Miserable Palin.

The RNC speeches were baseless, devoid of fact or reason, and generally nausea-inducing. Giuliani is more desperate than ever (and such a tool)! Hard to watch the speeches; embarrassing that so many were there with their hateful BOOs and misplaced applause and cheering. Sadly, the GOP has done very well by appealing to culture-clash points and derision.

I'm pasting the following bullet points on Palin here (courtesy of MoveOn.org), just because they ought to be widespread. Book-burning. Really? So sad. Please let not a single Hillary vote go to the GOP on account of this wretched woman-- er, bulldog.


• Palin recently said that the war in Iraq is "God's task." She's even admitted she hasn't thought about the war much—just last year she was quoted saying, "I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."

• Palin has actively sought the support of the fringe Alaska Independence Party. Six months ago, Palin told members of the group—who advocate for a vote on secession from the union—to "keep up the good work" and "wished the party luck on what she called its 'inspiring convention.'"

• Palin wants to teach creationism in public schools. She hasn't made clear whether she thinks evolution is a fact.

• Palin doesn't believe that humans contribute to global warming. Speaking about climate change, she said, "I'm not one though who would attribute it to being manmade."

• Palin has close ties to Big Oil. Her inauguration was even sponsored by BP.

• Palin is extremely anti-choice. She doesn't even support abortion in the case of rape or incest.

• Palin opposes comprehensive sex-ed in public schools. She's said she will only support abstinence-only approaches.

• As mayor, Palin tried to ban books from the library. Palin asked the library how she might go about banning books because some had inappropriate language in them—shocking the librarian, Mary Ellen Baker. According to Time, "news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor."

• She DID support the Bridge to Nowhere (before she opposed it). Palin claimed that she said "thanks, but no thanks" to the infamous Bridge to Nowhere. But in 2006, Palin supported the project repeatedly, saying that Alaska should take advantage of earmarks "while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."

art deck-oh!

electrodeck




Above is the deck I painted for the Apache Skateboards/Humble Collective "My Way" skateboard art show at Humble Gallery. I sent it off by Fedex yesterday-- nothing like pushing 'til the last minute, but it's been just too busy lately! The opening is tonight, so if you're in Santa Fe, go check it out.

b u s y .

Sometimes, it's a good thing to be too busy to have much free time. Sometimes, when you're working on far too many projects, it can be good-- because it forces you to focus; forces you not only to find a way to finish things and to be creative about it, but also to have sudden and visceral responses to all the many layers in your life. This is useful, if somewhat vexing.

It can be a road to clarity.

It's interesting: Ben is my strongest association with that word, clarity, and I don't think it was a concept I ever gave much thought to outside of visuals, or in the context of writing or designing. But it has come to be such a crucial concept, a big picture thing.. (At least, in theory-- achieving the attainment of same is easier said than done, naturally.)

It calls into my mind the Thoreau bit: "Our life is frettered away by details. Simplify. Simplify." (That one reminds me of my dad.)

Hmmm...
Tonight was another sky of mad contrast- a great LIGHT in the west while a big dark storm brewed over the trees on the slope, off toward the park, at sunset. But the sky never really did open up. Not really. Dylan was playing in Prospect Park tonight. I'd entertained the idea of crashing, of listening on the lawn. I felt relieved when the thunder struck, because I knew I had to WORK. But then it didn't rain more than two minutes.

I worked anyway. (I didn't really have much of a choice.)
I'm curious how the show was. It'll be a story I hear from others; a good one, as it never did rain out.

Common enough occurrence, isn't it?

a dark storm sky against the light in the west

Fifth Avenue North, Park SLope, Brooklyn. Taken Sunday, August 4.

work work work

Hi. It's late and I spent the whole of the day on the TLB site, after all- didn't animate anything or work on jewelry (though it's only midnight, so I shall do that now- prep for resin-pouring).

I feel like sharing a sneak peak at the site, anyway- as it's ALL I've worked on for the past couple of days, and it's coming along quite nicely, I think. (edit: it's live now)

have a look----> the site

balance, upset

Had one of those days yesterday in which I got so much done, it was almost absurd. But today I just couldn't wake up! Slept incredibly late, and I need to have another getting so much done day! (I will). I don't seem to have gotten back on a sensible schedule since my return from Upstate, the farm.

Today (what's left of it) is for animation and for resin jewelry. I will make up for late-sleeping.
I will work into the night.


l a t e r :
I have been working at the Tara Lynne Band materials all day. They have now a blog, and an updated MySpace page. Web site will (hopefully) be finished by the end of next week. I have also to update the KE Haas Salon site, on top of about 8 or 9 other projects which will be ongoing for a few weeks at least. Whew! Busy.

l i s t m a k i n g

Today I did a drawing of a rutabega (see above). A magic rutabega. (More on why later...) Oh. Oops-- turns out I've been spelling it wrong, according to Mirriam-Webster. It's rutabaga!

