Post Modern Shoe

Yesterday I was at Sears with Kelly and her grandmother. Betty needed some shoes for working out. 94 years old and going to the gym! While browsing the racks(Sears was a complete mess at 7 pm on a Sunday. No one puts anything back in the right place.) I saw a shoe made by Skechers. The tread and the materials of the upper were just like those of a tennis or running shoe. But the cut and shape was that of a dress shoe, a ballet flat it could be called. The hierarchy has fallen. Certain materials are no longer just for certain functions of shoe. But could you have a running shoe with a leather sole?

I am waiting for the denim tuxedo.

Pope Benedict lifts ban on Latin Mass

Not sure why so many Catholics want to have Mass said in Latin again. I would guess they really don't want to understand what the priest is saying.

******************
Be Enticed, Pop

Pop Been Cited

Been Tepid Cop

Bent Iced Pope

Unlimited Storage

Now that Yahoo! has unlimited storage are people going to keep all of their emails? Just how much data is that? How many harddrives somewhere in a warehouse, spinning away? And why do you think Yahoo! offers unlimited storage? To compete with Google? Storage now might be so cheap, but I think the reason is more sinister.

Weren't Google and Yahoo recently cited as not being so nice as they want you to believe?

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/china0806/5.htm

So...with all of this unlimited space, the government has unlimited data to trawl through finding out who knows whom, who is going where when with whom etc. And with the CIA just releasing all the illegal things they have done in the past 50 years...I am sure 50 years from now the CIA, or Homeland security(or whatever it will be called then - the Office of Peace, Happiness, and Global Safety) will release another report.

Am I being paranoid? You tell me

3 Women

is a movie by Robert Altman. Filmed in '73, I think same year I was born. Takes place in a dusty town/area east of LA. The beginning of the film is odd, almost boring. But by the end of the film, I was entranced. Such sad characters, the intense feeling of loneliness, quite a powerful film in that way. I am sure that many people would not like the film, as it sits with you after it is over. And what is sitting with you is not "life affirming" or "heart warming". But that is the sign of good art, when the film/object/performance creates such a complete feeling/flavor that lasts beyond the immediate viewing. And maybe it is not the experience you were looking for, but one that the artist intended. See this film.

Makes me think of the first time I saw a porn. I was in highschool, junior year I think, still a virgin. Two friends used a fake id and rented a movie from the local video store. Don't remember the premise but a bunch of women, grapes, beads, etc. Scared the bejeezus out of me. I think for abstinence programs the curriculum should be forcing kids to watch raunchy porn, scare them away from sex for a few years. My point is that although that movie created a strong reaction in me, it was not the one intended. Revulsion instead of arousal. So, I would say that that porn was an artistic failure.

The next movie in our Netflix queue is "The Good Shepherd".

Outsourcing President Bush

Congress Votes to Outsource Presidency, Washington, DC (AP)

Congress today announced that the office of President of the United States of America will be outsourced to India as of July 1, 2007. The move is being made in order to save the President's $500,000 yearly salary, and also a record $521 Billion in deficit expenditures and related overhead the office has incurred during the last 5 years.

"We believe this is a wise financial move. The cost savings are huge," stated Congressman Thomas Reynolds (R-WA).

"We cannot remain competitive on the world stage with the current level of cash outlay," Reynolds noted.

Mr. Bush was informed by e-mail this morning of his termination. Preparations for the job move have been underway for some time.

Gurvinder Singh of Indus Teleservices ( Mumbai , India ) will assume the office of President as of July 1, 2007. Mr. Singh was born in the United States while his Indian parents were vacationing at Niagara Falls, thus making him eligible for the position. He will receive a salary of $320 (USD) a month but with no health coverage or other benefits.

It is believed that Mr. Singh will be able to handle his job responsibilities without a support staff. Due to the time difference between the US and India , he will be working primarily at night, when few offices of the US Government will be open. "Working nights will allow me to keep my day job at the Dell Computer call center," stated Mr. Singh in an exclusive interview. "I am excited about this position. I always hoped I would be President."

A Congressional spokesperson noted that while Mr. Singh may not be fully aware of all the issues involved in the office of President, this should not be a problem, as President Bush was not familiar with the issues either.

It is not yet clear if plans are being considered for outsourcing the Senate and the House of Representatives. This could seriously affect staffing efficiency at the Dell call center. Special interests and lobbyists here are expected to seriously push back on any such efforts. It is thought that saving the hundreds of millions of dollars now spent annually on campaign financing could positively affect the U.S. economy.

