CD Tesla Coil art A link drummed up from the Avid-L.

Smoking sucks

In March, Justine and I quit smoking cigarettes. Over the next several months, I began to exercise and "get healthy" as though smoking cigarettes is akin to being sick. In a way, it is. A sickness. Now two weeks ago, in a fit I went out and bought a pack of American Spirits. I smoked and smoked, re-teaching myself what it is to smoke (it is definitely an acquired taste.) Now, it has caused fights and anger, resentment, and fear to surface. I have recommited to reading the excellent book Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking. The problem lies in the big monster and how it is not yet dead. I am trying not to believe that the rich taste of a cigarette wouldn't be exactly what I want right now, but I am ashamed and sad that I may well go get more smokes today. What is worse is that somehow the book does not actually help what I am suffering from. I know if I were ready, it all feels premature. I want to give this awful habit up, but not right now.

Post Video Art

Post Video Art is hosting Nether:reel, a short film I produced earlier this year. It is viewable on this website also, if you click the open book picture above. It will take you to the front door of the site. There are stills (production stills) and full length videos to peruse. Check them out.

The Monitor is Coming...

It is early in the morning and I await the arrival of a Sony PVM-14M2U Production Monitor that I picked up for about $300.00 via eBay.

The monitor on the right is the one I currently use. It is a piece of shi-ite called a Panasonic CT-1386y.

I cannot wait to do side by side rez comparisons and the like.

On a separate note, I have been working on a series of "collections." That is, searches the result from placing a single word or phrase into Google, and collecting the results by way of jpg images. For instance, I have a collection of "art" that is a hundred or so, various sized jpgs collected from the Google Image searches. I am working on one now that is similar but for the word "people." As yet I do not know what format I am to use as the final means to deliver the collection. I have thought of projection, or single channel monitor installation. I would use Avid and stick together the various pics into a stream of swiftly moving still images.

Also, I came across this great picture this morning:

Matthew Barney can live off his art

Nothing

Bill Viola

Justine and I went to see Bill Viola speak tonight at the Unitarian Universalist Church on Franklin at Geary. The reason: as part of the San Francisco Zen Center's ongoing lecture series Opening Hearts and Minds. I anticipated a certain degree of dryness, in fact Justine summed up our expectation well by saying that she just hoped that we would both be able to share in the experience equally. The former director of the J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles introduced him. Bill Viola came out wearing what seemed to be an orange-red shirt and stood in a spotlight that cast sharp teeth-like shadows that seem to originate from the creases on his sleeves. He talked about his introduction to Zen Buddhism and his initial visits to Japan, ending the beginning with the fire portion of his piece Crossings. A great deal of the night was devoted to sharing his thoughts on memory, death, the sacredness of objects and the binary opposition of known Birth and unknown Death. He screened a sneak preview titled Observance from his Passions Series. It was composed of a video projection of several people (18??) lined up. As the video progressed in slow motion the people moved from the right side of the frame to the left at foreground before turning their backs to the apparently observed and moved out of the frame. As each person moved into view, their expressions were of grief, loss, sorrow, and pain. It was silent. He would speak in between each video. It seemed that death and to a lesser degree the pain associated with loss, were the themes. He talked about how the concept of a river that divides this world from that exists, that the river is one of forgetfulness, and that forgetfulness is the ultimate entropy against knowing. At the end of the night he fielded a few questions and then politely thanked the audience and we left. I was moved and as I sit here considering the timeliness of the event I am reminded how comfortable my life is and that I need to continue to do whatever I can to promote generosity, gratitude and compassion in myself as a means to say thank you to all that has helped me along the way.