Jasper

I'm writing possibly my most positive journal entry yet. What a night!

I. I started out the day very cynical. I've been dreading jam sessions with the guys only because we've been improving and as such we've also started getting egotistic and on each others' nerves (although not nearly as much as a real band). I'll be honest; it's only one person who's really starting to get to me and he's not even a regular member. He is starting to influence everyone else and turning them against me which I really don't appreciate. I'll shut up about that now. I was waiting for Josh to call me in the afternoon. We were supposed to arrange a meeting with some old ex-friends I wanted to make peace with. Of course Mr. Unreliable never called me throughout the whole day but I'm used to it now. I know I'm a hypocrite in saying this but I hate it when your good friends are unreliable. I've been asked why I try so hard to get on the good side of people who treat me horribly but I'll elaborate on that another day. Before I left, I did a little browsing and happened to notice that a girl that I've really been interested in as a friend was getting e-friendly with someone we both know (who I don't happen to be crazy about). I'm only human and of course this insignificant friendly banter drove me nuts. I tried to talk myself out of making too big a deal of it.

II. So I reluctantly went over to James' and was joined by Anthony soon after. We played a fine, fun set. We're not quite as tight as we should be but it was only our second jam session. We played songs by Tom Petty ("Mary Jane's Last Dance", "American Girl", The Waiting"), Buddy Holly ("It's So Easy"), Looking Glass ("Brandy") and The Stone Roses ("She Bangs the Drums"). It was a hell of a session and I had a lot more fun than I'd expected. We left around seven-thirty to explore the Santa Anita mall during the Christmas rush.

III. The evening really took off for me when we drove to the mall. I sat in the car with two very good friends of mine who have been treating me very nicely. I suddenly realized instead of spending so much time worrying about unreliable people and a girl who has no idea that she's driving me insane, I should wake up and smell the nostalgia in the making taking place right in front of me. I ignored everything else and just sung along very loud and off-key with James and Ant to "More than a Feeling".

When we got the mall it was expectedly crowded as Hell's waiting room for lawyers. Our first objective was to visit the mall Santa and the Christmas tree. It's been my lifelong goal to pester a traditional mall Santa ever since my innocence went on strike. So we went up to the VERY convincing old dude and his plainclothes elf, expecting her to come up to ask us to leave without a fuss. Instead she got a little sassy with me. I don't blame her. She was working mighty hard on a job she probably hated and I do admit we weren't perfect little angels. We stood around like idiots doing nothing and I accidentally blurted out "DAMN!" when i noticed how convincing he was and a father shot a dirty look at us.

So we stood around like idiots and chatted up the cute "secretary" and got nowhere (although we got a laugh out of her somehow, I forgot what it was we said) although we promised to come back before Christmas Eve when we actually had something interesting to say. I voted that we should come back and tell him we're a band and we need a name for Christmas.

Then we just went into random stores to soak up the atmosphere; Coffee Bean, Sport Chalet, Spencer's Gifts, K-B Toys (where I bought Josh the gayest, most Barneyish educational kid's DVD for two dollars as "revenge" for flaking on us) and some others. We also stopped at Borders where James and Anthony started playing with the electronic twenty questions games and started asking me the dumbest questions with a straight face. I don't know why but that made me laugh like a maniac.

"Is it sweet?"
"Is it a common household item?"
"Can it be folded?"
"Is it round?"

IV. After the mall we came back to my place and finished off two pizzas from Papa John's. We then started playing around with three hacky sacks and making up the dumbest games (ex: bat two hacky sacks around and on every tenth round, switch with the person next to you and name a random country LOL). At this point we were easily amused so we were laughing our asses off every time someone dropped one or said something really dumb. You'd think we were all drunk.

Then we watched Jingle All the Way, Elf and an episode of Sanford and Son while making crank calls and making up more hacky sack games. Good times, good times.

V. So all in all, I put aside my pressing troubles to enjoy the evening but in a few hours I'm going to have to wake up to reality again. Then I'll have to worry about that girl, find out what happened to Josh and catch up on my sea of homework in one day (which I never do).

No matter what happens I am still trying my very best to stay true to my pact of sustaining a feeling of goodwill and love. I'm also trying just as hard to maintain strength and appreciation in moments of doubt and misfortune. It's very difficult as people are trying so hard to resist positivity these days and life is truly doing its best in lowering my spirits.

