timeless.

So I lost my watch, and it has had a significant impact on my life. My watch was a part of me, virtually a digital time-keeping implant on my wrist that I counted on to always be there. Putting it on was the first thing I did in the morning, taking it off the last thing I did at night. I have developed a reflex of looking at my arm whenever I need to know the time or date or day of the week, and let me tell you it is ridiculous and frustrating to continue doing it only to find myself looking at my bare arm. I don't have the same concept of time anymore. I have been late for several classes. I don't even know offhand when the first of the month will roll around so I can pay my rent (I must search for a calendar, or ask another watch-blessed person for the date). I've had my little Timex Expedition since high school, and it has treated me well. Its face stayed bright through thick and thin. It welcomed my little customizations such as black marker and staples. It will be missed.

So...I guess I need to go buy a cheap watch. Any ideas?


I've grown occustomed to your face...

"That's not ballerish."

I forgot to put this one up before:


This is my cousin Alex. He's a...um...baller.

a toast to El Diablo.

The other day my associate Jose and I found an old website he was working on for his design class a year or two ago. You should check it out. Jose, who hails from El Salvador, is a great designer and he used to paint incredible pictures before losing the time and passion for it. He is an artist without pretention, someone who defines himself by his own name rather than his status or position. We need more artists like that. Women seem to get annoyed by his honesty and awareness of their deceptive tendencies, but I believe his resilience and refusal to mask his personal truths are what drive his creativity and ulramodern/minimalist approach.

Me & Eno



Just two peas in a pod.
...A very strange pod...

picture pages.

Did I mention my new digital camera? Well, here are some pictures I took with it.


Chinatown, SF


Japanese bags


the preacher


the thinker


my DIY studio


abraham lincoln

music and film.

"In love there is always one who suffers and one who is bored." -Balzac

Lately I have been watching music movies. The first was the Man of Letters DVD, a documentary about Momus made in the mid-90s. It isn't so much a documentary as it was an opportunity for Momus to embellish his philosophies as a pop musician through conversations with his hip or artsy friends, or through his own narration. But I've always enjoyed his musings, and the dialogues didn't fail in making me think (and the quote above is printed on the back of the case under "things to think about while listening to Momus"). The film also features a handful of cutely low-budget and sometimes briliantly cheesy music videos, as well as a more recent short film chronicling Nick's move from New York to Tokyo.

The other music movie I watched was Let it Be, which I borrowed on VHS from Natsuki. The quality wasn't baby's-ass-smooth, but it was still enjoyable. It's interesting to watch the relationship between The Beatles at that point in their career together (the end, essentially): Paul appears to be the master and commander, John is his first mate with Yoko on an invisible leash, and George and Ringo just space out and go along with whatever is taking place, be it a lecture from Paul or a looong blues jam session...with a black dude on keyboard. The movie left me with the urge to go up on the roof and plug in my amp. But it's too cold out.

*Momus bonus: I found this site on which he picks apart some of his love-song lyrics. Interesting, even if you haven't heard the songs.

it's just a phase...



Peter Max, Milton Glazer, Bob Masse, the white album, Smile, The Man Who Sold the World, The Doors, early Zeppelin, studying the connection between art nouveau and 1960s psychedelic design, writing strange 'dream-of-consciousness' songs... I must be going through a psychedelic phase.

God to Southeast Asia: "Merry Christmas!"

I hope all my readers holied their holidays. My days were filled with holi. Big boxes full, even.

So how about those tsunamis? Really, there's nothing funny or merry about that whole mess. I would like to give props to Japan for giving half a billion dollars towards helping the victims, and also a shout-out to Coca Cola for their donation of 10 million. I can't say that I've donated anything...but I can buy a coke downstairs for a dollar. And I think I will.

But apparently somebody is excited about the disaster. I read in the paper today that OSU's Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory is thrilled to be getting so much attention:
"As a horrified world tuned in to the tragic aftermath of the Southeast Asia tsunami, OSU found its own place in the international media spotlight."
How nice! It says news reporters, the Discovery Channel and even the Today Show have come to the laboratory to cover the incredible spectacle of a model city getting wet in a big wave pool. I remember when the research lab opened, and how excited OSU was then. I understand that the lab is extremely useful for simulations and experiments in studying the effects of tsunamis, but naturally I gave the story hell. Come see a robot swim around in a pool! This week we added some blocks in the middle to represent a city getting wet! Great date idea!

But boy, they showed me! Now everybody wants to know what really happens in the case of a tsunami hitting an indoor swimming pool. "Well, as you can see some waves start to go around, and then the waves hit these blocks that resemble builings and...there ya go. Shit happens." I used to be a bit of a wave researcher myself, in my bathtub, testing the effects of large waves on little plastic boats. And as an expert, I can tell you the worst part is when the big bar of soap falls into the ocean, and then water starts spilling out onto the floor.