Saw Yuki the Mouth on the street outside Luna Park. Fucking amazing! He played digeridoo for 9 years and thus the addition to his skill set, circular breathing etc. I’d argue The Fat Boys or whoever actually invented beatboxing never played digg. I’m writing him and he’ll send me a link later.

After a night downtown (well actually my first night was spent killing time until a morning check in…and sadly spent in a 24hr McD’s, not wanting to roam the streets with all gear in tow, I sheepishly later realized I’d been very close to several of the great graffiti alleys) I’ve moved to the St. Kilda hood and have a private room for a week for only slightly more than the 4 room dorm was downtown. It’s a flophouse, with the whore stroll nearby, but the St. Kilda music fest is going on and most all rooms are filling up. I was lucky to get a spot at Oslo Hotel.

I already randomly ran into a guy I met at Iron Maiden in Bali last Feb., friendly folk in galleries and video stores, got my first pho in a year in Richmond and roamed Collingwood whilst trying to hit Richmond. Even being beat cash wise, there is enough culture that it’s a treat to be here. Maybe my bad luck I happen to have come during the best times in Australian economic history, maybe not.

I’m filled with a feeling like when I fist went to PDX in the Fall of ’94: I must live here some day!

For actual Christmas day I was here on Bali. While there are some lights and things around, it didn’t feel like Christmas at all: 82 degrees and raining. I went to an overpriced Xmas dinner at Alley Cats, Skyped my family in the States and turned in. The next morning I was packed and up, heading to Padang Bai by 9 AM. I was able to board the ferry quickly but we had to wait about an hour to depart. During that time, an Australian traveller, Michelle, showed up and introduced herself. The conversation made the four hour journey go more quickly and hopefully she’ll set me up with some tips when I get down there next month. She works for an NGO on Lombok building water tanks for small rural villages.

There was a light drizzle when we arrived at Lembar, so I did up my raincoat, fueled up and headed for the mountains. I turned East more quickly than I’d intended and was soon on the road to Praya, far south of where I wanted to be, so I cut North toward Mt. Rinjani which I could get glimpses of now and again through the clouds. As the road gradually climed, I was in beautiful rice field country, Lombok’s grain belt as it were. My “map” was a photocopy out of a Lonely Planet which lost ink in the creases and was slightly dampened each time I pulled it out. The town I was heading for, south of the mountain, was in the shadowed crease of the book anyway, negative space on a photocopy. But after stopping to ask a few times, I pulled into Tetebatu just before dusk, the rain having ceased and the sunset shooting some color into the think clouds.

Tetebatu was sleepy. I actually couldn’t buy beer in any of the stores and had to pay too much from the restaurants. Intending to save some money on dinner, I ate in a family’s home behind a small store. When I asked if they had Nasi Campur, they said yes, asked me in, rolled out a mat on the floor and I was left with the basic English of the teenage son while they fired up the stove to make a dinner for one. It was in retrospect a store, not a restaurant, but the enterprising owner saw a chance to make a profit and improvised. In the end it was too much, but under the circumstances I didn’t bitch. They also had cable Tv, which they turned to an English channel and I saw a bit of a Canadian production of Patrick Stewart in some sort of smallpox movie. Back at the room I had a few beers and listened to Selected Shorts.

Now, I am used to the pre-dawn call to prayer. On Bali, I live close to a Muslim neighborhood, and there is a large Hindu temple as well. So depending on the day, I might get morning serenades of both variaties. I’ve learned to sleep through, or to only be minorly anoyed by the sounds, then drift back off. At times I’ve actually found it soothing. But tiny Tetebatu seemed to have six mosques, all with amazing sound systems, and blasted the town not only with competeing calls to prayer echoing off the mountain, but also angry sounding speeches that went on and on. I eventually got back to sleep and woke up around 8. After breakfast and strong kopi Lombok, I headed out.

Michelle had warned me about getting over the mountain pass to the North side on my automatic bike, claiming I’d need a manual, as I definitely did on Flores. Rinjani is among the ten highest mountains in Indonesia. But locals I asked seemed to think my Vario would be OK. Just to watch out, as it was the rainy season. I’d intended to try, also to see some cool valley towns on the way, but with my pathetic map and poor signage, I soon realized I could see the sea and decided to just zip around on the coastal road. I’d loose some time, burn some more cheap fuel, but it would certainly be easy on the bike. Halfway around, I passed a few guesthouses Michelle had mentioned and considered staying, the plan being to hire a boat that would take me to some small mangrove islands on the East coast which are fish hatcheries. But it wasn’t even yet noon and I kept going. I ate some lunch and turned south a bit later. Now the raod was steeply climbing, I knew I was close to Sanaru. But I wasn’t. Seeing a buleh on the side of the road, I stopped to ask where I was and he confessed he didn’t know, as he’d been hiking in the Rinjani wilderness. But he assured me he we weren’t in Sanaru, because he was just about to get a ride there. A local looked at my pathetic, deteriorating photocopy and I realized I’d turned left too soon and was now on the mountain pass road I’d missed before, only now heading south. So I just followed Canadian Tad and his driver Mr. Morris back the way I’d come, a bit more on the coastal road, then turned onto the proper road south to Sanaru. They’d got ahead of me when I refueled, and it was raining again as I pulled into town, so I stopped at one of the first few places I saw and got a room.
It turned out to not be the best choice. But after a nap I felt OK. I headed out to explore the “town” really one long road up to the mountain, eventually ending in an area that became hiking only.

Later I found Tad again and we drank beer and fooled around on his computer at the one place in town that had wifi. I ended up moving in there the next day as it was a better room at a lower price. The next morning, I went to see a local waterfall before the afternoon rain started. There is a common scam in all of these places where locals will try and convince you a guide is needed to see the better waterfall. I turned down their offer, content to just walk the easy route to the first for only the small entrance fee. I could see from photos on the displays that the second really did seem to be better. A bunch of teenagers showed up, possibly a school outing, the girls in headscarves shooting photos of one another on their handphones, which were most likely instantly uploaded to facebook. I don’t know why it seemed weird: Muslims are not Omish. But somehow the conservatism links them in my mind. They were for the most part happy, chaste, goofy kids much like any in the west, only wearing headscarves, much as a Christian kid might wear a cross. Not a big deal.

I could see where a trail ran off, obviously to the second waterfall. I didn’t intend to go the entire way, but headed down for a bit. Soon I came to a very steep concrete stairway that rose up to an aquaduct crossing the narrow valley. I climbed up and saw where the water went into the side of the mountain, and across the way it had come. A small stream crossing a narrow concrete span, the water visible through partitions in the structure thicker than railroad ties but occuring with the same frequency. This was the way forward. I wasn’t worried about the width of the walkway, every other step having to balance to the next thick area, or the height of the drop off to the right to the valley floor. But I wondered about the strength of the entire thing. It seemed a bit like those impossible stone spans in Mordor ever disintigrating as the monsters close in. So I only went out part way and turned back. I did shoot some video perhaps I’ll post later to see if my description does justice. Back at the main path I posed for some photos with still more teenagers (this is common here, “Have your photo taken with the Buleh you will never see again…”) then followed the waterway a bit in the other direction. It cut back into the mountain side again, with hollows dug out every 3 meters or so I assumed to be able to get in and clear obstructions when they clogged the flow. I saw some monkeys while heading back to the entrance. Macaws seem to be in any mountainous region of Indonesia, though it feels more like forest than jungle to me. Back at the start, I described the aquaduct to the gate guy and he sheepishly told me I was only about 5 minutes from the second waterfall. But I didn’t feel like turning back, it was getting hot and might rain any minute, though by chance it held off most of that day. So I guess the 100k guide fee was just for a local to stand there and say “be careful” as you make the perilous crossing. Or maybe he’ll go get help to haul your broken ass out if you fall…

I chilled out reading until Tad showed up again and we had the same routine, he Skyping folks back home, me checking a bit of mail, until it was timne to begin with the drink. I’d found some cheaper beers down the hill in “town” and we ended up splitting a bottle of rice wine as well. He told tales of Canadian tree planting in Alberta and his current job for a tour company working as a guide in Thailand. As a lone wolf, it’s not the way I’d choose to travel, but it seems like a hell of a job.

The next morning I was ready to head out for Bangsal and catch the boat to first Gili Air to pick up weed, then Gili Meno where I would stay. But I saw Mr. Morris who was going to give Tad a ride, so I waited a bit and rode with them, stressed I would miss the early boat out. But there turned out to be several. Tad and I parted ways there, he heading for Gili T (the party island) to meet friends and I on my own mission. On G. Air I turned down one offer, to seek out the guy I’d scored from before. I was pleased to learn his son had been born healthily since last I’d seen him six weeks ago. He was sick and I gave him some cold medicine. But he still wanted a bit more for what turned out to be around the same amount of weed as before. Well it’s hard to tell without a scale, so many stems and seeds. I was cleaning it in the restaurant, behind the counter, nervous as hell already, when he came over to quickly through a bunch of stems away when some older guys approached. They didn’t have uniforms exactly but matching shirts. I turned out they were the tax men, and he just laughed as I nervously shoved it all into baggies and got the fuck out of there. “It’s Ok brother, no worries”, as they all say there. But of course, this would be one of the last things you hear before getting thrown into the hellhole of an Indonesian prison, where the death penalty for such offenses is definitely on the table. I managed to roll a pinner despite the absurd wind and sucked it down while waiting on the boat over to Gili Meno. I listend to some Sasak music I got off a guy back in Sanaru.

So the next four days were bliss on Gili Meno. I pondered how I might lure Michelle, who has never been out to the Gili’s, out for New Years eve. But how charming can I be via SMS? I went snorkelling several times each day and blazed epic joints. Luckily I wasn’t as overwhelmed as I had been before and enjoyed myself more than stressed. It got to the point I would spot a turtle within ten minutes of getting in the water and would follow him around a while. They are so utterly gracefully, slowly glidding through the water, much like birds. I was tempted to reach down and hold the shell for a ride, but they usually stayed just out of reach, turning slightly with the potential of a bite, or shooting beyond reach when I did make contact. It’s not good to touch them anyway, I think for bacterial reasons, more harmful to them than you, but locals do it. I didn’t see lion fish this time, but another of the evil yellow eels and another black and white striped one. I heart stoned snorkeling. Unfortunately the strap on my mask broke and I had to get another over-priced one, but I’ve had the thing for 9 years so I can’t bitch. The only issue was not having more money for drinks, which were expensive, and lead to mostly going to bed by 9 each night, including NYE, though I did have a tasty fix-priced feast and watched some fireworks over Gili T early.

