BookScapes

Check this out,

Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee

 I really think art made of books is beautiful.

Theres a few artists working in this medium lately, one i guess sneaks into the lirary in the middle of the night and leaves these marvelous little statues made of books, like whats the opposite of a theif? oh yeah santa :) like a pink panther style santa ..? whatever it is i approve :)

Vegas Baby Vegas!

I went to vegas for the first time this weekend It was an interesting experience what can i say...

Vegas is pretty cool, its kinda like times square, plus a high end mall, plus Disney world, plus some kindof sculpture museum. People smoke everywhere, and there seems to be two main styles of dress, either overly manicured, like miniskirt straightened hair total hotness on the slutty side, or the exact opposite, some god awful track suit pajama kinda thing that’s I guess popular in the Midwest perhaps? There were far too few people styled in between those two extremes.

i arrived with some stereotypes in my head of what Vegas would be like, it was my first time, so going in cheap was the main image in my head. I thought it’d be all elvis impersonators and chincy crappy places full of yuck, but I was pretty wrong about that. The hotels were beautifull!! Everything was crafted with such skill and such quality materials, every detail was inspiring, mosaics and marble everywhere , reproductions of sculptures from antiquity and new sculptures as well, I was expecting it to look more motel-like but however obnoxious you may find the excessive signage and lighting, the vegas strip is pretty gorgeous and anything but cheap. When you go into the casinos there is that element with all the slot machines, like a huge arcade for adults, all blinging and flashing with loud often lame music, but there were cool clubs you could go in to avoid all that. After a while I found the slot machines pretty hypnotizing, I thought it’d be overwhelming and sometimes it was, but the odds are such that there are as many winners running around as people who are down so its hard not to fall into the hope of being one of the lucky folks who make money while they’re there. It’s a little overwhelming sometimes but taking a walk around outside reminded me of times square sortof, which made me feel at home in a way. I found also that the art all over makes the overall effect tolerable by counter acting the casino bred anxiety.

I showed up expecting amazing buffets, the stuff of legends, everyone raves about food in vegas as never ending piles of amazingness, I found them to be very good but not all that, they were a bit better than penn state commons buffets, but I was not nearly as blown away as everyone claimed I’d be, I’d rather just have one plate of food off a menu than all you can eat, generally speaking, but in the case of piles of lobster etc I thought I ‘d feel differently, but the buffets I saw were kinda regular, and buffet just isn’t my thing.
Since it’s a desert I was expecting it to be hot and dry, but it was chilly and even rained one day. I totally didn’t pack enough warm clothes, so was unprepared. Luckily I have simon’s good luck hoody with me or I would have just frozen.

There’s a rollercoaster! Its ontop of the new york newyork casino. I’ve always thought they should build a rollercoaster in manhattan, whenever there’s a crane up over a bldg I always tell people that’s what they’re making but sadly its always a joke, How cool would it be to actually have a rollercoaster high above in the tops of the skyscrapers of manhattn – brilliant! It was awesome.

They have oxygen for sale. You sit at a bar with the nose tube on you’d get in a hospital, only its in public, at a bar… They kinda filter the water bong style through aromatic waters. So the deep breathing smelled like rosemary lavendar eucalyptis etc. And while you sit there they massage you with several nifty gadgets. They were simultaneously trying to sell me lots of stuff but aside from that it felt awesome. There were a bunch of O bars all over town, I picked the one with a view of opera singing gondoliers taking tourists for rides in the indoor canal at the venetian, pretty awesome. My cousins were surprised we don’t have this in manhattan cause apparently its not that uncommon, I said new yorkers are too street smart to pay for air lol. I don’t know if breathing the oxygen did all the awesome things they were saying it would, I didn’t feel dramatically different, but they also pump it into the casinos, and I think I may have felt the effects there??? I was rather perky for the late hours and beer didn’t effect me as strongly as It normally would, may need to investigate more….

