new mexico part 2

new mexico

virginia does not have a lot of toothpicks walking around

cool designer reuben reuel:

le black power

(via ace hotel)

carrie mae weems

© Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

excellent lenny interview with photographer carrie mae weems:

I realized at a certain moment that I could not count on white men to construct images of myself that I would find appealing or useful or meaningful or complex. I can’t count on anybody else but me to deliver on my own promise to myself. I love Fellini. I love Woody Allen. I love the Coen brothers, but they’re not interested in my black ass. They’re simply not interested. They have no sense that … We don’t even occur to them as subjects. We don’t even occur to them as a viable fucking subject. Not to even say hi to. That’s how distant we are from their fucking imaginations. I can’t count on them to do my job. I just can’t count on them. I can’t count on them to play fair. I can’t count on them to think about me in any sort of serious way, because it’s clear that they don’t.

I look at it as unrequited love. You know? I love them, but they ain’t thinking about me. It’s not really a complaint. It’s just the reality. I build a form for myself that don’t exist anyplace else.

maybe i AM

Illustration by Joe Mckendry

from gq’s “encyclopedia of matt damon”:

[Stephen] Soderbergh: When [Matt] hit us on the Ocean’s set, he said, “I really feel like I’ve kind of lost my mojo.” He’d just come off a couple movies that didn’t work commercially [All the Pretty Horses and The Legend of Bagger Vance], and they were not finished with Bourne—they were gonna go back and reshoot more after we wrapped. And I remember George [Clooney] and I saying, “We can do that with this. You’re going to have a blast.”

Damon: I showed up like a drowned rat and just stumbled into the room [with Steven] and George. Steven says, “This is the movie where you’re gonna get your mojo back.” And they had a big party because it was the “We have arrived in Chicago” party. They rented out a bar with the whole crew. And then we shot the next day, and then they rented out a bar and had a huge “We’re leaving Chicago” party. And I’m like, “Wow, maybe I am gonna get my mojo back on this shoot.”

birthday recap

highlights of the 42nd birthday celebration (damn son am i old?):

• mom being here
• mom flirting with our waiter dirk at stellina (!!!!!)
• cashiolas in town
• PRESENTS IN GENERAL, LET’S BE REAL, I JUST LOVE THEM
• teddy being the belle of the ball at the lost horse
• birthday walks with clyde, teddy, and my mom at vizcaino park, where i used to go all the time but then abandoned/forgot about, but it’s not too shabby, and it’s empty! especially good when overcast. (but isn’t everything)
• speaking of, all this cloudy weather — i actually think this may be contributing to my general sunny outlook
• homemade vanilla milkshakes at cobra rock!!!!!!!!!
• homemade bread from suzy!!!!!!
• milk bar cookbook and milk bar cookie cake (though had a head cold and couldn’t taste much, so that was sort of dumb but a good non-painful way to share)
• staying at the hotel saint george for free!!!!!!!
• taking a bath (with homemade bath salts) at the hotel WHILE drinking a margarita AND watching the office on my phone (the coolest thing about life is that you think you don’t like something [baths] but then have to adjust [because you only have a bathtub in your house] and then feel fondly about the thing you thought you hated and then you move into a new house that only has a shower and baths become a little jewel that you didn’t expect)
• remembering that the office is great
• taking my birthday off facebook — birthday wishes from nice people is always cool but also just was stressing me
• not getting to do exactly what i wanted to do on my birthday (sleep in, lie around in bed for a 1000 hours reading and watching tv and doing crosswords and not having to clean up or entertain anyone), but realizing that going with the flow can be equally satisfying (or differently satisfying)
• just feeling very mellow and happy in general these days, who can explain it

big news

ordered new deodorant; will keep you posted

no is a full sentence

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen on Their Elizabeth and James Store Opening:

so i headed for the ditch

while working at cobra rock, been playing a lot of neil young records (streaming on youtube in full) (god bless youtube). while catching up at mark richardson, ran across this article about young’s album, tonight’s the night, which i wasn’t familiar with:

While he always excelled at this style, Young’s approach to songwriting was about to shift drastically. “‘Heart of Gold’ put me in the middle of the road,” he famously wrote of Harvest’s big single in the liner notes to his 1977 collection Decade, perhaps thinking of his album in the bins next to those by massive sellers by Cat Stevens and Carole King. “Traveling there soon became a bore, so I headed for the ditch.” Tonight’s the Night, a noisy, harrowing scrape along the guardrail that sends sparks flying upward, was Young’s most moving dispatch from his chosen place.

and:

But in the end, Tonight’s the Night is really a record about life. Like a drunk at the end of a long night or a boxer barely on their feet, the record staggers, stumbles, and lunges forward; it’s prevailing mode is “unsteady.” Nothing lands where it should, and it feels like it could collapse at any moment. But while a lurching gait can be a marker of damage or dysfunction, it can also be a sign of defiance. Because some force, whether it’s from outside or it’s something you bring on yourself, is trying to cripple you. But guess what: you’re still standing.