Little Drummer Boy

It's true...

...everyone really does like Coca-Cola!!

My sister took this picture a few days ago in Thailand.

Final Project

Here's my final project: Theatrical Irony. Many bumps in the road to get it completed, but I'm pretty pleased with the end result.

Kudos to everyone in The Theatre Group...it was great working with you!

Thank You Theatre Group!!

I wanted to say thank you to the Theatre Group...you guys were a lot of fun to work with. I made a little thank you note...it's totally dorky...so dorky that I considered not even posting it...but it was good practice for the final project so I hope you'll forgive me!

My Video Disappeared

This is NOT something that is a part of my everyday. But I thought it was funny so I took a picture.



Then the baby saw the dog in his seat and tried to get him out. That was even funnier. I took more pictures.


Then I thought I should take a video, so I did. I thought I'd put some different sounds to it to make another audio project. But when I tried to find the video that I'd uploaded to my computer I couldn't find it. Did I save it somewhere I can't find it? Did I delete by mistake? Who knows...but it is frustrating.

That IS something that is part of my everyday!

Doesn't it just figure...

So this is just how my day has gone today. I pulled out my son's CD player so that I wouldn't forget to bring it to school tomorrow, since we need it for our group presentation. Luckily I tested it to make sure it worked...which it didn't. So I thought I'd just run to Fred Meyer and pick up a cheap one. Since I said I'd bring it I didn't want to disappoint the group. I get to the store and put the baby in the cart. The seat belt is broken. So I put him in the next cart. That seat belt is broken. Take three...that seat belt works and off we go to do our shopping. As I'm standing in line waiting to pay I realize that I don't have my keys. And then I remember that I had put them in the seat of one of the original shopping carts...and left them there!

The ladies at the customer service desk were really nice and made announcements over the PA to have everyone check their carts. That didn't work, so one of the employees went outside and checked all the carts in the parking lot. It was dark and rainy...but he found them!!!! I was so relieved.

After a long day, when all sorts of other irritating events had happened, I was ready to go home, do some homework, put the baby down, and go to bed myself. But as I was putting my stuff in the car, a young man approached me, saying that he had a family and all the shelters were full and could I spare some change so he could get a room for his family for the night. It made me stop and remember that there are much worse problems out there than lost keys. I'm a single mom and a student so I'm not rolling in dough, but at least I have a roof over my head.

I gave him five dollars.

How Times Have Changed!

I just received some family artifacts from my dad. My dad's side of the family tree is intensely complicated, so I won't go into that here. Although in a very weird coincidence, by studying this page I've realized for the first time that both of my grandfathers had the same birthday. And now my niece has that birthday, too!

But this page is fascinating in many ways. From 1904, it lists the births in Haverford Township in Pennsylvania. My paternal grandfather is number 13. The interesting thing is that of the 19 babies that can be seen, 3 were "colored." And only the fathers' occupations are listed...the women having a job just wasn't even a possibility.

How far we have come in just a little over 100 years, but how far we still have to go.

An Everyday Object...

...in an everyday place (just not the usual one).

I saw this on my way to work the other day (the cup is mine...I put it there while I took the picture).

At the end of the Underground Tour, there is a little museum. And in that museum is an antique commode. The funny thing...it's really pretty. It's white porcelain with a very fancy blue decorative pattern all over...inside and out...to make it a very attractive fixture.

So why don't we make pretty toilets anymore? And I don't just mean the "fashion colors" to go with the decor. The toilet in the museum was decorated. I think a toilet is very much an everyday object. And if we have to use something everyday, why not use one that's aesthetically pleasing? Are we too embarrassed by our bodies now to make pretty toilets? Apparently the early Seattle-ites weren't...they were fine with putting the sewer system above ground for all to enjoy. But we shouldn't be embarrassed, because as the current literature tells us...

