a visual collective outlet of inspiration
coming up with these, double television has the feeling covered
little left to do but make them.
all new york stories, all made up, all happening. for all time. to return to. stop me. by lsd
musings
Guilt Ridden | As it was | Tangle-drain
drawing around to rediscovery. trying to legitimize a known document, or maybe revel in its acknowledgment that extends past those it concerns. that it would be truer then if others agreed. it could congregate so sweetly i would think, cemented as having happened were a record be made easily available to the document in front of us. at once great, and so always so.
then how disappointing to find no such thing. at a grasp only closed doors, something not so quite itself since it lacks the exact piece that makes it whole. that is, the one sought after. burning hay stack like upheaval. nestling itself in disbelief is also anxiety. that we cannot trust our senses, they are unfulfilled by the realization of our mind – nowhere else but here is this true. fact only in presence. the skeptics worst nightmare. do without them, i whisper. then what. you know. such conversation would surely liberate even the most stubborn of grievers.
and i had a lovely evening. i spent it in friendly company. testing each other out – digging deeper outward, and so, in the most revered sense, inward. it could have lasted a second, or kept going into further eternity, without changing its effect. it was perfect. i’m happy to share with others in this solace – that hidden, protected, room. it becomes so much more that way, i think.
and it’ll keep happening for a long while, at least. by lsd
i had to do it to them
we talk about constraints as shape-potential here. we think about what we make, especially when it’s given to us – in a sense. i never wonder about what i don’t do, only what’s yet to be done. so, yesterday i received a package from my printer, and after many mishandled attempts they’ve finally gotten it right. the result speaks for itself. i get to look at my shelf and see the work accomplished so far, with immense pride. it was at one point reviewed by the boss and some crucial feedback led me to tighten my systems down. it pays off i heard. it payed off. breaking into runways. carefully carving the embankment and seeing the stream take shape. managing the estuaries. such and such.
i’m starting a whole new dostoïevski and raking in my good boy points by dutifully tending to my work. so leave me alone. i can’t stand this time you draw for me, let me asphyxiate in my own routine. i’m in full discovery-mode, collection-mode. i got stuff to put away neatly, you’ll see it soon. such and such.
lots of rambling. lots missing here that i’m not saying. but it’s a greater urge than discipline so i ought to leave it here. by lsd
serena williams vs john mcenroe
japanese haitian naomi osaka
something stinks in here!
the irony of it all: at the billie jean king national tennis center
serena williams argues with the chair umpire during the match against neomi osaka at the womens 2018 final in US open.
john mcenroe known for his well tempered manners, gestures angrily at empire joey lessing during a match in new york in 1980 (aka mcenroe pissed!)
lovely naomi osaka wins in not the most idyllic of settings…
at least somebody is happy! not that mcenroe had nice words for serenas game – not if she was to face a male tennis player… let’s make that movie again.
Ill let you all go to town on this. i’m split. rules are rules, you can argue them, try to change them, but while they are there deal with them. then again john and hi boyfriends before serena surely put up a fight much louder and more out of line than her. i was first taking sides with serena but only to be convinced of some doubt otherwise by my female friends!!! you guys duke it over. its a silly social thing… by ac
lessons learned on planet earth
illustration by julie morstad in her great book called milk teeth
“here are a few lessons i’ve learned in my many days on this planet earth. i do love many things about your planet but there are also many things that i dislike. its is not all your fault, so don’t be sad. i think this is how humans are made to behave. i think i will spent more days here, and i will enjoy the many things it has to offer, but i do wish to return to my planet one day. its a bit lonely there but its ok, i have less complications and life is a little easier when you are alone. but here are 3 important things i have observed while being here:
#1-
people in general mean well and they don’t mean to harm one another but they often do. this is not their fault because they can not see the world from another’s eyes. if you are from another planet for example, they don’t simply understand how you see their world. they only see what they can see… only their sadness and their complications. they want you to help them, and of course you do. they want you to be there when they are sad and defeated. but when they are well and good they only want you to be well and good. they have no time for your complications… they already have theirs. and this world of yours has many complication that i did not want to have but now i do too, just like you. but i understand. you have to accept that, and not demand much attention. just go along. just be there for them when they want you. its a fruitless proposition but that is how humans are, even the best ones, and if you must be around them, you have to accept that.
