Audiences

Clockwise from top left: Fate, Forgiveness, Subjectivity, the Ocean.

Damien Hirst has created a pickled unicorn

First off, I kind of wish I could afford to buy something at this auction, specifically the unicorn.
Secondly, I definitely recommend seeing Hirst's preserved tiger shark (titled "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living")the next time you're in the MET.

Cat Fight

Two fat 'n spoiled cats locked in an epic battle for the LazyBoy.

Before we start ...

Browsing through an old notebook (early summer 07) I discovered some scrawled, early morning notes on what I consider to be the finest dream I've ever had:

I'm sitting in the lobby of a college dormitory. It's the first day of fall semester and students are checking in, moving boxes, nervously getting acquainted. I'm sitting with a friend (who?) watching the freshman and discussing which new friendships and relationships will last and which are destined to be forgotten by mid-semester.

The whole scene makes me very, very sad and I wander off by myself and sit on the tile floor. I continue watching the students move in and I notice a girl sitting on the opposite side of the lobby.

Just sitting. All moved in? Bored?

Long, unruly brown hair hides her face. I can only see her mouth; she half smiles and waves me over. I get up and walk towards her. We're both standing now and I reach up to touch her face. She stops my hand but keeps smiling (same half smile).


Then she says, "before we start, touch my lips and whisper 'cigarette'"

To Know Thyself, Know Thy Family

I recently sent a letter to my maternal grandmother. My mother has always been vague and dodgy about her side of the family, and I've never had any quality sit-down time with any of her relatives, so I was curious. I received a phone call not three days thereafter and had a wonderful conversation with my grandmother. I learned that her grandparents were Lithuanian (paternal) and Ukranian (maternal) Jews who came to America in the late 1800s. I also learned that my grandmother divorced my grandfather, Jim, 11 years before he died at the age of 65 and 10 years before I was born. He was a heavy smoker and suffered from severe hypertension. But perhaps most interesting, I learned that my second cousin once removed (my great-great-grandmother is his great-grandmother) is Dr. Richard Alpert, better known as Baba Ram Dass. He was a psychology professor at Harvard University in the early 1960s and happened to work side-by-side with Timothy Leary. He also ended up writing a book called Be Here Now in 1971. Here's a clip of Ram Dass in 2005 (he had a stroke in 1997, hence his dramatic pauses):

Strangely, I actually picked up his book in the Strand several weeks ago before knowing any of this and I almost bought it. Life is pretty crazy.