This is a quick once-around of “The Fantastic Solution to Global Warming and Other Conundrums” at Icthus Gallery in San Francisco. Thanks to Mark for the video.
The Fantastic Solution to Global Warming and Other Conundrums - Pete Ippel from Hypermodern - Pete Ippel on Vimeo.

The show is open until May 31st, 2008 so if you’re in the city, come by between 10am and 5pm weekdays. Or you can email me at pete @ hypermodern.net and schedule a special showing

When I was a child, I was very adventurous. I have many scars on my body that remind me of stories…

I was born near Chicago Illinois in a small town called Oak Park.
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I lived at the corner of East Avenue and Randolph Street in an apartment with eight other families. Many of the families had children my age.

I was the only child in my family, had curly blond hair, I was tall for my age, and usually wore very colorful clothing. My mother shopped at used clothing stores, and bought me one pair of new shoes a year because I wore everything out so fast.

My parents made a rule that I was only allowed to watch one hour of television per day. The two shows I watched religiously were Alf and Pee Wee’s Playhouse. But I always wanted to watch more cartoons, and my parents said no.

Because of this restriction, my favorite thing to do when I was a child was play outside with my two best friends Gary and Sam

Every day the three of us would meet to ride our bikes around the front and side yards of the apartment. We invented all sorts of games. And spent a lot of time hanging from trees, and combining sports. The best one was baseball on roller-skates, I got a concussion, but that’s another story.

One day Sam was sick and I wanted to ply outside. I walked over to Gary’s door, rang the bell, and asked his mother “Can Gary come out to play?”

“Of course,” she replied, “but I have to go to the store, so can he stay over at your house later?”

“My mom said he’s welcome any time.”

Gary came out and we started looking for something to do. Around the corner, near the alley, was a shopping cart. We decided that it would be a great idea to give rides to each other. Gary was a year younger and a little smaller than I was. We decided that he should get the first ride, and I should push.

I had used a similar cart at our local grocery store, named Jewel. The cart was tall, awkward and rusty. The wheels didn’t roll straight, and the basket was bent to one side. It looked like a car had hit it.

Gary climbed in, and moved up to the front of the basket. He wrapped his fingers between the metal bars and got a good grip. He was bracing himself with his knees pressed into the front corner, and his head poked out and looked like a gargoyle.

Immediately I lunged at the orange handle, and started to push with all my strength. I began to run very fast. Gary and I were laughing together when all of the sudden there was a crack in the sidewalk. The cart stopped instantly, and the ejection of Gary’s body began. His fingers were still between the metal of the cart, and because of this, his feet went over his head and it looked like he was standing on his hands or diving into a swimming pool.

While Gary was upside down, my body stayed in the same path, and I crashed into the card with much force. Both of our bodies and the cart tangled into one great heap of metal and flesh. Gary landed on his face with the cart on top of him, and me on top of the cart. His cheek looked like ground beef.

Both of us got up with fear in our eyes…(but not because we were bleeding)

“Oh no! I ripped my pants and got blood on my shirt!” Gary shouted. “My mother is going to KILL me!”

Both of my palms were skinned, and I replied, “Well, try not to bleed on it…”

We thought and thought, and finally came up with a story of how we got hurt. And decided that falling out of a tree seemed reasonable. After all, Sam had broken his arm falling out of a tree earlier that year.

The door to my family’s un air-conditioned apartment was open to let in the fresh summer breeze so we just walked right in. I shouted up the stairs, “MoooOOOOoom, Gary fell out of a tree, and skinned his face.”

She reacted quickly and covered the wound with aloe and vitamin E, and for the rest of the day we got to stay inside and sit on the couch…

The biggest surprise to us, was that she never yelled about the clothes, the best part, for the rest of the day we got to watch all the television we wanted…

This is powerful, short, and gets the point across very quickly.

dothetest.co.uk

Tags: video, basketball, skateboarding, safety, urban

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Originally uploaded by hypermodern

Sustainable recycled plastic skating rink at University High School San Francisco. You can use regular ice skates too!

What a great experience coaching these talented girls. More photos from the season available at SFUHS official athletics website

Pete_Ipp.jpg

Originally uploaded by hypermodern

Get your stunner shades on…

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Originally uploaded by hypermodern

On the way to coach basketball playoffs

I called this one. I said Giants by two…then they ended up winning by three. What an exciting game. The most memorable Superbowl in a while…a close game with great defense…

For the Patriots, I can only imagine how much they hurt going into the locker room, just imagine being known as the team for all history who was *almost* undefeated and lost the *ONLY* game that folks really remember. Crushing.

Being the underdog is so much easier, and that’s why I was thinking that the Giants win…imagine the pressure of being perfect all year, and how much DRIVE the Giants had to knock off the nearly two touchdown favorite…

Three hours before the game I was frantically looking to make the first sports bet of my life, and was unsuccessful. Technical difficulties with getting money into the online sports-betting world…The Giants were -415 on the money line…missed a big payout there…

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Originally uploaded by hypermodern

Winners at Oracle arena…What an exciting experience!

Well, another Friday lecture down the tubes, I wonder if it’s a prerequisite to be an awful speaker if you’re being a visiting lecture. Tonight she was yawning to her own slides, AND THEY’RE HER SLIDES! It’s a damn good thing I’m becoming an artist, because I want to create change when I come back to SFAI, people will have fun, and the lecture is going to be SHORT, because I don’t want to waste grad student’s time.

In other news open studios is tomorrow, and I’m stoked.

In other, other news, I want to high jump so bad I can taste it, and I finally have a goal, I want to compete in the State Games of America in CT this summer. I’ve got a long way to go, as I’m a bit soft right now.

Gotta tone down the skating too, my left hip is getting funky from skating 6 miles a day to and from the studios…skate to stay young.