taser video project by artist sarah mackenzie smith. brief, but a lot to read into. plus, looks like it was fun to make.

 since i can't embed the video, i just made the text real big...there are also some nice referential lines i can draw, but won't.

giuseppe licari - 2 pieces

giuseppe licari makes a lot of very taser factory work, but on the subject of trees, this sicilian artist has it covered from top to bottom. 

from HUMUS:

from The Sky In A Room:

i can say a lot about how these two installations make the different sections of trees seem worlds apart from one another, and how striking they crash on the rigid environment of the gallery spaces...but his site says it all, and better, and more:
http://www.giuseppelicari.com

experimental bed-making

the experimental bed-making book... an oldie but goodie! this beauty was brought to life several years ago by the collaborative efforts of goatmother industries, j. shelley (smallkit) harrison, and william winchester claytor, but saw a second run a few months back here in LA. 

i had the honor of helping out with the binding of the 2nd book, which i believe is now in the loving claws of some angelino. 

you can find the first one in indiana university's library thing, and scope out the pages online here:

http://shatteredcape.com/experimentalbedmaking/

birth of the the 'burbs

i recently got into watching the alfred hitchcock hour, and i came across an episode called "to catch a butterfly", which is like the birthplace of the 'burbs (the 1989 film...possibly the most taser movie ever made.)

it possesses the same type of creepiness as the 'burbs, and is even shot on universal studio backlot's "colonial street"...just like the 'burbs!

considering what i know about the 'burbs, i imagine the similarities were planned.

caviar boutiques

this came to my attention not so long ago, but yes...caviar vending machines!

"Described as "caviar boutiques," the vending machines stock caviar from all over the world. They also offer other gourmet foods like truffles, escargot, bottarga blinis, gourmet salts and caviar accessories.

A sample of the wares include Imperial River Beluga Caviar, for $500 an ounce, and a pink mother of pearl spoon for $4, notes Los Angeles Magazine"

this def tops the cupcake ATMs.

while i totes miss the opportunity to experience the claw-grab style lobster machine, i'm looking forward to the pizza vending machine that supposedly offers over 200 toppings, and most personally important...an escargot ATM. i'm so sure it would be...perfect.

shinro ohtake

needed some cheering up yesterday, so i took a long overdue tour of one of my favorite artists, shinro ohtake.

the way he seems to remix practically everything around him really impacted the way i think about all the cool trash i collect around me.

being a fan of his more fucking weird stuff, i forget how far his hand has stretched into the more recognizable realms.

he also makes sounds. juke (19) was rad.

http://www.last.fm/music/JUKE%2F19

5 favorite jiang shi films (mwhahaha)

(mwhahaha) tis the season for scary shit and jiang shi (chinese vampires) films are by far my favorite type o scary (and funny) movie.

a lil background: (jiang shi are more like zombies than western vampires. due to rigor mortis, they hop or fly around in order to move. they usually appear dressed in qing dynasty garb, and are combated by a taoist priest (generally played by yam ching-ying) who puts them to sleep by placing spells written on pieces of yellow paper on their foreheads. other things used to fight them include: male virgins, sticky rice, chicken eggs, dog blood, and lots of sammo hung action.)

*full versions of most of these (yes, subtitled) are available on youtube...

1. the dead and the deadly (1983)

2. encounters of the spooky kind (1980)

3. ultimate vampire (1991)

4. exorcist master (1993)
5. mr. vampire (1985)


(mwhahaha)

pepsi summer - 1990

pepsi released this edition of cans in 1990. i was 10 years old. 

that was a totally rad summer, with lots of skateboarding, nintendo, pizza, swimming, and staying out all night.
teenage mutant ninja turtles were huge, and we would run around and fuck shit up pretending to be ninja turtles. i was always raphael cuz i actually had a real pair of sai(s). i also punched somebody for the first time. we drank a lot of pepsi from these cans becuz there was a machine at our apartment complex.

if you stacked 2 of these cans on top of one another in a certain way, it kinda spelled "sex". very taser.