Mr. Singh will rely upon a script tree that will enable him to respond effectively to most topics of concern. Using these canned responses, he can address common concerns without having to understand the underlying issue at all. "We know these scripting tools work," stated the spokesperson. "President Bush has used them successfully for years."

Bush will receive health coverage, expenses, and salary until his final day of employment. Following a two-week waiting period, he will be eligible for $140 a week unemployment for 13 weeks.

He will not also be eligible for Medicaid, as his unemployment benefits will exceed the allowed limit. Mr. Bush has been provided the outplacement services of Manpower, Inc., to help him write a resume and prepare for his upcoming job transition.

According to Manpower, Mr. Bush may have difficulties in securing a new position due to limited practical or successful work experience. A greeter position at Wal-Mart was suggested due to Bush's extensive experience shaking hands, as well as his special smile.

If approved, most of the affected Congressional positions would probably revert to entry level Internet bloggers or on-call street activists. If nothing else, they may be offered jobs as reporters or TV commentators.

National Bingo Night

Why, oh, why

is there a TV show about Bingo? Has collective American consciousness been completely wiped out, that we can not come up with any else?

The enemy of my enemy is...

who exactly? You'd think that Fatah and Hamas would get along. They are on the

SAME #%$^% SIDE?

Do they really think it's a good idea to start shooting each other, when they have Israel to deal with. Makes them look like morons. I'll probably get shot for writing this on my blog that no one reads. At least then I would get my 15 minutes. Better late than never.

Tangent -

was watching Studio 60 today while making lunch. An episode in which one of the cast member's brothers was taken hostage in Iraq. Before they knew of the kidnapping, his family was worried because they had not heard from him in 48 hours. He at war...how often does he need to check in with his family? Amazing how connected we are to the people fighting the war, but we are so disconnected from the reality and the death we as a culture are creating over in Iraq.

tangent -
he skits on Studio 60, from the snippets you see, are funnier than anything on SNL. Maybe time to switch writers.

Medium

Earlier today I watched an episode of the show "medium" called "Better Off Dead" on NBC.com.

Wow, is it a really bad show.

I'd say it would be better off the air.

Rum

Rum, when mixed with lime juice, mulled mint leaves, sugar, and club soda, is quite palatable.

Why did you see this show?

A friend of mine, also a dancer asked me that question the other day after seeing Project Agora at Dance Mission. "do you know anyone in the show?" I did know several people, none very well, but just from the dance scene in the Bay Area. I was taken aback by my friend's question. Did she mean that the main reason for seeing a show is to see friend's dancing? Which seems to be the main reason for many dancers to go to see work in the Bay Area. Either go see your friends dance or the famous company of the week, Bill T., Taylor, Morris, Brown. Then the occasional company from Africa at Yerba Buena.

But what about professional curiosity? Aren`t people curious about what other artists in the same field are doing? Once I was talking to a well established choreographer in the Bay Area about going to see work. He said that after seeing all his friend's shows he did not have much desire to see other people's work. Maybe he has a lot of friends and so he sees a wide range of work.

I think as working artists it is our duty to inform ourselves and see as much as possible.

Show at Dock 11

Just saw a show at Dock 11. Good dancing when there was dancing. The state of the first solo was the best in the show, oh and the walking while arching backwards. Good stuff. Most of the time, there was acting, or at least what I saw as acting- the attempt to display something that was not there. Two women who for some reason where shooting each other. I did enjoy the changing of roles, or scenes, by changing who had the ponytail and who had the hair loose. great movement qualities. I would have rather just seen them dance to some generic dance music. But Bach aint so bad.

Self Indulgent

Has anyone ever called a show s/he enjoyed self indulgent?

I mean besides the people performing the piece.

Look at the camera

I was putzing around Youtube today and saw a couple vids in which people address the camera, except they don't look at the lens they look at the little screen. This makes them look a little off, like those people who talk to you but won't look you in the eye. Are you worried your soul is going to be stolen?

If a your soul is stolen by a photo, what happens to it when a video of you is on Youtube accessible worldwide?

What would the website www.ewetube.com be? Fertility help for sterile sheep?

Friday Night Lights

Been watching that show a little bit recently on NBC.com. While eating or making dinner or doing laundry. Can't take the show seriously. I mean it's about football. The show is well made, but it's about football. Watching sports is like watching porn - you are watching someone else have all the fun. And you can quote me on that. If a small town like Dillon exists and I would not be surprised if one does, man that is sad. How pathetic would those people have to be to get so riled up about highschool football? I guess if you have nothing else in your life.

