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Palais du Tokyo

Je vien d'arriver en Paris. C'est une ville tres vieux avec beaucoup des choses nouveux a regarder. Comme toujours, je prend des photos.

And we're up

Three months of "me time" in the Bay Area, and I'm proud to say I have at least one thing to show for: my very first official website. This photo almost made it as the title image, but then an artist friend told me: "No one cares about aesthetics as much as they care about just getting the information." He also said people usually pay for that kind of creative advice, so I figured I should take it while it was free. Plus, he's right.

In the "stories" section, you should be able to read some select pieces from my archives, including classic GR stuff. The problem is, throughout my career, whenever I'd write a story, I was so over it by the time the pages shipped, I never bothered saving a text file for myself. So most of the stuff I've reprinted, I've actually sourced from sites where people actually took the time to transcribe and post them. Got to hand it to the Sam Rockwell and Korean plastic surgery fans. Please check out www.claudineko.com.

The Hills are Alive

Look closely.

Liu Wei (b. 1972, Beijing)
It Looks Like a Landscape, 2004
Digital black-and-white photograph, 120 in. x 20 ft.

There were two major contemporary Chinese art exhibit openings in the Bay Area this fall: one at the SF MOMA, the other at the Berkeley Art Museum. The latter is much better, and ongoing. You're just gonna have to get on BART and schlep to the East Bay.

Potato Have Toes

Yesterday, I was walking through the craft fair at the college formerly known as CCAC in Oakland, CA when I saw the familiar drawings of Deth P. Sun. So I introduced myself and asked the guy in glasses if he was Deth P. Sun. He was. And then he introduced the girl next to me as Evah. It took me a minute until I realized what I had in front of me: artist Evah Fan, one of the many people I've interviewed in my life over the phone, but never met in person. One down, lots to go.

My shopping day was a coup. From Evah:





From Deth:

Ponyboy

The last time I saw Dave, he was dressed up with appropriately slicked back greaser hair and posing in front of a giant canvas he'd painted for the Outsiders NY show on the Bowery. I think I asked him what his deal with horses was. Unfortunately, I can't remember his actual answer. But S.E. Hinton seems like a good place to start.

RIP Fast Eddie

Last night, I stumbled upon a pool table in a hotel lobby on the Lower East Side.
Somehow, I managed to run the table, taking four opponents down before scratching in a final game of 9-ball. It'd been at least a year since the last time I chalked up a cue stick, but there are some things in life you never stop loving, even after a long absence. Paul Newman was the same for me. I remember standing in front of the kitchen TV one night when I was maybe 17, mesmerized by his performance in The Hustler. I couldn't get over it, or him, and I imagine I never will.