Bots, readymades, and curating

Just go and read it for yourself. For the geek and artist in you, it's just... brilliant.

Genius, autism and the male biological clock

Karen van Hahn makes a fairly potent argument that males, like women, have a biological clock ticking away. The revelation that men who seed a child over the age of 40 are nearly 6 times as likely to have a child with autism as compared to men under the age of 30. All Saturday morning I was kind of bummed out by that news. I've had it in my mind to have kids when I'm 48 or so. I'm not financially equipped nor am I nearly grown up (read: responsible) enough to have steady girlfriend and the thought of having a child before my late 40's just doesn't gel well. So I was bummed. But things always have silver linings. And I worked that Saturday long and hard and when I came home again there was an email from Camillo marked with a subject of "Inspiration". The email containted not one but two links. The silver lining turns out to be the opportunity, at an advanced age, to father a savant. And then I thought that might suck anyway... but then I thought about all the "healthy" people I know. I think I need some retards in my life.

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Image: Sabina Sciubba, lead singer of The Brazilian Girls, speaks 6 languages and mixes them lovingly in her lyrics.

2 things

After a long time of not doing it, it snowed again.

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I have a hotel booked in Miami.

Photo: Alec Soth

Flat Daddy

Reading my morning news over at Tyler Green's blog I come across a very interesting post about Niagara Falls and the photography of Alec Soth. So I go check out his blog and get to the topic of: Flat Daddies. The American National Guard is providing paper cutouts to the familes of deployed service members as a way to ease the pain of separation. Supposedly, it's working but it's bizarre.

What would you die for?

I just want to ask a question
Who really cares?
To save a world in despair
Who really cares?

Who's willing to try
Yes, to save a world
Yea, save our sweet world
Save a world that is destined to die

© Marvin Gaye

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The only thing on my mind today.

English and it's web

Just What Is It About English That Makes It So Ensaring, So Sticky?

Driving home yesterday

I saw a sign for a mechanic's garage that simply stated We do brakes... if you can stop.

Sunday Sighting

But is it thievery?

An interesting story about a couple Indian thieves in Kyrgyzstan. The thieves use hypnosis on the bank tellers who then willingly hand over cash amounts. It's a wonderful Jedi mind trick but is it theft if the money is handed over willingly? Is the hypnosis as violent as a gun crammed against the cranium?

Little Superstar

Thanks to Graeme for the link.

Cocaine Karaoke - September

Psychedelic Spaniard

Santiago Calatrava is just amazing. I didn't realize that he was responsible for the Allen Lambert Galleria at BCE place in Toronto but I do now. His designs are both organic and natural looking because of their immediate references to nature (the BCE ceiling reminds me of palm trees) but they also seem to create a landscape fit for aliens. Looking at his designs one gets the feeling this is not for planet Earth. They are reminscent of Gehry's Bilbao and Disney designs but I think they, at least on surface, take a more radical departure from the norm. Two residential projects are note worthy: 1. The Turning Torso in Malmo & 2. A yet to be built residential highrise in New York City are both very bold.

*applause

Why is art important?

Jerry Saltz in the Village Voice answers some big questions. He does an excellent job too. No further comment.

Image:

Diego Velázquez
Dwarf Sitting on the Floor (Don Sebastián)
1645, oil on canvas, 106x81cm
Collection of The Prado, Madrid, Spain

Banksy in the City of Angels

Banksy is at it again.

he says:

1.7 billion people have no access to clean drinking water. 20 billion (sic) people live below the poverty line. Every day hundreds of people are made to feel physically sick by morons at art shows telling them how bad the world is but never actually doing something about it. Anybody want a free glass of wine?

All this regarding... a painted elephant?

The elephant looks wicked. But its logic is a stretch. Maybe you can use the system to subvert it but you can't be against the system and be within the system. (Or can you?) I understand he doesn't like the art world but he's not exactly feeding the poor with his scathing critique is he? His binary critical art stance is kind of tired. It's so... 20th century, so... last millenium.

I'm sitting here comfortable in my 1st world home giving Banksy the gas face.

Photo: Marissa Roth for The New York Times

The art of Tara Donovan

Tara Donovan is a little bit like Brian Jungen, in that she takes common everyday objects and puts her alchemical touch on to them, and poof! out comes a seductive visual experience.

What intrigues me about both Donovan and Jungen, is that they are essentially making readymades: twisted and altered readymades. All is reinvented but nothing is really "invented". It's interesting to me because it inverts Duchamp's wish to infuse art with a degree of cerebrality - which at the time of The Fountain in 1917 was lacking - because of the high visual nature within the reigning aesthetic at the time: cubism. Donovan, more so than Jungen, uses visuals to outwit intellectualisms. I can't say that's a bad thing either.

Photos : Ace Gallery

1000 Cars

Video game replays as a psychedelic music video. Quite elegant in bits.

from the trash...

from: kwhoneybaby@gjmxobgbj.nu
to: me
subject: Hey Tommie Check Out This Watch

I had a meeting to attend to, and I needed something classy yet professional to wear. One of my friends told me about your
website and I've seen him wearing one of your watches, but I was still sceptical to buy a replica watch. I took my chance
though, and ordered a Rolex from your website. When I received it, I was definitely impressed, but wasn't sure if my
associates would be able to tell it's a replica. But when I showed up to the meeting, they couldn't take their eyes off of
my new watch. This watch gave me what I was looking for, classy style, with a touch of professionalism.

- Timmy S.,

Go To http://www.yeallowsparkz.com

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Best piece of spam I ever got.

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Exciting times we live in friend... Today was so beautiful, I could pour out an entire novel about the shine of today's moments. But I'm le tired.

Addressing Orientalism

Jamelie Hassan's recent exhibit Orientalism and Ephemera had me thinking and I bought Edward Said's seminal masterpiece Orientalism and I've been reading it and have been made aware of ideas of human race divisions on an entirely new level. It is a tough but interesting read so it's a bit of a joyful thing to read about some guerrila performance art aimed at American art star Matthew Barney and his lovely European wife, Bjork at Barney's opening at the SFMOMA. Interesting. It's nice to have some real world examples to help me understand all this... I'll be sure to get back to reading Orientalism.

Jermey Laing

If you're like me, you're a little bit tired of t-shirts and strategically torn jeans that pass as fashion on our streets, then you'll be happy to look at what Jeremy Laing is creating. Perhaps it's not street fashion per se but it is fresh. And I'm terrifically happy to see it. A Toronto kid no less. Laing launches his Spring/Summer 2007 collection at 11 am, Saturday, September 9 2006 at 601 Studios - 601 West 26TH Street, 16th Floor, New York, NY. If you're in the area, go check it out for me.

My brother... Bogus