I made it back without incident, though the ferry seemed much longer without anyone to talk to, and a singer and keyboardist set up in what would have been the comfortable interior area to belt out four hours of Indonesian pop and Dangdut hits. It always feels good to get back to Bali. The “urbanization” which bugged me when I left feels like “convenience” upon return. As much as I didn’t give myself over completely to this place upon arrival, I’m getting quite sad to realize I’ll soon be gone.

So I have a ticket to Darwin from Denpasar on Feb. 3, and despite some of the impressions afforded by the Bingtang sleeveless clad Aussie masses swarming around Kuta, I’m going. My general plan is to possibly take The Ghan down the middle of the country to Adelaide, then with gumtree.com/au rideshare make my way east, hitting Melbourne, and most likely fly back to the US from Sydney later that month.

Sometimes, with this blog, I don’t know… I’m proud I keep it up, and it’s rewarding in it’s own right, but I wish I got more meaningful response. From strangers I mean, the kind of strangers I’d like to meet. Of course I appreciate the old friends who follow along. That having been said, I have had two pleasant comment encounters in the last few months. Once from an old friend of Patrik Keim who found me via his small image archive here; and another, a reader who put me back in touch with an amazing woman I met in southern China in 2010. He claimed instantly to know who I was talking about and had no doubt from my description. Now, much of that is a testimony to the power of her personality, but it was also “good to blog” validation for me.

So as I try and build my itinerary for AU, I’ll go ahead and put this out there: where do you think I should go? Unfortunately the West is out on this trip. I will have a finite amount of time, and some financial resource, but as I’ve been earning RI Rupiah for the last year…not THAT much. And their economy is doing well compared to the rest of the world, in part because they seem intent on mining up all that China will buy. Beers are $10 each at the moment, ouch!

All I know are Grinderman dates don’t currently extend past Dec.; I’d like to have some bizarre, quasi-Star Wars via Tatooine experience in Cooper Pedy; I must go to Melbourne; and might try and swing Tasmania. So give me all other recommendations for the Central and SE areas, oh Darwin too, though I don’t plan to linger. Band dates, film festivals etc that might overlap the time I’m there – essentially February 2012.

I summon thee, o dark and mystical forces of the Interweb! Speak! Er, I mean… Comment!

My heart goes out to his brothers and kids, the women who loved him and all that knew him. As I’m on the other side of the globe, I’ll be having my own private wake. For all of the strange charisma, he was a strangely magical fucker. Flawed, adventurous, and Balls to the Wall.

A few things you don’t get from this: that lot completely filled with 20,000+ scooters, cars and buses and it was quite difficult to find my own in the dark with no lighting at all, ever so slightly buzzed on Arak. Lesson learned, next time some sort of flag or marker to help with rapid, ill-lit, scooter identification when parking in such scenes. Also the older couple, guy with The Ramones shirt, where the coolest Aussies I’ve met so far, actually knew the Dirty 3 and Grinderman – the first I’ve run into who did so. Also some of those 20-something Indonesians are in a Death Metal band and hopefully will call me to come check them out next time they play Bali. They were from Java, came over to the island just to drink in the lot without tickets or the ability to afford them. That’s Metal. You proabaly could have heard the show from where we were sitting, but I took off soon after dark, before the music (from a band I don’t really care about anyway, just nostalgia – though I’m not saying I don’t still occassionally spin cuts from NotB or Powerslave) and potential clusterfuck could ensue. And the guy in the final shot was a satay vendor, most likely wearing the hat just for sales and to fit in, but I found it classic.

I saw a book on this guy a few years ago, didn’t pay attention to his name and had to do much research to rediscover Greg Irons. But how can I not help but feel affinity for a guy who worked in Underground comics and actually on one of my favorite films The Yellow Submarine, before reinventing himself in the world of tattoo? As for his death in BKK Thailand, soon after receiving “magic” protection tattoos: after seeing some cynicism expressed about this, may I offer an alternate view that perhaps the ink was only a final step before passing from this realm. Anyway, a great and interesting guy while he was here.

And tell me the chorus of this Chrissy Zebby Tembo song doesn’t have Ozzy written all over it…

If you like it, get more here. Props to Aesop and his Cosmic Hearse blog.

One thing reviews I’ve seen so far haven’t mentioned is how psychedelisugarpop the opening credits are. Here is everyone involved, essentially unreadable, at least to the conscious mind…and into the film.

*rather spot on depiction of a DMT experience, not exactly like my own in the early 90′s, which strangely also involved a painter, but it definitely worked.

*combined factors make Tokyo seem like the most tripped out city on earth: the neon and futuristic vibe, tiny alley like streets, ex-pat vibe created therein, well done, but definitely not a place to front on the cops

*the first portion of the film completely works, and but I now feel a compulsion to go off about Paz De La Huerta for a bit…

An actress who clearly loves to get naked and carnal in front of the camera, I first saw her in Season 1 of Boardwalk Empire where her Apple accent works perfectly. But after this I have to question her acting ability overall. And it might not be entirely her fault. Noe’s script has her bogged down in quasi-incestuous inappropriate lounging with her brother and only companion in a cruel world. But I am still tempted to blame her acting, especially in her big “break down” scene, which rings hollow. I’m really conflicted about this actress, she is sexy without being exotic somehow. Something about her feels “Chloë Sevigny” if that makes any sense, and indeed, it would be interesting to see her work with Larry Clarke esp. before she gets too old for his tableaux. She has all of this sexuality frontally presented, as if there were little inside, and yet a hint of another deeper level where much is hidden. I’ll be curious to see more of her work (haven’t seen the Jarmusch thing yet)- my verdict is still out. But since I’ve gone this kooky obsessive about it, I’ll further mention my sister and I have a running bet if her breasts are real or not. I say real.

What else to say about this film? It’s as abstracted as you’ve heard, yet in ways that make sense. There is nothing David Lynch’s ‘Inland Empire’ about it (in other words: “what the fuck am I watching here?”). There is something about spirits interacting with electric energy. There is something about the nature of expressed love. Mommy issues and sister issues and the search for love.

But one quote I must include, from a wasted girl who burst into the men’s room afterward looking for a friend and delighted me with a quote as they followed me into the frozen night from the theater. Apparently she had no idea what to expect from Gaspar Noe (who I still credit, along with Ms. Monica Bellucci, as capturing the most hardcore depiction of rape ever filmed), nor what she was getting into.

She said, “I mean what the fuck was that? That was a porno, Joey. A reincarnation porno.”

It wasn’t, but the quote was appropriate and hilarious. I would have liked to see more about some of the minor Japanese characters in the story: the painters roommate who build the amazing model of Tokyo; the girl with the glasses, who got with the main guy, but apparently had a thing for Mario. I guess I would have liked more of a film, shot in the same style, about naughty gaijin in Tokyo, than a film about this guy’s death.
I guess you’ve done it again Mr. Noe. Got me thinking about and liking a film I can’t entirely get on board with. Contrasting the brutality and the bliss. I still give you points for grit and balls, even with all the experimentalism.
And I don’t agree with those who say it was too long. The subject matter, style, presented in this way…just right.

Also psyched for the new doc coming out, WSB:A man within…

Also be sure to check out Golden Shoes (embedding disabled).

I gathered some make-up and was ready to go as Help! era John Lennon zombie, as it also would had been his 70th BDay, but in the end, after reading in the local rag about the spiting of copious amounts of fake blood, decided I didn’t want to risk having my pea coat ruined.

And it was unseasonably warm besides. But we did do some drive-bys for shots – hard to manage from a slowly moving vehicle in traffic, with wasted zombies milling all about. Nerds gone wild, just like Dragoncon – though maybe slightly less nerdy, and seasonally relevant. Looked like too many to get drinks in a reasonable amount of time despite all of the bars involved.

But way to go MPLS! You’re still looking good too St. Paul. I’ll be back.

*I realize the irony of writing about zombies in the same post you are memorializing your deceased father…but that’s the way it happened.*

I’m trying to get some tracks uploaded to attach to this post but can’t figure it out right now. More later…

Living in China, I’ve had some encounters with other American’s over here to “teach English” who are in fact protestant Christians who feel they must convert, “save”, these lowly Chinese savages and inject bible-speak into every conversation they can. This despite the fact that Confucious, who is 500 years older than the “Christ child”, has had a more lasting effect upon the morality of China than the impact Holy J seems to have had upon the west. The wars, rape and murder keep on and on, but some just won’t shut about him. Unfortunately, many of these boring-ass myths are new to the Chinese students and they indulge the coersation, not to mention they’ll do most “anything to practice English”. I was hoping to vent some of this angst enjoying a film with this name, but the story has almost nothing to do with the title. A better title would have been Gynocide, which is seen written on a notebook at one point during the film. Note the feminist symbol for the T in the poster…

The prologue of this film is straight beautiful, even if a bit heavy handed. There are glimpses of the blunt carnality to come. But the film is more of a psychological thriller/ghost story than apocryphal. Charolette Gainsbourg steels the show from Defoe, but they both have rather solid performances. I wouldn’t have minded seeing her go off even more when it gets to that bit. I didn’t think the violence was as hardcore as some, or as realistic. A man would not carry on so after receiving such wounds. It’s got the fucking and genital mutilation you may have heard about, but not to such great effect. I’m not sure about Von Trier’s overall message in this film – is sort of wreaks of misogynistic paranoia. And you know it’s bad if I’m saying such a thing…. But it’s creepy like you want a scary movie to be creepy. I also give props for making a “small”, non-blockbuster film, and tasteful use of CG for a pleasant change.

In the midst of moving to and adjusting within the lifestyle of China, I haven’t had a chance before now to give proper memorial for an old friend who recently past. Thom was a totally swell guy I hung with quite a bit in the late 80′s/early 90′s.

In high school, I had a friend who’s Mom moved to Canada for several months leaving his older sister in charge. No surprise, this became a party house of sorts, during what we now refer to as “Salad Days”(I believe taken from the Minor Threat song). It was in this era that I first met Thom. He was a year older and went to another high school, but we had similar musical and cultural tastes. In fact we collaborated on a zine called Soma, which I think only ever achieved two issues, and who knows if I even have one buried in my files any longer. But he went on to become program director for my favorite ATL radio station, GA tech’s WREK, where they have a podcast and memorial in the works. I last ran into he and his wife in the winter of 2006(07?) and was pleased to realize he seemed the “same old Thom”. He died in a hiking accident in the Grand Canyon, and while this is obviously horrible, to happen while he was so young, I take comfort in the fact he was spared some more painful fate in possibly not as beautiful a setting. Knowing we all have to go some time, may I say I hope for a similar passage. I wish all the best to his surviving wife and family, and know that all who knew him will always think fondly of him. He was that open and friendly type, without enemies or spite, while still striving hard against a mundane system that deserves to be shaken up-

I’m not a visual artist, but have gotten interested in graffiti in recent years. Watching this docInfamy just now, I realized there is something for the voyeur too. And I’m not talking about the thousands of lame pieces you’re gonna see day in day out, but something really weird in a cool place, (for me I guess seeing Botch in the abandoned prison in ATL), then seeing other works by the artist. Touching a bit of the obsession. But for all of the lame ego tricking that goes on with the game, there is genuine curiosity in the mix sometimes.

Like it wouldn’t really change anything to meet the people doing these things, but it would be cool anyway.

This film has gotten much hype and acclaim, all of it deserved. It stands now as a further memorial to the demolished towers, and a beautiful quixotic event in another bleak economic period. I also think it’s really interesting that there was another toll or cost from the event, in terms of the lost friendships and love, which are honestly discussed. A must see! I’ll probably read Philipe’s pick pocket book at some point as well.

When I was traveling around Northern Italy in the Spring of 2004, I kept seeing a book by this American con. Thus began my introduction to Edward Bunker. I read a few of his books soon after, including The Animal Factory. I knew Steve Buscemi made a film version in 2000, but I only recently got around to seeing it. Why this film, with Willem Dafoe and Edward Furlong, wasn’t better received I can only count to the prison subject matter. But I thought it was really well done, including a soundtrack from the enigmatic John Lurie. One IMDB review I saw complained of the plot being “unbelievable”, but it’s completely true to the novel…I think the real complaint was Furlong was too good looking to not get punked, but whatever.

Here’s one resource page, and goodreads. A heavy hitter of 20th century outre fiction! Two other BBC articles on JGB references in music and as a Seer of the Atomic Age.

Finally found a great Ballardarian animated tribute. I’ll be doing more research on this filmmaker!

I Bought a Van and Then It Got Stolen and Then I Got It Back

and when i got it back… GOOD NEWS!, it came with a FREE METH PIPE!!!,
and a bunch of hooker clothes and ratty makeup bags
and some Stars & Stripes Fruit Punch
and some Mexican toilet paper
and some Teddy Bear cookies
and some Double Stuffed Ravioli
and some Mini 3+2 Sandwich Crackers (Cheddar Cheese Flavor!!!)

and even though they stole my brand new $1500 Chinese GPS/DVD/USB/OPP stereo system, inside was a completely different $400 American stereo system undoubtedly stolen from some other dickhead. Poor loser.

I also got a few extra tools to start up my own auto-theft stereo/hooker biznizz!!

I called the state parole board to find out about the woman who’s papers were in the van, turns out she was locked up the same day for something else. I called numbers on her papers and talked to her husband and grandmother both of whom were relieved that she isn’t dead. He mentioned her children which was sorta sad. They had no idea where she was.

I might go visit her in jail and interview her about her time living in my van. Take a picture at least.

If i ever do, look for it here : www.aHookerStoleMyVan.com

what else…

Oh yeah, despite having made it 22 years without any dents, the hooker done dented it right in front of the sliding door. Ran into a pole. Crap. Perfect no more.

DON’T GIVE BLOW JOBS WHILE DRIVING ON METH!!!

Anyway, her name was Danielle McKee and her rap sheet is mostly drugs and prostitution, she probably didn’t steal the van, but perhaps got it in exchange for a rim job. — i don’t mind publicizing that assumption.

That’s what I have been doing, HOW BOUT YOUS GUYS?

This looks like a rather amazing line up – can’t imagine how it’s free… I guess some car companies still have huge advertising budgets. But how many headbanger metalheads can they get driving Scions, no matter how customized?
It’ll probably be a packed madhouse by the time Mastadon and Neurosis take the stage, but hopefully I can have a reasonably pleasant experience if I try to catch Boris and Harvey Milk.

And a song from Athens, GA based Madeline Adams Betty Page from her album “Kissing and Dancing”.

My first hint of such things I encountered seeing “death porn” magazines in LA during my first trip out there in ’94. There was a general pre-millenial crazy with killers and satanism in the 90′s, a throwback to the big 70′s craze, which included all sort of paranormal interest, from biorhythms to Est. There was a claim that many of the corpses shown mutilated in these magazines were victims of satanic cults in Mexico. It sounds like the usual nonsense hysteria when presented like that, but when you dig a little deeper, there are actual beliefs going on that help sustain, along with the chemicals, weapons and money, the malicious cycles of violence.

For 10 years afterward, on Halloween the anniversary of his death, seances would be held in an attempt to contact him. Ironic as he was a devote debunker of spiritualism, which is part of a rift with his one time friend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who believed in contacts with the spirit world. His wife Bess took part in her last seance attempt to contact him, held on the rooftop of the Knickerbocker Hotel, after failing to receive a pre-arranged code she and her late husband had designed. But others continue the seances even to this day…

The stories were simplistically drawn, and while my lack of understanding Italian prevented me from really judging the quality, there was no doubt I was in possession of smut. But a style of smut one finds themselves challenged to find elsewhere – sexy horror, boobs with zombies and vampires. I have since learned the genre to be referred to as fumetti neri. The French and Spanish have their own versions of such books, but the Italians seem most over the top.
Though the artists often shamelessly steal source material and images, it is the covers of these little gems that are the most intriguing. The Groovy Age of Horror has done some great analysis and archiving of various examples, including more Zora La Vampira and so I will refer you there.

It’s an eyebrow thing, not so much her figure, though I just realized she was the schoolgirl in ‘Trainspotting’ so I’m not gonna complain about any part her – a fine actress.
Angelica Huston doesn’t really work for me, and I don’t get why she seems so loved by others. Not in the Wes Anderson stuff, can’t think of anything I’ve seen and liked her in. And maybe it was seeing her do such a similar “crazy but lovable mom” role in ‘Darjeeling Limited’ that made that schtick seem especially tired here. It was like they shot all of the childhood flashback scenes in a single day. Overall the film does seem quickly thrown together, the soundtrack is plain sad (the same lame tune is playing on two different days in the strip club, and if you can’t come up with stripper music in this day and age – either as it is or as it should be – you really are lost), but there are some laughs. My review in one word: meh…

An homage to some of the hottest women I’ve photographed at the convention ’05-’08. Nerds gone wild!

Part Two

He would have been 88 today. Who’s drunk right now?

Some poems:
death

the sex fiends

From “Poems and Insults”, recorded in the City Lights Poets Lights Theatre, SF 9-14-73
Here’s the entire show, if you want it…

Now you just try to tell me pole dancing isn’t an art form! Almost makes a free range Hog type reconsider the institution of marriage…

But then of course, it’s all about the woman, not the institution.

So over dinner with some friends the other night (ahem) I became aware of this Japanese man who “got away” with murder and cannibalism in Paris during the 80′s. Issei Sagawa‘s is a fascinating case, not only because he wrote about the experience, including a children’s book, but he also went on to star in a Roman Pinky (porn) film. There is a breakdown of those Parisian events and some background on Mr. Sagawa here, but none of this is to be confused with garden variety nyotiamori, which is not eating a woman, just eating off of a woman. Well I guess there is the other kind, eating the fake woman…

Bio

Yumiko’s first ever drawing, at the age of four, featured a hyena devouring a zebra, while a vulture looked on. Her obsession with wild animals hasn’t abated – her Infectious Car Art is populated by pandas, octopi and tropical fish – but her style has certainly developed. These days, Yumi’s animals share the spotlight with her pretty and punky Japanese girls, intertwined with traditional Japanese imagery and American pop art stylings. Yumi’s art has hung on museum walls around the world, and is collected by celebrities and rock and roll legends. But she says “I’d rather my paintings hang next to rock star pin-ups than on museum walls. Ultimately I want to connect with people all over the world on that level.” What better way than on the blank canvas that is your car?

Interview

What’s the name of your Infectious art pieces?
Strawberry Milk, Grip, Impossible and Matching Geeks.

Describe your style in one sentence:
A mix of Japanese tradition and Western pop input, with the natural world intertwined to share the spotlight.

Your beautiful ladies really look like you! Are you drawing yourself over and over again in different scenarios?
I’ve never drawn myself in my work. They are someone else, but all with long black hair and dark eyes like me.

Why do you weave so many animals into your art?
I’m a big animal lover or maybe I should say, I’m an animal fan. Wildlife is the most passionate thing for me. It’s something I always learn from and it opens my eyes. My curiosity for wildlife never ends. It inspires a passion inside me to recreate what I see in my work.

What animal do you find most fascinating and why?
I have much love for predators, especially wolves and tigers. They are being hunted and I paint them because I have a passion to share their plight.

Who are your heroes and what are your inspirations?
My heroes are action stars Hiroyuki Sanada and Tony Jaa and Mirco Crocop, a martial artist. My inspirations are music, movies, old yakuza films, manga, American cartoons (Tom & Jerry, Disney), martial arts and wildlife.

Has the slightly erotic nature of your art – the bondage, the cosplay -ever got you in trouble?
That has been an unintentional aspect of my work that others have brought to my attention. It’s never gotten me in trouble, but I’ve always been thoroughly amazed by what some people see in my work. I don’t know what to say…

You’ve painted girls wearing Van Halen colored white, red and black dresses and have titles of paintings like (The Scorpions) “Rock You Like a Hurricane” – do you harbor (a not so) secret passion for hard rock hair bands?
Those guys are my heroes! I’m happy to be the one female artist that I know about who brings on the hard rock.

Could you describe your typical day?
I wake up at 5:30am, have breakfast, exercise, etc. I start painting at 7:30. Lunch is at 12:00. I go back to painting at 1:00 until dinner at 8:00. After I eat, I paint a little more for as long as I can. I’m in bed at 11:00.

Can you describe your process in creating a piece of art?
First, I make a sketch on a thin paper. Second, I trace it on canvas or wood board. Third, I paint with acrylic using a paint brush. Last, I draw in small details like animal hair with a drawing pen.

What was your last memorable dream?
I was Michael Scofield from “Prison Break”, captured in an office room by some bad guys. I fought with them to escape. Then I ran to a train station and jumped onto a moving train.

If you had to draw yourself a tattoo design what would it be and where would you have it?
I would get a tattoo of my cat Teddo who I had for ten years. We were like mother and daughter until she died from cancer. I would probably get her on an arm.

Would you mind telling us something about you that makes you blush slightly?
I feel a little embarrassed when I have a misunderstanding with English. I’m still learning so it can be difficult at times.

Are there any interesting projects coming up that you can share with us?
I’ll have some merchandise available soon and I’ll also be in some art books.

car decals from Infectious

myspace

and her personal site

Stay strong, sister! Viva Las Angelas del Diablo!

“Ah…Lila….”(drool, dribble, drool)

A tattoo artist sells his shop, gets camera, computer, ink guns and sterilization equipment, loads them into a ’73 Maverick and sets out on the road, filming the entire thing in hopes of getting sponsorship for continuing funds for the operation. Sure, his style is a little “home spun” and some of the antics border on slapstick, but I’d argue this venture is also extremely DIY, and even a bit punk rock.

