30 July 2007
    

Somewhere, New York


Before the Bubble Blowers, long before the Remote Control Helicopter Enthusiasts, before the Paddle Ball Sect schismed into PaddleUps and PaddleDowns—there lived the Balloon People.

This was the temple that they built, and it was here that they worshipped. (Ransacked and made unholy by the Kite People in the Second Consecutive Year of Low Wind.)



29 July 2007
    

Watervliet, New York

 

When fellow Shakers
met their Maker,
the other Shakers chose to pose
the corpses in their perfect rows.

However, when “Mother” Ann Lee
(who formed the confraternity)
passed, they spurned her last behest
and carved her tombstone larger than the rest.



28 July 2007
    

Troy, New York



27 July 2007
    

Albany, New York


Lumberjacks are made of wax and like to pose for photographs in front of stacks of lumber in a vast, cold, and black-and-white panorama (which stretches to the edges of their diorama).



26 July 2007
    
What I wish didn’t happen
over my summer vacation


25 July 2007
    

Somewhere-on-Hudson



24 July 2007
    


If you go there, like, right now, you should be able to catch the “Four in the Morning” talk I gave at this year’s TED Conference—it’s just been featured on Yahoo! Video.

Or you can find it, along with handfuls of other mind-altering performances, at TED.com, and I’m sure I’ll even eventually link to it on the Videos section of this website. After I do a little tae kwon do.

If you’re new to this blog—I’m not kidding about the tae kwon do.



21 July 2007
    

Cold Spring, New York


I used these supplies and tools…


…to make this trap…


…which I took down to the dock and baited with a chicken leg to catch…

 


 



16 July 2007
    
Saugerties, New York

Harvey Fite spent 37 years making Opus 40, which is three years fewer than he’d planned. But that’s because he didn’t plan to drive his lawn mower off the edge of a quarry at the age of seventy-two.

I don’t know what the Mercury Rev connection is, but their swell song w/ killer video is worth checking out.



12 July 2007
    
New York City

Just about to shoot an interview for Sundance Channel.

See that blue packing pad? On the crates? On the floor? That’s where I sat. Thorough glamour.



08 July 2007
    


First, I interviewed some people in Washington, D.C., which was easy. Next, I made a blog entry about them, which was hard. Then, the whole thing was posted on McClatchy News’ just-launched website HERE.



05 July 2007
    

 

Feliz birthday, Estados Unidos.