If there's anything I've learned over the past few years is that it's important to build your strength. Sometimes it's all you'll have.

Wish me good luck. I wish you the best.

All the best,
Jasper

I've realized that so many places of my youth have now been taken away from me, so I'd like to post a few short eulogies written in honor of their "passing".

Tower Records (on Lake Ave. in Pasadena) -  I've been a musical child from day one so it was inevitable that I'd become attached to my source of specialized music. I've been visiting Tower Records since I was a child and I've spent countless hours walking down the aisles and browsing their wide selections fitted with equally wide prices. I now regret my constant skepticism about whether or not I should spend eighteen dollars on a black-framed Stooges album. If I'd spent a little extra money and encouraged others to do so maybe the behemoth of record stores would still be around and keeping my supply satisfied to this day. I used to spend hours walking those aisles even if I'd explored those very selections the week before. I'd start with the Rock/R&B section that greeted its customers and make my way down to the enclosed Classical/Jazz section which had a peaceful and often empty room where I would spend a few moments alone with my thoughts. The last memory I have of Tower Records is taking Jamison up there for a walk one night after a dinner at Tony Roma's with Anthony and Sarah. We had a long walk and a long discussion that night and I was completely unaware of the store's near future plan to commit suicide. 

Rest in Peace. You've seen me grow into a young man and now a part of my youth has gone forever. Fuck that new place that replaced you (it's a chain of stores that had a recent boom in popularity but I'll just keep my mouth shut in case they have particularly nosy and litigious attorneys). I never had a chance to visit with my recently acquired driver's license, so that means every time I visited Tower Records it was with someone else behind the driver's seat. A few random memories;

-Running into Melissa and her friends there one day while I was talking to Jamison on the phone.
-Taking my family there after dinner one night and introducing my Dad to the Flamin' Groovies. My cousin bought a Ziggy Marley CD.
-Walking the aisles with my brother and making fun of just about every title we saw.
-Hanging out alone in the classical section and losing myself in "The Beautiful Blue Danube". I felt like a character in a Stanley Kubrick movie.

I'm only sad that I didn't lock up more of them to appreciate.

Five songs that remind me of Towers (all five CDs from these songs come might have been purchased there);

"Have You Seen My Baby" -- The Flamin' Groovies
"The Beautiful Blue Danube" -- Johann Strauss II
"Thank You Friends" -- Big Star
"Little Fury Things" -- Dinosaur Jr.
"Come as You Are" -- Nirvana

Fuddruckers (on Foothill in Pasadena/Arcadia): I've been eating at this strange family burger joint since I was a small child. We'd go in and order our food, prepare our plates with vegetables and find a seat in the back patio with the television. Sometimes we'd get hot chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I lost my taste for their burgers so around 2002 I started ordering their potato wedges instead. They were delicious and clean-tasting! I never had the same love for Fuddruckers as other restaurants but it's still a very important part of my early development.

Ironically, they've also been replaced by the very beast that also stands on the silent grave of Tower Records. I wish I'd spent more time eating there. Memories;

-I sat down for an evening meal with the family after I purchased my first leather jacket. I was into mafia movies so I had a strange obsession with the attire. Of course I looked like a damn fool, being the only one donning a $120 jacket and white tennis shoes in a blue-collar family restaurant. That was sometime in 2002.

-I first started hanging out with Aleks in 2001. My dad drove us both there for a meal. They started issuing these alarming beepers that would alert you when your meal was ready. Aleks didn't order anything but I must've ordered some wedges. On the way home he played samples of "Voodoo Chile: Slight Return" on an unplugged Fender strat.

-Sometime in 2003 or later, I ran into Paul Zuber and his family (including his father who had been my health teacher twice) there. Something about Fuddruckers just screams Paul Zuber.

Can't think of any specific song that reminds me of Fuddrucker's.

