Loontown Tinies

Still alive, still kicking

2010-01-17T14:57:00.001+01:00

... just not drawing. Hope to get back to that one day. Take care until then.

SAME PROCEDURE AS USUAL...

2008-01-01T10:04:00.000+01:00

Wishing you tremendous things to come!

OFFICIALLY A STOP

2007-04-18T10:15:00.000+02:00

Friends, Loontown is coming to an end. I will leave the remains Online and keep my blog-account, but there won´t be new beetle stories.

I will see you around on your blogs!

THERE YOU GO

2007-03-01T17:21:00.000+01:00

Do you know how you realise to get a thing going again you need to make more of an investment in it, but then - not being able to take the time - you just play around with it, twiddledeedoo, and it turns further away from your intentions, ups!, and then you get more bored and the eye-rolling just never stops when you look at it, and you feel WHY this thing at all!

Then you blame it all on the fact Blogger doesn´t allow you to change the color of its navigation bar to any of the colors you like.

LACK OF GRAVITY

2007-02-19T18:58:00.000+01:00

The non-participation could have tasted better if the participating capabilities would have been higher.

BROADCASTING OPINION

2007-02-11T14:12:00.000+01:00

Mr. Erwin still hoped the right frame would lead to an appropriate (and by all means adequate!) audience number.

REPOSTING: CROSSCURRENT

2007-02-01T10:14:00.000+01:00

Fortunately for those who didn´t thrive on the current there was always the crosscurrent.

RED

2007-01-31T15:56:00.000+01:00

Ever since Peppermint Pat started working for Government she´d found the perfect way to fence off undesired visitors to her personal paradise.

REPOSTING : A REAL ARTIST

2007-01-31T12:14:00.000+01:00

She was a real artist. Inside she was really, really deep. Infact she was so deep she decided to build in a stairway so people could come watch her rich inner life. Three years later, for everyone´s convenience, she upgraded the facilities and installed an elevator. It was in 2005 she eliminated all that. She had discovered she was far too deep to be dealing with something as profane as humans.

SMENITA MADE ME DO IT

2007-01-10T00:26:00.000+01:00

I am calling for the official Smenita Night. Word verification had me type it for the sixth or seventh time. By now it runs across my tongue suavingly fast. Soon tornados and hurricanes will be named after her.

BUZZ

2007-01-07T13:13:00.000+01:00

It´s my buzz against your buzz.

NEVER ENDING STORY II

2006-12-31T06:06:00.000+01:00

The same procedure as last year.

Dearests! Wishing you a wonderful New Year with exiting things to come!
Years with a 7 in them will be magical.

OWN YOUR PACE

2006-11-08T14:50:00.000+01:00

Irrepressable David catching his daily dose of fun.

GLOBAL IDENTITY SWAP OFFICE

2006-11-07T17:16:00.000+01:00

Loontown is heading ways.
From the Beetle Gazette.

What if a citizen from one country could swap places (mutual consent) with a citizen of another country? What if you could choose between swapping identities with someone from another country or have them legally swap their social security numbers? The new "Global Identity Swap Office" (GISO) in Loontown is giving you a choice.

"Sure it sounds like the invention of yet another awkward reality TV show", Loontown´s Mayor Franklin Upward admits. "But what we have here is a tribute to modern life. Everyone wants to come to Loontown these days and we are willing to accept new faces more smug than us. But in order to regulate our limited regional space we need to rid ourselves of as many old crickets as we get new ones." Hinkel Doorden from the GISO agency explains the elegant simplicity of the swapping procedure. "First you place your ad and preferred swap country and even preferred time limit with us and wait with what matches we come up. If you already have a potential swap partner from abroad you bring in both party´s identities and wait for a go from us. The "True Willingness Detector" will than trace your determination and if you pass that test next thing you know you have a new identity."

Within five hours of its opening the office already is Loontown´s busiest hot spot agency. Beetles are squished into long lines. What makes this new offer so attractive, we ask Joseph Boredom Jr., the town´s wealthiest nest builder. He explains that however much independently you grow up, society has built a frame of definition around you that makes it difficult for personal change. "I have long accepted that people take me for a reliable nest builder unable to hold a tune. But frankly, I want to start anew, I want to sing. You may believe I am a sturdy dung beetle good with wood, but inside I am all cicada!"

"It is an interesting experiment", Mayor Franklin Upward says. "And we don´t even need to change our immigration law."

GISO is only the latest installation in a series of new and exiting bureaucratic establishments. When asked what is next on his agenda the Mayor twinkles with delight:"Well, why", he says. "It is of course the TICA (TERMINAL IDENTITY CHANGE AGENCY). We are looking to extinct the fruit flies!"

UNWANTED ATTENTION...

2006-11-05T10:25:00.000+01:00

.
.
.

WIND

2006-10-29T10:26:00.001+01:00

She didn´t know of what good it was that the answer was blowing in the wind since she was too busy hanging on to the next big tree to catch it.

GHOST

2006-10-25T09:25:00.000+02:00

Upon returning she was invited back to her old self. The exact space she never wanted to enter again.

