Blog is a Mix Tape

explorers

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:01:30 -0700

It was a get the hell outta Dodge type weekend and Anna and I did just that. It was a lovely two days of laughter and full bellies and sand and water and good conversation and reconnection. This used to be such a common thing for she and I. There was a time when a weekend didn't go by without us spending the vast majority of it in a car off to some random location. And so, while the 9th Coachella scorched and delighted the young folks in the desert, we slightly less young folks headed in the opposite direction to Ventura and Santa Barbara looking for adventure.

"Take risks," I'd exclaim to Anna for no good reason and, we did. We took strange off ramps that led to unfamiliar locales like Santa Claus Lane. We ventured closely to a hippie-infused drum circle. We dared walk piers with no rails. Our trusty companion, Curtis the crab, tempted fate in the mouth of a whale. We nervously walked an unfamiliar path where lizards were afoot. We even stood toe to toe with red faced douche bags and lived to tell the tale.

Our greatest feat, however, may have been simply being two people of color in communities of seemingly endless waves of white people.

I say this with tongue firmly in cheek but the last of the internet I saw before we left on our adventure was this twitter by the baddest chick --

Heart-broken: http://tinyurl.com/5egpso

Which led me to the brewing controversy around Seal Press's latest publication, It’s a Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable Environments, and the illustrations that hide within. Now, to be clear, I'm not offended by the imagery. As I get older, I find very little truly offends me. It's wrong-headed, sure. It's insensitive, of course. It shows that Seal Press is courting a certain audience -- white feminists -- and really ain't thinking about nobody else? Yup, sure does. But offensive? Nah. Just bad business. I'll take a cue from WOC PHD and just refrain from purchasing anymore of their books until they get their house in order even if that means I won't be able to support in cash money people I know, enjoy, respect, and admire.

I tell you all this to give you insight into where my head was as we made our excursion to seemingly lighter pastures. In Downtown Ventura, we stopped for lunch at a cafe with a wonderful view of Main Street. Anna and I quickly noticed that the few brown people we did see were working as wait staff and not out enjoying the gorgeous day with the rest of the community. We went nearly 20 minutes watching dozens of people walk in front of us. Pigmentation was low. It became a game. I saw a gentleman darker than me across the street and pointed him out excitedly. And at that moment, as if we were on The Truman Show and Christof had yelled, "cue the coloreds," an Asian woman and a Latino couple crossed paths in front of us at the same time.

We cracked up.

As we walked through downtown after lunch and then made our way up to Santa Barbara, we began to notice how few people "who looked like us" we saw. It was as if we were explorers in a strange land. The primarily white drum circle became a local ritual of the natives that we didn't quite understand. The beach and ocean became the exotic "nexus of nature" where these "savages" must come to lay blessings to their gods. Obviously, a primitive sand sculpture was some kind of totem showcasing the complexities of their archaic mythologies. We remarked on how stoners greeted each other in the street (they introduce themselves at the end of the conversation instead of the beginning and smell of odd oils. Anna claims it is called "patchouli" but that is such a ridiculous word that I believe she is pulling my leg.)

We even saw a Douche Bag (a particularly interesting tribe) get caught in the middle of the street with oncoming traffic in both directions.

Such an amazing sight it was!

On our way home, we discussed turning our adventure as explorers in the strange wilderness of the white man into a video or film, wondering if anyone would get the joke and the social commentary therein.

If they work for Seal Press, probably not.

Current music: Yerba Buena – Colonial Mentality

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beyond the 140: poketo!

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 11:54:53 -0700

3 months after being lost, the iPod Touch has found it's way home. w00t! about 21 hours ago from twhirl

I lost my newly purchased iPod Touch on a trip to San Francisco at New Year's. I'd been in the city just a couple hours. I'd taken a cab to the San Francisco Food Bank for a volunteer activity and the Touch stayed in the cab. I didn't worry much about it. I try to not have an overwhelming connection to things, property, what have you. I'm possessive of experiences, thoughts, and emotions. The stuff -- the physical stuff -- well, it's never really ours at all is it? It all goes back into the ground eventually just as we do. Besides that, I had a wonderful time that day and didn't want my carelessness to ruin the feeling I had. Not to get all philosophical on a Sunday, but whoomp, there it is.

