Culture

Morford on peaceful revolution via raising the price of gas

stuart updegrave — Wed, 10 May 2006 11:46:00 GMT

I love reading Mark Morford -- he's got bits of Molly Ivins and Hunter S. Thompson and a sense of palpable wonder/excitement/outrage depending on the subject at hand. I'd forgotten about him for a while, until Julie was laughing over his column one day. There and then, I added his rss feed to my reader.

His latest column is, to me, a great read:

Bring On The $6 Gallon Of Gas
It would revolutionize America. It would make us all better humans. But could you handle it?

No wait, not six. To hell with that. Make it 10. Ten bucks a gallon, no matter what the going rate for a barrel of light sweet crude. That would so completely, violently, brilliantly do it. Revolutionize the country. Firebomb our pungent stasis. Change everything. Don't you agree?

Here's what we could do: Give gas discounts to cab drivers (at least initially) and metro transit systems and low-income folks, those who have to drive their busted-up '78 Honda Civics to their jobs scrubbing restaurant toilets and flipping burgers and vacuuming the residual cocaine from the seat cushions of numb SUV owners. Everyone else, 10 bucks a gallon, across the board. Eleven for premium. [...]

What, too far fetched? Too implausible? Not at all. Sure, 10 bucks a gallon would be extremely painful for a while. Citizens would wail. Commuters would scream and stomp and die. But then we would do what we always do. We would evolve. Adapt. Systems would quickly transform, habits would instantly shift. It would be easier to implement than the goddamn mess that is Medicare reform, far easier than Lots of Children Left Behind, more viable and livable than the toxic existence of Homeland Security and the disgusting Patriot Act.

Go, read it. Be entertained. Think about reading him regularly, for brilliant beautiful hyperbolic rants on the crazy state of our country.

Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes

stuart updegrave — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 23:05:00 GMT

2X4 Landscape

last night i went to the opening, at the Henry Art Gallery on UW campus, of a new exhibit by Maya Lin. she's probably most well known for the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC.

the following is an excerpt from the program:

Systematic Landscapes is centered around three large-scale installations, each of which puts the viewer into a distinctive relationship to the scale and shapes of the land. "2x4 Landscape", a hill or wave form built of 50,000 boards set on end, is both a familiar fragment of landscape and a model expanded to massive scale. "Water Line", a floating wire-frame topographic "drawing" of an immense undersea formation, can either be walked under or viewed from above. "Blue Lake Pass", a 3D translation of a Coloroado mountain range, is made of layers of particle board, segmented into a grid and then pulled apart to create walkways through the landscape strata.

The show also includes several other pieces, including a beautifully simple rendering of the entire Columbia River system formed entirely of straight pins stuck into the wall, a set of three pieces from a collection called "Bodies of Water", and an entire room dedicated to a series of environmental art installations throughout Washington state, installed over the last two years, called The Confluence Project. It is described online as "a grand collaboration between Lin, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Lewis and Clark Commemorative Committee of Vancouver/Clark County, and the Friends of Lewis and Clark of Pacific County. The models and designs on view mark sites of contact along the Columbia River between Native Americans and the Lewis and Clark Expedition."

It was a really powerful show -- "Water Line", in particular, really floored me when I first saw it. The pin-rendering of the Columbia slowly drew delightful laughter from me, and I'm now inspired for a new motorcycle trip to experience the Confluence Project.

The show officially opened today (Earth Day, how fitting) and runs until Labor Day. I strongly encourage anyone who appreciates maps, earth shapes and/or environmental art to attend. it's well worth it.

Bangkok recommendation: Shanti Lodge

stuart updegrave — Fri, 06 May 2005 13:07:00 GMT

I've given this recommendation to folks enough times, it warrants a post of its own for future reference. If any of you end up staying there and meet Kim, please tell her I miss her and dream of heading back some day soon.

My friend Kim manages a wonderful guest house in BKK called Shanti Lodge. It's in the Thewet district, 1/2 block from the National Library, and about 5 - 10 minute walk to a river-taxi stop. About 45min - 1hr taxi ride from the BKK airport.

Address: 37 Sri Ayuthya Road, Soi 16
Telephone: 66 2 281 2497, 628 7626

It's one of the most relaxing guest houses I've stayed in in my several trips through BKK. If you're interested in staying there, you should call the 5 days or so before you leave and try to reserve a room (or even a bed in the hostel). If you can't get a room there, I'd recommend you head to the same neighborhood (there are several lodges owned by the same family as Kim's ex) that are within a minute or two).

It's about a half-hour walk from Khao San Road (the main foreigner drag) -- close enough to walk there or ride by tuk-tuk, but not *too* close. Even if you decide against Shanti Lodge, I *strongly* recommend you not stay on Khao San Rd. It's a fine place to grab a beer with new friends while you acclimatize, but it's far less safe and feels more predatory in general.

Shanti has a wonderful restaurant (you should eat there *some* even if you're staying in one of the other lodges, but it's considered good form to at least eat *some* meals at the lodge where you're staying), is across from a fantastic open-air market, blah blah blah.

If you don't trust my recommendation, here's another glowing review!

Curse of the Were Rabbit

stuart updegrave — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 13:28:00 GMT

on the “upcoming animated movies” tip, i also just discovered that there's a full-length Wallace & Gromit film headed our way. i'm sure all three of you are aware of this by now, but hey! i wasn't ...

here's the plot teaser, from IMDB's listing:

Wallace and his loyal dog, Gromit, set out to discover the mystery behind the garden sabotage that plagues their village and threatens the annual giant vegetable growing contest.

w00t!

Shrek: yay and boo!

stuart updegrave — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 12:51:00 GMT

i wasn't aware until just now that there's a third Shrek movie on the way! i absolutely love the first two, so this is fantastic news!

unfortunately, there's a downside: DreamWorks has just announced they're delaying it until June 2007, from the previous Nov 2006 date. <pout/>

this mirrors Pixar's recent announcement that their next, “Cars”, will be delayed until early summer 2005 -- both studios are gunning for bigger summer repeat view audiences, with subsequent DVD/video releases intime for the holidays.

an article, for those what cares ...

http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,15491,00.html

(yes, i think this should be under 'Culture' ... :p)

William Gibson blogging again

stuart updegrave — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 21:48:00 GMT

in case any of you three readers out there aren't yet aware, William Gibson (one of my favorite authors) is blogging again. this, after a hiatus of slightly longer than a year.

so far, the vast majority of it is very politically charged -- a bit of comment from him, along with quotes from various news sources. his initial post upon returning explains well why he's back:

Why?

Because the United States currently has, as Jack Womack so succintly puts it, a president who makes Richard Nixon look like Abraham Lincoln.

And because, as the Spanish philospher Unamuno said, "At times, to be silent is to lie."

one interesting non-political tidbit: “Pattern Recognition“ is optioned for a film from Warner Bros, with Peter Weir directing. yay!

Blog site: http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/blog/archive.asp

RSS: http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/blog/blogger_rss.xml