Up Rotoscope

Here's a nice little rotoscoping animation set to music of the wonderful band, Neutral Milk Hotel. I spend a good deal of time scoping youtube for interesting animation. I really need to focus.

The Vinyl Solution

I have never been a huge collector of stuff. I usually own just what I need. I tend to have a lot of books because I'm an information junkie plus I just finished writing a thesis, so my shelves right now are brimming over. However, I'm usually not the kind of person who fetishizes the object and surrounds himself with knick-knacks and curios as a kind of expression of identity or as a shield against the world (excuse my over-simplified psycho-babble). As a matter of fact, I'm known for purging my belongings every few years when I get the feeling that I have amassed too many material goods. However, recently I have started collecting vinyl records at a rate that threatens both my physical living space and my budget. I attribute this need partially to the huge changes I have recently experienced in my life which have rendered the near future as a gigantic question mark.

I have spent the last near-decade working as a clerk selling used lps and books at an amazing independent bookstore. A small portion of our clientèle consists of vinyl fetishists who are so annoying, weird, and compulsive, that any interest I had in lps was quashed by these strange men who spend insane amounts of money on music that nobody else in their right mind would ever buy in a format that is antiquated and obsolete. "Yes, yes!" I cry. I am aware of the archival stability of records, and I am certainly no stranger to acquiring music that could rightly be called, if not obscure, then at least not top 40. However, my need to purge every few years, coupled with my distaste for the collector mentality, has rendered my collection of lps to an amount that never exceeds more than two small 1' ft. square boxes. I am a huge music fan, and I do work at a great music store, so I always have plenty of music on hand. It is simply that I don't feel the need to hold on to things forever.

During the last few years, I have become a big proponent of digital music, my hard drive is filled with around 80 gigs of music at any given time, because it allowed me to acquire a huge library of music, without the material build-up. However, I have recently found myself unsatisfied with this as my sole means of musical acquisition in that the music itself seems temporary and ephemeral. I really like the thing-ness of an album.

I think that this is only half the equation. I think that my recent graduation with an MA, and my uncertain future have driven me to turn to material goods as a kind of security blanket. I have had mini-occurrences like this before, where I balanced instability in my life with material things, only to purge later on. However, I think that this time I might hold on to these albums a little while longer. I feel a real kind of sea change coming regarding both material goods and music. I don't know what it is, but I feel that there is something deeper and conservatory about keeping these records. I'll let you know when I find out what it all means.
I promise to post more in the future.

Avoir les Robots

Last year my wife and I went to Paris where I was doing some research for a project with my mentor professor. Of all the amazing things we saw, this image was probably one of my most favorite things I saw the whole time there. It was wheat-pasted on a wall outside of the hotel where we stayed in the 6th Arrondissement about 3 blocks from Notre Dame. I almost forgot about it, but was looking for another image and stumbled across it. The thing I love most about the image is the fact that it is a robot with bucked teeth. This means that if this were a "real" robot, then somebody intentionally designed an anthropomorphized robot with a condition most people consider a physical defect. Second, it means that somebody decided to give a robot a set of teeth in the first place!

Holy Belief System!

The fine folks over at adherents.com have a page dedicated to the religious affiliations of hundreds of superheroes and supervillans. Every geek worth his slightly flabby salt knows Kitty Pryde is Jewish, but I must admit that I did not know that Green Arrow was a practicing Buddhist!

Centaur-fold

I really need to post more often. I am trying to finish my Master's Thesis and blah, blah, blah.

Here's a lovely Centaur t-shirt I give to you as a peace offering for my being absent for so long. Go here for more geeky, mythological, fantasy t-shirt needs.

Pop and Locke

Most of you who know me know that I have an irrational love for the television program LOST. Even though the third season has been somewhat in shambles thematically and in plotting, I still watch diligently.

