Bizarre weather we are having, huh?

Last week I was either hot-crying or my eyeballs were sweating, and the last couple of days have been winter.  We had hail?  The end is almost certainly upon us.

Last night was the exhibition of the LA Forum competition entries.  I took my camera but didn’t take a single photo.  Use your imaginations.  Winners are announced Tuesday, but I’m not holding my breath.  My team’s idea was good, but I am not completely happy with the representation.

What do I do now?

I think portfolio / web portfolio updating is the next thing.  I have literally 10’s of thousands of files to forage through.  Not looking forward to it.

And I’m redecorating the crib.

A few minutes ago I realized that my 12 year old nephew, Kenny, had been blogging on MySpace. I went there thinking it would be some “cute” kid stuff, that as an adoring uncle I would have to say “Oh, it’s really good” like what you say when you hear your friends band. But holy shit, it’s really good! There is something very “stream of consciousness” about it. I have left the misspellings intact because I like the contrast of the kind of middle school misspelling with the very intelligent and mature humor. And there is something of a Kerouacian hurriedness to it (like not having the time, or the care to figure out “quiche”). [sidethought: can you imagine if someone as prolific as Kerouac could have had a blog?]

I hate to get all academic about this. But there are somehow a lot of concerns that have been answered by reading this. I have always been a little bit worried about how it would be for people growing up in Kenny’s generation, constantly inundated by advertising. How would this branding be reflected in literature, art, music, etc.? I always thought that it would make an entire generation of super consumers. And I am pretty sure it was Kenny, who when he came to visit me when he was like 3, I heard humming a Subway jingle. I can remember thinking “Oh shit”. Reading this, I realize that there is an innocent subversion. The same way that Warhol incorporated corporate imagery into Pop Art. The fact that it is titled “My Diary: Rewritten and Edited by Kenny N.” implies a very intelligent observation. It’s ironic post-modernism, a salute (and a fuck you, perhaps) to the idea that there are no new thoughts or ideas. Our lives have already been scripted for us, all we can do is rewrite and edit them. Our diaries are no longer purchased empty.

Aside from all the academic blubber above, this is very, very funny. Funny beyond a 12 year old. I know some “real” writers who would kill for a couple of these sentences. Never would I have thought that my 12 year old nephew from Texas is more avant garde than me. Here ya go:

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

It’s hot, huh?

It doesn’t help that I am so itchy.  I went to a garden party the other night and was the main course for the mosquitoes.  I definitely have some sort of Nile virus.  Will someone please come over and rub me with Benadryl anti-itch cream?

My Father, sister and niece came to LA for my graduation. We had a nice time. Here is the proof.

Moustaching at Woodbury.

Moustaching at Hollywood & Highland with my beautiful niece.

My dads name is Larry King.

I graduated from Nikon University, apparently. The moustache was shaved for graduation. It clashed with the hat.

Awww.

In case it isn’t instantly obvious, I really love my niece.

A sailboat!

This is Belle’s sneaking up on pigeon’s formation. It didn’t work very well on the pigeons, but I think the Santa Monica homeless got a kick out of it.

Post-graduation life is weird. I’m a little bored, but it’s nice. Tonight I spent three hours figuring out which books I want to display on my coffee table. And then alphabetized the fiction section of my library. I put some essayists in fiction [read: Sarah Vowell + David Foster Wallace] but I think that’s OK. I may have enough essay collections to create an essay section. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow.

That’s been the theme of my new life. Stresslessness. I can do things without feeling guilty. Like sleep. Or like watch a Laker game. Or like sit on the couch with my dog and watch the news. I used to (last week) constantly worry about deadlines. Currently my only real responsibility is the Rhino class I teach at GCC.

And this competition I have entered with a team of 4. We had a meeting tonight. I feel good about our concept.

This book came in the mail today. I am going to begin reading it tomorrow.

Or maybe I’ll read this book by my friend instead.

Wanna see the skyscraper I designed this morning?

I’m having my Rhino class design a program-less, context-less skyscraper. I just want them to develop a skin/structure system around some floorplates. The only rule is it must be 50 stories high. I wanted to finish mine today and call it “A skyscraper in an afternoon” but then I started to kind of like it and am going to develop it. The site is next door to the concert hall, but maybe mine is in Dubai.

Oh yeah. Thanks to everyone who sent me graduation congratulations. I appreciate it. Even bigger thanks to those who sent me money. I will thank you personally and privately.

My dad, sister and niece were here for a few days. It was nice. We always see each other in Texas. It was nice to have home court advantage. I took them on a driving tour of LA. The place where the Manson Family killed Sharon Tate et. al., the place where O.J. killed Nicole et. al., and Jack Nicholson’s house where Roman Polanski raped that 13 year old girl….. Los Angeles is kind of a fucked up city. Oh. And even more gruesome, we went to the home Ronald Reagan retired to.

How am I spending my summer? I am going to work on my resume, portfolio and web portfolio for a month. Finish teaching. Look for some kind of employment. Hopefully project based instead of full time at a firm.

Also. I want to master Rhinoscript, animating with Maya. And Adobe After Effects. I may organize some sort of group meetings at a coffee shop or something. Would anyone be interested?

I will upload images from my thesis project as soon as I get around to file organization, which precedes resume and portfolio.  I got 2 honorable mentions for it.  I think it was for “Student Choice” and “Building Technology”, but I’m not sure because I drank 4 beers on an empty stomach that day and was pretty smashed when they announced it.
Ciao dudes.