Monday, August 23, 2010

Connie loves it when I trip



Connie was my favorite student at my last p/t job. She also happened to be the most socially active member of the class. She could be very affectionate, sometimes embracing a teacher or fellow student spontaneously, kissing them on the head. This was especially unique because direct communication between students rarely happened. Each of them seemed to be in their own world, and it was difficult to feel like I had access to it.

At the start of my stint, the staff would give her coffee in the morning. She drank it with relish. The downside to this was that she became obsessed with coffee and was constantly asking for more. She was also somewhat of a pre-Madonna, being very demanding for attention during class time. This was especially hard when I was dealing with 10 students per class, many of whom demanding attention in their own particular way.

My favorite thing about Connie was that she had a slightly silly and even devious sense of humor. She loved it when I would pretend to sneeze ("ACHOOOOO!!!!") or snort like a pig. She always busted a gut when I did that and say "One more!"; then I'd do it again and she'd keep laughing without fail. It wasn't until I was walking to the kitchen, having tripped on the carpet, that I knew what made her laugh the hardest: she was laughing at my unintentional pratfall! So then it became an ongoing joke when I would pretend to trip and she'd slap her knee in glee and say "One more!".

She's a saucy lady who would slap my butt like a tough Italian grandma. I will miss her the most.

The video isn't a very good rep. of Connie, as she seemed a bit tired when I shot this, but it's what I have to show.

Steven's favorite food



A quick interview with one of my former 'students' on his favorite culinary delight. He never liked doing anything, like activities and exercises, and was constantly grousing about something like an old grumpy man, but then you realized you could pick out very few words as being proper English——or in any language. It was his own native tongue.
He did like to smile and sing to himself after lunch, though. Find out why.
More on the job that allowed me to spend some time with him later.

Monday, August 16, 2010

More Arthur Truisms




"Truly exceptional people prefer to be on their own because ordinary people are annoying."
——Schopenhauer

Truismish



"Behaving with kindness towards others causes them to be arrogant: therefore other people must be treated with some disregard."
— Arthur Schopenhauer

I don't totally agree, but I think in some cases this just might be true.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Friday, August 6, 2010

Props

Beautiful/Decay said some nice stuff about my work on their website. I only found this out accidentally by checking Google Analytics. I was their July 22 2010 post.

Oil & Fashion are now like oil and water.



With the sheer amount of oil-based products needed to allow fashion commerce to exist, you would think they'd just send a gaggle of sleazy fashion photographers and models down there and they'd soak up all the oil anyway. But no, they send Steven Meisel and ONE model. At this rate, nothing will get cleaned-up.

Whenever fashion photographers try to get political it rarely works. They lack the conceptual rigor of fine artists, which is why they should have either sent the gaggles as I mentioned, or Thomas Hirschorn, some duct tape and a model. He would have made better use of the limitations.

Monday, August 2, 2010

La Lupe



La Lupe's act was an exorcism. Her fans gave her the nickname, La Yiyiyi, for her ecstatic cries and wails. On stage, she picked at her face compulsively, pulled her hair and bit herself, clutched her breasts, and tore her clothing. She flung herself back and forth as she sang until her shoes, clothes, and wig were strewn about and her make-up smeared with drool.

Guadelupe Yoli grew up in 1930s Santiago, Cuba under a strict father and a stepmother who hated her dark skin. She skipped school one day to enter a radio contest, winning first prize and booking clubs immediately. She caused a stir throughout Havana with her epilectic sex appeal. Considered a poor role model and much too vulgar for the general public, she was also revered by other artists like Tennessee Williams, Hemminway, Sartre, and Picasso. Deemed too risque by Fidel Castro himself, La Lupe was exiled first to Mexico, then to New York City, shortly after the Cuban Revolution.


VIA MURKY RECESS

Glowstick In A Toilet (The Rave Toilet)



A video image of the birth or death of a galaxy produced by pouring Glo-stick juice in a toilet.

"This is the best idea ever!"