“My mind is made up there’s going to be trouble.
You should have seen me reading Marx.
My psychoanalyst thinks I’m perfectly right. ”

- Allen Ginsberg America

“I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise,
Regardless of others, ever regardful of others,
Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man,
Stuff’d with the stuff that is coarse and stuff’d with the stuff
that is fine”

-Walt Whitman Song of Myself

Utah Phillips

Utah Phillips died in May 2008 – I was lucky enough to see him live at the People’s Poetry Gathering in NYC back in either 1998 or 1999. It was back when I was 20-something and still had this whole “beat generation” and hobo/tramp obsession. I was reading Ginsberg, Kerouac, seeing Ani DiFranco almost every chance I could… and just sinking deep into “fellow worker” stories. I don’t really read much anymore that’s can be considered “fun” or “enlightening.” My days consist of emails, chats, and documents and files. By the time I’m done with working I’m done with reading… and try to keep my brain from going dead by watching some “smart” tv shows and maybe reading some NY Times articles via my iphone. Lately I’ve missed my days of unemployment, reading and reading till my eyes were blurry, writing stupid stories, little poems, and playing guitar till my hand hurt. However, none of these things pay bills and so here I am – just remembering. Is this what it means to get old? You remember things you liked and loved, but can’t feel the same about your current hobbies or lack thereof?

Here’s one of my fav. artists who is also a poet – I still can’t believe she can string words together like this… and make a story and pull an emotion.

Hmmm and Mr. Bill knew about the levees in NOLA… maybe we should stop listening to the News and follow cartoonists and artists instead.

I’ve been so busy lately at work that at the end of the day I have no real energy to blog… and then try to do the other things I need to do to stay sane – laundry, gym, food shopping, zoning out in front of the tv, and sometimes being around real people instead of my virtual/ichat friends.

Anyway, back towards the end of January I took a walk after work over to Bkyn Heights to get my comics and take a walk. I was going to stop in and see my aunt but really just wanted to go home… on the way to the comic store I saw Steve Harvey in Barnes and Noble signing for a book he just wrote.

Then a few days later J and I found out that our old job was shutting its office down and had left a few things – most of it was uninteresting: printer that’s abour 3 yrs old, old mac mice that might do well as paper weights, bookcases that look like ikea rip offs, old chairs, and pencils… however, there were a few things that were left behind that actually have worth, are interesting, and were great… our friend Femi Ford had some paintings on the wall – and they were going to get left behind so we said we’d take them.  I’m pretty happy.  We had bought one of her paintings a few years ago, and I found it to be more aggressive than most of the other things she’s created, which is why it appealed to me.  But the two we got are softer in color, tone, emotion, and lighter -  we haven’t figured out where to hang them and there’s a part of me that thinks our shitty drywall won’t be able to handle their weight.  Anyway, when Femi becomes all famous and stuff we can at least say we have some of her old originals and be all cool.

On Fri,  Femi, Jen and myself went to see Coraline in 3D at the Regal theater in Union Sq. I got there a little after 6:30 and met Jen.  We went inside, and saw this freakin’ huge line – and were one of the last ones in. The theater was packed and we ended up in the first row, which at first was a total disappointment – then Femi showed up and we all wondered if we’d throw up at some point watching a movie THAT close and in 3D. Luckily we didn’t and it wasn’t as bad a view as you’d think…  best row is the 10th.  The big big thing was that Henry Selick was there!  He took a few questions and I got a few pics of him. Jen asked him a question and was so impressed that he was there and really really cool. He talks in a way that’s very engaging.

Last night Jen and I went out again to see a play, Hedda Gabbler, at the AA theater on 42nd street – across from that wax museum place.  Mary Louise Parker was in it and she’s really good on stage. I always liked her but was very impressed. Also, Steve Marmare was in it – his prob most recognizable role:  the guy in Fargo who chain smokes with Buscemi. It was a good play, I hadn’t ever read it but had a feeling it wasn’t “happy happy joy joy.”  Anyway, here’s a small clip.

Today we went to the NY ComicCon and then got some early dinner… we had plans to go the Bitter End to see Faren, but we were too tired after walking around the convention center forever… and came home, napped, watched tv, and just have turned into blobs.  We did see Celia Calle, a few people dressed up as many things:  Street Fighter characters, Cobra Commander, Superman, Batman, Spideman, Captain America, Storm Troopers, lots of WOW people, some people just dressed up as… god knows what… and many many artists and illustrators.  One of the guys from SNL was there too but I can’t recall his name.  Anyway, here’s some pics from today:

From his twitter:
neilhimself Also http://bit.ly/I47p is the start of the HBO CORALINE first look. (Thank you @Sarahdope.) My dog romps at 4:21.

YAY!