alki snow

just a fantastic weekend.  we worked on the house and are getting close to finishing expanding our dining room, then hit a new bierstube in walking distance, Prost!  After a few Hacker-Schorr, the snow was coming down in quarter size clumps, very wet, so we took a big walk. 

Mrs. 8's snowball aim is superior--a big blow to my ego.  At least I could throw it farther, once it missed it's target.  

Sunday--futbal on the telly, then the hawks, and more work on the dining room between games.  Ready by Xmas!  

new tree series

gingerbread house 2008

my firm is helping out charity with a gingerbread house competition.  15 seattle architects are participating.  

we haven't quite finished yet, but here is a little something to whet your appetite.  Actually, this does not look tasty, especially with our rock hard 3/4" thick gingerbread--you could build a real house out of it  (note--next year roll out the dough thinner...). 

Nevertheless, our shop smells great.  

From the Bureau of Best Intentions

We invited a bunch of people over for Thanksgiving--too many really to fit in our old dining room.  Which to be fair would classify as a breakfast nook.   So Mrs. 8 had the great idea to blow out a bearing wall in between the kitchen and living room.  Of course it is going to be wonderful for the house....but, it has now taken 3 weeks, we relocated Thanksgiving to a friend's house, and we're still working on it.  I think we'll be done in 10 days.... 

Anarchy and Old Dogs

Next up on the world book tour:  Anarchy and Old Dogs, by Colin Cotterill. 

4th book in the series, and by now I am a little embarrassed that I've read them all.  It started out innocently enough--a compelling little story about a elderly communist doctor in 1970s Laos becomes the only State coroner, and then discovers he is also actually temporary housing for a thousand year old shaman spirit.  So the dead show him their fates, which greatly improves his chances of solving their murders.  A cross of Ghost Whisperer and Quincy, ME.  

Now after 4 books, the author is coasting, and although I'll recommend the first 2, I'm too let down to hat tip the rest.  

The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene

Next up on the World Book Tour, The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene.  

Set in Mexico in the 1930s, religion has been outlawed by the oppressive state, and the countryside's church have been destroyed and the priests are either forced to give up their vestments and marry or face execution.  One priest has turned fugitive, but not for the noble cause that has turned some virtuous priests into martyrs.   He is as bad a priest as they come:  he is a drunk, incredibly vain, corrupt, and, most damning, has fathered a child.   He is on the run because he is afraid of death, one because he is a coward, two, because he doesn't feel he is deserving of the martyr label, and three, because he knows he is going to face God without any good deeds.  He is a believer, but a broken man, and that makes him an intriguing, paradoxical anti-hero.  

He is being pursued by the Lieutenant, symbol of the oppressive government. By outward appearances, he is the law and order, and his motivation for persecuting the clergy has more to do freeing the people from the excessing of the church.  But in his quest to find the priest, he chooses to kidnap and murder peasants to force them to give up the fugitive. 

Neither the Power or the Glory are reflected in a shining light in this book, but again, Greene's tight prose, builds up a cast of complex characters, and a critique of the pragmatic machinations of power under the cover of virtuous intent. 

Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made--Immanuel Kant.  

cruelty in the media

I think this photo is pretty unfair and am amazed that Reuters ran it.  But then again, it crystallized the debate succinctly.  I smell an election year internet meme.  

dollars and sense, part 2

see questions below: 

1. no

2. yes

3. no. 

dollars and sense

with news of the latest and greatest federal bailout, I have some questions: 

1. Can people really support a system that privatizes profit, but socializes risk? 

2. Aren't the people (like Enron's "smartest guys in the room") at fault here going to be the people allocating the bailout?   And probably reaping the benefits?

3. This is a crisis of confidence. Is giving a blank check to the Sec.Treas. without strings, regulations, oversight going to do anything but further seed mistrust in government once news gets out that we're funding CEO golden parachutes, etc?  

I think this is endemic of the Republican leadership:  wreck havoc then claim we're too busted to do anything about medicare, social security, the debt, anything.  

for people that disrespect soccer:

have you seen a Nationals or Devil Rays game?  Noone has. 

mortgage backed security

News today that the bailout to clear the bad debt of the country's books is going to be 700 billion dollars, or as much as we're have spend in Iraq and Afganistan.

Of course the debt isn't going away, the taxpayers are buying it, using money we've borrowed from the Chinese.

tremors, one of my favorite movies

seriously.

Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon are genius together, like Bogart and Bacall. And having lived for 3 years in Arizona, I have a soft spot for the desert and its inhabitants. So many of the details are perfect, from the mishmash of idealistic losers, to the rough economics of scraping out a living. It is exactly like what you'll find driving across Arizona.

I don't really think it is a western--the structure and story is straight sci-fi, all Alien, no Rio Bravo.

design your dwelling 2008

good news--I got a runner up spot in the competition.  Fame, fortune, and a free year's subscription to Dwell are mine!

