Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Austin has a sushi train now! And it's tasty.

Finally, the vibe of a big city has parked its techno-food savvy ass on Austin soil.

Korea Garden on N. Lamar just remodeled and installed a sushi train. When my girlfriend and I walked in tonight we were surprised by the scene: the band Corto Maltese was just leaving as we arrived, tiny hipsters from UT filled a row at the conveyor belt, and, 75% of the patrons were gay. We ordered a hot pot of green tea and took our perch at the counter between a middle-aged, gay male couple on our left and an awesome, quirky student and her friends on our right.

Korea Garden has been around for a while and serves up Chronicle/Statesman lauded Korean food, but the sushi conveyer belt is a new addition. Called a kaiten-zushi in Japan, the metal conveyor belt slickly delivered lots of nigiri sushi, goma wakame (seaweed salad), a few eel rolls, a few california rolls, desserts, and even house salads with ranch dressing on them. Though it would seemingly be fully unexciting to eat an iceberg/ranch dressing salad off a sushi train, Korea Garden's house salad was delicious. The radish sprouts, avocado, carrot and cucumber slivers spiced it up to an enticing level.

When I lived in New York I frequented a sushi restaurant with a conveyor belt like this between Union Square and Gramercy Park (17th and Broadway?) and loved it. Prices were based on the color of the plate, a format Korea Garden will be moving to after tomorrow. For now though, for its opening week, Korea Garden is running a special: all plates $1.50 each! Get it cheap while you can.

Back to the bar around the conveyor belt, an awesome behavior was happening amongst the patrons. In true Austin fashion, as soon as diners sat down they became part of a collective conversation. You can't put Austinites in the same goddamn space as each other and facing each other without a ton of friendly banter. The sushi train I went to in New York was more like a bar; you faced the sushi chef/server. At Korea Garden, you face other patrons. And, inevitably conversations strike up over the sushi and over who wants what as the plates slowly make their way down the line.There's already a Missed Connection about the sushi train! I think it's arrived. And, I think Austin has arrived in some small way. Hear me out on this one: Clearly the young'uns, gaymos and artists have been waiting for this; a new city trinket that facilitates the same gentle friendly Austin has possessed all along.

Happy Birthday Jackson Pollock


In honor of Jackson Pollock, and with deliberate attention towards the fun of creating inky drip paintings on a web page far surpassing the fun of reading Pollock's fairly troubled biography, I post this: Make your own drip paintings!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

1968 Mexico Olympics Poster


In researching for work, I found this op-art-ed out fly poster by Lance Wyman from the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. You can purchase it from the Victoria & Albert Museum Shop in the UK here. Lance Wyman's graphics for the 1968 Olympics are across the board righteous. See more of his design work on his website. To see especially his Mexico City Olympics graphics, click on the Mexico Olympics logo near the middle.

Lady Gaga, that's some good fashion



Why I gotta love this so much? The guilt. But I do.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Obama is a constant happy surprise

I had forgotten what it was like to be pleased with what one's government's actions. Never in my adult life had I experienced the U.S. government creating legislation that was cognizant of global climate change and working progressively to curb it, or acting to cease detainment/torture of prisoners on foreign soil without probably evidence. All this in the first week? Thank you Obama.

From the NYTimes:
Obama's Order is Likely to Tighten Auto Standards

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Animal Collective's video for "My Girls"

D-dang. Sometimes there is a thing that at first you wish would hurry up and get over with, but then it drags you in slowly, submerges you in its soupy washing machine brand of lovemaking and suddenly you're like, "I like this!" in a way that surprises even you.

I guess that just happened to me, with this:




Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Inauguration Poem for Obama, on Inauguration Day



As we watch the Inauguration with joy today, a re-post of my poem celebrating Obama's victory, the beauty of our collective connected humanity, and the conscious evolution we are undertaking.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Austin Celebrating in the Streets On Election Night After Obama Won!

A compilation of videos from the post Obama victory melee in downtown Austin, outside the Driskill on November 4th, 2008. My poem (posted above), "Above the Streetlights; The Night Obama Won," is a rumination on that night, what it meant for all of us, and what it will mean in our futures.

I'm glad for the bottom up media that documented that night and got these videos onto YouTube. It was a beautiful street party that night in Austin; jubilant beings finally feeling empowered and inspired by their government. Look at the people in the crowd laughing, dancing, hugging each other. And I've never seen radical young people sing the national anthem or wave a flag before!






Sunday, January 18, 2009

Terapeak!

