MISCmedia for 5/8/01
What I've Been Up To Lately

TODAY'S MISCmedia is dedicated to the memory of Morris Graves, last of the '50s "Northwest Mystic" painters and a continued inspiration even to diehard urban skeptics such as myself.

SOME OF THE THINGS I'VE BEEN DOING in recent weeks, instead of finishing up the transformation of this site to that popular "weblog" format:

• Continued to work on the new book, tentatively titled City Light: A Personal View of Seattle. New picture-taking is on a temporary hold while I work on laying out a pitch package to potential investors.

• Prepared the big photo-show debut for June 2 (see our last entry).

• Wrote about Cobain for History Link, the acclaimed local history site. The article should be up later this summer, in plenty of time for the 10th anniversary of Nevermind's release.

• Got interviewed by BBC television. They've got a big '90s documentary show in the works, and wanted my opinions on that "Seattle Music Scene" craze and other period trends.

  They sat me down for an hour with a Betacam camera and a chroma-key blue screen in a Westin Hotel meeting room. I gave the usual shtick on the rise of Cobain and co. (Refreshingly, they were interested in Nirvana's music and indie-rock philosophy, not the Cobain-Love celebrity circus or the drug tragedy.)

  While I was miked up, I also answered questions about the movie Slacker (the product of a highly un-slacker-esque DIY-culture aesthetic), the continuing success of Nintendo's Super Mario character (putting him in ever-bigger worlds only enhances his feisty-little-guy appeal), "designer grunge" fashion (I pleaded with viewers not to blame anyone in Seattle for it), and that way-overused term "Generation X" (the BBC producer was unaware that it originally came from a 1964 British book).

  I've no idea when the show will air in Britain, whether it will ever appear Stateside, or whether any of my comments will make the final cut.

• Entered into negotiations with a certain local print periodical to have more of my work out to the modemless public (no firm deal yet though).

NEXT: In the Seattle upscale monoculture, everybody's white (including the blacks).

ELSEWHERE:

• How to create your own pseudo-Korn band (found by /usr/bin/grl)....

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS:

• A preview of our forthcoming photo show (opening June 2).
• Saving transit from the transit planners.
• Parts one and two of some reviews of sites who asked to be reviewed here.
• The possibly rose-colored memoirs of a former Seattle Weekly editor.
• Previewing the great Jewish-baseball graphic novel.
• Images signifying nothing.
• A partial defense of fast food.
• An attempt to save a beloved Net radio station.
• Turning off Turn Off TV Week.
• The real problem with delivery dot-coms.
• The Bush regime compared with the novel Underworld.
• A Chant, re: the art of Art Chantry.
• Joey Ramone reaches the ultimate sedation.
• John Keister gets canceled again, apparently.
• Tulipomania redux.
• Parts one, two, three, four, and five of a tour through every home I've lived in.
• Parts one and two of a guest columnist's reminiscences of beer, basements, and playing Dungeons and Dragons.
• Mulling still more potential changes to the site.
• Memories of the radio station formerly known as KCMU.
• Thanks to the Net, some folks are writing more. That's supposed to be a bad thing?
• Remember rain?
• A special offer on slightly-hurt Losers.

ARCHIVES:

• 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, and 1986-94 columns
• Reviews of literature & art, nonfiction & culture criticism, movies & videos, and music & noise
• Longer articles and essays
• Some slightly weird little fiction pieces
• X-Word crossword puzzles, now with on-screen solving
• Cyber Stuff, links to cool and/or useful sites
• A listing of many Things I Like (and a few things I hate)
• The origin and future of MISCmedia