FFFFound!

From what I hear, this cool site is growing rapidly among the graphic and industrial design contingent. Like Flickr, FFFFound is a community resource that allows users to post their photos, images, paintings, etc. to a public site. What makes it unique is that FFFFound uses a system of saved page histories that allows it to recommend new images just for you based on past preferences. It's a great way to get design inspiration or just browse for some unusually excellent images.

The image library at FFFFound is rich, extensive, and rapidly growing.

Clarion Alley

No trip to San Francisco is complete without a visit to the Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP). The mural project began in the early 1990's when a group of artists based in the Mission district commandeered the alley as a living canvas for their social justice themed murals. Since that time hundreds of murals have come and gone, some well documented and some long forgotten. These are a few of the dozens of murals that caught my eye this time around.

What a Con!

I spent six full hours at the San Francisco Wondercon on Saturday, immersing myself in the comic and sci-fi subculture. I got to fraternize with enthusiastic representatives from the worlds of Spiderman, Anime, Underground, X-Files, Hentai and Star Trek. I passed on getting my photo taken with the female body builders, but tried my hardest to engage Gumby in conversation. Disappointingly, he wouldn't budge from his position of strict silence.

Many folks were clad in outrageously elaborate costumes, doubtless representing hours upon hours of meticulous research in some parents' basement. There were also lots of guys wrapped in tinfoil and wearing sunglasses.

One pleasant surprise was the number of women in attendance. Expecting a full-on scene of pasty males, I was genuinely surprised by the number of female comics fans there, young and old. I had dinner with comics writer Cecil Castellucci who explained that many publishers have come to the realization that a majority of the reading public is female, and comic books are working to catch up by creating more titles by and for women. It's about time. Cecil writes the serial Plain Janes for DC Comics.

Incidentally, my trusty Canon camera was lifted from my car just before my visit, so the photos on this page are courtesy of my Con Companion, Nick DeMarco of Demarconia. Cheers Nick!

Comics? That's Not Funny

This weekend I'm off to Wondercon in San Francisco, billed as "Northern California's most popular comics and pop culture event." I'm going to spend some quality time with a cartoonist buddy who is trying to break into the sordid world of adult comix. While there I'll be sure to get an autograph from original Chewbacca Peter Mayhew, check out the Gumby seminar, and will naturally vote for my favorites in the Annual Wondercon Masquerade. It's been years since I've geeked out in quite this fashion, and I'm looking forward to it.

In somewhat related news, comic artist extraordinaire Charles Burns, a Seattle native, will be at the University Bookstore on February 26 to present the new paperback edition of his magnum opus "Black Hole." Black Hole is set in Seattle in the mid-70's, and tells of a horrible sexual disease infecting the city's teenagers. The illness isn't horrible like your standard V.D., but rather in that it causes mutations which vary from victim to victim. Characters find themselves with tails, with extra mouths, with webbing between their fingers, with rotting skin. And yet despite the monster movie grotesquenesses, it remains a touching story of sexual coming-of-age in which very human characters deal with the consequences of their pending adulthood. It took Burns more than 10 years to write the comic and it shows in the stunning design of each page and the intricacies of the plot.

Lost in the Stars

The evening of Feb. 20, this Wednesday, brings a total eclipse of the moon, visible from all parts of the Western Hemisphere, including all of North America. Here in the Pacific Northwest, the partial eclipse begins while the moon is still below the horizon, at 5:43 pm, so the moon will rise within a growing shadow. The total eclipse will last from 7:01 until 7:51 and will be completely visible, weather permitting. As an added bonus, Saturn is going to be dramatically visible just above and to the left of the moon's center.

A tremendous amount of additional information at the official NASA website.

New Adventures in Papier Mache

I stopped into the Suyama Space gallery in Belltown and was quite impressed by two major pieces of papier mache sculpture.

First and foremost, the huge interior of the space was filled with this mammoth work, "Seeps of Winter" by John Grade.

The incredibly ambitious piece was inspired by a trip to the northwest coast of Ireland, and a vision of the people who had died, preserved under the accumulating layers of bog. To get the shapes he sought Grade cast sections of ice, melting and distorting the ice casts with heat, then made a skin of paper pulp mixed with ingredients that make it water resistant to varying degrees. The paper was removed in sections, and then re-joined at the Suyama gallery. The result is haunting.