Getting second out of 130 entries sucks just a little less then getting nothing. According to the editor, there won't be any ink for the winners in the magazine.  

Fuzzy kittens, blinded by rage, eat all the cucumber sandwiches.

design your dwelling

Dwell Magazine had a little competition to design a house for a site in San Francisco, at Crissy Field in view of the Golden Gate Bridge.  In response to the very public site, and the conceit of putting a private house there, I chose to elevate the residence and downsize it to about 900 sf. and use the rest of the site as public sculpture park and a community hall/gallery/exhibition space.  The structure features a glass security screen with a photovoltaic layer cut from an abstract foliage design from one of my prints  (tree boom, see below), keeping the house off the grid.  When in use, the community hall opens up to the northwest toward the bridge.  Stormwater is stored and used to feed a rooftop edible garden.  

It was a fun little exercise and gave me a chance to experiment with some other Sketchup functionalities that I don't normally use, and do some extra credit research on PV systems. I'm pretty sure I didn't win, especially since I took their program and dumped it on its head.  

 

big weekend

After more than 2 and 1/2 years of mostly pro bono work, the new plaza for the Alki Statue of Liberty was unveiled. Hundreds of people showed up for the event.    

I feel great relief and satisfaction--it is akin to an adrenaline rush--to see people in the plaza hanging out, enjoying the weather.  We've created a landmark, a community touchstone.  

This project has been a marathon test of endurance and will, and it shouldn't be like that.  Our public realm would be much richer if the barriers set by the powers that be were a little lower.  

on a roll

I have been trying to amass enough recent work to put together a portfolio and subsequently get an exhibition.  I have about 15-20 works now.  

The show could be called "Monetize your hobby." 

things I have tried to convince my wife of recently:

McCain picked a fantastic running mate.

In a twist, this is not a lie--this is absolutely true.  Palin is fantastic--she is the gift that keeps giving:  so far, let's see (in no particular order):

1. No foreign policy experience (despite GOP commentators trying to pin geographic proximity to Russia as proof of her chops).  

2. Reinforces McCain's pandering reform calls (was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it).  

3. Former member of Alaska Independence Party.  The only party platform plank--calling for secession from the United States.  This is not a youthful indiscretion:  she dropped her membership in '96 when she was 32 years old--some reports out there state that her husband Todd, "the First Dude," is still a member. 

4. Believes in creationism, but not global climate change. 

5. Her major act as governor was to increase the taxes on oil and gas companies, and pass the revenue onto taxpayers (sounds a lot like a Democratic initiative).  

6. Family values candidate, but had a bun in the oven when she was married, and has passed that and her stand on abstinence only education onto her kids.  

7. Troopergate:  embroiled in a scandal to fire her sister's husband to gain leverage in her custody battle.  Hired a private lawyer yesterday. 

8. But has 'military command experience,' given that she is the commander of the Alaskan National Guard.  

This is the list five days after her rollout.  Man, I can't wait to meet the First Dude who makes up the other half of this power couple, and the boy wonder/future son-in-law who got the Guv's underage daughter preggers.  

I swear, it is ridiculous what the conservatives will put up with: as long as she is evangelical and can shoot a gun, she is qualified to lead the free world.  If McCain wanted to pick an experienced woman as a running mate, he could have chosen Olympia Snow or Kay Bailey Hutchinson.  Wait, they are pro-choice.  Okay, Elizabeth Dole.  

Further, this is just a cynical ploy to firm up the evangelicals and maybe peel off a couple Hillary supporters (but who is going to fall for that), but has to stand out in the annals of campaigns as the biggest huge bone headed move, notwithstanding Tom Eagleton in '72. 

If I were a woman, I'd be incensed that McCain is treating the VP slot as window dressing.  

At least, it takes the focus off Obama's speech in front of 84,000 people.  Mission accomplished. 

So yes, she is fantastic.  

another print

tree/boom

mt rainier

the serated ridges that slicer up the glaciers on the slopes of Mt. Rainier

hoopdie safari

We like to camp, moreso we like to car camp. So imagine our joy at being able to take our new Outback into the woods for Labor Day Weekend--no more hoopdie safaris in the Corolla!  

We found a little spot off the American River in the Wenatchee National Forest, put up stakes and honestly, did everything one might expect on a camping trip:  sitting around a fire, grilling, a big day hike, some whittling.  Really--I whittled a walking stick.  I thought perhaps that is a little cliche--I can come up with something better, but then again the media presented by the forest (sticks, limbs, etc) are very well suited for the tools at hand (pocketknife, hatchet) so the natural by product is usually something like that.  I'll try harder next time.  Mrs. 8's dad would carve little driftwood boats to float out in the nearest river for the kids.  Which is very charming and I am not going to try to top that.  Until we have kids.  

more recent effort

the fruit of a creative fit last night--enjoy:   

a recent effort:

EPL fantasy league

now I have 4 teams (I guess there was a two for one special).  Yeah!  Now I can really sink some time into it! 

