†††URSIFORM†††

finally re-working my site.

2011-01-03T23:47:00.001-08:00

http://michelle-kim.com/ will soon be better and also it will be the new home of this blog. time to graduate out of blogger.
going to teach myself some javascript and dreamweaver while i'm at it.
currently, it looks like this, although i don't know why anyone would care to know what the under construction page looks like.
oh and i finally got the stupid bluehost favicon out of there.

no more laziness.

recent show

2010-10-27T02:51:00.000-07:00

here are the photos of the most recent drawing.
if you want to buy it. let me know.

drawing storm

2010-08-31T10:35:00.000-07:00

in preparation for my upcoming show (october 16th/more details to come), i kinda went nutso and bought this collection of india inks. i also bought some of the finest pointed rapidographs available. we'll see what the product is. here's a sneak peek for now.

yap yap. new work.

2010-07-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

† some shitty photos of recent work is all i have time for. stay tuned cuz i'm still drawing other shit.

CAFE RACER

2010-05-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been really wanting a motorcycle. Don't get me wrong, I love scootering around sf, but riding around on a 45cc all the time can be pretty limiting. However, given my size, I'm pretty limited in the kinds of bikes I can own given that I'm not really into crotch rockets/sport bikes, or choppers of the sort. I've realized the perfect fit for me is a cafe racer. I'm in love with the vintage Honda CB450. Apparently very rare and highly desireable but just what I want, small, stylish, and a little rock and roll.

photos courtesy of BIKE EXIF via Jesse Chorng

THANK YOU, CEREALART.

2010-04-10T00:15:00.000-07:00

so i've always really loved yoshitomo nara's work and i've always loved the multiples he's come out with; the flipping clock that drew bought me (one of the best gifts ever), the pup cup, and the ever elusive "too young to die" ash tray. i've been wanting this ashtray for years. i don't even smoke but it's a giant ashtray and perfect for keeping rif-raff in. of course, they were sold out forever and people were selling them on ebay for like $200. i must admit i almost bought one for that ridiculous price once.

however, i was perusing cerealart.com as i usually do to check and see if they've got any cool shit. lo and behold, a re-release of the yoshitomo nara ashtray.

long story short, i bought one a month or so ago for $70 and it's on it's way in may.

so happy!

JEREMY SCOTT X BONE HEELS

2010-03-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

I REALLY REALLY WANT THESE. IS IT WORTH IT? $510 A POP @ OPENING CEREMONY.MY VOTE SAYS, "YES".

MORE MEDIA

2010-03-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

so after years of not having a television and relying solely on my computer to watch movies and shows, i finally folded and bought myself an lcd tv. i found a pretty good deal on amazon for a 32", 1080p, lg tv for $430 with free shipping. not too bad. drew said he'll be helping me mount it to my wall and hook up all my misc. crap to it. it'll be really nice to finally play my xbox from my bed. not to mention watch movies and actual television.

i've also been perusing around for a good dslr that isn't too pricey. i've realized that i can't really get a decent photo of any of my artwork with a point and shoot. actually, for the past couple of months i've been relying on taking photos with my film lomography cameras. i think it's time to grow up and get something worth shooting with. any suggestions?

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS

2010-03-11T11:47:00.000-08:00

† there seem to be a ton of new chapters in my life recently... i started school, quit my part time job, got a scooter, got a new apartment... things are fresh and i friggin' love it.

the biggest thing is the apartment. i moved to a studio in hayes valley (just right above the mission on the other side of market) and this is my first time living on my own. my god i love it. having developed a strange ocd-ness about certain things (ie: the length of time dirty dishes stay in the sink, or how dry the area around my sink is, or shed hair getting in between my toes...) i can't expect anyone that i live with to have the same expectations as me. so the studio was a great idea. i've become obsessed with housewares (uh oh, nesting habits?) and actually splurged on an eames hang it all coat rack. seems kind of silly to have splurged on a coat rack but i found it weirdly hard to find a cool cheap one. now on to coasters... just kidding.

the biggest joy of having a great little studio, not having a job, and class only two days a week? having leisurely mornings where i go on a little run down market street to the embarcadero, come back, make myself some delicious breakfast while reading the news and listening to some jams. god i love my life.

TOMORROW, IN A YEAR... IN A NIGHT

2010-01-31T19:49:00.000-08:00

† I don't know if it just happened to be coincidence but prior to my trip I had become obsessed with the BBC Planet Earth series. Not strange at all since I believe anyone that has seen even one of them knows how easy it is to get hooked on the wonderment of seeing the vast, seemingly untouched, natural world in HD. It's also hard to think that none of us will ever see even a fraction of this kind of nature up close, in person, for as long as we are alive.

Charles Darwin, however, must have been close. Prior to publishing Origin of the Species, the gestation period of his research was in excess of 20 some odd years. The Knife's electro opera celebrating the 150 years since the publication of the Origin of the Species was indeed an appropriate celebratory performance done through the means of post-modern dance and minimalistic staging.

At first I was a bit underwhelmed. I figured that with so much buzz around "The Knife Opera" and with Olof Dreijer attending an Amazon rainforest recording workshop and all, that they would have gone balls out. I had seen Karin Dreijer Andersson, also known as Fever Ray, perform recently at the Regency Ballroom in SF, and I was blown away by the elaborate staging. So naturally, I expected the opera to be ten times more elaborate and visually stimulating, especially with the help of two collaborators, Mt. Sims and Planningtorock. Perhaps it is just their continued secrecy and policy to never tour that also had me in high hopes.

Dansen Hus is a very intimate venue. Just about the size of a large school play auditorium. I was excited that I would be able to experience this from up very close (I was in the 10^throw and somewhat near the middle). I took my seat and the show began. If you’ve listened to the full album that was released just recently, you’ll notice that it is incredibly slow. I had not been able to hear the full album prior to seeing the show so it was a bit unexpected. That was where I was underwhelmed.I kept waiting for more “sing-songy”, Knife-like riffs but I realized that I had to wait. After waiting a while, I realized that the purpose of their slowstart off was to demonstrate the slow formation of the earth. The dancer’s movementswere subtle to mimic the slow and steady processes of evolution. There was a small blonde dancer whose movements reminded me of the way the jungle creatures jerk and tick around in planet earth. At some point the main stage platform split open and the stage, which also represented a brick wall and I believe also the HMS Beagle, which Darwin was aboard during his research. It was exposed from the inside so that one could see all the neat rows of crazy LED lights. I did actually enjoy the deconstruction of the stage. To me it represented the moment of Darwin’s theory fully realized. Towards the end of the opera, the wait for the more Knife-esque songs were well worth it. They seemed obviously different and a bit unsure (in a good way) than their usual dark electro pop songs.

Olof Dreijer says: “At first it was very difficult as we really didn’t know anything about opera. We’d never been to one. I didn’t even know what the word libretto meant. But after some studying, and just getting used to opera’s essence of pretentious and dramatic gestures, I found that there is a lot to learn and play with. In fact, our ignorance gave us a positive respect-less approach to making opera. It took me about a year to become emotionally moved by an opera singer and now I really do. I really like the basic theatrical values of opera and the easy way it brings forward a narrative. We’ve approached this before in The Knife but neverin such a clear way.”

