Attention fans of This American Life: I just got Sarah Vowell's new book The Partly Cloudy Patriot in today from amazon.com as well as When Generations Collide. Fortunately for me, I'll be reading both of these for work. Score!

I am currently reading The Red Tent, which appears to be a first-person account (told by Dinah, daughter of Leah and Jacob) about some of the figures in the Old Testament, starting with all of Laban's daughters. Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, etc. Even though I was a member of the Church for pretty much all of my youth (or...well until I was 15 when I became a Baha'i), I find it surprising how little I really know about the background of some of the figures involved in the Old Testament. These same people became the ancestors of other great religious figures, so it's about time I know where they came from, right? I hope to learn something from this book, even though it is undoubtedly a bit fictional.

I also finished a few days ago Jennifer Wiener's book Good In Bed. No, it's not about that, but it is a very good story (you know, finding yourself and stuff). If you like Oprah's book club (I know, I know...), you'll fit right in with this one. Also, if you're in Chicago and you're interseted, the author will be at the Borders on State St. on October 8 at 12:30pm.

And hey, if you haven't read Catch 22 yet, go do that. Excellent read.

Now live and entertaining visitors is our first Chicago webzine, no-east.com! Go there and let us know what you think. And hey, tell a friend, will ya?

Yewknee is completely right: much self-loathing experienced after viewing MK12. I saw a bit of Joshua Davis actionscripting there in the krunk movies, but who know where this stuff originates, really. Anyways, my favorite is the "inky" effect on the ninja. Very original. Beautiful work. (Also, if you're interested in knowing what the "k" word means, try this)

Wake up, put on jeans at 8am, sit in front of huge Macintosh monitor, high-speed connection, turn on NPR. In rented studio space with dropcloths all over the place, foldy-tables from Office Depot, and a hideously expesive chair. Coffeemaker. I see an antisocial cat there, and that's okay because I don't want to talk to it either. NPR again. Old creaky wood floors with paint on them already. Big masonite boards freshly-gessoed and ready to go. Vine charcoal collecting in the corners. Newsprint sketches taped to the walls. Photos blown up on a copier machine. Big 11x17 photocopies taped to the wall with drafting tape, drawn on, things taped on top, collages abounding. Books such as "The Javascript Bible" and "The American College Dictionary" and "Insects of the World" stacked next to the tower. Big headphones present, though not necessary. Street noises. Good upward lighting. Speakerphone for conference calls. There is a table dedicated to half-finished watercolor paintings, a wall with turned-around pieces of half-finished masonite, and a table with almost-finished stuff--all I have to do is rub the friskett off. Gym right across the street for high-stress moments. Day finishes around 6 or 7 and I walk home. After all, work is not home.

1. Just so you know, there is no east. The east that is there will be launched shortly.

2. Mike C (of Bkid fame) has some new live tracks up that rock my socks. Go download them and enjoy.

3. You'll notice the new navigation. It's about time I weeded out this site.

4. I'm going to TN for the weekend. Maybe I'll see you there.

Since I have this darned firewall here at work, would someone out there be willing to find some way for me to listen to this episode of This American Life that interviews Chris Ware? I would really like to sit at my desk and do work and listen to that interview.

Also--hot event notice! Chris Ware, Dan Clowes & Kim Deitch will be signing at Quimby's from 3-5pm on Sept 28! Though I am not very familiar with Kim Deitch, I will most definietly be bringing my Ghost World and Jimmy Corrigan issues for some signatures.

Let us welcome back our sans-serif friend, Trebuchet MS. Welcome, welcome.

My new street, a little greener thanks to p-shop, Berwyn Ave.

I don't have much to say these days. No drama. I've stopped riding my bike to work because my chances of getting hit by a car with an extra 2 miles in each direction is a little too daunting for my tastes. Pretty much, life is falling into the pattern of [a typical gen-xer:] work, train, home, gym, home, read, bed. Last night I did watch Dr. Strangelove, which was cool, and right on the heels of reading Catch 22 made it that much funnier. I think if you could put Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, and Stan Kubrick on a project together, I would be one happy consumer (because I've been happily enjoying Vonnegut for years and Catch 22 was a great read). That is, if we're not blown up by the doomsday machine first.

From Thursday's figure drawing session: some very crudely-cropped photos of drawings.

A few items of note. First, escaperail.com, the website devoted to the fire escapes of the world (or perhaps just Chicago, for now), is live. Go see the lovely work of my fellow geeks. Second, milov.nl has this rad javascript which allows you to use a combination of alt-click, ctrl-click, and shift-click on the photos displayed to get some really cool flippage and color alterations. That's just amazing. Then, finally, just go see digitalnap.org because Jay's site is clean, readable, and clever. I just like to look at it.

Someone in the office was just playing classical music. I thought I'd drown in out with some Ramones, just for fun.

And hey, did you take my radiohead CD? I can't find that thing anywhere...

Trying wasabi peas for the first time (and loving them), driving a borrowed car in perfect weather, a favorite cd blasting, getting excited about new comics and eating some lovely sushi. That was yesterday.

Today I put a friend (the last picture) on a plane to Spain. Besides the fact that it's a bizarre day to be flying, it just seems like any other day, doesn't it? I decided a few days ago that I just wanted today to be 9/10 again, and not 9/11. I turned on the TV this morning and flipped through all of the channels showing the same thing, and I got that same feeling again as last year...and I realized I am still not okay. We all took it personally, but I just can't grieve in such a public way, in this media frenzy. I can't talk about it around the water cooler or with people here at work at all. I have no explanation--it makes me angry, though, I know that. But it also reminds me of the weeks and weeks after the events when I would just break down spontaneously, and then recover nearly as fast. It's an emotional mystery to me which I just want to steer clear of for now.

I had a post written this morning, very brief, and I deleted it because it could be seen as disrespectful of those who died and their families. But I can say that I won't attend the special events, read the touching stories in the papers, look at more pictures on the web and listen to more radio programs because I just can't do it. I will take Laura Bush's advice and I'll leave the TV off. Tonight I'm going to the comic book store with friends just to get away from it all.

It's fresh, it's new, it's Fertile Field, September 2002, and it's all about consumer culture. Jock that splash by Naz, and be sure and read my article about The Man.

Addendum: I also updated the rest of this site. Extended bookmarks, and I really go to them all.

You can choose to either make today a good day or a bad day. I choose...to make it a good day, I think.

Hey...I think I like this layout. Enjoy random pictures. Hey, would you all like me to put up the gigantic .psd where I test out all my new patterns? I don't post but a fraction on here...

This is the haute-est (har har) thing for me ever. Move over, Pantene girls!

With a little help from our friend gravity, you too can eat yogurt with a fork.

Thank you.

Ah, Canada, I feel like you didn't get a fair chance. I only saw your lovely city of Toronto for about 30 minutes because I was in the hotel most of the time. But your faces were friendly (very friendly), your shopping "looked" great, you are bilingual naturally and your road signs have little crown shillouettes on them. Can't beat that with a poisson. Yes, I said fish.

The conference was great--I really learned a lot about how the folks in Canada do my job, which was interesting. Though we are such a short distance from each other, there really is a world of difference. I bought duty-free stuff before I left (gotta love that Canadian dollar as well), which was neat. Yesterday I took off from work because I was pretty tired, recovering from some wierd stomach thing which afflicted me the entire time I was there (ugh), and still in desperate need to unpack. Still. I will be unpacking forever.

Soundtrack for the day: Bjork's Vespertine and This Is Next Year, the Brooklyn-based compilation.
Smell for the day: [duty-free] Boss Woman. Haha. Boss woman. Oh the power.