Follow later episodes through his youtube page (there are 11 as of now). Don’t just stop at one, seriously.

I especially love that he’s gone back to a variation on what he and brother Watson (Twins of Pain) were doing when I first met them 15 years ago. I’ll never forget when they showed up in Athens in that school bus with the rest of the entourage, leaving behind Indiana, where at the time tattooing “on the fly” was considered ‘practicing medicine without a license’, and carried rather stiff penalties, as you might imagine. They made such a lasting impression – not only in our hearts, but also on our skins. I don’t want to give up too many stories now, since I’m actively pursuing an interview for the podcast in the very near future. And if I’m lucky, might even do some time and miles with ol’ One Eye Willie myself.

Er, maybe I should rephrase that…

I’ve only recently discovered this pop psychedelic creation of Guy Peellaert, and haven’t seen any of the actual comics yet. (great, another expensive hobby no one needs: collecting vintage European comics…) And sadly, I sense none will add up to be as cool as this animated sequence, a slow load but well worth it! I especially love the lampoon of the three major western religions included.

*Warning: if the title of this post isn’t clear enough, links may contain adult themes and material*

You’ve heard about this phenomenon right? Young women who choose to “save themselves” for the right guy, but meanwhile have nothing against a good time in the realm of sodomy. I certainly can’t claim to be against it, but it strikes me as unusual, so against the grain of behavior most women consider to be acceptable. Sometimes, as in the case of Aurora Jolie AKA Nicara, this crosses over into the world of porn. She tells the story herself in this interview. “But what about slightly fat nerdy white guys, A?”

In my, ahem, “research” for this post, I also came across the all American man and wife, which is amusing, though the call from the guy who breaks down after giving up the brown eye to his girl in ep. 36 is clearly fake. But Fatman’s response, while cliche, is hilarious.

Sundance channel is running this film and I caught it over the weekend. I can’t recall exactly where I first heard about Punishment Park (1971), but it was fairly recently, and considering the controversy, was surprised to get a chance to see it. Overall as a film, I must say, it’s not all that. But as I’m obsessed with that period in American history, it was something I had to see. Watkins was by chance ahead of the curve in terms of what reality TV has become, but the ideological back and forth between the radicals and tribunal comes off as overstated and cliche, the yelling between the camera crew and cops rather unrealistic (why wouldn’t fascists destroy the equipment and confiscate the footage?), and the “ironic hook” at the end can be seen from a mile off – or more accurately, 50 miles off.
But there is enough substance to keep this from being a “b movie”, despite it’s vague similarity to films of the era like Deathrace 2000, which came out 4 years later, and to be fair, is much more of a fantasy. In some ways, it falls into a dystopian genre with Children of Men, at least in terms of paranoia when viewing The State. Certainly a lot accomplished with a small budget. I’m always interested in films that for one reason or another are pushed off the radar, and now definitely curious to see more of Peter Watkins work.
As a time capsule, two things that are interesting are to look at how relatively naked “the pigs” are when compared with the modern day forces of control. And I couldn’t help but imagine a parody of this film, where various 19-27 year olds are lined to face “the tribunal” in the modern day – how timid they might seem in comparison…”you mean like, no Starbucks OR videogames?!? Dude…” But that’s unfair of course: more accurately the accused, if in fact youths from rejected bourgeoisie backgrounds, would be anti-G8 eco-terror types, and the virile minority man gagged and pinned to the floor would have a lighter skin tone and be talking a more religious jive. There would also be a lot more talk about The Patriot Act than the Constitution, and hopefully that realization sends a bit of a chill down your spine…

Portland, OR (February 11, 2008) – On a February night in 1956, Allen Ginsberg stood in front of a group of students in a dormitory lounge at Reed College and read from a manuscript that a few months later would be published as Howl and Other Poems. “Howl” is Ginsberg’s most famous and controversial poem, and a seminal work of the Beat Generation. The book sparked censorship debates that are credited with broadening First Amendment protections.

The February 1956 recording at Reed was duly labeled, cataloged, and then overlooked in the college’s library for more than 50 years. Literary scholar John Suiter rediscovered the tape last summer while researching a biography of poet Gary Snyder (Reed Class of 1951, winner of the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry); Snyder and Ginsberg were on a hitch-hiking trip to the Pacific Northwest at the time the tape was made and spent February 13-14 on campus giving poetry readings. Suiter concludes in a forthcoming article in the Reed alumni magazine that this is the earliest-known recording of Ginsberg reading “Howl.” On the recording, Ginsberg reads to the conclusion of Part I, but ends before completing Part II, saying, “I don’t really feel like reading any more. I just sorta’ haven’t got any kind of steam.”

The pristine recording of “Howl” caught on tape that night at Reed differs in numerous ways from the legendary first public reading of the poem at San Francisco’s Six Gallery in October 1955. It predates by approximately five weeks the previous earliest-known recording of “Howl,” made at the Town Hall Theatre in Berkeley on March 18, 1956.

And the recording. It’s strange to me when these things are discovered after half a century: unknown sketches from great painters, previously unheard demos from famous rock bands etc. hidden and decaying in “archives”. But then I’m someone often with too much time on his hands who would relish access to certain caches.

I have nothing against the idea of a vegan strip club like the one recently opened in Portland, OR, it just sort of cracks me up. As does this quote from the young woman in the article-

” I can’t stand the smell of smoldering rotting carcasses when I walk by the kitchen. It is totally gross. I’ve been a vegan for three and a half years and I can’t stand the thought of working in a place that serves murder victims on a bun. Working at a club like Casa Diablo Gentlemen’s Club is my dream!”

If you’re ever out that way to check it out for yourself, be sure to stop in to the USDAT+A Acropolis mentioned in the comment section as well.

It’s the anniversary of when Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army and was thus able to live out the bad girl fantasy of bank robbery, only do 22 months for the crime and later receive a full pardon. Hurray for rich kids… why shouldn’t they have it all? Still, it’s more twisted and exciting than anything Paris ever did- This doc is good too.

I caught Conan the Barbarian last night on cable and was noticing how hot the character who plays his mom is, and with a little research, wasn’t too surprised to find Nadiuska was in fact an Italian porn star. Actually, most every actress in the film looks like she might have done a little “Blue” work – the Witch, Thulsa Doom’s daughter, Conan’s girlfriend, the various cult and orgy members… It was sort of an interesting era for film: lingering 70′s ethos, lots of “Penthouse soft lense”, a certain European feel to the entire production. Not to mention the general crossover appeal of Italian porn actors-

Take the example of Ilona Staller, AKA Cicciolina, who in ’79 ran for Italian parliament in their first incarnation of the Green Party, then switching to the Partito Radicale, was actually elected in ’87. Near the beginning of the first Gulf War she offered to fuck Saddam Hussein to help ease escalating tensions with that conflict. She later made the same offer to both he and Osama Bin Laden for the same reason, but let’s face it, Osama’s a longshot, and not just because of the dialyses…

America is clearly behind the times, though porn stars here do cross over into legit film and pro wrestling. Recently a candidate may have increased her results in a primary by “tearing up” during a press conference, apparently it made her more relatable to some voters… makes you wonder. This is only a jokey insight Mrs. Clinton – please don’t do anything drastic!

Oh and by the way, everyone: you will die some day. Your “beautiful” shell and all the modifications you paid to have done to it will all become maggot food. Fight and fear this fact all you want to, but it won’t change…

Meet Victor Licata, one of HJ Anslinger‘s main case studies when he fought to demonize ganja in the USA in the 30′s. Licata confessed to smoking pot in Tampa, FL before murdering his family. But even an amateur’s glance at his mugshot makes one wonder if there might have been other things going on in ol’ Vic’s noggin. Nevertheless, marijuana was demonized for decades, some even think it’s “bad news” today. The thing is: ax murdering didn’t stop even with it’s criminalization. Sure – botanists were handed huge jail terms, billions in potential tax revenues have gone uncollected, untold cookies have been consumed and snooze buttons haphazardly pushed…but every once and a while, an ax murderer crops up. And the weirdest part of all – some of them haven’t been holdin’ “the devil’s weed”.
Now one thing I definitely don’t want to do here is give you the impression that laws are made and broken on the political whims of a few powerful persons – because there are actually much larger lobbies at work behind the scenes, deciding what your lives will and won’t consist of, at least ‘above board’. Sleep tight-

If McKinley seems less remembered than Lincoln or Kennedy, it may be because he wasn’t as dynamic an individual. I was tempted to use the word charismatic just then, but Lincoln suffered from depression, by all accounts was a somber chap, though obviously a noble and brilliant orator. Perhaps a chance to fuck Marylin Monroe would have put a smile on his face as well… Anyway, it was also a week after the shooting before McKinley succumbed to his wounds. And into office came Theodore Roosevelt, a more macho and bold leader – the type Americans love to remember.
As for lessons to be learned from troubled Leon: proof that no matter how inconceivable it may seem, within two months of moving to a new town, you could be cooking in the electric chair. And never underestimate the hateful mob – his corpse wasn’t allowed to leave the prison grounds and was mutilated with chemicals during the burial. Most importantly of all: dashing acts of violence almost never result in positive societal change!

On this day 80 years ago, two Italian immigrants were executed by the state of Massachusettes for their alleged involvement in theft and murder. Many believe the case was actually about anti-immigrant and anti-anarchist sentiments in the community. Ancient history, right?
Additional thanx to the late Kurt Vonnegut JR. for first turning me on to these events through his novel Jailbird.

The good news is: common sense did prevail enough to be sure another artistic landmark was preseved. Back in the late 40′s, Greek railroadman Tom E. Stefopoulos drew these great chalk drawing on the concrete columns that supported the viaduct during his spare moments working as a switchman. The columns were saved and now sit half a block north of NW Everett and 10th in front of some flash condo building. True, what you see are large photo reproductions encased in plexi of the actual drawing that lie beneath, but in the name of preservation, this was most likely the best route to go. You can see some more of my personal shots of the columns in their new home here. Also, for cultish fans of the film, an exploration of “hats on beds” that ties into a C. McCarthy novel.