In May 2003, Mayor Martin J. Chávez was joined in the field by the City of Albuquerque's duly praised Graffiti Removal Team to report on the division's success and to officially reveal the team's newly designed logo. As of this date, the City has successfully prosecuted and collected restitution from many graffiti vandals and has been nationally recognized as a best practice among cities for addressing community nuisances, such as graffiti. Mayor Chávez then participated in the painting of the "tagged" sites near Central and Old Coors. The mayor urges Albuquerque citizens to help out this summer in his effort to rid our community of graffiti by reporting it. If you see graffiti in your neighborhood, please call 311. A crew will be dispatched within 24 hours.

I thought the graffiti project, and the discussions in class about graffiti and the Splasher were pretty interesting. I spent much of my growing-up years in Albuquerque, and the graffiti connotation there is definitely different than, say, NYC, or even downtown Seattle. When I was living there it was almost always gang-related, and the graffiti was more of a tagging exercise than an artistic one. But it looks like Albuquerque is cleaning up its act. I think it's interesting that the "graffiti technician" takes pictures of some of the graffiti before he removes it, and recognizes the artistic value. It reminds of both the spoof on graffiti removal we watched in class, and the graffiti projects.

Another Impossible Project

OMG! Piece
Have children.
Get a job.
Become a student.

Do all your homework.
Get enough sleep.

-autumn 2008

A Mini Movie for Mark

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a happy holiday.

But don't forget that what we're commemorating was not a joyous time for all.

Audio Post

An interview with one of my favorite guys:

Broken Heart Piece

Write a poem capturing the sound of your heart breaking.
Do not read it.
Fold it and put it away.

When your heart has healed, take out the poem.
Rip it into tiny pieces, like confetti.
Throw it up in the air and let it fall over you.

Personal Expression in 4'

What's on your window ledge?

Cinq

A 19-year-old UK music graduate has changed his name to Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spider-Man Batman Wolverine Hulk And The Flash Combined. He paid 10 pounds for the name change. Captain Fantastic's grandmother is no longer speaking to him.

Source: Reuters, 11.05.08

Quatre

Treasury Secretary Paulson warned now former CEO Killinger to sell WaMu before further deterioration. He didn't. Later Killinger asked Paulson for help getting WaMu on the list of protected institutions. He didn't.

Source: Seattle Times, 11.09.08

Trois

A Georgia man used a blowtorch to clean the cobwebs from the exterior eaves of his home. No one was hurt, but after the fire the entire house sustained smoke and water damage.

Source: The Times-Herald, 11/6/08

Deux

Authorities report that a 25-year-old woman was bitten by a pit bull dog while running loose in the road.

Source: Kirkland Reporter, 11/5/08

Un

Little Tricky, a/k/a Mitchie Brusco, is an 11-year-old skateboarding champ who recently showed his local peers what he can do. While practicing, he gets freaked out by a Rice Crispie treat.

Source: Kirkland Reporter, 11/5/08

I've seen a sign!

But somehow it was not a spiritual or mystical experience!

I voted...

...did you?

do philosophers drink?

Descartes walks into a bar.
The bartender asks him if he wants a beer.
Descartes replies, "I think not," and disappears.

Descartes and UFOs

"...and even the most faithful histories, if they do not wholly misrepresent matters, or exaggerate their importance to render the account of them more worthy of perusal, omit, at least, almost always the meanest and least striking of the attendant circumstances..."
- Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method

I am reading Descartes's Discourse for another class, but this quotation jumped out at me and made me think of the first day of Joe's class. The houses and trees and cars were the "attendant circumstances" that were actually more interesting than the alleged UFOs in the photographs.

I love looking at photographs, whether I took them or not, whether they are of people I know or not. And one of the things I love about them is the life behind the subject matter. I am endlessly fascinated by the clothes, furniture, silverware, strip malls, etc. that are in the background of the snapshots. It's like a time machine...a peek at what telephones or magazines or carpeting was like 2 years ago, or 15 years ago, or more.