WE ARE SPECIAL(ISED)

2006-10-21T14:43:00.000+02:00

Gloria van Tuttle was a busy call agent (outbound) to drill in money for her aging mother (medical needs) who was one of the customers of Milla Demkov (mobile geriatric services) who in order to deliver her workwomanship gave her adoring baby boy Hadley to Thyra Cunningham (ex au-pair) who provided for twenty babies a week to support her health-insuranceless father (brain tumor, leg injury) so he could continue suing his mail order bride Liu-Min Rie (now divorced) over a loan she started her manicure & pedicure salon with, where she took care of Gloria van Tuttle (nail biter) so she would look swell the one night a week she was free from the phone and get hooked up with a charming chaperone (art student) employed by the dating service agency from the opposite office to escape the biting smell of her mother (incontinent) who often at night got skipped by Milla Demkov (single mom) who couldn´t afford an extra babysitter as Thyra Cunningham (indebted) had special fees for night sittings since she rather spent that time waitressing in a trendy bar (good tips).

CREATION COMES BY DOING, STUPID!

2006-10-20T10:43:00.000+02:00

A first simple lines are a beginning.

TRYING, FAILING: AH, LIFE!

2006-10-19T16:55:00.000+02:00

She could be found anywhere near a trashcan these days.

WHERE HAS THE HABIT GONE?

2006-10-18T22:32:00.000+02:00

(Perhaps there is nothing to say?)

WHERE I AM GOING TO STOP WORKING SOON

2006-10-01T12:18:00.000+02:00

Alas, the time has come to say goodbye to the project I have been involved with for the past 8 months. I never thought I was going to like this type of architecture but in the end what you experience through the lense of the people (aka residents) is what makes you love things more.

I am packing my bags to be back in Loontown in a little while...

LOONTOWN IS IN BOLLYWOD

2006-09-15T15:00:00.000+02:00

... so that´s where we are ...

At the moment it´s hard to stop me from talking about my job.
So here we go.

To explain: my current job is that we work as artists in so called disadvantaged town areas where we teach several art classes and prepare an upcoming performance together with interested residents. You could say that part of the job is to be a talent scout. Getting to know the people in this area is also getting to know their qualities and talents - and from there we see how we can cooperate. Our performance will be staged on the balconies and facades of a high rise building that is prone to destruction next year. (At this point a little more over half of the residents have already moved out to renovated flats... thats what they call urban redevelopment.)

Some of you might remember that I have been named (or named myself ;) movement coordinator for my group and got to see several local dance groups. I was especially impressed by the Indian temple dancers. Since we needed a love scene for our performance and so many of the kids I worked with adore Bollywood movies, I asked some of the Indian girls if they could do a Bollywood scene for me. The girls were immediately set on fire and we worked out a short film script. The story is simple: a young woman walks with her friends over the willows and catches sight of a young attractive man standing on the balcony of a high rise building. First he does not notice her, but when they start dancing it doesn´t take long before he catches on, too. When the dance is finished a chase through the building begins. Both are looking for each other, racing through hallways, opening doors, looking down balustrades.

We really just had very little time for shooting but since the girls worked so hard (they did all of the choreography themselves and were extremely patient during the shooting) everything worked out well. In front of the building is a huge green willow where they performed and we shot from high up as well as eye to eye. There is a scene that looks so eerie, as if the girls dance between the buildings, all being the same size.

A few scenes...

I had incredible fun doing this (and got a sunburn on the second day of shooting!) - and I think so had everybody else.

"SAFE" IS AN ILLUSION

2006-09-05T17:52:00.000+02:00

so...

THIS IS A FLOWER. AND HOW DO YOU KNOW?

2006-09-04T13:08:00.000+02:00

Meanwhile, while everyone was expressing their individuality, there formed a large homogenous sea we found unavoidable to not swim in. What happened to our intentions...

Excuse the visual lameness. I am still cruising along the shores. I was holding out for ideas of how to change this blog. Will I find it at the seaside, will I need to splash into myself?

Once you get out of the rhythm to blog on a regular basis it is difficult to come back. My focus in this month will be on the upcoming performance of our "play", all the things I have worked on in the past months finally come together in a story. After that I am sure I will reappear...

THE REASON MY HANDS ARE SOUR...

2006-08-19T12:42:00.000+02:00

... and I am still not back at posting: our kid´s sommer project. We are spraypainting 4 huge walls with stencil graffiti.

One day I will look back at it and say: oh, it was such fun!
But for now.... §$%&e3/!!!

(The Mosaik Wall, still very unfinished.)

(The Johnny Wall (Johnny is the dog´s name), almost done.)

...OUT

2006-07-26T08:25:00.000+02:00

...too many things to do...
See you soon and have a great summer! :)

C...

2006-07-26T08:19:00.000+02:00

...

B...

2006-07-26T08:18:00.000+02:00

...

A...

2006-07-26T08:15:00.000+02:00

...

OPPOSITES III

2006-07-23T12:26:00.000+02:00

Israeli and Palestinian Women joined for peace.

OPPOSITES II

2006-07-22T12:17:00.000+02:00

According to Freud dreams don´t create opposites. The power of a dream is to bind every opposite into a linear stream of equals.

OPPOSITES I

2006-07-22T12:08:00.000+02:00

1.
X
x
X
x
X
What is the opposite of nothing?

2.
-|_^|= ° =|^_|-
´´ ``
If opposites attracts and I like you, don´t I like myself then?

3.
() / [] = {}
Would you want to hug your most opposite and transform?

4.
==============
|| || || ||
What direction do you have to follow to defeat your opposites?

5.
o -/-> T
Is end the opposite of beginning?

