2008 comic book movies

iron man and dark knight are both top notch films, although iron man more so just as a comic book movie, and the new batman film trancends to the level of gritty crime drama.

i think that the success of both of these films speaks to the collective need for society to see mortal men who can do extraordinary things, note that the new batman is set in a dark fairly realistic world - further confirming my earlier contention that batman begins, the successful reboot of the batman franchise, reflects a more serious, post 9-11 world in which our heros can no longer afford to be campy and silly, here we see directors addressing issues of crime and terror, combating evil and the lengths that we have to go thru in order to do so. america's comic book heroes are perceived by other societies as reflections or icons of america, superman and uncle sam and batman and lady liberty all sitting side by side. stark and wayne both successful superwealthy elites with ties to the defense industry - these movies are fantasies of american military might. and here we can collectively imagine our power and our strength and perceive our role in the world as good and just, but this is not enough for audiences raised on the language of hollywood blockbusters and now we demand complex anti-heroes with faults and doubts like our own, a one dimensionally good savior without flaws seems paperthin to us now, not a good reflection of our own place in the world as american identity.

iron man in particular tackles the current climate of islamic radicalism - and yet here the good guys and the bad guys are not so cut and dry. the twist here is that it is not merely those who would rise up in arms against the west - but those who would supply arms to both sides of the conflict. war profiteers and their corruption are the true enemy behind the thin shell of our biases and superficial readings of world events. unfortunately we are burdened by the start of a franchise here - we have to introduce iron man and his formation and thus in the beginning we are waiting for iron man to make his appearance, and the whole movie sort of becomes a trailer for successive releases in which we can dispense with the origins and get into the real hero drama. iron man leaves us with a battle resolved, a battle that merely introduces us to what ironman is capable of doing.

the dark knight sees a fully formed batman hit the screen, picking up with batman begins' ending question, "what about escalation?" delving strait into the joker when in the last movie we were left with his calling card. batman is past the daddy issues and psychology of where he comes from, now we get into the dilemma of where he must proceed.

heath ledger supposedly locked himself in a room for a month, keeping a diary of the jokers thoughts, while he worked out the mannerisms and mentality of his character and found his own voice to rival jack nicholson's performance. ledger's turn has garnered talk of an oscar, with some critics believing such merit would be earned regardless of his unfortunate passing. i would love to see him awarded as such - and i believe this movie lives up to the hype and serves the cause of legitimizing an artform, the comic book, seriously enough to raise the bar of what the comic book movie can be, certainly redeeming the franchise that "batman and robin" drove into the ground with its toy store promotional feel and campy scenarios and dialog.

there are a lot of gangster movies lately where police corruption is such a big part of the drama- the entire justice system is portrayed as being corrupt, in need of good people to infiltrate what has already been compromised so much that those who stand on the side of the law are in the minority and must fear for their lives because of their idealism. these are serious themes, and the questions that the audience encounters in them are valid ones to be asking in these uncertain times. and the new batman movie moves into similar terrain, following the setup of the previous movie's dark reading of how far society has sunk.

these are smart movies. the joker's usage of the prisoner's dilemma, and the question of what happens when the irresistible force enacts upon the immovable object, these are philosophical constructs and remind me of how "the matrix" wrapped up relatively advanced notions in the pop formula of action movie.

the dark knight plays on our paranoia of surveillance, cell phones being monitored like the national security agency. here our worst fears of civil liberties eroding are allegorically addressed in the guise of the batman, with some right wing commentators reading the movie as a justification of the current administrations actions. i think the movie doesn't so squarely cast bush as batman so much as american power as batman, and doesn't let bush off the hook so much as questions the abuse of that power. questions of, "does the public need to know the truth?" are asked not to apologize for our own government's lies, but to give batman the kind of depth that reflects the complexity of our own society. batman is on the side of good, and so should america be, and yet even an elected official like dent can be corrupted by the anarchy of a politik of fear - of giving in to our worst impulses. batman stands against that policy and appeals to our need to strive for the greater good, even when society is divided as to what that good is.