Haikus and surprises

Reading Novels in Three Lines makes me think of the haiku form of poems. I find it interesting that Feneon's pieces have not been presented in a three-line format (is that the translation? where did the "three" lines come from?), and the haiku, strictly speaking, isn't really in three lines in the traditional Japanese. But a haiku should contain some reference to the seasons, as well as some sort of juxtaposition in thought or concept. Feneon's Lines don't always contain a reference to spring or summer, but I think he captures the change in tone and thought very well.

I found this audio clip on the ubu.com website. I wanted to know what kind of sound clip would exist from someone who is famous for 4'33" of "silence." The leaves and mushrooms were compiled by moi.

This website is full of surprises. Who is the last person you would associate with the avant-garde. I mean, someone so stereotypical in their wholesomeness that you would never, ever think of them in terms of any sort of experimental, avant-garde-type project?

You should check out her performance...completely unexpected.

And I will admit here, as long as NO ONE makes fun of me, that I did own this very album when I was little. Shhh!

The Banking Demons

Who knew that a trip to the bank today would become a photo op! While this is one opportunity that was pretty blatant, it reminds me that we should always be open to the possibilities that are out there... even with something so
mundane as a bank run.

Jensen, future account holder, and
Jerry, bank teller, discuss the finer points of interest rates and horn maintenance.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone. This is one of my favorite holidays...I think partly because it's the holiday that most gets us out of our everyday routine. First, we get to dress up like someone - or something - completely different. Second, we get to go around asking strangers for candy; a practice that pretty much flies in the face of our parents trying to teach us to 1) be polite and 2) not ruin our teeth/appetites by gorging ourselves on candy. Third, we voluntarily break out of our safety zone. So often we try to surround ourselves with what is safe and familiar. Nothing like a good haunted house or Halloween party to break up that routine!

Happy birthday, Mom. Miss you.

a day Elise will never forget!

Poor nurse Elise Bachmann. What a way to spend your day off. At least she was apparently vindicated a few days later!

Goldsmith and Cate visit amazon.com

Kenny G Tackles Amazon.com
David and Goliath for the 21st Century


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This summer, Oprah received a gift that she says changed her life. “I’m telling you, it is absolutely my new favorite thing in the world,” she says. Meet Amazon Kindle, a wireless portable reading device with instant access to more than 190,000 books, blogs, newspapers and magazines.

Learn More.

Diamond Solitaire Rings Eternity Bands Diamond Pendants See more from Solomon Brothers Fine Jewelry Shop Jewelry Under $200 14k Yellow Gold Multishape Drop Earrings 14k Gold Diamond Heart Ring 18k Yellow Gold Comfort-Fit Plain Band Shop more jewelry Bestsellers in Action Figures Twilight “Lion and Lamp” Keyring…$6.99 Bakugan Launcher $15.99 Spinmaster Bakugan Bakurack Collector…$19.99 Twilight “Cullen Crest” Keyring/Bagclip $6.99 Create Your Own Trilogy with Sci-Fi Costumes Men’s Costumes Women’s Costumes Kids’ Costumes Shop Costumes

Embellish Your Style

with
Men’s Rings
Titanium
Tungsten
Stainless Steel
Silver
Gold
Wedding Bands

Indie Films, Ready to Watch
Cashback Hard Candy
Laura Is Alone Flawless
Shattered Glass Day Watch
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Harem See more indies

Top Brands Priced to Sell in Men’s Watches Fossil Luminox Seiko Citizen TAG Heuer Cartier All men’s watches

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Ed. Note:
Fulfillment by Amazon – boy, does this sum up the materialistic, consumer age we are living in. Find fulfillment by shopping online! You can get the latest bestseller, an engagement ring, a Halloween costume for your kid, and personal fulfillment all in one place. Talk about one-stop shopping.

What is my recent history, and why is it any business of Amazon’s? Is there such a thing as a personal life anymore? Personal, private…these don’t seem to exist anymore. Even diaries and journals have gone “live” with myspace, blogger, etc. But as we open up what is seemingly “personal” to the internet public, it seems that we are creating a “public” private life, and our “private” (or genuine) private life is getting more deeply buried.

