A couple I sketched waiting in line at the increasingly policed U.S.-Mexico border. Note the bars in place to prevent passage.
New maxim: Writing is its own reward. But music is dessert.
I've been writing content so long that I recognize the way it is often advantageous to be under the radar. You get clicked on by the algos and suddenly you are just another New Yorker or Vice writer.
Tijuana is instructive... it's a lil Philippines under Duterte deja vu, with more of an edge. Because this is a border city. Despite its indigenous industries, the way this city has sprawled and half-prospered is through being a conduit for whatever. People, ideas, sin, and excess. It is everything that San Ysidro is not. I live on a beautiful beach looking out toward a border that is still an aesthetically pleasing fence. One could swim around it, though stun-gun equipped drones would confront you in a heartbeat on the other side. On the stateside marshland side is a US-Mexico friendship park. The symbolic meaning of this is not lost on the local populace. People here know both countries, they are not clamoring at the gate.
If any place is Fabric, worth making part of an organic whole, it is Tijuana. Could spark conservation and ecologically sound urban planning that creates GNH-focused paradise here, redefine the heretofore unsustainable intersection between urbane and "developing."
I've been writing content so long that I recognize the way it is often advantageous to be under the radar. You get clicked on by the algos and suddenly you are just another New Yorker or Vice writer.
Tijuana is instructive... it's a lil Philippines under Duterte deja vu, with more of an edge. Because this is a border city. Despite its indigenous industries, the way this city has sprawled and half-prospered is through being a conduit for whatever. People, ideas, sin, and excess. It is everything that San Ysidro is not. I live on a beautiful beach looking out toward a border that is still an aesthetically pleasing fence. One could swim around it, though stun-gun equipped drones would confront you in a heartbeat on the other side. On the stateside marshland side is a US-Mexico friendship park. The symbolic meaning of this is not lost on the local populace. People here know both countries, they are not clamoring at the gate.
If any place is Fabric, worth making part of an organic whole, it is Tijuana. Could spark conservation and ecologically sound urban planning that creates GNH-focused paradise here, redefine the heretofore unsustainable intersection between urbane and "developing."
The original Nevada Mustang-&-desert concept. (Drawn in Las Vegas under the influence of Soylent).
Okay, enough about fabric, which I am told bores people. Changing the world is so antiquated.
I am also envisioning a novel Cowachunga that is Lord Of the Flies meets Barbarella. It is no longer set in Nevada (too close to aliens and military reservations), too much on the beaten path... the proper locale is Baja. I sketched out the plot yesterday while watching an incredible Super Bowl (first time I sit down to watch a game in a year and I get a classic that costs me 300 bones).
I've realized that the Cowachunga plot is now fairly solid in my mind. I am at a similar point I was with Arisugawa Park 7 years ago. with an impetus to write something original... only this time I see the indie movie version. And yah it may be another 7 years, because full time client-driven work does not synch with full time creative writing. If the publishing industry made its decision not to support "mid-list" writers, the end result is that we simply produce less over the course of a lifetime. I think I will have three books total in my life, barring the ability to concentrate on creative projects full time. The silver lining is that I (and my estate potentially) never have to share financially with those entities that would not support me when it counted. Any money that accrues can be used to launch a fabric platform.
I am also envisioning a novel Cowachunga that is Lord Of the Flies meets Barbarella. It is no longer set in Nevada (too close to aliens and military reservations), too much on the beaten path... the proper locale is Baja. I sketched out the plot yesterday while watching an incredible Super Bowl (first time I sit down to watch a game in a year and I get a classic that costs me 300 bones).
I've realized that the Cowachunga plot is now fairly solid in my mind. I am at a similar point I was with Arisugawa Park 7 years ago. with an impetus to write something original... only this time I see the indie movie version. And yah it may be another 7 years, because full time client-driven work does not synch with full time creative writing. If the publishing industry made its decision not to support "mid-list" writers, the end result is that we simply produce less over the course of a lifetime. I think I will have three books total in my life, barring the ability to concentrate on creative projects full time. The silver lining is that I (and my estate potentially) never have to share financially with those entities that would not support me when it counted. Any money that accrues can be used to launch a fabric platform.