FROZEN

2006-07-19T09:58:00.000+02:00

"Hour around hour he sat stiffly on his chair, hammered into his typewriter, choked out one word after another, felt restrained, like a beginner, frozen of the fear he could reveal by writing that he was not a writer." (Jay Martin on Henry Miller)

SAY YOU WILL!

2006-07-18T07:34:00.000+02:00

Eat that Frog - via Dave Pollard´s blog.

SACRIFICE

2006-07-15T22:10:00.000+02:00

It was the time of the year again where beetles & cats sacrificed a dear pet bunny to appease the nutty ravens.

PS: A biologist working with this town´s museum recently told me he wished illustrators would finally understand only rabbits and bunnies build burrows - and never hares. I am passing that piece of information on. Never put long-legged hares into fancy burrow buildings! That is biologically incorrect!

PSS: (he was a bit nutty himself)

SERIOUSLY...

2006-07-12T22:17:00.000+02:00

... on some days I am heading towards making the most irrational (irritating) blog comments that are not anonymous. It must be the addiction to the adrenalin shock of pressing the "post comment" button with that awkward, rolling-eye sensations in my mind.

... I am so busy. Who invented the word "yes"? Who put it ~~into~~ out of my mouth? Alas, I have this really good idea for "skyline" but won´t make it this week. Nevertheless I will post the quote that would have gone alongside:

"We shape our buildings. Thereafter they shape us." (Winston Churchill)

... we have a new neigbour across the street. She is a balcony performer. She gets out every now and then and declares her political opinion. She is frank, loud, silly and un-shy (today she performed in underwear).

... sometimes I think my fellow bloggers are the most talented people in the world. sometimes I think they are people in pajamas just like me.

MAY I INTRODUCE...

2006-07-08T14:01:00.000+02:00

... the first members of our new Kids Movement Group.

I am a proud teacher :)

STUDENT´S HAHA-HUMOR

2006-07-07T08:56:00.000+02:00

It was a strict custom for students when on vacation to send home postcards with the Pope* on.

*infact any Royal would do

Okay, I admit, I have a past of that myself :)

BACK TO THE ROOTS

2006-07-05T17:26:00.000+02:00

And now we are back to praying to our old God.

Do you feel, too, that the World Succer Cup has gone a bit too eurocentric?

STICKY

2006-07-02T20:03:00.000+02:00

The invention of the programmable sticky notes was something the Mother Cops prided in infinitely.

PS: I am in the process of rearranging my links and have not come up with a good solution yet... can you notice?

IT´S A DOG´S LIFE

2006-07-01T19:27:00.000+02:00

When the whole world turns against your poop.*

*metaphorically spoken

MADAME TIRELLE & HER FLUFFY OWL

2006-06-26T17:39:00.000+02:00

Free advice.
Currently on duty.

RAIN

2006-06-25T16:14:00.000+02:00

     ,      `
   ´     ,
       , `     , ,
             ´       ,      ´ ,
       ,    , `    ,
`        ,
,     ,
  , rain urbane ,
,    ,       ,
,              ` ,
it drizzles and spritzels,
it pours and pratzels,
it trickles and ripples,
it splashes and washes,
it drips and drops
on top
of my stop.
  , ,         `    ´
   `             ,          ,
            ,
in the attic i love the rain.
          `
     ,

   ´
One of my favorite rain related books is "FLOOD" by Eric Drooker. He has a wonderful sequence sample on his website that I highly recommend to watch.

DANCE

2006-06-22T11:21:00.000+02:00

I have a long and rather secret passion for dance and was exited to see this week´s topic, especially since at work I have just been named the movement coordinator for our upcoming performance in September. What a beautiful task, I get to see all the dance groups of the local quarter I am working in! Yesterday I went to see an Indian Dance Group rehearse. These are girls between the age of 14 to 18, most of them involved in ritual dance for years and years. Needless to say it was a stunning hour and I have been rolling eyes and acting out hand figures (mudras) ever since (again, of course, secretly).

For that very reason (going from rehearsal to rehearsal) I did not have time to develop my original idea for "dance" and dug out an old sketch where I was trying to illustrate one movie with the title of another.

The initial idea was to create a tutu from clothes pin, each carrying the picture of a beloved dancer on it who I have seen perform live. This is the beginning:

Yes, it is true, I have seen Rudolf Nureyev perform in Stockholm when he was already ~~ancient~~ old but nonetheless mesmerizing! And no, it is not true, I am not that old to have seen Isadora Duncan perform live, but I saw her devoted followers perform in her tradition (which looks rather odd!). I remember as a Teenager I was totally taken by Isadora´s autobiography. She writes how she loathed the restrictive Ballet classes and went to history museums to copy movements from the Greek vase drawings and statues. She would dance in the exhibition rooms, checked upon suspiciously by the museum guards. Back to natural, she proclaimed!

My alltime favorite dance performance I attended was by Kazuo Ohno performing "My mother" in New York. Kazuo is one of the first Butoh performers, or better yet Inventors. At that time of the performance he was over 90 years old (I seem to have a thing for dance dinosaurs). I was ushering at the Japanese Society for the event and he personally thanked each of us after the performance for our work and then kneeled down to sign us posters! I wanted so badly to say something to him but I was too impressed and shy and exited so I only smiled and bowed awkwardly.

