The Absentminded Mirror

New Blog

2009-09-23T17:50:00.000-07:00

Can be found here

I Lost My Appetite Today

2009-05-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

I was heating my lunch in the microwave at work today when it triggered an old memory. In high school I was at a party, where everyone was at the very least drunk, and a friend put the hosts cat in the microwave for just under a minute. I thought it was fucked up then (even though I was attracted to friends that did crazy things back then) bit now that memory disgusts me more; and why I surrounded myself with people like that disturbs me even more today.

Testing out pictobrowser at the NTEN Conference

2009-04-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

Random things I think about when I haven't eaten for over 24 hours

2009-03-17T18:49:00.000-07:00

Two things have held me back (hopefully only temporarily) from conquering the world (at least my little world):

1) My propensity to forget peoples names
2) My lack of focus

Radiohead

2008-06-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

For the Radiohead fans (and gadget heads), yet another Nude remix and video. This one is a little different, and kicks-ass (IMHO) by a group named "1030" who includes: James Houston, Roddy MacNeill, Guy Millward, Alan Moore, & Andy Robertson. Be patient though, it's worth it.

Big Ideas (Don't get any) from 1030 on Vimeo.

I love Flickr!

2008-04-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by Sugar Booger

because you often come across photos like this that make my day! Photo by Chrissy... shirt by ???

madness!

2008-04-29T12:04:00.001-07:00

madness!
Originally uploaded by Oℓivia

This piece that I worked on lives on! Check out Olivia's photostreem on Flickr. She's been doing some interesting collaborations.

What can ruin my day

2008-04-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

My response to an email my mom sent me just now, verbatim:

Mom,

Please stop sending out this intolerant, racist, xenophobic, Muslim hating, and fear mongering propaganda.

I am worried about your subscription this ideology.… Either I have never really known who you really are, or you are becoming a radically different person. I am worried that you may have initially received this email from one of your church friends, and that your new church has sent you down the wrong path.

If I have never known your true beliefs then I really don't know how you ever raised progressive and open minded children when you believe in this right-wing conservative ideology. Maybe you have forgotten that you are the daughter of immigrants whom were confronted by the same hatred when they immigrated to the United States, the same hate as you are spreading in this email. Maybe you forget that this conservative agenda affects our very own ethnic communities in the United States, and even our very own family.

By spreading this email you seek to undermine everything that I believe in, my education, and my work that I do at the Little Tokyo Service Center.

Having now vented, I realize that I should exercise my own tolerance (a quality that your political views seem to lack) and just ask that you don’t send this stuff to me any more.

Steve

jean ****** wrote:
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 10:29:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: jean *******<********@yahoo.com>
Subject: America needs a Leader like this
To: steven************************

>Subject: Few: America needs a Leader like this
>
>
>Prime Minister John Howard - Australia
>
>Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out >of Australia , as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror >attacks.
>
>Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he >supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques. Quote: "IMMIGRANTS, NOT >AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation >worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the >terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of >Australians."
>
>"This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by >millions of men and women who have sought freedom."
>
>"We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, >Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . >Learn the language!"
>
>"Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, >but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this >nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the >walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the >world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.''
>
>"We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept >ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us."
>
>"This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you >every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and >griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly >encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom,
>'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'."
>
>"'If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to >be here. So accept the country YOU accepted."
>
>Maybe if we circulate this amongst ourselves, American citizens will find the backbone >to start speaking and voicing the same truths.
>
>If you agree, please SEND THIS ON.
>

Thoughts on ageing, breaking promises, and running from the cops.

2008-01-09T00:29:00.000-08:00

In my rebellious youth I made my self a promise to never be ticketed for jaywalking. I would rather try to out-run the pigs and get detained for resisting arrest, than get a dumb-ass-ticket for not walking in a manner that the government wants me too.

I think it’s an incredible waste of municipal resources to fine pedestrians for crossing the street when they want, while violent crimes are happening elsewhere in the city. I have also long believed that since everyone already does it, it’s a way for power hungry pigs, to harass and discriminate. In my observations, I have never seen an elderly white woman get a ticket for jaywalking, but it’s always seems to be the Black or Latino male teenager who seems to get ticketed.

Well things have changed. I have become conservative in my old age. Today I crossed the street at a red light. While I was in the middle of the street a cop came around the corner. I was tired, carrying my tripod bag, camera bag, and computer bag for my trip to Puerto Rico; and I decided that today was the day I would be no longer willing to run from a cop. By time I got to the sidewalk I was prepared to try to beg the cop not to give me a ticket. Fortunately the cop didn’t even slow down and drove right past me (which still gives me the option to change my mind about getting old and fulfilling my promise).