Mrs. 8 is going to love that. 

premier league begins!

The english premiere league starts up again tomorrow!  My preseason picks: 

1 chelsea

2 manchester united

3 arsenal

4 liverpool

5 everton

6 aston villa

7 manchester city

8 portsmouth

9 sunderland (keane managing above his pay grade)

10 tottenham (sans berbatov)

11 newcastle

12 blackburn

13 west ham

14 bolton (my team--slight improvement over last season)

15 wigan (read it and weep, aldis)

16 fulham

17 middlesbrough

18 hull

19 west brom

20 stoke

I've got two fantasy teams, and I have spent the last 3 hours geeking out over stats etc to pick players.  

chelsea looks good, man u is going to fall back a bit, sunderland is going to move up, and the three new teams are headed straight down.  

chatauqua

One of the highlights our little vacation was visiting the Big Top Chatauqua. Granted much of the show was about fishing, but the quality of the house band (tent band?) just charmed my socks off.

And you could get a Leinenkugel during intermission....

busy week

On Monday, I was in a wee crash that nonetheless totaled our old Corolla, which since the truck's clutch is out left us with exactly zero vehicles.

The upside is that it accelerated our decision to buy another new car by 6 months. On Saturday, we bought a 08 subaru outback (barely used).

We're already putting our distinctive touches on it. Mrs. 8 scuffed a curb while parking it.

Perhaps there is a little irony in that I just was kidding her about wreaking the car below.

things I've tried to convince my wife of recently:

That I was in a plane crash, however it was an ultralight plane was trying to land on a road and hit my car. Everyone was fine but I had a hell of a time explaining it to the insurance adjuster.

world book tour

As is typical for vacation, I spend an inordinate amount of time reading. And as is typical of me, my path--the world tour--has been backtracking, meandering, ambling along in fits and starts. I read three books last week, What is the What (eggers), Popular Music of Vittula (niemi) and Into Thin Air (krakauer). I'd recommend all three, but won't bother with the book report. On the last day of vacation, I started the Life of Pi, but it is rubbing me the wrong way right now.

i'm back

I'll do my best to measure out the posts over the next week covering the last month. Most of it was spend either on vacation or preparing for it.

things I've tried to convince my wife of recently

1:  For the Fourth of July, they dye the river red, white and blue.  

2:  Gretchen Wilson has a new hit single:  "Suck my balls, I'm a cowgirl."  

This would have been funnier if Mrs. 8 had any idea who Gretchen Wilson is.  The fact that I know who Gretchen Wilson is is very sad.  

july 4th, neskowin

the parade!

the fireworks on the beach!

mussel covered trees on the beach!

Proposal Rock!

Ursa, AKA Clubber Lang

This evening I was reaching down to pick up Ursa's food bowl, while she was jumping up onto the counter to inspect the food. Just like a cartoon, our heads knocked. She seems just fine, but I have a headache and my right brow is swollen. It felt like someone hit me with a baseball, a fuzzy black baseball.

I almost got TKOed by by 8 lb kitten. In my defense, she was traveling quite fast, as she is wont to do. I think I might have been even lifted off my feet, a little, like a 'Dragonball Z' punch.

seven years in tibet, by heinrich harrer

next up on the world book tour: Seven Years in Tibet, by Heinrich Harrer

a fantastic portrait of a country taken by a modern man, of a pre-modern society, at its height, before the Chinese invasion erased a millennium of culture and tradition. it is hard to fathom just how isolated the country was: no foreigners, no external diplomacy, very little communication with the outside world, a pure theocracy with a God-King. Harrer does well with his straight forward descriptions and keen eye to capture the quotidian workings of the forbidden city, Lhasa, at the heart of Tibet.

I loved the descriptions of Tibetans sifting the earthworms from a spade full of dirt, and putting them back in the ground (because they could be a reincarnated ancestor or relative). And the description of a fully self sustaining society--a strange creature that we can only imagine in the interconnected world we live in today.

The book illuminates the status of Tibet vis a vis China. In Tibet's eyes, they had always been independent,but never bothered really to let the outside world know (which sounds totally crazy until you get inside the feudal isolation of the Tibetan mindset). So when China invaded them in the 50s, the world community really didn't understand Tibet as an independent state, so it was easy to conquer (especially since they didn't have much on a military), prop up a competing Lama (who'd know the difference?). They took advantage of Tibet's limited connection to the rest of the world, and in a funny irony, created in the Dalai Lama, a world figure, an exile Mandela that roams the rest of the world sowing distrust and embarrassment for the Chinese and support for Tibetans.

news in 10 seconds: sports

Sonics, gone. Mariners, toast. Hawks, hope springs eternal. Team name 'Sounders' is moving up to the big, bad MLS, but the players aren't. Ouch.