i also enjoyed the new hulk movie, although this is more forgetable than the others. ang lee's earlier version was enjoyable for me as well, although the pop psychology of bruce banner's formation and father figure issues left most of the audience for the earlier film wanting for more of a straight forward plot. i think rightly the studios reboot the hulk with a more basic formula, dealing more directly with questions of weaponizing biological terrors, and the whole notion of "what has science done" and the classic "we've created a monster" themes. american might again, and power is explored in terms of falling into the wrong hands, the good man with power is the underdog, he doesn't even want the power that he has and this is why he is the good man. the bad man desires the power to destroy for its own sake, the good man is burdened by destructive power and uses it only to protect virtue.

i also enjoyed speed racer. i think its a great kids movie and its nice to see the wachowski brothers produce a PG rated movie. speed racer and the racer family represent classic family values and "the little guy" standing up to corporate might. craftsmanship and hard work over selling out are valued here, american ingenuity is celebrated over transnational domination.

indian jones was also great, playing to the new age mentality of precolumbian mysticism, 2012 and so forth. the political climate is addressed with communism and mccarthyism standing in for terrorism and the patriot act. indy's patriotism is questioned by government powers, and we know to trust our hero more than our government. indy has a family and good family values are confirmed, this is an intergenerational indiana jones that the parents who grew up with can share with their own families. my father and i share this view.

all of these leading heroes speak to our need to innovate as americans, they are ingenious men who are not gods, but men of will who are capable of great things because of their intelligence and their desire to do what is right. this is the kind of hero that dwells in each of us and i think the directors making these movies are addressing the needs of the public by celebrating these values.


this is a decent summary of my thoughts on these films.
what do you think?

robotson

graphic design notes

sharpies and white out pens for thumbnails
working fast and loose
don't be too meticulous
carry a sketchbook
jeopardy theme
don't show 'em color
know when to walk away
index cards and cocktail napkins

never an arms length from something to draw on or with.
cheap blocks of small notepads.
hypergraphics.
grease pen in the shower
all you can remember is that you had a good idea -
scribble notes and pictures
don't draw while you're driving
turn in things in a folder.
everything you turn in has gotta look professional.
photoshop book.
non designers design book.
critiques are incredibly important.

do the work.
turn in everything.
not sloppy or careless looking.
even the real primadonas still do the work.
attendances.
email or message by phone.
that's professionalism.
this is a business based on deadlines.

eternal love revolution

Here is a chat transcript of a conversation i had with my friend mark maccora, a film maker who lives in los angeles. mark has been a good friend to me in my travels for years - in my first trip out to LA when i was more of a hardcore poetry bum, in 2003 - i didn't know anyone out there and i spent my first week there sleeping under a pier - he was the first guy i met who really connected to me and what i was doing, he was also the first person to offer me a place to crash, although it didn't work out because his roommates at the time were a little skeptical about him taking in an unwashed stranger. however, we've remained friends for the last 5 years and i've taken every chance i can get to spend the time to visit him.

mark is soon to be going out on a 40 day road trip in which he travels across america with a video camera, recording interviews with people about their views on american spirituality. i wish him great success in his various projects, which he refers to under the banner of a title he calls "the eternal love revolution."

Sunday, June 8, 2008

11:34
mark maccora: How you rockin?

11:35
Lance Robotson: alright
things are pretty good
i got to be in a native american church meeting in a tipi.

11:36
mark maccora: Dude! I should be there taping that!
When are you doing that?

11:37
Lance Robotson
its done already
anyway you can't you know, record that kind of thing

11:37
mark maccora: Oh, I'm sure.

11:37
Lance Robotson: you have to find someone who would first let you observe, that would be a big deal in the first place
then to get permission to record parts of it, that would be huge
anyway i had a good experience

11:38
mark maccora: The lodge I did was one of the most intense experiences of my life!
Any epiphanies?