Coming back to the Indian girls I´ve seen rehearsing yesterday, I must say how beautiful it is to have a cultural tradition of dance expression. To be able to do something well, to be able to perform with grace, to have rythm and joy, is a valuable asset for every other part of your life.

If you now think of Germany´s traditional dance movements I won´t blame you if you think of the Bavarian "Schuhplattler" at the Oktoberfst - but please, I am from the North and let me tell you, we don´t do nonsense like that!!

Update: Link to a video! He who dances around in public space. Fun!

SILENCIO NOCTURNO

2006-06-18T20:28:00.000+02:00

"Night, the beloved. Night, when words fade and things come alive. When the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again. When woman reassembles her fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree." (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

FROG, DETERMINED

2006-06-18T15:48:00.000+02:00

You will be surprised to hear that this came about while doodling an opera singer.
She got swallowed, btw.

I DON´T KNOW WHAT TO DO

2006-06-14T08:30:00.000+02:00

*

A click on the picture gets you to the single pages.

Officially my blog marathon is over today. Whew! I am exhausted. I bet so are you. There are a lot of disadvantages to posting every day, but some interesting insights as well. I will let you more about them - and about this piece - after a deep breath and a little rest. Hasta luego!

*The original belongs to my dear friend Isabelle who tends to refer to the same dilemma, except she is the one person I know who not only does a lot, but does the most interesting things as well.

LOONTOWNs RESIDENT APPROVAL CHECK

2006-06-13T20:51:00.000+02:00

1) Check here if you are overtly critical
2) Check here if you are on top of that apolitical
3) Check here if you want things perfect at least for a start
4) Check here if you don´t give a serious fart
5) Check here if you are goddamn judgemental
6) Check here if you are hyperventilating temperamental
7) Check here if you are more than demanding
8) Check here if you knew it would be a crash landing
9) Check here if you think living equals dissatisfaction
10) Check here if you don´t believe in personal interaction
11) Check here if you stamp people as if they were naught
12) Check here if you believe you don´t fit a lot
13) Check here if you have feelings of utter disdain
14) Check here if you think all cats belong on a chain

=

Checked 0-2 times - are you sure you are alive?
Checked 2-4 times - you out to be living in Maine
Checked 4-6 times - you out to be living in Shanghai
Checked 6-8 times - you out to be living in Wyoming
Checked 8-10 times - you out to be living in Ostfriesland
Checked 10-12 times - you out to be living in New York
Checked 12-14 times - you out to be living in Loontown

A NEW PERSPECTIVE FROM THE TOP

2006-06-12T09:55:00.000+02:00

THE FEAR OF BEING A MARIACHI SINGER

2006-06-11T12:05:00.000+02:00

If it comes out Mariachi, it may be who you are.
(Accept your own voice. Grrrr.)

After 3 weeks my voice is finally back, still a bit hoarse, I am trying not to talk too much (which is hard considering how much I have to catch up). Alas, this period gave me a good time for reflecting on a lot of things and since I love to do that the written way expect a bit of a thought-ladden post :).

As I was whining and complaining about my situation (I fear!) Joy and I coincidentally talked about Chakras and she said that "a challenge to the throat chakra is to express ourselves in the most truthful manner. Repressing our anger or displeasure by ignoring our feelings through evasive sweet talk, or silence, will manifest into throat imbalances such as strep throat, laryngitis, speech impediments, and so on." Wow, I thought. I talk quite frequently and make my opinion heard among friends and colleagues, no problem. Still I noticed there is a side of me that has become silent. Many things I would like to share never seem appropriate in any kind of conversation. Worries, that become jokes, sorrows, that become cynicism, believes that duck under the fear of being seen naive or romantic (talk about clinging to the image of "cool"!). There is a growing desire in me to speak up and present my ideas on a larger (& deeper) level.

"The voice is one of our most powerful instruments, lying at the heart of the communication process. It belongs to both the body and the mind. It is shaped by our earliest infant experience and by powerful social conventions. It bridges our internal and external worlds, travelling from our most private recesses into the public domain, revealing not only our deepest sense of who we are, but also who we wish we weren't. It's a superb guide to fear and power, anxiety and subservience, to another person's vitality and authenticity as well as our own." (Anne Karpf - The Human Voice)

I picked up a book I had ordered time ago without ever opening it: "Women seen and heard - Lessons learned from successful speakers." (Lois Phillips, Anita Perez Ferguson) A paragraph in the introduction stood out for me: "... had found her voice - not just the ability to express ideas and project her voice, but the confidence that came when one exercizes the right to free speech. She had realized that it was both emotionally and professionally costly to remain silent. She had learned that she needed to be able to clearly express her feelings in order to relate to others, and that it didn´t help to be defensive about them."
The chapter claims that if we don´t speak up the audience (or friends, family, foes) loses out by not gaining the benefits of our wisdom/insights. And if we don´t use our tools fully we will not live fully either. (To repeat and repeat and repeat that may finally hammer it into minds.)

My friend told me that it is typical for me (I, who have the desire to be more powerful with words and would need to practise excessively) to start a blog with drawings instead. Yes and no, I answered. (I whacked some, too!) It is a closer step to being an opera singer by singing Mariachi then from not singing before an audience at all.

PS: As good talking is related to good listening, I am posting this link to Dave Pollard´s recent entry about re-learning to listen. He posts a great quote by Karl Menninger: "Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. (...) When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand."