Thank you.

happy birthday!

to my brother, Todd (in two days).
See you in a couple of weeks!

oregon beach

Mrs. 8 and I are heading down to neskowin, oregon for the fourth of july

We're both excited because we need a break, and the last we were there in september 2005, we got engaged, so it's a bit special for us.

I'm hoping to play catch up on the world book tour, with Infidel, What is the What, and perhaps Seven Years in Tibet. Best case--all the worked up stress I've been building will just leach out in the salt air.

Mrs. 8 will probably knit 4 sweaters.

seattle townhomes

We have a widespread perception in Seattle that the land use code regarding multifamily design is broken, as evidenced by the rapid proliferation of the same townhouse design all over town like a cancer (probably more like measles--not fatal, but might leave some scarring).  

I just got back from a 'charette' (a design brainstorming session) with about 40 architects, talking about fixes for the code to allow greater flexibility, and therefore diversity in new developments.  Sadly, I have to report that there are few new ideas out there, mostly deviations that game the existing land use code, or throw backs to traditional forms.  Not that that is bad, I wish we could build up row houses, courtyard housing, etc., but is that going to be palatable to Seattle neighborhoods? Probably not in the short term, although row houses in some shape or form were the subtext of just about every scheme presented.    

The only thing that is going to radically change the code, is the reduction in the importance of the automobile.  Right now, parking, access, and garages dictate the design, and if the solution to larger problems in the city is mass trans and higher density, the car is going to need to be stricken from the equation.  

With gas topping $140 a barrel, and gas at 4.50 a gallon  (this will probably seem like a sweet deal in a month), we may be on the verge of a massive shift in thinking in the public realm about planning for the future.  But I remain cynical enough people will be willing to make the sacrifice necessary to evolve the city on a large scale.  The breaking point is still some years away. 

In the meantime, we should just agitate for a row house plausible by code, because it seems to be on everyone's brains, as a transitional form to a more dense urban environment.   

  

posting

being new to blogging, I didn't realize I was limiting comments on the blog to registered users.  I switched it up to allow anyone to respond, so comment away!! 

things I've tried to convince my wife of recently:

Michael J. Fox was a Navy SEAL before his breakout role as Alex Keating on TV's Family Ties.
The 'J' stands for Jackal.
His specialty was wet works, y'know, real black bag covert ops stuff. His military record is still highly classified, but I heard all sorts of innuendo when I dated Justine Bateman back in the 80s. He'd disappear off the set for two days and the next thing you know, Yuri Andropov drops dead from a heart attack or whatever.

community is

We just watched a little movie called Be Kind, Rewind: a story about a old school corner video store in a beat down Jersey town, on the brink of demolition when all the tapes get erased and they reshoot the movies with a cam corder and home made props and special effects. The real plot is about the neighborhood, about living together in the city, with your neighbors and freaks, quirks and favorite old spots--the lore of the block becoming the blood that runs through your veins. It is a very earnest, idealist movie, and damn near made me cry.

It was so powerful for me personally not because we live in a tightly knit neighborhood now or have any particular nostalgia for a place in misty hindsight, but because it was made by people who clearly believe in the power of film to bring people together. That their art, their craft, their work had a greater benefit, that it wove the people together into a common experience, and that was their real purpose.

This is especially poignant for me because I have been working to rebuild a public plaza in a nearby park for two and half years. Many times I thought that there is no way this is going to happen. The inertia of doing nothing, the resistance from the powers that be, the endurance required to overcome the bureaucratic obstacles--it has seemed like a bridge too far. But people in the community have been driving and driving, fund raising, hounding various public officials, and now I really feel like we're going to get it built this summer. If I'd known the heartache and pressure and persistence and madness required to do this kind of work, I'd probably never have volunteered.
And we have a long way to go yet. But something tells me when we finish, I'll be able to feel a pride that will never fade, and that we'll have given something to the citizens and the city that, while very small, is worth it all and more.

wiped out

I have been too wiped out from each successive wave of project induced madness, one after another, to do much more than sleep.

I don't have the desire to read, so it might be a couple a weeks before I crack the next book.

the radio landscape

it is Saturday night and we just got back from Iron Man, the movie (exactly what you'd expect and worth the price), and we're listening to the Swing Years on KUOW and I am just feeling warm and fuzzy about having a couple solid radio stations in town (or it might also be the Johnny Walker Red).

I think it is shocking that too many cities have nothing like KEXP. It is tragic. I can only hope KEXP doesn't ever lose the dj's voice and personality (Mrs. 8 is partial to Quilty 3000, me--leon berman, the 'proctologist of rock and roll').