11:39
Lance Robotson: its not about necessarily having epiphanic moments or anything, its about being in a community of supportive people in times of joy and times of need
it made me feel real humble
like a tiny pathetic creature
and uhh.. i think we forget that sort of reverence for existence a lot
we get caught up in the memory of ourselves

11:40
mark maccora: Yeah, duder. Ego.

11:40
Lance Robotson: word

11:40
mark maccora: Humility can be an epiphany.

11:41
Lance Robotson: yeah i guess it can.

11:41
mark maccora: Especially if it puts us into a more reasonable relationship with the rest of existence.

11:41
Lance Robotson: it makes me feel like
you know i want to express what i feel for people more
like if you have a good feeling for someone you should tell them you know
because you never know if you'll be able to tell them again
or what a good word will do for someone else
and it makes me think about how difficult life could be, how fortunate i am to have the kind of people in my life that i do

11:45
mark maccora: Word.

11:45
Lance Robotson: feel that way about you too, mark.
real glad to know you.

11:45
mark maccora: I love that. I love that you say that. I love you, Lance.

11:45
Lance Robotson: yeah i love you too man.

11:45
mark maccora: Thank you.

11:46
Lance Robotson: you know i'm in the world looking for a community you know and i want to be able to consider you part of mine
even though we can't always be in the same place

11:46
mark maccora: I'm all about assembling a community, or tribe if you will.

11:46
Lance Robotson: collectivity.

11:47
mark maccora: Even though I hate humanity's classic tribalistic nature.

11:47
Lance Robotson: i'm interested in distributed collectivity enhanced by mediated communication technology
but another thing i've been thinking about a lot is how

11:48
mark maccora: Yes?

11:48
Lance Robotson: we have to sort of develop new traditions and new rituals for a new world where people have no relationship to their past
i mean, if you already have traditions to draw on to make you stronger than thats great and more power to ya
but i think a lot of people don't know where they come from or what it means to be a human in the universe

11:50
mark maccora: I agree. That's why we need to explore our (humanity's) traditions, and allow them to be shared and included in a world culture.
Especially a world spiritual culture.

11:50
Lance Robotson: so i'm really interested in the notion of sort of creating theatrical performances that include group participation and keyframe moments of ritual for an audience to experience

11:50
mark maccora: That's cool!

11:50
Lance Robotson: not to sell people on some new bandwagon
or to get them to buy into my new religion or something
thats not my concern
its more to give people an experience that maybe exposes them to something that they might have been lacking
and maybe open that realm up for them so that they could explore it in themselves more.

11:51
mark maccora: Something they didn't know they lacked, but that they feel they lack.

11:51
Lance Robotson: yeah.
thats a good point
so you're right about exploring human tradition
because i think to be effective in staging something like what i'm talking about
you know
a lot of research would be good
to kind of develop an understanding
of what different people have done and still do
you know, what kinds of instruments are employed, what kind of protocols and procedures
and maybe you see the common threads
and you can draw on inspiration from different ways
not to bastardize or take something away from other people but to access the universal

11:54
mark maccora: An open exchange of the human spiritual condition.

11:54
Lance Robotson: i hope so.

11:55
mark maccora
That's what my work is about.
That's what I want the Eternal Love Revolution to be...

11:55
Lance Robotson: yeah i love that..
i want to be down, some how.

11:55
mark maccora: You are down!
You are a part of it already!

11:55
Lance Robotson: fundamentalism is dangerous
but i think that the kind of new age wholesale cultural imperialism appropriation of indiginous practices is dangerous too.

11:56
mark maccora: Yes, it's not about haphazard re-appropriation, it's about respectful inclusion.

11:56
Lance Robotson: yeah it's a hard line to walk though, with that one
because so many traditions consider themselves sacrosanct and self contained, in which their leaders say, "don't mix ways"
and so forth
thats why i'm looking for the motions, the performance aspects
sort of like an inverted cargo cult

11:58
mark maccora: ?

