Weirdo
5 years ago
Friday, September 7, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
The wind is insane down at Ocean Beach today.
The wind is insane down at Ocean Beach today. The Great Highway is closed at Lincoln because the dunes are trying to cross it. The internet tells me that wind speed is 32 mph with 38 mph gusts.
On my run today I made it all the way down there. I grabbed a cup of coffee from Trouble Coffee and Coconut Club and walked down Judah to the end. The coffee was blown cold in about five minutes. I feel like I have an ear infection coming on, or maybe it's just sand lodged down inside. The surf was ragged, and the beach virtually deserted, apart from a few lunatic runners (like myself) and their dogs. And the ravens.
The gulls too, but the ravens were amazing. Popping their wings just enough to kite on the steady blow charging up the sand. Playing helicopter, hovering just overhead, croaking their weird conversations back and forth, then folding shut to drop to the sand and gnaw at a ragged scrap of dead Herring Gull. They hung above me, five or six of them, twitching their flight feathers to keep stable. And they really seemed to be doing it just because they could.
Watching them it was easy to see why the folks who got here first venerated them as trickster gods, why Odin picked them as his wise sidekicks. They really do seem to know more than anything with a brain that small has any business knowing. And they seem to have a sense of humor about it.
On my run today I made it all the way down there. I grabbed a cup of coffee from Trouble Coffee and Coconut Club and walked down Judah to the end. The coffee was blown cold in about five minutes. I feel like I have an ear infection coming on, or maybe it's just sand lodged down inside. The surf was ragged, and the beach virtually deserted, apart from a few lunatic runners (like myself) and their dogs. And the ravens.
The gulls too, but the ravens were amazing. Popping their wings just enough to kite on the steady blow charging up the sand. Playing helicopter, hovering just overhead, croaking their weird conversations back and forth, then folding shut to drop to the sand and gnaw at a ragged scrap of dead Herring Gull. They hung above me, five or six of them, twitching their flight feathers to keep stable. And they really seemed to be doing it just because they could.
Watching them it was easy to see why the folks who got here first venerated them as trickster gods, why Odin picked them as his wise sidekicks. They really do seem to know more than anything with a brain that small has any business knowing. And they seem to have a sense of humor about it.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Monday, December 6, 2010
Some musings on the artist called "Banksy"
THE DEATH OF BANKSY
Banksy [Within] Give us a light there, ho!
Second Murderer Then 'tis he: the rest
That are within the stencil of expectation
Already are i' the court.
First Murderer His stencils go about.
Third Murderer Almost a mile: but he does usually,
So all men do, from hence to stencil the palace gate
Make it their stencil.
Second Murderer A stencil, a stencil!
Enter BANKSY, and CHLOE WEBB with a stencil
Third Murderer 'Tis he.
First Murderer Stand to't.
Banksy: It will be stencil to-night.
First Murderer: Let it come down.
Banksy: O, treachery!
— Fly, good Chloe Webb, fly, fly, fly!
Thou mayst stencil.
— O, slave!
Famous Zen Koan: "If Banksy stencils the Buddha on the road, kill him.
A: Is Banksy actually stenciling on the Buddha? Or is he actually stenciling an image of the Buddha on the actual road? If the first, he is certainly an impertinent little scamp, isn't he! If the second, he is participating in a 2500 year old artistic tradition, and that's no reason to kill anyone, is it? Is there actually an actual actual? Kill which one?
B: There is no road. Kill them all.
When Gordon Sumner, CBE (who records and plays his hit dance tunes under the Soubriquet "The Sting") considered reforming his band "The Police," he found that he couldn't, because everyone (including i.e., his guitarist and drum-player) hated him. So he asked the artist known as Banksy to help out. And that is why you can't imagine "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" without his signature stencil solo.
Shortly before his death, Patrick MacGoohan met the artist Banksy at a cocktail party thrown in honor of the Saudi Royal Family. As Michael Caine relates in his memoir, the meeting was not a happy one for either man. According to Caine, Banksy "...stenciled a bleeding riot 'elmet on MacGoohan's mac. Far be it for me to stand in judgement on the contemporary arts, but it were a Cardin mac, and a nice one too."
SITCOM PITCH. IN A SMALL ARKANSAS TOWN, A CORRUPT SHERIFF KEEPS A FIRM GRIP ON EVILDOERS AND SUCH. IN THE PILOT BANKSY (PLAYED BY BANKSY) COMES TO TOWN AND TEACHES THE TOWNSPEOPLE ABOUT THE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSIONS (USING STENCILS, ETC.). MANY OPPORTUNITIES FOR FISH OUT OF WATER HUMOR, WITH BANKSY'S CHARMING-YET-NAIVE-YET-CHARACTERISTICALLY "BRITISH" SENSE OF HUMOR PROVIDING THE BACKBONE. THE ROCK IS THE SHERIFF!?
ATTN DESIGN INSTRUCTORS: STENCILS ARE FOR BANKSY. NORMAL PEOPLE USE PHOTOSHOP.
Banksy [Within] Give us a light there, ho!
Second Murderer Then 'tis he: the rest
That are within the stencil of expectation
Already are i' the court.
First Murderer His stencils go about.
Third Murderer Almost a mile: but he does usually,
So all men do, from hence to stencil the palace gate
Make it their stencil.
Second Murderer A stencil, a stencil!
Enter BANKSY, and CHLOE WEBB with a stencil
Third Murderer 'Tis he.
First Murderer Stand to't.
Banksy: It will be stencil to-night.
First Murderer: Let it come down.
Banksy: O, treachery!
— Fly, good Chloe Webb, fly, fly, fly!
Thou mayst stencil.
— O, slave!
Famous Zen Koan: "If Banksy stencils the Buddha on the road, kill him.
A: Is Banksy actually stenciling on the Buddha? Or is he actually stenciling an image of the Buddha on the actual road? If the first, he is certainly an impertinent little scamp, isn't he! If the second, he is participating in a 2500 year old artistic tradition, and that's no reason to kill anyone, is it? Is there actually an actual actual? Kill which one?
B: There is no road. Kill them all.
When Gordon Sumner, CBE (who records and plays his hit dance tunes under the Soubriquet "The Sting") considered reforming his band "The Police," he found that he couldn't, because everyone (including i.e., his guitarist and drum-player) hated him. So he asked the artist known as Banksy to help out. And that is why you can't imagine "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" without his signature stencil solo.
Shortly before his death, Patrick MacGoohan met the artist Banksy at a cocktail party thrown in honor of the Saudi Royal Family. As Michael Caine relates in his memoir, the meeting was not a happy one for either man. According to Caine, Banksy "...stenciled a bleeding riot 'elmet on MacGoohan's mac. Far be it for me to stand in judgement on the contemporary arts, but it were a Cardin mac, and a nice one too."
SITCOM PITCH. IN A SMALL ARKANSAS TOWN, A CORRUPT SHERIFF KEEPS A FIRM GRIP ON EVILDOERS AND SUCH. IN THE PILOT BANKSY (PLAYED BY BANKSY) COMES TO TOWN AND TEACHES THE TOWNSPEOPLE ABOUT THE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSIONS (USING STENCILS, ETC.). MANY OPPORTUNITIES FOR FISH OUT OF WATER HUMOR, WITH BANKSY'S CHARMING-YET-NAIVE-YET-CHARACTERISTICALLY "BRITISH" SENSE OF HUMOR PROVIDING THE BACKBONE. THE ROCK IS THE SHERIFF!?
ATTN DESIGN INSTRUCTORS: STENCILS ARE FOR BANKSY. NORMAL PEOPLE USE PHOTOSHOP.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
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