1985 - 2009

Dear Broken Friend,

I knew you in the days of strapping on proton packs and rolling around in the grass wearing Halloween masks. Enjoying the freedom that only youth could provide, we cavorted about our earliest days with impassioned exuberance for the imagined. We romanticized adventure and played out our endless dreams in the fields of childhood and hoped that one day we might live through to see such impossibilities with our own eyes. A man flying caped through the sky, a dinosaur hidden in the trees, a radioactive spider and a mutated strand of DNA; these were our realities, however fantastic they were.

Living through childhood with you was the most thrilling experience I can now imagine, and only now have I been able to tug at some of those memories I'd thought forgotten. So often did it seem that days of my life, nearly every day in fact, revolved around getting home as quickly as possible so that I may find myself at your front door in an effort to pick up where the previous outing left off. We would start stories for ourselves that lasted for days, unfolding in ridiculously epic fashion, oftentimes ending right where we started in an effort to replay the joy again. In these days that now find worrisome thoughts about the so-called tangibles that make modern adulthood possible, it is easy to lose sight of those things that made those days as joyful as they were. I now know that there will always be a place in my heart for those times and that imagination.

We were brothers, Jonathan, though not in the traditional sense. We shared siblings and parents, possessions and rooms, everything that made up our young lives. You were always there for me, and I was there for you. You had a family that loved and admired you for yourself. You had your mother's laugh and your fathers looks; you had your brothers' attention and admiration, and you had your imagination. That is what I will always remember you for. During the Spring of our lives we dreamt up the greatest childhood anyone could have had through the seasons of youth and I'm now only sad that we'll not be able to dream up an Autumn together as well.

We'll always love you and miss you.

Your friend,

Kyle

End of Summer

Sometimes I think, Thank God for Summer. Everything seems much more relaxed during the few months that call the season their home, there's usually a vacation involved and the sun, oh the glorious sun. This Summer however, the prevailing phrase emblazoned on my frontal lobe has been Damn Summer. At this point, on this last day of the season I feel like it's okay to say, because here in Austin it's been too long and too hot.

Now the beginning of the season was great, don't get me wrong.

One of the more productive things to have come from the Summer of 09 hasn't been been musically related ["popular music" is driving me crazy right now -- lo-fi, wtf?] or creatively driven [about three things really to be proud of]. No, more than anything this Summer's joy has been derived from the resurgence of Summer Reading, and this year I think I've had the most productive stretch of reading since High School. Granted, there've been a few fluffs in there, but for someone that has always had an incredibly difficult time finishing a book, oftentimes starting a whole new one before I'm halfway through the first, this has been fun.

Let's review shall we?

Michael Crichton - Travels -- wonderfully exciting true tales from the only non-fiction book Crichton wrote [to my knowledge]. It starts with his journey through medical school and into his life travelling the world. You can see how his real life experiences provided fodder for his great life's work as a novelist. Incidentally, the only book I didn't finish this summer, but will end the season trying my damnedest.

Jules Verne - The Mysterious Island -- coming off reading of some of Crichton's adventures, I picked up a book I had started a year ago on a family vacation to Oahu. During the first go through, I got about 100 pages in. At this second attempt, all 629 pages went down in a blaze of glory. I felt like I was in 5th grade again reading Verne. The love of adventure and nature and science combined tugs at those strings attached to your heart, the ones in control of youthful exuberance and naive optimism. This novel wouldn't last a day if it had come out in our current decade, which is why it was a joy to read. There's hope for the world in Verne's Universe.

Ok trying to piece these all together is a little harder than I thought. I think we next move onto:

Jean-Dominique Bauby - The Diving Bell and The Butterfly -- what an unbelievably uplifting book, especially when compared to the tragic situation the man had to live through in the short time the book was written. It has stuck with me, this odd idea of feeling completely consciously liberated in your mind, yet trapped in your body. This is "locked in syndrome", and rather than go mad, Bauby wrote a book. You've probably seen the movie, and if you have before reading the book, like me, you'll undoubtedly find it impressing on you even more. After reading this book you'll want to craft your life into the best work of art possible.

Steve Martin - Born Standing Up -- I've always thought of Steve Martin as a total goober. Sure I enjoyed his movies like Three Amigos, and The Jerk, but I enjoyed them as a kid. I had no idea what Martin was ever trying to get at with his humor [ok so Three Amigos might not have the deepest underlying current]. Needless to say, the man is hilarious and he is probably one of the smarter entertainers around. The book chronicles his attempt at StandUp comedy fame, from his childhood in Waco, Tx to his formidable years in LA, jobs at Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm, to his inevitable celebrity. There's really not much more to say than, the book will make you fall in love with Steve Martin's genius [if you aren't already], watch all of his films [if you haven't already, and yes, you can skip most of this decade's work, save Shopgirl], and buy all of his comedy albums [if you haven't already... btw, he's got some of the best punchlines I've ever heard].

I might be missing one in here, but I'm pretty sure from here it's:

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -- My girlfriend convinced me to start reading this after we'd gone to see Half-Blood Prince in the theaters. I was kind of surprised at my enjoyment of it. I've seen all the films to date and have really loved everything about them so far. The world is one that is easy to find yourself lost in, and that's all you really need. The anglophile in me loves the thought of Britain's popculture seen through the eyes of a wizard, and I won't lie: the scenery of snow in my mind, while lying in bed on a Texas summer night does wonders. So the fluff took over and I blew this out in a few days and moved onto...

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets -- again, not much to be said about these other than, once you finish one, you gotta move on. That said, this was a great one, liked it more than the first, and from all I've heard, they just keep getting better. So, after two books in a matter of 2-3 weeks I had to move on for a bit. Nothing against Harry & Co., but I needed a break from witchcraft for a while, which led me to the start of the summer.

Michael Crichton - Jurassic Park -- ever since picking up Crichton's travelogue there's been a nagging urge to pick up one of his books again and just eat it up. So I did, and for my choice I went with Jurassic Park, a book that my 7th grade teacher is pretty sure I read based on the spotty book report I put together after listening to the abridged book on tape back in Junior High. So I picked it up and finished it a couple days ago, and I must say, I enjoyed it more now than I sort of did then. Funny that I read The Lost World [Crichton's sequel, not Doyle's adventure] in 6th grade and finished it in two days, without reading the first. But I'm glad I did. And now, still enthralled by Crichton's style, I'm headed back to where the summer started, on this last day of summer, to try and get through a few more of his travels before the beginning of Fall.

How was your summer?

iNudge

holy s. I can now finally make that electronic album I've always wanted. Thanks to the glorious/terrible creation that is iNudge, I will now never get any work done.

I call this one, "Green + Wood" -- hit play in the bottom right corner please

Random Act of Art: Journal Edition

from the doodled journals of myself...

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As a P.S. - - I love planning Halloween costumes 2 months in advance.
I've got this years completed save for one rare and possibly costly prop.

What I Need

Found a new blog, by Jonathan Burton, an illustrator.

The post titled Rain just hit me with a serious laugh, and it's got me seriously planning out my activity during the next rain here in Austin [whenever it may come]

Check out: A Break From The Heatwave...

I want to start doodling even more now