August 31, 2005
Meanwhile...
In other douche news:
Turns out the lyrics to the classic (?) song "Blinded by the Light" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band read
"Revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night"
and not
"Racked up like a douche,
a no la na na na na night"
like I always thought.
Who knew?
"...a no la na na na na night..."
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 8:43 PM
My (gulp) favorite word.
***If you are easily offended please do not read any more of this post***
Today I realized I am using the term "douchebag" with frightening regularity. I was on the road all day today, making deliveries, and as I said it for perhaps the twentieth time I realized that this word, "douche," spills from my mouth literally dozens of times per day, in various incarnations. It is almost an involuntary reflex for me, mostly while I'm in traffic, or watching a mindless television show. Some dumb, unpleasant, or frustrating thing will happen, and the pressure begins to build until it finally pours from my mouth: douche, douchebag, mother of douche, I hate you douche, douchebreath, douchemonkey, douchebucket, doucheldorf, douche it out, I can bag it, I can bag it, etc. After an episode resembling this there is a palpable release, a clarity. Plus, douche is a super cool word to say, or shout, or to disguise in a raspy cough.
Do I have Tourette's Syndrome, like that poor charactor in Jonathon Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn? I hope so. At least that would give me an excuse, an explanation. I could sit down to Thanksgiving dinner and say "Get the douche out of my face," and my family would smile and look knowingly at one another, and they would think to themselves 'How nice to have Josh home for the holidays, even if he is Tourettic,' rather than, 'Who is this monster at my table.' I might try to get my doctor to give me an official Tourette's diagnosis; a blank check, a lottery of sorts.
Well, in the spirit of this self-realization here are some old douche ads.
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 5:44 PM
August 30, 2005
The distant evening view when the weather has cleared
All this news about Katrina and her path of destruction made me think of this poem by the Chinese poet Wang Wei (AD 699-761):
The sky has cleared and there is the vast plain
And so far as the eye can see no dust in the air
There is the outer gate facing the ford
And the village trees going down to the mouth of the stream
The white water shining beyond the fields
The blue peaks jutting behind the hills
This is no time for leisure on the land -
All hands at work in the fields to the south.
I worked with The Salvation Army a few years ago, and know that they and Red Cross both do a tremendous amount to help flood victims in these situations. Please consider helping those devastated by Katrina by donating money or volunteering your time to these or other organizations. Thanks.
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 3:39 PM
August 29, 2005
Is Chattanooga Overdesigned?
In his 2002 book The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida predicts “An anti-design-city movement,” and that “A kind of cultural backlash against the idea of a ‘design city’ is very likely.” He continues, “The more insightful architects and designers I meet think the city is too designed – there isn’t enough space for people, for spontaneous creativity. The danger with an overdesigned city is that it squeezes out the space for spontaneous bottom-up creativity and social innovation.”
I think Chattanooga may be going through this ‘cultural backlash’ lately, and I’m wondering whether it’s because Chattanooga is overdesigned, or because Chattanooga is wrongly designed? I think many aspects of this backlash are because Chattanooga is growing and becoming more culturally complex, and maybe one “design studio” can’t speak for everyone. But what I feel is primarily wrong with downtown’s design is that it is designed around its visitors rather than its inhabitants. There is an element of ‘fakeness’ about it that seems to go with any city that survives primarily from its tourist economy, i.e. Gatlinburg, Branson, Las Vegas, etc., and I think we need to decide whether the city is first home or hotel, and then design from there.
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 9:59 PM
AOL Loves Me
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 4:43 PM
Katrina, Fallen Building
Still can't stop 70's model Chevy in downtown New Orleans.
The thing's lights are still on.
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 3:06 PM
August 28, 2005
Still the soundtrack of my summer
And probably the soundtrack to my fall.
If you haven't yet heard the latest album from Sufjan Stevens, Come on feel the Illinoise, do yourself the favor of buying a copy -- it is probably THE ALBUM of 2005 and I am not alone in this. If you've not heard Sufjan at all check out The Lord God Bird (download it here), a song he recorded for NPR. I'm still listening to Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production of Eggs - another great album of 2005, the 6-CD gospel collection Goodbye, Babylon on Dust-to-Digital Records that is completely badass, and lately getting into the French singer Edith Piaf, Nina Simone, Charlie Christian, and the Louvin Brothers.
What are you guys listening to?
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 11:30 PM
Katrina
This thing looks big and mean -- might be the one that floods Nawlins.
Here is the latest NOAA storm advisory:
WTNT32 KNHC 282041
TCPAT2
BULLETIN
HURRICANE KATRINA ADVISORY NUMBER 24
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
4 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005
...POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC HURRICANE KATRINA HEADED FOR THE
NORTHERN GULF COAST...
A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE NORTH CENTRAL GULF COAST
FROM MORGAN CITY LOUISIANA EASTWARD TO THE ALABAMA/FLORIDA
BORDER...INCLUDING THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS AND LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN.
PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE COMPLETED THIS
EVENING.
