My Oakland (Quick Write) (Edited)

My Oakland is incomprehensible outside the city lines, not because of some insular insanity like the surreal kookiness of Berkeley, or the shabby sterility of Emeryville.  My Oakland only makes sense within its own borders because of particularity, not peculiarity. (Quick write at the start of the Living Oakland workshop I’m taking through the Oakland Library)

9th Neuroesthetics Conference Study Questions and Thought Experiments

1. What’s your favorite metaphor for time? A river flowing? A road being traveled?

2. Can time be experienced without resorting to units of measurement?

3. Time is often discussed using measurements of distance; long versus short.  What might “a wide time,” or “a narrow time” mean?

4. What are the physical properties of time?

5. What aspects of time are independent of the instrument of measurement?

Where the falling wind may go

1. A balancing board

2. A new time piece

3. The last card down

4. The sticker for the car

5. Overalls

Avatar is as vile and meretricious as Birth of a Nation

Brief notes for a more articulate analysis that I may never write:

1. The coffee mug in the cockpit

2. Teradactyl Rape

3. Scientists versus soldiers

4. Soldiers as monsters

5. Unobtainium

2010: We’re not as thought as we doomed we were?

2010:  A REASON FOR ALL CAPS (AT LEAST UNTIL THE JUMP)

1. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

2. FOOL ME ONCE YOU CAN’T GET FOOLED AGAIN

3. THE YEAR OF LEARNING TO UNBREAK THINGS

4. THE YEAR WE PUT THE BRAKES ON

5. HOW WE LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE CLIMATE CHANGE

Signs of a Weekend Well Spent

1. All but one overcoat down off the hangers

2. Two pans of bacon grease left on the stove

3. A new clown costume folded up in the closet

4. Thighs, calves, knees and feet that keep threatening to cramp up

5. Twenty Three fewer superballs in this apartment

Things she said while watching Schizopolis…

One of a number of posts orphaned as drafts over the years.  Were there supposed to be 23? Did we even finish the film? Will I ever hear from her again?  A round up of more recent errata en obscura can be found after the jump.

1. That was weird. (Office phonecall)

2. That’s random. (Faces in the bathroom?)

3. Does this movie have a plot?  Or is it just  all random thoughts? (Hm, back in the office)

4. Was that a golf ball? (Golf ball bounces by)

5. That was funny. (Text/subtext conversation)

6. Publically sanctioned? (Racehorse press conference)

7. ‘tha fuck? (After “happiest man in my pants)

A Misplaced List of Substitutions

Last year all the food kitchens were overbooked with volunteers for Thanksgiving, so instead I thought we might:

1. Ride BART out to the end and back
2. Call all of our friends
3. Invent new facebook/myspace awesomeness and distribute to same
4. Respond to all the craigslist CE ads with encouragement
5. Dress up like Clowns and make balloon animals at the airport

Where the Wild Things Are Study Questions and Thought Experiments

1. Describe the parenting philosophy demonstrated in the story.

2. Is Sendak giving an accurate portrayal of the imaginary life of a child, or is he giving a lesson on how to handle tantrums?

3. Have you ever been taking care of a child, and suddenly felt as though you were in charge of a feral beast? What triggered that feeling? How did you deal with it?
4. Is Max’s voyage objectively real, or is it all in his imagination? Give evidence from the text and pictures.
5. What lesson does Max learn?

Founded by wanderers

Notes for an upcoming endeavor:

There will be unpavers and stitchers, both of whom are in opposition to the puppeteer, but have more in common with him than with any of the eschatologists. 
*
Shakers and Diggers and bloggers and grinders may all be mentioned, by and by.  Daniel Quinn’s Takers and Leavers come to mind, but I’ll have to re-read the source text.

In consumptive news (as opposed to the above productive preview):