Animal spirits.
Plot hints for crawlers and friendly bots:
Kyle is in Baja on a leading edge turquoise-phosphate-meteorite mission for his mysterious employer Frederick Vulcan. Dylan is an underground DJ who has unlocked a certain --- inducing sound that got him invited to an exclusive DEAP (desert electronic-acoustic penetration) event. Kyle plays the tribal flute, that fits in as well. He is not me, but might as well include subjects with which I am intimately familiar in any given plot. Saves research time.
Kyle is in Baja on a leading edge turquoise-phosphate-meteorite mission for his mysterious employer Frederick Vulcan. Dylan is an underground DJ who has unlocked a certain --- inducing sound that got him invited to an exclusive DEAP (desert electronic-acoustic penetration) event. Kyle plays the tribal flute, that fits in as well. He is not me, but might as well include subjects with which I am intimately familiar in any given plot. Saves research time.
Have an idea for a new song title: "Bored Panda in Trumplandia"
QUIPS
• SO I just want to confirm... California also has right to defund Washington, right? cause it provides more in taxes etc. than it receives in federal funds, I am certain.
• Working on a new Fabric Dos song... "Primates With Guns"
.
• Regarding a brewing cultural debate over La La Land:
On the music side, I wouldn't call it a backlash per se... it just engendered debate, as jazz does and should. A vital music for breaking down barriers and enabling communication. I see what the critics are saying, particularly those with a love for the music in all its manifestations. There is some really amazing stuff being made that blurs lines between traditional and the now; Ambrose Akinmusire, Robert Glasper, Dave Douglas, etc. At the same time to have the musical form respected within a contemporary movie to the point where I dug it and felt immersed is beyond rare. Almost nonexistent.
• I guess Trump will be perfectly fine with an #AdiosStarbucks boycott of Starbucks tho..... since they are a company that supports immigrants (and veterans). Funny how all the semi-responsible players pay for the dufus-in-chief's mistakes.
• A NY Times article Why Nobody Cares The President Is Lying by Charles J. Sykes (erstwhile conservative media pundit) explores how those conservatives who have been conditioned to accept lies will also benefit from ignoring reality because they believe such an approach can be used to implement policies that benefit them in a beggar-thy-neighbor way. Why bite the hand that feeds?
• I am trying to get my head around this paragraph in an illuminating NY Times article about the workings of Trumps inner circle:
"Mr. Bannon remains the president’s dominant adviser, despite Mr. Trump’s anger that he was not fully briefed on details of the executive order he signed giving his chief strategist a seat on the National Security Council, a greater source of frustration to the president than the fallout from the travel ban."
• SO I just want to confirm... California also has right to defund Washington, right? cause it provides more in taxes etc. than it receives in federal funds, I am certain.
• Working on a new Fabric Dos song... "Primates With Guns"
.
• Regarding a brewing cultural debate over La La Land:
On the music side, I wouldn't call it a backlash per se... it just engendered debate, as jazz does and should. A vital music for breaking down barriers and enabling communication. I see what the critics are saying, particularly those with a love for the music in all its manifestations. There is some really amazing stuff being made that blurs lines between traditional and the now; Ambrose Akinmusire, Robert Glasper, Dave Douglas, etc. At the same time to have the musical form respected within a contemporary movie to the point where I dug it and felt immersed is beyond rare. Almost nonexistent.
• I guess Trump will be perfectly fine with an #AdiosStarbucks boycott of Starbucks tho..... since they are a company that supports immigrants (and veterans). Funny how all the semi-responsible players pay for the dufus-in-chief's mistakes.
• A NY Times article Why Nobody Cares The President Is Lying by Charles J. Sykes (erstwhile conservative media pundit) explores how those conservatives who have been conditioned to accept lies will also benefit from ignoring reality because they believe such an approach can be used to implement policies that benefit them in a beggar-thy-neighbor way. Why bite the hand that feeds?