Anyway, here's one of the nerdiest things I've ever posted in my entire internet existence. Not only does the fact that it is a LOST tribute picture make me a mouth breathing fanboy who is barely able to control his bodily functions in public due to the intense mental acumen required to project himself in a state of constant immersion into his sad little fantasy world, but it is also based on the lamest of warmed over word-play. Ladies and gentlen - I give you my sad little life.

Neu Kid in Town

This is one of my favorite videos ever on youtube. The formula is simple: baby + solid color background + bubbles + pioneering Krautrock band Neu = pure visual bliss.

When All is Syd and Done

Here is a video from July 2006 of John Frussciante of the Red Hot Chili Pepper's playing Syd Barret's "Jugband Blues" at a concert in Manchester right after Syd's death. I am by no means a huge fan of the Chili Peppers, although I admire their longevity and their desire to give 100% when they play live, but I've always appreciated John Frusciante, and really enjoy some of his solo albums. Anyway, Frusciante has always played around in the same kinds of territory (both musically and mentally) as Barrett, and I find this cover of one of Syd's more upfront songs about his mental condition, Jugband Blues, to be a sweetly moving tribute by a fan after the passing of one of his musical heroes.

Space is the Place

Ain't it Cool News has a piece on a really interestingly looking documentary called Future by Design about architect, designer, and scientist Jacques Fresco who designs Utopian cities that look like 1950s visions of the future.


This film looks amazing to me as I grew up looking at the work of artists like Don Davis, pictured above, who created a vision of the future so exciting to my 8-year-old brain, that I couldn't wait until the year 1995 when I could live in a space colony orbiting the planet. Needless to say I'm more than a little disappointed in the progress made in that area. I'm just happy to see that there are still people in the world like Mr. Fresco who still have that wide-eyed kind of vision about the future that fueled so much of my formative years.

Show and Tell

I hate to use this space for shameless self promotion, but I am playing my first show in months this Friday, September 8th in Dallas at the Cavern. It's located 1914 Lower Greenville, Dallas, Tx.

Mad (Office) Max

Evidently this has been around a while, but it's new to me. A person known only as the Whaler posted this on the Denton Rock City board. Here are four panels from a sixteen panel pamphlet by the artist Packard Jennings, which provides detailed instructions on how to overthrow your work place and create an anarchic agrarian utopia from its remnants. It is meant to be sent back to companies who send junk mail in the very same business reply envelopes which they provide. It's in a frame so when you go here, take the link that says, "Business Reply Pamphlet." Of course the artist's other stuff is also very much worth checking out.

69 Videos

My friend Jamie Courville is a film maker in NYC and also part of a collective that is making videos/short films for every single song on the Magnetic Fields' masterwork 69 Love Songs. Below are two videos made so far. The first is the wistful and beautiful "Abigale Belle of Kilronan" made by Jamie herself. The second is the brilliant and kinetic "Crazy for You but not that Crazy" made by an Irish gentleman whose name I can't remember.

Irish Manuscript Found in Bog

I know I'm a little late on this, but a bulldozer driver working for a fertilizer company in Ireland unearthed an 8th-9th century psalter in a bog. This article calls the find akin to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. I think that's jumping the gun just a bit, but it is a remarkable and very cool find nonetheless.

Centaur of Attention

Kyron is a man who dresses as a centaur. He is available for parties.

link

Tropocalia Pioneer Tico da Costa

Here's a video of Tropocalia pioneer Tico da Costa telling stories about the guitar playing styles of his "four uncles" and demonstrating said styles. This video not only shows the immense musical talent of this legendary performer, but also his sense of humor.

Thanks to Chris for shooting and providing the video.

George Washington

My friend Brian alerted me to this. It's an animated video about the greatest warrior of all time, George Washington! It might be one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. It feeds into my latest fascination with humor that is based upon giving completely erroneous information about well-know things. In the same vein I also highly recommend the BBC series "Look Around You," which are parodies/tributes to in-class science programs from the 70s and 80s.