JUNGLE

2006-06-10T07:21:00.000+02:00

Good morning, says your daily jungle.

I am cheating a bit this week. The above illustration was posted some months ago except without the colors and animals. What can you do if the IF topic matches excactly your past post title? What can you do if you have promised yourself to post something everyday for two weeks but all of a sudden, after weeks of rain, the weather turns bright and sunny?

Coincidentally I came home Friday finding this IF topic after my colleague had been teaching a group of children the song "The Lion sleeps Tonite" - the Hip Hop version. Working in the next room we got to witness splendid progress. The kids were intimidated in the beginning (and quite off-beat!) but very soon the studios beamed of strange rap/hip hop sounds and the ever ongoing line "in the jungle, the mighty jungle..." In the end out of the whole group three girls were gleaming of joy and excitement and turned us others to a patient audience listening to "in the jungle..." over and over again. If you had seen their faces you´d understand why it was hard to finally send them home, but we had to take care of our ears. As we were cleaning the studio and packing, the door bell rang and when I answered the inter phone through the cracking sound from the street three lovely voices sang: "in the jungle the mighty jungle..."

I still think its strange that it had to be jungle on IF.

A NEW GOD

2006-06-09T10:16:00.000+02:00

From today on we pray to our new God.

PROCRASTIBIRDs FINAL SONG

2006-06-08T08:10:00.000+02:00

I will never want to see a list of all my procrastinated projects!

BLOG DOCUMENTATION*

2006-06-07T21:54:00.000+02:00

What is wrong with you, Blogger.com, my Dear? You´ve been having hiccups for days. Lean back and relax. Hold your breath and swallow. Would you care for some peppermint tea?

I was thinking today about this idea how a self-publishing company like Lulu.com could develop a tool for blog content to be easily turned into print. The archive of your Online journal becomes a book for your shelf. You pick the cover (the blog header perhaps?), what entries should go in, which ones should be left out, over what period of time you want the book (per year, per blog anniversary), what size it should be, if you want all the pictures included, if you want the comments included, if your contacts go in on a reference page... plus you´d have templates for print page design similar to the Online templates.

You don´t have to respond to this. I just wanted to get it out here in case someone will ask in 6 months who the first brilliant mind was to think of that!

*not good for people who frequently move

DEFEAT THEM WITH LOVE*

2006-06-07T07:52:00.000+02:00

What took them unexpectedly was not the opposition they were used to receive - and prided much in creating.
It was the sudden air of love that one can first mock (call it naiveté) - that than becomes the one fundament safe against all rational arguing.

*says not just the Hippie.

IDENTITY

2006-06-06T10:03:00.000+02:00

Who are you despite of, who are you because of?
Who waters your seeds to full bloom?
Who facilitates your best, who brings out your worst?
Who takes you back to place when you spill all over?
Are you independent of...
Are you independent...
Are you...

What do we bring out in each other?

Are you the perfect you, because nobody else can do that?

DOWNLOAD DISASTER

2006-06-05T10:20:00.000+02:00

Iiiiiek! The new song protection worked massacringly fine.

5 frequently played songs on my mp3 player. What are yours?

Gadjo Dilo Soundtrack - Camerata
(Vibrant Gypsy song, the clarinet takes you in and swirls your hips.)
Tori Amos - Do it Again
(Cover of the old Steely Dan song, sulky rythm, brilliant.)
Johnny Cash - Hurt
(Knowing that he passed away shortly after the release makes the song even sader.)
Beatsteaks - Don´t care as long as you sing
(I like to run to that song or sing and have even attempted both at the same time.)
Nina Hagen - TV Glotzer
(An old 80ies classic, freakin´ strange Nina style.)

This week I will post a drawing every day. Infact I will keep that up untill the 13th of June. It is an experiment. I am working towards something. There is no particular storyline behind it. It is more to see how I feel about Loontown on a daily basis and whether I will in the end widen the frame or not. I learn so much from looking at other people´s blog that I often want to experiment more and use different styles, characters, medias, but than of course that temptation can lead me exactly into blending in with a more common voice, a certain trend. How does one stand firm with ones own lines, knowing I have not tested out yet how far I can really go with it, when my little play-devil feels called to shift focus? How long does it take before I surfeit myself with my own characters?

SHEEPISH

2006-06-04T05:33:00.000+02:00

No more sheepish behaviour!
(In Loontown it was custom to grow every new law in public space.)

FATEAL

2006-06-03T07:50:00.000+02:00

She was still waiting for that one message to change it all.

PORTRAIT

2006-06-02T14:14:00.000+02:00

Portrait of the artist as Don Quixote.

This prooves that silliness alone will not catapult you to the first slot. Well, no. 3 is nice, too...

Update: Petition is over! Clever Flossy-P has found the cure. I have no idea how she managed, but she dug out the link for those who miss the good old list numbers : CLICK!

STAGNATION

2006-06-02T08:38:00.000+02:00

Please give my wheel a push!

"For if men and women were perfect, mentally, physically, morally, spiritually, why would they need art at all?"
Robert Hughes

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

2006-06-01T11:08:00.000+02:00

Willie Baronet has a cool set of questions on his blog.

CLOSE TO LOOSING HEAD

2006-05-31T12:13:00.000+02:00

Inevitably, I found that link, too :)

What site I have truly fallen in love with is You Tube. I am celebrating an Online revival of 80ies videos ranging from The Cure to Kate Bush.