I left the opera not feeling underwhelmed like the way I came in. As the opera went on, my slight feelings of disappointment were transformed into feelings of satisfaction and enjoyment.The vocals of Jonathan Johansson were otherworldly, as were the tones of mezzo-soprano,Kristina Wahlin Mommes harmonizing with actress Laerke Winther. The dancers were able to transform themselves into moving caricatures of evolving animals without the aid of elaborate costumes. Although the studio version my not translate as well as far as “listenability goes” the opera, combining both the audio and visual aspects, truly shows the versatile nature of thisever-changing Swedish duo.

CULTURE RAT

2010-01-30T07:02:00.000-08:00

† upon being in stockholm, i've been able to expose myself to quite a bit of their native culture. being a female alone in a foreign city doesn't really allow for safe night activities like going out to bars. so instead, i opted for watching some movies in the warmth of my north face sleeping bag. this week i borrowed two swedish films from the hostel: fucking åmål and mammut. fucking åmål was my favorite. it's set in the swedish countryside and it's about two young high school girls that fall in love. it's a very sweet and unexpected story and the acting is brilliant. mammut was alright, it's about a successful new york couple with a young daughter and it's basically a movie about modern day globalization which i'm seriously tired of (it was sort of reminiscent of babel which i didn't really care for). i highly, highly recommend fucking åmål to anyone looking for a good movie to watch. i also love how foreigners will not even think twice about using "fuck" in their movie title.

† sweden has 2 great art museums. 1 is the national museet, and the other is the moderna museet. i had initially only planned to go to the moderna museet because thats just my cup of tea. but on the way there, i passed the national museet and saw that they were having a caravaggio exhibit. i was also pleasantly surprised at their collection of masters paintings. both museums are located on skeppsholmen which is an island south east of the downtown stockholm area (technically, national museet is on the main part but it was just across the bridge).

† after coming back from my museum frenzy, i had dinner with two german girls who are also staying in my room. we walked over to a very cute restaurant just north of our hostel. i had flounder. what i soon realized when the tab came was that sweden puts a 25% tax on your restaurant bill to cover the costs of healthcare and high wages of their employees. i have no qualms about paying for that but i am glad this was the only time i ate out at a sit down restaurant during my whole trip. and needless to say, the food was delicious and the atmosphere was lively.

† lastly, i actually did make it out to a bar last night. i met an american girl who is now my roommate in the hostel and her friends (another american, an australian, and a slovenian). we all decided to trekk out to gamla stan in search of a club/bar. we ended up at a place called cattelin which seemed to be comprised of local swedish kids around 18-20 years old (no doubt i felt old). i had fun hanging out w/ new people and i'm glad i got to experience stockholm nightlife at least once. best part of the club- played good house music all night. wooooo. here's a really shitty video.

† and here are some other photos of the scenery as i was walking to my destinations. i've also included a video that shows the panoramic view from the bridge going to skeppsholmen.

† tonight is the knife opera. i will try to get some coverage of the event up right after the show. stay tuned -mich.

WHEN IN SWEDEN, DO AS THE VIKINGS DO

2010-01-28T13:32:00.000-08:00

† today was easily the highlight of my whole trip so far. i signed up for the "viking sauna tour" with my hostel. it was me, my tour guide lena (pronouned 'liana') and 4 other european guys. what this entails is trekking out to the forest, walking across a frozen lake, axing open a hole in the ice, then stripping down to your swimsuit, sitting in a hot sauna that's heated to 100 degrees centigrade (212 degrees fahrenheit) and then lowering yourself into the freezing water beneath the ice. the water is at about 1 to 2 degrees centigrade (33.8 degrees fahrenheit).
this sounds like death but it was singlehandedly one of the most amazing experiences i've had. the best part of it, after you've gone into the ice water, your body then re-releases all the heat back into your bloodstream and there is this amazing sense of calm that comes over you. as i sat there next to the ice hole in the snow in my bikini, i closed my eyes and listened. what i realized was that for the first time in a reallllly long time, i heard absolutely nothing. the snow was falling and it muffled any far-off environmental noises there might be. and when it's this cold, there are no animals around, so you don't even hear birds chirping or rustling in the bushes. this is complete, deafening silence. i would kill for an hour of silence like that in the city. this sounds super corny but it was so silent i could almost hear my body speaking to me, thanking me for the entire experience.
i did the sauna to ice dip for about 2 rounds... mostly sat in the sauna sweating. but as this experience came to a close, i thought to myself, "i'm really happy i'm here, in sweden, in the wintertime, by myself." i remember being extremely apprehensive about traveling in the dead of winter, but i feel i couldn't have come at a better time. sure, it's cold and i have to bundle up and snow blows into my eyes from time to time... but hell, i'm in temperate weather all the time in california. coming here in the wintertime allowed me to experience something completely different and new. anyway, enough with the rambling, here are the photos.
†i am blessed.

† also here's a silly video of me picking at the ice.

signing off,
†mich

GAMLA STAN+MEATBALLS

2010-01-27T14:23:00.000-08:00

† it started to snow today... and currently it's still dumping. i went for a stroll this morning to go get some snacks at the local supermarket. i took some photos of the surrounding neighborhood. i think the main thing that strikes any born and raised american that travels to europe is just how awesome all the old european style neighborhoods look. if i could imagine how the insides of these apartments look, i would imagine them to have oak floors, floor to ceiling bookcases, antique globes, cantors of whiskey, and doilies.

† after the store, i walked in the snow over to gamla stan. gamla stan is an island located south of stockholm and is connected to downtown stockholm by a short bridge. it is considered the old town and has classic old european style buildings built super close together. of course it also has cobblestone streets. i was freezing my ass off as it was -3 degrees centigrade which is about 26.6 degrees fahrenheit (i officially hate the u.s. for giving us a completely bullshit measuring system). the old town has the royal palace (which i haven't visited yet) and it also has the nobel museum.

† and of course i can't forget about the food i ate. after visiting the nobel museum, i went over to a restaurant called martins gröna. for dinner, i signed up for a swedish dinner making session with some belgian girls from my hostel. here are the menus:

lunch: mixed vegetable rice wrapped in steamed baby cabbage "dolma" style with a side of potato, carrot, and root purée; served with a side salad with ligonberry dressing; and a small helping of chopped cucumber, tomato and lentils tossed together with a vinegar dressing (best vegetarian meal i've ever had).

dinner: moose meat and beef meatballs with cream sauce, ligonberry compote, boiled potatoes, and cucumber salad.

dessert: coffee and swedish sugar cookies. sooooo good.

