February 27, 2003

wobbly eyes

I finally went out to Montclair yesterday and got the tattoo I've been talking about getting for about ten years now: the brick from Krazy Kat, very small, about 3/5 of the way through a trajectory from my left hip to my right shoulder. It was quick and easy, and much less painful than I thought it'd be: the sensation at its worst was very much like electric razor burn. The brick has fairly dense personal significance to me: it's a symbol of comics (since it's from the best comic ever), & therefore appropriate to a moment in which I'm devoting myself to studying comics; it's also a symbol of communication-through-art, and the way in which the message transmitted may not be at all similar to the message received. It's also got resonances for me about the small-scale manufacture of art/culture (they're not Acme bricks--they're made by Kolin Kelly!) and finding the appropriate medium for transmitting it to its ideal audience. I used to joke that "my life is the medium through which the brick passes," actually, though now I'm more interested in being the one who makes the brick, the one who throws it, and the one who's conked on the head by it than being the Coconino County air.

Lisa did a little photodocumentary series about the process; I'll try to talk her into letting me put up a few images soonish.

My beloved recording watch's battery died yesterday morning--since I bet it can be replaced, the only hint of tragedy from the situation is that I lost a bit of audio I recorded a few weeks ago from a very enthusiastic singer on the 7 train who was hollering into an empty Snapple bottle for a mic. It ends with him emoting "Everything I do for you/And you can't do the same for me/Everything I do for you/And you can't do the same for me/AAAAAAAHHHH--"

More to say (about seeing La Boheme tonight etc.), but I am tired tired and must recharge my own batteries.

Posted by Douglas at February 27, 2003 12:05 AM
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