Jim's Burgers (on Colorado in Eagle Rock): Another landmark of my young life. I think the first time I had food from Jim's Burgers was when my dad shared some of his pastrami sandwich with me many, many years ago. I thought it was the most delicious thing I'd ever eaten so I finally started eating there soon after. I'd constantly order their notorious pastrami until the new millennium when I started getting the food that was its namesake. It was a wonderfully simple and had an everyman quality to it. On the far left stood a few dirty games (I remember a Neo-Geo console and a Mrs. Pac Man specifically). There were pictures of the owners' hot rods hung all over the wall. Sometime around 2001 (or later), a very nice Spanish-speaking Korean family bought Jim's and although they were some of the nicest people I'd ever met they were the ones who eventually sold the place. I think one of the boys was named John; a very tall and sharp-looking guy my age who went to my school. Jim's has been an Eagle Rock landmark since its glory days and its disappearance was a sudden tragedy to just about everyone here. I've found a sort of replacement in Hi Life Burgers (on Fair Oaks in South Pasadena) which is a slightly nicer eatery in the same vein but nothing can replace Jim's

A memory:

-One day after I graduated from high school, I went to Jim's to pick up some lunch. It was early so I didn't figure the high schoolers would be out yet. To my surprise I ran into Irving, Ivan and Chris who were all honor students then so it would make sense that they were out of school so early. That was the last time I saw any of them. We chatted for about two minutes before I left.

I can only remember one song that I explicitly associate with Jim's:

"Planet Claire" -- The B-52's

The Golden City (in Monterey Park): Ah, the Golden City. The most recent death on this list (one that I find to be truly unjust) and quite possibly the most obvious of the youth landmarks. I can remember when I started eating there and I vividly remember its passing (documented in an earlier LiveJournal post). I started eating there in the Winter of 2002 when I truly believed I was at the end of my rope. I was not. In fact, my life was about to make its biggest improvement yet in a few months. I was a lonely, semi-underachieving kid who was confused about life in general when I first started eating at the quintessentially Chinese barbecue joint. My family would first have to drag me there since there really wasn't any food I enjoyed there. I first remember having dinner there with my dad and aunt while my brother and mother were out of town. My life was in shambles, as I'd previously mentioned. But the greater the tragedy the sweeter the recovery.

In early 2003, my academic career was the first aspect of my life to improve. Suddenly my report cards were looking finer as time went by. That was the tip of the iceberg. I started forming tight bonds with the people at my school (which was relatively small compared to college) and under great pressure we started looking out for each other.

Quick Side Note: One of the best examples of such a class was Ms. Hagan's English 10. I had her for English 9 and to be honest I was very bitter about having her again since I thought she was not a suitable teacher at all. What happens with Ms. Hagan's classes is that people would usually be nice to her the first semester and when the second semester rolled around they would usually start to give her a hard time. This was the case with me. I was a nice kid who became bitter with the class' emphasis on discipline and schoolhouse etiquette rather than the material we were supposed to be learning. I did excellent work in the class but I constantly vocalized my dissatisfaction with it. I was one of ten kids who would do this. She sneezed on the first day of the semester and a kid named Julian (who became one of my good friends) said "You have lime disease, Ms. Hagan!"

Another funny example was this one day where a grasshopper found its way into the classroom. Everyone got up excitedly to try and catch it and basically ignored our classwork. She "lost it" in a Ms. Hagan way and quietly shouted out "Sit down, dammit!" Absolutely no one was threatened and we all just laughed. This sounds like cruel torture but by the end of tenth grade, we all formed a nice relationship with her and she too looks back on those crazy days and laughs. She gets a new shipment of immature 10th graders every year and I just hope they're not any harder on her than we were. I stopped by her classroom a few times before I graduated but I never gave a formal goodbye which I regret.

Back to the Golden City; my academic career was the first thing in my life to improve. Through that my social life began to improve immensely. I traded AIM names with all of my close friends (who were then basically associates) and finally started getting invited to parties and  dinners. It took me awhile to deprogram myself and ignore my trained instinct to run when someone invited me away from the family. I eventually did though, and Jessica's birthday party at Paseo marks the first moment I willingly decided to go out with friends for lunch. It was sometime in May, and I had to leave early to go to an art exhibition in Laguna. That was probably the time I started listening to the Beach Boys' 1965 albums too.

I was eating at the Golden City around the time I first truly discovered rock and roll in the back seat of the family car on a rainy day. I personally believe that marks the point from which my life truly began. Before then I was an overgrown child screaming to break from the nest and I didn't even know it. I discovered people and music, my two favorite things in this world in early 2003. The Golden City was a presence in my life when that happened so it's since earned a special place in my heart. I would go there just to try and replicate those great times. In fact, I even "conserved" my visits just to preserve its sweet association. That was very stupid of me. I waited so long and now it's gone. Shut down without warning on my 20th birthday.

