Bill Viola – The Passions

Really bummed I'm not going to be able to make his show at the Getty the minute it comes out, but it's running until April so hopefully I can catch it before it leaves Saw "Bill Voila - a 25 survey" that the Whitney put on the road in 1998. Caught the show itself in LA, but it's still online from the San Francisco installation in 1999. I remembering particularly enjoying reasons for knocking at an empty house, the sleepers, the reflecting pool and tiny deaths.

What I Was Thinking About Today

How is it that scorpion venom, bat saliva and gila monster pheromones are curing people of blood clotting, cancer, brain tumors and such, but people still don't care enough about them to let certain species become exist. Yes it might be a bit of a sweeping generalization but I'm of the school that the "cure" for what ever ails you can be found in nature, not a lab - maybe even in your own mind. Other things i was thinking about today...in no particular order
  • frosting
  • magazines
  • pleather boots
  • bunny ears
  • Spanish prayer candles
  • ear muffs
  • writing a book
  • glue sticks
  • diet coke
  • taxes
  • and lemons

Portland Sushi Goodness

Out for sushi last night, I like to try something new each time. This week was a ton of new stuff. Tri-colored Roe on Rice, Ahi Tuna Salad with Miso, Marinated Oysters with Daikon Radish and Scallop Salad. The scallops weren't how most people have come to know them round and the size of dimes or quarters, but just the little pieces of the scallop that is attached to it's shell. The "hinge" part I guess, at least that's what I could take away from Master Choi's broken English. He said he did too much crazy dancing the night before and lost his lapel tag among other things, so his new button said Master Unagi - he's always a riot. Tonight is either back to Nicholas's or the Ethiopian place some of the local LJers recommended.  

Savants

Just watched a program where a 10 year old was composing his own jazz music while talking about Gustav Mahler, Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker. It also had this amazing study in Australia where they were used magnetic waves to stimulate the area of the brain they believe savants use most. The program also had a few cases of temporary savants who became prolific artists or musicians for a few years before total dementia took over their lives. I have a co-worker whose brother is somewhere between highly-functioning autistic and a savant. He works with large factories to understand how their production lines can be modified to improve output, he says he can feel the inefficiencies in the machines and is wildly accurate. He is also really skilled a terrain-mapping, once he's been through the woods he can run back through with his eyes closed because he know where everything is. It's become a part-time job leading hunters through the woods in the dark to get a jump on their prey. What people are capable of, in every and all cases, never ceases to be amazing.