SCREAM IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION

2006-05-30T22:07:00.000+02:00

Quickly - and independent of each other - they resolved the ever recurring problem: the imaginative invention of additional kid´s wagons for public busses!

I think two things are becoming apparent: a) I use public transportation way too often, b) I am starting to become a big caviler! What a fate. I will be working on my dusted optimism and focus on life´s glory. If only we finally had spring weather...

CAKE...

2006-05-28T20:43:00.000+02:00

Top Job Bob
Had the greatest job
Of where the job description
Reads like a piece of Fiction:

"Eat cake
pet cat
get fat
all that."

He lived in bliss for a little time
(And I put this sentence only to rhyme)
Untill he overdid it with the birds
(I will not tell you the end as it hurts)
Not me, not you, but Bob the ex Top
Who once had the best of Job
With lots of cream and cake:
If only he wasn´t such a plague.

Out of a cazillion words: why cake?

PS: I think I will be launching a petition to get the numbers back on the IF list!

SORRY... but blabla

2006-05-23T06:23:00.000+02:00

I am ambivalent about the word sorry. That´s not to say I don´t acknowledge a person who apologizes for a made mistake and tries to apply that lesson to future actions. We all fail at times, we all hurt other people unintentionally, we all have a tendency to put out behaviour we later want to excuse ourselves for.

But how many times have you heard "sorry" as sheer rhetoric? How many times have you heard "sorry" as a direct move to absolution? There is a difference between the "sorry" that is used to begin something and the "sorry" that is used to end something.

What if a "sorry" is placed over the feelings and needs of the one who gets the apology? "Sorry" easily wipes off critique and opinion. "I said I am sorry, what do yo want more?" Before we go into our own accountability/responsibility (the choices and decisions we make) we often start plotting the excuses. Was it the bus, the dog, the neighbour this time to explain why we arrive late... (we know it was just that we needed to fix the damn hair...)

The possibility of "sorry" is to value that we care for and respect the other - if only a bit late. Everytime we use it to cover up lack of attention and focus, we put it out to inflation. And what to do then if we truly mess things up?

*This of course was written under the spell of the Edukator. Watch out for this uncharming creature on these very pages.

COWGIRL RULES

2006-05-22T14:35:00.000+02:00

13 Laws to survive the Wild West.

§1 don´t shoot too fast.
§2 don´t eternally delay shooting, either.
§3 don´t be a reaction shooter, be an action shooter.
§4 don´t take things personal if being shot back.
§5 don´t save your best munition for shots in the future.
§6 don´t assume your way of shooting is a general binding form of shooting.
§7 don´t just win, shoot the right battles.
§8 don´t shoot those who you think have failed you.
§9 don´t give in to not shooting your best way.
§10 don´t go for fatal shoot-outs in moments of emotional despair.
§11 don´t take one bad shot as an omen for the rest of your cowgirl career.
§12 don´t mind shooting again, shoot better, if worst shoot yourself.
§13 don´t forget to always look at §1 first.

ANGELS & DEVILS

2006-05-18T10:00:00.000+02:00

They started wooing her brain early.
They are still fighting over it.

STILL FISHING FOR ANSWERS

2006-05-15T00:13:00.000+02:00

On the Superhero Journal Andrea posted about a game called Magpies that works as a sort of oracle. You have to meditate over an issue or question, open the dictionary and pick a random word. Pang! That´s your answer.

Naturally as Sane Sally is still looking for clues to her future, she grabbed her Spanish/German dictionary and answered the exact questions Andrea posted.

1) What are you good at?
2 )What kind of work would have you excited to get out of bed each morning?
3) What should you be aware of that you're not aware of?

=

1) Pick: -> revuelta (Spanish for rebellion)
2) Pick: -> balsa (Spanish for raft)
3) Pick: -> Reise (German for journey)

Make of it what you will, as Scarecrow says.
Or better: let me know what you make of it!

CASE OF ATP

2006-05-14T14:43:00.000+02:00

Hybrid Heidi got hit by a serious case of ATP. To make matters worse, it came to her solely in German.

FAT

2006-05-10T19:47:00.000+02:00

Too many artistical egos working on one project without a clear lead is like trying to steer a boat with two captains. Great ideas of where to go, what to do, pop up all the time but it is unclear whether all the suggested pathes will unite in a rounded project final. Peter Brooks said you have to have the courage to keep walking the jitterbug untill suddenly a meaning becomes visible. Pulling the brake too early just for securing your everyday by setting the concept may not eventually serve the concept.

Still I find a little more direction and a little less trying to throw all kinds of spices in would be a plus.

I had to be thinking about the saying "Too many cooks spoil the broth" yesterday after a long meeting with colleagues and thought I could twist it for this weeks IF entry.

Too bad my own artist ego is big enough that I was over-talking like hell. Today my voice is a sheer husk and I cannot even answer the phone unless someone finds it attractive to listen to whispers and rattlings.

To lube the vocal chords my friend tells me to drink lotsa hot water with olive oil.
How ironic...

PS: I read about this project in the newspaper today and thought it was well related to the topic. I just love people who literally start walking towards their goal, I guess you can tell by now :)

PSS: Yes, I am the bummer who didn´t realise in order to be uploaded your thumbnail has to be a jpg and not a gif. And I thought I was so clever, sigh.