Kinda like people who get so excited about being whatever race they happen to be. Why be so proud of something that you had nothing to do with? It's not like anyone works to be Italian, or Irish, or Chinese. It's preselected for you by chance and your parents. be proud of something that you had a hand in. Maybe I am too much of a Euromutt to care what ethnicity I am. Isn't pride of one's ethnicity also being glad that one is not another ethnicity? Doesn't pride of ethnicity then a racist idea?

But back to football...So if it is pathetic to get so excited about highschool football, is it even more pathetic to watch a TV show about highschool football?

McLuhan vs Johnstone

The medium is the message = Content lies in the structure

yes?

no?

Bald Britney

After Britney shaved her head, she went up in my esteem. (is that a phrase? going up in someone's esteem.) I applauded her decision to do that. Everyone should shave their head at least once in their life. It feels good. Also good to feel the contours of one's skull. Where do you end and where does the rest of the world begin? But soon after she shaved she covered up her baldness with wigs and hats. She bowed down to the majority opinion that shaving your head is a big deal. It's not. Hair grows back. I shave my head frequently as part of an effort to stave off real baldness. Not sure it is working. But people always react to a shaved head. "oh, you change your look more than a girl" Guess since I can't see the change, except when I look in the mirror, which is not often, I forget that it happened. Hair is just something exterior, that is very mutable. Guess my point is that if Britney had embraced her baldness, albeit temporary baldness, she would have gained even more of my respect. But by shying away from it with wigs and hats, she will slowly drift off into the hazy world of has-beens. Keeping the baldness would have helped her stick out give her something to stand for in the bubblegum pop world. How long before she completely disappears from the news, when she can no longer endanger her children blah blah blah...

anyways, true beauty lies within. ;)

Po Mo

So I was at a meeting the other day and at the end of the meeting someone joked about doing something post-modern so that no one had to be good at anything. Why is there that idea about po mo? If it's po mo I don't have to be good at whatever I am doing. Definitely seen that at some shows. Saw this group Poni at Sophiensaele in Berlin. Did a lot of performing of things badly. Musicians "dancing". I wonder if musicians would like it if the dancers picked up their instruments and started jamming.

I would say that there is a confusing of lack of hierarchy with lack of skill. Yes I could change the hierarchy with which I define my ballet skills and say that I am as good as Baryshnikov, but the defined hierarchy for ballet exists and comparing my ballet skills to that, well, pretty sad. lack of hierarchy or relativism does not mean complete rejection of all measurement of value.

hmmm....

Word to the Wise II

Let the weather predict itself.

Dryers

Why is it that I get such satisfaction from washing clothes and not using the dryer? No, I don't like to walk around in wet clothes. I hang my clothes to dry. It's not just the buck and a quarter I am saving that makes me happy. I'll just spend the money elsewhere. As we did tonight on sushi at Drunken Fish in Oakland.

But hanging clothes to dry, such visceral satisfaction. Why pay for something when it can happen for free. Also nice is to see the pile of laundry go down slowly. Is part of the reason the USA uses so much more energy because we do much more laundry? How many times to you wear a shirt before washing it? how about underwear or socks? Why do you or do you use the dryer?

The less you use the dryer the longer your clothes will last. Think about the lint. That is just money in the garbage. You paid for that lint when it was still part of your shirt or whatever before you stuck it in the dryer, so why throw it away?

Dryers and billboards should be banned. Just think about how much nicer cities would look if there were no billboards. Take a moment right now to think about it. No, I mean it really. Take a deep breath look away from the computer and think about a billboard free environment.

Okay, look back now.

Nice wasn't it.

Kinda like Vermont.

Sweater vs. Heater

I was in class today, large dance studio. Kind of a cold day, for the Bay Area, so the studio was cold. Another dancer in class asked if it was possible to turn on the heat. Considering the size of the room and the strength of most heater, by the time the room was warm class would have been over. She had another layer to put on, but that was not her initial thought.

Maybe I am stereotyping here, but I am guessing that a dancer in the Bay Area is a more liberal person informed on current events, global warming and green house gases. A sweater produces less CO2 than a heater, yet the idea of putting on a sweater, came after the thought of turning on the heat.

Reminds me of the time I was at a friends house. We were in the backyard barbequeing burgers, talking about the sustainability of the American lifestyle. As we walked inside, I saw his wife turn on the heat instead of putting on a sweater. Oh the sustainable lifestyle.

As for me, I am going to go back to watching a DVD on my laptop and eat some ice cream.