Re-posting: Killing Everyone Inside (Dadaist exercise)

Killing Everyone Inside

Normally we would storm a house
get a million miles per gallon and explode once a year
where the humvees burned together.

Lilith's eyes turn cloudy mixing it together
killing everyone inside.

If a packed journalism convention burns to the ground
I think Michael would blow up the boat with that bomb
running stoplights until the bus flipped over.

The air in a room is not forbidden,
resources don't come out fast enough
but apparently they work damn well.

Up through the fire tower at batterie la railleuse
making yourself look better than you are.
And so this is where we stand.

<<<<<<< * >>>>>>>>

My brother, Pat, provoked a few of us in a Dadaist experiment. He provided instructions on how to create a band's name, album title, cover art, and the names of the songs. I so liked the names of some of the songs in my creation that I used a similar technique to create the words to a whole song. Maybe I can write the music in a similar manner. His method is as follows:

"A dadist exercise: (This is a neat little experiment that might make a good assignment for your students, Phil [Phil is one of our other brothers]):
I got this as one of those little web experiments from someone I know.

1 - Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Random quotations: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

If you want to do this again, you'll hit refresh to generate new quotes, because clicking the quotes link again will just give you the same quotes over and over again.

3 - Go to flickr's "explore the last seven days" http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Put it all together, that's your debut album. (It will resemble you.)


I got: Bérchules – Not From Anyone Else "

My results were:
My band: History of Gujarat
Album: Are Caught By Desire


I came up with a song list in a similar way to the title, as suggested by Pat. After that I came up with the lyrics, above, by using the song title in a google search and taking random passages from the results. About the only thing I don't like is the cover art idea. I had a picture of a woman running near a park.

POST-SCRIPT: I posted this to a poetry forum and got mixed reviews. No one panned it entirely, but a few people were disturbed by the imagery, and one person said it seemed very political and though liked it he thought he'd seen too many similar to it lately.

In spite of the randomness of it all, I like how it almost fits together. I love some of the images (packed journalism convention burning to the ground, fire tower at batterie la railleuse) and odd statements like 'making yourself look better than you are'.

If anyone can help me set it to music, I'd be thrilled.

Copyright 2008 & 2010 by Paul Austin/Patrick Austin.

Walkway Over The Hudson & Environs

I took a quick drive to the Walkway Over the Hudson today, and got a sandwich at a place called Lola's.


Next door is a place called Crave that opened in December of last year to very good reviews.

I took a quick run up to the Walkway to snap some photos.



Not too far away are a few more interesting places like La Deliziosa Pastry Shoppe and Cafe Bocca and Fine Art. Both seem well-rated. It may be worth it to spend an afternoon over the bridge and back, with refreshment bookending the trip.

Barbecue & Butterflies

We had a barbecue to say goodbye to our neighbor, Jerry. He brought his friend Bobbi, who we have met before.
I promised pictures of all the food and I screwed that up. Let's just say there was a lot (bacon-wrapped scallop, salt-encrusted tenderloin, chicken satay, armenian stick bread . . . and a lot more stuff I can't remember) and it was all good. Jennifer knocked herself out, as usual.

I did get a picture of this butterfly checking out the sage...


...and (this is for you, Laura) Fifi checking out the butterfly.

Fun Stuff

We're having a few guests over tomorrow for a shitload of barbecue. We had to get another grill to accomodate it. Just a small one, as you can see.


Jennifer worked her ass off while I frittered around. Here she is returning from the garden with Lola.



Toward the end of the day I got out my great-grandfather's draw knife and whittled a seasoned sapling into a walking stick. In this picture is the stick (about 4.5'), the draw knife and a Stanley surform. The stick on the right is a remnant of the original sapling.


This will be the head. Should I carve something into it?

Whoops, the surform slipped.
After I took these pictures I sanded it. I love how well-seasoned wood works. Years ago I would make things like this from freshly cut wood, and it always worked out poorly. I cut this particular sapling down three years ago, when we first moved in. In fact, it may have been Jennifer's dad who cut it down (from the tree in this picture). It sat in the garage all that time.

Check back tomorrow for pictures of the wild and crazy barbecue Jennifer is preparing.

Reviving The Beacon

Not to be confused with the one in Manhattan.

A group called 4th Wall Productions recently purchased the old Beacon Theater in our town. Today they held an open house to ask for donations, spur interest, and recruit volunteers.



Visitors in the lobby being entertained by volunteers in the troupe.

Detail of glass in the back wall of the theater.

Detail of glass doors.

View of stage.

We've watched the vacant building for the three years we've lived here, and we're happy to see something coming of it. I hope they show films, too!

Central Park, July 5th, part II

Here is a video of Finn piloting the sub.

Central Park, July 5th

Over the last two years, I got Finn an r/c submarine and an r/c boat. We've used them in pools and local creeks, maybe the tub. But every time we've gone to Central Park in that time, we forgot to take them to the Conservatory Water. This past Monday, we remembered.

This is the sub coursing through the green water there. It was fun to make it dive and see where it would appear next. The alignment of the motors is a little messed up so it always turns a little one way or the other.


I guess I am only allowed to post one video, so I chose this one of Finn doing what any boy would do, and that is chasing the ducks in the water. They looked a little disgusted as they waddled off.




At first we were one of a dozen people there. But as the hour or two we spent there ran out, more and more people came through and for once, Finn was not watching other kids play and have fun there - he was the one being watched in envy. I shamefully admit I enjoyed giving him the experience.

Usually, there are people sailing r/c boats there. I am not sure who rents what or how much it costs.

Later that day we went to the Coxing trailhead of Mohonk Preserve to cool off. Here the Coxing Kill runs through a 30' 10-15' deep clove in the rock. The water is always cold, even on the hottest days.

Macy's Independence Day Fireworks, 2010

OK, Sarah, you asked for pictures - here ya go! There is a video at the end.

But first, the preliminaries. As the sun set, the barges lined up and some fireboats sprayed colored water.

This was the scene on the roof of the building whence we watched. We were on 40th street, about in the middle of the viewing area. This building is 32 stories high (33, really, and we were higher than that on the structures of the roof. My tripod is already setup at the edge of the roof.

Is it dark enough yet?

Behind us, the Empire State Building displayed patriotic colors.

Is it dark enough yet?

Yup.









To the viewers at ground level near the river, these ones are supposed to look like smiles. My angle and the shutter speed kinda kills it.




Some shots of the grand finale...








The video was taken with my phone.

I took over 400 still shots, most of which are garbage, but with a digital camera it doesn't matter. I did switch memory cards halfway through, and I switched between a wide-angle and telephoto lens a few times.

Long Beach, Again!

Manhattan, seen from the Whitestone bridge.

Finn buried in the sand.

Governors Island

Finn and I went to Governors Island, which is now a national park. We got on the ferry at the Battery. It's free, and runs every hour from 10 a.m.



Some pilings at the ferry slip.

The Staten Island Ferry is right next door. You can take the 1 train right to it.

Leaving Manhattan behind.

As we arrive at the island, a cormorant looks on.

Tree-lined street.
The tip of Manhattan from Governors Island.

Finn on the island on a bike with no name. Oh hahahHAHhahahah...
Details of Fort William.


A behemoth cruise ship docked in Brooklyn.
Places to relax.

As we left, I noticed the vent for the Brooklyn-Battery tunnel.

Gull where the cormorant was earlier.

Detail of ferry terminal.

I have no idea what this means. There was 'art' all over the place on the island, even on the ferry.
Guinevere*.

*if you understand the allusion, I'll buy you a pizza.