January 7, 2004

Ok, folks. I know this has been a long dry spell in my blog.
You've probably gotten frustrated or bored about checking every day and not finding anything new, and moseyed on to other blogs - where people actually update theirs every day!

But you can come back now. This site will rock in 2004! Watch for a bunch of cool new stuff and more frequent updates. :-)

So first things first: during my visit to Seattle last week, I went to see the Annie Leibowitz exhibit about American musicians at the EMP. There is only one word to describe it: awesome. From Eminem and Puff Daddy over Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and Iggy Pop, to BB King and Lyle Lovett, Annie's portraits have a directness that sucks you in and won't let you go. I had to restrain myself from walking up to every image, pressing my nose on the glass and glaring at the beautiful prints for several minutes at a time upclose. I didn't really want to leave. I was in awe at the skill (the light, the light!) of Annie as a photographer, and whoever made the decision to mat in (at least) 16-ply and frame each print in a frame of seemingly hammered and burnished metal. Just dropdead gorgeous.

So as painful as it seems to part with the 20 bucks entry fee to the EMP (as a whole), the exhibit alone is worth it - so if you're in Seattle, GO SEE IT. But hurry up - it's only up until January 19th!

Lucky for me also, my friend Julie dragged me to the Henry Art Gallery to see the Knowing Light exhibit by James Turrell. Words can't really describe the experience, but let's just say that being in the Blue Room is probably the trippiest thing you can do outside of recreational drug use ...

So I came back, happy about having gotten my culture fix again. Cause if there's one thing I could complain about life here in Central Oregon (aside from the obvious fact of course that I came back to a foot of snow and arctic temperatures), it's that we simply don't have any good museums (and no, the High Desert Museum doesn't count, folks) - although there doesn't seem to be a lack of artists around here...

Well, anyway - Happy Belated New Year, everybody, and come back tomorrow to see the images from the annual Polar Bear Swim in Olympia, Washington!

Update 4.53pm - Image of the Day: Reflection of (riddle me this!) in the layered metal shell of the Seattle EMP.