I may not know art, but I like what I see

typed for your pleasure on 9 May 2007, at 5.32 pm

Sdtrk: ‘Papercuts’ by Broadcast

By my own admission, I’m not altogether keen on most modern (i.e., anything after the mid-Nineties) art, but this is a notable exception by Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang that I spotted on the Random board of WAKAchan:


AWHUMPA thumpa thump thud arf etc

The wolves were produced in Quanzhou, China, from January to June of 2006. The commissioned local workshop in Cai’s hometown specializes in manufacturing remarkable, life-sized replicas of animals. First, small clay models were created as movement studies, out of which Cai subsequently developed Head On’s artist editions of cast resin wolves. However, the realistic and lifelike 99 wolves that grew out of these models and drawings possess no literal remnants of wolves: they are fabricated from painted sheepskins and stuffed with hay and metal wires, with plastic lending contour to their faces and marbles for eyes.
taken from this article

Seems that when he’s not having RealWolves colliding with glass panes, he works a lot with pyrotechnics or gunpowder, as evidenced on his site on Artsy.net. These are concepts I can get behind!

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Ugly bag of mostly water

typed for your pleasure on 7 May 2007, at 12.17 am

Sdtrk: ‘Menta’ by Sutcliffe Jügend

In hanging out with the lads on a Saturday eve a few months ago, we had to stop at a wine store (really, it was more like a party store with higher aspirations, but they’ll have to work much harder, as they’re located in Macomb county) for some drinkies. In browsing their beverages selection, we’d noticed a couple of metal tubs filled with these bizarre articles:


The Missus thought it tasted awful as well. And technically,
she has no tastebuds

Yes, it is exactly what it appears to be — water in a bag, under the unsettling name of ‘Pure Pouch’. We should be thankful that they didn’t decide to go with what was probably their first name choice, ‘Water In A Bag’, as you really wouldn’t be able to get much more bog-standard than that if you tried. Now that I think about it, yes you could; ever see the film ‘Repo man’? All the grocery stores were stocked with the most generic of foodstuffs and dry goods: every single item was packaged in a white container with a light blue stripe and a generic serif typeface proclaiming ‘Cereal’, ‘Baked Beans’, ‘Tissue Paper’, etc etc.


‘HEY! He’s talking to jooooo’

Pure Pouch’s packaging is far too ornate compared to that sort of thing. That’s a point in their favour, I guess.

What spasm of anti-creativity produced this? Did the boss of Waterco. Inc. suddenly say one day, ‘We’ve got all this water just sitting there in our many enormous storage tanks; what the living hell are we gonna do with all of it??’ *sees employee sipping a Capri Sun, snaps fingers* ‘WE’LL PUT IT IN BAGS AND SELL IT!! BY GOD, THAT’S WHAT WE’LL DO!! IT’S A LICENCE TO PRINT MONEY!!’ Then he fires the bloke drinking the Capri Sun, cos that’d be like having a Pepsi while working at the Coca-cola plant.
It’s like I always say: find a niche and fill it; if there isn’t a niche, make one and then fill it. And yet I bought a Pure Pouch! Technically, I bought four, as they were four for $1. Ehh, that dollar wasn’t doing me any good anyways. But it does remind one of the old saw ‘What does Evian spell backwards?’

Unfortunately, much as you’d expect, the water tastes like plastic bag. Not a positive selling point. Later that eve, I gave one to SafeTinspector, who emptied his at an alarming speed, and I took the other two home in order to study them further. Did I leave one in goshou’s van by accident? *thinks* Do I really care at this point?
Perhaps I’ll freeze the ones I have, relabel them (using a Sharpie), and sell them as Ice Pouch! Ahh, the entrepreneurial spirit is truly unstoppabubble.

O, and in case you’re keeping score, this would be the second time I’ve written about brackish, unappetising water

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A valid point / Writer’s block No. 23,050

typed for your pleasure on 4 May 2007, at 12.59 pm

Sdtrk: ‘Decades’ by Joy division

In doing some research on my Most Favourite Subject, this quote by roboticist David Hanson from an article last year in the Toronto Star stood out:

‘If we don’t give [robots] faces, if we don’t teach them how to be a part of the human family in the future, then they will be cold and faceless and they will be scary. They’ll jeopardize our existence on this planet,’ he says. ‘We need to start planting the seeds in the technology of compassion and wisdom.’

‘Otherwise they will just be ruthless.’
the rest of the article is here

In other news, I’m at almost a total loss as to what to write about next, as evidenced by the subj.title. This happens every now and again; I just have to dig in my spurs and ride it out. Something will come up, I’m sure. Right?

Technorati tags: Android, Gynoid, Synthetik, David Hanson

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A fool and his money, etc etc

typed for your pleasure on 3 May 2007, at 11.49 am

Sdtrk: ‘Becoming more like Alfie’ by The Divine comedy

‘What else could I buy instead of a RealDoll’? I’m afraid I don’t understand the question.

If you were intending to buy a RealDoll for US$7000.00, you could instead buy:
  • four seconds of the US war on Iraq
  • nine thousand, three hundred and thirty-three packets of itching powder
  • six cheap flights from the northern hemisphere to Australia
  • forty-nine second-hand 28″ CRT televisions
  • seventy felt bowler hats
  • eight hundred and sixty-three litres of Red Bull energy drink
  • one twentieth of a terraced house on an English council estate
  • eighteen kilolitres of unleaded gasoline (in America)
  • one hundred and thirty-one thousand, five hundred and twenty-eight 5mm light-emitting diodes
  • three thousand, nine hundred and thirty-two lottery tickets, probably worthless
What are you thinking of buying?
I might buy for

Here’s something to consider: what would I do with 863 litres of Red Bull? I know! Kill myself.
How many of these will $7000 USD purchase, I wonder?

More than likely just one, but you really can’t put a price on a structure(s) that exterminate all rational thought

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