RUDIMENTARY

2006-05-08T20:29:00.000+02:00

Meanwhile, for those who remember, I am still planning on showing some of the graffiti girls photos. I have opened a flickr account (see below) but I was busy uploading other stuff for which I used the 20 MB free space already. I hope you still remember next month ...

UNDER THE SEA..

2006-05-03T19:28:00.000+02:00

...what Ophelia* found was a world more delightful than the one she left ...

A LONG WEEKEND...

2006-05-02T06:24:00.000+02:00

... thank God today is Tuesday and I can go to work again.

COMPETITION (& 1 NONRELATED QUOTE)

2006-05-01T08:28:00.000+02:00

Let´s see who can last this one out longer.

"I object to the word experimental being applied to my own work. Certainly I make experiments, but the unsuccessful ones are quietly hidden away and what I choose to publish is in my terms successful: that is, it has been the best way I could find of solving particular writing problems. Where I depart from convention, it is because the convention has failed, is inadequate for what I have to say. The relevant questions are surely whether each device works or not, whether it achieves what it set out to achieve, and how less good were the alternatives."
(B.S. Johnson)

One of my favorite authors.

THE PROCRASTIBIRD

2006-04-30T23:27:00.000+02:00

...oh, shut up character!

NOT LINEAR LIVING CREATURES

2006-04-27T08:34:00.000+02:00

"Society teaches us to represent our lives to ourselves within the framework of a coherent narrative, but beneath that conditioning we feel our lives as a series of multidirectional impulses and collision."
(Richard Foreman)

Roz brilliant work made me think of Richard Foreman.

"I, ROBOT - - YOU, JANE"

2006-04-25T08:16:00.000+02:00

Taken from "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer". Season 1, Episode 8. I, Robot -- You, Jane. Written by: Ashley Gable & Thomas A. Swyden.

Yes, this is a rather lame and quick entry due to my tight time schedule. But I like that quote. I think Giles is on to something. I keep repeating that computers might be making us smarter, but not wiser. Wisdom is only reached over the senses. I even told Steven Berlin Johnson, author of "Everything Bad Is Good for You". But than I thought that if we´d connect what is special about us humans to what is special about computers and become a human robot or robotic human, will that be the ultimate solution? Imagine to have your hard drive as a brain extension. Will we be able to update, modify, unload data, learn, make notes, and talk to beings far away without external equipment? And what would happen when humans realised the only way to change humanity for the better is to reprogram their hardware and we were actually able to do that? (Cut aggression and bellicose desires, cut the over-exploitative behaviour of using up ressources. Genetical enhancements, neuronal reconnections, hormonal adjustments, technical installments - all is possible.) Would that be a scary scenario for you? Do you think we will reach a new stage of human existance or will we pass that stage of HUMAN existance alltogether?

How would I be doing as a science-fiction writer? ;)

THE SILENCE OF A KISS

2006-04-23T09:13:00.000+02:00

It was a stereotyped approach, but Hybrid Heidi felt she was right on when she documented the invention of kissing.

BUS PEOPLE

2006-04-22T12:25:00.000+02:00

The insatiable need for communication never led to the obvious next.

°|° SPOTTED °|°

2006-04-21T08:21:00.000+02:00

The Calculator has set an eye on IF partipants and spotted the following:

Loontown´s Creator fumbled and twimbled a lot about how the IF list would become more manageable to regain the feeling of community. To lay a basis she could continue her brain exercises on, she placed an order to the Loontown Evaluation Center (LEC) to check the statistics of IF participants.

That´s what the pesky little man came up with.
To have a closer look at the excel sheets click here.

A preliminary conclusion: The one genius solution would be to ban all digitally produced illustrations. Get hands dirty again!

What would be your solutionary approach?

PS: Don´t ask for the logics of it. They changed daily.
PSS: Who would have known 20 people actually posted photographs?

PSSS: Trisha has a new weekly photopshop challenge!

HAPPY CONCEPTUAL EASTER*

2006-04-17T18:20:00.000+02:00

The photo in the background is a graffiti a friend of mine did a couple of years ago. It is still present in Berlin, close to the museum Hamburger Bahnhof that hosts some of Beuys´ work. The spray artist started at the entrance gate of the museum holding a bucket and brush in his hand, walked across the street to the bridge, climbed downstairs to where the beam is, wrote his sentence and jumped off into the water.

The happening was a tribute to Beuys.

On a stairway to the further left the artist was able to climb out again.

I love knowing things about a city that are not apparent.

*belated

ACHTUNG ICH KANN YOGA

2006-04-16T14:42:00.000+02:00

Yoga isn´t relaxing for everyone.

STENCILED SALLY

2006-04-13T20:23:00.000+02:00

Today a 100 years ago Samuel Beckett was born into Dublin, Ireland and he worked his life through to become one of avantgarde first and foremost authors. I have almost admired his sharp and wicked wit as much as his short and precise sentences. After reading his biography I felt strongly encouraged to never give up on believing in myself as an author. Beckett himself was discovered late in life. He had years of poverty, frustration and agony which furthered his style - and grace. It seems there was never the question of giving up. You may have heard his famous quote before: Ever try, ever fail, no matter. Try again, fail again, fail better. It´s not just a quote I love, it is also the essence of Beckett.

On a personal note: my graffiti group went well! Today we "bombed" a whole empty appartment. The girls did not stop spraying untill all the cans were gone. And what cool cans they were. There will be a short report of our workshop on this site later.

