Excuse me if this is just a blatant advertisement for another advertising source, but I’m kind of interested in what Social Vibe is doing in terms of bringing “charity” to the blogosphere. Yet another example of how online community/participation has real economic effects. Although the prerequisite to charity dollars is that a blogger must feature advertisements on his/her/it’s space, I like that Social Vibe allows you to chose which advertisments you feel comfortable with. Sprint? eh. KidRobot? maybe.

Finally, I regained some of the computing power I had previously. Now, whether to your dismay or fortune, I can post a few pictures of the current project that I’m working on. There isn’t a really steady theme motivating these pieces at the moment, just some glimpses of an idea:

Though I’ve talked about this pretty incessantly the last few weeks, I feel I need to reiterate, at least on the basis that it might provide me some comfort. This month will likely test my ability to handle pretty dramatic changes. Returning home from a short vacation in North Carolina I have much to address on both a personal and professional level. The girlfriend and I are moving to a new apartment on the otherside of town; a nifty little one bedroom abode located directly above the party store at which I currently work. I’m pretty excited about the move, but wish it wasn’t taking them so damn long to finish painting the place. In any event, we should begin transferring some of the many boxes inhabiting our basement very soon.

On a more professional note, I’m working on a collaborative project with my cousin. Partially, the motivation for such work was inspired by weeks of utter boredom. Mostly, I’ve just grown increasingly interested in the type of work that can be done between people online. Although many of us operate blogs, communicate with faculty and friends, and contribute importantly to networks and social groups, I feel that there is room (at least on a personal level) for more intense online relationships. With this in mind, I recently participated (as blogged previously) to the formation of an online reading collective and will soon be designing a site with my cousin that will likely showcase some of my collage work/illustrations and his minimalist dj sets.  In any event, this is all a breath of very fresh air.

Finally. I’m heading to North Carolina for a few days. I’m sure I’ll have some updates from the road/hotel.

I’m pretty excited for the revitalization project that the people at Motor City Brewing Works are launching very soon. The plan, if I’m understanding it correctly is to renovate the rather dilapidated alleyway immediately behind the building by using innovative “green” techniques. It seems that there is general neighborhood support for a project that would essentially be the first of its kind. If anything, this is exactly the way that we have to begin thinking of city neighborhoods. With an old school city like Detroit the bulldoze and rebuild philosophy of recent will likely have a detrimental impact. In a poltico-economic climate where re fabrication is king, I’m glad that prominent members of the community are stepping up their game. Not to mention, I’ll have a little easier time parking now that they are addressing that situation.

I’m not sure what is more interesting – the mostly visual web-diary of a homeless person or the language a recent contributor to Metafilter used to describe this individual’s postings:

A homeless man in DC has a wordpress blog which he posts images to using a remote camera. I saw this man in the DC metro yesterday, hauling a shopping cart around that not only contained his clothes, but was also festooned with cardboard signs advertising different web addresses. Wandoojin.wordpress.com was the only one I could make out, and though the fellow is clearly disturbed (though the site is not disturbing), to me it’s a fascinating look at how accessible technology is to everyone, especially the folks who have too many words, images of Gremlins sitting on the US, and conspiracy theories involving Teddy Kennedy and the Clintons to keep to himself. Also, he’s apparently made good use of the Apple store near my office. (I wonder if he knows the Arlington rap?

Though I’m interested in discussing social identity I’m also considering the specifics of cultural identity in the twenty-first century. It becomes more complicated than a basic access issue if one considers the contributor’s mention of the “Arlington rap,” at this moment a rather exclusive pop cultural artifact. One must also consider that twenty-first century inclusiveness is determined by one’s knowledge of cultural iconography.

I started a virtual reading group called The Criminal Rabbit Collective that one can and will find here. Although the four founding members of this reading group already created a tenative reading list (the list includes Baudrillard, Philip K. Dick, etc.), there is still room and time for suggestions. Though I’m sure my readers lead pretty hectic lives, I encourage you all to participate.

My music purchases have been incredibly infrequent as of late. The big move is coming up in less than a month and this means that there is little money left over for the type of expenditures that I enjoy. As a result of said inability to spend and the fact that I currently have limited access to the Internet (an equally devastating point of contention),  I’ve found myself in the unenviable position of trying to make due with the material that I have already collected. Though I assure you that I have a pretty substantial archive – one that would likely satisfy even the most savvy of aficionados – I’m not sure that I can make this work much longer. I feel like a welfare dad trying to stretch the lemonade with water. I’m at the breaking point. Like the rest of you culture-heads, I need a new fix – come on, just give it to me already!