SVENSKA

2010-01-26T13:31:00.000-08:00

hello all who are reading this blog, i made it to stockholm safely.

there was some crazy turbulence that scared me as we were flying over the icy tip of greenland, but we made it through and now i'm here in the city of h&m's and ikeas (although i have yet to see an ikea here).

i actually took it pretty easy today as i only had 3 hours of sleep. the first leg of the flight was 6 hours but i couldn't sleep because the plane was shaking so violently. i slept the second leg of my flight (iceland to stockholm) but i've been awake for like 36 hours now.

my hostel is great, the staff is friendly, and everything is super clean. it's located central to all the shops in downtown stockholm which is great. i'm about 2 blocks from wesc, weekday (cheap monday flagship store) and a slew of h&m's.

tomorrow i'll be going on a bar tour with the hostel at 9pm so i'm hoping to make some friends there. on thursday morning, i'll be going on the famous viking sauna tour (where you sit in a sauna until your blood reaches a very high temperature and then you slowly lower yourself into a freezing lake). we'll see how well that goes over.

more pictures to come. for now... this is all i've got :) enjoy.

also, here is a short video of the landscape as i was riding the arlanda express bullet train into the city from the airport. lots o' snow.

†mich

THE IN-BETWEEN

2010-01-25T15:25:00.000-08:00

†Current status: sitting on the floor at JFK trying to get all my shit charged before my 5-6ish hour flight to Reykjavik, Iceland and then the 2hr flight to Arlanda International Airport in Sweden.

The last few days in new york really reminded me of why i love it... and also reminded me of how much i love san francisco. Usually when i travel, i try to do as the romans do. i'm not a tourist trappy kind of person. i like to go to local dive bars and get cheap local eats. however, this time around, i was with two NY first timers; irene (my sister) and christine (my cousin). so we ended up doing a lot of touristy things. we went to times square the first night, a place i haven't been since i went there with the kristens 2 years ago. they also insisted on seeing central park, wtc, ellis island, and the arc de triomphe in washington sq. i have to admit, once i stopped caring about looking like a lost tourist and embracing my visitor-status, i had a lot of fun. the highlight of all this tourism being that we ate at cafe habana in soho (OMG THE CORN) and also grabbed some dank rice pudding from rice to riches (a bit rich for my tastes but good regardless).

that's all for now, i'm pretty excited and nervous all at time same time about boarding my flight in an hour. i'm not really sure what to expect, but i've got a plan if i end up by myself all week. check soon for more updates.

here's a garfield cartoon courtesy of drew that made me smile.

SCOOT! SCOOT!

2010-01-13T14:36:00.000-08:00

mich is getting a scooter.
yep. you heard right.
i'm pretty excited to start scooting around san francisco. a few weeks ago, sfmta hiked up prices, yet again, for muni passes. for a muni + sf city bart pass = $70/month. you basically have to ride the muni at least once a day for the whole month to break even. total bullshit if you ask me. so i thought to myself, i could be scooting around the city on a scooter and i would save time on top of it.

muni ride from the mission to north point = 1 hour total travel time;
total distance traveled = 3.9 miles.

and since mom works for honda, i checked out the honda metropolitan. they're about $1000-$2000 cheaper than vespas and still look pretty good.

next up, motorcycle/scooter training at Bay Area Motorcycle Training. i have amit to go with so that should be fun.
i'll take pix of me on my scooter soon. anyone that has suggestions for helmets, please let me know!

and courtesy of drew lustro, here's a little hot chip song that has got everybody groovin'.

Hot Chip - One Life Stand

NEW WORK

2009-12-17T22:59:00.000-08:00

hey all,

just wanted to update with some photos of new work for the show that i'm in this coming january. the braid piece is still a work in progress but hopefully many of you will be able to come to the actual show and see the finished works for themselves.

info about the show:
"Intergalactic Space Travels" Curated by Joanie Martinez

Date:	Monday, January 11, 2010
Time:	7:00pm - 11:00pm
Location:	Amsterdam Cafe
Street:	937 Geary Street
City/Town:	San Francisco, CA

enjoy

†mich

Mew - Beach

TOMORROW, IN A YEAR

2009-12-02T23:10:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, I purchased tickets to the knife opera, "tomorrow, in a year" on the off chance that I might make it to stockholm to see it. For a while, it was decided that I wasn't going to go...

But the tickets kept haunting me. They were sitting in my gmail inbox just idling. I tried to sell them on sweden's craigslist but to no avail. I'm sure all those smart, blonde swedes were certain I was a scam artist.

After much back and forth deliberation of whether or not to go, I decided to pull the trigger last night and purchased my round trip ticket to Stockholm via Iceland Air. I have a free flight through Southwest to fly to NYC and from NYC I will be flying to Arlanda (Stockholm's international Airport) with a stop over in Reykjavik, Iceland. Total ticket price: $499.40 incl. taxes and fees. Amazing no? I also booked my lodging at City Backpackers Hostel at $40 usd a night for a 4 person, female only dorm (funny how the homepage says "sex here and now"). I think i'll book the sauna tour they offer. I have no idea what that entails... all i know is that i'm going to be there when it's butt ass cold.

Anyway, here's a link to The Knife Opera press page... chock full of photos and lyrics.

And here are some photos I've pulled from that site for those of you too lazy to click the link.
I will of course, be checking back in after my trip with photos.

signing off with surf solar off of fuck button's new album, Tarot Sport

†mich mich

Fuck Buttons - Surf Solar

THE PRETEND LIST

2009-11-23T00:59:00.000-08:00

everytime the holiday season rolls around, i can always only manage to find shit that i want, even when i'm shopping for others :(
it's sad.
just some cool stuff i found around that might pique others' interests...

†of course, the ridiculously priced, but absolutely gorgeous Hermès leica.. priced at a little over $14,000.

†sweet proenza schouler hinged box clutch at outnet for a surprising $330 (was $825)

†i just purchased these jeffrey campbell (exclusive for LF) shoes as an early christmas present to myself. i believe they already sold out. i wore them this weekend and got a blister the size of my big toe, but i still love them.

†these mcqueen's are completely out of the question as far as price goes. i'm not even sure if they're on sale yet but i'd bet they'd be at least $900+.

†the luggage company tumi made this cool little set of travel guides that are "designed to maximize the time you have in a city by highlighting only the most exclusive, exciting and worthwhile experiences."

i'm calling this the pretend list because it's mostly stuff i will never be able to afford.

hallow's eve

2009-11-06T09:54:00.000-08:00

every year, like many other girls, i get extremely excited for halloween. i don't know what it is about us girls and dressing up, but at least for me, i see it as an opportunity to create something. this year, i planned on being ziggy stardust. i searched around the internet looking for one of his more doable costumes.

i would have liked to have done the one on the left, but obviously i couldn't tailor my own outfit within a reasonable amount of time and $, and i would have wanted this one perfect. plus i needed to do this outfit on the cheap. instead, i chose a more fitting one and something i could also easily dance in (left).

i started off with an AA gold lamé swimsuit i already had. i wasn't afraid of ruining it cuz i almost never wear it. then i headed over to the fabric outlet in the mission to get two different colored lamé fabrics and some fabric glue.

and for me, the most important thing was make up. i wanted to do the iconic david bowie lightening bolt on the face make up so i headed over to the mac make up counter to get some 'face paint'. if all else failed, people should recognize the lightening bolt on my face as david bowie on the cover of aladdin sane.

