Jellyfish

mystical and foul
the mad shape of things to come
jellyfish aim true

with spineless backs splayed
and ready wet tentacles
they rise from the sea

slow the sea recedes
ebbing a foamy remorse
to an artless sky

Strange Floor Shadows

These are not Steve's Cars

Marc Maron and Me

Last weekend I went to see Marc Maron at Comedy Works in Denver. Just a word to the wise, if you go to see stand up, sit up front (and I'm talking maybe 1 foot away), and you have, what some might deem, a larger than necessary beard, you will become part of the show. Who knew Marc Maron had so much beard material? I didn't get it as bad as some of the others sitting up front, though. In reality, I got off pretty easy and it was all really funny stuff. I believe the term "hipster" was used and there was something about getting a "sensible" hat. Fair enough, but I could never wear skinny jeans.

Actually, it was a pretty surreal experience because I listen to his podcast,WTF, a lot and on the podcast it's kind of like he's speaking directly to you, so when I was at the show and he was speaking directly to (or at) me it did nothing to help me separate what is "real" and what is "fantasy."  I think it could haunt my dreams for some time to come.

Steve's Cars

Experiments in the New OfficeslashStudio

A Forest of Clouds

ripe urbane brave clouds, break apart and leave behind, small fits of madness

A Forest of Trees

Empty Rooms

a cacophony
and i am hard pressed to find
a Byzantine monk
with the work ethic
of 19th century man
behind these walls
these blissful cold walls
these walls of unfed longing
that turn dams to dust

Outside the City Walls

Outside city walls. Nature is a beast for sure. Was this a haiku?

More from Fort Collins

There are reflections and strange shafts of light here, too. So that's good.

Fort Collins-There is Color Here

Today was my first day of full on shooting in the new town. Walked around and got to know the place a little. Still getting used to the light here, it's different, but I'm not sure how. Maybe it's the lack of air pollution? Maybe that makes the light "purer"? Something to do with the elevation? I don't know. The sun seems to be at a different angle in the sky. And I don't know if this will become a "Fort Collinsville" type project. We'll see how things go. It's a good way to get to know the town, though. I found some color today amongst other things. For more images of the day click here.

The Story of the Asparagus

So, you ever go to clean your sensor and think, "I should probably take out the CF card in my camera. Nah, it'll be alright. You know what you're doing."...Well, yeah, so I managed to erase all the images from the trip out to Fort Collins. Why did they put the "Format" option, which clears the CF card, and the "Sensor Cleaning" option, which does not clear the CF card, so close in the Menu options! I suppose they assume smarter people than me will be using those things. But, I do have this pic I took of asparagus we got the other day from the farmer's market. C'est la vie.

Goletaville: The Soundtrack Vol. 3

Sucked Out- Superdrag
Mockingbirds- Grant Lee Buffalo
Everybody Hurts- REM
Debonair- The Afghan Whigs
Queen- Melvins
Talk Show Host- Radiohead
Down to This- Soul Coughing but this is even better!
Bull in the Heather- Sonic Youth
Down by the Water- PJ Harvey
She Don't Use Jelly- The Flaming Lips
The Distance- Cake
Live Forever- Oasis
Loser- Beck
Human Behavior- Bjork
Piggy- Nine Inch Nails
Hurt- Nine Inch Nails
Bulls on Parade- Rage Against the Machine
In the Meantime- Spacehog
Possum Kingdom- Toadies

I should maybe call this the "120 Minutes Volume". Many of the songs here remind me of that show on MTV which I watched pretty much every Sunday night in high school. 120 Minutes would always play the best videos, or at least the ones I was most interested in seeing, but they could not get a good host for that show! It was just painful. Matt Pinfield and Lewis Largent were responsible for some of the most awkward interviews and video intros ever recorded! But, that too, was part of the "alternative" rock schtick that was so popular at the time. It's "umbra" if you will, to use a recent Word of the Day.

This volume could also be "The Volume of the Riff". Many great riffs here, "Queen"(from the Melvins, the masters of the riff!), "Talk Show Host" (and here Radiohead was entering entering another phase growing creatively by leaps and bounds),"Piggy", "Possum Kingdom", all great riffs that were quite potent to my blobby teenage brain.

One of the interesting things that starts to arise when listening to these songs again are similarities I didn't notice before. Such as the songs "Possum Kingdom" and "Down by the Water", both songs which on a surface level are seemingly about the same thing, murder down by the river. Both songs are part of a long tradition of rock songs about murder at the river, see Neil Young's "Down by the River". His 1969 version, appropriately, follows from a blues and folk tradition of songs which was reflective of that era of song writing . But these songs, some 25 years later, are great examples of the evolution of pop music and the culture as a whole to an acceptance of art (or "art") to go to a darker and more psychological place, and certainly that is in part due to previous artists such as Neil. "Possum Kingdom" now takes us inside the head of the killer, which appears to be some sort of serial killer a la Silence of the Lambs. However, PJ Harvey one ups them all. Her tale of murder, takes a more poetic, symbolic, and possibly darker (depending on your interpretation) tact. She takes that common theme and turns it a little bit. Is it filicide or is it metaphor for the loss of innocence, or something else? Anyways, it would seem that pop song lyrics and themes were evolving and exploring new aspects of common themes during this time.

And, yes, "Everybody Hurts" may be the most depressing song (and video) ever written!