When the installation closes, Grade is taking Seeps of Winter to the base of a glacier in the North Cascades and will elevate it on a field of stakes. A blanket of snow will cover the form until spring when it will thaw and refreeze in daily cycles. The culminating result will also be shown. The show will be on display until April 18. Grade is scheduled for a major museum exhibition at the Bellevue Art Museum opening in August and a show at Davidson Contemporary in October, 2008.

Then, there was this huge head of John Wayne by artist Scott Fife, constructed of shredded cardboard, paper bulb, wood and wood screws. The crudeness of the materials belies the precision of the process. The trails of wood glue and the scars left by misplaced screws contribute to the grace of the result.

Puppeteers know the virtues of papier mache as a supremely versatile sculptural medium, but it's rare to see it so well represented in a fine art gallery.

Keep On Keeping On

The great Curtis Mayfield, soulful, sublime and selfless. For Blaine.

How Can This Be?

I just got the seriously shitty news that my friend Blaine Sizemore was struck by a car and killed over the weekend.

In addition to being a total sweetheart, Blaine was the drummer for Seattle bands Tiny Manhood and Dong II Dong. He had very recently relocated to West Virginia, and we barely had time to miss him before he was gone.

The two bands, plus friends, are planning a memorial show at the Rendezvous Jewel Box sometime soon. We will be drinking heavily until then. If you were a friend or fan of Blaine, watch this space for details of the shows. I hardly know what to say, this whole thing stinks.

Dead Baby Bicycle Film Festival

The dedicated bike riders, bike makers and bike-o-holics at Dead Baby Bikes are holding the 1st ever Dead Baby Bikes International Independent Film Festival on May 1st, where else but at the Underground Events Center. They have issued a call for any and all bike related films. According to the organizers they've already got a few great entries (including a "shot-by-shot remake of Easy Rider, but on bicycles" and some "shockingly inappropriate bike porn") but they want more.

They have way too much information on their mess of a website , but you should be able to find your way through it to submit your film. Like the Dead Babies say, "Ride fast, take chances."

And while we're waiting to see the films, here's a gorgeous piece of bicycle movie making from a New York City messenger race that's been circling around the internet for a few years. It's 7:00 long but I never get tired of watching it.

Sheldon Brown R.I.P.

Sheldon Brown, the internet's single most vital source of bicycle knowledge, died on Feb. 3.

Since 1997, Brown maintained a massive and famously accessible website which was a virtual compendium of bicycle knowledge and opinion. The hundreds of explanations and articles on the site ranged from the basic (how do brake cables work?) to the arcane (what is the ideal Pivot-Cable distance for cantilever brakes?), and covered such matters of opinion as the joy of fixed gear bikes and the utility of biopace chainrings. The articles were always written with a sense of humor and appreciation for the D.I.Y. bike mechanic. With very few exceptions, Brown encouraged the use of vintage and second-hand bike parts over newly bought pieces, and advocated for all bike riders to learn the rudiments of their machines and how to maintain them.

In addition to maintaining the website, Brown was the Parts Manager, Webmaster and general Tech Guru of Harris Cyclery, in West Newton, Massachusetts.

"I have always loved riding bicycles, especially for the feeling of freedom and self-sufficiency that they give." Sheldon Brown, 1944-2008

Much more complete remembrances of Brown here and here.

A Place to Call Your Own

Paul Pauper's Form/Space Atelier in Belltown has had a series of strong shows over the last few months, and is developing quite a powerful aesthetic. Recent displays have all focused on beautiful yet disorienting imaginary landscapes and metaphysical diagrams. With the gallery in the middle of Belltown, surrounded by buildings in progress which promise idealized homes or ever more unaffordable restaurants, one can't help but make the connection between the hollow promises of progress and Form/Space's cultivation of artwork that forcefully evokes places that don't exist.

The current show, up until March 2, features the paintings of Ryan Molenkamp, who is perhaps best known for his work as the security guard at the Frye Art Museum.

And Speaking of Trains...

I found out last night that a fond friend is on her way to Colombia to perform at the IberoAmerican Theater Festival, billed as the largest theater festival in the world.

Sharing what little I knew about Colombia (mostly gleaned from the pages of 100 Years of Solitude) I remembered the tale of the amazing 1993 Mano Negra musical expedition. The Spanish punk band, in the full throes of their success at the time, commandeered an old freight train, which they rebaptised "l'Expreso de hielo" (the Ice Express) and embarked on a trip through rural Colombia on the country's rusting old railway lines. They ran the show like a circus, randomly arriving in small mountain towns and opening the box cars for side shows, freak shows and opening acts. The day-long spectacle would culminate in Mano Negra's famously riotous performances.

