the Kingdom of Leisure: September 2007

Sunday

Minus One (100), Plus One (0) = All Even

Wish I Owned A Fence Store

"The Department of Homeland Security reached its goal of completing 70 miles of new fencing by the end of this month, nearly doubling the length of barriers on the border to about 145 miles.

"When we make a commitment, we will carry through on the commitment," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff."

The U.S./Mexican border spans 1,952 miles.

"The Secure Fence Act, which President Bush signed into law last fall, called for 700 miles of new fencing. The administration set a goal of completing nearly 300 miles by the end of 2008."

The U.S./Mexican border spans 1,952 miles.

Ahem.

Sports

Phillies (edit: "& Eagles")? Wow. That's something.

Padres & Chargers? Wow. That's something else.

Saturday

Friday

Art & Fear - Bayles & Orland

"Quitting is fundamentally different than stopping. The latter happens all the time. Quitting happens once. Quitting means not starting again--and art is all about starting again."

"Success transmutes into depression."

"[The] desire to make art...is integral to your sense of who you are."

"Making art can feel dangerous and revealing. Making art is dangerous and revealing."

"Vision is always ahead of execution--and should be."

Exactly. 110%. Bingo. Precisely. Exactly.

[clicky]

Oh George...

My man, Bushie!

March 2001:

"Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?"

September 2007:

"Childrens do learn."

OK, so today the kiddo's school had its annual 'Dads & Donuts' gathering.

Here's the premise: The school lures/shames fathers to attend this once-yearly weekday a.m. event (8:00). They provide, donuts (Dunkin'). They have coffee (Starbucks). They have apple and orange juices in tiny cups for the chirrens. Overtly they are trying to build a better father-child-school relationship (through this once-a-year thing).

So, I was thinking, why are they pushing this so hard? In this SES and through my progressive, liberal filter, I figured, 'aren't all fathers involved in their children's primary education?'

But, I've never claimed to be smart, right?

So we arrive and it's packed! See it was packed?! This is what I'm telling you--I think, "look at all of these fathers with their kids." I initially thought it looked like Berkeley or Takoma Park or Park Slope with overly-attentive fathers...all white though.

At the door where we enter the All Purpose Room, some moms handed out flyers. Light green, 8.5 x 11" paper, single-sided printing. Each arriving father received one. Its title:

"Dads and Donuts 2007 -- You make a difference in the life of your child."

Right!

The image is of a adult-male hand holding that of a child. The (white) father appears to be wearing s sweater, as does the child. It must be autumn. Soft focus and blurred background. Tears well.

Jonas Salk is quoted on this thing too:

"Good parents give their children roots and wings--roots to know where home is, wings to fly away and exercise what's been taught them."

Oy! Is all this shit necessary? The place is packed after all. Dads. Donuts. Coffee. Moms serving. See? It's all so...important!

Then I see the Blackberrys. I see the mobile phones popping out. I see suits. I see vacant stares. I see laptop bags! Fathers are talking to fathers. Children are running amok.

Then I tune in to the conversation at my table:

Dad 1: "Does yours fightcha over homework?"
Dad 2: "I dunno, my wife takes care of all that."
Dad 1: (to child): "Buddy, I can only stay a minute, m'kay?"
Dad 2: "How long does this thing go?"
Dad 1: "There's only decaf left!"

And then I knew. Oh. I am surrounded by mopes.

Thursday

I Mean Really

Can't we all be Japanese?

Just So You Know...

...Todd is putting on show too. Ray's producing (and he's definitely NOT the world's worst).

And don't forget to check the alt-text.

Wednesday

All Saints Church - DC

Tuesday

24

...and with the posting of show 26, one could now--if played consecutively--listen to Priceless Banter: The Kingdom of Leisure Show for one full day; 24 full hours. Show 27 is in production and will be posted as early as Friday.

WTF?!

Coming soon, the cast explains just what Priceless Banter is. Next week.

Duh!

Of course!

Why didn't I figure it out before?

Clinton-Bayh ticket 2008

[clicky]

RS+BH=True Love

Rolling Stone hearts Ben Harper.

