January 2003

By the way, free memory has been updated…

www.hypermodern.net/freememory

Greetings all, I’m excited about the relationship Borges article “The Lottery of Babylon” to Obay, as well as that of Roger Callois’ “The Importance of Games of Chance”

Some selections from Callois…

“…under these conditions, games of chance (read auction) suddenly attain unexpected significance. They tend to replace work, provided the climate is suitable and the need for food, clothing and shelter does not force them, like other more vulnerable, into regular activities…”

“(auctions)…determine the beliefs, knowledge, habits, and ambitions of these nonchalant addicts, who no longer govern themselves and yet find it extremely difficult to adapt themselves to another culture…”

“Above all, the ravages provoked by the passion for gambling (online auctioning), sometimes reaching disastrous proportions, must be stressed.” Sounds to me like a severe case of Commodiphilia, which can cause ” an incurable cancer of the economy…”

In regards to the revolution of money gained from selling at auction put back into the game of buying at auction, “However important the moral, cultural, and even political consequences of the game may be, it is primarily its economic significance that should be analyzed. The game practically immobilizes and appreciable part of disposable income, by causing it to circulate too quickly.

It is thus unavailable for the nation�s economic development or for improving the standard of living of its inhabitants. Money spent on gambling is not used for buying furniture household utensils, tools clothing or dietary supplements, any one of which would result in a hastening the growth of agriculture, commerce, or industry. It is expended wastefully, retired from general circulation, and merely circulates rapidly and constantly in a closed circuit for winnings are rarely withdrawn from the vicious circle.”

I’m excited about continuing this investigation.

I was at Novato again with Kev, we filmed a huge kick flip, and I got some front-side, and worked on the backside grinds, I wanted to stay a bit longer, but it didn’t work out…Noodles on Haight as always.

Today I went with Jon Hittner, and Casey Logan to the “new spot” down by the hood on Army and Indiana. It was a lot of fun, so I think we may be gong to Novato on Saturday if we can figure a way to get there.

Wheeeeeee!

Got a great new idea about a science fiction story, ’bout the *future* ooOOOOOOOOOoOOOOoooHHH. Still need to work out plot kinks, but I think I’ve got characters. I really enjoyed my classes today, I think it’ sgoing to be great to work with Tony Labat again, and the class called “mediations” is going well, I’m going to write a bit about the First Thursdays art scene.

In other news, the lottery was 84 million tonight, and I also downed a liter of Vanilla Coke, and a bag of chips….*gotta stop that* ’cause I’m in “training” again. I will jump 6-8 or better at SGA 2003.

Went out with Josh and Kevin the other day just over to the library, no worries…but then when Josh and I went yesterday night and yikes…we were kicked out of the library, then went to the opera house steps…then fox plaza ledges, on the way back to Market…we were literally 100 feet from our house and the cop takes our skates, and takes our ID’s and gave us a lot of trouble. Luckily we didn’t get tickets. I can’t believe that at 11:30 skating home *(on the flat)* we got busted….and the cop knows where we live now ’cause I was stupid and opened my mouth.

*sheesh*

I talked on the phone a lot today.

Uche (The L.I.), Dorota (Poland), Mom (Morris), Dad (Oak Park), Laura (Oak Park), Rob (Morris), Annamaria (NYC). Just stayed in, talked and worked a bit. Uploaded Chaos and Reduction…now it’s time for bed.

Dad on the relationship of woodblock to free memory…

“Get back to the elements, what do you do to reveal what inside? Remove what’s not the image. Present only what’s essential. If it wasn’t what it is, it’d be something else. When you’ve formed what’s essential it’s enough. You and those you believe in is enough.”

Pops you are a genius.

Yesterday I hit up the streets with Josh, he got new kicks and was working on breaking them in…we went to the McAllaster ledge and then to the library, when we were hopping down the big steps, there was a dude that looked like he was taking a pee…turns out he was doin’ a chick…ewwwwwwwwy.

Never saw that on the street before…it was a short session, cause Josh had a hot date, and I was not landing anything…Session tonight with Kev when he gets back.

Went to a new park today Novato, rollin in the golf…very nice indeed to see the landscape. I had a few nice runs, but I could really tell that I hadn’t been to a park in over a month…Kev pulled some nice stuff out despite being a little under the weather.