I don't know if it'll ever come back but whatever happens I will always remember it as the restaurant that brought me much happiness in my teen years.

Five songs that remind me of the Golden City:

"Like a Rolling Stone" -- Bob Dylan
"Fire Brigade" -- The Move
"Please Let Me Wonder" -- The Beach Boys
"America" -- Simon & Garfunkel
"These Boots Are Made For Walking" -- Nancy Sinatra

Epilogue: I was the type of person who hung onto the past and refused to listen to certain songs or watch certain movies unless the time was truly appropriate. I would "conserve" these things for happy times in an attempt to preserve its ability to make me happy. Then I realized all of these things that gained a good association with me did so without my knowledge. I didn't intend on turning Dylan's Greatest Hits into the soundtrack of the happiest times in my life. I just happened to discover a copy of it while these things happened. I have very little control over karma and how it makes me feel. I can do my best as a human being but immediate happiness is not something you can ask for.

I take the disappearance of these places as a sign. A sign that what my life needs is progress. I've wasted the past few years of my life waiting for a good time to come and even held back from the things that make me happy until it came. That's not the way to live. That's hanging on the past and there's no way I'm going to grow up healthy if I keep doing that. Life is telling me that nothing is going to be around forever and I need to keep moving forward if I want to be on the right track.

Now I'm going to try and balance things out a little more. I'll still preserve the past to some extent but I won't let it dictate my life anymore. I've never achieved anything great from waiting around. I'm going to go about my daily business and give it 100% no matter how I feel. I'll take a rest now and then but only as much as I need to.

It's always been very difficult for me to let go and I just hope pouring my heart onto this blog will help me vent my feelings a little bit.

...if Joe Pesci had and maintained his own myspace or livejournal?

...if there was a mobster named Frankie Maraschino?

I really hate Vincent Gallo. The man is insane and proud of it.

End rant.

I was clearly jilted by an old friend with whom I have a very complicated and rocky history with. This is a big punch in the face and definitely one of the uglier feelings a human being could experience. The rest of my Sunday wasn't too jolly either, I saw Chris Farley's death pictures for the first time ever and like Casino and Lenny Bruce's death footage I really wish I hadn't. I think it's changed me for the worse if in a very miniscule way.

But I'm not at all discouraged. Life goes on and I gotta keep trying. If I'm going to lament about this I'll treat it as a passing and necessary vent session, I won't linger in this any longer than I feel I should. I've wallowed in self-sympathy too many times to think it actually accomplishes anything.

PEACE
~Jasper

PS: Thanks for adding me on myspace Ann, I got your message but I struggled with just the right words to reply. This PS isn't any better but I just wanted to let you know I read you!

I never had the chance to put down my inspiring thoughts into this LJ, it's mostly been depression and frustration. That's not true. I come here to vent when I feel the need to let people know what I am thinking. Even if no one reads this, it still feels satisfying to put something down. That reminds me of a John Lennon line; "God is a concept by which we measure pain". Before this post, all of those previous LJ entries probably indicated that I when I'm feeling down, I come here.

Speaking of John Lennon, I have been listening to the man's music for a few weeks now. After my sweet-to-sour summer left me bitter, confused and completely uninspired I prayed for some guidance and help. By that I mean I was begging whoever or whatever is in charge of karma for something to live for. That sounds like something a potential suicide victim would say but let me clarify. By "something to live for" I mean something to keep me inspired and to look forward to. I'm not suicidal, I'm not even depressed really! I would be offended if someone called me that.

What was I saying? Oh yeah, well my summer wasn't too great and at the end there were literally moments where I felt I'd been royally screwed out of some great times I felt I really deserved. Then one day I found myself sitting behind the dashboard in the parking lot of a supermarket near our house. "Imagine" came up on my iPod and for once in my life, that song made perfect sense to me. Not necessarily the lyrics but the spirit of the song. Before then that song was blank noise to me, a pleasant pop song we've all heard six million times too many. But I suppose my mind was finally open at the time.