A TROPICAL STORM WARNING AND A HURRICANE WATCH ARE IN EFFECT FROM
EAST OF THE ALABAMA/FLORIDA BORDER TO DESTIN FLORIDA...AND FROM
WEST OF MORGAN CITY TO INTRACOASTAL CITY LOUISIANA.
A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS ALSO IN EFFECT FROM DESTIN FLORIDA
EASTWARD TO INDIAN PASS FLORIDA...AND FROM INTRACOASTAL CITY
LOUISIANA WESTWARD TO CAMERON LOUISIANA.
FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE
INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED
BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.
AT 4 PM CDT...2100Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE KATRINA WAS LOCATED
NEAR LATITUDE 26.9 NORTH... LONGITUDE 89.0 WEST OR ABOUT 150 MILES
SOUTH OF THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
KATRINA IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST NEAR 13 MPH...AND A GRADUAL
TURN TO THE NORTH IS EXPECTED OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS. ON THIS
TRACK THE CENTER OF THE HURRICANE WILL BE NEAR THE NORTHERN GULF
COAST EARLY MONDAY. HOWEVER...CONDITIONS ARE ALREADY BEGINNING TO
DETERIORATE ALONG PORTIONS OF THE CENTRAL AND NORTHEASTERN GULF
COAST...AND WILL CONTINUE TO WORSEN THROUGH THE NIGHT.
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 165 MPH...WITH HIGHER GUSTS.
KATRINA IS A POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE ON
THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN STRENGTH ARE LIKELY
UNTIL LANDFALL. KATRINA IS EXPECTED TO MAKE LANDFALL AT CATEGORY
FOUR OR FIVE INTENSITY. WINDS AFFECTING THE UPPER FLOORS OF
HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS WILL BE SIGNIFICANTLY STRONGER THAN THOSE NEAR
GROUND LEVEL.
KATRINA IS A LARGE HURRICANE. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD
UP TO 105 MILES FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS
EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 230 MILES. SUSTAINED TROPICAL STORM FORCE
WINDS ARE OCCURRING OVER THE SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA COAST. SOUTHWEST
PASS...NEAR THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER...RECENTLY REPORTED
SUSTAINED WINDS OF 48 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 53 MPH.
A NOAA HURRICANE HUNTER PLANE REPORTED A MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE OF
902 MB...26.64 INCHES.
COASTAL STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 18 TO 22 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE
LEVELS...LOCALLY AS HIGH AS 28 FEET...ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS
BATTERING WAVES...CAN BE EXPECTED NEAR AND TO THE EAST OF WHERE THE
CENTER MAKES LANDFALL. SOME LEVEES IN THE GREATER NEW ORLEANS AREA
COULD BE OVERTOPPED. SIGNIFICANT STORM SURGE FLOODING WILL OCCUR
ELSEWHERE ALONG THE CENTRAL AND NORTHEASTERN GULF OF MEXICO COAST.
RAINFALL TOTALS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES...WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF
15 INCHES...ARE POSSIBLE ALONG THE PATH OF KATRINA ACROSS THE GULF
COAST AND THE TENNESSEE VALLEY. RAINFALL TOTALS OF 4 TO 8 INCHES
ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE OHIO VALLEY INTO THE EASTERN GREAT LAKES
REGION TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY.
ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE BEGINNING THIS EVENING OVER
SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF LOUISIANA...MISSISSIPPI...AND ALABAMA...AND
OVER THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE.
REPEATING THE 4 PM CDT POSITION...26.9 N... 89.0 W. MOVEMENT
TOWARD...NORTHWEST NEAR 13 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...165 MPH.
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE... 902 MB.
AN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE
CENTER AT 7 PM CDT FOLLOWED BY THE NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY AT 10 PM
CDT.
FORECASTER PASCH
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 6:28 PM
August 26, 2005
2 Great Chairs
I love chairs, plain and simple, especially comfortable, stylish, and affordable ones. Here are two that I heartily endorse.
This is the "Oh" chair designed by the Egyptian designer Karim Rashid for Umbra in 1999. The materials are simple -- the seat is molded plastic and the legs are steel -- but the design is nice, it is incredibly comfortable, and very affordable too (usually about $40 or $50). They work well outside, at an informal dining table, or as an 'anywhere' chair. They are pretty easy to find on the web (don't know if anyone in Chattanooga carries them) and many retailers offer a deal of sets of four.
This classic, often imitated chair is one of my all time favorites. It is the "Variable Balans" chair designed by the Norwegian designer Peter Opsvik for Stokke. The design came out about thirty years ago and they are still in production, but for some reason they are hard to find in the states. If you've ever used a "kneeling chair" you know how great they are for your back and neck; this is the original and, in my opinion, the very best -- especially for long hours at a desk or in front of a computer. I'm not sure if there is a US distributor for Stokke products anymore, but this chair is worth hunting for. New they run about $250 - $300, but you can often find them on eBay for around $100 or less. Just make sure it's a real Stokke.
That's all for me tonight. Have a great Friday night, ya'll!
