RAND

I've always been fascinated with RAND, in part because of their role in AI research in the 50's and 60's. But is this sculpture, right across the street from their headquarters in Santa Monica, some sort of commentary on their research into nuclear scenerios? I can't tell if they put the sculpture up themselves, or whether it was put there by Santa Monica's city council (or some such), since it appears to be on Santa Monica gov't property.

Plane Landing

This is a preliminary attempt to imitate Nat's recent fire engine video, also available on YouTube.

Artbox

I thought the use of the London underground symbol on this sign for a design store at a Korean mall was pretty nice. The store itself wasn't that interesting, though.

Parking Structure

So, while you wait for my improved Neon Sears, please enjoy the facade of this parking structure in Westwood. Here's a photo series I could get into: large, multi-level parking structures. I saw one the other day that looked to be about 7 stories tall. At night, from the side, where you can just look right through the building and see all the fluorescent lights hanging from the ceilings, I think that looks pretty cool.

Neon Sears

I'm going to have to take my tripod next time and take a better, clearer, picture of this sign, because I think the simplicity of it is rather nice, and the font is particularly well-suited for neon. It's the Santa Monica Sears.

Neon God

I just made reservations for the Neon Cruise through the Museum of Neon Art. I specifically asked for Eric Lynxwiler since he's the cruise director we had last year and he was unbelievably funny. I quickly found out that it's now selling out much further in advance than last summer: e.g., it was already sold out for the weekend in late July that I wanted. Luckily, they were able to find a couple of seats for mid-July. (On a side note: the woman from MONA I talked to on the phone remembered me from last year, because of my goofy name.) I knew I should've called earlier. It's the same old story: if I had bought the tickets for "Chinatown" when I first looked into it, I could've gone to see it when it played at the Orpheum Theatre earlier this week.

Not Tonight

In NYC last week, after I left the Sound Library on Ave. A, I saw this in a store window on 14th St.

Dirty Bird

I saw the British version of this last June in London. It said "I wish I had a bird as dirty as this lorry".

Rick Furtak

This filing cabinet's label used to read "Foucault to Furtak". "Franks to Furtak" doesn't have quite the same ring. But it's close.

Graffiti

Graffiti I saw in Stuart Hall at the University of Chicago last week.

Fire!

If it wasn't amazing enough that they sell lighters like these, it's even more amazing that they don't have safety locks. If you pull back on the donkey's ears, fire shoots out of its mouth.

The Real Thing

Westwood In-N-Out

In-N-Out

Goodbye Elevation Burger, hello In-N-Out!

Vanity

I thought this photo would be perfect to put on a tshirt, but whenever I try and use ophoto's "make your own tshirt" function, it crops the photo so much that it looks like crap.

Nobil

Rt. 29 Virginia June 2006

Spudnutz

This place sells donuts made with potato flour, hence the name. They taste pretty much like normal donuts, though.

Charlottesville

Although, sadly, my week-long visit to C-ville is now over, I thought I would continue to post some pictures I took there last week, starting with the most obvious site in the whole town (above). Subsequent pictures will be of sites that are a little less obvious.

The Ark

Crozet, Virginia June 2006

Green Neon

Rt. 29 Virginia June 2006

Neon, Perfected

Just one strip of red neon.
Rt. 29 Virginia June 2006

Whole Foods

Bought this the other day at the local health food monolith. Don't quite know what to do with it. Any suggestions?

Pot o' Gold

Although this rainbow hasn't, at least not yet, sparked any local news stories, it is one of the benefits of living in the countryside. Saw this on the ride home tonight. I'm currently housesitting in the woods outside of Charlottesville. Scenery aplenty.

Gravel

What's more pleasant than walking on gravel? The first video in a series.

The Mechanistic World View

The Grove, Beverly Hills, CA Feb. 2006

The Everyday Experience of Average Americans Just Like You and Me

At one point, in the distant past, art reflected, examined, illuminated, etc., our everyday experience. Of course, it still sometimes does this. Think of "Curb Your Enthusiasm", for example. But not often enough.

I'm not claiming that the above YouTube video is art. Far from it. It is intended as a test of my abilities to post something on YouTube more than anything. But trying considering it a small step in the right direction.

Hamilton Neon

Hamilton, NY June 2006

College

When this dude started throwing up and was unresponsive to my repeated attempts to wake him up--or even get him to make a sound--I hailed a van, carried him out to it, and had him taken to the hospital. The "carried him out to it" part was widely perceived as mildly heroic, if I may say so myself. Had to take off the tweed to do it.