AND through the sparkplugcomics site, I just learned I’ll be town during the PDX zine symposium! Looks like I’ll skip going to Seattle Meltdown with the MarchingBand…

So a bit later I headed out to go to a Willamette Week party, that is mooch their free grog and grub, as my boy Trevor was an employee and invited me. But heading to the train it was obvious something was definitely going down: cops blocking off sections of major roads and rush hour traffic frustrated, chaotic and trying to figure new routes through the spontaneous maze. As I waited, I could tell the main area they had blocked off, but it was hard to see all those blocks away, figure out what had happened. ‘It’s quite windy, maybe a limb or sign came down.’ I speculated with fellow passengers but no one seemed to have solid answers. I went on to the shindig, ran into an old friend from like 1st grade(!) and generally forgot about it, until it occured to me to look for info later that night/morning.
Turns out these three numbnut boyz decided to rob a liquor store and had set off a highspeed chase and ensuing manhunt trying to escape. The funniest part to me is I’ve been noticing/complaining about all of the scummy white people you find out here. Now this is straight up elietism I’m talking (and true, I’m no ‘Brad Pitt crossed with MENSA’ myself), but when it’s about your own race I think it’s acceptable. Coming from the south, obviously I am familiar with a broad spectrum of rednecks, but I swear – something about the urban pressure of ATL or who knows what exactly, instills even the most would-be obnoxious, NASCAR lovin’, Bush worshipping, bible banging caucazoid with some level of style and grace superior to the lumber jack descended stock of mutant ass white freakies you encounter out here. True, there are statistically higher rates of mental health issues and whatnot, which ties into the state’s healthcare policy and other politics I don’t want to go into now; and sure, the long rainy season leaves everyone a bit ‘moldy’. When I’ve tried to bring this up with friends, they sort of look at me like I’m Hitler or something, but I think ol’ peckerwood DJD’s mugshot speaks volumes in defense of my case.

Comicbook guy sez: “Lamest attempted armed robbery ever!”

I often bitch about the ATL film scene (and Athens is even worse…) and people tend to not believe Portland’s to be superior when I try to explain this to them. That’s their problem: I definitely know better. Having seen some recently released powerful stuff before I left, I wasn’t surprised to find the same things playing here, plus various lingering gems now in Portland’s $3 theatre circut, but it’s really about the vast number of small but great films that also run here. TWO D+D documentaries have come out in recent months? WTF!
So I read about the Floating World Animation festival going on at the comic shop and headed down. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting, but imagine my surprise when I found the event not only free and connected to another gallery full of illustrative art, but also with a free liquor bar! Goddamn, I love this town*

The program broke down into a first set of jewels under 10 minutes, then a retrospective on the influencial Adam Beckett, Hooliganship played live in front of a pseudo-Mario Bros. animated set, then another group of shorts put together by e*rock, but by then I was mostly tanked and talking with Pam Turner, Beckett’s biographer.
I can’t recreate the entire experience for you obviously, but here’s some info I was able to get on several of the animators presented: Joanna Priestly, Christophe Blanc, Howie Shia, Mariola Brillowska, Aidan Koch, Graham Annable, the supercool Rob Chiu, Vivian Wong and that’s all for now. You fuckers can do more research if you’d like from the FWC info provided, I’m too hungover…

But I especially love this emerging age of social networks that brings you in contact with people like Akif Hakan Celebi.

You can see his Deviant Art profile, also an interview he did with Ukranian MAX magazine. Also don’t neglect his main site and spend some $ if you can!

Anyway, the UK and Ireland have banned what they see as an inappropriatey disturbing game from the envelope pushers at Rockstar, called Manhunt 2. Others are attempting to defend the game’s artistic merit and both sides end up looking sort of silly.
I can defenitely picture a future situation in which mental deviants are counciled through VR therapy, exploring darker recesses of their minds without anyone actually being injured. How long before America starts televising executions either through cable or online access?

I mean no disrespect to the friend involved in the following story, nor to the people of China either. I intend only to illustrate a point in how their logic works differently than my own: I actually stood in Tiananmen sq. in Jan ’06 and tried to imagine those events that took place while I was still in high school. I asked my friend, over a decade younger than myself, what she thought about the events in the capital city at that time.

“I don’t know about these things. I’ve heard some things, but I don’t know what is true”, was her response. Keep in mind that from their view, westerners are people to not be entirely trusted. There is the lingering possibility that we are steeped in propaganda and capitalists eat their babies (possibly a metaphor that went awry…). I assured her the things did happen in the place where we stood, nearly 2 decades earlier. Keep in mind 90+% of Chinese nationals have never seen the image in this post, it made me think a lot about propaganda and control: perception trumps truth. Apply this line of thinking to your own culture.

So there in the Square is also Mao’s tomb which was really important to her that I see. I waited in line, actually was escorted to the head of the line by a power abusing official of some sort wanting a bribe, filed past the statue where the cultish devotees leave flowers, then saw the likeness of a human body in a crystal sarcophagus. Bizarre. But no bags nor cameras where allowed inside and so she waitied outside with my stuff while I toured.
Crossing a large road we headed into the Forbidden City, where there was no security check of any kind. When I pointed out the strangeness of this, she didn’t seem to see my point.
“But what if some crazy person where to bring a bomb into the Forbidden City?”
“We can always rebuild the Forbidden City”, she said. “But we have only one body of the chairman.”

A young video blogger ended up with some footage of an anti-G8 rally in SF that the Federal Govt. wanted to look at and he refused, claiming journalistic license, and went to jail. He has released the video now which you can see here. In it you can see Left Coast types getting a little riled up, and eventually, SFPD getting a little riled up, as one might expect. It is always interesting to witness the ‘no nonsense’ re-establishment of control. The footage seems to fall short of being a potential smoking gun though. Surely cases like this will become more prevelent in the future.

The point I want to make here is how different young people today (and this is sort of a joke, as I am 5 years past ‘untrustworthy’ by the common 60′s wisdom) react to an unjust war. Youth will bitch and joke, Tivo and youtube choice bits of The Daily Show, but they aren’t about to start planting bombs and writing manifestos. True, the stakes are completely different – both in terms of govt. survellience and the new laws against dissent. Today we are more concerned with a terror war than a cold war, as manifested by the conflict in Vietnam that so effected them. But the main difference today I think is the abscence of a draft. The nuclear bomb is one thing to make young people think they are up against a wall with little to lose, but regularly learning of men in their lives – brothers, cousins, friends – dying as result of being forced to fight a resilent ‘enemy’ population on their own soil, that’ll get your back up against the wall really quick! And it’s interesting how hopelessness often lends itself to extremism: from south central LA to the Isamic world, which has one of the fastest growing under-educated, poor demographics on earth.

The global pedulum has swung back from leftist days as well. Nor are modern white American youth inspired by armed struggles of other members of the general population, such as Panthers, Natives, and prisoners. Selfishness has taken on new forms and distraction culture is ubiquitous. Lots of things were changing in those days with the social code. Lots of things are changing these days as well, but very little of it is anti-caplitalistic. Then again, the truely poor don’t have the luxury of blogging…yet.

True, there was the Battle of Seattle in ’99 just before ‘the change’, and I used to hear about eco-terrorist action all the time out west. Once again, the rules are much different now. They took advantage of the collective fear to paint some really broad strokes. I still think Kaczynski‘s manifesto will prove prophectic as we progress through the genetic revolution. I want to be clear about something: whenever you take violent action against a population in order to promote your ideals, you have gone beyond the realm of civilized human interaction and must face the music. Yes, I am also talking to you, Mr. Bush.

P.S. might look into the ‘researcher’ who came up with the ’45 notes’ used in the ‘study’…just a thought.

ed. note (2/9/07)- this headline changed! It used to say, or perhaps the link that took me to it said, “Cocaine contaminates 100% of Irish notes”. Weird that it’s different, but my other statements don’t make as much sense without knowing this-

You Rule, Vietnamese Waxer Lady

Date: 2006-03-15, 3:44PM PST

My regular waxer was not available and I just could not bear the wild, untamed amazon bush jungle that my, well, bush had become for another day.

So I came to you on my lunch hour, Anonymous Vietnamese Waxer Lady who works at the cheapie nail place. We were mere strangers before this afternoon, but after knowing you only an hour, I feel like I must point out the reasons why you rule.

When it was necessary to get on all fours to do the “taint” part of the wax, you applied the wax so delicately to my bunghole, then asked, in what I assumed were two of the only five English words you know, “Too hot?” I responded yes, it was too hot. And without hesitation, you blew on it to cool the hot wax. YOU BLEW ON MY BUNGHOLE, Vietnamese Waxer Lady. Do you know how special that is? Nobody blows on the bung. Nobody.

Since you were a bit clumsy with the wax, there were many bits leftover that did not get taken up onto the “Strip of Doom” as I like to call it. So without any sort of trepidation whatsoever, you happily took a cotton ball and dug the wax out of my vaginal canal yourself. How did you manage to do that without making me feel the least bit uncomfortable, Vietnamese Waxer Lady? Were you a gynecologist back in Vietnam and they wouldn’t let you practice medicine in the United States when you immigrated here, and so now you wax pubes for a living? I know that kind of thing happens all the time, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all to know this occupation has not been your first foray into coochdom. And I know this is totally inappropriate, but I even started to feel, dare I say, a tiny bit frisky from the action. You just seemed to know my vagina so very well. Almost like you were two old friends, and I was this new acquaintance showing up to lunch with you and my vagina, but then was all like “Oh. I see you two have already met.”

Since you don’t speak much English, you had to motion to me where to place my legs in the air to best reach the “corner” as you called it. Most people would have been uncomfortable with their legs in the air and then having their butt cheeks spread further apart, mere centimeters from the face of a stranger. But you smiled at me and with a subtle expression, indicated that you, too, felt my pain. You should give lessons to medical students, Vietnamese Waxer Lady, on how to have good bedside manner. Or I guess in your case, ass-side manner.

I thanked you with a good tip, but I want to thank you here, publicly, for your selfless action, and for doing your part on behalf of all humanity to keep my pubes under control.

142248974

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/12/22/hilarious-la-craigslist-complimentary-rant/feed/ 3 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/12/15/another-intense-writer/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/12/15/another-intense-writer/#comments Fri, 15 Dec 2006 04:40:21 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/2006/12/15/another-intense-writer/ OK, let’s get away from my own adventures here (but there will be some more from the latest Asia trip down the line, in podcast form, if no other), now that I’m back and burned out – all up and in the Red White and Blue Prison, and get back to some good ol blogging. I was recently turned on to this writer through a friend of my South African sugar-mama (long story…it’ll be in the novel). Anyway, Melinda Ferguson took a trip through hell and survived to write about it. WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT in link. I haven’t read Smacked the novel yet, but it definitely falls into the sort of thing I seek to read, which you’d know if you ever browse the book review section here. Hardcore.

It’s like this: there’s this chain – on one end a monkey, and on the other end you: one always wants to be sure who’s calling the shots, who’s leading who, the actual length of the chain… Actually there are multiple chains and multiple monkeys, it gets complicated quickly.