Midway through the tour, the band was joined by the journalist Ramon Chao (father of band members Manu and Antione Chao) who wrote the book "Un Train de glace et de feu" based on his observations of the ambitious journey. By all accounts, the "Ice Express" was an exhausting, often grueling, experience which ultimately led to the collapse of the band. I can only hope for something equally momentous for my theatrical pal.

Meanwhile, this is an excellent video of Mano Negra's biggest hit, "La Mala Vida."

All my heart to Pepita, who first told me about this Spanish punk experiment.

Rise of the Vollmann

William T. Vollmann is speaking at Seattle's University Bookstore on Monday night, February 4.

Vollmann is one of America's most prolific and ambitious writers, having written for many major publications and having picked up several major literary awards. Yet, he has always remained emotionally vulnerable, choosing to focus his works almost exclusively on the struggles of the marginal, poor, and forgotten. I first read him in 1991, just in time to catch up with his first three books. You Bright and Risen Angels is an epic Roman a clef in the vein of Thomas Pynchon's V; The Rainbow Stories is a series of short stories, tall tales and allegories featuring a staggering variety of punks, poets and demigods; Whores for Gloria is a sad and vital novel about the prostitutes of San Francisco's Tenderloin District. Since then he's published some 16 further books of fiction and reportage, written journalism for Harper's, Spin, Granta and the New York Times and won the National Book Award for his novel Europe Central. His productivity is legendary, and even more impressive is that somehow all of books seem so thoughtful and well researched. There's no way to keep up - he writes faster than most people read.

He'll be reading from his latest book (and his sixth major work published in the last 5 years), Riding Towards Everywhere, a study of the year he spent hopping freight trains across the country. Like so much of what he's written, it looks to be idealistic, provocative and painfully honest.

Punk Rock Flea Market! #3

We have set a date for the next Punk Rock Flea Market. It'll be on March 22, in the same great basement in Belltown. We have space for 50 vendors and 3 bands, and it's still just $25 for a space and one measly dollar to get in and buy. Any money left over after expenses goes back to the Low Income Housing Institute, who donate the room for the day. Watch this space for more details, and by all means pass the info along to any vendors, bands, cooks, DJ's who may be interested.

Fools Survive

I went to see the Luis Bunuel double feature at the SIFF Rialto series last night, and was deeply impressed, again, by the violent surrealism of "Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" and the enchanting beauty of Jeanne Moreau (right) in "Diary of a Chambermaid."

Tonight brings two 1960's Jean Luc Godard films: The sexy and analytical "Two or Three Things I Know About Her," and possibly his best film, "Bande A Part," which features the luscious Anna Karina, and boasts this always unexpected dance scene.



My French isn't good enough to know if this translation from the clip above is accurate, but it's an appropriate sentiment nonetheless: "Empires crumble, my friend, republics founder, and fools survive."

Real Live Slug Bearers

I don't know what to make of this, but I wish I was there to see it.

Ben Katchor is the genius behind the comic strip Julius Knipl:Real Estate Photographer. Since at least the 1980's, Katchor has been chronicling the melancholy existence of a city which looks exactly like New York, yet is somehow stranger, sadder, more Jewish. Knipl, the man of the title, is an incidental player in this imaginary metropolis. Like most of the characters who wander out of Katchor's grey wash, Knipl is middle aged and alone, and passes his days by paying careful attention to insignificant details. Katchor's drawings are replete with verbal and visual puns, masquerading as the clutter of the city. He is the only cartoonist I know of who works exclusively in grey guaches, and is also, notably, the only cartoonist I know of to have won a MacArthur "Genius Grant."

As if that wasn't enough, Katchor has now written a new musical called "The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island," which is playing in New York City, at the Vineyard Theater, as of yesterday. According to the website, "The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island follows the exploits of a New York philanthropist to bring the modern poetry of instructional pamphlets to a group of exploited island workers." Now why didn't I think of that? With music by Mark Mulcahy of Miracle Legion. Sure to be fascinating.

Tales from the Count

I was up all night on the 25th, writing the press releases for the Annual One Night Count of the Homeless, and transcribing the stories of the volunteers who did the counting. Between myself and three other writers, we gathered hundreds of stories, only a tiny handful of which made it into the official press. The most interesting people to speak with are the ones who have heard about the count from friends or through the media, and are volunteering for the first time. They really have very little idea of what to expect, and have no clue as to how many people they are going to see on the streets or what kinds of makeshift provisions they've made for themselves. These are some random quotes from counters. There are literally hundreds more.

