there have been quite a number of things revolving around this site that make me think. by think, i mean consider for more than 3 minutes. at a time.

the first revolves around the people who write on this site. over the last 9 years, its been quite a large number of people — look at the listing of people (down at the bottom of the page). its a good count. people have stopped for various reasons — time, lack of interest, lack of content, hurt feelings and goodness knows what else.

it sucks.

if i could have these people back, writing and talking and sharing, i would. ray and i chug along these days, with scatterings from others. petunia, someone who would easily give me a run for my money in frequency of posts, has become more and more irregular. keren and i had a fight and she stopped posting. we are doing ok now, but she hasn't resumed her wonderful drawings. i stepped on matthew's toes once too often i think and he too has focused elsewhere. goose and andru are in the ether. same with bitzao. carter doesn't think she wants to expose herself so intimately online. chrispy ran out of steam along with mike. kurt…well, he writes on the full moon.

i didn't mean to start running down the list. my point was more that things have changed a lot over the last 9 years and much of the frenetic energy that we threw around 5 or 6 years ago seems to have disappeared. now we use it for managing other relationships. or working. or sleeping. or something other than this.

i think part of it is also that writing has become more important to me, while becoming less important to others. mike has stopped mostly, petunia never did become the book editor. carter is doing enough design now that her creative needs are met. and then there is me, still chugging along, writing a lot. (and ray, which might explain why the two of us post often.)

that's a second point. today somehow marks the first time in months that i have not had a book to read on my way home from work. the first time i haven't had a book to tear through quickly, before it is due at the library. 'generation x', 'teeth', 'iv', 'killing yourself to live', 'jpod' , the first half of 'death note', the first bit of 'seductress'…and i know there is one or two others sneaking in there somehow. ive been a reading machine. sadly, this has diverted me from being a writing machine.

yes, for the last 2 months or so, my writing has been at a standstill. the good news though is this: my to-do list is small right now. hank is about to act as my editor on my second book. my first book was entered in amazon's breakthrough novel contest. i need to revisit query letters for both of these novels very soon.

but the first book will be out in some fashion in 2008. and ill do my damnest to get the second one out in '08 as well. or at least have it to an agent. and my third will be done. and the fourth will be well underway.

the point though, was that ive been reading a lot. and i feel refreshed from the spree and feel like putting many words down again on paper. or on the screen.

but, because, i was reading, i wasn't doing much in terms of other output. so there was less work on the site, less paying attention to it as much as i would have liked. yes, i picked up my posting frequency, but my posts are still an odd mix of diary entries, links and half-baked pop culture stuff. so i want to polish all of these things up and push hard to make sure the things i put up are worth reading.

and part of that is making sure the site is the way it should be. i'm unsure what that means exactly, beyond making sure i work to tweak it into an enjoyable experience. something nice to look at, nice to use. i smell a small redesign coming on. i smell a lot more of the static content that used to hang out up here. i smell video.

or maybe its just my feet.

either way, the third point is that i'm very open to ideas, suggestions and anything else you want to throw at me. i said this a while ago, which prompted kurt to write me a mythical email, one he never sent but has referenced to me several time. his idea, it seems, is that i should kick everyone off out of here and focus myself. it ain't gonna happen. the best that might happen is that i set up another sandbox for myself. but it is an interesting concept, even if i dont agree with the execution.

***

this should have been thrown up yesterday, but i didn't log on once i got home from work. (gasp). instead we finished watching helvetica and then kurt and john came over for 2 episodes of season 4 of the wire. we are down to the last 2 now; i think we will finish it tomorrow.

for the record, there is nothing like watching it while kurt screams every 3 or 4 minutes, furious at the writers for manipulating his emotions and making him very upset over outcomes.

Nearly five years ago I said:

"This is a war that will not end because there is nothing to win."

i post about the lamest shit. which is kind of funny, considering im around interesting people and interesting ideas and work all day. i think maybe i'll try to start documenting some of that stuff on here. i'll get on that later today.

as promised, here are some things ive been looking at today:

social design notes

the bauhaus book because im thinking about modernism as it relates to the vernacular

this book, which is about ways of looking, and ways of thinking, and ways of looking at looking and thinking about thinking in the 20th century

and this logo forest made for tavares

and ian's striated flowers which is one of the most beautiful pieces ive seen from this year - the picture is just overlapped stencils but when you see these things made out of black book tape, they are fucking amazing

and some of what's above forest's desk

and if you really want to talk plagiarism, check this shit out:

the july 2004 issue of spector cut + paste

and the new urban outfitters plastic bags. you know, it isnt quite flattery when it's just downright stealing.

i post about the lamest shit. which is kind of funny, considering im around interesting people and interesting ideas and work all day. i think maybe i'll try to start documenting some of that stuff on here. i'll get on that later today.