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/12/15/another-intense-writer/feed/ 10 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/11/18/vang-viang-still-feels-like-home/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/11/18/vang-viang-still-feels-like-home/#comments Sat, 18 Nov 2006 05:17:36 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/2006/11/18/vang-viang-still-feels-like-home/ Yes, the best bamboo bridge did wash out last April and the concrete one has gone up, but it’s still cool when you’re walking home at night and come to the guard rail to haggle with the shirtless teens for the 40 cent one way tax, promise again to play them a song or two on the ancient guitar if they’d put some tuneable strings on the thing. You can always go back across the other bamboo bridge to avoid the tax, but best to catch this in daylight, as you’d also have to negotiate cowfields on the other side. And it’s all about the other side. Irish Joe is still there running the Maylyn with his Laotian wife and their brood, like some genius crumudgeon pirate guesthouse owner. Yes there are more buildings going up in town all the time, and you have to be a bit more slick with the man. But there is still all of the joy of before. And I’d forgotten about the butterflys, as Maylyn is essential just one giant garden. Oh, plus shelling, I honestly awoke to the sound of shelling yesterday morning….
The miltary is practicing some exercises up the valley. Rumor has it a farang was picked up while trying to enter the area, but you figure he might have been holding, which is foolish of course. Still, also evidence of a sort of checkpoint. An area the military doesn’t want foriegners in right now. Also rumors from Joe of Mong rebels, but you never know when he’s talking shit, and that’s half the fun of him. But let me tell you there is no mistaking the sound of artiltery and short machine gun bursts. More exciting than anything to worry about. And it wasn’t going on this morning…
Got some shots via Dutchman Marnix of the amazing Nang Khai sculpture garden made by Luang Pu Boun Luea Sourirat. Manunderstress saw the one on the Laos side in Vientiene but I opted for the newer one on the Thai side. Plus I got the added bonus of the other building, through which we toured with a heavy accented Thai man’s barely discernable recitation of the life story of the wacked-out artist. We saw multiple portraits with heavily stenciled-in eyebrows, photos of him in the hospital after falling from one of the huge sculptures, his bloody spitum on a framed snot rag, various buddhas that had been in his family for centurys; banged some gongs, and finally, there in another room, inside a giant snowglobe covered in chirstmas lights, the man himself, some ten years gone: ‘no formaldihyde’ ‘no pre zer va ti’ as the guide explained. It was so fucking bizarre I didn’t even think to urge Marnix to photo. Kind of thing you couldn’t capture from our angle outside ‘the chamber’ anyway, and there was a really holy vibe we were trying to respect too, so no photo – but unforgetable. You’ve heard of ‘man as godking’? This was ‘artist as godartist/holy man’. Far out.
Came up into Laos with Marnix and French/English ‘George Verat’ from Leon, great guys both. Also, it was time to move on from the Mutt Me guesthouse in Nang Khai, getting caught up in minor social shit, not writing enough, meeting lots of great folks but somehow never getting one recorded for the podcast. Really, eager to be here. Now for some writing and some R+R. I am so pleased this little taste of heaven from before still exists and I get to soak it, and the river tubing and the beerlao and everything else, up, for a nice long time…

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/11/18/vang-viang-still-feels-like-home/feed/ 1 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/27/suddenly-marylin-manson-comes-off-like-rebecca-of-sunnybrook-farm/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/27/suddenly-marylin-manson-comes-off-like-rebecca-of-sunnybrook-farm/#comments Fri, 27 Oct 2006 13:54:04 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/27/suddenly-marylin-manson-comes-off-like-rebecca-of-sunnybrook-farm/ I had an interesting experience yesterday: recently saw the profile of a young woman on deviant art and she had some images of asian youths dressed in this neo-goth (as opposed to victorian goth or one of the other subsets) gear, i.e. cosplay. I’d seen some similar shots on FLickr and though I’d ask if there was a relation. Thus began my education on visual kei. Lain is quite young and lives in Germany. She wanted to IM rather than just try and answer me outright. It took us a few days (and me updating my IM, since my GAIM was gone wonky) to be on at the same time, but eventually there she was, complete with webcam, which in and of itself wasn’t such a big deal, but I don’t have one – so I’m ‘invisible’, talking with a girl less than half my age, and when you learn more about the subject matter, you might get the creepy vibe too. But this is about music education.
So after some introductions, she starts rapid firing images, songs and video links. I send some too, trying to explain my version of metal and darkness, but she isn’t digging it. I can forgive her the teenage attention span, after all she’s talking w/video to several other friends around the globe at the same time. But this basic difference in the way music and image have changed is what alarmed me. For me, Metal 101: Blue Cheer (’68, acid rock really but considered proto-metal) and Black Sabbath (’70) are the inital building block. I grew up in the 80′s and saw Maiden give way to Hair Metal. Then came mathrockesque neo-metal revival: Melvins, Breadwinner, Sepultura, The Fucking Champs, Mastadon et al. Sure there was always Slayer, and in truth, when mainstream metal went cheese there was serious underground splinter factions ‘keeping it real’ all along. See various Black Metal church burning, Thor whorshipping, lead guitarists commiting suicide so the remaining band members can wear pieces of his skull on chains around their neck, bands. Though I’ve never been one for that cookie monster voice/autistic drumming/arpeggio fest stuff. Out in Portland once trying to discuss it with a fan he explained to me what I’m into is ‘art metal’. But we were equally frustrated to encounter other fans who tried to relate by naming Tool, Metallica (yeah yeah yeah, ‘first few albums’ blah blah…but they went on to show their true colors…) or somesuch.
But she is of a different era. Image means just as much as the music. Rumors about pacts with the devil or what the acronym of your band name might stand for just don’t cut it anymore. The actual music she’s into strikes me as weak but I must say I’m taken by the imagery – after all I’m also an asian horror fan. And she had no interest in the ‘Honey Bucket’ video, as the guys had no budget and most likely shot it on some friend’s goat farm. Well, I guess you’d call that a ranch…
What can you do? The world is always changing. And in some ways it isn’t. At one point she typed ‘no one cares about the pain of the youth today’. *Ahem* I encouraged her to check out Nietzsche, esp. as she can read it in the original form (whoops, I mean ‘Prussian’). One thing’s for sure, alienated, pained youths didn’t used to have connectivity like this. A good and a bad thing on different levels.
This post could splinter in a variety of directions with discussions of ‘industrial’ (by which I’m talking Throbbing Gristle, Brighter Death Now school i.e. dark experimental music; not some sexy, whiny bitch dance music), or ‘punk’, whatever that means. But the fact is the tree branches just keep on splintering. There is good and bad in all genres, like always, and no accounting for taste. But personally I’d like to see the actual riffs and fills stay strong – keep striving for originality in the actual sound, not just the eye candy. But what do I know, I’m just some ranting geezer. So without further ado, here’s the Japanese band Dir en Grey-



I would also point out my American-centric and essentially hard rock shaped tastes when I go to complain about how fluffy the chorus of ‘Obscure’ seems to me, but when you consider the rich tradition of Japanese noise rock (see also Japanoise), there really isn’t much excuse for those boys. It’s marketing, slick and at root ‘mainstream’, despite some of what you see. Makes you wonder about future decades of hard music/image-

*also props to Sam Dunn for general research and info*

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/27/suddenly-marylin-manson-comes-off-like-rebecca-of-sunnybrook-farm/feed/ 6 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/26/origin-of-the-spatula/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/26/origin-of-the-spatula/#comments Thu, 26 Oct 2006 16:38:20 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/26/origin-of-the-spatula/ Another gem from the Jasonaut vault. Careful ladies: sure, you’re just letting some guys video tape this now. Maybe they ARE older pervy freaks, but it’s fairly innocent. However within 10 years technology will be available for them to share this with the entire globe!, right about the time you may have settled down with families of your own. Luckily, they may be ethical enough to not use your full names, to at least hamper the google search.
Horny young fools with younger women. The girls love to come ‘hang out’ at the bachelor pad, and do so often (btw, there were several more not shown here). The men make their move, but to no avail (well, one of the three of us hooked up…often) turns out the girls only want the attention. Their ethics don’t prevent them from ‘dick teasing’. But one night, after some drinks and some Indigo Girls (or whatever that shit is playing in the back ground) to soften the mood, maybe they get talked into some silly stuff like this. Don’t get too wound up before you hit play….it ain’t all that.
But I got full on ‘spatula fever’. I brought it back to the east coast, found some new fem buddies through which to work out the frustration. There was an era there, when some friends were living in the mattress factory, that once the drinking started – it was only a matter of time ’til the spatula came out. A woman even gave me one wrapped in a bow from christmas. There we were, dancing around to Abba or whatever, taking shots at one another and whooping, wiggling, and rubbing the red marks. Newcomers were often pulled into the game whether they liked it or not, it was their asses that made them worthy of spatula magic.
What I really wish I had is a video of that one Brazillian woman who’s apartment we randomly spilled over into on New Years Eve. They were all chic and well dressed, accepting of other unknown revelers but unaware of our dorky fun. I was biting my lip the entire time I was in there, the pancake flipper literaly vibrating in my coat pocket. She/her pooper was SO fine, and I simply didn’t have enough time (or balls) to socialize our relationship to the point of making the act acceptable; and I can’t just ‘spank and run’, because it’s all about ‘spank and spank again’.
Yeah, give ol’ Ahab a few drinks and he’ll tell you all about ‘the one that got away’….

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/26/origin-of-the-spatula/feed/ 0 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/24/gail-orenstein-rocks/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/24/gail-orenstein-rocks/#comments Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:20:40 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/24/gail-orenstein-rocks/ I found this woman recently through Flickr. She’s a professional photographer who’s travelled all over the world, and the thing most likely to catch a hetero male (or bi female) eye about her work are lots of shots of sex workers. Lately she posts these along with headlines taken from current events, often with ironicly comedic results, and posts the entire article under the pic. But there are lots of other shots of all types of people from all over the world. From her own statements found on various sites:

A sex worker is a truth worker, if only Washington had the values of most hookers

I am promoting lookism, extending the power of wonderful sexual images and other photographs from around the world that I have shot-

I photograph the sex workers, prisioners, poverty, war and difficult marginal sitautions.
I will now merge these forgotten people with the headlines of the news, usually only shown with pictures of the powerful, or blonde news presenters!!!

The world is a chaotic flux of images upon which we impose a meaning. My photography aims to crush through the imposed meanings to get to the image itself.

From the image I find an infinate number of unconventional meanings-this is particularly why I like strippers and drag queens because I try and remove them from a sexual context and place them in a freespace where all kinds of meanings can arise for the viewers.