11:58
Lance Robotson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult
appearing in tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically-advanced, non-native cultures—which focus upon obtaining the material wealth of the advanced culture through magical thinking as well as religious rituals and practices—while believing that the materials were intended for them by their deities
Cargo cults thus focus on efforts to overcome what they perceive as the undue influence of the others attracting the goods, by conducting rituals imitating behavior they have observed among the holders of the desired wealth, and presuming that their deities and ancestors will, at last, recognize their own people and send the cargo to them instead. Thus a characteristic feature of cargo cults is the belief that spiritual agents will at some future time give much valuable cargo and desirable manufactured products to the cult members

11:59
mark maccora: I am just reading that paragraph.

11:59
Lance Robotson: Famous examples of cargo cult activity include the setting up of mock airstrips, airports, offices, dining rooms, as well as the fetishization and attempted construction of western goods, such as radios made of coconuts and straw. Believers may stage "drills" and "marches" with sticks for rifles and use military-style insignia and "USA" painted on their bodies to make them look like soldiers, thereby treating the activities of western military personnel as rituals to be performed for the purpose of attracting the cargo. The cult members built these items and 'facilities' in the belief that the structures would attract cargo intended to be sent to them.

Monday, June 9, 2008

12:00
Lance Robotson: thats magical thinking- sort of like an inverted kind of science, where causation works in reverse, the effecting the symbol effects a change in reality
whereas what i'm saying is that we're like the technological society who sees the isolated society and desires their spiritual wealth, and so in a sense we must create a reverse cargo cult, and use our rational methodology to emulate their practices to create a magical experience

12:02
mark maccora: Ha ha!
LOL!

12:03
Lance Robotson: the irony?

12:03
mark maccora
Yes,
but also such sadness!

12:03
Lance Robotson: yeah.
its come to this.

12:03
mark maccora: How we sacrifice out connection with the ethereal in existence for technological progress,
which is essentially adopting relationships with our creations,
instead of embracing the rest of existence.

12:04
Lance Robotson: more and more so even still
and so on.
but uhh...
in a sense you know, our connection to the ethereal has always been sort of tenuous
the further and further we have abstracted from our animal nature.
and we've always employed symbols to sort of realign us with that nature
its just that the noise ratio now is so much higher
there is such an excess production of meanings
so in a sense i think that its a perfectly natural step forward, adapting traditions for the new world we encounter. every generation has to do it.
and the more that that world becomes interconnected within itself our cultural responsibilities grow greater.

12:11
mark maccora: Once we each accept responsibility for the total mass of human experience we can fuse culture with respect and reverence.
But back to technology, I have to go do some laundry.

12:11
Lance Robotson: mmhmm.
good to rap with you a bit mark - you make me want to formulate my ideas in a good way, it suprises myself
give me a lot to think about.

12:13
mark maccora: Well, I'm going to save this and possibly include it in the doc, so thank you.
We shall talk again soon.

12:14 mark maccora disconnected

text of new york poetry part 2

my brother would say - "i'm so
self ref." residential. instrumental
irreplaceable don't look at nobody until
you get out of the teleportation
device - return to nowhere where
i go when there's nowhere to
go - you know what i'm saying we
stopped the proceedings there's shows
in the park it just goes to show
that there's one thing worth doing
which is talking to people to make
up a new distribution of power
collective wisdom i know nothing
special i just gotta let you know
art i choke life i strangle not
willing to settle for any thing
really so you keep moving on


---


i'm rusted incomplete lack of
practice so i hit the books
with action scribbling hooks
for traction just to get back
into good working order -
you should be reporting on
conditions of the common
mission with a strong urge
to listen - comparatively i pare
down my gear to next to
nothing so i can function sitting
in public with a pen in my
hand chewing on caps
explosive reaction components
collapsing - a fire storm
retired for fueling entire
hoards of uninspired orcs
like carl orff down to the iron core


--


keep 'em waiting for insight
darling of the day without
canvassing - amassing a way
with a following - saying what's
on your chest - feeling feeble
and restless - over arching acceptance
of conditions corresponding to
the wishes of apologists - don't
give me no lip service or
condolences i ain't dead yet
i'm just staying still for the
art of it honored to be
a part of this honest
opinion generating system of
open idea sharing contributions
donated freely without
expectation.