I sat there listening to a man pour his heart onto a record made over thirty-five years ago and I realized something. To sit and sulk in vain is to do harm to the world. Self-pity is wasting time and talent. I realized that though I may not be as talented as someone like Sting or as appealing as someone like Jarvis Cocker but I do have a great amount of love and passion to share and you know, those things are like brushfires. If I can convince at least one person I'll have done my job.

But who's going to listen to someone like me? I've been a "potential" for five years now. I've been talking about making music and playing it for years now but still no one's seen any real work from me. That's what I believe has changed in my life. I really believe that the best thing a person can do is spread good influence around and the most fun medium in which to do so would be music. I want to carry on the traditions of people like John Lennon and Bob Marley. I want to do nothing but bring positivity to the people around me and right now I have very little credibility so that'll have to change.

So to gain credibility (both superficial and substantial), I've started exercising again (after a very long hiatus) and I'm going to make a new pact to put music ahead of everything except schoolwork. I'm going to write down every great melody, lyric or guitar riff I come up with. If I feel like I'm in the zone, I'll pick up a guitar or sit at the piano.

Most importantly, I'm going to put my ego aside and admit that I need help. I can't go about this big plan alone. I need supportive friends, talented musicians and open minds to help make this process flow quicker.

So basically in order to execute this master plan of spreading good vibes and good music, I first must settle the conflict that lies within. American Translation: I need to get my shit together. I sound like a pretentious little drama king right now but you'll hear from me in a little while and hopefully I'll be more pleasant to listen to. :)

All the best,
Jasper

Today was indeed a confusing day. I felt like a completely different person peering into my life with eyes that don't belong to me. I don't know why I feel this way, it probably has nothing to do with my turning 20.

My family and I made elaborate plans to meet at our favorite Chinese restaurant in the Pasadena area. It's a very blue collar place that seems to be one of the few places I could eat without shaving or wearing anything real nice. It's essentially a place where I could be myself. That restaurant has had a special place in my heart since it served as a centerpiece during what turned out to be the best times of my life. My family's time there seems to be the only quality time we spend together.

I drove there only to discover that it had been shut down by the health department for various reasons. If you've ever been to a genuine Chinese restaurant, you probably know that their treatment of animals and work habits would frighten anybody who isn't familiar with that sort of environment. But in the four years that I've been dining there, I've never caught so much as a mild cough. Their food is fine and their preparatory methods seemed fine from what I've observed.

Upset and disturbed, we all drove to another Chinese restaurant around the area that passed health regulation tests with an 'A'. It was a very fancy-looking Seafood restaurant and even though it was new, we thought we could give it a chance. We sat down at our table and were greeted with ice water served in red plastic cups ("beer cups"). I noticed that nobody even touched the water. So we ordered dishes like Beef Chow Fun and Duck with Shrimp Chips.

I wasn't hungry but my family insisted I eat. So I tried some of brother's Chow Fun. He started chewing until he felt something scrape his gums. Apparently someone forgot to remove a thin metal object hidden in his meal. We decided not to cause trouble (actually my parents decided not to) and we continued eating. A few minutes later my brother started feeling a slight irritation in his mouth, right around the time I began feeling a wave of nausea stronger than I'd ever felt. I thought I was going to start vomiting violently until I finally gained control of myself.

This has a point. I'd just like to point out the very obvious irony we've all come to despise. The irony of good people being trampled on. I'm astonished that the restaurant we ended up going to met with someone's approval while our beloved China-diner which never served us a milligram of tainted or potentially harmful food is shut down for what seems like trivial reasons. It's hard not to feel this way when I gleefully approached the glass doors only to discover the miserable manager reading alone in the dark.

That was our night out and was easily the fly in what could have been a very helpful ointment. The day started out great; my cousin came over for the first time in awhile and we played guitar for hours. I learned the two-hand tap technique which I've been trying to perfect for two years now. Perhaps that is the greatest birthday gift of all. What you can't buy you can never refuse.

Although I'm feeling a bit worried that life seems to be sending me signs telling me to be more progressive and to stop using the past a crutch, I'm also wondering whether I should be interpreting this feeling of change as the genesis to what could be another period of bliss in my life. Before peace comes chaos. Only one way to find out.....

LIVE ON.

