Bags

Since I have moved to Berlin recently, I bought a bike. A Checker Pig Maru. I dig it. Matte black, minimal graphics, pretty light frame. Enclosed gear system, Nexus by Shimano. So now I have to learn how to wear or what to wear while biking. My Jack Spade messenger bag is okay - small, simple, black, but it keeps sliding forward while I am riding. And it can't hold as much as my Osprey bag - Stratos 24. I really like that bag. Hugs the torso well and can hold a decent amount of stuff. Problem though is the visuals. For an urban bag it is too busy.

Jack Spade and Osprey need to team up and make urban bags. A dual strap bag, like my Osprey stays on the body so much better than the Spade bag. But the Osprey is too busy ( as I said above) too busy too busy too busy.

Take the shape of the Osprey and have the material of the Spade bag with a long top down flap with Velcro. Have a similar strap system to keep the bag close to the body.

just some simple thoughts...maybe I should look at ortlieb...

Logos

I have been working on a logo for a friend's company. Not that he asked or anything, but it's something I enjoy. Find the variables I like, tweak them, re-arrange them. Try to use something besides Futura, my favorite font. Though Gill Sans is growing on me as is Santu(?), I think it is called. But something about licensing came up when I saved the file. Below are a few rough mockups.

The investigation continues...

Walking backwards

I was in the studio today. Walked backwards for about 45 minutes. Thinking about chaos. When we (Lower Left) teach chaos, we tend to focus on chaos of the kinesphere, but rarely on location and vector/pathway. Space Haikus maybe, but never with the words chaos.

Walking backwards for an extended period of time allowed me to get past many crap tapes. It became quite a revelation to realize that I had yet been in a certain corner of the space and that I had not yet walked backwards with a certain section of the wall or a certain window in view yet. Also walking backwards leads to quite a pleasurable sensation in the feet. I experienced a familiar pathway in my feet but reversed. Quite a podiacal(?) enlightenment.

Could be quite a performance - walking backwards.

Walking backwards is a simple tool for finding chaos - chaos of direction, of duration, of location (which will not truly be achieved until we can teleport!). By limiting our options, we increase our awareness and thusly increase our palate. Or is it pallate or pallete?

A sense of ease and sense of chaos are not mutually exclusive. People stuck in habits can feel the swirl of chaos. Once we have an awareness of the chaos and the possibilities within do we achieve a sense of ease.

Training chaos is not to create chaos but to work within it and give us options.

Sub

This current economic crisis is another example of people not paying enough attention to language.

Sub-prime. They were called sub-prime mortgages. Sub-prime. SUB as in less than as in lower, as in not as good.

As in subpar.
As in substandard.

Yes, the prefix "sub" can be used with other words and not necessarily mean less than as in submarine, subway, substitute (though, there ain't nothing like the real thing, baby! And what is a stitute?).

But pair the word sub with prime...

Below prime, less then prime, under prime…

Would you be surprised if the grade "F" eggs you bought were spoiled and gave you food poisoning?
Would you be surprised if you went to a no star motel and it was a dump?
Would you be surprised if you paid $15.99 for a flat screen TV and it didn't work?

If so, you have a future in finance and or politics in the US.

Quota

Seems like FB and Twitter have taken all my mojo and I can't write any posts here. Sorry.

Well, maybe blogger.com could make an iPhone app...hmm...doesn't sound too hard.

Natural vs. Unnatural

If the pope says that homosexuality is unnatural, does he not think that celibacy is unnatural?

Humans are built with sexual organs and designed by the Lord, so why not use them as the Lord intended?

How is celibacy any more natural?

Celibacy seems to me to choosing to go against god's wishes and not using sexual organs as the lord intended.

Instances of homosexuality have been seen in multiple species, not just humans.

How many other species have voluntary celibate members in them? Sure there are some ugly apes that can't get any action, but that isn't what I am talking about.

And self-flagellation, with a whip I mean, how natural is that?

Deficits

Can someone please explain to me why when Dubya was running up the deficit (after he spent all the surplus Clinton left him) spending money on destroying another country no one was bitchin'.

And now when Obama adds to the deficit trying to build up OUR OWN COUNTRY, everyone goes crazy and gets mad at him.