D°J°M - unbeatable in coolness :)

SPEED

2006-04-10T07:11:00.000+02:00

They tried to cheer him with jubilant speed fanfares.
But all Alp Boy Werner could think of was that old Clash song "Should I stay or should I go...".

To my dear readers: I will be offline for 3 day - gone to teach a stencil graffiti class to girls! (I know that sounds rather cool, but hell, its Teenagers! They bite, don´t they? ;))

NEW ENERGY DISTRIBUTION

2006-04-09T14:46:00.000+02:00

Sadly, all the energy she needed to not regard her life as a complete failure was now being used for nightly street lighting.

MR. ERWIN THE AGAINSTER

2006-04-06T20:53:00.000+02:00

In her moment of utter confusion, this nihilistic approach to life seemed quite attractive to Sally.

KROKUS SPOKUS SPRING

2006-04-02T20:43:00.000+02:00

This post marks the milestone of being Loontown´s number 100 - I can´t believe myself I have been that persistent.

A big thanks to you, dear people who comment, you inspire me to keep going and exploring, you make me want to learn more about art and illustration, color and composition, Loontown and its beetles.

Best wishes also to the Unknown in Stumptown, who celebrates the same miraculous occasion.

SALLY IS WRITING A LETTER

2006-03-29T07:27:00.000+02:00

"...my name is Sally and I am nine years old. I am a poet. Up there you can see how that career has gone so far. Lately there has been one question on my mind: Will it be all good in the end?"

WORSHIP

2006-03-28T09:07:00.000+02:00

Even if it was a bit old fashioned and peculiar, the Church of Zigzag established a worship corner. This week´s praise goes to Jessye Norman.

PATHSEEKER

2006-03-27T08:37:00.000+02:00

"Confronted with artistic alternatives, always choose the hardest, scariest one. The one you can’t know in advance where it will come out or how to solve it. Take the longest way through the path of most resistance. Do everything, as Henry James said, in the way that takes the most doing. All easy solutions are false ones. All shortcuts lead off a cliff. Take the high, rugged uncertain road. Then even if you never finish your film, or no one ever sees it, you will have gotten something irreplaceable from the experience of making it."
(Ray Carney)

DAVID VS. MONSTER

2006-03-26T21:22:00.000+02:00

MONSTER

2006-03-25T11:15:00.000+01:00

Salome wasn´t just a monster. She was a Teenager.

Inspired by this man´s entry. Since it is one of my favorite plays/operas, I simply couldn´t resist to follow the idea.

"I think it is very hard to open one´s heart to a character like Salome. Luc Bondy illuminates the whole family situation so that the onus of her being such a monster is taken away. It´s the shared responsibility of the family. There is nothing worse than playing a character like that just for its evil aspects and not seeing the beauty of the character. If Salome had just taken a step slightly differently, she might have ended up another kind of glorious creature. She is not just a bad seed. There were other possibilities, but somehow, in her development, they were cut off."
(Catherine Malfitano - Soprano)

"I didn´t want to treat him (Jochanaan) too seriously. You know, Jochanaan is an imbecile. I´ve got not sympahty at all for that kind of man. I would have preferred above all that he would appear a bit grotesque."
(Richard Strauss - Composer)

MR ERWIN´S SIMPLE CONCLUSIONS

2006-03-24T14:16:00.000+01:00

* based on the George Lakoff concept.

FEET

2006-03-23T21:47:00.001+01:00

After years of endless criss-crossing, Hybrid Heidi founded the Church of Back and Forth. Her emblem became a pair of feet.

Update: Just an hour old of a movement,
the first sepulchral prophecy has been made.
All we can say is:
Be aware of bees!

MAN & HIS MOUSE

2006-03-22T20:24:00.000+01:00

NEXT GENERATION OF BEETLE DRAWERS

2006-03-20T07:45:00.000+01:00

Meet Lynn & Lian, my friend´s adorable daughters. Three years old and already very distinct in their drawing style. Wearing their trademark hats in the top picture (they are hardly spotted without), Lian did not want to be photographed with her sister, that´s why she went into sulking mode. They each drew me a beetle. Beetles have many, many feet. Beetles also need boots on their many, many feet, because it is cold outside.

On the picture below they drew a girl. Lian draws in larger circles, while Lynn scribbles tightly. Lynn is a mini-bit rounder than Lian, I thought perhaps they draw how they see each other.

Today will be their first day in kindergarten.
Good luck!

GREAT IDEA, BAD IMPLEMENTATION

2006-03-19T20:59:00.000+01:00

On my first computer-free Sunday (my newest concept) I decided to clean up the house and organise my papers - so that in the end I managed to sit more than 5 hours in front of the computer to print labels for folders, to typewrite notes from various slips of paper that were lying around, to scan photos I had been wanting to scan forever (a huge stack), to write some formal letters and - since I was at it - to answer emails. Next Sunday I will have to leave the house!

(L.A.) CRASH

2006-03-18T12:59:00.000+01:00

What do we awaken in the other?
(Meaning well , then losing trust.)

We did not want to land where we crashed.

A belated congratulation to Paul Haggis for his Oscar win.
A good film for discussion.

PS: Embarrassingly I had to change the drawing slightly after people already commented on it. Every time I looked at it, it just felt wrong for the frame of this blog. Sorry, folks! But I have to look at it far more often than you do ;)