forging my life into something more as i envision, less as it was tending to end up while i wasn't paying attention. not settling (for less *or i would have by now). chemical attraction. virility. living for the now with an immense excitement for what's yet to transpire. believing that diverse ambitions/goals/dreams aren't mutually exclusive by definition, but inaction. merging experience and erudition. thinking, divulging and diverging. objectivity. friends. enemies. families. strangers. alienation and estrangement. treasuring "mistakes" and cutting losses. the art of human relations. cherishing companionship as well as solitude. facing fear, living without regret. evading missed opportunities, taking chances. intelligent compromise, however grand or trivial. sprinting, or at the very least standing . . . laughter, style, substance, hunger. emotional capacity for dialogue: candid conversation without rules, judgment or recrimination. exploration of all such faculties - as well as physical landscapes and places: hidden haunts in unexpected places: tunnels, bridges, allsorts: the absolute thrill of adventure and discovery. the art of so many intangibles, and tangible art in so many manifestations. i LOVE paintings, am magnetized by art and design: mixed media, toys, couture, interiors, packaging, photography, architecture and furniture, books, music, films, cooking. the foreign: travel, languages, food and drink. dia de los muertos. london. new york. new orleans. salt. spice. honey. haute couture. camping. photobooths. autumn. hibernating. vintage clothing, especially slips and such. mixing prints. bakelite. lucite. victoriana. vintage preservation, conservation, historic bungalows, DIY. my cats in chicago (alfie and gigi) and my cats in london (vinegar tom and sir). strong coffee. tea. fire, water (oceans and other bodies, baths *clawfoot bath tubs*, maybe even isolation tanks). staying in, going out. sleeping. staying up all hours. waking with the birds. sleeping in. variation and contradiction. and many, many other things. *by the way, these are called ‘interests’ for a reason: some works in progress . . .
anyone with insider info for my securing of a 1920s, spanish apartment (not miniscule), full of vintage character, in LA, for less than the monthly mortgage on my chicago bungalow (a lot less). or a fantastic guesthouse. or even a stellar person who doesn't have a lot of furniture, just happening to simulataneoulsly be looking to co-rent such a place (who can handle living with me).tall requests, always.
the editors. the frames. you say party! we say die! the real tuesday weld. mogwai (zidane soundtrack). iain archer. eastern conference champions. emily haines and the soft skeleton. ryan adams. softlightes. and lots of other stuff, never excluding mark kozelek and mark eitzel.
those that change my life, even for only moments, inspire me to hope or think about things differently, elicit emotion, or fully absorb. really making me laugh is more common with people, but films that can achieve this are top notch. i'm all about foreign films, esp. french, japanese and bollywood. stylish 60s pieces, real horror, documentaries. comedy that i would never expect to like by the synopses (ex: talladega nights - i cried laughing). some titles: un homme et une femme, grey gardens, the (original) wicker man, alfie (michael caine only), the apartment, roman holiday, butterfield 8, amelie, silence of the lambs, eternal sunshine, wizard of oz, willy wonka (gene wilder preferred, even though johnny depp was the object of my entire adolescent crush), wong kar-wai's in the mood for love and chunking express, in the realms of the unreal: the mystery of henry darger, glengarry glen ross and lots of others.
the internet is my television. i don't watch tv, almost not ever (otherwise, i'd probably be totally sucked in) . . . though i guess 6ft under on dvd counts.
hm, where to start? i grew up in libraries and worked in a book store. i spent my youth deciphering and scrawling lyrics on folders and in notebooks, copying poetry and passages into blank books, memorizing, underlining, making word lists: yes, i was that girl. i planned to be a psychologist (ha!) and just added on the english major for fun (my obsession with england began at authors and evolved to include musicians). SO, i've gone through various periods of absorption with genres, authors, forms, disciplines, eras, etc, when it comes to books and writing. as with music, too difficult to choose 'favorites.' i got rid of a couple hundred books a year or two ago: i guess my favorites are what's left. let's see, what else? i have a number of mid-century lifestyle, decor, cook and kids books. i buy art books full of paintings and other works i wish i owned: darger, ryden, nara, schiele, murakami, zeisel, eames, flora, garcia, keane, beardsley, day, gorey . . . for a start. (and i hope/plan to finally do some such writing and/or editing at some point relatively soon). music related books: some gems among the legions of crap. unusual literary figure releases, such as my cookbooks by alice b toklas and ludwig bemelmans. books of my childhood. writings about the brain and aesthetics and branding and marketing and trends. and i love art/style/'fashion'/design and alt pop culture magazines.
sean silver *buy a $15 Superchunk shirt from his memorial 'Eff cancer' concert http://www.mergerecords.com/catalog.php?method=band&quer y_band_id=96 (all proceeds benefiting the Ulman Cancer Fund) . . . or donate directly to the fund: http://ulmanfund.org/Supportus/Donate/tabid/96/Default.aspx