Best wishes,
Jasper

Ever consider picking up the guitar? You wouldn't be the first on campus. On a college campus packed with idealists and music-lovers feeling the need for expression, the stringed axes are a commodity. Every day, many students consider the path of musical delivery and a good number of those students would choose the guitar as their instrument of choice. The guitar is certainly an attention-grabber to most, and the promise of a following from the opposite sex is more than enough to encourage a person to learn to play. But where would one start with so many opportunities and methods to learn? A student at PCC would be in luck. With a Guitar Center, many guitar courses, and the No Future Cafe nearby, a budding guitarist could indeed go far. According to an article by Espie Estrella, guitars are among the top 10 instruments for beginners. People who are not familiar with the guitar language may be unaware that there are many types of guitars and styles of playing. Guitars are as diverse as cars, and in some cases, they may even hint towards the player's musical preferences. It all starts with musical preference. Someone who plans to kick out the jams would probably have his or her eyes set on a Jimi Hendrix-style Fender Stratocaster and someone who plans to study classical guitar would most likely choose an acoustic nylon-string guitar. Once a person finds a few "guitar heroes", that person can begin shopping around. On a campus like PCC's, influences range from jazz virtuoso Joe Pass to Jack Johnson to Soundgarden's Kim Thayil. Most beginners start with a cheaper acoustic guitar and those who stick with the craft and decide to further search for their voice are likely to end up a guitar that recalls their hero, as well as tools and devices used to produce different sounds. It seems that one of the most common problems with purchasing a guitar is the price. Much like clothing, there are big brand names and affordable imitations. Some of the more popular brands, including Gibson, Fender, and Gretsch feature dozens of both acoustic and electric guitars. The best of those guitars usually call for a hefty list price of $1000 or more. Most college-bound students are more likely to use a family member's instrument or some of the more affordable brands that recall the pricier catalogue. PCC bands have been seen playing Fender Squire Stratocasters and Epiphone SGs, both less expensive versions of Fender and Gibson guitars. Depending on what guitar sound a person decides to emulate, he or she would usually need to use a particular guitar model in order to find that sound since different models usually produce different sounds. A more seasoned guitarist might also buy different devices to change a guitar's sound. In most cases, what sort of guitar a person plays and what that person has chosen to do with the instrument might say something about who they are. Customization is something that most dedicated guitar players eventually come to consider. Some people paint their guitars as an homage to Van Halen while others might cut off their top strings like Keith Richards. Reading interviews and rock music trivia is a good way to find out what famous musicians do to compliment the music with their instrument and to galvanize one's interest in the musical field, and most young musicians spend extra time reading about their favorite bands and what little tricks they pulled to make guitars sound a certain way. Most who play for fun choose to play it simple and acoustic. It's interesting to note that the breezy acoustic guitar-based music of Jack Johnson has been one of the more common styles of guitar playing seen on a college campus. The laid-back, simplistic approach has appealed to countless imitators, and gave those trained in stripped-down punk a taste of jazz. Whatever sort of music a person wishes to play and how well that person can carry out with his or her love of the instrument may vary, but one thing is certain, as long as rock music stays relatively simple, you will be able to spot a guitar player cross-legged on the grass strumming his or her heart out. The Guitar Center is on East Colorado Blvd. and is open from 11 AM to 9 PM except on Sundays where it runs from 11 AM to 7PM and the No Future Cafe is located on Walnut Ave. and opens and closes at different times.


