My Reason

I guess it seems pretty far fetched that an artist (even selfproclaimed) would have no idea what the purpose of his work is. Well, I suppose for now I’m an exception. The things that drives me most are emotions rather than ideas and issues but those emotions aren’t evident in my work (at least I can’t see it). although, I have found that my work is remarkably better when i'm depressed. In fact I rarely voluntarily paint unless I’m upset. I’ve gotten used to sucking at art when I try to force it. Lately I’ve been going about the whole thing rather like a term paper or something. Trying to decide the topic and whether or not I agree. But I’m not very political, I’d prefer to simply lay down a bunch of colors that are appealing to the eye. i paint the same way i read and in the same spirit that i become obsessed with what may seem like the most uninteresting sort of stuff. I am very hard to keep satisfied, I want a taste of everything. I read in small sporadic doses
and My eye is caught by the slightest flicker and moments later I’m obsessed with something completely different. I think one of my newest paintings which I titled 'map' is the best example to date of what I’m trying to say. I project a sort of assortment of interest or ideas into a piece. I like to fill the canvas with a sense of organized chaos. I have discovered that the same seems to be true in my sculpting. (see my plaster below). So I’ve been struggling with the pressure of figuring out why I do what I do, and why my work is the way it is. what inspires me and what discourages me. anyone who knows me will understand what I mean when I say that my inspiration is pvc pipe, ropes and pullies, berry flavored drink mixes and log cabins, chinese stone lanterns and grass tiki huts. I think that my problem lately is that I’ve tried to pick an interest and stick to it throughout an entire piece. Not gonna happen without resistance!

File Sharing

My newest goal:  Find a free web storage account.  I’d like for it to be more than 50MB and I’d LOVE to be able to email the files in instead of going through an upload process.  Also, I’d like to be able to access them in my html or Java, so that I can have say a picture or movie of the day on multiple sites… if that makes any sense.  I want to write the code to reference a single file in my storage, if I upload a file that overwrites the file referenced then the new file is automatically reflected on all the sites that contain the code.  I think that’s the way I’d go about doing it anyway I also want to be able to allow access to the storage account to friends and family and possibly some files to strangers.  Anyone that has any suggestions, please feel free to share.

Dream #5

I haven’t be able to remember my dreams for a couple days now, surprise surprise, I kept waking up last night and every time I did I wrote down a dream so today I have 4! How great is that.

Dream 5.1:

So I’m talking to my dad, only he’s not my real dad he’s a Don for the mob, I guess the Columbus mob, I don’t know.   The headquarters for some strange reason were located inside the church I grew up in, but haven’t been to in at least 4 years.  So my dad and I part ways after discussing the plans for me to take over after he decides to retire.  Once I make it to the fellowship hall I’m confronted by a fellow mobster (I don’t know the guys name but he’s in a few movies, if you’ve ever seen Donnie Brasco with Johnny Depp, he’s the Head of Johnny D’s branch of the mob).  Anyway, this guy is obviously ticked off about the arrangements being made, so he pulls a Tommy gun on me and starts unloading.  I dive behind a plastic folding table and pull out my gun.  Unfortunately, I’m only packing what looks like a small (and paper thin) toy cowboy pistols.  Oh well work with what you got right.  So I start firing back at this guy and I realize I’m hitting him but nothings happening.  I open up the chamber to find I’ve been firing those little yellow plastic bullets that you get as a kid so you don’t really kill anything with your pellet gun.  The thing that really sucks is that I can see the bullets but not like in the matrix or anything, because they’re still going too fast for me to dodge.  I can feel them start to hit me and once he’s got me disabled he comes over to me.  Towering over me he says a few words but I’m not sure what they were, I woke up with a sense of betrayal so I figure he was a close friend or something.  After he finishes he sticks his gun (which is now a revolver) in my face, lights a fire cracker and shoves it up my nose, I could hear the fuse burning closer and closer I just closed my eyes wondering if he’d shoot me before the fire cracker blew up, but I woke up before either… with my nose stinging, I have no idea why.


Dream 5.2

Another businessman dream:  I’m in an important board meeting and I’m giving my presentation, I guess to save money or increase profit… what else?  For some reason we’re holding hostages in the board room.  They’re all tied to their chairs, blindfold over the eyes and duct tape over the mouth (wrapped all the way around the head, I hate when they only put a little piece over the mouth in the movies)  I don’t remember seeing any terrorists, but I get the feeling they were there somewhere, maybe they stepped out for coffee.  Suddenly there is a rapid beeping noise and everyone starts freaking out because we all think it’s a bomb.  Turns out that the beeping is only a beeper, but that’s when I woke up and can you guess what the beeping really was?