I studied photojournalism at The School of The Art Instiute of Chicago and than received a Masters there as well. I was a stringer for AP when I was twenty-four years old. I worked for the mayors office in Chicago and a press photographer for the Immigration Office in Chicago, and Telemundo channel 44 and for the Hilary Rodham Clinton foundation for children. I also won the Patagonia travel award but I didn’t go at the time. I have received several grants but they were never large enough to pay for my photography. I was invited to join Gamma and I received a post in South Asia. I could not take it as we had spent all of our money coming to live in Europe. I continued to shoot everything even though I was not linked to an agency and than Corbis/Sygma picked me up and I ended up leaving.

I love my early photos from my days in Central America in 1982 when I went and photographed prisons in Guatemala. I have travelled around the world capturing everything from sex workers to Russian prisons and riots in Serbia.

(I did a little typo editing in the text, might have missed some-ed.)

Here’s a link to a few photo-essays. Note: click where it says ‘photos’ to begin the text for the various countries represented.

Here are the links to her Flickr (warning:lots of boobs) and MySpace pages. Apparently she has a podcast as well, but I haven’t gotten that far yet…

Also thanx to the Doc for turning me on to Gail’s work!

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/24/gail-orenstein-rocks/feed/ 0 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/21/kerouacs-death-day/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/21/kerouacs-death-day/#comments Sat, 21 Oct 2006 13:16:11 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/21/kerouacs-death-day/ It was on this day in ’69 old alchy Ti Jean gave up the ghost. Here’s a montage of him representing some of his best (but of course the very best couldn’t have been televised) on the Steve Allen show (oh, sure your ain’t nervous Jacky boy) and some of his worst, dead drunk making of fool of himself, in front of the ultimate cocksuck William Buckley Jr. no less. The more you read from and about him, the more you realize the general public had no idea who this guy was or what he was doing. He had golden moments of transcending much of the muck, but then there was that which he just couldn’t let go of, and it took him on down. Well, it took the mortal coil down, the rest is still out there.

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/21/kerouacs-death-day/feed/ 10 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/09/ches-death-day/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/09/ches-death-day/#comments Mon, 09 Oct 2006 22:19:08 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/09/ches-death-day/ On this day in ’67, recently turned over by American CIA/Special Forces fresh from the Vietnam conflict flown in for the ‘hunt’, Che Guevara was executed by the Bolivan govt.

I can’t find a link to my favorite quote of his, so I’ll parphrase from a documentary through which I heard this:

‘I’ve found the greatest relief for my asthma to come from the aroma of gunpowder.’

It’s also John Lennon’s birthday. He was killed by a paranoid wacko as well. Both of these guys have been much mulled over in the public mind, and most Americans have some impression of each. Leftists who stood tall with a middle finger raises to ‘the Man’, fighting in different ways and to different result, but both clearly ‘enemy’ to certain minds. One said ‘Peace’ often while the other was more into saying ‘War”, but both were also saying in no uncertain terms ‘Revolution’.

It may be harder to find megolithic Rock icons these days, but Latin America still represents with the revolutionaries. Subcommandante Marcos in a way embodies the spirit of both John and Che, check him out, and the excellent documentary A Place Called Chiapas.

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/10/09/ches-death-day/feed/ 0 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/28/giant-puppetviral-ad-phenom-in-iceland/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/28/giant-puppetviral-ad-phenom-in-iceland/#comments Thu, 28 Sep 2006 21:49:56 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/28/giant-puppetviral-ad-phenom-in-iceland/ I first found this through woostercollective.com, a great site for street art. There are links to several youtube clips from different angles. What is apparently seen is a giant puppet walking through the streets of Reykjavík, operated by large helicopters, a stunt pulled off by a jeans company I’m intentionaly not going to name.

But I quickly became intrested in how many commenters thought this episode was some sort of CGI fakery. Everything from the type of helicopter used not being available in Iceland, obvious saftey issues, to the names of the people posting on youtube sounding fake were used in the argument. So presented here are several angles linked from youtube (certainly you can find more if you want). And first, here’s a link to one of the debates you can find surrounding this stunt which went down only a few weeks ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56jr2RZej18

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akHq3p5QlCk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UznxqvJJ80g

I’m scratching my head as much as you, but I’m not thinking CGI, or if so, the wrong people are working for Lucasfilm… Anyway, advertising is getting more intense, and while on the one hand I feel like a chump for ‘fueling the fire’, this sort of creativity and execution I feel is worth commenting on.
Also special shout out to Robot and her buddy who were recently visiting Iceland, but if they knew anything about this, I haven’t heard about it yet. I think it happened before they arrived and started enjoying the $8 beers-

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/28/giant-puppetviral-ad-phenom-in-iceland/feed/ 5 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/24/do-you-know-dick/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/24/do-you-know-dick/#comments Sun, 24 Sep 2006 18:33:32 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/24/do-you-know-dick/ I had expected A Scanner Darkly to be my ‘film of the summer’, but unfortunately didn’t get to see it until well after Labor Day. I wasn’t disappointed, but coming from such a solid novel and in the hands of a compitent director, there was no surprise there. My only minor complaints are hair related – first of all, Woody H. in that wig, and secondly why have Winona blonde when she could already be Philip’s classic, nefarious ‘dark haried girl’? Anyway, the film speaks for itself. I assume the clip here will be included in the DVD extras, a rare PK Dick interview where he talks about a home invasion in the 70′s where much of his archives where stolen. And this act upon a guy who already had enough paranoia in his life.

I sort of thought Scanner would have been a bigger film, but don’t mind that it wasn’t. Spielberg and Cruise doing an adaptation of one of Dick’s stories was a bit too close for comfort. I don’t necessarily want to see one of my favorite SF writers become Hollywood fodder, and he has dozens and dozens of brilliant short stories, surely more films adaptations are to come. May they all be done as tastefully as Blade Runner. The biggest I’d say still to look for, and I could handle an animated version, is The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/24/do-you-know-dick/feed/ 0 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/18/a-chi-li-list-of-intense-japanese-films-not-to-be-missed/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/18/a-chi-li-list-of-intense-japanese-films-not-to-be-missed/#comments Mon, 18 Sep 2006 18:04:23 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/18/a-chi-li-list-of-intense-japanese-films-not-to-be-missed/ Title : Year of Release : Director

• Rashomon ’50 Akira Kurosawa
• Seven Samuri ’54 Akira Kurosawa
• Yojimbo ’61 Akira Kurosawa
• The Insect Woman ’63 Shohemi Imamura
• Youth of the Beast ’63 Seijun Suzuki
• Woman in the Dunes ’64 Hiroshi Teshigahara
• Gate of Flesh ’64 Seijun Suzuki
• Tokyo Drifter ’66 Seijun Suzuki
• Double Suicide ’69 Masahiro Shinoda
• Blind Beast ’69 Yasuzo Masumura
• Lady Snowblood ’73 Toshiya Fujita
• Sexy and Furry ’73 Norifumi Suzuki
• In the Realm of the Senses ’76 Nagisa Oshima
• The Ballad of Narayama ’83 Shohemi Imamura
• Ran ’85 Akira Kurosawa
• Tampopo ’85 Juzo Itami
• Testsuo the Ironman ’89 Shinya Tsukamato
• Black Rain ’89 Shohemi Imamura
• Tokyo Decadence ’92 Ryu Murakami
• Angel Dust ’94 Sogo Ishii
• Audition ’99 Takashi Miike
• Battle Royale ’00 Kinji Fukasaku
• Ichi the Killer ’01 Takashi Miike
• Pulse ’01 Kiyoshi Kurosawa
• Suicide Club ’02 Sion Sono

I have listed only films I have personally seen and can vouch for, though clearly I’m on a quest to check out more from the catalogs of each director. Also, I have given English titles here, which should be OK for database searches – but many of these films had several English titles. Multiple genres are represented here: horror, suspense, sexploitation, classics, experimental (also for any who don’t realize – lots of ‘Adult Situations/nudity/blood and kooky fucking’ represented here), but it’s all ‘live action’ I have excluded anime – perhaps that’s another list for another time. The idea is: films I consider to be worth seeing – but to sit and watch this list over a long weekend, there would be a lack of continuity in ‘overall quality’. I’d like this list to grow so please post others you find noteworthy and I’ll check them out.

*Akira Kurosawa is considered a ‘master of world cinema’, most all of his films rule. I have only mentioned what I consider to be the MOST important/possibly overlooked*

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/18/a-chi-li-list-of-intense-japanese-films-not-to-be-missed/feed/ 1 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/17/alan-moore-tells-a-tale-of-witchcraft/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/17/alan-moore-tells-a-tale-of-witchcraft/#comments Sun, 17 Sep 2006 19:16:04 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/17/alan-moore-tells-a-tale-of-witchcraft/ So that guy in the clip who looks like he won the “Jethro Tull: Ultimate Fan” contest is in fact Alan Moore, creator of the graphic novels ‘V for Vendetta’ (from which the recent film was made) and the far more impressive ‘Watchmen’ (which part of me hopes will never appear on the big screen, unless an animated verison, and a very indie production if that).

Thanks Hashtoker for ‘unlocking the code’.

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/17/alan-moore-tells-a-tale-of-witchcraft/feed/ 1 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/07/dylan-37-years-ago/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/07/dylan-37-years-ago/#comments Thu, 07 Sep 2006 22:35:00 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/07/dylan-37-years-ago/ As a nod to how well the latest Robert Zimmerman record is doing, here he is performing on The Johnny Cash show (that’s right! ran on ABC from ’69-’71). It’s that ‘Nashville Skyline’ voice he’s singing in. The entire song is rather ironic and deep, about romantic relationships, but also a metaphor to the enduring power of a bard who ‘threw it all away’ and has been able to ‘bring it all back home’ several times. Volume of the clip is low, so turn up now-

The entire thing is weird on several levels: imagine what the average Dylan fan looked like in ’69 and Bob himself appears relatively conservative. He was a few years past his ‘gone electric’ ‘sacrelidge’ against the folkies, recently having turned out a rather straight up country record – always mixing it up and refusing stasis for the sake of fandom. Johnny himself presenting more enigmas: a man with a history of dope and delinquency putting forward the face of ‘wholesome country host’. In all, an interesting era on many levels for a variety of reasons. They were actually friends behind the scenes, and according to the recent Scorsese doc, Bob was really touched when The Man in Black preserved a country music tradition by giving his guitar to the younger songwriter – a symbolic and literal ‘passing of the torch’.

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/07/dylan-37-years-ago/feed/ 2 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/05/dragoncon-06/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/05/dragoncon-06/#comments Tue, 05 Sep 2006 21:44:20 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/05/dragoncon-06/ So another Dragoncon has come and gone. Once again I went down to get some pics and sneak around, past pesky hotel security, to take pictures without paying for a pass, and if you’d seen the line to get passes, you wouldn’t judge me on this, unless, I guess – you were in that line. Besides, manunderstress and I bought t-shirts from one of the vendors in the main hall. To any who may not understand the appeal of this event, I found the following film (sorry about the music in advance):

You can see some pics through the Flickr badge below (column right), and in the future, a compilation of some of my ’05/’06 fav shots. One of these years I plan to go down there for the full ride, get a room, party righteously, investigate the ubiquitous rumors of ‘Klingon Orgies’ which seem to circulate yearly. But let us never forget the words of the great ComicBook Guy (M. Lisner?), “Cheeseburgers and loneliness are a dangerous mix.”