Perhaps I should learn more and/or embellish my style.

The Lost Warhol Script

Amazon.com as Perceived by Andy Warhol as Perceived by Cate

a film in three acts

Fade In

Act I

Scene shows computer sitting on a desk. The screen is dark. Woman enters. She sits at the computer and turns it on.

The woman goes to the Amazon.com website.

Camera pans to her face as she reads the home page of Amazon.com.

Woman begins to purchase The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again). At the moment of actually completing the transaction, she changes her mind.Woman exits the website and turns off the computer.

Act II

The woman leaves the room. The camera pans to the computer screen.
The computer remains dark.

Act III

Fade Out

The End

Roll Credits

News From Home

I couldn’t help but think about these movies as I drove home from class yesterday. Especially News From Home. The everyday street scenes with the voice over reading the mother’s letters about her everyday…and imploring her daughter to write to her. The film was hypnotic, and I found it infused with a pervasive sense of melancholy. Why didn’t she just write back to her mother? How is it that our “everyday” life can intrude upon our “personal” life? Is that a paradox…our life intruding on our own life? But it can. Can we alienate ourselves by getting too wrapped up in the mundane? The everyday is "both where we become alienated and where we can realize our creativity." (The Everyday, p. 15) Akerman combined these themes of alienation and creativity very well in her film.

There are a lot of things that I would like to do, but the everyday stuff keeps getting in the way. For example, I would have posted this blog earlier, but I had to do the dishes first!

Took a chance and found something worthwhile...

In the middle of reading some the Kenneth Goldsmith excerpts, I took a break and went to his website. One of the menu choices was Aspen Magazine, which attracted me since I used to live in Colorado, I have been to Aspen, and aspen trees are one of my two favorite trees.

All I can say is how cool is this magazine?! At some point, when I'm not in school and have the time, I'm going to go through the issues. Is there anything in existence like this today?

The Dog Ate My Video...?

Okay, so I admit it. I put off making my little movie because the whole concept of using such technology scared me. Silly, I know...but there you go.

So after putting it on the back burner for a while, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and just do it. (Notice how many over-used cliches I put in that sentence!) There was some panic involved because after all this time I forgot that I had put the clips on my little flash drive/zip drive...whatever the little portable memory stick is called. When I finally remembered what I had done, after frantically searching the files on my computer, I then had to frantically search my apartment for the memory stick thing. I had visions of finding it under the sofa, its tattered and broken body a victim of the dog's incessant need to chew.

Anyway, I found it, so I have finally put some of my clips together. And after watching the demonstrations of Final Cut Pro, Windows Movie Maker is kinda sad.

Have I Seen the Light?

Our automatic writing exercise yesterday was fun and interesting. Why is it that beginnings are so hard? Staring at the blank page...either the actual paper in the typewriter or the virtual page on the computer screen...is pretty daunting. But it's not just in writing. Starting a new job, a new school, and new relationship - sometimes people can be paralyzed with the unknown, afraid to take that first leap into the unknown. The anticipation of starting something new has elements of excitement and fear.

I have a paper due on Monday, and while I have lots of ideas for the body of the paper, it is the beginning that has me stumped. Perhaps I will try doing a little automatic writing to get me going.

Wish me luck. And if anyone has a compelling thesis statement about the role of light in the works of St. Augustine and St. Bonaventure, and the path to enlightenment for the medieval mind, please pass it along!

Signs, signs, everywhere signs!

Not an unusual sign:

But this is an unusual pool:

What I couldn't get in the picture was the hand-written sign that informed
everyone they MUST shower before entering the pool.

So often I see signs posted in which it's obvious the poster didn't step back and really see what they've posted. I once saw a help wanted sign at a convenience store for a part time position. The sign guaranteed the applicant that the part time position was a terrific way to supplant their income.

That must have been one heckuva hourly wage!

