the bedroom walls are are on the soundtrack for the this american life tv show

thank god for on demand.

and for those without US channels, you can see the first show here.

don't worry, cakes

i practiced while away.

last day in the df

i've been reading 'the corrections' while here. the book is excellent so far - well written with complex, rather self-involved characters.

i'm right in the middle, so i can't make any sweeping characterizations about the book yet, but i can say that reading it while traveling in a developing country makes me occasionally want to rip through into the literary reality and strangle some of the characters for being such petulant jackasses.

or maybe that has nothing to do with being surrounded by poverty. maybe that's just the nature of the book.

i feel like i understand los angeles a little bit better now.

early tomorrow morning

sometimes, when i have a lot of work to do

i just do bunny photo shoots instead.

case in point

i am currently reading (to the nerdtastic delight of marty and other imaginary friends) my first graphic novel: the watchmen. the book is slightly obsession-inducing.

and guess what the main mode of transportation is in this alternate reality?

the airship, aka dirigible.


now i just need to find a dr. manhattan to make dirigible travel feasible in this reality.

the impac experiment

the latest photo project with marcel: a cheap, dusty old 'impac' camera unearthed from the back of a closet. i wasn't even sure if it worked, much less how it worked.

but it did - and i think it may be a permanent addition to the rotation.

balloons

slim

ambient walkman

you know that old problem with headphones? that when you wear them you tune the rest of the world out?

this obviously isn't a problem when you're on a plane or lying on your bed, but when i lived in new york i frequently heard people criticize headphones because they allowed people to shut out the city. that is, when you're walking down the street you can drift off into your music rather than interact with the world around you (this problem does not arise in LA, as we walk no further than the valet stand). although i suppose this criticism has been around since the walkman, i always associate it with the introduction of the ipod and the white earbud elitism that surrounded it.

well, someone has come up with a solution (sort of). noah vawter, of MIT's media lab, has introduced the ambient walkman. this device records the sounds around you and loops them into music. so instead of tuning the world around you out, you're actually tuning in.

does it really mean solve the problem of interacting with the world around you? who knows? i feel like i'd be so fascinated by this new music that i'd walk in front of a bus.

but it sure is a cool idea.

it came!

as some of you may know, i've been having a minor obsession with dirigibles of late. they have been appearing in my thoughts, my conversations, and especially my dreams. i don't know why. maybe because of this song. but i can't seem to get them out of my head or even the physical world around me. suddenly, they're all i can see and they're everywhere.

so i bought a model building kit. it arrived yesterday. balsa wood and airplane glue. i don't know why, but i think the construction of a model dirigible will cure my obsession. as if by building it i'm taking the idea from my head and putting it into a physical creation. i can then put it on a shelf in my room and reflect on it gently from time to time, but it will no longer haunt me. so, ladies and gentlemen, i give you the USS Los Angeles:


wish me luck!

10 seconds

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part of me wants to know and part of me really doesn't