The day was pretty gnarly, overcast and cold…so much so that I had to skate with a hoody, built up a sweat then got cold…wierd.

Anywho, there was some Dogtown/151 guys there that were really charging and Bullskating, super annoying when the Groms and I were just trying to skate this one little part of the park, it was like a 6 foot pipe and they kept tearing through there. Kev ate shit once ’cause he was concentrating on another guy’s line not his own.

I came back a little bloodied today, took a skate to the right ankle and got a hipper on the left side, all in all an alright day, but I want to skate that park again, I really like it it’s got nice transition stuff. Then noodles on Haight…sweet.

Start class tomorrow, intense painting with D. Crumpler, I’m excited, but wondering if this is the right thing to do. The Tizz says that I need to concentrate on making my own artwork the way I want to and this obsession with talking about painting is silly. I am inclined to agree with her ’cause she’s usually right. Anywho, the bottom line is that at the San Francisco International Art Expo, there was nothing like mine and a shit load of painting…you can look at that as one of two ways…one person said to me, “painting…it’s making a comeback…it’s like the new video.” OR….Painting is dead…

First off, people haven’t really EXPLOITED video yet…but honestly I think 2d work is bought more…by people who want to decorate their house.

Personally, I’m making artwork to be utilized or purchased by everyone…ranging from Free Memory for my peeps on Market, social commentary on OBAY, to stuff that people dream about having, like, a P. Ippel, artrockstar signed digitalia first Ed…there were only 10 of those wax prints you know…and the thing is that they AREN’T on acid free paper so you know what…they’re special and require lots of curatorial attention.

Anywho, for all you that think that selling out is bad, fuck you, you romantic hypocrites (the same people who think the partnership between CCAC and SFAI is bad)…I’m in it for the money (and to have an amazing student/life experience)…and I make artwork for all types of people, and if anything, I didn’t sell out, the mainstream bought in.

More work on art, last night hit it hard, class presentation on my piece from last night…lots of video time, but the problem is that primere’s text is awful. The piece dealt with war, play, and survival…it worked out pretty well.

Today I got to go to the shooting range “Jackson Arms” I was a pretty alright shot, the .22 ruger is pretty accurate…26 bucks for the class, 100rounds of ammo, and a lane. It was a lot louder than I thought it would be.

I also have to work tomorrow at SFAI’s booth, and I’m not sure how well I can do that job, as I have so many gripes about the school…but I’m learning, but I want more for my money…anywho it’s from 11-7 and I get 100 bucks so it’s cool.

Bad news today, Renee’s car was broken into in the parking lot on mission, I think it happened in the day, ’cause I was up from 2-5 working on the video. Last night Dennis, Chris, Josh and I went to play pool, at Kennedy’s and on the way back Josh tweaked his ankle but he’s feeling a bit better today.

Went to skate the library on a solo sesh, and there were about 8 skaters there total, one named Colin that I met before at pier 7 who is an undergrad at SFAI. He was in a car accident in Colorado over break, but he’s still out skating with his hand all bandaged up.

Raining a lot…for three days off and on, no time to dry out really, and it’s tough to get to school, walking is OK I guess…if you can’t skate.

It’s been a while but I have had an amazing journey from IL, back to Cali and now I’ve already finished a week of school with Xu Bing. It has been a great experience, and I have gotten so much facility back in my brush. I’m very excited about the whole situation. However, I am a bit bummed that he had to leave on friday.

This weekend I worked hard and was serious about my career, I created a series of 18 postcards, and I’m planning to make contact with the people I know from all sorts of places…and let them know about the new projects.

I have to work on OBAY a lot, and get my galleries in order before school starts, and work on this internship at Macromedia, that would be a dream come true…maybe I could even stay on part time during the school year.

I got called by the track folks today, and it was great to be on the other end of the phon-a-thon, and talk to my friends again…and I even donated 50 bucks…so I won’t eat for a month…track was good to me, and now I’ve got to start training again to peak in Aug for SGA III.

I miss the Tizz, but I know she’s doing great a learning a lot. Big ups to the Rentals this week for helpin’ me out and in other news, I got to practice my Spanish when Abuelita called…such a welcome suprise.

So it’s spectacular to be back, major session at the library…Kev and I were the only ones out tonight, but we worked up a good sweat before treating ourselves to some Thai on Haight…

Almost got a nollie today, and hit a big set of 4…