That's fine. But, it reeks of something being up. Nothing like payola or anything, but something more personal, like he's somebody on the staff's favorite or something. Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on my homie, but this is just...illogical.

Fine, they did an article on him a couple of weeks back. Great. Same issue, he headlined the Review section. Great. Three and a half stars out of five. A good record. Curtis by 50 Cent received Three and a half stars as well. As did Foo Fighters and Manu Chao's newest records. Solid.

But--and here's where I question--in RS's Top 40 Albums section, they have a call-out for BH's 24th slot, "Big Ben Clocks In." It mentions that the album has sold 60,650 copies in its first two weeks. Is that something good? I guess. Moving from position 9 to 24th in weeks three and four, respectively, isn't. That's trending downward.

Doesn't appear on the college radio top ten albums. But they happened to select CD World of Dallas, Texas as their Local Favorites. Ben Harper's new record is number one there. Icky Thump in sixth. Wilco 8th, Arctic Monkeys in 9th, and Liars in 10th. I've heard no personal buzz for Lifeline.

No disrespect, Ben. But, the Rolling Stones love seems out of proportion to Lifeline's sales. And, truthfully, I'd take either, 60k sales in two weeks or RS love.

And, "Big Ben Clocks In"? What kind of cornball is that?

Past the Point of Reflection

"I think you could print "PAST THE POINT OF REFLECTION" on millions of terrycloth headbands, air-drop them over high school graduations, baseball games, Olive Gardens, and traffic jams, and have yourself a tidy little situation."

- Chris Onstad

Monday

Fruit Test #1

Fruit Test #3

Fruit Test #2

Fruit Test #4

Magic Show

"He works with a degree of confidence and ambition that makes mush of the doubts about the relevance."

"Aspects of the work derive from dreams."

"Deliberately careless, parody bordering on flippancy forces the stubborn to filter out the noise and lock into content."

"Tricky shifts from the real to the fantastic."

"Freakishly strange, ingenious, and sensuous and opulent elements virtually everywhere."

"His pictures are fantasies yet the deeper magic lies in the way he seamlessly weaves together one style of representation with another."

Magic Show > Neo Rauch > Sanford Schwartz > NYRB

Down

Up

Sunday

Jeff

Watch Out, Snake (top : bottom)

Food Depression - 5:55

In & Around

Epically Later'd

American Movie

You've got the Netflix. You know what to do.

[clicky]

Friday

When A Cigar Is Just A Cigar

...when it's an art jacket.

Had it not been for the six years we've already lived through irrational, useless, annoying, psychologically defeating over-eager airport security -- put in place to prevent an event that could have been solved by a single measure, locking the cockpit doors -- the prospect of a promising young student being killed by cops for wearing a battery on her back might come as a shock.

[clicky]

Thursday

Too Good to be True (I KNEW it!)

Griffey's season over due to high groin strain

Ken Griffey Jr. will miss the rest of the season because of a strained groin, the latest in a string of injuries to Cincinnati's All-Star outfielder.

[clicky]

Tase Me, Bro

Was the Tasered student asking for it?

"Don't Tase Me, Bro!" Jolts the Web

Lyle Makes Some Sense

Wednesday

Untitled (harbinger of season next)

I am Not the Only One

I guess it wasn't just me who saw it. I found the image composite below when looking for individual images of Phil Spector and Clay Aiken (I was gonna put 'em together like this, but it was already done and on E!Online of all places).

So be it:

Monday

Pen(ing) Epi

So, yesterday in the NYTimes Magazine there was a quite good article on the state of epidemology and what it means (particularly as it is used in the media).

Do We Really Know What Makes Us Healthy? - NYTimes

[clicky]

Oddly enough (or not-so-oddly-enough), the LATimes -- today -- had an article on what we know vs. what we don't as well.

Scientists do the Numbers - LATimes

[clicky]

What's fascinating for me is the fact that our mainstream media is allowing us to question, encouraging us to question. Facts are slippery, interpretations vary, and people should begin to think for themselves after weighing sources.

So, I say, "hurray!" And, back to my pork rinds, suckas.