Close to far.
Michael, my brother
Tony
Terrence
John, coach
James
Ron

Softball season started Friday night. 0-2 out the blocks.

prepare 4 downcount

my bluejeans is tight
so on to my love rocket climb
inside tanker fuel is not fuel
but love
above us
there is nothing above
but the stars
above
all systems gone
prepare for downcount
five
four
three
one
OFFBLAST

Via Blogumentary

Jarret Keene asked me to review his book Monster Fashion today via email and with some suspicion I agreed. I had emailed him the post below about a week ago. He seemed entirely genuine in his request, no question of that, I'm just surprised that someone would seek my opinion on their work. I've had a friend ask me to read her boyfriend's book before (which was great), but I've never had a stranger ask me.
Jarret is not entirely strange to me even though we've never met.
I saw him read last month in downtown Las Vegas. His wife and an another woman were there with him and they sat near me. If I had more time to sketch they might have made it into my drawing of the scene.
Maybe not. I draw what I see, and looking so intently always feels unseemly. If I'd been feeling particularly outgoing, introduced myself and asked permission it could have been a much more charming drawing.
So I went to order his book from Amazon.com and found a broad consensus that this is good stuff. The reviewers appear to be a coterie of poets and friends showing their support for Jarret's work. They are all enthusiastic and I look forward to adding my two cents. I feel challenged to speak intelligently. I shall do my best.

You can listen to Jarret read some of Monster Fashion over at Mperia.

Little Children by Tom Perrota

Little Children

I started reading Little Children the other day and I was thinking to myself, "Why the heck am I reading this?"
I remembered buying it on purpose. But what purpose?
Had Amazon let me down? "Your Recommendations" throw me a curve ball? No way. Amazon is always dead on balls accurate.
I just couldn't remember why I had bought and was now reading this sing song romance fiction. Straight story telling. And all made up. Finally when Sarah reads Madame Bovary in the book something jump started my memory.
I heard Tom Perrota on Fresh Air talking about how his character rereads Madame Bovary after her life detours from grad school feminist to motherhood and adultery. This sounded great on the air and it cuts both ways in the book just as you'd expected.
A few things about my high school reading of Madame Bovary:

1. I read it while my parents were reconciling after about a year of separation. I had it in my head that marriage just didn't work anymore. So the book confused me. Made me wonder if marriage had ever worked.


2. It was an early glimpse for me of the notion of feminism.


3. I remember learning the word apoplectic from reading it.

I think it would be fair to call Little Children a realist's romance novel. There's plenty of hidden love and lust, taboo perversion, and righteous anger. Elicit assignations and frank adultery. This story is about a few people living unhappy lives a couple of which cheat on their spouses to escape for a summer. We don't have to read fiction to know that marriages fall apart for bad reasons, or to feel jealous of young lovers. This summer you could read this story or spend it gossiping about your neighbor. Better yet, fall in love again (with your spouce if you're married) and tell us the story.

Its been about a year. Writing this blog. And I haven't found a voice. I don't know what it should be about or what value it could ever have.
When I read blogs the ones I go back to come in a few varieties: link lists, technical reference, and narrative diaries.
The link list is yer basic "I found cool site A via site I read B." Making Projects has mostly been in this vein. I'm not consistent however and I rarely find new things. I may not be good at this but I'm sure I'll keep it up. I like the lists at BoingBoing and Geisha asobi.
Technical reference; I got no skills. But benfit from the likes of Mandarin Design every week.
Narrative dairies, this is what I want Making Projects to be. I want to tell the stories of all the projects that pan across my mind, but when I sit in front of my computer everything just drifts away. It takes 50 times longer type it than it does to mentally dictate it. I want to tell the truth and in the most native way connect with other people. I want people to think, "I'm like that." I want to have a life that is like other people's. I want me and other people to think, "most people aren't that much different really." I read Kevin Sites and Mimi Smartpants, but I also listen to This American Life and read things like Jeffrey Brown's Clumbsy and Unlikely. Maybe there's enough ordinary in my life to be extra-ordinary.

Idol worship was all that, back in the day, and monothesim was not cool about it. If God is the only god then idol worship's gotsta be blasphemy, right? 2nd Commandment n' all. Geometry and calligraphy were a safe bet for Muslim artists...
On the left, a photo of a floor design in Granada, [Moorish] Spain. On the right, photoshopped for your backgrounderous pleasure.

Coming down the pipeline...XO: Wearable Robot. Strength enhancing exosuit thanks to DARPA (and the spider aliens). Anybody out there remember X0:Manowar?
(may require registration)
via KurzweilAI.net

Culture Here!

Jarret Keene

Lewis Avenue Poets Cafe under the Stars
I don't recall how I came across Jarret Keene's website. Either through Flummox or some other Vegas blog. He mentioned the Lewis avenue reading on May 26th and I made it down to see what I could see.
I came downtown with very low expectations. This is Las Vegas after all and neither poetry nor outside ring true. Reading barely has a ring to it here.
I saw friends and family of the poets, well wishing First Friday promoters and downtownites, vendors and myself enjoying good poetry in a passable urban public space in downtown Las Vegas. Overall, a pleasant surprise.
I met Dayvid Figler briefly, who mentioned Aquaman, listened to Harry Fagel and Jarret Keene, who both mentioned Captain America, and had to leave just as the next poet began. I enjoyed the poetry (despite the offputting anger and vulgarity from Fagel's reading) but really, I could do without the jazz.
Somewhere somebody thinks that light jazz is always appropriate for a poetry reading. I say, if you're building a brand to market a hip downtown Las Vegas culture in an effort to seed the city with a sense of place and a loci for talent, light jazz ain't gonna help.
The evening should be counted in the progress column, but the only thing needed to make this event a cartoon of itself was a giant sign and a flashing arrow reading "Culture Here!"
BTW...I'd love to have a sign like that. Or maybe a medallion necklace with flashing LEDs, a hit with all the ravers. Even a T-shirt, baybydolls for the girls of course!...

A Picture Share!

On Charleston near the 515
I was driving to my brother's house Saturday and there was major traffic around this secret installation of a gigantic sewer sleeve. Several tents set up along the road, a truckload pristine white of sleevery, and the stench of open sewer. Three hints into the secrets hiding under those tents.
Give up?
It's where they're hiding the aliens.

A Picture Share!

In front of my computer
I discovered that I can post to the blog using email. It's one of blogger's settings. Once you set it up all you have to do is write an email to publish a post.
I had already added the audioblogger phone number as a contact in my mobile so I added the blog posting email for Making Projects to the contact, I took a photo [a close up of my eye], and posted it from my phone!
From my phone I can now take photos, write posts, and record audio for my blog. And so can everyone else with a camera phone. All of us can become mobile photo radio journalists. Give it a shot!

Our Posthuman Future by Francis Fukiyama

In Our Posthuman Future Fukiyama argues for the creation of national and international regulating bodies that can intervene and prevent certain research in human biotechnology. These technologies assault the basis of human rights by modifying and threatening to harm human dignity. Reason, language, moral choice, and emotions combine in humans to produce politics, art, and religion.
Fukuyama would have the regulatory institutions draw a line between therapy and enhancement,

It's past my bed time have to come back to it later...

I stumbled across this entertaining spoof of WMD emergency graphics at Moxie via Utter Wonder via Zulkey.

A new post at Kevin Sites Blog: "...But then we hear reports that a second vehicle has gone into the drink as well. This one from Alpha Company--and the situation is much worse..."