As for the whole gambling thing, I was gonna not gamble at all, but I’m apparently way less stubborn/ disciplined than I thought I was cause that plan didn’t last… it was just too tempting and I figure I’m probably not going back there much in my life so I wanted to try stuff. So first day I tried craps and roulet and slots… lost at each and quit immediately vowing to never play again. So the next day I went to the arcade with my little cousins to actually have fun while loosing my money to the flashy machines, in a significantly less expensive way. I finally played that silly dance game, which is way funner than a slot machine. Later that night I lost more inti the slots and opted to no longer let myself carry cash as I clearly can’t be trusted. I was supposed to leave the next day (yesterday) but I missed the bus (which turns out was canceled due to snow in the mountains) So I stayed another night.
I wandered around town and wound up at the “Paris” casino, I had figured out late the night before that buying drinks in vegas is silly. I was paying cash for beers, but if you sit by the gamblers drinks are free, especially if you appear to be participating. So I figured if I played slowly on a penny slot machine I would actually just be paying for my beers in a way that had the slight potential to win me lots of cash, but if I lost all my pennies it’d be just like getting the beer from the bar. I just had to keep aware of passing waitresses and play slowly on cheap machines… I am pretty good at texas hold em poker, but only the kind where you play against people not just against the cards, cause its all about reading people etc, so I met up with my cousins at treasure island and we headed to MGM and I watched poker for a while before I heard the line "No Guts No Glory" and finally caved and bought in at $40, which soon became 100, then i needed more cash but the atms were offline so I got it from the cashier who finger prints people to prove they really wanted more cash since its clearly a regrettable move. I got up to 140 in the hole, and I was down to some small amount like under 30 in chips, but then just as all seemed lost and I was kicking myself for playing at all, luck showed up. I went all in on a hand, and so did two other people, there was rubbish on the table with a king high, each of the two other people had a pocket pair of Aces, and I had a pocket pair of kings, which made three of a kind so I won. I won about $300 on that hand, it was around 6am, what a great feeling, I was so proud and Relieved. I should have run away at that moment, but instead I quickly widdled that back down to 180 and so the last day i was in vegas I broke even, everything I put into poker, plus everything I put into slots that day, came back to me. But I played for about 12 hours and drank about a dozen free beers. It was such a rush. I get it now. I really really like poker, everyone at the table was funny and friendly in a poker way, and there were a lot of laughs, like when the irish guy passed out in his seat and got escorted out by five security guards, but not before falling on his ass a few times and slurring out some hysterical irishy gibberish.. it was an Awesome time.

Art Catalog

Original Artwork by me for you.

Cardboard Furniture

Welcome one and all to the recession - its like college only we're kinda older. So just to refresh your memory if you want furniture you best use materials which are readily available instead of begging visa for overpriced nonsense. So welcome back to found materials. The its not what you got its how you use it mentality.

Y'know whats so less creepy than a preowned couch, a cardboard one. I know it sounds unsturdy but trust me if you build them right they're actually quite durable. the trick is to stack the cardboard, and to use a band saw or equivalent to create a consistent edge. You could even use a sander on these to create an almost velvety texture. I suggest covering them in a layer of cotton and fabric. You can make very intriquing shapes. Cheap recyclable materials like these can truly take the edge off the price of moving. And most of these designs you could make yourself.
Glens Miller and Frank Gehry are just a few of the designers shown here.
oh and ps wouldn't your cat just love this!

Bird Mobile

I once layed under a magnificent mobile, it was birds. I used to see my ceiling and imagine sky and even painted sky on my ceiling but years later layed under a birds mobile and felt the 3dimensionality of the ceiling space even better. Have since been searching for the right bird mobile to buy or make. material has been the biggest debate in making them, was thinking aluminim, then paper mache, then clay then plaster gauze, poster board, wood, and then back to aluminum. So i'm always interested in finding one that's already made and meets my mental image.. these are some pictures of what i like.

Hindu God Statues

I am collecting a series of sculptures of Hindu Gods. Because they are absolutely beautiful. I enjoy hearing the stories about the various elements and themes they represent. Each deity has different interests, creation, destruction, partying, wisdom, vitality etc. They are made with such attention to detail, carved beaded bracelets, complicated clothing and head pieces, swords, multiple hands, defeated enemies, ornate pedestals etc. I hope to one day have a larger collection i could display on shelves on an exposed brick wall with candles. It'd also be neat to sculpt a reproduction of one, an exercise in extreme detail. A reverent homage to allegory and the sacred forces of nature.

wishlist me a natraz and a bigger apartment with exposed brick and candles

Masquerade

Its hard to find a good mask. There's a lot of masquerade balls for new years eve and I would love to have a bad ass beautiful mask. The most popular is the venetian style, but I find that is hard to find one of those that actually look good on, and while its cute to carry one around on a stick the ones that are kept on tend to be too clunky and stifelling plus they mask too much, its hard to communicate without seeing eachother's facial expressions. So my favorite masks are light and airy. They are more pretty and flattering because they show your face while still masking you technically. To take a look at modern fashion icons rocking light masks check out Kirstin Dunst as Marie aintoinette, and that chick from gossip girl in a metalic cut paper looking lacey thing that kinda blends in with her hair in a way. Paris has on a lighter venetian half face mask that plays more like a feathery hat. I may make myself something like the gold one when i get a chance.

Kinetic Sculpture

There is a school of thought which believes art should be interactive, museums where people are encouraged to touch things. I am not into that. I like to get close to art, nose right up to the paintings examining every detail, but i feel like an alarm is gonna or should go off in the case of touching in a museum. I do however love when art interacts with wind. Kinetic sculptures are fascinating. Like wind chimes, but for the eyes instead. They sell some beautiful ones at the psu arts fest every year and i love to gaze at them and think of wind, my invisible friend waving hi.

In searching for examples of this craft i found the art of Theo Jansen of which i can only manage to say Holy Shit!