(ed. note- sorry that video above was yanked, but the following illustrates the same point 6/8/07)

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/09/05/dragoncon-06/feed/ 2 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/08/30/chinese-female-pirates/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/08/30/chinese-female-pirates/#comments Wed, 30 Aug 2006 04:25:01 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/2006/08/30/chinese-female-pirates/

I’m not exactly sure where my research began, but I’ve got this thing about female Chinese pirates (wha?…I don’t tell you what to think about when you’re “spankin’ the pig”…), the most famous of which may be Cheng I Sao AKA Ching Shih. She was essentially a stone-cold, freak badass: started as a whore, married the pirate Cheng I, went on to eventually command a fleet of 2,000 ships, terrorized the coast of 19th century southern China, and later hooked up with her adopted son (again…wha? call it the ‘reverse Woody Allen‘ if you must). I half assed tried to do some research on her and other ‘ladies of the black flag’ when I was over in Beijing earlier this year, but with little result. First of all I was in the wrong part of the country, had absurd language skills, and we are talking history here. The closest I came was a NatGeo special in english about pirates: I sensed I had tuned in just as they were finishing up ‘history’ to talk about modern day piracy, the facts of which may surprise you.

Anyway, images of the actual Cheng I Sao are obviously hard to come by, if not nil, but I found this artist depiction above on DeviantArt.com thanks to mooncalfe, who was kind enough to let me use it here. Definitely check out his site, buy something if you can – he’s quite an artist, and also wanted me to mention some ‘libertys’ he took in the illustration of she and her son/lover: there is no mention of her being able to paint with her toes, or command a zombie army (see his notes below the enlargement)…

A book, Bold in Her Breeches, is a starting point if you want to continue your research on female pirates in general, though I have yet to read it. In a notebook I have this list of other Chinese female pirates and their alias’, though I am no longer sure where this list came from, and I can find no other info on any of them… But of course if I break new ground, I’ll pass the info on. BTW, there’s a Chinese pirate in the 3rd of the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ francise, so I’m ahead of the curve here and don’t be surprised if Chinese Pirates (or CP’s) suddenly get huge. But don’t forget, it’s REALLY about the FCP’s-

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/08/30/chinese-female-pirates/feed/ 5 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/08/23/saccovanzetti/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/08/23/saccovanzetti/#comments Wed, 23 Aug 2006 17:03:47 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/2006/08/23/saccovanzetti/

Today is the anniversery of the Sacco-Vanzetti execution, events I was turned on to through Vonnegut’s Jailbird (-thanx Kurt). These events are relevant not only as part of a lesser know darker side of US histroy, as well as the history of the Anarchist experience in America, but with a little reading, parrallels quickly become obvious with the current political climate of the country and potential dangers relative innocents may face.

Contrary to the usual practice of Massachusetts courts, Vanzetti was tried first in the summer of 1920 on the lesser of the two charges, the failed Bridgewater robbery. Despite a strong alibi supported by many wit nesses, Vanzetti was found guilty. Most of Vanzetti’s witnesses were Italians who spoke English poorly, and their trial testimony, given largely in translation, failed to convince the American jury. Vanzetti’s case had also been seriously damaged when he, for fear of revealing his radical activities, did not take the stand in his own defense.

The arrest of Sacco and Vanzetti had coincided with the period of the most intense political repression in American history, the “Red Scare” 1919-20. The police trap they had fallen into had been set for a comrade of theirs, suspected primarily because he was a foreign-born radical. While neither Sacco nor Vanzetti had any previous criminal record, they were long recognized by the authorities and their communities as anarchist militants who had been extensively involved in labor strikes, political agitation, and antiwar propaganda and who had had several serious confrontations with the law. They were also known to be dedicated supporters of Luigi Galleani’s Italian-language journal Cronaca Sovversiva, the most influential anarchist journal in America, feared by the authorities for its militancy and its acceptance of revolutionary violence.

Sacco and Vanzetti were executed on August 23, 1927, a date that became a watershed in twentieth-century American history. It became the last of a long train of events that had driven any sense of utopian vision out of American life. The workings of American democracy now seemed to many Americans as flawed and unjust as many of the older societies of the world, no longer embodying any bright ideal, but once again serving the interests of the rich and the powerful.

Read the entire page from which these various quotations are taken here. Technology and globalization have changed the game to some extent, but in terms of what Burroughs might have called CONTROL – the enemy excercies the same tactics. If this knowledge interests you at all, I urge you to make the effort to continue your research.

“Same as it ever was” – D. Byrne

“Same same, but different” – unusual but appropriate Thai expression

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/08/23/saccovanzetti/feed/ 0 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/08/04/why-clog-your-harddrive-with-filthy-evidence/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/08/04/why-clog-your-harddrive-with-filthy-evidence/#comments Fri, 04 Aug 2006 21:32:14 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/2006/08/04/why-clog-your-harddrive-with-filthy-evidence/ So when you’re out there in the blogoverse, ingesting information, tackling code and searching for that missing semi-colon that will make it all right and ‘clicktasic’- you gain access to certain priveledged facts and links. Then you have to decide if ethics grant that you might share this info with your loyal readership, listeners – in the case of podcasts.
While I’ve chosen not to embed this sort of thing within my pristine posts (….for now), I have decided to go ahead and ‘spread the word’. So reach for your astroglide, blow up dolls, dolphins, butterflys, dual-headed ebony kong, flashlight thingys – whatever tunes your harmonica, and light a scented candle folks, because here comes (cue drumroll) pornotube, though something tells me the lawyers aren’t far behind…

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/08/04/why-clog-your-harddrive-with-filthy-evidence/feed/ 5 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/07/28/shooter/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/07/28/shooter/#comments Fri, 28 Jul 2006 19:26:51 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/?p=54 So I met this guy through tribe.net. He’s gone over to Iraq three times now (his is the story to the right of the other and continues below the first one, if you look at the pictures it makes more sense) since the war began and was recently in Afghanistan. He got a blurb mention in Playboy, as he was writing about underground sex and that’s the sort of thing they might pick up on. Maybe I’ll have a chance to do a podcast with him someday. This is what I call ‘balls out’ journalism. William T. Vollmann did a similar thing, self-financed, back when the Afghani ‘Freedom Fighters’ where doing battle with the Soviet army. Best of luck to ya, Shooter!

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/07/28/shooter/feed/ 0 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/07/25/whats-better-than-sex-crazed-beatniks/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/07/25/whats-better-than-sex-crazed-beatniks/#comments Wed, 26 Jul 2006 01:45:46 +0000 chillycasey http://www.the10000things.com/?p=42 Why, Japanese sex crazed beatniks of course! I think this film actually came out after ‘beat’ had it’s heyday (don’t know what it was like in Japan…..) but still has that look and feel due to the clothing, the jazz. The japanese also got away with being more openly S+M of course. ‘They do everything-’ Count how many times the narrator guy says the title of the film.

(ed. note- not so surprisingly, this one was yanked too, sorry)

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/07/25/whats-better-than-sex-crazed-beatniks/feed/ 5 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/07/19/vader-sessions/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/07/19/vader-sessions/#comments Wed, 19 Jul 2006 11:56:46 +0000 chillycasey http://rickworks.org/the10000things/blog/?p=38

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/07/19/vader-sessions/feed/ 0 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/07/17/god-i-miss-those-days/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/07/17/god-i-miss-those-days/#comments Tue, 18 Jul 2006 03:15:21 +0000 chillycasey http://rickworks.org/the10000things/blog/?p=25

And it’s all the easier to miss them when watching a cute chick with an accent discovering her inner godess. Those were the days my friends! Especially love the intro to one of my fave Harrison tunes at the end. Wonder where it went from there: this clip, …..everything, the whole trip, man….

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/07/17/god-i-miss-those-days/feed/ 1 http://www.the10000things.com/2006/07/15/fuck-tarantino/ http://www.the10000things.com/2006/07/15/fuck-tarantino/#comments Sun, 16 Jul 2006 02:47:24 +0000 chillycasey http://rickworks.org/the10000things/blog/?p=13 So, to those of you who know me, this may sound like old hat, rehash, but for those who dont: I think Q Tarantino is an absurdly overrated director and pop figure who exploits the average Americans limited sense of history and historical context. He doesn’t pay homage to films, he rips them off, and he gets away with it because no one cares to go fact checking on him. That having been said, Resevior Dogs is an important film, everything after……
A long time fan of the work of Sam Peckinpah, it disturbed me to hear how much cred this LA cheeseball was getting for being so ‘gritty’ and ‘cutting edge’. There will never be films like Pekinpah’s better stuff made again. Rip off artist Tarantino is only destined to be ripped off by future others. So, as my film exploration continues to grow, I’ve decided to make part of this blog exposing the blatant rip offs from panty sniffer Tarantino where and when I find them. OK, now he is well quoted as giving credit to the link I’m gonna give, but takes it for granted you will never go and dig in the vault yourself. You’ve seen ‘Star Wars’, check out Kurosawa’s ‘Hidden Fortress’, there’s quite a similarity in scenes near the beginings of each film. Still, this I would consider to be ‘inspiration’ as the context is different, this is influence, this is homage. If you loved ‘Kill Bill 1+2′ (which I consider to be unwatchable) check out

then go check out

and come on back to me with what you think about your boy ‘T bag’. Sure, the genre samuri and chop sockey films rip each other shamlessly, just like westerns, detective ‘noir’ pulp and many other genres. But I’m on a mission to expose this rube’s ‘stunning originality’. I don’t see the point in remakes, and definitely not in theft. True originality is hard to attain, but if the viewing audience are going to allow themselves to become such gulible sheep, what’s the point in ever making another movie again?

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2006/07/15/fuck-tarantino/feed/ 2 http://www.the10000things.com/2005/09/29/04-cambodia-story/ http://www.the10000things.com/2005/09/29/04-cambodia-story/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2005 16:00:25 +0000 chillycasey http://rickworks.org/the10000things/blog/?p=29 How much can you trust Cambodia? How much can you trust yourself in Cambodia?

]]> http://www.the10000things.com/2005/09/29/04-cambodia-story/feed/ 1 0:38:46 How much can you trust Cambodia? How much can you trust yourself in Cambodia? How much can you trust Cambodia? How much can you trust yourself in Cambodia? Podcast, writers the10000things@gmail.com no no