#2-
i learned about love early in my visit. it was quite an interesting experience and i can now see how that basic idea has engulfed your entire population. everything everyone does everyday is to attain that feeling of love. from others, from strangers, from dogs and family and co workers… even from the general public many distences away. everyone is racing and working very hard every day to attain this love. they buy things in order to be loved. they say things in order to attain that love. its peculiar for some one like me. i lived alone, with no one around me. so i couldn’t understand what that was all about. but i now see why… it is a good feeling this love, it’s nice to be loved. but this intangible concept is very vague, even for me. it comes and it goes. it’s there and its not there. it’s like a cloud, even your people who study the clouds can’t tell you much about their destiny or future. just like that they appear and just like that they disappear. i think having experienced this, i know now that it is quite silly and as you say, naive, to want to chase such an ethereal thing. i did not need it or want it before i came here. i will not need it when i leave. but when you are here, you simply get in line with everyone else and follow them in this quest. its funny when you look at this from another view. again its not your fault, maybe you where made this way, or maybe you were conditioned to be this way. for me after i found it and i lost it just once, i realized its not worth the trouble… this is a big ‘complication’… and i understand that you have to live here for ever, so i see why this is so important to you. but my advice, if you plan to be here for long, is to ask yourself why? why such an intangible thing? such an impermanent thing is so important to your kind? especially when you know what i already told you in #1…
#3-
the most difficult complication on your planet comes with visiting your planet for too long. its the realization that what you though was true when you arrived turns out to be false many years later. if i was to see this from my eyes, it would be as if i would live on my planet for many years and one day realize my planet was never there. i would be in space floating alone on no planet at all!! that would be very awkward. and very disorienting. i don’t think i would like that very much. but out here you will have to go through that many times in your life cycle. again my advise to you is to accept this. i know it was not your fault or your choice to be here, but here you are and here it is. its just one of the complication of your kind. if you where me and could see the world from my eyes then you would not be you. so here you are. you! it is best not to take things literally, not to invest in things or people, or do things that require an outcome. of course it is a bit difficult to go about this in this world of yours like this. so you may choose you don’t have to. but if you do, you must be prepared to float in space alone one day. and it will be very awkward.
i hope this is of some help to some of you. this world of yours has many good things, but it also has many complications. it’s one of the more interesting and curious places i have visited. i wish you all very well.” – verbal excerpts from visual drawing in a book called milk teeth. by cm
crayola art series by our cali friend
our west coat designer friend, esai ramirez, had this lovely idea for crayola which made us quite excited, so we asked for his permission to post these. we’d buy a dozen of these today if crayola would have produced them. so listen up crayola!! we suggest you all email crayola and convince them to get their marketing hats on and get ready to sell these at colette, moma stores and anywhere artster-youngsters hang.
first image is the yves klein blues of course (love those) and right above you have the damien hirst chloroform series.
and above we have jen stark followed by josef albers… you can just imagine the range of amazing colors you could come up with and get those drunk kids off of primary colors for a bit. well done esai ramirez. by uh
the history of Afghanistan: bitter lake, a film by BBC’s adam Curtis tracing the story of Islamic state
this is the 3rd time we are embedding this film and it keeps getting taken down (!) you may want to search it on youtube if and when this 3rd copy is taken down again
although “bitter lake”, a film by adam curtis, was produced by the BBC, the content of the film was rather too much for its audience to publicly promote. therefore the film remained in the back logs of their press efforts, and therefore seldom seen.
here is your chance to delve into the history of afganistan, the taliban, and the role saudi arabia and north america played in their faiths. its the story of how the islamic state (IS) was created and why. how fixing one problem, like the spread of communism, could cause to spearhead another one, like the spread of an extremist sect of wahabism (a version of islam created by the saudi elite).
this was achieved by exporting, funding and supporting this ideology to afganistan and beyond. it was done at a time when an evil entity was supported to bring down yet another enemy. of course today we are left to manage the monster we helped create. a good film to see for anyone interested in world affairs, beyond what fox news has to offer. by ac
cool, cool, cool: howdy mr. and mrs. moncler
“i’m gonna ride into omoha on a horse, out to the country club and the golf course,
carrying a new york times, shoot a few holes, blow their minds…”
an “A” for effort, but NEVER carry a long-board around here…
you can call him muffin… oh, and shes just bluffin’
me and muffin! i’m a poet, and i know it…
love these little guys from moncler… but don’t bother lookin’ to buy em like i did yet, they are not available for sale. i had a few pieces of moncler when i was a kid. a blue and red sweater, a doudoune jacket, etc… my parents brought em back from a trip to france and my sister and i skied in em. had no idea what they were, but i remembered those colors and the logo and that stayed in my head until i started seeing every kid on the corner sporting one. i suppose moncler’s are still special if you can navigate your way through a million fake sites, or cough up $1,500 for a polyamide and feather (not all down) jacket at the store, but that’s a steep price when you can get an all down 800fill serious outdoor jacket for $400 or even under $300… i suppose i’m poorer than my parents now, but that’s the new american way that we all voted for! jive credit: bob dylan, ofcourse. by xy
PSA: we interrupt this message to bring you…
before reading this, you should press play on the music clip above to set the mood
we apologize for being off line earlier this week. we would have never guessed it, but someone out there finds us interesting enough to fool around in our dirty underwear. TS was hacked and taken down to china town (sorry, we just like that… ’cause it rhymes). now, of all places to hack, why would anyone bother with our little TS? we feel rather honored and special to be considered as worthy of a cyber attack, especially since we always saw ourselves as being on the wrong side of the tracks too.
the alleged suspect of course had a pseudonym, in line with mr. pink and mr. orange, our friend signed in under mr. lemon.
so here it is: dear mr. lemon, the folks at TS would love to know… sup? we’d love to do an interview with you and hear all about it. we can do this through your mailinator should you free up some time in your busy schedule. we are serious. let us know. lots of love. your friendly folks at TS… by ts
mlk: i’ve been to the mountain top
“i am in no way even attempting to assume that i know anything about the political/social realities at play in the world at the moment, but at quick glance it seems as though violence breeds more violence. the people who changed the world, were the ones who laid down their arms – chose to forgive – to restore – to love – people like jesus, mandela, gandhi, martin luther king.
just before he was assassinated on april 3rd, 1968, martin luther king preached the sermon ‘i’ve been to the mountaintop’. it’s a profound account of hope, amidst despair – where he considers the significance of being born into the turmoil and unrest of the twentieth century. his outlook provides unique context for pain and suffering as he says ‘only when it is dark enough can you see the stars’.
he goes on to say; ‘men for years now have been talking about war and peace. but now no longer can they just talk about it. it is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it’s nonviolence or nonexistence. that is where we are today.’
he modeled a way of non-violence – and it cost him his life.