Predicting the future

I can predict 33% of the future.

I know when something will happen but not where it will happen or what it will be.

I know what will happen but not where or when it will happen

I know where something will happen but I do not know what it is or when it will happen.

Neo Classical

from West Coast Dance Festival 's section of definitions

11. Neo Classical: Classical ballet developed to a new classical of abstract lines with

classical technique along the lines originated by George Balanchine or similar masters.

Ø A form of dance with less formal approach to body, arm and foot positions.

Ø Minimal use of props.

Ø Simple costume with no sequins or fancy trims.

Ø Flexibility of body without acrobatic tricks, can include splits & Handstand to the floor.

Ø Music from any era – instrumental or vocal – however classical steps must

Ø Be adhered to.

Ø Ballet pumps or pointe shoes to be worn.

Ø Neo Classical is not:-

Ø Acrobatic tricks.

Ø Rhythmic Gym or Calisthenics.

Ø Slow Modern, Contemporary or Negro Spiritual.

Borrowing Money

I do not understand why conservatives object to borrowing money to pay for the healthcare of their fellow citizens, i.e. increase the general welfare of our country, but have no objection to destroying the huge post-Clinton surplus we had to and borrowing massive amounts to attack Iraq on false grounds. And the war in Iraq does not have a positive effect on life in the U.S.A.

From fat to fit

Looks like the fans are in order of fitness.

The new decade

doesn't start until the end of 2010.

C'mon, people...get it right.

Geothermal energy is a bad idea.

a really bad idea.

First let us start with the idea that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Geothermal, as I understand it, involves tapping into the molten core of the earth for energy. This can be done in several ways. Some methods are more passive - using a heat exchanger to heat water to heat house and water. One place I have experienced this is at the Breightonbush Hot Springs in Oregon. Their sauna is right over an open geothermal pool, capturing the heat and steam that would be lost into the atmosphere anyways. Another method, enhanced geothermal system, involved drilling into the earth ( i.e. !!!WARNING Not using naturally occurring sources of geothermal energy WARNING!!!) and injecting cold water into the "hot dry rock." The water then heats, expands and is converted into electricity using either a steam turbine or a binary power plant system. This method has lead to earthquakes. Granted they were only 2.9. But man made earthquakes are not a good thing.

But what worries me is not the possibility of man made earthquakes, but the assumption that geothermal energy is a sustainable source. Sustainable in comparison to coal - less CO2 emitted and maybe more sustainable than nuclear power plants - no radioactive waste to deal with. But the long term consequences are much more frightening. And our collective inability to see down this road is what is really frightening.

The earth's magnetic shield, the magnetosphere, "provides protection, without which life as we know it could not survive. Mars, with little or no magnetic field is thought to have lost much of its former oceans and atmosphere to space in part due to the direct impact of the solar wind. Venus with its thick atmosphere is thought to have lost most of its water to space in large part owing to solar wind ablation. " The shield, which protects all life on earth, is generated by the Earth's FLUID core spinning. See dynamo field.

For this to work, the core must be liquid. And if we suck more and more energy out of the core it will cool. This will lead to solidification. This will lead to death of the magnetosphere. And this will lead to the death of everything on the planet. Except for roaches and those bacteria that live down near the vents at the bottom of the ocean. Oh, but wait, Mars lost it's ocean due to solar winds. So I guess everything on earth will die.

But, wait, you say - The Earth's core is so huge and we could never extract that much energy. Humans can't have that much impact on our planet.

Overfishing anyone?
Deforestation?
Global warming?

When humans started using petrochemicals for fuel, did we even have a concept of running out of them or that we would affect the atmosphere? We, as a species, cannot look that far ahead.

You heard it here first - Geothermal energy is a BAD idea.

New Website

Coming soon!!

wasswasswass.com should be up some time next week.

andrewwass.com will still work and redirect you to wasswasswass.com

Public transportation in Upland

Walking from my mom's house to Hangar 18 climbing gym - 1 hour and 30 minutes

Taking the bus from my mom's house to Hangar 18 climbing gym - 2 hours 17 minutes

any questions?

