Sunday, January 31, 2010
just breathe
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
dreaming life
are we different people when we're asleep?
Zhuangzi's Butterfly's Dream has always made me think. but today i encountered two things that helped me think about it better, if not that differently.
the first was listening to the audiobook of "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" by H.P. Lovecraft.
it begins:
"I have often wondered if the majority of mankind ever pause to reflect upon the occasionally titanic significance of dreams, and of the obscure world to which they belong. Whilst the greater number of our nocturnal visions are perhaps no more than faint and fantastic reflections of our waking experiences—Freud to the contrary with his puerile symbolism—there are still a certain remainder whose immundane and ethereal character permit of no ordinary interpretation, and whose vaguely exciting and disquieting effect suggests possible minute glimpses into a sphere of mental existence no less important than physical life, yet separated from that life by an all but impassable barrier."
from there it explores the relation of dreams to waking life with the story of a hillbilly named Slater in a mental hospital, i don't want to spoil anything, i'd recommend reading it.
i really loved the introductory description of Slater.
"his appearance was that of the typical denizen of the Catskill Mountain region; one of those strange, repellent scions of a primitive Colonial peasant stock whose isolation for nearly three centuries in the hilly fastnesses of a little-traveled countryside has caused them to sink to a kind of barbaric degeneracy, rather than advance with their more fortunately placed brethren of the thickly settled districts. Among these odd folk, who correspond exactly to the decadent element of “white trash” in the South, law and morals are non-existent; and their general mental status is probably below that of any other section of native American people." lovecraft at his arugala eating elitist best.
the second thing was Sleep Talkin Man. it's the hardest i've laughed in a long time and great evidence that people are other people when they sleep.
Zhuangzi's Butterfly's Dream has always made me think. but today i encountered two things that helped me think about it better, if not that differently.
the first was listening to the audiobook of "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" by H.P. Lovecraft.
it begins:
"I have often wondered if the majority of mankind ever pause to reflect upon the occasionally titanic significance of dreams, and of the obscure world to which they belong. Whilst the greater number of our nocturnal visions are perhaps no more than faint and fantastic reflections of our waking experiences—Freud to the contrary with his puerile symbolism—there are still a certain remainder whose immundane and ethereal character permit of no ordinary interpretation, and whose vaguely exciting and disquieting effect suggests possible minute glimpses into a sphere of mental existence no less important than physical life, yet separated from that life by an all but impassable barrier."
from there it explores the relation of dreams to waking life with the story of a hillbilly named Slater in a mental hospital, i don't want to spoil anything, i'd recommend reading it.
i really loved the introductory description of Slater.
"his appearance was that of the typical denizen of the Catskill Mountain region; one of those strange, repellent scions of a primitive Colonial peasant stock whose isolation for nearly three centuries in the hilly fastnesses of a little-traveled countryside has caused them to sink to a kind of barbaric degeneracy, rather than advance with their more fortunately placed brethren of the thickly settled districts. Among these odd folk, who correspond exactly to the decadent element of “white trash” in the South, law and morals are non-existent; and their general mental status is probably below that of any other section of native American people." lovecraft at his arugala eating elitist best.
the second thing was Sleep Talkin Man. it's the hardest i've laughed in a long time and great evidence that people are other people when they sleep.
have you ever really looked at a phone?
I mean really looked at it?
And wondered if you're the only person who ever has?
I doubt it.
Monday, January 18, 2010
spirit animals two
this is another of my spirit animals. it's a cat. it's watching some shit go up in flames, but it's inside a stone castle or something. he's around a lot. not sure the time for his advice to me has come yet.
spirit animals one
this is one of my spirit guide animals. mort. he's a penguin (obvs.). he came to me in a dream and said, man, it's fucking cold out here. but i'm a penguin. what was i expecting? you know what i mean?
i know what he means.
he likes to hang out near the water and look at the stars, it's even colder out there away from the penguin herd, but the view makes it worth it.
paint, hotsauce, coffee
So with the walls of my room almost completely covered, there was this one spot staring me down and aching for something to be hung there. So when I had a really bad urge to make something when I got home from work I set out to make a big long painting to put in the probably 2 foot wide and 6 foot long area. I cut up a pillowcase so it would be really long with a seam in the middle and started going at it with a bottle of black acrylic paint. After some squiggling and smushing and adding random shit from my house, here it is. (I tried to make the cat walk on it too so I could have some pawprints in it, but he didn't think that that was a very prudent artistic decision.)
However, I think it may look better horizontally, and I can make room on another wall for it to go that way Thoughts?
Saturday, January 2, 2010
New Tablet, First Picture
So I just got a sick Wacom Bamboo Craft Tablet. I still don't have it totally down, but it's been awesome playing around with it. this is my first GIMP drawing with it. it's a snake or the smoke monster from Lost or something greeting something much smaller. The tension is fierce, right?
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