inspired by his words one night i cut together this clip using old archive footage from the prelinger archives – those words are as poignant today as they were back when he first spoke them – if not more (for me personally at least).”- Salomon Ligthelm
by dd
geek out: and now a few words about pencils and pencil sharpeners
how to sharpen pencils: the el casco pencil sharpener approximate price $400-$600 pending finish
x-acto 1700 series pencil sharpener $30-$50
blackwing dual blade pencil sharpener: this one requires you to 1- sharpen the wood, 2-switch blades to sharpen the lead tip… and now how cool is that? approx $10
the results of the 3 sharpeners on the worlds finest pencil, the blackwing 602 cedar wood pencils, are displayed below
from left to right:
1- using blackwing dual blade pencil sharpener
2- using el casco pencil sharpener
3- using x-acto 1700 series pencil sharpener
there is no question that the middle pencil using the el casco pencil sharpener wins
above the legendary blackwing 602 pencils about $2 a pencil sold in cases of 12
first a little about the pencil: the palomino blackwing 602 are considered the best pencils in the world and have developed a following amongst pencil geeks like us. they are made of cedar wood (easy to sharpen with out causing “chips”) and feature a firm and smooth graphite core that combines lead with wax that helps it deliver on its promise of “half the pressure, twice the speed”. its unique and iconic ferrule allows you to extend and replace its eraser after extensive use or for super nerds to even “hack” their pencil to give it a custom look. erasers come in black, white, red. the pencil was used mainly by artists, writers and musicians and when the pencil was discontinued years ago, known writers such as joseph finder and stephen sondheim tried to convince eberhard faber to continue production or at least said some warm words about the tool they were so used to. while the company says that other pencils with similar leads are available, the devotees are convinced that there is no adequate substitution for the 602s, and we must agree with those devotees.
now a little about the sharpeners used: while the el casco pencil sharpener does an amazing job it takes some getting used to and in my opinion its not worth the cost of $400-600. that said once you get the hang of it it does do an amazing job sharpening the lead to a steady point that makes the nib stronger than any sharpener you’ve seen…. not to mention that it also looks wicked on any desk. but for nearly $600 its disappointing that when you sharpen a pencil some of the dust falls out of the casing in the front area and that the pencil grip in the sharpener damages and marks your pencils stem. it is the best sharpener resulting in the best nib but not $600 better…
the xacto sharpener is in word a piece of “garbage”. very disappointing for a company that is known for making blades. the motor is a DC motor using AC current (meaning its equivelant to a battery powered one) and can barely shave a rod of butter. the weak motor combined with, let’s assume a layman’s pencil, using inferior wood, results in a saw dust hell of a point with chips and dust all around it. not worth the postage we paid.
this brings us to the $10 blackwing sharpener which has 2 blades and openings. one is used to sharpen the wood alone and does not touch the lead point. you then insert it into the 2nd opening and sharpen the lead. i love this sharpener for its detailed attention and simple production cost that makes it cheaper than any other sharpener on the market and resulting in a very acceptable nib. while we purchased all three because we hate pens here we recommend the $10 socialist version over any other. ok so now you know… you can go around and say what complete geeks we are… by uh+kt
rene metge bernard giroux range rover: paris dakar 1981
attention all 5 of you slotcar geeks. MSC competition just sent through photos of their all-new africa legends’ range rover that won the 1981 paris to dakar race. the original range rover that became the legend – JE motors
the MSC competition range rover slotcar features a new 4-wheel-drive mechanism and can be raced on any analog 1:32 track
digital chips can potentially be embedded with some scalpels
the drivers hard at work. built based on the first edition range rover with the iconic headlamps
easy does it… here it is before diddy rode one, and before the unfortunate xenon tail and headlights came into vogue
and the beautiful easy back. they just ruined it from there on…
not sure who is still interested in slotcars but we are… and theres good news… MSC competition has just released their all-new africa legends’ range rover that raced in the 1981 paris to dakar. this makes it the only original series range rover produced for slotscar tracks. until now your only option was the later model (series 2 range rover) featured in that lame james bond movie. lets go back to 1981 for a second. 1981 was only the 3rd time in history of the dakar race, and this range rover was driven by bernard giroux and rené metge (see them inside with the map?). what’s special about this historic car release is that it features the all new MSC dakar chassis which looks awesome on any tracks.
huge drop arm, full suspension and 4WD – detail levels on the resin cast body looks quite acceptable and accurately reflect the tough look and shape of the original range rover series 1. however the green gear wheel sticking out from the original renault chasis is bit of a disappointment and we think this could have been treated in a more elgant manner. but that aside, if you are also a geek… like us… or simply a fan of the original range rover, you’ll enjoy reading this and if you want to put this little one to test you can advance order yours here for 149£. we’d love to get one and test it out next to our citroen 2CV. by uh