Dream 5.3

Names will be changed in this dream to protect the innocent and their feelings.

The Cast:
Tom: an employee of mine
Jane: a former girlfriend
Mr. Smith: a former girlfriend’s dad

Tom kissed Jane (Jane wasn’t pleased), Tom tried to move in with the Smiths and Mr.Smith wasn’t pleased.  So Mr. Smith commissions me to get rid of Tom… I mean really get rid of him.  So after about 20 minutes of fighting with Tom (crazy Kung Fu fighting of course) I’m behind Tom, with a broomstick over his throat, and I’m jerking furiously trying to break this guy’s neck but it just won’t pop.  It gets to the point were I’m just tired of trying and Tom obviously gets the picture so I let him go.  Mr. Smith sits Tom down and has a stern talk with him and sends him on his way never to return.

What’s with all this violence?


Dream 5.4

I find myself standing in a VERY LONG LINE at Chef Lee’s Restaurant.  What am I going to order you ask… divorce papers.  I’m trying to get a divorce from some old lady that I married while I was in Las Vegas.  The conflict is that I’m supposed to be getting married to someone else and she doesn’t know that I’m accidentally married to this other woman, so I’ve got to get divorced before she finds out.  Simple enough, eh?  Nope, my friend rats me out and she comes storming in to rip me a new one… meanwhile the old chick thinks we can still work things out.  But I think I do eventually get the divorce papers and I proceed to eat all the statues in the place in celebration… they were like really hard marshmallows.



So there you go…

Time!?!

Time. What is time? Is it real? who has it, and who doesn’t? Who wants it or needs it (there is a difference). I was told last night that I have too much free time on my hands. I guess I do have more of it than I’m used to. I can see that I’m getting a lot of things done lately. I am slightly more motivated than usual which may be because I’m not as tired as I normally am. But I do know that since I quit drinking I haven’t pissed away a single night by passing out in front of my computer screen. And since I quit smoking I haven’t had to stop a project to feed my addiction (saves money too). And since I only have one 3 hour class I have tons of time, mostly to write this blog I've been told. i realize that i dont appreciate the luxury of time when i have it to utilize as i see fit, so maybe i should work on that. I cant think of anything more enjoyable than spending my time with my family, friends and 'other'. So i think i will try to keep that in mind next time
i have time to spend freely. similarly i dont hate time anymore than when i have too little. (i'll give you some of mine :) ) So i've decided to work out some timesavers for people who don't have alot of time, so they can have a blog site too. Ive already started brushing my teeth in the shower. Thats 5 mins saved every day!

Dream #4

Actually got somewhat of a complete dream this time…

So I’m the owner of this science store… pretty much like the “WORLD OF SCIENCE” that we used to have in the Peachtree Mall. Anyway, my physics teacher, Dr.Cruzen, from a couple years ago was my business partner (cool guy, can’t think of a better person to run a world of science store). After work or course the activity of choice is star gazing, with our high powered telescopes. Oddly enough my 3D Design class was there gazing with us. All of a sudden there is a huge explosion in the sky… a star I guess, but it looked just like the plane explosion in the movie final destination (which I watched last night, along with The Hitchhikers Guide, now it makes sense doesn’t it?). But it didn’t shake anyone up much, in fact immediately afterwards we all went out for pizza… my treat.

TOFU FUN!

Today's adventure was cooking TOFU! I've never had tofu so I decided to try it. I've heard it takes on the flavor of whatever its cooked with… that could prove useful… so I go to the grocery store and pick out a brick of Extra Firm… I suppose I'll try a less firm brick next time so that I'll at least know if I have a preference. I proceed to get a bottle of Teriyaki sauce and some shrimp… I don't know why I got shrimp, I just did. I have to admit I felt very health conscious at the register, naturally the cashier lady looked at me like I was a weirdo. No no its I'm used to it. Once I returned home with my grocery bag o' treasure, I took a picture of the brick before the cooking began. I also took pics of the tofu in different forms and cooking stages. I'm sure you noticed the frying pan looks a little funny… I figured I could combine the 3 into 1 for viewing ease… I'm so thoughtful. The really small brown chunks are in the teriyaki sauce and nearly done. The cubes ar
e in the Teriyaki too, but had just been put in the pan. And the slices (which I have decided to refer to as "SPAM style") are just frying in some vegetable oil. To be honest with you I enjoyed it much more than I figured I would. Imagine my surprise. Fun facts: this stuff is really high in protein and low in carbs… and fairly low in unsaturated fat (no sat fat), but it even comes in a 'Lite' version which I can only assume has less fat. According to the box tofu also makes a delicious breakfast food as well as a nice salad topper. Any one interested can send $12.95 and get their very own tofu recipe book… 80+ recipes. So, 2 thumbs up for the tofu.

