~lori~ profile picture

~lori~

save the snails

About Me

"My blinding ambition, you see, my dream of dreams, was to become one day the owner of a White Mouse Circus. I would have a small stage with red curtains in front of it, and when the curtains were drawn apart, the audience would see my world-famous performing mice walking on tight-ropes, swinging from trapezes, turning somersaults in the air, bouncing on trampolines and all the rest. I would have white mice riding on white rats, and the rats would gallop furiously round and round the stage. I was beginning to picture myself travelling first-class all over the globe with my Famous White Mouse Circus, and performing before all the crowned heads of Europe." (Roald Dahl, The Witches)*All of this is true about me, except I do not wish to enslave rodents, though I have before. I generally do not enjoy animal acts at the circus.*

My Interests

Writing. Reading. Drawing. Cutting. Pasting. Talking to myself. Wandering. Miniatures. Mixed tapes. Mixed media. Animals a' go-go. Thrifting, yard sales, junk stores, the like. Non-competitive bicycle riding! Dusty old cars. Shiny old cars, too. Trains. Windows. Drafts. Barns. Legends. Superstitions. Mind over matter. ESP. Piddling. Picking scabs. Playing crappy/found/made-up instruments. Sitting on the porch. Collecting scraps. Going to the ocean. Throwing bread to birds. Carousels. Eyes. Witch doctors. Sticks. Gardens. Mysteries. Scary trees. 5th grade arithmetic. Fill-Ins. Lost words and phrases. Events that don't cost a dime.

I'd like to meet:

Not the intoxicated, but the intoxicating. Free spirited, funny people with intriguing mannerisms. Illustrators, writers, conspirators, carnival folk and people who are black metal. Dumpster divers. Ninjas. Masters of patience. Builders. People who know how to play along. Skeleton key collectors. Honest mechanics. Daredevils, in any sense of the word. People who are just passing through. Treasure hunters. Beach combers. Bench warmers. Friendly bears. Night gardeners. Toe dippers. Punks who listen to Cab Calloway and smoke corncob pipes. Dreamers. Greasers. Squares. Drapes. A fox. A tortoise. A hare.

Music:

Bo Diddley, X, Etta James, Psychedelic Furs, Dame Darcy, Hazard County Girls, Violent Femmes, The Cars, Iggy, Mission of Burma, The Wipers, Flat Duo Jets. nasty grooves... haunting instrumentals, creepy classical...

Movies:

Pink Flamingos, Beetlejuice, Forbidden Games, Night of the Hunter, One Crazy Summer, Little Noises, Adaptation, Tideland, The Outsiders, Buffalo '66, Wild at Heart... I really relate to the movie MAY. I would like to quote John Waters at this moment, & just say "I'll go to the opening of a toilet seat." I've discovered the joys of old cartoons on youtube, for which I am thankful.

Television:

Square Pegs, Hong Kong Phooey, Twin Peaks, PBS, Animal Planet, No Reservations, Kids in the Hall

Books:

Cookie Mueller, Bukowski, Orwell, Stephen King, Dr. Seuss, Roald Dahl, Jim Carroll, Steven J. Bernstein, Daniel P. Mannix, John Waters, William S. Burroughs, Sylvia Plath, David Sedaris, Holly Woodlawn. Fairy tales (classic and fractured). Photo essay, like "The Secret Paris of the 30's" by Brassai. Nan Goldin. Cindy Sherman. Art books. Vintage illustrated children's primers. Anything by or about Joe Coleman or Louis Wain. CAT FANCY. Music bios, like "Please Kill Me". Rollerderby magazine by Lisa Crystal Carver. Meat Cake comics by Dame Darcy. Belly Button Comix by Sophie Crumb. Optic Nerve. Eightball. Cometbus. Buttrag Mag by the FOREVER lovely Jaimie! Snakepit by Ben. BLURT! by Lew Houston. All kinds of photocopied madness. I do an occasional zine called Tightrope Laboratory. I invite submissions of all kinds (essays, photos, interviews, reviews, recipes, comics & so on - no agenda), feel free to email me regarding such topics, or to get a reprint of the 3 issues that have come out so far.

Heroes:

kind souls & all the little creatures

My Blog

$1.25 for a clarinet!?!

My allergies had gone away, but there was still almost a full bottle of generic NyQuil. "Goodfellas" was on TV, and I was into it, but I sort of wanted to go to bed. Except I wasn't tired enough. It w...
Posted by ~lori~ on Sun, 30 Dec 2007 10:14:00 PST

tightrope laboratory got good reviews online for being in a zine compilation

it was true on my part, my submission was a last minute throw in. but i think the compilation came out great. and my illustration got compared to dame darcy! i'm flattered, really... the story about t...
Posted by ~lori~ on Tue, 31 Jul 2007 11:35:00 PST

The Books Be Better

Frank did not have much of a formal education and I credit this fact for much of his success. I am positive it allowed his childhood imagination to remain intact throughout his life. Even though his p...
Posted by ~lori~ on Fri, 23 Jun 2006 06:08:00 PST

strange dreams

for the past month or so i've been having the most absurd, emotionally draining & realistic dreams. last night brad pitt and angelina jolie were staying at this house where i lived and they went out o...
Posted by ~lori~ on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST