Pink Moan

February 20th, 2009 by Gnat

Or collapsing, depending on how you look at it. People getting laid off left and right. The center cannot, and will not, hold. I’m trying to stay positive and forward-thinking, but it’s becoming really hard. I’m thankful to still be employed. The future is unwritten.

Here’s something nice I discovered this week, however: Picnik, the online image editor. My favorite feature is the Firefox extension, which allows you to edit and upload images without ever leaving your browser. Nice to not have to launch Photoshop just to do some quick image edits/fixes.

Another cool thing I discovered this week is the Maybe Logic Academy. Online courses are offered by well-respected authors and social critics on subjects such as Gnosis, NLP and secret initiation rites. There’s even a course on how to run your own cult. According to the website, by the course’s end “students will have designed and developed their own religious cult to the point of marketability.”

January 27th, 2009 by Gnat

OK so I’ve sort of neglected my REAL blogging duties lately here at Pink Moan in favor microblogging over at Twitter. What can I say, I have a short yet intense attention span. If you’re interested, my Twitter handle is Gnat74.

Weekend before last my friend Kitty and I made a trip to the Integratron, near Joshua Tree. Long story short the Integratron is an acoustically perfect, wooden geodesic dome-type structure. A late UFO enthusiast built it over the course of many years, but now these cool women own it and offer sound bath therapy sessions in the dome. Per the Integratron website: “The Integratron is the creation of George Van Tassel, and is based on the design of Moses’ Tabernacle, the writings of Nikola Tesla and telepathic directions from extraterrestrials. This one-of-a-kind building is a 38-foot high, 55-foot diameter, non-metallic structure originally designed by Van Tassel as a rejuvenation and time machine. Today, it is the only all-wood, acoustically perfect sound chamber in the U.S.” During a soundbath sesh, a series of quartz bowls are rung that correspond to each Chakra. The effect is uber-spacey and trance-inducing due to the dome’s heightened acoustical properties. No, this isn’t just hippie mumbo jumbo. I don’t know if I was in between sleep and wakefulness at one climactic point during the soundbath, but I do know I was somewhere else entirely. Here are a couple of pics, one exterior and one shot of the roof of the dome. Hey the iPhone camera isn’t too bad, sure wish it had a flash:

January 12th, 2009 by Gnat

…start blogging again this week. Just got my grad school application finished and uploaded over the weekend so I’ll have more free time to write soon. In the meantime, check out my friend’s newish blog four-thirty-three, it’s rad. Through four-thirty-three I was introduced to this fabulous piece of web work: the David Lee Roth Runnin’ with the Devil soundboard. You should definitely check it out, awwww yeeeaaah!

December 17th, 2008 by Gnat

I’ve been pretty lax about posting lately, I know. I took the GRE a week and a half ago and am in the middle of applying to grad school. So that’s my excuse. What’s yours? Anyway, here is an article that a friend sent to me this week which amused/disturbed me on multiple levels: Supermarket defends itself over Adolf Hitler cake. Here is a pic of the birthday boy, young Adolph, and his parents:

So the kid is pretty cute (as most three-year-olds are), but if Adolph’s parents are supposed to be examples of the Aryan master race, well I hope the White Power movement in America has a few better-looking physical specimens waiting in the wings, ready to represent. Oh and one of the couple’s other children (they have three stair-step kids, natch) is named “JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell.” Jesus that poor kid is going to grow up to be a walking Onion article.

That’s all for now kiddos. If you have suggestions on subjects I should be writing about (other than inbred Aryans), feel free to email me at info@pinkmoan.com. Cheers, queers…

November 4th, 2008 by Gnat

This is a historic night, boys and girls. I am so happy about Obama winning that I can momentarily forget how heartbroken I’ll be if Prop 8 passes. Seeing the phrase “eliminates right” on a ballot this morning sent shivers, literally, down my spine. I guess the days of Jim Crow laws aren’t really behind us. At least with Obama in the White House, I feel like the climate in this country will be conducive to dialogue and progress. Now, at the very least, all is not lost.

October 16th, 2008 by Gnat

Just a short post to “touch base.” That’s some douche-y corporatespeak for ya. Anyway, my mom has been visiting since last Friday, and I just put her on a plane back home early this morning. We had fun, aside from the mom-related stress I inevitably experience during one of her longish visits. I had to adjust my patterns, habits and schedule while Mom was in town, so I’m just now getting reacquainted with my “normal” reality. While part of me will miss her, I am looking forward to some solitude.

The debate also sort of sent me into a tailspin last night. Just hearing McCain call Obama “pro-abortion” was enough to deeply depress me. I mean, the fact that this issue is still open for debate confounds me. I know it’s a cliche phrase, but Republicans please keep your laws off our bodies.

More soon. And real content too, I promise…

September 2nd, 2008 by Gnat

I just flew in from Austin and boy are my arms tired. Sorry, couldn’t resist that. Actually I arrived back in LA last night. My trip to Austin (Aug 27 - Sept 1) was SUPER fun and I’m still needing to catch up on sleep. Unfortunately I walked into a steaming pile of crap at work today, as my coworker is stalling on beginning a project that was supposed to already be rolled out. So now several of us have to go in and pick up his slack. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to blog this week, but here’s a theme I’ve been stewing on the last few days: disconnection. Sort of the feeling of experiencing life as an observer, rather than a bona fine member of the species. Detachment, but not necessarily by choice. Detachment by choice would make you a cool misanthrope like the anti-hero of Camus’s The Stranger, or James Dean’s broken and beautiful Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause. I think lately I feel more like Hamlet.

More later…

August 8th, 2008 by Gnat

Summers always seem to slip away from me. It’s part of my obsession with time, I think, and a bit daunting to explain. But ever since I was a kid it’s been hard for me to enjoy the summertime. You see, nearly as soon as the season begins I’m already anticipating the depressive spiral I experience upon summer’s inevitable passing into fall. Wow, that’s some serious Jewish neuroticism rearing it’s head, isn’t it?! Even Woody Allen would have a hard time topping that neurotic tic. Someday I’ll talk about the theory my fellow Heeb friend Maddy has regarding Jews and neuroticism (hint: it’s programmed into our DNA and has to do with our being on the run throughout history), but that’s a whole ‘nuther post.

Back to summer. Endless myth and sunshine. No school when I was a kid and vacations to California and NYC to visit my dad. As an adult, summer doesn’t mean as much to me but the dread of it ending is still there. It’s ingrained. This weekend I’ll venture to the beaches of Malibu in an attempt to have fun, relax and grab myself a piece of the California sun. I dig the myth. In the meantime, I’m digging these Belle and Sebastian lyrics (from I Know Where the Summer Goes), I think they groove with my neurotic sentiments:

“I know where the summer goes
When you’re having no fun
When you’re under the thumb
I know where the summer dwells
If your underarm smells
And your kitchen looks like hell”

(ah, but Malibu looks pretty good)

July 28th, 2008 by Gnat

So I’m headed off to Denver, aka the “mile high city,” for a few days this week for my job. I’m also planning on visiting a few old friends that I’ve known since high school who now call Denver home. My friend Matthew and his girlfriend Jamie own the Fancy Tiger boutique, which I hope to be able to stop by sometime this week as well. I prolly won’t be blogging much or at all while I’m away, so I’ll leave you, gentle reader, with a few juicy links to chew on. This first was sent to me by my friend Sue, and it’s a real doozy:

NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell claims alien contact cover-up

Now it’s true that this article came out (coincidentally?) on the heals of the release of the new X-Files movie, which is subtitled: “I Want to Believe.” But just admit it to yourself, dear reader, didn’t you always know deep down inside that aliens were real? My friend Brian predicts that many aging baby boomers will start to come out about this kind of thing more and more regularly as they get older and less likely to give a fuck about the repercussions of disclosure. Whatever the case may be, this article about aliens being real made my week.

Now let’s get on to less celestial subject matter. More gossip, please. Here’s the buzzworthy, already much talked about article the LA Times did on Jay Babcock, Arthur Magazine founder:

Jay Babcock talks Arthur magazine’s Brooklyn move, L.A. as a ‘psychic death hole’

I’m on the Arthur bulletin email list, and last week Babcock sent a lengthy email explaining how misquoted he was by the LA Times in this piece, the real reasons he moved Arthur headquarters to NYC, how much he still really does like LA, and yada, yada, yada. He said he was also going to request that the LA Times print a formal retraction concerning his interview and alleged misquotations. Now I’ve met Jay a couple of times and he seems like a nice enough guy (although he does wear Birkenstocks). However my sources tell me that this latest rant is in true form for Babcock, who supposedly has a history of popping off at the mouth and being a tad elitist. I love Arthur, really I do, but Babcock sounds ever-so-douchey in his LA-bashing interview. Last time I checked, Brooklyn (Williamsburg), was all about commidifiable dissent wrapped up in an every-so-hip package. And Manhattan hasn’t been “edgy” in years. Here’s the Gawker article about the Jay Babcock NYC vs. LA rant, with some funny comments:

L.A.: Give Brooklyn Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Weary…

July 15th, 2008 by Gnat

I can’t believe this extensive collection of experimental film and video works the fine folks at UbuWeb posted. Streaming media and downloadable files too:

UbuWeb: Film & Video

I want to do subsequent posts highlighting a few select works, but there are so many to choose from! Hours of enjoyment and education, my friends. There is also a sound section that I’ve yet to peruse:

UbuWeb: Sound

In other news, I know it’s the lamest thing ever to update friends and acquaintances on your status via your blog, but fuck it. Friends if I’ve been a bit remiss at communication lately please forgive me. I’ve been slightly under the weather, both physically and mentally, but am now on the mend. I went to the doctor today, got some pillz and should be feeling better soon. Also as many of you know, I have a great uncle who was recently committed to the nursing home in Texas. He has the beginnings of Alzheimer’s disease (among many physical ailments including lymphoma) and yesterday tried to escape from the home. It’s all pretty sad and I’ve been dealing with beaucoup de family drama lately. So if any of you out there believe in good vibes, please send some to my uncle Charlie. He could use it.