I won’t stop jaywalking; I’ll just need to deal with the consequences. Then again, maybe there will be no consequences since I’m now an old man, and not Black or Latino…

But I’m still not white.

sleeeepy

2007-12-10T08:26:00.000-08:00

man, I stayed up til 3:30 am last night trying to finish up a piece for a group show that's due today. In the past I could do it and go to work the next day and not even be phased. But with kids, it's going to take me a week to recover... maybe I'm just getting old.

inspiration

2007-12-09T22:01:00.000-08:00

with the kids it's hard to get out and see art as much as I did before. it seems my only inspiration, or means to look at art, is through Flickr.

Happy People

2007-12-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

I'm often wondering the streets in Little Tokyo going to work, running an errand, or picking up a quick lunch. Usually Japanese tourists, city workers, cops, service workers, and small business owners are scurrying around with blank expressions, and completely oblivious to the homeless person on the corner, and even my curious gaze. I love to observe, and almost always, everyones behavior is predictable. However, maybe about once a month somebody will catch my gaze and smile. So I wonder: is this just a happy person who's not caught up in life's daily monotony? Or are they acknowledging another observer in passing. What ever the reasons, their smile usually makes my day, like today.

My good eats in Little Tokyo

2007-11-20T07:18:00.000-08:00

My aunt emailed me and asked what restaurants I like in Little Tokyo for a friend of hers who's is visiting. Here what I sent her:

Thousand Cranes
120 S Los Angeles St
This restaurant in the New Otani hotel has excellent food but at a price: $$$$. I only come here as someone’s guest.

R-23 Japanese Cuisine
923 E 2nd St Ste 109
This one is actually in the arts district, just a few blocks from Little Tokyo. Great Japanese fusion. Again, I usually can’t afford it so I only come here on special occasions. $$$

Daikokuya
327 E 1st St
My absolute favorite ramen place. I won’t eat ramen anywhere else. I would come here every day except I don’t want to clog my arteries. I’ve waited in line up to an hour trying to get in on busy nights. $

Izayoi
132 S Central Ave
Great food at a good price. The sashimi is delectable! A small but nice restaurant. $$

Suehiro Cafe
337 E First St
This is my Little Tokyo cafeteria. The food is okay (I usually order the bentos), but I find myself eating here a lot. The service is almost always slow. $$

Sushi Gen
422 E Second St
Good sashimi. They have a great lunch special and the portions are definitely American. The wait is often atrocious, and not worth it like Daikokuya. $$

Most of the time on my lunch break I just grab quick eats at either Las Galas, Robecks, La Chicken, and most often Marukai's Market.

Is there a better word for Star-Struck?

2007-11-08T02:38:00.000-08:00

Random ramblings on stardom when I can’t sleep.

Growing up in Los Angles it’s easy to be desensitized with the Hollywood machine and its byproducts, namely the “star”. They scurry on the same freeways I drive on, they collect things at the same stores I shop at, they feed at the same restaurants I eat at, they’ve shared the same incubators where I’ve studied at, they stare at the same moving images (and show off their pink sequined studded g-strings) at the VC Film Fest, and they’ve even played stupid drinking games with me the watering holes that I drink at. So when I cross paths with a “star” I’m usually more impressed with the random rodent in Chinatown.

This evening my wife and I had a friend come over to watch the kids so we could see a late night screening of PUBLIC ENEMY: WELCOME TO THE TERRORDOME, as part of the AFI film festival. Unfortunately, the film missed many marks to explore the impact of their music with the people should really count, and it was unclear what the film was trying to achieve. Yes, it was enjoyable, but it seemed like it was shot from the POV of a groupie.

To my surprise it turned out to be the world premier of the film and with that, as we sat in the theater right next to a throng of hip-hop stars. Directly behind me, and occasionally bumping my seat was Cool Mod Dee, directly behind my wife was Nas, and one more down him was Flavor Flav, who kept spilling pop-corn on a friend of ours (thanks for saving us those seats)! Further behind them sat Chuck D, and the rest of the Public Enemy crew. I was star-struck, or at least I thought I was. I was in awe to be in the presence of some of the people who first introduced me to art as social critique and resistance.

By time the Q&A started and the stars came out on stage we had to hurry home to relieve our friend of the now sleeping kids. On the way out of the theater I ran into an old friend who I went to school with and used to DJ my house parties. He has since become a “star” and is at the top of his field where he deserves to be (he always had the talent, but now he also has the fame). I said a quick hello and introduced him to my wife. There was a moment of disappointment when I realized that he might have not remembered my name, or even who I was, and I awkwardly said goodnight.

