Meanwhile, Back On Earth
29 August 2000
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Meanwhile, Back On Earth
29 August 2000
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7:13 PM: Weekend Culture Report: Yes, Cultcha! I finally got my sad ass into the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, after walking past it for more than a year, to see the Magritte exhibition there before it leaves in a week. They also had an exhibit of Modernist paintings on as well, Matisse and Diego Rivera and like that. I know so very little about art, I can't really say anything informed about it. But by god, I love some of what I saw so much. It amazes me, that it can be so exhilirating to just see something, a constant feeling of deliciousness like cold clear water. It makes me think of this one sound snippet from the start of Puttering About a Small Land by Land of the Loops: "Traveling into your subconscious mind ... I love it , I love it , I love it , ohhh!"
We also saw the installation by John Bielenberg for Virtual Telemetrix, a not-quite-real dotcom. Hysterical, as in funny and terrifying. "The big picture revenue-wise is elsewhere right now, so let me just say this: somewhere, we are definitely making the big money." It included a product catalog featuring party delights like "Liver on a Stalk" - "Point out the realistic cirrhosis scars to your guests over drinks!"
Then, after stuffing ourselves beyond good sense at Max's on pastrami and eggs and potatoe skins stuffed with cheese and bacon and yum, we went up to see R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe, a one-man show about guess who starring Ron Campbell, written and directed by D.W. Jacobs. Fantastic show - I hoped that it would be interesting, expected it to be funny, but I never imagined that it would be as moving as it was at times. Bucky was an odd fellow for the ages, there's no doubt. They portrayed him as so sincere, and so alive! Young Penny and Saul came as well, and they hadn't the faintest idea what to expect. They liked it just as much as I did, and I think that's the mark of real success.
Doesn't hurt that his world view and mine are so similar, of course. I loved the description of why we are here: to solve problems, of course! And our reward is an unending series of ever-more difficult, but also more interesting, problems to solve. Not that I really think we have a purpose, mind you, but this is about as close as I think we come to having one.
And we really are right, right on the edge, right at the time historically when we choose: do we stop being stupid and get over this strange money fetish, using the knowledge and the abilities that we have to see to it that people stop dying of starvation and poor sanitation and all these other absurd causes? I mean for god's sakes, poor sanitation??? Didn't we figure that out around 2500 years ago? What year is this? Or, do we cling like tweaker monkeys to our stupidity and listen to the soothing voices of our masters while they push the planet into the position and play King Bog until there's nothing left but smoking ruins?
Right now. We are deciding this right now. The North Pole has melted.
Willfully blind self-indulgent nebbish or amusingly quirky old coot? And how bout that local sports team? Discuss among yourselves.
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All names are fake, most places are real, the
author is definitely
unreliable but it's all in good fun. Yep.
© 1998-1999 Lighthouse for the Deaf. All rights reserved and stuff. The motto at the top of the page is a graffito I saw on Brunswick Street in Melbourne. | ||||
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