In any event, this has given me some time to reflect on some earlier reviews. All in all, I have to say that my first reading of M. Ward’s Hold Time was pretty misguided. Though I was right to point to the aspects of gospel that we see emerging with this latest installment, I’m not sure that I devoted enough attention to the way that certain imagistically religious overtones are given voice in this album. This is to say, that although nearly every song is thematically concerned with the powers that be or the singular monolithic power that is/was, I’m not sure that one could call it devoutly religious. Here, I don’t even mean to make the distinction that the songs are distinctly critical of religion. The album is neither for or against. Rather, it offers a more distinctly imagistic version of the “great divide.” It is more of a mysticism than a devout revelling. And, perhaps this is where I was on the right path with my first reading. Though the figure can be interpreted as God capital “G” it can also be interpreted as god lower-case “g.” The difference here is between the almost overpowering figure of Christianity and the figure of the everyday hero. Though the term “hero” has a rather cliche meaning, I’d like to think that it allows me to gesture to something more ubiquitous than a single God. This is to say that M. Ward’s work is more about the grand in everyday people and action than the grand in the monolithic Christian sense.

And, we can read that this is where one might find the thread flowing through Ward’s work. In earlier texts Ward gave an almost mythic life to the inanimate – helicopters and giant wooden ships. With his latest installment, he centers more on the mythical person. I don’t know that this is even a very profound assessment of his progression. I just happen to like the way that Ward is able to make something out of almost nothing. And, it must be noted, this is why most critics can’t stand Ward. It is not that he isn’t horribly talented – because I think that he is – it’s just that his voice and style really make the record(s) work. In a sense, it’s an argument against content. With Ward it is all aesthetic – it is all affective response. Musicians can’t stand Ward because all he really does is that he sings average material in this incredibly bassy and floating voice while referencing a pretty accessible tradition – Beck mixed with Johnny Cash.

I’m sure I’ll have more on this later, as I think this is a fruitful distinction to make at this point.

Finally, everything seems to be coming together. After a few months of waiting for a response from the graduate programs to which I applied I received word that my work will be funded. Admittedly this is the most exciting news that I’ve had as of late. Though I’m sure many of my readers are familiar with the process, perhaps a little explanation is in order. Basically, the English department at Wayne has offered me a Graduate Teaching Assistantship, which includes a decent stipend, and the opportunity to take a few credit hours of courses each semester. Although I won’t begin teaching for at least a semester I’m beginning to feelt the effects of what I hope will be a beneficial transformation.

In addition to taking care of some professional business I’ll soon be moving to a new location. Fortunately, my girlfriend and I just found a pretty great deal on a sizeable one bedroom apartment above the convenience store I often work at. The place has a lot of character and I’m particularly interested in getting to work modifying the interior. In fact I’m nearly as excited about this as the GTA-ship mentioned previously. I have always been particularly enamored with the idea of how a living space bears influence and can’t wait to move in. Plus, the rent is incredibly cheap and I won’t be responsible for paying utility bills.

If that wasn’t enough, I’ll soon be creating a more professional online space where I can feature some of the zine work that I’ve been tackling for the past few months. My cousin, if he’s still up to it, will be working on more of a minimalist soundtrack for some of the longer pieces.

All in all, these changes remind me of something akin to the New Pornagraphers’ “Sing Me Spanish Techno.” The music video really helps to elucidate what I mean:

I really have been “listening too long to one song”

I’m having some difficulties with my computer. This creates certain problems while alleviating others. In a pretty obvious sense this just means that I contribute less material to each of the sites/blogs that I maintain. I update my facebook status only sporadically and this blog a lot less often than that. Like any serious addiction that I admit, the symptoms of withdrawal are dissapating quickly. This is not to say that I’m becoming some kind of neo-ludite, but rather, that I’m not quite as concerned with the digital practices that I was previously working through and with. I guess I no longer feel the incessant and pervasive need to constantly update my status or blog the latest news/gossip.  Perhaps though, as was previously noted, this is just a symptom of the utter inability I have of doing this at this interstice.

For now, everything seems to be in a more general mode of transition. I’m going to graduation ceremonies in about a week and am trying to make some final decisions concerning which college I’d like to attend for grad school. Our lease is up on the house in which we live in about two months and we are attempting to secure something in a different place. 

I like the idea of movement, change, and the general shake up that this creates in one’s life both personally and professionally. I like the idea of being in a different place with different people, and the opportunity I will have to experience a different kind of life. I enjoyed my time as an undergraduate immensely and wait anxiously for the rigors of graduate school. Hopefully, as a recent fortune cookie informs, “a pleasurable journey will soon begin.”  If not though, I’m sure I’ll at least have some interesting experiences to think through.