Isn't that a great title? It makes me think of this neat little accordion-style foldout pack of postcards my parents got in Japan that I used to love when I was growing up. I like, I like!
I'm painting for the summer. Yay, painting. Super YAY for having a job! I can feel the greenbacks descending on me like soft summer rain. Oh the glory...of paying bills. Anyway, it's not a bad job. I enjoy heights, and it's nice to make something look nice.
My brother went to Japan this year, which is very cool. I think the two of us picked up a interest in Japanese things from being there when we were kids. Our folks did a nine-month professor exchange with Kansai Gaidai University to teach English to college students. I was two and Geoff was five. I'm sure he remembers way more than me. I remember just a few things, one being the super cool clear plastic umbrella with Formula 1 race cars on it that I had to leave in the umbrella stand at our apartment because there was no more room in the luggage. It was my birthday present when I turned 3. I was devastated. I remember crying. You know, I've never managed to keep an umbrella for any significant length of time, that one being the first. I guess it's fitting, somehow. Anyway...
Geoff went to Japan. And he took pictures. And he wrote all about it on his webpage. And it's very cool. And some of the pictures are just stunning. And I wanted to talk about that. The thing I love about these pictures is that they're both beautiful and normal. They're normal enough that you feel like these are real places and they're beautiful enough to generate a response in me. What binds the whole thing together is that I really feel as if I've been there in a way. Some of the pictures really made me feel transported to these places because they highlight both the normal and the sublime. And that's really unusual. Most "good" photography just looks amazing. But I don't usually feel "good" photography takes me anywhere. The image may be a beautiful rendering of a scene, but that doesn't necessarily describe it to me in a way I can relate to. So I'm really excited about these pictures that capture the stunning in the normal. My personal faves are pictures 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 23. That's just under half the gallery that I think are special. Way to go Geoff!!
And, thanks to the last picture, and the good folks at Rameniac, I found out more information about one of my favorite-ever foods. I humbly thank you, Momofuku Ando, from my heart.
Oh, and apparently James (who have gotten back together! Whooo!) have recorded an album that seems to be equal parts Laid and Seven. Which is exactly how you spell AWESOME.
To you dear reader, the very best of everything.
pax,
mike
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"Prewett really commands his threads."
2 comments:
The new album definitely has potential...but let's face it, it is hard to compete with Laid. That album (and associated time period) was priceless!
That is true. And that's something I love about that album, the time and context in which I heard it. And I'm not interested in trying to resurrect that in the present, but I do love the sound and vitality of those two records and hearing echos of that in the new stuff gives me hope that there is still life worth living for that band. It's kind of like discovering that you still love reading Winnie the Pooh and realizing that something you loved about yourself isn't lost or absolutely changed.
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