Dream #3

Ok, so to my surprise this morning I awoke to a note already jotted down in my dream journal… barely legible, it made no sense to me… I don’t even recall writing it, but I must have done it in the dark.  Anyhow, I don’t know what to make of it so I will simply rewrite it as is.  

Went to Wal-mart to stand in line (because they were buffing the floor with HUGE buffers) to fill my mold with silicone, the keyhole cover on my car was a tennis ball.  Videl got rabies.

For those who don’t know, Videl is my best friend’s dog.  So that’s it.

Dream #2

This one isn’t very interesting but the things I’ve read have said that I should write this stuff down regardless of whether or not it’s a complete dream or interesting for that matter.  So I present to you, short boring dream sequence #2.  

So we’ve all seen them on TV, the guys and gals who get together to show off there mighty fighting robots.  And we’ve all seen the ones that smash, pound and saw there opponent robots in half.  Oddly enough I was there, I was pitting my mini war machine against someone else’s in a cage match to end all cage matches… actually it looked like every other one you’ve ever seen on the television set.  Anywho, the only odd part about the whole thing is that my machine was a metal version of the Robosapien (which I could control with my mind).  Anyone who knows me should get a kick out of that because when those things first came out I went crazy, I had to have one and finally when everyone’s back was turned I bought one… I’ve been trying to sell it since about 2 weeks after that.  But I promise you that if they release a metal version I will have to have that one too.  ~Rosebud~    

New Calendar!

Hey! I've added an event calendar over in the link section... How cool is that... anyway Friends and family are more than welcome to add events if you want, like birthdays, parties, movie release dates, concerts, or whatever. People who are not friends and family can add events if they want to but if they add something retarded, vulger or ridiculous it will just be deleted by me so don't waste my time or your own. The point of this exercise is ultimately to keep everyone up to date on current events, especially me, so let me know important dates. Enjoy!

Oh and I got the script here in case anyone out there wants to get their own.

http://htmlgear.lycos.com

Plaster Incorporated (Dream #1)

This is the first of what I hope will be many in my dream series. I have decided to try to remember my dreams long enough to write them down. I’ve tried a couple times now to only wind up empty handed but I thought about it really hard last night and finally this morning I had a small piece of a dream still swimming around in my brain so I wrote it down... Yay.

Feature presentation:
I am a very successful business man, i've got the wife and kids, dog (no cats of course) and even a normal house, not too big and not too small (not a log cabin believe it or not). Anyway, I work for a plaster manufacturing company where am vice president or something I might have been president I’m not sure. The strange thing is that or biggest competitor is run by the other me... Like a clone or something, not the evil me or the good me, just another me. So as you can imagine I’m pretty competitive with myself so I’m stressing that I might out do myself at the other plaster company. Luckily for me I keep a magic log (i know it odd) in the basement of my company and for good luck I go down there and chop at it every now and then. Anyway this thing is huge, its about 6 feet in diameter and probably 30 feet long... That’s about all I could remember, but I’ve heard that when you get into the habit of writing down your dreams you eventually get better at remembering them,
so lets hope so. By the way that’s my finished plaster sculpture for 3D Design.

Abstract Sculpture

This is a paper I wrote for 3D Design. The pictures shown are Steve Tobin's "African Termite Hills" and Gillian Jagger's "In the Absence of Faith".