There is a mighty thunderstorm occurring RIGHT NOW! A beautiful summer storm, following several hours of that tinged purple sky and flashes of heat lightning. Gorgeous. (And I left the wine bar just in time so as to enjoy this storm from my front room, and not have to walk through the downpour!)

Ben is in Philadelphia for some meetings, he left this morning. I shall wake early tomorrow to catch a plane up to Rochester. Looking forward to seeing the family! And: meeting the new pup, Wolf; seeing the new barn, the redecorated kitchen, and the farm in green in general. I hope it doesn't really rain all weekend, as I'd like to swim and go riding (horse and bike!). We'll see. Will take lots of photos. Meantime there are a few from Fire Island up on Flickr now.

recent readings
* The Places that Scare You, Pema Chodron
* The Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard
* Lighthousekeeping, Jeanette Winterson
* The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway
* The Wapshot Chronicle, John Cheever

recent viewings
* The Dark Ages (The History Channel)
* The Spiderwick Chronicles
* Mary Tyler Moore, (eason one)
* Moonlighting (pilot- oof!)
* A Picture of England (wonderful series, with David Dimbleby)
* Barbarians (series, with Terry Jones)

lately listening
* Girls and Boys, Ingrid Michaelson
* Music for Airports, Brian Eno
* LOTR Complete, Howard Shore
* s h u f f l e

"Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs"

Now that's a fantastic subject line.
The body of the email was pretty mundane, although its closing lines are equally poetic, in their way. To wit:

"Find me there and tell me a bit about your dreams.
Waiting for your answer"

Who writes this stuff? It makes you wonder how many among us (perhaps they give their job description as Internet Marketer?) are making their living in the industry of SPAM?

out of the fire..

Fire Island, that is.

One full week out there and you completely forget that feeling in your lower back that arises from being in front of the computer machine all day! Alas, after a single work day, it begins to creep back up the spine. I feel fairly certain I've caught up with everything, but some emails from last week and weekend seem to have disappeared into the ether, so if you sent on e to me and haven't yet heard back, send another post haste!

Hmmm. I thought a bit of typing might be cathartic, but it appears I'm not ready.
More later.

shelter, swelter or soak.

Those were the primary options over the weekend, but we had a good one of it anyway. A roving wander took us through Vinegar Hill , DUMBO and into the Heights on Saturday, finally trapped in air conditioning with beer and a Mets game as the torrents began in earnest. Tasted and bought some delicious things at the New Amsterdam Market on Sunday before being caught in another downpour on Mott street.

I've been missing Pi lately. Being a cold water fish, he never did care much for summer (I sometimes put ice cubes in his tank to melt and give him some relief from fish soup conditions). Oddly enough, he's still in the freezer, awaiting a proper burial. At Coney, later in the year, I think-- where Tres was also ceremonially laid to rest.

the Solstice has come and gone

Thanks to all who made their way out to Red Hook last week, whether for the opening or since. The collection from the opening (minus the pieces that have sold, of course) are still at Metal and Thread, along with myriad other lovely things, so do stop by if you haven't yet.

It's dark dark dark in Brooklyn today, and it puts me in mind of Winter days. This year, I shall be looking forward to the month of November, if for only one reason: a strange thing called NaNoWriMo. I've signed up already and it certainly sounds like heady fun.

digital

The problem of email (how or if it will be manipulated back into Pandora's box, or at least made to fit in one's Inbox); Texting; the omnipresence and simultaneous nonexistence of Blogs; IKEA: "if you build it and provide transport, they will come"; an hallucinatory human-sized bird cage; horse-porn as a tool in an Election year;

Moreover:
(from previous asides)
Were the Hulk's pants similarly affected by radiation, for there is otherwise no passable reason for "suspension of disbelief" (an ongoing problem still not tackled in 2008)--
and
How, in the future (read: now) everything is affordable, excepting the cost of living (eg: furniture; air conditioners; hi-def anything; iPhones; and external hard drives-- nearly free).

electroweb

The new electrofork site is launched.
Photos and Fine art missing, but soon to re-emerge (with much more than was on electrofork) at elizabethdaggar.com

In other news, some of my artwork may be appearing in the apartment of the young and the Real on a cable network near you before long, so keep an eye here for further details. See you at Metal and Thread in Red Hook this Thursday!

Of summer and a small island off the coast

A quick mid-morning missive, from an air conditioned perch in a small office building in Manhattan; I'm covering for a friend while he takes a long weekend. I woke later than planned, and had to rush but caught the N just as i descended the staircase at Atlantic, so I arrived on time.

I woke late on account, mainly, of having been up late working. Not working on what I should have been, but working (as I have been, obsessively) on the new electrofork site. It's nearly finished! The jewelry section is proving time-consuming, but nearly there, nearly there. (Honestly, it has been stealing time from other projects!) It's so close that it's just killing me to have to take time away from it lately to do "real" work.

I'm sure this is all very exciting to read. Back to work.