Alexander M. West

Anderson Quotation

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 20:51:07 GMT

"People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within." - Ramona L. Anderson

Yes We Did

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:37:04 GMT

... Ruth Lowe-Tuitt sums up how I feel today. Amen Ruth, amen.

Rilke Quotation

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:34:25 GMT

"If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the creator there is no poverty and no indifferent place." - Rainer Maria Rilke

This Just In!

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 02:16:59 GMT

Good News for Humans, Bad News for Chickens.

Warning Signs

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 02:13:03 GMT

Celebrity Sightings

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 02:08:06 GMT

Below, Seattle locals are shot with world famous icons Humpty Dumpty and R2-D2:

Apparently even if you can't pick your friends' noses, but popular strangers' are A-OK!

Painting on Cloth

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 01:00:22 GMT

At the Ingenuity Festival in Cleveland a few months back, I saw a painting I really liked:

At first I thought the kimono had been painted by hand, but then realized that it was a fabric pattern and the artist had painted over the fabric leaving "empty" space revealing the pattern beneath. A friend and I agreed this would have looked even cooler if it were used to portray full body tattoos.

Street Art in Cleveland

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:56:16 GMT

There's a great restaurant in Cleveland called Fat Cats. While wandering the neighborhood around it, I found some graffiti that I really liked. I couldn't find a tag for the artist, alas.

I wish I could have gotten the car out of the way.

Diamond Ad

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:46:27 GMT

Huh.

Moster Species Spreads West!

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:42:09 GMT

Bad news folks. You remember when I was in New York last December, and found evidence people were being turned to brass statues by a medusa-like creature? Well, it's not isolated to the East Coast. I recently discovered the Cleveland library is also infested!

The victims may look blissful, but don't be fooled. It probably won't be long now before we're all carrying mirrored shields to save ourselves. Unless we get lucky and the Cascades hold them off...

Mullets and Passion

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:32:14 GMT

A woman last night told me that I was going to grow a mullet. The reason for this is that the hair on my neck grows faster. The reason for THAT is that it is closer to my heart. QED.

Michael Pollan's Food Policy Manifesto

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:11:23 GMT

I never thought I'd find someone outlining a complete revision to the way America produces food moving, but this is. I strongly recommend reading this letter from one of the country's foremost food experts to the next President: Farmer in Chief.

Halloween Plans?

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:49:19 GMT

View Poll: #1271877

Theater I'm Missing

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:34:56 GMT

My friend Andrew Connor sent me an invite to come and see some theater he's doing in Seattle. Unfortunately, I'm out of the city, but I've really enjoyed everything he's done. In case you are in Seattle, and looking for a good time:

‘The Mutant Theatre Caravan’: A traveling road-show of radical performance work from beyond the theatre mainstream

Andrew Connor (The Cody Rivers Show) and Infinity Live have assembled four of the most innovative and daring theatre shows from across the U.S. to tour northwest Washington in the 2008 installment of ‘The Mutant Theatre Caravan’.

Featuring:

‘The Last Hurrah of The Clementines’ by
The Missoula Oblangata (Missoula, MT)

‘Jesus in Montana: Adventures in a Doomsday Cult' by
Barry Smith (Aspen, CO)

'Great Hymn of Thanksgiving/Conversation Storm' by
The Nonsense Company (Madison, WI)

‘Purple Heart’ by
Mike Mathieu (Bellingham, WA) [appearing in Skagit and Bellingham]

‘Murder, Hope’ by
Becky Poole (Seattle, WA) [appearing in Seattle only]

For more info on these shows, please visit: http://infinityliveproductions.com/html/mutant.html

A different double-bill of shows performs each night:
Seattle (at Theatre Off Jackson) - Fri. & Sat., Oct. 3 & 4
Skagit (at The Conway Muse) - Sun. & Mon., Oct. 5 & 6
Bellingham (at the Radio Museum) - Wed.-Sat., Oct. 8 - 11

For schedule and ticket details, please visit: http://infinityliveproductions.com/html/mutant.html

If you go, let me know how it was!

My First Poll

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:27:06 GMT

View Poll: Escape!?

What We Read...

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:15:56 GMT

"What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books."
- Thomas Carlyle

Tidbits of Thought

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:57:22 GMT

Lots to say about Burning Man, just as soon as I find the time to say it.

For now, some thoughts I ran across that I like:

Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain.

The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, the most dangerous plaything. -- Friedrich Nietzsche

Instant Runoff Voting - Political Update (Timely)

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:32:32 GMT

Supporter of Instant Runoff Voting/Ranked Choice Voting,

Through grass roots energy we won a great victory by convincing the King County Charter Review Commission to consider a system which offers voters more voices and choices.

Now we need to follow up on our victory by making sure that the recommendations we worked so hard to secure are carried out by the King County Council.

Because of the testimony of so many of you, we were able to get the King County Charter Review Commission ( an influential advisory body which convenes every decade to recommend changes to the County Charter ) to include language in its May 2008 recommendations to the King County Council requesting that a citizens commission be formed during 2010 to study Instant Runoff Voting/Ranked Choice Voting (IRV or RCV). The Charter Review Commission further recommended that after its year of study, the citizen commission should make a recommendation to the King County Council whether to put IRV on the ballot or not in 2011.

If we can get this recommendation acted upon we have a great chance to get IRV/RCV considered by KingCounty’s voters.

However, this positive recommendation is likely to fall by the wayside unless we make our voices heard to our KingCountyrepresentatives.

Please take the following actions to help ensure that the KingCountycouncil adopts the favorable recommendations regarding IRV/RCV of the Charter Review Commission.

I. Call and/or write your KingCountyCouncil representative this week. Ask them to co-sponsor a resolution urging the adoption of the King County Charter Review Commission with respect to IRV which calls for the formation of a citizen’s commission to study IRV/RCV during 2010.If you don’t know who represents you on the council check the KingCountyhome page and type in your address. That will get you your district number , from there you can find who your representative is along with their contact information.

II. Here are some Good Points to Make in Your Call or Letter ( Of course use your own words)
· RCV is more democratic and representative than our current plurality system because it ensures that the winner is supported by a majority of voters. It encourages higher voter turnout and is a more precise measurement of voter preferences.

· RCV allows people to vote for their preferred candidates without the threat that by doing so they may help elect the candidates they support the least.

· It has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of dollars each cycle by consolidating the low-turnout August primary into the high-turnout general election.

· RCV has proven very popular around the country from Cambridge, Massachusettswhere it has been used for decades, to Burlington, Vermontto San Francisco, where it has earned high voter reviews since being instituted in 2005. In PierceCountyit was supported by a clear majority of the voters when placed on the ballot in 2006. In fact, IRV/ RCV has won in each of the last ten elections where it was placed on the ballot.

· Although we hope that they support IRV/RCV, bringing the Charter Review Commission’s IRV recommendations to the council and voting to adopt them doesn’t necessarily mean that they support the adoption of IRV in King County; it just means they think IRV is worthy of further study. During the Charter Review Commission’s public hearing process more than 20 people testified in favor of the adoption of IRV. This was more than twice the number that spoke about any other issue. Given the broad level of public support here and around the country we should at least give IRV a closer look.

III. Once you have made your call or written your letter, please call or email us to let us know that you did so, and send us any response that you received from the office of your representative.

Thanks !

Joe Szwaja (206) 523-3656; joeszwaja@earthlink.net
President Instant Runoff Voting /Ranked Choice Voting of Washington

Magic in Denver

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 03:56:44 GMT

Well, I'm in Denver playing Magic Again. I got my second ever feature match (I'm so pseudo-famous!) and made the top 64 cut to the second day of the tournament. Yay!

Bedtime, must rest for the next day of the tournament.

Much love to everyone in Seabeck!

Evolution Control Committee

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 05:41:43 GMT

Unfortunately, the Dante production I wanted to say was delayed until September. Fortunately, there was an ear-catching musical group visiting from San Francisco also at the festival. Their only instrument was a Thimbeltron, which I leave it for you to discover the nature of. Here's ~~a song~~ an interesting video of theirs:

Incidentally, these folks run the radio station at Black Rock City.

Pictures!

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:10:28 GMT

Well, it turns out I'm a bit behind on posting the images of my life. Here's a few to catch you up:

1) My brother. The waiter upsold us more naan than we needed, but we weren't going to let it go to waste! Jaunty cheapeau, no? 2) Hanging out with my mother on our hometown beach, waiting for the 4th of July fireworks. 3 & 4) The 4th of July didn't wait for my house, it attacked it! I returned to Seattle from Chicago quite amused to find my house covered in flags, stars, and streamers all celebrating the birth of our nation. 5 & 6) Michelle and I climbing the largest stamp in the world, a lifelong dream of hers.

Ingenuity

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:34:52 GMT

I am now living in Cleveland. I have an apartment and a bed and a TV and a guitar and everything. I had some initial concerns that I was going to have a hard time finding friends or things to do here, but those are melting quickly away. I seem to have more or less struck gold both weekends I've been here, and met a bevy of interesting folks.

This weekend seems to be a particularly lucky weekend to be a newcomer to Cleveland. They are holding the Ingenuity Fest, which is pretty much just a showcase for regional technologists and artists to show off things that they've been working on. Last night I walked into a showcase in which enthusiasts about anything could should 20 slides and get 20 seconds to talk about each slide. Highlights included an art gallery owner giving a rapid social diatribe about Andy Warhol, pop music, the Gap, contemporary art, and McDonalds; a photographer presenting his Mythology series (examples below); and the city's composting crusader talking about the web of life and showing off pictures of worms going through their life cycle (including worm sex)! Also pretty cool was a group of "urban lumberjacks" who go into homes slated to be demolished, cut out all the old growth wood, and then "upcycle" it into beautiful furniture. (I'm shocked to have learned sustainability lingo in Cleveland that I didn't learn in Seattle.)

Anyhow, I found out that a lot of the neat stuff happening in the city is organized by a cabal of young architects, and they taught me the secret handshake. I'm looking forward to seeing what else they get up to.

Tonight I go to see Dante's Inferno done with paper puppets and "handmade special effects inspired by Victorian-era toy theater."

Game Night Tomorrow

Thu, 08 May 2008 01:23:09 GMT

I'm back in Seattle for a little while.

For anyone who's interested: Game Night tomorrow (5/8) at 7:30 PM. I'm going to try to pick up a copy of Agricola, as it sounds really interesting, is well reviewed, and I've never played it before. If anyone has it, they should bring it!

Art in New York

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:49:09 GMT

Hmm, I was going to post a lengthy entry, but I am tired and not feeling well. Instead, here is my new favorite painting in MOMA:

It's good to know there are people out there with my sense of humor to a T.

Philadelphia

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:27:23 GMT

I'm amazingly behind on my blogging, but sometimes the price for a great party must be paid!

When I went to Philadelphia for a Magic tournament last month I was expecting to be unimpressed with the city. I somehow remembered it as being run down, dirty, and not having much to offer other than some historic locations. When my friend Zaiem decided he wanted to go for a walk to get a Philly Cheese Steak I found how wrong I was. The city is clean and covered in beautiful murals:

The next one I have mixed feelings about. The "Vaccinate" message first seems like a public service, until you see who has paid for it:

I was pretty pleased with the path we had followed so far, but had no idea about the treat ahead of us. I was looking at some graffiti on the side of a wall, when Zaiem told me to turn around and I beheld a menagerie of broken mirror pieces, ceramic tiles, colored cement, and paint:

After taking it in for a bit, we continued down the street. We saw another similar styled wall, and then an entire apartment facade in a similar style:

It turns out we had happened upon the studio and surrounding lots of an artist (Isaiah Zagar) who has spent the last decade covering everything nearby in mosaic. The following pictures are all hypertext (a misnomer given their graphical nature!) links to larger versions. They're worth looking at bigger for sure:

My favorite part of the whole place, though, was a 20 foot by 5 foot space between four walls of different buildings. The sunlight reflected off the mirror bits on each wall all the way down. It was wonderful to just stand there in all those shards of light:

So, kudos to Philadelphia. You're much prettier than I thought!

I also played in the largest Magic Tournament ever held in North America and finished 22nd. Fun, fun!