Update Sept 3, 2006

It turns out the creator of the "George Washington" song and video is Austin, Tx comic artist Brad Neely, author of Creased Comics. Mr. Neely is also the creator of the very funny and subversive alternative soundtrack to the film "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" called, "Wizard People, Dear Reader".

Moondog

I've recently been re-discovering Moondog, one of the great American eccentrics and experimenters. This blind street musician spent most of his time in New York in the 50s and released several albums and 78s throughout the 60s and 70s. He composed many different kinds of music including: jazz, classical, folk music (especially rounds), and weird genre bending stuff where he made his own instruments much like Harry Partch.


Moondog was known for wearing a Viking helmet and carrying a spear. How could you not love the guy?

Medieval Knievel

I study medieval art. I especially love Insular art, otherwise known as art of the British isles. I look at Hiberno-Saxon Manuscripts, which means stuff that's a mix between English and Irish. Specifically I'm interested in things from Northumbria.

It's difficult enough sometimes trying to explain to the average Jane or Joe what it is exactly that Art Historians do. Most of the time people think I'm a painter, and I usually leave it at that. Most Art History people I know have this problem, and in the end it's not that big of a deal. People generally understand that I am in someway involved with some kind of academic pursuit, and that's fine. On the other hand, as a Medievalist I get asked all the time if I go to Renaissance Faires or if I am a member of SCA. Sometimes people even ask me if I dress up in tights and play with swords. The answer to these questions is always a firm no, except for the tights part, but that's a long and very private story and ultimately has nothing to do with Medievalism.

I always want to ask these people if they think that people who study art of Rome walk around in togas. Look, I know that because of things like the SCA that people assume that all Medievalists are re-creationists, but this is simply not true, although admittedly there are some. I do understand where people get the impression; just do a search for "medieval" on youtube, and you'll se what I mean. To set the record straight, however, most medievalists tend to leave the chainmail off.

The only other kind of historical scholarship I can think of right now that also has an entire culture of people who dress and act from that period on a mass scale are American War buffs. I wonder if Ken Burn's ever gets asked if he dresses like General Lee? This isn't to say that there aren't other re-creationist groups out there, it's just that the Civil War and the Middle Ages seem to be the two biggies.

I guess my point is that next time you are at a party with a Medievalist, don't assume that he or she has a sword in the trunk of their car, or that they make leather cups, or that they play D&D. While most of us are fairly geeky, we don't necessarily dress the part.

First post of the new era

I've spent most of this Summer away from Texas. I was in France from the last week in May until the first week in June. After that I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the month of July. It's been nice. Texas is always unreasonably hot in the Summer, so it was nice to be in two places where the weather doesn't assault you as soon as you open the door to go to work in the morning.

I'm about to start my last year at UNT and finish up my Master's in Art History. I'm really excited. I'm starting the long process of applying to various Ph.D. programs. I'm not sure where Rhonda and I are gonna be in a year, but it will be my first time to live outside of Texas. This semester I will also begin writing my Master's thesis. I'm looking at Insular (British and Irish) medieval manuscripts, specifically 7th and 8th century gospel books. I'm also ging to be teacher assisting this semester along with working at Recycled Books on the weekends. As always I will be incredibly busy. The most difficult thing is making sure that I spend enough time with Rhonda. Sometimes it's easy to get wrapped up in the grad school whirlwind that I forget to do my job as a husband.

Speaking of, Rhonda and I pulled out our respective insturments last night (guitar=me and drums=Rhonda) and played. It was a lot of fun. Maybe this could turn into something...

We shall see.

Long time....

So here's the thing...
I've decided to try and update this here blog every few days. Originally, I thought I'd only put stuff here that either really chapped my hide, or stuff I thought was really interesting. Things didn't go exactly as planned. I have found that the most important things in life are found through the daily details and the little things. When I try to separate the monumental from the quotidian, whatever I write seems forced and unnatural. So, what I'm shooting for is something a little less grand. From now on, nothing but the trivial things that make up my life.

Don't you just love the way it seems that the whole internet appears to be designed to serve one's ego?