basically i just started to cut and paste these flame-like pieces onto the swimsuit. pretty easy, all you needed were a good pair of scissors. for the one sided leg, what i did was literally wrapped the lamé around my leg (kind of like a hot dog bun goes around a hot dog) and pulled the two ends together. i cut holes on each side of the ends down my leg. then took a long strip of that lamé fabric, and basically shoe-stringed the ends together to make a criss cross leg. that way i wouldn't have to sew the leg myself and i also wouldn't have to fit it. the shoe-stringing made the leg fit basically like a glove. i then sewed the top part of the leg to the leg opening of the swimsuit with elastic thread (this way when i moved or put on the costume, the thread would move with the stretchiness of the lamé and won't break). for the arm (not pictured), i just took a piece of the pink fabric and wrapped it around my arm and cut it so that the sleeve belled out a bit at the end. then i fabric glued the ends together and pulled on to my arm.
here's the end result... photo taken w/ xander crews, aka my crazy half-naked bf.

as far far as the make up goes, i first put on foundation, then, using scotch tape, i taped off a lightening bolt on the center of my face. i used the mac paint pot to do the base of the blue, then i dusted a matte electric blue shadow over it. the paint pot ensured that the powder stayed on. then, my favorite part, i peeled off the scotch tape to reveal a crispy lightening bolt. i used a neutral lipstick to line the opposing sides of the lightening bolt, then dusted one side with a bright pink glitter dust, and the other side with a gold shimmery eye shadow.

we went to go see danger and hot chip perform a dj set at the avalon on friday night in our costumes. this was definitely one of the best halloweens i've had.

now what to be next year??? :)

this is it

2009-10-27T13:15:00.000-07:00

this is concert season. this should be apparent given that drew and i have been going ape shit buying tickets for various shows. it's like a smorgesbord of fun show after fun show.

Fever Ray - was absolutely excellent. i was obsessed with her new album going in and the show was utterly amazing. her voice was pretty on point and the visuals... well fuck. they were incredible... lazer lights, tribal-ish drum band, antique lamps hooked up to the beat so that they looked like luminescent jellyfish... didn't really get to see her face but i think that seems pretty customary to both her and her brother.

Junior Boys - this was the 2nd time i saw them. 1st time was @ bimbo's. they were good, but god, the 2nd time around was absolutely amazing. their energy was just way up there and everyone was dancing and having a good time.

Itzhak Perlman - what can i say? i've grown up listening to classical music and to see one of the world's most prolific violinist live was a dream. watching him play i witnessed what it truly meant to be one with an instrument.

La Roux - poppy, but she's got some fun dancy hits. her voice is really unique and was really great to hear live despite that she was sick and only sang 6 songs. she still sounded great.

Halloween should definitely be fun with the hotchip/danger show at the avalon (love that venue). I'm also currently working on my costume which i'll post about later.

i can't wait to see the pixies (FINALLY!) and i've been really into fuck buttons but haven't gotten a chance to see them so this should be cool... and i will take the liberty of saying that everyone is excited to see the XX either in LA or SF. röyksopp was also something i stumbled on while walking by the regency... that should be a good show. and haven't seen SMD since miami. pretty excited to see them at the mezzanine cuz that venue is one of the best in SF. :)

November will be a good month.

Fuck Buttons - Bright Tomorrow

sentimental post for posterity.

2009-10-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

...when it comes to the topic of my own artwork, I'm pretty sensitive (as I think most artists are). So bear with the more serious-ish post. I swear normally I don't take myself this seriously :).

I've been doing a series of ink drawings inspired by molecular structures and also by jellyfish. Jellyfish always interested me because they're almost like giant amoebas. Their tentacles remind me of flagella/cilia so I suppose they are related... Ever since graduating, I've had a hard time actually producing work that I've been happy with. I've recently discovered the source of my artist block was being too anal. So this series is a study in being like a jellyfish; propelling myself just a little bit at a time but mostly letting the sea taking me where it will. Completely appropriate given my lifelong affinity with the ocean.

"Why did they make birds so delicate and fine as those sea swallows when the ocean can be so cruel? She is kind and very beautiful. But she can be so cruel and it comes so suddenly and such birds that fly, dipping and hunting, with their small sad voices are made too delicately for the sea." -the old man and the sea, hemingway

This is the latest in the series. I'll post the other ones when I get better photos. Click on the images to see them bigger.

Portishead - Only You

THE DO OVER

2009-10-19T23:27:00.000-07:00

So I've been completely ignoring this blog and I've decided that it's time to lose the adolescent MTV look and just strive for simplicity. Here's the redesign. Nothing fancy, functional, hopefully easy to read. I've got some new drawings coming up so something to look forward to.

Seems as if monochromatism is all the rage.

In other news, I've decided to apply to Academy of Art University for my MFA in Game Design. I think the biggest things I struggled with doing EPW was that I felt really limited by 2D. Let's be honest, to be worth anything in this industry, you've gotta have an arsenal of tools. I never would have seen myself doing this, but hey, I feel like I've been given an opportunity to be a part of a really fun industry. I'll be practicing some drawing for preparation so I'll be posting that new stuff as well.

The xx - Islands

MICHELLE-KIM.COM

2009-05-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

IT'S HERE! :)
after a week of fiddling around with Flash, here's the site. It's nothing fancy but it's my first little trip into Flash. It's definitely the one Adobe program I have been avoiding to learn for years; I've been using Photoshop and Illustrator, and even a little inDesign for a while now, but knowing that Flash is an entire other beast... well, whatever. I learned it. And still learning. Here it is. I give you, my website :)

MICHELLE-KIM.COM

new site underconstruction

2009-05-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

i've been fairly busy working on more items etc for epic pet wars and also creating my website which is set to go live soon (michelle-kim.com).... i hope! it'll will have a continuously updating portfolio of both my artwork and my design stuffs. here's a little sneak preview of the site...

anyway, if anyone wants to add me on EPW my friend code is KUN. i've been playing it more than i should... :)

Yay for Epic Pet Wars!

2009-04-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

Some fun stuff that's happened since my last post. Epic Pet Wars has FINALLY been approved in the App Store for the iPhone. Interesting feedback. If you haven't downloaded it yet, download now for free.

It's my first contract job as a character/game designer so it's been very fun and interesting to see what kind of market it reaches and what people's responses have been. It's weirdly been getting a lot of coverage in Korea. If you can read Korean, see the Snowdeer Blog and Latte's Planet Blog.

Other than that, I've been working tirelessly for 3 days straight learning html/css from scratch. I bought a 600pg 'HEADFIRST'textbook and am now done learning the basic structure of html and now I'm headed on to CSS. I just bought my own domain name yesterday (michelle-kim.com) but I probably won't be running it until I can put together my art and web-design portfolio. I will definitely update when the website is up.

and I had Nick's Crispy Taco's earlier and now I'm about to pass out. Blah blah blah blah, no more, interwebz.

Ultra Miami

2009-03-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

Am I ready for this?
I'm not too sure, I have no idea what to expect. Regardless, I'm insanely excited as I have never been to Miami and Drew and I decided to stay a couple of extra days to enjoy the pleasures of South Beach.
Oh, and did I mention in insanely good lineup? Coachella, what?

Epic Pet Wars!

2009-03-03T20:54:00.000-08:00

So here's a project i've been involved in recently. Drew and Amit, of Miraphonic Inc., made a web/facebook/iphone game called Epic Pet Wars. You raise a pet and gather items and experience points to make yours the baddest pet in the social-network-o-sphere. I designed the pets and all the items and custom backgrounds. The best part? You can battle your friends' tricked out pets too.
Here's a link to play on facebook and a link to play on the web. iPhone version to launch SOON! enjoy and come join my posse and battle me on facebook, I dare you! :) My pet's name is MICHM_SMASH.

i can't deny THE WATCHMEN buzz...

2009-02-28T10:39:00.000-08:00

so much buzz around the watchmen, and why not? you take probably one of the best graphic novels of all time and combine it with today's special fx, and you've got a pretty surefire recipe for epicness.
there is much more spotlight due to alan moore than the already bright one he's got on him. if you've never heard of the watchmen before the slew of publicity for the movie hit, then odds are you have no idea that The Watchmen is the only graphic novel to have ever won the Hugo Award.
but yes, take one look at this guy. you KNOW he writes good fucking stories.

io9 has also provided a great list of other that one should read (some of these have already been made into movies, which, moore apparently hates).
all in all, this guy is a fucking genius. i hold The Watchmen very dearly to my heart... we'll just see if the film measure's up an already perfect thing.

FINALLY!

2009-02-25T20:25:00.001-08:00

seriously, after they cancelled arrested development, i couldn't stop thinking about it and being sad. but it looks optimistic for the arrested development movie according to killer film. it's about damn time. i've missed you mrs. featherbottom.

since uber died...

2009-02-25T01:37:00.000-08:00

i used to have all my own artwork on uber but since uber is long gone, i'm transferring some my artwork onto this blog. hope you like it. more to come.

this was a project i did for my senior solo exhibition. they choose 1 senior every year and award them $500 for exhibition materials and give them a whole gallery room to show. i worked my ass off to get it and here was the end result.
i was working with the mythology of isis and how it related back to me in a very 'joseph campbell' kind of way. that led to thesophy which led to metaphysics, which led to, gee, trying to figure out the inner and outer workings of what makes every single thing tick. you can read the press written by two artists, douglas green and jason keller, here.

materials include: plexiglas, wood, fan, bovine heart in formaldahyde, scale, live emperor scorpions, black light, wood chips, plasma ball, various forms of light, alarm clocks, emergency blanket, ibprofen, drinking birds, spiderman robot, physics book, glow lights, concrete and aggregate, rubix cube, streamers, and ice.

"Universal Apparatus: The Mechanism to Travel Through the Universe on the Back of Isis", 2008

"Univerasl Apparatus: The Mechanism to Travel Through the Universe on the Back of Isis (KEY)", 2008

show flyer

here is a piece i did a few months prior to the senior show:

"Cowboys Don't Eat Caviar", 2007
materials include: plexiglas, wood, electric kettle, taxidermied coyote head, live rabbit.

if anyone has any questions about these or want to discuss, feel free.
enjoy.

daily dose of art.

2009-02-25T00:04:00.000-08:00

here are two artists to peep. david altmejd and elliott hundley. they both show at andrea rosen gallery and elliott also shows at regen projects (he has an opening at regen 3/7 from 6-8pm). i've been digging both these artists for a while.
both of their works are appealing to me for their palette, formalism, and eclectic materials.

david altmejd's work will often be composed of taxidermied animals, geodes/crystals, mirrors, branches, severed animal heads, and often times, slick, seductive materials like silver, gold, and highly finished minimal structures. it's the disparity between the decay and the growth, the macabre and the delicate that makes his work so compelling to look at... for me at least.
peep this:

"The Lovers", 2004

"Center", 2008

"Untitled (Dark)", 2001

*images from andrea rosen gallery's website

photo's don't really do justice to elliott's work. the work is insanely delicate (as many of the elements of the collages are held up merely by map pins) but they have an incredible amount of depth to them. really really fun to look at and get lost in. i've seen photos from his studio and my god, it looks like a whirlwind. but i think the implied process of his work is really beautiful. there must be a lot of reuse of different pieces of work. makes it interesting to think that the work seems to be like an ever-growing body that consumes, transforms, dies, and is reincarnated into something completely different.
here is also a few images of elliot hundley's work:

"Hyacinth", 2006

"Hyacinth", 2006 Detail

"Siren", 2006 installation view

"Deathless Aphrodite of the Spangled Mind", 2002-2003

so there's your daily dose. enjoy.
xxmich

AVAF

2009-02-22T20:27:00.001-08:00

Some cool artwork to check out: assume vivid astro focus. I saw one of their exhibitions a few years back at the MCA Chicago. They're an art collective that is also the alias of brazilian artist Eli Sudbrack and the name of an international group of visual and performance artists. You can check out the work at cheapcream.com. But just to give you a lil taste, check it out here:

EPIC FAIL

2009-02-22T13:58:00.000-08:00

i had to admit to myself that I LOVE FOOD TOO MUCH.
fuck the diet. that drink is straight nasty.
i was feeling a little light headed and unhealthy so i folded and ate some cereal.... let me tell you, best cup o' cereal in my entire life.
the end.

end of day 1

2009-02-21T22:01:00.000-08:00

it's nearing the end of the day and here's what I've summed up from today:

1. never put too much cayenne pepper in your lemonade.
2. this shit has made me very sleepy.
3. i have been cold allllll day. i think that's the result of not eating any solid foods.
4. i can't wait til this is over. i'm already thinking of foods i want to chow down on after this is over.
5. thank god it's the weekend.

peppery

2009-02-21T10:35:00.001-08:00

GOD. i accidentally put 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper in my lemonade drink/food thingy instead of 1/2 teaspoons. now i'm stuck at work for the next 7.5 hours with only spicy lemonade to eat/drink.

save me.

day 1

2009-02-21T08:26:00.000-08:00

no activity down there. and i feel like i'm going to puke trying to chug this 1 qt of water with 2 teaspoons of uniodized salt in it. chugging salt water every morning? UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SOOOOOOOO GROSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

2 cups down, just gagged and puked a little.

now i'm staring at my last 2 cups waiting to see the course of action this alleged 'colon blaster' is supposed to take.

this shit is already miserable.

srsly gunna puke this salt water again.

mah mah mah masta cleanse

2009-02-20T23:50:00.000-08:00

being a recent foodie, i've stumbled across a lot of food/nutrition blogs. i love finding out about new grains n' stuff to cook up and although my 'fine dining' experiences are few, i've had some. i fantasize about eating at places like chez panisse every day.
so on a more personal note, i've been reading up a lot on different diets, and diets, not in the sense of: losing weight diets, but more like raw foodists vs. vegetarians vs. omnivore vs. calorie restriction, etc etc the list goes on. so i thought, hey, i've been feeling a bit sluggish lately, i'm insanely dependent on coffee and chocolate, and in the end, it just makes me feel worse at the end of the day. i've heard rave reviews from friends about the master cleanse diet and how it's a great jump off point to start a more 'healthy' diet, so i'm going to do it.
i don't know for how many days yet, we'll see about that. if i can ween myself off of coffee (currently i drink about 2-3 cappuccino's per day) i would be a very very happy camper. so here it goes, tomorrow will be day one.
in preparation, i've had cheesecake and chocolate cake tonight... cuz hey, it's all gonna 'flush' out anyway right?

i has a hat

2009-01-23T21:23:00.001-08:00

gifninja.com

HORROR OR JUST PLAIN AWESOME?

2009-01-21T00:48:00.000-08:00

if you're into japanese horror films, or just plain weird ass films, this is probably one to watch judging from the youtube clip. i haven't seen it yet, but i'm in the process of getting it. it's from 1977 and it's called Hausu (House) directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi.
watch the killer lampshade scene here:

mich + graham's 23rd bday

2009-01-06T22:55:00.001-08:00

graham and i will be celebrating our 23rd birthday in conjunction at LAX Banana SPLIT Sundae
prty time

poppin pills

2009-01-06T14:19:00.000-08:00

all you diggers have probably already read this time article, but check it out.
interestingly enough, i've encountered one of these particular pills in recent times and i can't say that i don't like the effects.

collage

2009-01-04T18:27:00.000-08:00

after suffering for quite some time from artist block, i've recently fallen in love with the art of collage, both on the computer and on paper... an appropriate medium in the midst of recession when art materials seem oh-so-pricey. the answer: use whatever you can get your hands on.

"Sisyphus goes to Barney's", December 2008
spray paint, gouache, acrylic, watercolor, vellum, tape, ink, cardboard, pushpins, potato sack, plastic, on paper.
you can see the finished piece in the lustro/matani residence.

you may have seen these on facebook... i started to futz around with random images on the internet...

and my most recent work in progress...

ursiform goes under the knife

2009-01-04T18:25:00.000-08:00

i suppose the key to a successful blog is to not take it too seriously, post often, sometimes about nothing, and then see what happens. here's to the new, improved, 2009, ursiform.
cheers
x
mich

MANIFESTO

2008-06-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

INTRODUCTION
When you eat a steak, how do you eat it? Do you use a fork and knife? What is it that keeps you from submitting to all animal instincts of just grabbing and gobbling? Why do most people in the ‘civilized’ world submit to the ethos of cutlery?
My work explores the mythology and tradition behind anything and everything, including art practice. The most interesting thing about humans is that we’ve developed these elaborate traditions beyond our natural instincts. Religion, tall tales, burial rituals, etiquette, all these things have stemmed and evolved within and without different cultures and belief systems. It is the barrier that we have placed in attempt to put us beyond the rest of the animal kingdom.
Art practice epitomizes one of these traditions. Art does not nourish our bodies; it titillates the mind. It is a free agent, un-tethered to any concrete, black-and-white purpose. Therefore, it is up to the artist to harness art and practice in order to accomplish something. In my case, art is the apparatus for an awakening of consciousness, reevaluation, and exploration.
With that, I have attempted to ‘harness’ and draw lines around art and it’s purpose.

SECTION I.
Art cannot merely be made for the purpose of being beautiful.

[Nature and the world around us serve that purpose. And after all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder (this statement is so fucking cliché but what can you do when a cliché is true?). If the artwork has the intention of being only “beautiful”, then that intention must sit within a greater purpose context.
Example: I’m going to paint these daffodils because I think that they are beautiful.
The argument here is that the daffodils that exist in the realm of reality are already “beautiful” so the poor representation of them would render the artwork useless.
Example: I’m going to intentionally paint these daffodils as an admittance that I can never be close to the real thing and that art, then must serve as more than just a poor replacement of the picture of reality.
Art, then, should fulfill something greater. An agenda, if you will. Art must be a mobile to drive for something, be it social change, awareness, or a ‘call to consciousness’ (Heidegger). ]

SECTION II.
An artist should never be afraid of contradiction.

[To quote Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson:
"Which path do you intend to take, Nell?" said the Constable, sounding very interested. "Conformity or rebellion?"
"Neither one. Both ways are simple-minded — they are only for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity."
Contradiction, or contradicting oneself, should then be addressed and explored like coming across a tangled web of knots. Thought out, mapped out, and then proceeded to be untangled.]

SECTION III.
Anything cannot be art and anyone is not an artist. Anything can be made into art via the artists’ “hand” and anyone can consciously become an artist.

[Careful with this one. It’s dangerous.
If anything was art, then it would be like saying: sand is money.
Example: There are copious amounts of sand; it is not worth anything because anyone can get it with little to no work. You cannot take sand to a store and purchase a t-shirt with it, therefore rendering it worthless. There is not, however, copious amounts of art. Why? Because good, thought out art, is hard to come by. It requires much more than just placing some ‘thing’ in a gallery claiming that it is art just because you claim you’re an artist.
Now, if one made the conscious decision to become an artist, with the intentions for utilizing artworks as a mobilizer for ideas (see Section I), then does one have the right as an artist to bend the ‘rules’ of art and art making.]

SECTION IV.
If the Artist believes that Art itself is a con, then he must acknowledge that he is a conman, not an artist. The good conman will be able to convince his audience that he is, indeed, and artist.

[It is possible to use the ‘con’ as an artist as a critique and not an actual, habitual ‘con’, unless it’s a performance of course.
In regards to selling art and capitalism, art then is more susceptible to being a ‘scam’. For example, I’d be more inclined to make abstract paintings with an enjoyable palette of colors because I know they will sell. But what can you do when you must feed yourself and make money to continue making work? It is excusable and sometimes commendable to be able to make work within the confines of a market economy.]

SECTION V.
Art has no canon.

[Unless you can group EVERYTHING under a single canon umbrella, then art has a canon.
Example: Some might say that Guy Debord’s “Society of the Spectacle” is a canonical reading. I don’t disagree with that, but Debord’s essay can be just as canonical as Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham.]

SECTION VI.
Art does not have to be accessible.

[And by accessible, that means to everyone. Here is where intentionality comes into play. Artist intention is of utmost importance.
Example: If an artist intends to make work completely inaccessible as a critique on the inaccessibility of art, then it serves its purpose.
The artist must, however, keep in mind and admit to the fact that he/she will never truly make artwork that is not for an audience. The artist himself cannot negate himself as an audience member.]

SECTION VII.
Humor should never be underrated.

[Fucking laugh a little.
Example: Artist X poops all over a canvas during a performance and then proceeds to swim in his own shit. God, that is really repulsive SLASH hilarious.
Humor is universal. Take that artist stick out of your ass and stop taking yourself so seriously.]

SECTION VIII.
When writing a Manifesto, an artist must never truly believe that the lines or definitions that he or she is drawing within the confines of the manifesto are set in stone.

2008-05-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

"He could have kept his money in The Black Sun and made ten million dollars about a year later when it went public, but his mother would have been a street person. So when his mother visits him in the Metaverse, looking tan and happy in her golfing duds, Hiro views that as his personal fortune. It won't pay the rent, but that's okay-- when you live in a shithole, there's always the Metaverse, and in the Metaverse, Hiro Protagonist is a warrior prince." -Snowcrash

ADVENT OF THE PROTOBRAIN

2008-05-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've written in my blog... I've been away traveling the depths of the universe all within the confines of a large polo field out in Indio. If you've been living in a cave, I'm talking about Coachella, one of the finer things that occur in life annually. Culture, my friends, is condensed into those 3 days of hot desert sun. If you're a little nosier and want to see photos of me at coachella with all the fine people that I went with, you can check my facebook photos. Anyways, today's blog entry isn't going to be about Coachella and who I thought were the best acts, etc. That information is only relevant for short amount of time. Read on and I'll tell you what I think is relevant.No, I haven't lost my mind, and no, I don't think The Hills, as a show has any significance. Its relevance though has to do with this: those in the target audience of shows like these, yes, you, are becoming stupid... among other things.

I was up late last night writing some papers for SCI-FI & Urban Dystopia regarding the media within Philip K. Dick's novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Basically, Philip Dick sets up for the reader, a futuristic world in which there are "mood organs" in which you connect to in order to be the mood you'd like to be in, and also in which there is one show that everyone watches hosted by some d-bag named Buster Friendly (I really enjoy the crudely rendered Buster here so I included the drawing... NOT done by me).
Buster has many guests come on, usually the same ones over and over, and these guests are usually blond model-sque androids that engage the viewer with her everyday problems about how she had to wake up at so-and-so time for a photoshoot. Blah, yeah sounds like a talk show but fuck, the people in the novel watch this shit 23 hours a day. I'm thinking to myself, yeah, that's ludicrous...

But... it's not. I think it's worse in reality. Why are shows like "The Hills" and "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila" a hit success? Reality sucks enough, yet we suck more of even shittier reality out of the tube. Just watch these clips for a minute:

Ok I'm sure everyone's heard this before but... aren't there better shows to watch on t.v.? Maybe I'm biased but I think shows like Battlestar Galactica are both entertaining and address legitimate issues regarding artificial intelligence, politics, religion, etc. Even shows like LOST are really well done and serve the purpose of 'escaping' reality. Cuz frankly, I like to veg out in front of the T.V. when I've had it with dealing with dumbasses. I don't watch the TV to encounter more fucktards who's biggest dilemma is their rich ken doll looking chauvanistic bf is breaking up with them, OMG. I'm done with the rant...

On a more scholarly note, this sort of media is addressed in Hannah Arendt's theories in The Origins of Totalitarianism. Arendt discusses the role of propaganda within a totalitarian regime and that it is a tool to "win the masses". Call it a stretch, but when a program like the ones that we see on TV are characterized by gossip and non-issues, it seems to contribute to a collective dumbing down and apatheticization (yeah i made that word up so shoot me you get what i mean) of the masses. It serves as a subversive form of time consumption; instead of a group of young 20 somethings coming together to talk about socio-economic issues that affect all of us, they group together to talk about what a bastard Bif the boyfriend has been to Lolo on her birthday at the beach house in Malibu.
When it comes down to it, Stalinism and Nazi Germany happened because they took advantage of an apathetic mass. The "mass man" is indifferent and untouched by other political means... and shit, with brett michaels on the loose, there's no where else to go but down.
I HOPE THERE'S AT LEAST SOME HILARITY TO THE POST.

//

OUR COMPLACENCY IS DEAFENING.

2008-04-18T00:49:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: My last post about the 80’s may seem very light hearted in contrast with today’s post. In light of recent events, I’ve become more and more aware of our current situation (yes there is one) and what people are doing, and not doing, about it. Regardless, it is still an exploration into our past because obviously our past effects our present and our future. Also, due to the fact that I was born in the 80’s, I may have gotten some or a lot of this history wrong. That’s what the comment section is for.

I was sitting in my Sci-fi and Urban Dystopia course today milling over last nights reading, an excerpt from Robert A. Heinlin’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
For those of you unfamiliar with the story, it is about a penal colony on the moon who revolt against the rule from earth (story sound familiar?). The colonists on the moon carry out this revolt using cell structures and guerilla tactics. At the heart of it all is the anarchist philosophy that is voiced through the character Bernard de la Paz. He positions that the state, society, and government essentially have no existence. One of the most important philosophies that is given in the novel relates on the level of the individual, saying,

“I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them intolerable, I tolerate them;
if I find them too obnoxious, I break them.
I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.”

Although on the surface these positions seem nihilistic, they are, at the core, deeply anarchistic. Naturally, because I was taught to react and think about what I read, I started to ponder the idea of anarchy and uprising. What does it take for a group of people to change the environment they live in when the task seems to be monumental in size or just damned impossible? I then started to think about the students in the 60’s and 70’s and all that ensued during that time. And, having just written a post on the 80’s, I thought it’d be fitting to regress to the times that came before. I’ll admit the 60’s and 70’s were messy, or so they seemed anyways. But they were glorious. For a ‘young’ person (in my case, very young) that didn’t experience the time period first hand, but can only live off of the myth and media of what had happened during these tumultuous times, there is definitely a glamorized image of brazen student protests and flowering cultural revolution. It seemed as if life couldn’t get any more real and neither could the causes that were fought for. Here on US soil, there were students fighting the draft and the Vietnam War. We had feminism was in its hey-day along with sexual liberation. Martin Luther King Jr. was on the forefront of the civil rights movement. People weren’t afraid to experiment and be utterly free in mind and body. Abroad, you had France and the student riots of May ’68 that eventually led to the downfall of an entire government entity. You had Watts, Berkeley in the 60’s, the killings at Kent State, The Chicano movement, the New Left. This time period was marked by an infectious call to activism; a distinct call to uproot the current hegemony was sent out and heard.

For someone my age, those involved in the 60’s are those who raised me. Yet what interests me most is that I look around at my university and the universities of my friends. I've visited Berkeley, a place notorious for its activism in the 60s, and the finest institutions of higher learning, and everything is so utterly QUIET. I currently go to UC Irvine, an institution that truly lives up to it's timid biology major stereotype. You know what the number one major in our universities is? BUSINESS ADMINSTRATION. Don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe that it is a sensible major and that many people are ‘cut’ out to do this, blah blah blah. But to me, the pieces don’t fit. How does a generation raised by cultural revolutionaries become so complacent with the events that are transpiring around them? Have we all become completely self-centered and driven by economy?

Let’s do what many people fail to do on a daily basis. Look around us. Our situation today is this. We are at war in Iraq. Many parallel this war with the one in Vietnam, except the only difference here is that the biggest protests we get about the war in Iraq can pretty much fit on our neighborhood corner coupled with a few honks from people driving by. We are also in the midst of the most important and groundbreaking presidential elections this country has ever seen. A black man and a white woman are the top candidates for the democratic nomination. And while we may not be experiencing the same sort of cultural revolutions of the 60s, we are engaged in a different sort of cultural revolution. It’s the height of an information revolution. People have never been more exposed and readily accessible to such a vast amount of information. On top of that, more kids are in college today getting a higher education. As different as our situation may be, when it comes down to it, is it really that different?

When I think about the possible contexts that our ‘revolutionary’ mothers and father’s were brought up in, it is almost astounding. Assuming that the majority of these movements happened among twenty-somethings, it is then safe to assume that they were brought up by men and women brought up in the 40’s. And if you think about it, during this time, the first batch of women were JUST joining the workforce. You had extreme patriotism and a cohesion among the American people during the country’s time of need. Families seemed to be, for the most part, high-functioning in society and strictly a nuclear family. It was this high-structure, high-values sort of family that birthed the generation of the 60’s love child. So with that in mind, it is interesting to see that the more revolutionary generation has seemingly begotten a more conservative one.

I, personally, feel that I was raised in a more 40’s style home, with Christian morals and values, an expectation to go to college, get a job and become a well-behaved member of society. I did about half of those. I went to college, became an artist and instead of getting a job, I got romanticism and ideals instead. I must admit that I have become inwardly frustrated with the premature cynicism that seems to have pervaded throughout our generation. I feel like I’m surrounded by the attitude of “one person can’t possibly make a difference.” I, on the other hand (and I’m sure I’m not alone in this), refuse to accept the notion that we go to college only to settle with a job that we will work in for 20-30 years only to not have a life during this time and in the meantime, procreate, etcetera. It’s like accepting a barely higher form of parole. Yes I acknowledge that my views may sound completely and utterly leftist/extreme/biased/skeptical, but is there really any denying that this indifference has unfolded among us? Irrespective of that, it still makes for good discussion. I’ll admit, the tactics that were used during the 60’s are antiquated and times have changed. Methods must change. But when it comes down to it, I’m just really tired of people being happy with their forms of protest and activism starting and ending with a facebook group or chain email. Today, we don’t get Kent State riots or sit-ins, Instead we get incidents like that of Columbine and Virginia Tech. We don’t get petitions and rallies. Instead we get polite emails and fleeting web support groups. The heat and passion of the 60’s seems like it stays in such a distant place that I wish were here today. We have traded a deep sense of responsibility in exchange for unadulterated nihilism.
//

2008-04-17T22:01:00.000-07:00

"REVOLUTION IS AN ART THAT I PURSUE RATHER THAN A GOAL I EXPECT TO ACHIEVE."

MOVING ON: THE 80'S HAS BEEN OVER FOR A REALLY LONG FUCKING TIME

2008-04-16T00:04:00.000-07:00

...or has it?
I can't go a day without seeing some flashback of the 80's. I'll be online chatting with friends and get sent a link, only to realized I have been "rick rolled". This last year alone has just been a barrage of fanny packs, faux mullets (hell even real mullets), 80's themed parties, and raybans, and high top sneakers with air pumps in the padding (I mean, really, the pump alone must outweigh any extra 'oomph' you were hoping the air would give you when you imagined yourself flying high to dunk the ball like Jordan).
To be honest, I think most of these cultural re-phenomenon's, if you will, are best summed up in the YELLE music video...

If you don't know anything about it, you probably wouldn't be surprised if I had told you that was my favorite music video when I was 4. Well, it was made like within the last year.

Yelle might be an extreme case. There are countless other examples of this resurgence and return to the 80's.

Dan Deacon as well as Crystal Castles often use 80's video game noises in their songs:

[[I've just seen both of these artists live within the past 6 months and the crowd was very edgy and hip. 8-bit music seems to be really taking off.]]

New Cut Copy album, In Ghost Colours, is 15 tracks of pure 80's hits, only done in 2008.

Not only are we seeing this in music, but I've been seeing it in the gallery too. Explosions of neon colors and neon lights take you straight back to the 80's on a jet plane.
(above) Multi-media extravaganza exhibition titled "a very anxious feeling" by assume vivid astro focus (avaf) @ in New York City. Eli Sudbrack and is said to contain many members who are all born anytime between the 20th and 21st centuries in various parts of the world.

Anyways, you get the point. So what's going on?

I'm going to start out with a bold claim that nothing, at this point, is original and that we, as a collective population, are the products of re-appropriation, a world built up on the idea of a simulacrum. Given that, it is only natural that our processes, fashions, and other cultural tokens are cyclical in nature; they are 'novel' or 'innovative' at a certain point and then are regurgitated into the masses and then again fashioned and re-contextualized decades later. Prime example, the 80's.

I only use the 80's as the main topic of discourse because, I don't know if anyone else agrees with me, it seems as if the 80's has overstayed it's welcome a little longer than other 'decade' trends have. I remember in the middle of high school, the idea of the 80's becoming the next trend hit. That was about 6 years ago. And it made sense for the 80's to come back around 2000-2002 ish. 20 years for a culture to return seemed normal given that the whole 60's-70's hippie thing had just died off (Austin Powers, etc). But really, it's 2008. In fashion, a 6-8 year old trend is like wearing polka dots with plaid. It just doesn't happen.
But I think in this case, the explanation is simple. All of us who were made in the 80's or grew up amidst all things 8-bit, flashy, glamy, and synthy, are now in our twenty-somethings. And as everyone knows, the twenty-somethings will always be hot. We set the pace in what's 'cool' for the most part and what hip and in. As I'd like to put it, young enough that everyone older wants to be us, but old enough to have a firm say in what's hot.

All in all, I think I may have come to terms with the whole nostalgia of being "made in the 80's". I may as well enjoy my music filled with roland 909 and synths galore while it's still 'fashionable' to do so because once those "made in the 90's" become twenty-somethings, listening to Tears for Fears will just be plain stupid.

//

Bibliography:
Lustro, Drew. Aim conversation. 4/16/2008.

Drew Lustro, I trust you on this.

REINVENTING THE WHEEL & STEEZE

2008-04-15T02:20:00.000-07:00

The concept of the “coolhunter” is as old. William Gibson may have been the first to coin the term with his character, Cayce Pollard, of Pattern Recognition, but I’m going to postulate that when cavemen were sittin’ around the fire, or hanging out in the godforsaken landscape dodging lions and shit, the ALPHA, was the one to watch for what to do. He had all the ladies, I’m sure, and probably had the best techniques in various tasks, ie. making fire, bringing home the kill, running away from dangerous predators, inventing the wheel, etc. This alpha was the one bringing home all the caveman steeze possible.

Of course, we can only hope that we’ve progressed since then.

Today, we get our sources of cool/uncool (surprisingly very fine line between the two) via social interaction, magazines, books, television, and the seemingly all encompassing internet. Little pockets of culture have grown and thrived on perhaps a single viral video alone.This blog is really about that. It’s about how these ephemeral cultural phenomenon’s happen, how they exist, how they’re going to affect the future, and my personal encounters with them. I don’t actually give a fuck about what most people think are cool or uncool because, let’s face it, in this neo-post-post modern (add as many neo/geo/post’s as you want) world, something one person thinks is cool is probably pretty damn lame to someone else.

This is just an investigation into the whole culture phenomenon. I’m curious and the only way I figure I could keep a consistent journal of my experiences is to believe that there are people reading this piece of shit that hopefully will become interesting at some point.

cheers,

Michelle