hello blog, i missed you.
tis been a long time. i have been out and about across the country. from san francisco to philadelphia to new york back to washington.
things were swanky in san fran, as you can see (they gave me a bathrobe. i love getting bathrobes.) but i was uber concerned about the social lines drawn in that city. true, they exist everywhere in our new society, but in my experience nowhere are they more visible than in san francisco. the line is clearly drawn. above that line are extravagant estates with swirling spiral staircases, and below that line are slums full of freebasing homeless people. in the middle is union square, a yuppy mecca of designer shops (and some legitimately cool independent shops selling crazy japanese stationery and vintage french tin tin comics). there is a sort of tension between have and have nots that creates an anxiety of impending class warfare. it is a beautiful city, though, and there was a healthy supply of young italians to keep it fun and interesting.
i'm moving to brooklyn. and building a darkroom. but more on that later.
at the urging of a friend i have been delving head first into uncharted cultural territory. i have a love/hate relationship with technology but since this blog began i have become fascinated with how it interweaves into the social fabric. we have a truly democratic encyclopedia (www.wikipedia.org). crazy folks are now integrating this with semacode technology (www.semapedia.org). information travels faster now than ever before. the iPod is both a bane and a blessing. it can completely impede any social interaction as it does on the NYC subway and in the streets of manhattan. or it can be used as a populist communicative tool through podcasts created for specific communities.
speaking of podcasts, you absolutley have to check out the Musical Genome Project:
www.pandora.com
by inserting the name of a song or artist, pandora creates a unique streaming radio station based upon your musical preferences. it breaks music down into components and scours the web for music you would like based upon your selection. the music keeps coming. it's free and, of course, hyperlinks to iTunes and Amazon.com if you like what you hear. you can continually add more selections to streamline your station and you can share it with all your friends. yay. check it out, you will not regret it. it's down right now and i am stark raving mad like an addict in search of his fix.
some random pictures.
have no fear, super paisano is here!
some dude in sausalito with his amazingly still dog wearing matching sunglasses.
This post is philosophical and introspective-y.
Cette poste, mais, c'est un récit personnel