• I am trying to get my head around this paragraph in an illuminating NY Times article about the workings of Trumps inner circle:
"Mr. Bannon remains the president’s dominant adviser, despite Mr. Trump’s anger that he was not fully briefed on details of the executive order he signed giving his chief strategist a seat on the National Security Council, a greater source of frustration to the president than the fallout from the travel ban."
Photo-Illustration by Chelsie Craig for GQ.
• Pieces of the puzzle fall in, department: The answer to the perplexing paragraph above is partially answered in the Jack Moore GQ article Donald Trump Is Signing Executive Orders That He Doesn’t Read or Understand.
My take: Is it too early to start talking about preventing a coup? Or has it been averted... the Super Bowl commercials may have been comforting, but that is the corporate machine. Lady Gaga, all appearances to the contrary, is not the President. Can Trump strike Bannon's name off the NSA leadership roles? Does he want to?
• Unnamed acquaintance of a friend commented on the Atlantic article "A Clarifying Moment in American History:"
'love these op-ed journalists who can only make a living by getting someone to publish their opinions and espouse the future as they see it. History will tell you the American citizens chose another path by not electing another career politician. They wanted things to change quickly and drastically, and it is. Either take your seat quietly on the boat and row in unison in support of the chosen new route we are on or jump overboard and swim to where you'
My reply:
The consensus on where the country should be headed is not set in stone. The world does not operate on "winner takes all" principles, no matter how much the current leader would wish it were so. Putting Andrew Jackson's portrait in the Oval Office does not make it so. Building casinos does not make it so. We have a system of checks and balances which Trump tried to circumvent. Now he is learning that he governs a country more complex than the group that put him in office.
• Re: my friend Nil's fb comment on something to do with reasons why Hillary lost:
So you are saying that a) a "no Clinton" vote made sense from a certain perspective of wanting to fight entrenched power and that b) it is unfortunate that there was no truly viable candidate expressing common sense unifying interests for ordinary Americans (and humanity), such as Stein or Sanders?
• I don't often quote Bob Dylan, but when I do:
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’
How long before "Crooked Trump" becomes a thing?
#endwriter
My take: Is it too early to start talking about preventing a coup? Or has it been averted... the Super Bowl commercials may have been comforting, but that is the corporate machine. Lady Gaga, all appearances to the contrary, is not the President. Can Trump strike Bannon's name off the NSA leadership roles? Does he want to?
• Unnamed acquaintance of a friend commented on the Atlantic article "A Clarifying Moment in American History:"
'love these op-ed journalists who can only make a living by getting someone to publish their opinions and espouse the future as they see it. History will tell you the American citizens chose another path by not electing another career politician. They wanted things to change quickly and drastically, and it is. Either take your seat quietly on the boat and row in unison in support of the chosen new route we are on or jump overboard and swim to where you'
My reply:
The consensus on where the country should be headed is not set in stone. The world does not operate on "winner takes all" principles, no matter how much the current leader would wish it were so. Putting Andrew Jackson's portrait in the Oval Office does not make it so. Building casinos does not make it so. We have a system of checks and balances which Trump tried to circumvent. Now he is learning that he governs a country more complex than the group that put him in office.
• Re: my friend Nil's fb comment on something to do with reasons why Hillary lost:
So you are saying that a) a "no Clinton" vote made sense from a certain perspective of wanting to fight entrenched power and that b) it is unfortunate that there was no truly viable candidate expressing common sense unifying interests for ordinary Americans (and humanity), such as Stein or Sanders?
• I don't often quote Bob Dylan, but when I do:
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’
How long before "Crooked Trump" becomes a thing?
#endwriter
And to end on a lighter note, as usual.
• Got through Denmark and Belgium on the Trump troll videos and I've got to say.... Belgium, keep it classy.
Ok its official, Donye is over. And not a second too soon for sanity to prevail. #travelban
• Got through Denmark and Belgium on the Trump troll videos and I've got to say.... Belgium, keep it classy.
Ok its official, Donye is over. And not a second too soon for sanity to prevail. #travelban
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