I didn't expect to see anyone, but I found a man in a doorway sleeping in a sleeping bag. He asked me for an aspirin.

We talked to a walker and he asked us what we were doing,. When we told him, he wanted us to tell him whether it was going to help him to get housing. He's upset at all the condos that are being built, but no affordable housing. "When we lay down we're harassed by peole who tell you to move somewhere else. And there are markets being built around the condos, by Paul Allen, but those aren't for us."

We were counting under a freeway, and we found a guy, then we realized that it was one of our clients. He invited us back to his campsite. He had a mattress, sleeping bag, some boxes of food and other belongings, it was pretty well stocked. There are other people living in that area in other campsites, and there's an agreement among them that they won't touch each other's stuff. So they go off during the day, and no one messes with their stuff. He said "you're my first guests." He said that they all need more services, and we had the impression that if he had other options, he would definitely not be living there.

In one area near a freeway there was a D.O.T. sign that said "no trespassing." On it someone had written "Fuck you D.O.T., I want my stuff back."

We counted someone on the premises of a building, and the building security guard said "oh yeah, I let them sleep here. I just tell them they have to get out in the morning, even though I know that building management doesn't want them around."

I found most of the people in loading docks. I didn't see people where I expected to, in parks and places like that. I found them in loading docks.

I was counting in a wooded area where I checked one week ago, with lots of bushes with campsites behind them. I went last night, and the bushes have been cleared and there are no more campsites. I found 2 people's ID's and food stamp cards that had been placed up on a concrete wall, so that when people came back they could find them. I found tarps and tennis shoes, but the place has been cleared.

I was going along and didn't think I'd see many people, but when I finished I counted 32 people spread out through the area.

I saw one kid who looked about 15 years old.

One guy had his electric blanket plugged in at a construction site. That was pretty smart.

John Iwasaki, a reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer joined one of the Count teams and wrote a positive, sensitive and unusually accurate report about the Count for the morning paper. Thanks to Scott Eklund of the P-I for the photo.

Professor Anderson Explains

Having trouble understanding the impact of the National debt on the volatile economic situation? Here's Laurie Anderson in a PSA from the 1980's, putting it all into perspective. The numbers have become more extreme and depressing of course - in this video the debt was around 2 trillion dollars and now it's something like nine trillion - but Anderson's personalization of the issue is as relevant as ever.

Counting the Uncounted

Gurldogg is one of the 700 volunteers who will be out on streets on the early morning of January 25th in an attempt to count the number of homeless people sleeping outside in King County. Since 1980, the local non-profit Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness (SKCCH) has organized the annual One Night Count in order to establish the actual number of homeless individuals and families who are sleeping unsheltered. On the same night, the King County Department of Community Services coordinates a survey of all homeless people utilizing shelters and transitional housing, to capture the number of all people using overnight services.

The numbers can vary from year to year for any number of reasons, but usually hover around the 10,000 mark. That is, on any given sub-freezing January night, there are about 10,000 people sleeping unsheltered in King County. Being part of the Count, and attaching human beings to the often abstract statistics surrounding homelessness, is a profound experience.

Tim Harris of Real Change newspaper is one of the most consistently eloquent advocates for the rights of homeless people in our city. He has a new blog posting referencing the count and urging Seattle residents to attend a public hearing on January 28 against new City of Seattle regulations which would further de-humanize the people in the most dire need of help. From Tim:

“It is unacceptable to allow the work of ending homelessness to be confused with the systematic practice of eradicating the evidence. By harassing homeless campers out of the city, we only deepen their misery and decrease the odds that they will ever find the services they need. This week, Seattle will hold the Annual One Night Homeless Count. More than 700 volunteers will fan out through the city in the middle of the night to assess whether we’re winning or losing the war. By turning the fight against homelessness into an attack upon the homeless themselves, the Mayor has undermined the integrity of the longest-running, most sophisticated homeless count effort in the nation.This is profoundly sad. And sadder still if he gets away with it.”

This blog entry from 2007 gives a summary of last year's Count, and a passionate explanation of why it matters.

He's Alive!

A few months ago I asked for any evidence of the continuing existence of Seattle poster/graffiti artist Heck. This new sticker appeared the other day on the reverse of a Wallingford street sign, which leads me to believe that he is, in fact, still alive. Good to know. And thanks to The Corey for the photographic evidence.