But alas this is Los Angeles, the land of plastic, and old friends move on and fame comes and goes. And while I was walking with my wife to the car I began to ponder whether I had finally become star-struck with Public Enemy. I was someone who admired their work and their impact on my life. Their fame had little to do this. I was both excited and honored to be in the same place sitting next to some of the people who have influenced a generation more that I could ever dream of doing with my own work. I concluded that what I as feeling was far from being star-struck, but an artist who appreciated their impact, and I could retain my self-imposed title of a native Angelino who could give a rats-ass about stars. But after this revelation, I had to ask myself: why then did I try to add Carson Daily as a friend on Facebook a day before when I did a search for High School classmates.

As for Lucas, the DJ standing outside the theater, maybe he didn’t want to remember that he used to DJ my small house parties, sometimes just for a friend who could only provide him with a meal at the end of the night. Maybe all he needs to remember is where he is headed, not how he got there. And if so, hopefully he didn’t remember that I still owed him a dinner for a party he DJ’d over 10 years ago. And finally, what’s so bad about being star-struck in this media saturated society, and why am I hating on others and myself for being so?

Going through some old documents on my computer Part II

2007-11-05T02:15:00.000-08:00

Again, old writings from my MFA program, probably 8 years old. Can anyone guess who I was reading? :)

Thoughts on Nietzsche, Art, and Moon Travel

Oh what a grand performance it would be to catapult myself to the moon and return in one piece in the name of art! And its grandness is not relegated to the mere spectacle of the event, but in my will to power, my vision, my ability to act out such an absurd notion... Just because I can! For if a cow can jump over the moon, surely I can at least, if not jump over, be able to jump on the moon and poke the man in the eye! But I may need some help to get there, for I have tried with a running start, and cannot leave but three feet off the ground. Shall I summon the slaves to all gather and throw me to the moon? Or have they all become ill with sickness? Or shall I summon god’s Oedipal child who goes by the name of science?

But what A grand performance it was on July 20, 1969! For scientists, those seekers of truth, their numbers worked out (lucky maybe). But even more of an accomplishment the human nature’s ‘will to power’ has once again affirmed and asserted itself onto the moon. What does it matter that those petty scientists who have helped us with our feat have stolen the credit away from such a splendid triumph of human creativity. This performance, I argue is undoubtedly a work art.

Going through some old documents on my computer

2007-11-05T02:11:00.000-08:00

Here's a list that I wrote for a quick artist statement almost 9 years ago when I was getting my MFA. I must have been influenced by Hegelian Dialectics, and it's kinda of strange to read now. It was a precursor to my MFA thesis. I kind of don't REALLY want people to read it for fear of what it says about me, then and now, but here it is anyway:

10 Reasons Why I Couldn’t Sleep Last Night
May 2, 1999

1. I didn’t drink my self to sleep or take sedatives

2. Tried to figure out whether the relationship between a human cell and it’s mitochondria is mutually beneficial or exploitative by nature.

3. Too busy thinking and forgot to masturbate.

4. Tried to figure why people expect change from a vending machine, and not a pay-phone.

5. What ant mounds would look like if the worker ants liberated themselves and became individuals.

6. Tried to figure out why George Washington was in the dictionary and not the chancellor of the Third Reich.

7. Tried to imagine the world without war and destruction.

8. Tried to imagine the Galapagos Islands without it’s diversity in finches.

9. Tried to understand Lisa Mihm’s relationship with chicken trucks and time travel.

10. Tried to understand the relationship between both monks and masturbation; and rocketry and rape.

Man, I hate working on the weekends

2007-11-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

But things need to get done. By time I get home the kids should be talking a nap. Can't wait to hug them.

Shootings

2007-10-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday when I went to pick up the kids from daycare the staff handed me two notices. One was a notice that there was a shooting right in front of the daycare and that none of the children were injured. This morning my wife got mad at me for not reading the second notice asking us to send cookies with the kids for a Halloween activity today.

I wish I did these

2007-10-17T01:35:00.000-07:00

DSCN3931
Originally uploaded by astrobuddha

There was a time that I would have. Now I just sit in my armchair and watch and reminisce and dream. Maybe after the kids get older I can go out and risk getting arrested again.

These have been posted around Little Tokyo. At one point they were hard to miss. Job well done to whomever put them up, I'll be waiting for more.

DSCN3930
Originally uploaded by astrobuddha

Yay! My first post

2007-09-26T11:22:00.001-07:00

Does this mean that I'm a blogger now?