art life whatever

i like taking pictures a lot...

and i like it when people say
a particular image resonates with them.

i'm far from naive when it comes to

colour and composition and the other

considerations of image-making

but at the heart of this art

is trying to show people what the world

looks like to me.

all the time.

whether i take a photograph
of it or not.

this is what i see around me 

every day.

there is no 'off' switch.

welcome to bipolar living...

-30-

.

Drugs on the Cover - A Terrible Beauty

.

As old school as it probably is, books still set my bar when it comes to inter-active media. Books and live music top my charts.They float my boat. Make my day. They also kick digital ass.

Reading a book not only requires your attention, 

it demands your imagination.

"Thinking outside the box" didn't seem to be a big issue until people started spending most of their waking hours staring into one.

The computer. 

The TV. 

The windshield. 

What passes for interactivity inside the box to me 

requires all the creativity and intellectual rigour of a rat in a lab cage slapping a bar for a food pellet.

Hmmmm... would I rather read a book or stare into a box and type, or press a button 

on a console really, really fast?

The other thing is this. If you don't read,

you can't write... and for me, if you don't read 

and can't write, you can't think beyond.

Another thing I really like about books

are the covers...and they were never cooler than in the great days of pulp fiction.

When I look at these covers, 

I think to myself "I'd hit that".

-30-

to see more of these gorgeous covers,

hit over to http://www.bookscans.com/

their collection is amazing,
and there's excellent links to more...

.

National Lampoon

.

in my  beginning,
there was Mad magazine.

then, there was
the National  Lampoon...
aka Nat Lamp

is that
the best cover design
in the history
of the printed word,
or what?

in '71,
in the high school cafetorium, 

issues were smuggled in 

like crack.

this was liberation theology...

a psycho-emotional lifeline
plugged into a
big
neon
sign,

blinking

"not insane".

now add in
Monty Python's Flying Circus,

some Kraft miniature marshmallows,
the Mothers of Invention,
street hockey,
Jack Kerouac,
Exiles on Main Street,
heat the knives
drop some red Lebanese,
pop an Ex
and
we'll talk...

after this,
Hunter S.
and William S.
would make sense.

so would patti
and the pistols.

thanks!

hit this: http://www.aaacaricatures.com/madmagazine.html

-30-

.

Generation X

.

who knew 

Generation X

was actually 

retro?

learn way, way more
at bookscans

-30-

.

Conservatives and Climate Change

.

remember Kyoto, and all those crazy dreams 

of maybe giving up the denial thing 

and starting to take a few steps 

towards reducing the rate of increase 

in the crap we're poisoning 

the earth with?

here's a report card on those humble goals 

that were set back then...

oh look.

look and see!

can you see what country 
is the biggest FAIL?

it's Canada!

O Canada... 

so much for standing 

on guard for thee. 

it's just not a 

Conservative thing, eh?

-30-

.

Get Happy... or not

for those who feel flow charts

are better than star charts

or other arts...

for what it's worth...

-30-

.

a bipolar moment

.

.

Gertrude Stein

...years and years ago, when faced
with what some might try
to make a drama moment,
my friend Jing say "pigeons on
the grass, alas" and carry on
calmly, with great fortitude.

here are some other well chosen
words from Gertrude Stein
along with some borrowed
images from her life...

Considering how dangerous everything is,
nothing is really very frightening.

To write is to write is to write is to write is to write is to write is to write is to write.

In France one must adapt oneself 

to the fragrance of a urinal.

I do want to get rich 

but I never want to do 

what there is to do 

to get rich.

Men and girls, men and girls:
Artificial swine and pearls.

It is the soothing thing about history

that it does repeat itself.

“It takes a lot of time to be a genius,

you have to sit around so much 

doing nothing, really doing nothing.”

 


“It is awfully important to know 

what is and what is not 

your business”

We are always the same age inside.

If you can do it then why do it?

no wonder everybody
wanted to go hang out
at Gertrude's house...

-30-

.

And another thing...

.

Recent Demotivators

... here are the latest ones I've done...

 -30-

.

Funkytime in the 416

 

Well, the G20 event was something, eh? It was quite the billion dollar weekend. I've been on a few marches at a few demos over the years, including the "battle" in Seattle and I was glad to watch this one from a few hours north of the Greater Toronto Metro whatever. 

There were a lot of surprising moments during CopFest Toronto, but none greater than the realization of a new, highly active national political coalition in Canada?

Who'd a thunk that the hardest of the Hard Left would be all the way there to pull Mr. Harper's Christian hard-right's bacon out of the fire?

... Just when it seemed like blowing all that money, and screwing up the lives of so many people up in "cottage country" and downtown Toronto, and negatively impacting so many businesses might hang off Steve like a bad smell from here to eternity - or at least the next election - suddenly a couple of hundred alleged anarchists step up and make him a hero.

Naturally, these losers think they are really something- heroes of a revolution that only exists in their activist imaginations. They are as far from the "vanguard" as one can be. The Black Bloc are the best friends that the worst kinds of cops could ever have.

This doesn't mean they are ineffective, though. Just ask Mr. Harper. Thanks to them, he'll probably be back... with a majority.

-30-

.