Funny thing, the homogeneity in radio has lead to the explosion of independent programming over I-Tunes (Iranian ambient, anyone?), and that has lead to the weakening of really cool radio like KEXP. I'm a little ashamed to say, when the pledge drive is on (like last week), we flip the office stereo to Boot Licker over the web.

the quiet american, graham greene

next up on the world book tour: The Quiet American, by Graham Greene

Graham Greene's descendants should thank George Bush for the recent royalties associated with this 1955 novel of intrigue and betrayal in Vietnam during the end of the French era, because the he has been bumbling around the world stage like Alden Pyle. You could look at this book as a prescient critique of American foreign policy aspirations, but I'd say that is overselling it by quite a bit.

Alden Pyle, the quiet American in the title, is a naive do-gooder ready to solve the vietnamese problems with equal doses of rhetoric and plastique. His only experience is gleaned from one or two books on the region (two more than Bush used in researching Iraq). The problem is than Alden Pyle is worse than a caricature: he is breathtakingly earnest, forthright, and stupid. No human being is as deaf and dumb as this guy and that undercuts him as somehow symbolic of the US. I mean, he falls in love with some other guy's mistress in the first ten minutes he's known both of them then the next day asks him permission to steal her away. What? Really? No.

I like the book much better emptied of all the applied symbolism. A love triangle, a broken down man, and a new bull in the ring. But the world weary tone has become a cliche--a cynical reporter? check? Personal vice and broken relationships? check. An exotic locale? check. A crooked cop with a weakness for protagonist? check. It is one of those books, where you'd like to travel back in time, so you could spread the book out against the cultural landscape, and understand it with a little more perspective. But it reads like a movie, and has been twice--in 1958, and 2004. What is vietnamese for Casablanca?

If we're going to go the route that Pyle is the US, then Fowler is old Europe and Phuong is everybody caught in the crossfire of both region's brands of colonialism. I think it is only fair to criticize the author for the opaque rendering of Phuong: she barely has feelings, emotions, thoughts. She is a slave, just she might get to choose a master. If anything, the book equally highlights the decadent and dehumanizing attitudes of old world powers that created some the messes we are still trying to clean up today. Like Iraq's ersatz creation as a British Protectorate post WWI.

If we're going to blame Pyle for Vietnam, we should be able to blame Fowler for Iraq.

prisons

My previous mention of THX-1138, the film by George Lucas, has had me thinking about prisons. Perhaps next year's book tour with focus on incarceration: the effects and forms, the constructs.

hmmm.

taking a stand

I refuse to make rice. It isn't that I don't like rice, but once you take a stand, you have to stick to it. And I never have nor ever will make rice.

However it is made, I prefer to think than it just appears, out of the steam, like a magic wizard, like a delicious magic wizard.

half a life, VS Naipaul

next up on the world book tour: Half a Life, by V. S. Naipaul

Willie Chandran is the offspring of a brahmin and an untouchable in India, and is forever plagued by his cross caste birth and the uncertainty. A class criticism across three continents, Willie witnesses the system from the outside, inside and the top (in India, Britain, and Mozambique).

This overt class determinism is something I don't understand, since our class conflicts are mostly invisible--glass ceilings and walls. Or maybe because I've never been on the outside or underside, just in the amorphous middle (think THX-1138), the boundaries seem porous, and something that can be swept away with self determinism. It isn't part of my DNA the way it is with Willie.

On a college scholarship in London, Willie recreates his past, and carves out a new identity, but as the curtain closes on his college career, he discards this fanciful, inchoate persona of ex pat writer, and falls into the arms of someone who, with her own mixed class birth, would understand and coddle the original, conflicted Willie. Maybe he is attracted to her because she knows he is a fraud, or more charitably, can see through the protective shell he's built up. She punctures his panoply, and he steps away from the threshold of freedom, back into the trap of his birth. When he finally decides to chart his own course, he's 41 and starting over. He has been cowed, a coward, blown by the wind whichever direction seems to lead toward security, but it has stunted his growth. So I wouldn't say his chances are good.

The writing is crisp, sharp, spare and able to sketch out three societies and a broad roster of characters in just over 200 pages. I would love to read the other half of his life. Maybe Naipaul has written it.

so far, a perfect weekend.

yesterday, saturday, we hit the yard hard, like dervishes: mowing, trimming, weeding, seeding, planting. By about 2 pm, I felt like we could enjoy some of the fruits of our labor and sit on the back patio and let the evening come to us.

after BBQing chicken, with the sunlight still glowing, we started a fire. I was further lit up by a couple of gin and tonics, a cigar, and full of appreciation for the quiet, domestic evening. The simple pleasures. Enough to make the pressures and problems I feel seem like a distant storm over the horizon, just a breeze to stir the air.