Nadja Meets a Bird of Paradise

My subconscious takes flight with the bird of paradise, my soul the feathers on the wings. The wings beat rhythmically, my heart does the same.

Beating, beating, beating.

I am ready to fly away from here. Fly home, but home is gone. I don’t know where to go, so I keep flying in order to find a new paradise, a new home.

The garden of Eden was a paradise, but Adam and Eve were expelled. Eve got a bum rap for that one. Where was Adam to protect her?

My paradise is my home. Have I been expelled, too? In a way. Perhaps.

Beating, beating, the wings keep me aloft. The feathers carry me aloft on their colors. What can I do, what can I think, where can I go? Is there a place to go, and is there a place to return to?

I am consumed with idea of going home.My sister has gone back to Albuquerque, back to the top of the Sandias. She got to say hello to Mom. I feel lost at this point in time without an anchor, without that place to go to that says “home,” “safety,” “love.”

If I could fly anywhere, where would I go? I don’t know. I don’t know…should I be disturbed by this, or is this normal? What is normal? Is my normal the same as someone else’s normal? I get very caught up in the defining of terms.

Perhaps I should let that go and not be so concerned about that.

Too Much Toothpaste?

"On the one hand [the everyday] points (without judging) to those most repeated actions, those most travelled journeys, those most inhabited spaces that make up, literally, the day to day. This is the landscape closest to us, the world most immediately met. But with this quantifiable meaning creeps another, never far behind: the everyday as value and quality -- everydayness. Here the most travelled journey can become the dead weight of boredom, the most inhabited space a prison, the most repeated action an oppressive routine."
-Ben Highmore, Everyday Life and Cultural Theory

I usually consider having a variety of choices as a good thing. After all, who doesn't like being able to get precisely what you want? But in the grocery store the other day I realized that we are bombarded with so many choices in so many things, it's difficult to make a decision. Buying toothpaste did, indeed, become an oppressive routine.

It is so hard, I think, for us as a society to be impressed by anything anymore. Movies must be more expensive and have more special effects, clothes must be up-to-the-minute trendy, music must rely on gimmicks rather than talent in order to get our attention.

Whatever happened to subtlety? Has the everyday become a parody of itself?

It's amazing what one can find

The grip of the octopus will drag you to strange places:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10881/10881-h/10881-h.htm

What do you do when...?

Just in case you weren't sure what to do when you come to a big pile of dirt...

...directions have been provided!

where, oh where, is Nadja?

A little something to set the stage for reading Nadja:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPhKShuzJdI

Who knew the elusive Nadja would show up on youtube, when she won't come to the UW bookstore?!

red aleatory

My attempt at an online aleatory journey started, with no surprise to those who know me, with a very un-technological object...a book. I guess this was an attempt to ease myself into the world of hard-core web surfing.

I chose a random book from the bookcase I could reach while sitting at my computer, which happened to be My Name is Red. I chose a random word on a random page -- "increasingly" on page 51. So I did a yahoo image search for increasingly and took the 51st image, and this is what I came up with:
http://www.thebiscuitfactory.com/artwork/brianpike/IncreasinglyLargeHills_mediumsize.jpg

This is an artist I've never heard of before, Brian Pike. After looking at his other work, I think Inattentive Gardener is my favorite.

A parking "victim"

I am slowly working my way through the Manifesto of Surrealism. I happened to see this truck on my way to the grocery store, and it made me wonder how much this driver is a "victim of his imagination." Obviously he (or she) didn't care about paying attention to the rules. But instead of feeling threatened by this lack of obedience, I instead used it to my advantage and took a picture.

Does this make me a victim to my imagination?

Attack of the Chess

I did not create this, but came across it when I was searching for parcheesi pictures. I ended up liking my pictures better, so used them in my blog. But this is still funny so I thought I'd share it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5-WnkHWgYM

Enjoy!

The Parcheesi Paradox

Parcheesi is one of my favorite games. It has been since my 8th birthday when I got it as a present. (Which is the same board you see in my pictures, by the way).