Cut to 6 weeks later, I get an email from a guy asking me if I lost my iPod. I excitedly replied and we had a conversation. He grilled me on what I named the Touch (Luke Cage). I noted that my iPod Classic is currently named Nightwing and that my new iMac was named The Immortal Iron Fist (blogger's note: I'm kind of a freaky mac nerd these days. I didn't realize how bad it had become). He asked where I'd lost it. I told him the story. He complimented my music tastes. I thanked him for recognizing. He kind of dejectedly said he guessed he'd send it back to me.

It took a few more weeks but he did. I hadn't been to my P.O. Box in awhile but, yesterday there it was. I'm so excited to have it back. With the 20 buck upgrade, it's become an even cooler device. I'm sending the good samaritan a nice Amazon gift certificate this morning.

Gadgets and good folks rule.

@ poketo. Chillin in a cabaná with a bed swing about 14 hours ago from im

Scooter Kitty's friends and my acquaintances, Ted and Angie, run POKETO and they recently purchased a loft in Little Tokyo. They had their first art show there last night and it was hella fun. I rode in an elevator with Paul Frank and his wife. I bought prints by Tom and Rama. I ran into a former co-worker. We unexpectedly created a hot tub party on the building's posh rooftop pool area. It was a glorious evening and it didn't stop there. After several hours with our tootsies in the warm bubbly soup, we made our way over to 1st street and Far Bar.

Far bar. Drinking. In need of late night vittles about 11 hours ago from im

Far Bar - the hidden away side alley mostly outdoor bar is a perfect place to stop for a quick drink. They make them strong. The spot has a lot of style and a nice mish-moshed crowd of locals, Asian trendsters, and the accidental entrants. We were all hungry, though, and soon made our way up the street for some late night cuisine. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the restaurant but I had a pork cutlet bowl and iced coffee from a can while Godzilla hung over our heads next to giant winged cupie dolls and the home shopping network tried to sell us heart shaped faux jade pendants from a small color tv at the door.

The only way the evening could've been more perfect is if there was a spontaneous dance party in front of MOCA.

But, I'll take what I got.

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literary meme

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 20:27:18 -0800

RPM, I'm calling your name-check of me in the post a tag, so here we go:

Instructions:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag 5 different people.

People's Movements, People's Press: The Journalism of Social Justice Movements

Bob Ostertag

Among the Special Forces people Barry had noticed was Master Sergeant Donald Duncan, who left the Green Berets in September 1965 and wrote "The Whole Thing Was a Lie" for the radical Ramparts magazine in February 1966.
On March 8, 1965, the first U.S. combat troops arrived in South Vietnam. Just three months later, Special Forces Lieutenant Richard R. Steinke refused a direct order into a combat zone because of his opposition to the war.

I'll tag Scooter Kitty.

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Where I Been

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Tue, 15 May 2007 01:12:04 -0700

via Karsh and George and Anna.

The rule for this for me was that I had to have spent a night in the state. I've driven through Utah and New Mexico and Arkansas and Deleware and West Virginia but didn't stop.

I don't need to see all 50 states but a fall road trip through New England sounds like something I'll need to do in this life.

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This Week in: Netiquette

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 11:46:57 -0700

Well, not really this week, more like this month but after a deep conversation about online courtesy, decency and communication standards with Anna this morning, I was reminded that I've been holding on to some interesting things that I've been meaning to share.

Make your emails CLEAR compliant. CLEAR is an acronym for a method of writing emails that will make them shorter and to the point and reduce the number you receive if you and your colleagues follow its simple guidelines
Write like Lincoln - Just send the nasty grams to yourself
How to master the subject line to get your email read
Don't say no in an email. Tim includes a video clip where he explains the limitations of email in conveying true meaning and intent and why you shouldn't say no via email

- Making your Email More Effective; A Lesson from Lincoln, Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms, 03.16.07

I'm a big stickler for good email communication, particularly at work. We even recently had compliance training about proper email etiquette.

Author Vladimir Nabokov said in a 1969 New York Times interview that "there should exist a special typographical sign for a smile--some sort of concave mark, a supine round bracket."
Now, nearly four decades later, there is just such a typographical symbol-- :-), or :) for the minimalists, and it'd be tough to find a tech-savvy person who hasn't leaned on it. There's also a special typographical symbol for a frown-- :-( -- and one for a cool dude in sunglasses -- B-) -- and one for a wink -- ;-). There's even a typographical sign for wearing a baseball cap-- d=D.

- The Web Smiley's motto: Grin and Bear It, C|Net, 03.13.07

I over-use emoticons in IM (where I'm less sure about people getting the nuance of my writing) and probably under-use them in conversational emails.