Quote: http://musiced.about.com/od/beginnersguide/tp/tinst.htm

Picture a golden retriever. Afterwards, picture it with paper showered all over it. If you think in black and white, you have imagined 1972's Selected Works: Reel 4, a twenty minute video sequence by California Artist William Wegman. The video was originally used as an influential but obscure The film was shot in a sort of camcorder-style point of view, with an intentionally sub-par audio track behind it. The artist placed a dog actor on his stage, bed or a possibly a couch. He then began to mumble inaudible words as he began to tear up pieces of white paper in his hand and sprinkled them on the dog like snow. What does it all mean? Why did the artist choose to prove his point this way? What I think the artist intended to do was to present mankind’s dominance over animals by showing a human “showering” a dog with “snow”. The piece was made in 1972, a time in which no one had heard of a camcorder. Wegman shot the film in a way that made a 1970's camera look and sound like a sub-par 1990's camcorder. In the early 70's hippies were fading and the government won the battle for dominance. The kids grew out of their long beards and realized they had to go to work. The dominance of “the man” over the people was shown in the film by showing human’s dominance over the household pet. It was obviously filmed indoors, probably in the artist’s house/apartment. The lines and texture were smooth, as if it were supposed to be a present-day home video. The cold, mechanical effect made it clear that the artist had no intention of making something obviously “artsy” and focused more on making a ramshackle, flawed vision that worked because of its small imperfections. The picture however, was so sharp that the lines had no warm, earthy feels. I believe what the artist intended to do was to juxtapose a simple, earthy subject (namely the dog) with cold, intentionally mechanical film making, and he tore up pieces of paper onto the dog because it was a change of pace from the cliched “dog tricks” seen on video. The piece was black and white, so it ended up very dark, with an almost vaudeville feel to it. There was more black than gray and white on the screen, but it didn’t appear muddy, it was clear enough to make out all the details. There are almost no visible straight lines on the screen, everything from the contours of the bed curves to the dog’s hair are rounded, which detracts from the mechanical feel of the picture, but in a positive way. The film was shot in a mechanical style (from the sharp lines to the black and white), but the subtly curved lines throughout kept the piece from becoming too dull. It’s subtle, but there’s repetition and motion all over the piece. The dog’s hairs seem to curve down, as if they were pulled down by a magnet, whereas the contours of the bed seem to curve upwards, presenting a sort of opposition that takes extra focus and attention to notice. The opposing curves served as a point of balance, so the picture didn’t have a keeling, strictly downward or upward motion. The contours, curves, and bumps all gave the picture a steady, rhythmic motion, most evident in the dog’s hairs. The relationship of unity and variety is best represented in the bed and the dog. The dog’s hairs and the texture of the bed are completely different, yet both the dog and the bed contain a large group of unified curves/lines. As the man showered the dog with white paper, the rhythm of the black and gray sea of the dog and the bed became sort of disrupted with the white sheets. The style period of the piece is questionable. It was made in 1972, but the style of the film and the black and white point in two opposite directions. The black and white gave the film a pre-color feel, but the sharp, clear lines of the picture makes the film appear as a modern-day camcorder shoot. It can be said that the polar opposites of these elements landed the piece straight in the early 70's. The 70's feel can be seen in setting of the picture, a time that reflected the end of spending days outdoors on blankets and spending more time making art and music in the studio. The picture is set in a California household, probably the artist’s home. The film was probably shot with a Super 8 camera, since the 1970's saw no digital cameras and cassette tapes.
The piece represents so much in such a small world. Throughout the 70's and pretty much the rest of history, mankind has been oppressed and held down by corporations, governments, and the law. People have even had to compromise their artistic integrity in many cases, in order to please whoever was in charge at the time, starting from the days black musicians were not allowed to play at many clubs to The Rolling Stones having to censor their lyrics for a football game. All of these are good examples of people being held down by their government, who acts as God in many cases. In the 70's, the U.S. had just come out of a period in which children and young people felt that the stranglehold of the government was just too much, and they began to lash out with a revolution. The end of the 60's and the early 70's saw those kids growing up and in a cynical way, accepting the fact that they can’t win the battle for their all their freedom, almost as if the “gods” who make “snow” declared that they are the ones in charge. In Selected Works, the man who tore up paper and making snow to shower the dog with declared his dominance over the animal. He could say “I’m humiliating you, what can you do about it? You’ve just lost the battle for your freedom.” The idea of oppression and dominance has been showing up in art since the cave paintings depicted men slaughtering large animals to the present day, when it can be expressed in an even more creative way. Government control has existed since the world began to get organized, and that’s just about the time that art began to evolve into something more than just a means of record and communication. The video conveyed its bitterness with an action that served as a metaphor for an idea that people can relate to. The metaphor itself is not at all confusing, it’s very simple yet abstract.
I thought that Selected Works was a very effective piece, if given time. The first time I saw it, I had no idea what it meant, or if it meant anything at all. Then I thought of the early 70's and the idea of dominance came to mind. He treated his dog that way because he was trying to express his feelings about the government’s then current situation and I thought it was quite an interesting way to convey the idea. The piece was 20 minutes, and was a little hard to follow, but the more thought I put into the piece, the more rewarding it ended up becoming. I think the artist tackled a very big issue, and he did so quite effectively, although not so accessibly.

I add the askers though.