The games we play can tell a lot about where we are in our lives. Most even come with guidelines for this – my Parcheesi game is recommended for ages six to adult. Candy Land is scorned by school-age children as “a little kids’ game.” If I think back I can trace my transitions from child to adult by the games I enjoyed playing. And I can see the same thing happening with my sons. It brings great joy to my heart that my 12-year-old son still wants to play games with me. Sitting with him and playing a round of Parcheesi or Sorry or Battleship is one of my favorite ways to spend some time.

The goal of Parcheesi to get all four of your pieces from the starting point to HOME. Isn’t that what we try to do every day? We go to work in the morning, or to school, or to run errands…and where do we go at the end of the day? Home. And of course, we want our friends and family to safely meet up with us there. But the journey isn’t without a little peril and antagonism, either in life or in Parcheesi. In the game we are given a bonus for ambushing our playmates and sending their piece back to start. Sadly, the same sometimes happens in our daily life as well.

Tupperware as Technology?

Why all this interest in the everyday? What is so special about “leftovers” that artists and philosophers have adopted it as a theme, or indeed, been inspired to create whole movements around this concept? The Situationists emerged in the 50s, when time-saving, convenient appliances were also emerging with regularity – products like refrigerators, washing machines, Tupperware – all designed to make our lives easier and give us more free time; theoretically, more time to immerse ourselves in and enjoy our everyday lives.

Technology has continued to bombard us with time-saving devices, which paradoxically has resulted in people having less free time than ever before. Lefebvre recognized in 1961 that “technological or industrial civilization tends to narrow the gaps between lifestyles (we are not talking about living standards) in the world as a whole.” (The Everyday, p. 27). Technology spreads and the global community shrinks.

As the microchip set continues to spit gadgets at us, the more we get caught up in how much we can cram into a 24-hour day. And the more we long for “the good ol’ days.” Exploring the complexities and ambiguities of everyday life helps us regain a sense of control as we are forced to approach things with a new perspective.

Notes From #22

Come with me to Bothell and see what's happening:

When Semis Attack...

...this is what it looks like!

My brother shared this with me...

...and so I share it with you:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1417423198/bctid1828591228

Bailouts may not be an everyday occurance, but sharing should be...

Now here's a TV worth watching!

I have found it...the perfect TV on which to watch all the excellent program-
ming that's out there.

Who knew that getting hit by a tractor could improve something so much?!

Talk about "trash TV."

Another day, another way

Although it was difficult finding 20 consecutive minutes, when I did "nothing" I simply sat on my chair and let the thoughts come and go as they pleased. After reading my classmates' blogs, it is clear that there are many ways to do nothing. So tonight, I thought I'd go for a walk. Not to walk anywhere in particular, but just to be. I got my son ready and off we went.

It's been a while since I went for a walk with no destination in mind. I mean, I walk all the time...to the grocery store, to the library, to work. At first, my thoughts were pretty much consumed with the problems I'm having with my landlord. But it didn't take long for pettiness of my unprofessional landlord to be replaced by what I was able to see around me.

I've only walked along this road a few times, but I hadn't noticed these bushes before. Suddenly, I was very aware of being, well, aware of what was around me. Naturally, the next thing I noticed in my effort to be oh so observant was someone having dinner:

I really dislike spiders. That is putting it mildly. My sister will be so impressed that I actually took a picture of one! I would much rather take a picture of something that doesn't leave disgusting cobwebs in my house and have legs that move so unnaturally.

As we wandered back toward home, we passed the big empty lot that is on its way to becoming a new housing development. Believe or not, they are planning on cramming 25 single-family, detached homes here. Starting at $800,000 of course.

Progress? I liked it when it was a funeral home and trees much better.

This was a very pleasant way to spend some time. Did I get much accomplished? Not really. Was it a productive 20 minutes? Definitely. I forgot about my dumb landlord and had a great conversation with my boy. He's a very good listener. Of course, he's only nine months old...

We're home. Time to make dinner.