Today, not much different--a little work on the house, a big nap, and a new book. Now the stars have turned on, we see the halo of light from downtown, but all is impossibly quiet.

low blow

the end of film

grand theft auto 4 made more than 500 million dollars in the first week.
hollywood cannot be happy about that. not that I am going to join the perennial cry that 'film is dead,' but with hollywood, bollywood, nollywood (nigeria makes the 3rd most pictures), film is looking at smaller, fragmented, niche audiences, but the real blockbusters will be some other media. More people have probable seen "2 girls, 1 cup" than Star Wars (just a guess--not that I am going to watch it). As we get more indulgent access to the precise, tailored media we want, choice is going to kill the media monolith. I don't think I am going to be too interested in whatever Rom-Com hollywood spit out last week for my demographic, when I can experience the freedom of action built in to GTA4, other games and the panoramic array of entertainment on the horizon.

i've got more questions about gaming--namely, will they ever grow up? Games are politically neutral, do not attempt to advance ideas that challenge society, and any meaning is supplied by the player. They are empty vessels, and that is the current mode of success. When games try to be more than that, more art than entertainment, well, then we're in for a real ride.

out, by natsuo kirino

next up on the world book tour: Out, by Natsuo Kirino

half hard boiled crime novel, half feminist critique. played against the backdrop of the drab lives of a group of lower middle class housewives is cold blooded revenge, murder, and extortion. there is hardly any tenderness in this book--just shattered psyches, airless relationships, empty homes, dissipated dreams, ground up by the machine--what women put up with for security and station, at the price of happiness and freedom. There is empathy though flowing through the book, but its always not where you'd expect it.

The psychological break that kicks the story into gear is one woman's impulsive strangulation of her cheating, spendthrift, gambling, loser husband. It is an emancipating event--suddenly she and the crew of co-workers who help her dispose of the body are outsiders, criminals and the strictures that have bound them in society suddenly are destroyed. The door shuts on their previous lives, and another opens, and each has to chart a path through a newly exposed world of yakusa and fringe criminal elements in order to survive. Not all do.

Since one of my core pre(mis)conceptions of Japanese society is the driving force of conformity, I can't really tell you if this is what the author had in mind when she wrote the book, or if I'm just filing it away into a box I had already made for it in my head.

The writing is razor sharp, visceral, and some of the scenes are disturbing enough that I'll be beating them deep into my subconscious starting right now.

Ursa

we have a little black cat, Ursa, who is fascinated by water.  Running water, still water, dew--it doesn't matter--if it's liquid, she is right there.   Pawing it, licking it, rolling in it.  

She has learned how to... open...the...bathroom ...door.  She jumps up, and hangs on the lever using the inertia of her leap to ply open the door, whenever one, or both of us, is in there.  We have to warn our guests not to be surprised if,  while occupied, the bathroom door swings open and there is a tiny black cat sitting there.  

She paws at the water in the shower.  She sits in the sink while your brushing your teeth. Shaving is impossible.

But its not just water. Really, any liquid--wine in a glass, for example.  Olive Oil.  

Urine.  

While I am taking a leak, she'll stand with her front paws on the toilet, just mesmerized, periodically breaking away to look up at the source, as if to say "YOU. ARE. AMAZING."

It is beginning to get a little uncomfortable.  It used to be than I would shift around and block her out.  That was enough.  A couple of nights ago, I shifted, and she popped out between my legs, like a running back hitting the hole.  

Not to mix sports metaphors, but I had to shoot  off the backboard.  

The last week or so, I've been hard at work on a project, getting home after midnight (I just finished, yeah), and last night, I came back extra late, ready to crawl into bed.  Being the considerate husband, I didn't turn on any light when I got home, so as not to wake Mrs. 8.  But went to the bathroom.  Closed the door.  Strangely, no sound of Ursa trying to break in.   There was the distinctive change in sound from splash to a dull thumpity thumpity thump, like a automatic car wash.   I'd found her.  In the toilet. 

In my defense, I can only say--it was pitch black.  She is pitch black.  AND WHAT THE HELL IS THE CAT DOING IN THE TOILET?

I washed her down, which was probably worse for me than her, and then went wearily to bed.  

In the middle of the night, I woke up because she was sleeping on my face.  Damp fur.  Not good.  

  

it is over

The english premier league season (not the democratic primaries).  

It came down to two teams-if Man U won, they would beat Chelsea (in second place, even on points, behind on goal difference), no matter what Chelsea did.  

