tom moody

The movie One Hour Photo, considered as a manifesto for underground image appropriators.

Update: Discussed in the essay:
Art as stalking, collecting as art, invisible distribution systems as art.
Not discussed overtly (but hovering in the air one hopes):
The analog moto photo machine and distribution network and its relation to digital picture-taking and distribution.

No one ever talks about the moral redemption in Philip K. Dick novels. (There are too many other interesting things going on in them.) It's ironic that one of Dick's largest supporters is Jonathan Lethem, who helped Dick executor Paul Williams raise the science fiction writer's profile in the '80s and recently acted as a kind of guest curator for Dick's Library of America volumes. (Would PKD have been chosen for the series if not for Lethem's imprimatur? It can't have hurt.) Lethem's early sci fi-ish novels weren't big on moral redemption, either. But he ascended to the upper literary strata, in a position to put his damaged idol over the top, by demonstrating to earnest book reviewers that he, Lethem, could write about growth and such. A couple of sound bites from the NY Times regarding his newest, Chronic City:

Chronic City
By JONATHAN LETHEM
Reviewed by GREGORY COWLES

Headline writer: "This exuberant novel set in a drug-addled, alternate-reality Manhattan is at its heart a traditional story of moral and intellectual development."

Cowles: "Chronic City is a dancing showgirl of a novel, yet beneath the gaudy makeup it’s also the girl next door: a traditional bildungsroman with a strong moral compass. Under Perkus’s tutelage, Chase moves from placid compliance toward engagement and self-­determination; the actor learns to take action, not just direction."

Have been reading this Wikipedia summary of Dr Bloodmoney and wondering how it could ever be a great book or a Hollywood movie without the obvious moral education of one or more characters. Dr. Bloodmoney turned over a new leaf after he poisoned the world with radiation but then was killed by Hoppy Harrington the waldo-assisted mutant. Bill, the fetal conjoined twin who then defeats Hoppy became, one supposes, a whole person as a result of his experiences.

Am continuing to sort older work, which means unrolling things. These were pieces from the mid-'90s, when I was painting spheres on various paper surfaces I had around my apartment. In these cases file folders and cancelled checks. I wouldn't do checks now (especially after Richard Prince's) but the piece looks OK despite the somewhat tendentious idea (financial abstraction, art as money, etc).

another from the "flat file" - a very early collage

Electronic Arts Intermix changed its link to its Kristin Lucas page (new link here), and took down the clip of her video Host.
This compare and contrast between Host and Paul Slocum's Hats would have been toast--fortunately Lucas also has a clip on her website.
I suppose some of this could be budgetary but last I looked bandwidth is still cheap.

Seth Price's idea of the web as a place of squeaky seamless newness that must be critiqued with pictures of old books (if that is in fact what this essay is about) is fairly ludicrous, the more I think about it. Rather than shaved pubes the net is a hairball of bad links, changed URLs and disappeared webhosts. What Price calls "hoarders" are often just people trying to save something.

"Subharmonic Duo (Piano) (Faster)" [4.6 MB .mp3]

A sped-up version of a song posted earlier. This may be better (not sure). I did this at the same time as the original, forgot about it, and found it again recently.

"Subharmonic Duo (Faster)" [5.8 MB .mp3]

A sped-up version of a song posted a few years ago. I think I just saved it at a lower sample rate but I don't remember. I have EQ-d and otherwise tweaked this "faster" version.

click for slightly larger image

two designs for stained glass windows - an older drawing from my "flat file."

click for slightly larger view

an older drawing - have been taking a break the past couple of weeks to sort and box older stuff - am throwing a lot away - this is one I'm keeping