Macluhan vs. Johnstone

Content lies in the structure (Keith Johnstone) = The medium is the message (Marshall Macluhan)

discuss

Missile Defense

“Scrapping the U.S. missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic does little more then empower Russia and Iran at the expense of our allies in Europe,” said Representative John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, the House minority leader. “It shows a willful determination to continue ignoring the threat posed by some of the most dangerous regimes in the world, while taking one of the most important defenses against Iran off the table.” - from the NY Times September 17, 2009.


Distance from Tehran to Warsaw -1877 miles
Distance from Tehran to Jerusalem - 975 miles
Why don't we put the missile system in Israel? It's closer to Iran.

Fair Health Care

If the U.S government won't pay for its citizens healthcare, why should it pay for the healthcare of the politicians?

Blue Accords

Live from Berlin, it's Monday night. Though when you read this it won't be Monday night. Though chances are 1 in 7 that it will be a Monday, but not the same Monday night that I am writing this. I was lucky enough to see two shows in this year's Tanz im August festival. I say lucky, not in relation to what I saw, but that I was able to get tickets. Seems like dance performances sell out here in advance. The tickets I got were for the Thomas Hauert/Zoo performance of Accords at the Akademie der Kunste performance and for the Juan Dominguez performance of Blue at Hau 2. I had never heard of these companies before. Availability determined my fate.

To be flippantly glib or glibly flippant (can one be flippantly flip?), I would say that Zoo's performance of Accords was Flocking 201 mixed with simulstart and a peppering of bad contact and that Blue was bad acting with few props. Should I describe the performances in more detail? Should a Danish professor include the cartoons in her book about the cartoons and how they incited the Muslim world?

The set for Accords was an empty stage with black panels hung in the back. Each the height of the stage and about 3 feet wide, they were spaced widely enough apart for dancers to slide on/off stage between them. The lighting varied from general washes to sharp diagonal bands to lighting behind the backstage panels (one of my favorite parts) to murky gobos. The costumes were tight primary color pants and shirts covered in black mesh body suits. Sound was a smorgasborg. Wish I hadn't recycled the program so I could tell you what the exactly range was. I remember classical music and the chirping of birds. Oh and Eric Satie. Thank gawd for Eric, because I was able to tell how far along we were in the performance. That is the only good thing about using a bunch of songs in performance, letting the audience figure out how much longer they have left, well that and to tell the audience how cool your iPod play list is.

The performance consisted of sections delineated by performers entering or exiting the stage through the spaces between the curtain. The sections were either simulstart/stop, flocking, or awkward partnering. Simulstart or simultaneous start is when the performers try to move at the same time. When engaged in this score, dancers tend to clump near each other and did Hauert and his dancers. Flocking is when people move in a clump changing spacing/facing with no discernible leader. Awkward partnering is skilled bodies coming in contact in an improvised manner consciously eschewing the CI movement paradigm. The tension in the hands and reluctance to full engage the hands on the bodies of other dancers lead me to believe that the dancers did not have much CI training. But I cannot be sure as the program did not have any information on the dancers themselves.

Three memorable sections:
1. The panels were lit from behind and the dancers ran them cross stage. It was like watching stills from a movie(French guy?Lumiere?), runners caught mid-stride.
2. Two dancers lying on the ground down stage left, light from above. Simple movements of limbs extending across and above each other.
3. All 7 dancers onstage dimly lit with a marsh(?) soundscape. Dancers would move with similar timing and flavor to the bird calls in the soundscape.

Why were these more memorable sections? I'd say the first one was the change of relationship to the set and the visual pop dancers appearing in bright light. The second because it was something besides simulstart/stop, flocking, or awkward partnering. And the movement wasn't as frantic allowing some respite from locorhea (movement diarhhea?) as can happen in improvisation and well choreography too for that matter. The third, though it was kinda cheesy and strawberry ice cream, 5, 5, 5, 5, I get it 5, but it was nice to see a more direct relationship between the movements and sounds. "The bird is chirping and I am dancing in the same rhythm, whee!!"