On Kuspit's "Abstraction & Empathy, Once Again"
The problem with abstract sculpture reviewed in Donald Kuspit's article "Abstraction & Empathy, Once Again", is how we deal with and respond to the space we are, as well as the space that we all exist in. However, more specifically Kuspit explores the contradiction of the abstract form to the natural model. The author suggests that the solution is to either find a way in which both the abstract and natural can coincide without one taking anything away from the other, or by creating completely abstract pieces "purely geometrical in form".
In the first example Kuspit gives of the unity between organic and geometric, he mentions Gillian Jagger, Steve Tobin, and Paul Waldman. Each of these artists have pieces that, according to Kuspit, at first glance are obviously organic. However, upon further investigation it is plain to see that they all incorporate the geometrical. Jagger's 'In the Absence of Faith' is supported by and contained in a geometrical framework. Tobin's 'African Termite Hills' reside amongst lifeless architecture so that the contrast intensifies the organic elegance of the hills. Finally, Waldman's figures surrounded by infinite space are all placed on the "geometrical stage" so that they seemingly become more "finite" than they really are. Finally, Kuspit describes the work of Carol Ross and Iian Averbuch using the reverse formula. Kuspit says that Ross' "Wedge" and "Monarch" are unmistakably abstract. But like the pieces described earlier, they cover both sides of the spectrum in that the
y portray "vitality" as the author puts it. Similarly, Averbuch's work, "A Dream of Two Snakes", embodies both organic and abstract. By the use of glass panes and roughly carved stone blocks, Averbuch interweaves the fragile and the robust. Kuspit makes this point by stating that "the abstract shapes of the DNA strands and the organic bodies of the two snakes are virtually indistinguishable".
Kuspit maintains that by being 'organic' a piece is continuously growing or being deconstructed in the sense that it can simply be unfinished forever. Kuspit also uses life and vitality to describe the organic qualities of the pieces he examines. He conversely describes the inorganic form to be lifeless and unchanging, referring to it most often as the geometrical form. By using 'immense buildings' as an example, Kuspit makes the remark that they "seem dead" because "their form has been finalized". Through the author's exploration of these example pieces it becomes obvious that they all embody both organic and inorganic, whether or not it is intentional. Ultimately, organic and abstract geometry can never be separated entirely because they are fundamentally one and the same.

Robots in disguise

I don’t know if its my lack of time or energy (or both), but there doesn’t seem to be enough time in a day to do what has to be done along with what I want to get done and be able to squeeze in sleep. I know I’m not alone. If I’m going to conquer the world I’m going to need a little more free time. the irony is that I’m going to school in hopes that my degree will ensure me a demanding (as well as fulfilling) fulltime job. However, it seems like the biggest thing standing in my way is the demanding (not so fullfilling) full time job I already have and am trying to escape. How discouraging. I think that sometimes risks must be taken in order to achieve our goals. But risks mean the possibility of failure, scary. I’m not a big risk taker. I don’t play the stock market, I save and I’m content with the slow but sure intrest I receive. I rarely buy lottery tickets but whenever I do, even then I feel like I’ve done a terrible thing. I like my comfort zones. I like knowing what to
expect. Maybe I should take a leap of faith and just quit my job and start from scratch. Ha! In case you’re wondering the picture is of buffalo chicken tenders and fries. Those of you who know me will know that I eat buffalo chicken at least 5 times a week. It is symbolic of my attachment to order and my fear of changing my comfort zones... Even though I’m one of those people who will try anything (food wise) at least once.

Thugs should wear kilts

People really get on my nerves when they are loud for no reason other than to be loud. (tonight it was a group of highschool sophomores, at least that's what they said) Some people for reasons beyond me, feel that its necessary to reward everyone within a mile radius the privilege of hearing every thing they have to say. STOP! Also, I would like to say that little kids that think that they’re thugs bother me a great deal. Is it just me or do all these kids in their gangsta' wear get on your nerves too. I just want to smack them upside their heads. I guess its the style and I’m getting old or something like I swore I never would. I think they should wear other costumes though, like dressing up in samurai gear or perhaps as one of those guys from braveheart. I mean that says 'im tough', right? I’d much rather see a few samaui and kilted folks running around. call me crazy but Wearing your shirt half on and rolling up one of your pants legs just looks ridiculous to me.
Maybe I should start a clothing company and bring the kilt back in style for the american audience. Trust me.

Foursome

At a four way stop (or three way stop) every vehicle must come to a complete stop before proceeding one at a time across the intersection. If two or more vehicles drive up to one of these junctions and stops, then they should proceed in the same order in which they arrived. The first vehicle to arrive is the first to proceed, the second vehicle to arrive is the second to proceed, and so on.
If two vehicles arrive at one of these stops at the same time, then the vehicle on the right has priority. However, most drivers are unaware of this rule, but you are now if you weren't already. So do me a favor next time we're at a 4-way or 3-way stop and follow the rules please. Thanks.

Skulls

First step to self sufficiency... Making resin skulls... And painting them of course.

Inspiration

Inspiration... What?!? Where does it come from and why? So you wanna be inspired. Here's how... For 3 easy payments of 39.95 we'll send you a start up kit and for a monthly subscription fee of 29.95 we'll keep you up to date on the latest ways to become inspired. As an added bonus for ordering now the first month is free and we'll even send you information on how to utilize your new found inspiration! Cash and money orders accepted. :) actually, if I could buy it I would, or trade in used inspiration for some new stuff. Maybe I will open a trading post for inspiration. Cheese dog for Seamus!

Walden

I'm in the process of reading walden. I love it. I want to do it. And I will... Surely.