--


i'm panhandling for opinions
a free marketplace of ideas
so what's the difference you
spare change of mental states
and tell me your theories
the frameworks for viewing
the world and your place in it
what you know about love and
friendship - your daily struggle
is commendable i'll recommend
you for promotion if you know
which way you're going - me, i'm
on the road perpetually hoping
to gain a foot in the door to
rent space in your brain - so
whats left, a place to stay
and the means to keep moving
never a dull day


--


thieves and whores now in
stores
miss representin'
please loiter here
and sell poetry here
people are so afraid
to even just acknowledge
each other
reality is pretty
realistic but it isn't
really real
so sit next to me
it's awesome
so let it all blossom.
i'll play fast friends
and find my ready-made
family forever


--


tomorrow is today
i swear to you
i don't say goodbye i say
see ya later
all is one hidden in
each little bit on and
off more than you can
chew.
the song called teach
me how to play
regardless of everything
you knew
so don't preach
man's grasp can barely meet
its reach
beyond reproach appalling
in it for the long hauling


--


defying description
definition definitive
mystery militant misery
symmetry see me try
see me do with a screw
loose see me lose my cool
against a carpenter's wishes
circumstances dictate that
i can't get rid of these
hiccups and downswing
-ing moods will turn around
any minute now minute
differences make the majority
of the character in comparison
calling a monster a martyr
is easier than adopting a
policy of promising what you
can do - attitude growling


--


imaginary city founding
trouble counting blessings
blanking out each reminder
across the plain over
the course of the day
you should ask him to stay
and be ready for the
burden of separation when
it's coming cause you
know we just can't stay
here forever when the
wind is blowing get a
sweater sneaking over
the turnstile left to
wonder what would have
happened if everything
working out how you wanted


--


spare some skins or swipe me
unlikely i get where i'm going
in slow motion too much force
is wasted effort be gentle
your will is enough without
violence i hear those thoughts
speaking a loft dreaming
a roof sleeping abandoned
building squatting silly
saw blades sauntering
toothless cross eyed cobble
stoned star fish rebellion
in cool breeze on a chill
night in your breast a
hold of me earlier you
should have gotten teach
me the syntax dorothy


--


no blank states untarnished
with money on your back
burner 'cause we as people
value other things and are
more concerned with having
meetings that'll never end
and returning to the source
of all creation breathing
deeply exhaling galaxies
gravitating toward common
sense epiphanies and
everyday victories amongst
country bumpkins turned
radical nomadic heroes -
must find the others
unite the tribes and
realize the undiscovered


--

texts of poetry from new york, part one

another one attracted
to the road side of life
slice of time righteous lime
twist of faith sketchy
in vanity same tragedy
games glamourous glimmering
shine shimmering twine
withering wise weeping
willowy wisps billowing
blathering buskering fits
brain dumping spelling bee
especially noxious compelling
repulsive ridiculous mission
accomplished with no accomplice
accosted corrosive battering
random access memory
enhancement

---

look across the river
with a telescope it's no joke
lottery ticket play a prank
saying grace giving thanks
for a bitter cynicism you can
be in love with. cinnamon
sticks shredded on french
toast and pancakes in the
morning retreat get away
practice just to make perfect
contribution noting observation
on a mystical quest saying
nothing helping you move in
notch in your bed post another
hole in your belt losing weight
on the road good thing i
hibernated so long

---

coming out of incubation
chambers killing your soul
setting the pace with relief
of a snowflake stained black
by the tar after your journey
write a book about sunday
rest a while too long make
a point to respond searching
outward turning in to see
a rich illumination of the
boredom so ordinary complaint of
the world depression is
seeking the wrong dream
desensitized to what's
really wanted the soul
yearning for freedom a
joint operation conflicting

