This sounds pretty interesting...a garden is opening up in the UK featuring poisonous and psychotropic plants from around the world. It seems like the goal is to educate people about the fact that plants are so powerful, and that many of the worlds drugs and chemicals come from the plant kingdom. Wish we could have something like this in the U.S.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/4303661.stm

here's the poorman at his best



and it's Richard Linklater, not Art.

two great links from boingboing:



young girl prevented from sketching in a museum because the matisse and picassos and what not are COPYRIGHTED.



we've forgotten that the term copyright originally meant "the right to copy" a work. anyway, for how long has it been a practice of artists young and old to copy works in a museum? this is insane. THEY (you know who I mean) want to control everything!



and... another movie based on a Philip K. Dick work - A Scanner Darkly, directed by Art Linklater (Waking Life):



blog on the new movie



images from the movie



PKD is one of my favorite authors. I remember the feeling I had when I read my first (Time Out of Joint) - I ran around in circles in the kitchen at Las Tusas... quoting... !

Hello



back on North Street... plans for New Mexico just didn't work out, for reasons, if there are any, that aren't clear to me now. My Eight Ball is still in storage, so I'm flying blind.



I've got a new studio, at 311 North Street, #25 - still in fixup phase, but will be workable soon.



I'm getting excited about doing some animation, starting with the I am a dog story line and cast of characters. then perhaps doing What I Did Today, Why I Paint, and other projects.



Please read the poorman. He's got it right. We've got to stop the torture. It feels like we're spiraling down into the Hell Realms. Our Prison Nation (we've got the highest incarceration rate of any society anywhere anytime) is now the nation that seems to think torture is not so bad, or at least not as interesting as whatever is on TV right now...



snow on the ground, and I can't help thinking about those saguaro cacti

Money is one of the most mysterious things in the universe. Here's an article from economist Brad Setser's weblog that I found interesting and incomprehensible... how the black markets of the world, and the money-under-the-mattress funds are switching from dollars to euros. This has a huge impact on the US economy, and is sure to be big news on CNBC really really soon. No, just kidding!



Something similar happened to the shekl around 350AD and I still haven't recovered.

I'm finally doing what Dr. Quang told me to do a couple of months ago: take it easy. Being in Florida at Mom's helps with that. I'll be heading back to Pittsfield at the end of the week to find a new studio, and perhaps a flight to New Mexico later int he month.



Found a great book review by Malcolm Gladwell on "Collapse" by Jared Diamond. About another kind of Tipping Point. This via a nice new-to-me blog called 3quarksdaily. Worth a look. And this via the most interesting Preposterous Universe. Nothing like quantum physics to help give one a different perspective. A bit larger. Or a lot smaller.

Greetings to Paul -



things have changed, I'm not heading for NewMex anytime soon. Weather in the midwest changed the plan at first, but then certain obstacles came up for a visit at this time.



I'm in Florida right now, and will be getting back to Pittsfield at the end of the week.



Paul- hope we can visit in the Land of Enchantment sometime - I think you'll love it there.



That school looks interesting. I might be out in Cal in Jan or Feb - I'll let you know.



***



I read an article today - one of those scary true things. Belief in Book of Revelation driving US Politics. No wonder the rest of the world thinks we're outa our tree.



best of all of us humans in the coming year.