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 6:28 PM
August 25, 2005
Darn Close to my Dream House
I've developed an interest in modern architecture over the last few years, but like most don't have millions of dollars to build with. The Flat Pak House might be the answer. It is made of modular prefab components and runs around $130-$150 PSF. The system was designed by Charlie Lazor who also is a designer with Blu Dot which makes super cool furniture, some of it available through Target. You can find a great piece on the Flat Pak system in the April/May 2005 issue of Dwell magazine, or check out the Flat Pak website.
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 11:18 PM
The Man on the Curb
I left my apartment in Fortwood yesterday to run errands around three in the afternoon. I rolled down Palmetto Street and hit a red light at McCallie Avenue. I was impatient as usual, and cursed the car in front of me for wanting to turn left. I was turning right and could’ve turned on red if not for the Honda in front of me rhythmically blinking left, left, left. Then I saw him there: a black man whose age was not discernable sitting on the curb opposite The Salvation Army. He was barely a hundred pounds, wearing dirty jeans, soiled gym socks with no shoes, and a t-shirt that had been white at one time, but was now gray and darkly stained with dirt, sweat, blood, vomit, snot, tears, and who knows what else. He sat on the curb almost motionless, with a small plastic bag knotted beside him. His trembling hands pulled at the bottom of his dingy shirt and his small face, wrinkled with deep trenches, looked down intensely examining it, as if the dirty streaks on his shirt could somehow give him answers – answers to why he was there on the curb, why he had no shoes, where God was.
Continue reading "The Man on the Curb"
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 8:14 PM
August 23, 2005
My sweat, my prison
More than almost anything I wish to step outside and not sweat. We should have a national holiday to celebrate and remember the great American hero Willis Haviland Carrier, who in 1902 bestowed upon mankind the greatest gift in history: air-conditioning. Everyone and everything without it weeps with perspiration in the sweltering heat, suffocated by their own dank fog. Even the yellow-gray weeds and marble buildings sweat and saturate the sky, which like anything else can take only so much. Finally, writhing, it pours our sweat back upon us, and this of course makes everything sweat even more. It is the origin of the ocean, and why it is so vast and salty, for it was merely a puddle before billions of summers such as these. I perspire and I persevere, with eyes fixed on the horizon, for I know that the first days of fall will feel better than falling in love.
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 3:15 PM
First Blog Post
I’m sure blog posting will eventually become natural to me. I might occasionally even post something insightful, interesting, or important, only that will not happen today. Since I still have these images fresh on my mind, and need to write something down just to get acquainted with the movable type software and such, I’ll recount a dream I had just before waking this morning:
It was a fairly ordinary dream, for me anyway. I was inside one of my many dream houses which all feel very familiar yet very unfamiliar. This house, which I had visited many times in previous dreams, seemed to belong to my grandmother, or perhaps an aunt. I was drifting toward the upstairs bedroom, which is also a library of sorts, for it has dark wooden bookcases filled with jacketless hardcovers that nearly reach the ceiling, and a little ladder on casters beside the enormous bed. I was apprehensive, my dream heart racing. All the other times I found myself in this room some unseen force thrashed me about like a doll. I wanted to turn back, but still I drifted forward as if sitting in a log flume. Once inside two enormous black doors crashed shut behind me and the trouncing immediately commenced - I was thrown to the floor, and hurled violently against the bookcases, even flung to the ceiling where I hung for a few seconds before thudding back to the ground. I lay in this undignified position for a long moment - balled-up and cowering, quivering hands covering clenched eyes - until a spark of anger ignited a raging fire in my chest. I stammered to my feet and told the unseen force to piss off, that its presence was a nuisance, and that if it didn’t stop messing with me I was going to kick its invisible ass. The double doors then slowly creaked open and I strode confidently out of the room and down the stairs. I was hungry now and made my way to the kitchen (I know where all the kitchens are in my dream houses). In the kitchen, in this particular dream, a five or six piece mariachi band just happened to be playing to a small group of enthusiastic people in their 40's and 50's, none of whom I recognized. I suppose I could have pulled up a chair and watched, but evidently I'm not particularly fond of dream mariachi music, so I went to the fridge and retrieved an apple and a small bunch of grapes, then exited the kitchen through a sliding glass door. Outside was a lush tropical garden in full bloom with hibiscus and bougainvillea; the sun shone brightly and colorful birds flew overhead. I ambled along the garden’s gravel path munching my apple and popping nectarous grapes in my mouth, lost in cottony clouds, when I saw her. It was the girl that, earlier that day, in the real world, smiled sheepishly at me as she filled my coffee cup. She was lying completely naked in a child’s plastic wading pool, beckoning me. Immediately I was on top of her, inside her. She screamed my name as we screwed with abandon there in the wading pool, sloshing water everywhere. Then in a flash my eyes opened, awake. It was rather cold in my room and I was completely drenched in sweat, back in the real world again.
Like I said, I just needed to write something. Future entries will doubtfully be this strange or awkward. My first blog entry and I’ve already bared my private subconscious for anyone to see. Don’t hold it against me, at times your dreams are probably just as bizarre. Until next time here is a bit of fun.
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 2:58 AM