Econo-line Arpeggio Master and Minimalist composer Philip Glass inspired IBM to create Glass Engine, which allows users to immerse themselves in the composer's work. Use an innovative Java application to select music by title, year, type of work, or length. Sort tunes based on subjective emotions such as joy and sorrow. Lighting the way is an elegant system of sliding bars. Navigation requires that you read the instructions. Once you've mastered the controls, a full sonic exploration awaits.
The abstract, the obscure, the slightly obscene. A Saturday road trip south to the Akron Art Museum, under a brightly cold mid afternoon March sky. I wanted to see a small William Joyce exhibit, I'm a sucker for pencil illustrations and picturesque oil paintings. The VW Bug played freshly burned Clash oldies like 'Complete Control' containing the best 30 second passage of a rock song ever, you said ever and I agreed. the rubber city is block upon block of factories, warehouses, and sub stations, unspoiled urban landscape, transitional, edgy, dirty splendor. Thankfully no careless renewal has descended and it retains a dark moody, sad quality...with ample off street parking. I'm no archangel, I keep forgetting my camera. The show was very enjoyable and Joyce is a remarkable and edgy draftsman, playful, secretive, quirky. Exiting the show, much to my surprise, an overhead sighting of the Goodyear Blimp, coincidental, I think not. Small accidental eclipse...forever.
8:00 PM :
Lost Architecture, wishing I had a photograph, parts one and two. Outside the mysterious city of Akron, Ohio; mysterious because, Pre-9-11, they used to fly Blimps, around the city blocking out the sun to create startlingly short lived eclipses. Along the highway, in a large field, an abandoned Fotomat stood overgrown with grass. It's little yellow roof peeking out from the brush. It stood for many years, then it disappeared and I often wondered why...here today, gone tomorrow and no photograph and no story.
6:53 AM :
Wednesday, March 13, 2002
Richard Goldstein examines the Matthew Shepard icon; 'Not that either work makes a direct connection between the martyred Jesus and the gay boy beaten senseless, strung up on a fence, and left to die. But the association is unavoidable given the details of Shepard's murder, and NBC's depiction leaves no doubt about it. From the moment The Matthew Shepard Story begins-with the graphic bludgeoning of this frail young man-to its final closeup of a makeshift memorial cross, the film presents images that evoke the crucifixion (and, when the body is discovered by a policewoman, the piet�).' When people act out the stuff of religious myths, how can drama avoid it?
7:59 AM :
Monday, March 11, 2002
Yep, I just freshened Jocko up a bit, it's very nearly spring, updates are in order, a photo section soon, a tweak of the Bio, and a huge new batch of 12" in the Playlist section. David Byrne is all over the place with X press 2 and The Police (Message In a Brothel) and Talk Talk are the latest to get the eighties revival workup.
Speaking of the eighties, at the Andy Warhol museum, Possession and Obsession: Objects from Andy Warhol's Personal Collection. March 3rd-May 19th-2002. A rare opportunity to reunite approximately 300 objects from Warhol's personal collection (sold at the legendary 1988 Sotheby's auction) in order to examine one of the least-studied aspects of his oeuvre: collecting. So if you happen to be in the general Pittsburgh area, I highly recommend a visit.
I dislike MTV but I am hooked on the Osbournes. There is something really comforting about Ozzy sitting down to watch the Weather Channel and surprise, he's a damn good Dad too!
Let humans do what they do, let computers do the same.Google bridges the divide between human-generated indexes and machine-generated analysis so, how much ass does Google kick? All of it!
9:07 PM :
Sunday, March 10, 2002
Fuckable fancy feast of boys in big red Dodge Ram trucks, Carhart coats and Redwing boots, dirty candy counter, gas, filler-up, motrin, gum, pork rinds, and diet root-beer. No sling shot rubber neckin', I strained my traps sh sh sh 'shruggin' the 85 pound dumbbells. Head pivots are off limits and items are actually closer than they appear...trust me, it was very nearly a scratch and dent sale on the new car. College radio is broadcasting a familiar voice who plays 'Plus Minus' and 'Black Rebel Motorcycle Club'. The DJ is my art school friend, we met when her slides collided with my slides, her copy of 'The Face' got mixed up with mine and blah blah blah. She must have returned for graduate work of some sort, same girl, same format, different tracks, copies of 'Rose Garden Funeral of Sores...Virgin Mary was tired, tired of hearing gossip, it came from next door'. Now, it's 'artschoolgirl lite', one might even say her show has a certain 'lilt', she's mellowed from her angst ridden 3 packs of Virginia Slims and a full box of NO-DOZ, wash it down with coffee self, such is life. I ponder calling her from the coffee shop across the street to request something silly like 'Girls On Film' but I don't, instead I wrangle another Cappuccino and scratch my scruff, staring off into space, my attention span shot from seriously boring reading. Scrumbly, nearly a whole week without a shave and I look even dirtier, sexier, fucked up, nasty, slightly crazed, although I must say that I have the advantage of having manageable curly black hair that falls nicely into place with a shove, just in case, you never know, I might be called on, drafted. I can get away with being a little edgy, it's graduate school. Mismatched socks, wide wale cords, camper shoes and a tight white t-shirt. I'm alternating between studying and reading 'Leigh Bowery The Life and Times of an Icon', an excellent gift from my very cool friend. And now remembering, was it really you, that NYC summer spent at the Hotel Edison and 4th of July on the top of the Archive building? Mirrored outfits are always in style, a strange brush with fame, indeed?! I'm unsure or perhaps a really pleasant homage. I have to get my ass in gear, and hit the gym in a few, Auto-Show sure, Auto-rama, visions of 'Hairspray' and Amber Von Tussle jamming her bouffant into a kidi car, princess wave, I should be so lucky, a guaranteed bevy of hotties checking out rear-ends ends and tail lights, and in closing, I can't let this go...in my best Pittsburghese 'Younze watchem Lobster Boy'?
8:56 AM :