Aldis and I went to the George and Dragon about 7 am to see the action live.  One half of the bar was showing the Man U/Wigan game, the other half was showing Bolton/Chelsea, and it was packed.  AT 7 AM SUNDAY MORNING.  I'll leave the game report to the BBC, but it was a fantastic atmosphere--you could feel the waves of enthusiasm roll from once side to the other as MU scored, then Chelsea, then MU (I think Aldis and I were the only two fans there to see either Wigan or Bolton).  As time ran out, the Chelsea fans looked so sad (awesome!) then Bolton scored in stoppage time to get the draw.  Being the only Bolton fan (I think in the western United States), I went crazy.  Then the Man U fans piled on to twist the knife.  

Most excellent morning, but bittersweet because now there won't be anymore til August.  

Except the Euro 2008.  And Copa Libratatores.  And the Champions League Final.    Oh, and MLS. 

  

out, by natsuo kirino

about 1/2 way through it so far: a nervy thriller about a quiet, japanese wife who snaps, strangles her husband, then enlists the help of the other night shift workers at the box lunch factory to dismember and dispose of him. Juicy!

clinton fatique

I am so sick of Hillary Clinton. When the primary season started, I though she was a polarizing figure and would galvanize the right wing. I really didn't anticipate that she would also so unconvincingly pander to every lobby, flat out lie, whine and try and change the rules, suck up to Fox news and O'Reilly, and furthermore go out of her way to insult blacks and other minorities, young voters, independents, progressives, anyone with an education, anyone without an education, democrats in states she didn't win.
Who is her support? I think it is just some Washington players paying Bill back and the right wing, who see her as the only one McCain could beat. So rather than increase her appeal, this scorched earth policy has made her so less sympathetic, the only thing that could help her now would be Bill having another affair. Hillary has probably even suggested it.
As for Bill Clinton, boy, has he lost his touch. I think a lot of people are looking at him with fresh eyes, and not liking what he has become: a desperate man with a transparent ambition--get back into the White House, even if it is as the First Lad. It is just sad, really.

travel sketches: Italy 2004

In 2004, I spent 3 1/2 weeks in Italy and filled up a bunch of sketchbooks with architecture and art.   Mostly ink line drawings with watercolor.  Click on image to link up to Flickr gallery of about 120 sketches. 

not so recent creative attempts: a little gallery

drink, 2002.  my biggest woodcut--about 14" x 30".  

2 men, 2005. Most of my wood cuts are around 7-10 inches, and are inspired by photographs in the newspaper.

Usually, I'd start with some off cut of wood, paint it black, then start working it. About half the time, I would never print anything off it, because I find the contrast between the black field and the raw wood exposed in the process more satisfying that a print, and the none of the subtle detail gets lost.  

gasworks park, 2005.  This is the only time I've done a multiple block print.  

steph, 2003

mike, 2003

Over time, I'll load up more images--I have probably 60 blocks sitting around in the back bedroom.  

recent creative attempts

my first attempt at painting in the last 3 years.  just a little goofing around, really.  

A tiny little print, 1.5" x 2.5".  The block has just one hole in it--the rest is how the ink was applied to the block.  I am moving more towards this technique, because they become unique, little surprises, and have more life than my ham fisted wood block cuttings alone.  Plus, since I don't really know how to do a proper wood block print, it is all experimentation anyway.  

things I've tried to convince my wife of recently:

That Dyson Vacuums are manufactured in Zimbabwe, and the proceeds of purchasing one would go directly into the murderous hands of Robert Mugabe and his goons, and thus finance the continued oppression of citizens in that corner of the world. They are, therefore, 'Blood Vacuums.'

She on the other hand, would never part with ours. Never. Regardless of who it hurts.

at the precipice

3 more weekends of English Premier League soccer. Then nothing sports wise until glorious, glorious football starts up again in August (okay, maybe Euro 2008) Baseball is unwatchable. Hockey is... is there still a hockey league? Golf?

Just as well, now we can go camping! I just know that Mrs. 8 and I have marked our calendar for the first preseason game, and we'll be back from the woods just in time.

snow in april? in West Seattle?

This morning, I drug myself away from coffee and the newspaper to mow the lawn and work on the yard. It starts snowing. In the distance, I can hear thunder. All the while, it is still sunny. Certainly the first time I've mowed a lawn and I could see my breath.

As soon as I finish, it clears up immediately, so I can only assume God doesn't want me to maintain our landscape.

I am sure that my parents would enjoy the irony that as a kid, I hated, hated, like, roll up in a screaming ball HATED working in the yard. Sometime, a switch flipped and now I'm like Mr. Miyagi out there, at peace.

Otherwise, I spent a couple of hours making a wood block and then a little painting, neither of which are going to see the light of day--for the good of humanity.

I can feel the moments leaking out of the weekend, but I can't think of a single thing I'd really like to do with the rest of it.

the true history of the kelly gang

Next up on the world book tour: True History of the Kelly Gang, by Peter Carey.

