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Simon's Blog:
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zines? books? art? food? fashion? thrift? (butts?)
http://www.printfetish.com
Last Minute Shopping:
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oh, zines, books, art, food, fashion, thrift, etc.,
are all nice - but you wanted electronic music. and so, you looked here:
http://www.skylaboperations.com/
Pants:
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Only rarely in my adult life have I owned comfortable pants.
Because of my proportions, I do not fit well in mass produced clothing.
And I think that shopping sucks, period.
Enough said.
I bought a bunch of loose fitting "Columbia" brand cargo pants four years ago, and have since put off any further purchase.
But I needed some new denims: size 34/34, Levi's 505 worked the last time I got 'em, oh, 10 years ago.
Problem is, 10 year old blue jeans with holes in the knees are unacceptable for construction work, and/or motorcycling.
In spite of my best efforts to patch/repair, it was time for the Great Pant Hunt to begin, again.
Once upon a time, they (Levi's) were made in SF, Cali, USA.
Then, Mexican labor supplanted American labor.
Now, three pairs of Levi's, all 36/32, regular cut:
(1) Columbia, (2) Hong Kong, and (3) Haiti/Dominican Republic.
And so I am an Evil Bastard who supports sweat shops - and the cotton industry.
I would believe that my waist has grown 2 inches; but have my legs shrunk 2 inches?
Perhaps I have been doing too much heavy lifting.
I see a hemp kilt in my future.
(After trying on 20 pairs, I concluded that brand/size/cut/style seemed to matter little: there was a great variation in fit - even in the same product.
Oh how I long for the "Old Days" when Levi's were Levi's, chemicals weren't an issue, 527/521/555/etc didn't exist, and nothing was "full-cut" or "relaxed-cut" etc.)
Comparison: One year ago I bought an "ecobag" string bag at the Wheatsville Co-op in Austin, Texas.
Said bag bore a tag that contained the following information:
SKAL certified organic cotton / Fair Wage / Fair Labor.
It was $5 (American) and it has held up through a year of use on/off the motorcycle.
http://www.ecobags.com
http://www.wheatsville.coop
Dreams:
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(1) I entered a building that sold soup - and elephant rides.
The building's interior was well-crafted from wood, and its ceiling was low.
The cumulative effect of the proportions and material was like unto a Nordic sauna.
But, the style of the woodwork was Maori, or, possibly, Tibetan.
Inside the structure a 50 year old male, very pale, but southern Asian in appearance, walked up to me.
He reached forward and, with both hands, pressed upon a particular point on my face.
Some illness was cured.
When I woke from the dream, I felt relief from a mild cold that I had been fighting.
(2) I was in the kitchen of a home, cooking oatmeal for my mother and lj's rearwindow.
A tornado - a la Wizard of Oz - scooped up the house, and spun it around, and around.
We landed in an area where road construction was being performed.
When I woke from the dream, I found that my mother - who knew that I had been ill - had left a pot of oatmeal for me to eat.
Iraq:
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(a) the territory of Iraq is a political fiction composed of disparite elements;
it can't be held together without some violent force superior to the warring factions, e.g., Saddam Hussien, or, the U.S. Military. And even if the state (Iraq) is held together, forces external to Iraq will continue to supply arms/advice to those parties for whom they have sympathy; everyone (Russians, Iranians, Saudis, Americans, etc.) engages in said behavior.
(b) the territory of Iraq can't be partitioned because of the objection of the Turks to Kurdish statehood in the north, and the
certainty of greater Iranian influence in the south.
(c) what is happening in Iraq, and in Lebanon, bodes ill for other multi-ethnic, and/or multi-religious states, esp. the United
States of America. And this is the really serious thing - that no one is mentioning. Post-Yugoslavia, post-Soviet Union,
after devolution in the UK, has America got a future? Or, should we expect "sectarian" violence to escalate?
(d) any advice that James Baker had to give he could have given, privately; Baker is a friend of the Bush family. Why was the Iraq Study Group necessary?
Was the Iraq Study Group (as the "blue ribbon" 9/11 Commission before it) anything other than a public spectacle?
James Baker's private firm has the Saudi Royal Family as a client?
Above: containing some 100+ additional references to the secret plans of the Jews,
along with indications of the insults that Jewish people have offered to God and Muhammad;
printed in Saudi Arabia;
available in the U.S.A. through offices in Ashland, Oregon;
given to me by a Muslim attempting to convert me.
Andy Warhol(a):
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I hit the Warhol show at the MCA in Chicago.
That was months ago, and it's a good indication of how long I've left the LJ alone.
The Warhol show was followed by a multi-part documenatry on PBS;
the documentary was preceded by a really catty review in the column of Chicago's leading critic of the visual arts.
Yeah, Andy Warhola: he was the son of Polish/Czech immigrants; he "grew up" in Pittsburg.
Warhol's childhood - the place from which he came - was "exposed" by the authors of the video series.
And the question was begged, though not asked: To what degree was Warhol an invention?
It is easy enough to point at his wig, and consider the issue settled.
More fundamentally: Was Warhol in control?
Warhol was a Jay Gatz character; Warhol was a Fitzgerald-like author.
Character? Author? Victim? Victimizer?
The (documentary) treatment of Warhol was complex enough to present the difficult issues generated through
the conscious manipulation of media by a desperate man.
And so it was a double entendre to have Jeff Koons provide the voice for Warhol, in the documentary:
the guy who was famous for imitating the useless crap that was sold to him - was imitated by
the guy who imitated the guy who was famous for imitating the useless crap that was sold to him.
I think that it matters whether Warhol was sincere, or mocking, in his treatment of his icons: Marilyn or soup.
It is impossible for me to believe that Warhol did not accord fame - popular consumption - some great value.
Well, the attention paid to him is timely, inasmuch as his model has been widely employed by the legions of mimics who are unable to "create" anything new.
Flash-Master J. White
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I went to Simon's (Clark & Foster) tavern, and shared a bottle of ale with my old friend J. White.
Though James and I were friends in high school (1981-1985) we haven't really seen each other since that time. Then, earlier this year, he found me on-line. We got together. It was good.
(Note Halloween decorations in background; Thor, God of Thunder, at far right.)
http://www.artandstrategy.com
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