I never sell things on eBay so I'm discovering Terapeak a bit late, but I love it.
I just went on eBay to list a Dansk pepper mill that I bought here in Austin. I typed in "Dansk pepper mill" in the Terapeak search engine that's hosted on the eBay main page. Terapeak analyzed the last three weeks of Dansk pepper mill eBay auctions and said the average value they sold for was $80, and the 26 sold in the last three weeks sold for between $0 and $411. Yes. Thank you simplicity.

And thank you to the Terapeak nerds who thought up such a smart, smart creature of software.

Friday, January 16, 2009

MLK Day of Service in Austin

Tomorrow is the Martin Luther King Day of Service for the United Way and its partner agencies. The non-profit I work for runs Top Drawer Thrift and we'll be with a volunteer crew of ten people overhauling the back room and re-organizing the store so we can put out more donations.

Michelle and Barack Obama have been e-mailing their supporters, as you have no doubt noticed, encouraging them to participate in a nationwide day of service in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.. The day of service honors his commitment to service and non-violence.

Let's get out there and do some good work!

Luzinterruptus's Recent Installation in Madrid

I just saw Luzinterruptus's January 5th installation around Madrid, Acomodate y Lee, on Art MoCo and spent more time looking at the photos on their blog. Each installation consisted of a blue light, most (all?) with antique lampshades, and a book on a string. They were little reading nooks carved out all over the city. The reading nooks were installed in niches as odd as a condom machine, or as clear as next to homeless person's bedroll on the sidewalk.


A very interesting intervention. I'm always drawn to private space insertions into public space or transformation of public space into private. This is a fairly well thought out one. Their other work is equally competent and alluring. Check it out on their blog.

Solargraph


This is an incredible solargraph made by Justin Quinnell. Image is copyright Justin Quinnell. Click here to go to the NASA site with more info on the origin and making of the image (in a soda can pinhole camera!).

Birthday Card for My Sister.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Dang, Coroflot!

There is some seriously persuasive design on Coroflot right now. Coroflot is a portfolio, networking and resume site. The site connects creative professionals with design jobs worldwide. It's a rewarding, fleshy little (big) website.

My friend Blake Almstead, a student in the Cranbrook 2D department, has some of his work on Coroflot. I'm especially drawn to his projection piece on vellum, Binocular Dystopia. Remarkably appealing texture, hint of interrogation video, great scale and choice of materials. Well done Blake.

Coroflot allows you to sort by "most likeys," specialities, most popular this week, and new members. It's a great format and I'll be perusing it like an elitist aesthete stalker for weeks, no doubt.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Anna Sian


Anna Li Sian has just started a site for her photographic works and poetry. Here's a link. It's still under construction but you can get a sense of her skillful eye.

Anna's poetry is tremendous. She and I used to perform together a lot at Dartmouth with Soul Scribes and I miss her poetic presence as a nearby collaborator. Here's a link to some of her older work (from 2005). Here's a more recent posting of her poetry, that includes a bio. She currently lives and works in NYC.

Dave Chappelle's Television Debut



This Dave Chappelle standup has a delicate vintage flavor like a fine, fine comedic wine. Delicious.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Thursday, January 8, 2009

In Honor Of Joseph Beuys, How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare

"To make people free is the aim of art. Therefore, art for me is the science of freedom."
-Joseph Beuys

German artist Joseph Beuys's performances, sculptures and drawings, remain contemporary and relevant to me. I feel deep appreciation for his art: his felt wrappings, "discussions with dead hares," his "actions" (happenings), use of fat, use of honey, and disquieting, though noble, performance with a live coyote in an enclosed space. I saw a drawing of his at MoMA once (the link takes you to a different one, can't find the one I saw) that reminded me of the quiet radicalism and simple beauty of his work. Beuys's line is both gentle and direct. It speaks to his own shamanic presence. Here's another piece from the MoMA collection that I feel affinity towards: Eurasia Siberian Symphony 1963

Too, Joseph Beuys's radical political fervency was grand, his teaching was devoted and his life an amalgam of intriguing chosen experiences. His time spent in the military created a mythic history of being rescued by Tartars in Crimea in a plane crash and rubbed in fat, then wrapped in felt to heal. That mythology was a loving assistant for his material choices. As I remember it, later in life he became a political activist and even assisted in the founding of the Green Party.

Beuys died in 1986 at the age of 65.
All this to say, wonderful artist. 

Now in honor, watch this video!: