Made with: Omnigraffle, single button trackpad, very bumpy bus.

Everyday Matters is posting a series from a conversation with Julie Dermansky. There's lots of good stuff about fostering creativity and other arty farty advice. Part 1 and Part 2 are up now. More are on the way.

Brian Howe's recent review of Subtle's A New White is stunning in it's pretence. That's not exactly uncommon in the world of music reviews. Writing about music is really hard. But not this hard:

If "cool" is making something out of nothing, then classic hip-hop epitomized it. With some scratchy LPs and a gorgeously organic lexicon, rappers hocus-pocused street corners into sovereign states, and transfigured fusty old soul records into musical artillery for sacking the cusp of the millennium.

You should really check out the whole thing... Keeping an eye out for the name dropping of Borges (South American writer) and Panopticon (Transformer during the 3rd Cybertronian War).

To give Mr. Howe some credit, somewhere under all that vocabulary is a solid point... but man you really need to take the headphones off and relax a bit.

October is almost upon us... That means it's about time for SF Open Studios. There's a ton of good stuff this year. I'd especially like to see:

Cynthia Tom	Ian Scalzo
Martine Jardel	Dominique Maxime Genauzeau
Michelle Peckham

...And of course MaryEugene FlackSmith - who've been hard at work on some excellent new stuff.

I want to draw with my computer. A mouse is no where near the control needed. And Programs like Illustrator are way too programy - The end results always looks like it was made on a computer.

So I bought a Wacom pen tablet.

That sucker is hard to use. Drawing is a very physical process for me. I like the paper perpendicular to me and flat. Preferably on the floor. I want to look at it from far away. And real real close. I like to spin it around and draw from a different direction. I like the pull of the paper against a marker... They way the ink soaks into the paper and spreads....

The computer is very different. It's all very detached. When your drawing, you look at the screen instead of the pen. The tablet is light and can be moved all over... but the screen always stays the same. Everything is plastic... Sometimes it squeaks a bit.

It's going to take some getting used to.

After an afternoon, I'm getting better. I've gone from being unable to draw a connecting shape, to scribbling little doodles. Next up is outlining shapes. Wish me luck. I'm going to need it...

themselves (doseone, jel & dax) just returned from Munich, Germany where they recorded an entire record with The Notwist. The record will be called 13 + God. The record will be released probably in April on anticon in the US & UK and Alien Transistor for the rest of Europe. The results are nothing less than amazing!!

That Carter is a friendly guy. He didn't have a whole lot to say. It was mostly background on the Carter Foundation... But he slipped a few nuggets in with the pitches.

At one point he was asked what sort of day to day things we (the audience) could do to help make the world a better place. After a pitch for Carter Foundation donations, he offered a broader philosophy of not living in "cocoons" - which is to say, expanding your daily interaction beyond only the things that seem immediately relevant.

A wise man that peanut farmer.

at Flickr.

3. tickets for Ben Lee on October 27th

1. tickets to see Subtle on the 24th
2. tickets to see the Pixies on the 26th

When you unzip my skin suit in the back it can be taken down around me to reveal a tattoo-style anchor sitting heavy in its sag and upon cracking that you'll find the poem-guessing tube and real me. saying... no one's home... I'm busy... go away... I'm sorry... please forgive me... won't you come back... my anchor's got a crack... and somebody's got to help me zip this skin suit up from the back...
doseone : the pelt

Apparently not enough. The movie was uncomfortable. In Jason Goldman's words: "I was squirmy, largely because I agreed with what was being said, but was dying at the way in which it was said."

There was far too much self help and not enough open conversation allowing the viewer to draw their own abstract connections to the underlying ideas.

This is somewhat strange since one of the "takeaways" at the end was to "embrace the abstract"... One of many instances when the movies presentation ignored it's own advice.

These sorts of subjects don't lend well to self-help (which is anything but - seeing as it requires someone to tell you how to help your self). If your really interested in the overlap of science and eastern spirituality, pick up the Tao of Physics. If the science doesn't concern you as much and you just want some insight from a movie, rent Baraka instead.