The subject of online courtesy or "netiquette" (what an outdated word) is frequently discussed in old media. Some blame the impersonality of the media itself. Others say that people haven't changed at all "" the Internet is just another venue in which people can malign and mistreat each other. On some level this is true. It's an extension of the playground, where adults can pick on one another without a teacher's watchful eyes upon them.
Younger Internet users are the ones who actually seem to be using the Web to form online communities, make friends and promote their art via sites like Facebook, Myspace, Bored At and Second Life. It's the so-called grown-ups pulling each others pigtails and bullying the meek.

- Bad Behavior 2.0, Portsmouth Herald, 03.30.07

I won't really get into how sweeping (and sweepingly wrong) the second paragraphs generalization is. What I found most interesting is her thought that netiquette is an outdated word. I'm inclined to agree but have no idea what should take it's place. Any thoughts?

This post's soundtrack:

Dora by Kyoto
That Easy by Clara Hill
Soon by Jazzanova
I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free by Nina Simone

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VOTD: SWV

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 06:39:23 -0700

SWV- Weak (Down Mix/Radio Edit)

Somebody's mentioning of SWV a couple months ago (was it Mel? Anna? Jen?) got me to buy the Best of album and Coko, Taj, and Lelee have been creeping into my shuffle ever sense.

This video is so early nineties. It looks like it was ripped right out of New Jack City or an episode of New York Undercover. The song itself is brilliant. It doesn't really get going until the third verse almost 3 minutes in but, at that point, it's too much. When they harmonize, "Something 'bout the way you do the things you do ooh ooh ooh it...knocks me right off of my feet," I'm just done.

I want to be rockin' jean jackets and cross color jeans and pristine caps with flat rims and possibly a metal X on the front that's hiding my flat-top fade.

"Can't explain why your lovin' makes me weak..."

Damn.

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Meme Wednesday: Super Hero Quiz

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 02:55:44 -0800

Blech. Where's my Nightwing, Black Panther, or Luke Cage? Or Mr. Terrific!!

via anna and mel.

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman		70%
Iron Man		65%
Spider-Man		65%
Robin		55%
Catwoman		55%
The Flash		55%
Green Lantern		55%
Wonder Woman		45%
Supergirl		45%
Hulk		40%
Batman		35%

You are mild-mannered, good,
strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

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Heroes: Mohinder's Super Power Is...

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 19:50:57 -0800

Short-Term Memory Loss.

As Anna and I discussed on the phone tonight and as wikipedia confirms...

Mohinder is spooked by Bennet in the first episodes of the series but can't be bothered to remember him when Bennet returns later in the season. Mohinder knows Sylar is out there killing those with powers but takes everyone with powers he meets at face value including the incredibly creepy "Zane". His father and Eden have both been murdered, his apartment has been tapped, and he's found a serial killer's apartment that has been mysteriously cleaned after he visits it, yet he seems to care very little for his own safety.

Dumbest Scientist Ever.

Update: And speaking of "Zane" why did Sylar feel the need to put on the Ramones tee? And does that mean that Zane was bloody and shirtless in the kitchen? I'm pretty sure that tea he made the dumbest scientist ever wasn't very hygenic.

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Tangent: Lifelogging

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 19:46:57 -0800

So, earlier this week I wrote about my struggles with the photographing of strangers and friends in public and without permission. Then Anna sent me this:

The first day I came home with a digital audio recorder hanging around my neck, along with a sign that said "Warning: This conversation may be recorded," my wife shook her head in a way that conveyed deep embarrassment. Then she said: "Have you ever heard of Nixon?"
On the train to work, my fellow commuters did double takes and snickered. People sat down next to me, then got up and moved to another seat. One woman saw my sign and hushed her friends: "Look, he's recording." Another fellow told me that someone was going to beat me up over my little stunt. Once a conductor gave me such a severe look that I thought he would throw me off the train at the next stop.
In the grocery store, clerks asked me if I was doing some kind of crazy university study. Sort of, I replied. "You're recording your life all the time?" people said. "Why would anyone want to do that?"

On The Record, All The Time by Scot Carlson, The Chronicle (subscription required), 02.09.07

Hmmm. Talk about going in the complete opposite direction. What if everyone was recording everything all the time?

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Vox Hunt: So Meta

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 14:18:52 -0800

Show us a photo of someone else taking a photo.
Submitted by ydnar.

Hide and Seek

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