Sadly, as I write this, I realize this is one of those books I don't care to finish. Not that it doesn't have moments of brilliance, but it has lost the battle with my expectations. It starts off with a bang, and I thought, 'Wow, this is going to be a wild ride.' But for the last two hundred pages, I've been staring at the thickness, measuring the slog ahead. With a mere seventy five pages to go, I've given up.

The description of the painful birth of a nation and the quotidian struggles of cultivating the land and staying out of trouble in a near lawless society has worn me down. At least, I have the luxury of giving up, unlike the characters in the novel.

The other sad thing is that it is Saturday night, and I am writing a book review.

top gear

the baddest show on tv. hat tip to Aldis.

check it !

trees

three things you don't need

1.  Hello Kitty Belt Sander

2) SteamPunk Laptop (handy Morse code thingy for email!)

3) TV for your doll house (yes, it works.)

ignorance is contagious

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Florida teens who believe drinking a cap of bleach will prevent HIV and a shot of Mountain Dew will stop pregnancy have prompted lawmakers to push for an overhaul of sex education in the state. Another myth is that Florida teens also believe that smoking marijuana will prevent a person from getting pregnant, Local 6 reported.State lawmakers said the myths are spreading because of Florida's abstinence-only sex education, Local 6 reported.They are proposing a bill that would require a more comprehensive approach, the report said.It would still require teaching abstinence but students would also learn about condoms and other methods of birth control and disease prevention.The bill just passed its first vote in a committee, Local 6 reported.

If pot and/or Mountain Dew really prevented pregnancy, we would never have another teen pregnancy.  And it would explain the low birth rate among D & D enthusiasts. 

And if you think bleach is going to cure HIV, maybe some Mr. Clean will eliminate that nasty acne. You'll never know until you try it. Besides you already have HIV and a baby on the way, so what additional harm can you do?

On a related note, Planned Parenthood has stopped stocking their vending machine with Pepsi products and doobies.

things I've tried to convince my wife of recently:

1) Richard Simmons had a food show in the 70s, called "French Cooking to the Oldies."

True History of the Kelly Gang

Next up on the world book tour--True History of the Kelly Gang, by Peter Carey--a first person narrative about the life of a Robin Hood ne'er-do-well in the Australian bush, told through letters to his young daughter. So far, excellent, but am only half way through it.

5-0

as in Hawaii, 5-0. Another classic TV pilot (thanks Netflix!), first aired in 1968. The episode starts with the torture of a intelligence agent in a high tech sensory deprivation chamber--suspended motionless in a skin temperature water tank in a rubber suit with eyes, ears shut until the mind, starved for stimulus, snaps open. Very elaborate, very 2001 A Space Odyssey.

Now we just have Jack Bauer punch people in the kidneys. I guess TV shows had bigger set budgets.

Oh, then the Bad Guy doing the torturing was the Red Chinese. Now it is us.

Other things I learned watching Hawaii 5-0 (besides French): it is easy to spot a G-man. He's the square smoking a pipe. Also, if you are an Intelligence Agent, carry your Agency ID in your back pocket. They'll never look there.

things I've tried to convince my wife of recently:

1: the character that inspired the film 'Quigley Down Under" is the grandfather of the woman who won this year's NCAA basketball 3 point shootout.

2: as a child, I was the number 1 Tyco slot car racer in the tri-state area (Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico). I won many, many races with my souped up truck, 'Pinkie'.

Related: I told some clients last week that we could cut into the drywall ceiling of their dining room without waking their kids napping upstairs, because my Sawzall has a 'silent mode.'

agents of innocence

Next up in the World Book Tour: Agents of Innocence by David Ignatius.

While the setting (Beirut, 1969-83) is not in the path of the book tour's westerly migration, it was sitting on the coffee table, so figured I'd give it a go. I was hoping for 3 parts Looming Tower, 2 parts Ludlum, given the author's experience in the Middle East, but it more like 4 parts Diet Coke, one part Jim Beam. Flat, no kick. (My favorite: "He was picking the soft doughy bread out of the middle of a hard roll. It was one of the Director's eccentricities, the taste for soft bread from inside hard rolls." Huh?)

The premise is an Arabic speaking, idealistic young CIA man comes to Beirut as the city descends into a cycle of violence and civil war. It is the end of the 'Paris of the Middle East,' and the beginning of car bombing, Fatah, and the age of extremists. Along the way, we meet some paper thin characters, stereotypes, and cute aphorisms.

The author's final opinion is delivered by Fuad, a burned out Palestinian who has been happily working for the CIA: America's innocent idealism is disarming and contagious, but without the self-preserving weapons built up in the societal DNA in the Middle East, everybody gets dead.

Today, twenty years after this book was written, I don't think anyone in the world could sincerely posit that U.S. foreign policy is based on ideals. The book gave me a wave of nostalgia, not for Ignatius' Beirut, but for a U.S. that could be perceived as a well-intentioned actor on the world stage.