From the monthly archives:

October 2008

tekkaku

by CSLi on October 30, 2008

tekkaku
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alles in ordnung, beauty in precision

alles in ordnung.

TThe past month has seen me strapped to my lucite desk like a Korean scholar from ages past, bent over, topknot bobbing. I have been studying ways to make this site prettier and more functional. Along the way, a small word got itself lodged in my brain: “tekkaku”. Had I been watching too much hentai? No, not possible. “Tekkaku” means “accuracy, precision”. I sat with a cup of coffee, for weeks I sat there with it, reading about CASCADING STYLESHEETS, tekkaku. Learning about SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION, tekkaku. I want everything to be accurate, precise and beautiful. Somehow, it must be beautiful.

The internet is a sea of blogs — now almost all sites are built on blogging platforms. People like to be heard, people like to be seen. How to stand out in this sea? After all, I don’t even know how to swim. Everyone seems to want site traffic, favorable page rankings, even residual income derived from advertising placed in their sidebars. What do the Killer Concubines and the Meek want? I am happy to have a place for my ideas, and among life’s pleasures I know few better than that of a good conversation. A handed, chiral conversation with thoughtful people: that is what I want.

This is a wordpress blog using the robust Thesis theme. I chose Thesis because it was built for designers and developers alike. Everything on this page is customisable, which cannot be said for other themes, and because of the custom files, my coding will survive any upgrades. The images employ a cool script call Highslide JS. Each image on this site is set to enlarge onlick, and the thumbnails can be controlled with the arrow keys. Go ahead, try it! Control is fun! The photos on this site were taken with a Canon EOS40D, 17-55mm lens (one day I may get fancier camera equipment…for now, it suits me fine). As I learn a bit more each day (about web design, css, php functions and things not-invented-yet), I hope to improve this site on a regular basis.

So now, here: Killer Concubines and the Meek Shall Inherit the Earth. And who better? Picture the young Cheng I Sao on deck, commanding her fleet of eighty-thousand pirates, cold air on her face. Picture Elisabeth the First, who married England and no man, standing, for days, in one place. Karen Carpenter blesses the Beasts and the Children, with that milky voice in her throat, and I sing along. I wish for an accurate, precise, and beautiful life. Somehow, it must be beautiful, tekkaku.

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land of plenty land of fun

by CSLi on October 9, 2008

Land of Plenty
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Michael Garman's Magic Town, CO

Michael Garman’s Magic Town, CO

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The Priest, the Lady and the Assassin

by CSLi on October 6, 2008

Love Triad
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Kate, Amanda and CS

Kate, Amanda and CS

WWhen I met Amanda in New York, years ago, she told me her name was Leslie –but many lasting friendships begin with one good lie. I cannot now imagine life without her, my crazy blonde jewess of the midnight movie run, rain-soaked and giggling, with popcorn butter on her chin. Oh, wait –that’s me. Amanda is the friend who dances well, dresses fashionably, and gets more than her share of the Male Gaze when we‘re out on the town (it’s true!) –but more importantly, she’s the friend who listens to my man-troubles, job-troubles, and troubles with, well, everything. Then she smiles and says, “let’s get bubble tea!”

Here’s how the story ends:

“So it came to pass, in a sleepy Colorado suburb, that The Lady, the Priest and the Assassin went looking for trouble fun. The Priest and the Assassin, though opposed to each others’ methods, turned out to be ideological bedfellows, so to speak, and they shared many expensive hygiene products too. They’d been traveling the Wild West together for nearly a month, seeing many sights, tasting many foods. Whenever the Assassin got an urge to kill someone, the Priest would say to her, “Hey now, you can’t really go through life killing folks! Think of the lowly squirrel, and you will see the error of your ways.” This stopped the Assassin cold; you can’t win squirrel arguments. Likewise, when the Priest got an urge to kill herself, the Assassin would say to her, “Hey now, if you kill yourself, who will talk me out of killing others?” and this was enough to prevent the Priest from committing suicide. Days passed in this lovely way, until one afternoon a fateful thing happened: The Lady rolled into town.

Now, The Lady’s coming was both foreseen and welcome, but it spelled one thing for our heroes: fun trouble. They saw many things together in cowpoke Colorado, drove around, ate food. There was a baby sleeping on a couch. They lusted after Javier Bardem on the big screen, each in her own fashion. This was before the time of chocolate overload, when all things (even the lisping actor) were forgotten, followed by a visit to the world of Men and Floozies (see: Michael Garman’s Magic Town). And then, as it does, the inevitable happened.

The Priest fell in love with the Lady, but was very conflicted by it, as The Lady was most surely a sinner. The Assassin, on the other hand, had developed a yen for the Priest, and so you have it: the classic Love Triangle. There was a great to-do, a certain incident involving pancake batter, and all relations between the three heroes soured to the flavor of moldy pickles in a jar. In the end, the Assassin discovered the lovers conducting one of their private “prayer sessions”, drew her sword, and in a single motion murdered The Lady, sepukku-style. The Priest’s eyes flew toward heaven and she said, “Thank God she was Jewish. They don’t go to Hell.”

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[an aside]

by CSLi on October 1, 2008

Dufur, OR
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plant near Dufur, OR

plant near Dufur, OR

II am back home in Brooklyn, land of glowing brownstones and a certain Tree that Grows, piecing together in my head the final bits of our trip: the last gasp before real life …my real life which involves, apparently, sitting at a computer for untold hours each day.

But my desk is lovely –I want to tell you about my desk. It’s a large, L-shaped lucite thing, made by a designer couple in Chelsea. They were moving to Chicago to be among the comix people –and who could blame them? I’ve strung holiday rope lights (classy!) underneath the inch-thick lucite causing a surreal little “glow from below”. Like the red candle in a Lutheran church, these lights are always on; they signify the presence of God. You know –”May the Lord bless you and keep you, May he make his face to shine upon you, and give you peace.” Such pretty words. Surely the most practical agnostic can see how pretty. I sit at this desk with my legs bent under me, typing or reading or (most usually) editing photos. Often a whole day will pass before I realise I haven’t eaten or left the house.

Today, there is a cool breeze coming in through the window. Someone nearby is playing a saxophone, and the sound trickles into my ear like so much teasing. I don’t WANT to sit here anymore. I don’t WANT to work on these pictures!

The human body wasn’t designed for a sedentary lifestyle. Save me, oh Lord, from my aubergine Steelcase chair!

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