Chang is Missing

Okay, and I've been a little a.w.o.l. myself. Where have I been? Around, reading, thinking and I've come to some conclusions. I've also pulled a muscle really badly so I'm limping around town. One thing I've decided is to put back most of the stuff I took off the blog. We discovered the posts are cached anyway _ that's kind of what freaked Jack out, the whole Hotel California aspect of life on-line: You can take it off the blog anytime you want but it will never leave. See? Anyway, I've decided to stand up and be accountable, not tonight, maybe tomorrow, though. I've also been reading a bit about Ian McEwan and Donald Barthelme _ an old hero _ I've also been reading a bit about Nixon, an old villain. It's a really interesting history called Nixonland, which describes the cultural climate during the years I was growing up. A lot of people consider growing up their teens etc. I consider growing up like the time I was four, five, six and seven. I was kind of over the hill at 22 _ or rather approaching my mid-life crisis. not that I plan to die young or anything like that. If anything I'm hoping for a second burst of enthusiasm. Okay, so the Nixonland stuff got me to thinking about how little I knew about the background of things I'd been living and feeling in those heady late 60s early 70s days. A lot of the hippie stuff, the revolutionary stuff I was feeling, spewing was just kind of in the air, I had no idea about the context, what came before. Being all that young, I may not have even knew what was really happening but I could feel it, it was blowin' in the wind and back then Bobby Dylan would tell you, that you don't need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows. When I get back to this and edit it some I'll add a link here with stuff Bob Dylan said about Obama, which I think is pertinent. I like Bob Dylan because he hit on a time all so well. Then he kind of lost it for a while, but lately he's kind of attuned to what it's like to be an old guy _ this is what I'm trying to figure out. How to position myself at 44. (Note to myself: link to article about people over 45 being out of work longer in yesterday's New York Times.)

That's another thing I'm trying to do with this blog, more links. Just that I'm too lazy when I'm writing to go through the whole process. I fear that first adapter of this blog will miss out on the final versions of things, but that's how I work in washes. I do something rough and then tighten and if I'm lucky tighten and tighten. Things I think are worth linking to today: DJ MagaBo's mini documentary of Ghislain Poirier and Marc Bittman's column about exotic greens because Ghislain reminds me of the name of some kind of exotic green. I'd also like to link to the catalogue for Michael Jackson's cancelled Neverland auction, which is better than a Matthew Barney exhibit. Note to the readers: if for any reason you want to buy me a pricey present I'd really like the boxed set of catalogues.

Anyway, have you ever heard about the shy photographer syndrome? It's apparently very common, in fact I learned of from a guy I consider a very good photographer and apparently he suffers from it, too. It's when you can't just get into someone's face to get the shot. Well, the photo above is a good example of the shy photographer syndrome, but I think it works. I liked all the orange going on with her and the view from the back expressed it better than from the front. Her face distracted from all the Orange and wicked witch of the west boots. It also leaves a sense of longing that I needed for the Chang is Missing theme, which you probably guess is a homage to Wayne Wang's first feature Chan is Missing, which will probably piss Jack off on some level. But that's not what I'm trying to do. What am I trying to do? Well, express something new and original pull it all together like Donald Barthelme or maybe like, oh I'll figure it out. You don't have to watch but I'll figure it out, so stay tuned. Carnaval may be over but there's another one on the way.