Henry Brown jpeg

Henry Brown

Henry Brown, Relative Position, 2004
Acrylic, pencil, gesso on canvas, 36 x 72 inches

from the Minus Space website

No idea if the flaring out of the color in the center is in the painting or the photography of the painting but it looks good. The deco spiderweb vibe appeals.

MSNBC on Internet Sleepover

MSNBC Internet Sleepover

Above: my laptop featured in MSNBC article on the Great Internet Sleepover; blowup view shows what was onscreen at the time.

MSNBC's cybercorrespondent Helen A. S. Popkin covers the Great Internet Sleepover here. She emphasizes the social aspect and reminisces about her early days trading gross-out pictures found on the Net, confessing her lack of qualification to discuss the actual purpose behind the event:

“Art” figured in somehow, but as I do not possess a masters degree in that subject, I’m at a loss to explain how. My gentleman friend does, la-dee-da, so I’m only going by what he says. Admittedly, I’m a hater who generally rolls her eyes whenever “Art” is added to something everybody does while goofing off at work. But in my defense, many of the hardcore surfers who took part in the party’s panel discussion weren’t so clear on how “Art” figured in on the phenomenon of communal surfing either.

It's a fun article and chronicles many of the zanier aspects of the evening but since MSNBC provides no links to the "surfing clubs" Popkin mentions,* readers couldn't handily learn a key fact about them: that the term "surf club" is ironic. Rather than just trading links the sites in question also alter content and present original artwork in a melange that is not always easy to distinguish. Those parameters were one of things discussed in the panel, which she apparently slept through. "Gee we're just a bunch of 20-somethings surfing" is a pose or persona that sailed over the head of this mainstream media critic.

*Nasty Nets, Double Happiness, Supercentral, and Loshadka

"Cursum Perficio (Carl Craig-like Mix)"

"Cursum Perficio (Carl Craig-like Mix)" [mp3 removed]

A midi version of an Enya tune (originally found on Guthrie Lonergan's blog no. 4) done in the manner of "second generation" Detroit techno guy Carl Craig, sort of. The midi track mostly featured piano and string instruments. (Update: one should always Google--I thought the tune was Lonergan's but he was being ironic. Sorry, Guthrie.)

Speaking of Carl Craig, Simon Reynolds wrote about him in Generation E. This is almost mean but really nails the music:

With its open-hearted yearning and twinkling textures, "Elements" conjured up the image of a lonely boy moping in his bedroom studio, mixing his lo-tech palette of tone colors with his teardrops to paint exquisite audio watercolors. There were shades of electro-calligraphic brushwork of Thomas Leer, Japan, and Sylvian/Sakamoto. This wasn't party-hard music but the pensive frettings of one of life's wallflowers. Six Nine's "Desire" features a keening synth melody that soars up and slides down the octave in fitful lurches. Released under Carl's own name, "At Les" is even more moistly melancholy, its trickle-down synth pattern sounding like glistening teardrops rolling down a cheek.

I can barely hit "publish" for my sobs, reading that.

Related: Kit Watkins "Labyrinth" remixed