these are the people of our neighbourhood

...So I realized the other night, while telling our friend Paul, that there are many weirdo funny men in our neighbourhood, who we now have pet names for...

Mat spends a lot of time smoking while looking out the window, so he knows just what's going on on the street. We have developed story-lines for some of their lives.

Today I saw Fast-Smokey-Walker and thought of how I've missed him. He is short and bow-legged and bald and walks really fast, sort of with a springy up-and-down motion, like a cork screw, he smokes intently as he walks, inhaling frantically like each drag is his last. He smokes fast! fast! fast!... and walks all fast and bouncey as he does. I like 'em. We surmise he was not allowed to smoke for a long time and is making up for it now.

Then there's The Cowboy. Lots of people know him, He is a tall black man that rides around on roller blades, wearing a black leather outfit and yells, bellows actually, like a preacher, as he spins up and down Queen street. One day I saw him outside of Dollarama holding a pigeon in one hand and yelling some stuff about god and the pigeon. He had the pigeon gripped tight so it couldn't fly away and it was very disturbing. No one had Any reaction Whatsoever though, because it was in front of Dollarama... and being inside of dollarama is Crazier than anything outside of it. (Case in point, we actually saw two old men on those motorized scooters, rascals, fighting about who was going to get out of the way first to let the other pass. It was in front of the exit so their petty bickering prevented anyone from passing and hence, chaos ensued. Man it was funny. As Mat and I stood there exchanging bewildered and amused glances, the scooter fight grew bigger, Mat started to hum jingle bells (appropriate and damn funny as it was right before christmas), and old ladies started to push the scooter men and the cashier yelled at them both to move along with her caribbean accent. Chaos).

Then there's the local bicycling crack dealer who rides around on his bike and has a special whistle to tell all the crack heaqds to "come out and get it!" like a little dinner bell. I've seen them come stumbling out... "Hey Ricky - Whaddaya Got today?" Like an old fashioned knife sharpener he delivers door to door.

Oh and there's one of our favourotes - Harmonica Gang. He has a little harmonica and plays "Born Free" all the time. His talk is high-pitched, squeaky... muttery and dismissive and hard to understand. Mat does a wicked impression of him, one that reduces me to hysterical laughter every time.

There's more but I lack time. Perhaps, I will do a part two....

a.m. radio waves

a.m. radio
--------------

she liked best
the radio show
about what people saw

every night they'd call in
telling their stories
of what they'd seen...
the hairy man 9 feet tall

the men with dog's heads
smoking cigarettes,
the little boy on a red tricycle
riding alongside the highway,
with no home in sight.

the shadow people and the mutant animals,
the grey aliens and the knights of the templar
performing gruesome sacrifices on an altar,

best though were the ordinary things...

a red ball appeared, rolled by and then disappeared,
a hand scratches your back when no one is there...
breath in the car window, a voice chatters in your ear,
a beacon car that warns of an impending crash ahead...

ghosts and flashes,
explained, sometimes
as cross overs in dimensions,

all night long
these denizens of the night
with their active imaginations

talking to one another
in code,
while the rest of the hemisphere sleeps.

Cat Power!

Thank you to Cat Power - Chan Marshall for my most favouritest music right now.

Wow it is sooo lovely. It's been awhile since i've been so in love with an album.

sway shyly.

like she does.

Feelings

work by miltos manetas

here's the exhibit feelings.

i like stencil graffiti a great deal. this show kind of reminds me of stencil graffiti but in paintings.

Lamar Peterson Rocks

Tree,2005

Modern Americans, 2005.

I am really digging this artist Lamar Peterson. Go here to see his paintings at the Richard Heller Gallery. And here is an interview with him.

I kind of thought this was going to happen, modern artists painting somewhat like folk art. Trying to get that naivete. I like it a lot. And I like how it's kind of psychedelic, magical... colourful.

Go Heart man! Put on that potato sack and just go for it! And who's that king purple walrus in the tree? What's he doin? Skeleton loves them all.

Tilt Shift Miniatures

Tilt shift Miniatures

this is a group on flickr blog that inserts miniatures into real photos. the effect is great. it gets my tiny things approval.

in this photo the yellow car is fake.

yeah!

thank god for flickr

this photo is by my friend matt in japan, you can see his photos on flickr as freebeats. i have to thank the high heavens for sites like flickr. there are so many boring, useless blogs out there. mostly i just love spending time at flickr. wandering the world through beautiful images. it makes me silly happy.

me.

weekend pictures

this orb on mathew's shoulder was around him all night. until his loving sister stef swept it away with her love. he found a friend in my sweet mathew.
me.
still life at mike and andrea's loft.
happy birthday andrea!

Jelly Fun!

Yippeeee! Our trip is all booked and soon we'll be playing with little pink buddies like these in the turquoise sea. Much more fun than the piss-soaked rummies I hang with at work. shout out to y'all. bathe more. please.

I have a mighty tall pile of books that are most pressing to read and I can't wait to just lie in the sun and read read read. Mixed with intermittent bouts of snorkeling, ofcourse.

The book I'm reading now is called Paradise by A.L. Kennedy. It is excellent. (Sarah get it , you'll love it) . Here's some from a review below. All I do at work is read reviews... which leads to really good books piling up on my desk. Finally some time to read them.

Scotland on Sunday says, "In many ways this is a heartbreaking book, but if the end is not as happy as some readers might wish, there is nevertheless a redemptive quality throughout the novel, in its unflagging humour, and in the sympathy it arouses for its heroine, who is depicted honestly and touchingly with all her flaws and contradictions. Kennedy has long been acknowledged as a leading voice in British fiction, but Paradise takes her on to a new level of achievement. It is simply brilliant."


Here's the glass art site where jelly fish are from.

dunes

here's a photo my friend marshall took at white sands national park. i think it is just perfect.

a poem by raymond carver

Late Fragment
......


And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.


by Raymond Carver

Incredible Petri Worlds

Petri dish Florish. Beautiful Tiny Gardens!

To see more go to Pruned.

things i like like me

this is a shadow box i made after breaking into an old, desserted, props warehouse.(it's not there any more, they made it into some tiny, overpriced, unliveable homes instead). i found some lovely things there. this twenties style hair pin was from there, and the strand of lonely beads as well. the spark pluggy like thing was found somewhere else.

i like finding things and when i find them, i find they like me too.

green on green

...this is the centre of a shadow box i made for my friend natasha. it is my favourite colour green. and she has been a wonderful friend to me. thanks tashy.

creme extrordinaire

an old cream bottle i found.