What was Hauert trying to reveal to the audience? Listening skills? The performers had rehearsed a lot and it was enjoyable to watch the skilled bodies move simultaneously. But their energy was too inward, too much into the group. Can a group be tuned and aware with out everyone having to look into the center? One woman who came out and did a solo (that was too short) was lithe and rubber limbed and able to go in an direction with ease, drawing support from all facets of her body. Too short in that she was joined by another dancer for a close range let's look at each other and smile simulstart duet, "show the audience what you are feeling, that you are having a good time" It was also enjoyable to see the melding of flocking and simulstart, different dancers taking the initiative to change to facing or the vocabulary. And as nice as it is to see an improvisation stay within a world or a frame, I felt that this one went on too long. But maybe Hauert was using the boredom created to make those three sections pop. I think a little less boredom would have made them pop just fine.

Blue by Juan Dominguez as I stated before was bad acting with a few props. Or maybe it was avant garde dancing with a few props, or maybe it was advanced guard singing with a few props, or maybe it was fortgeschrittene Wache welding with a few props. In these post-disciplinary days (a term I learned about recently from a friend who learned about it from the Art Institute of Chicago), I can't say for sure what it was - dance, singing or welding. But as Blue was part of Tanz im August, Blue with be viewed as dance for the purposes of this diatribe...I mean review.

The recap - 4 people standing on stage, 2 women hugging center stage, a man stage right near 2 cases of water bottles, another woman stage left. A black curtain arcing from upstage right to center stage. Full white lighting exposing the walls, pipes etc. And they kept standing, and standing. Yep, I must be in Europe, the piece is starting with standing. Add in self conscious smiling. Another man enters. The five dancers (welders? weavers? clowns?) clump together, hold hands occasionally kiss each other on the check, shift position. A piece of cheesecake enter the scene and two women eat it with exaggerated enjoyment. "Show the audience what you are feeling and tasting" I imagined the choreographer (director? conductor? therapist?) saying. Pants are removed, shirts exchanged, a wig appears on the bald guy. Someone leaves stage, the performers start laughing uproariously as one of them enters with a piece of black cloth. Fingers become horns and a bull fight ensues. An iron board, a TV and a large piece of iron that is used as a couterbalance enter the stage. More laughter. Someone pulls up the white marley and crawls under pretending to go to sleep. More laughter. Sexual innuendos appear - A man sucking a plastic bag, rubbing his ass crack on the corner of the wall, a woman rubbing her nipples on a rope. Another woman humping the crack between two marley sheets. "We're doing the sex thing. Wink Wink." A woman thrusts her left breast repeatedly into a boot. Rubbing each others noses, a duet goes between recognizable and silly sexual acts. The five dancers clump together each touching or groping at least 1 other person. As soon as the nudity appeared about 15 people started to leave. Not sure if it was because of the nudity or that they finally had had enough. Enough of what exactly? Watching five people "experience" things in an exaggerated manner? After the mock orgy, a ping pong ball appeared and the dancers(?) formed a circle. Throwing the ball back and forth the performers screamed. One by one they left the stage. Oh, I think I forgot to mention the part when the water bottles were rolled across stage. This, too, was seen as hilarious.

The audience half heartedly clapped. I booed. The performers did not reappear. The audience clapped louder trying to get the welders(?) back on stage. They did not appear.

My main objection to this piece was that there were no boundaries. Anything could have happened and it would have fit in the piece. Maybe that was Dominguez's point. Anything goes. In the program he wrote - Reversing the temporality of events, putting them out of context...- Yep, I guess that is what I mean by boundaries, the events had no context. He also wrote - ...prolonging the pleasure...exaggerated manner...- Was that the faux sex and exaggerated enjoyment of the cheesecake? -...tracing the amorphous... - sounds impossible - ...imagining reality... - why bother? it's already here- - ...transforming curiousity...astonishing more -

AHHH, THIS REVIEW IS GETTING TO BE WAY TOO LONG AND LOSING FOCUS...

(hmm...sounds like the last piece)

Beauty Contests

In the 1930s, financial markets, for obvious reasons, didn’t get much respect. Keynes compared them to “those newspaper competitions in which the competitors have to pick out the six prettiest faces from a hundred photographs, the prize being awarded to the competitor whose choice most nearly corresponds to the average preferences of the competitors as a whole; so that each competitor has to pick, not those faces which he himself finds prettiest, but those that he thinks likeliest to catch the fancy of the other competitors.” - from the NY Times.

sounds like an apt description to me