---

command mistaken control
released contortion capable
sleeping uncomfortable distorted
reflection a fun house
result. spooking the neighbors
helping a friend. make
no bones about it self directed
approach to those problems and
making your lists better call up
your family just to settle your
worries in historic disaster
of malicious negligence as
opposed to graceful benevolent
elegance keeping composure let's
get serious here on the ghost
train seeing no end present
continuous tense unbroken

---

tie up your hands can you
free up your plans would it
kill you to dance don't you
know you could land if you
jump in the air there's a
pump over there so fill up
your flat tire and make
rubber hit road under
radar get low wearing scuba
sink slow burning laser heat
glow hearing sonar beep
blown out the watery cove
you just never know neither
do i, i know too many
words i have lust in my
heart you should gouge out
my eyes when i stare on the
train

---

your speed poetry and fix
it consumerism don't need
my blessing - i'm a bum with
no standing so i just do my
thing - there's no use in the
after we should just make it
so - i go solo i stoop to the
level of the stairs that you
settle i'm a colonist i colonize
your colony after the fact is
absorbed there's not much left
to do with the meter of dogs
in the oven a heater of homes
no regrets to rejoice over
doing your own thing to complete
only hopes only dreams only notes
take a message - i will build
the master sheets.

---

some thoughts on the task of living artfully

i've been thinking a lot about how to go about with the general task of being a good person and an artist in the world, and trying to foster some kind of net positive change in the long run. i've traveled around the us now for some years, talking to people of all sorts that i could run across, mostly bums and bohemians to be sure, but still trying to take it all in, and come up with some sort of median perspective that these people can share. i'm interested in what unites us. the things we need as human organisms that are central and basic. i'm thinking about creating spaces - people need spaces to meet and do things, to talk and dream together and plan, and what i've witnessed across the board is a wholesale scaling back of public space, with greater restrictions on what you can and cannot do there. there is an implied threat, that you cannot violate the city's idea of what a public space is for, backed up by an armed guard. i group this phenomena with a larger trend that i like to refer to as "the war on difference."

think about it. you have all these streets, all these sidewalks, and squares, leading to homes and shops, jobs and venues of entertainment. but that mall just can't float in space. it needs the public places to be valuable. all the businesses need all of that space in which travel from here to there is designated, but it would seem that more and more, travel is all those spaces can be utilized for. meanwhile parks have signs that prohibit rallies and gatherings without permits. well, what if a bunch of free individuals want to get together in a public place, and sit down and have a big picnic and give away food to bums, and not disturb anyone? how could you stop them from doing that? well you probably run into health codes, and ordinances of where you can sit and for what reasons, and if there's any central leadership or some kind of organization promoting it you've got someone to come down on it. all you can do is be moving from point a to point b. if you can just sit down, and take in all the people running around, maybe watch a guy do a magic trick, or listen to some folk musician play his guts out, or witness any kind of public spectacle that is a demonstration of free expression, you are essentially threatening the surrounding businesses, the movie theaters who would have entranced you for a couple hours at 10 bucks a pop. the shoe store that you could have lost yourself browsing through. the restaurants who would prefer you to not just buy some fruit and sit down and eat with your friends on a bench. all of these interests have some kind of sway on the city government who makes the rules about what you can do where, and if you're not contributing to the local economy you're taking away from it. the police will enforce these rules like they have nothing better to do. nevermind the cultural value of people doing these things, enriching peoples' lives, that doesn't have an economic metric to calculate and therefore doesn't really exist.

i have some ideas. i want to create tiny happenings, a movement of small scale spectacles that are simple enough to intuitively understand, at a size that the common passerby can participate in. i want to focus on things like food and water, and expression and entertainment, things that grab people on a visceral level that transcends aesthetic and culture and gets down to humanity at its core, the social animal. gatherings for anyone. flash mobs and art pranks, surreal and practical, all the same. a potluck in the park, initiated over myspace messages and sms txt's and email and hand bill flyers. a giant cardboard box fort on the campus. a "peanuts" style free psychology booth. a mass masturbation march on the white house. anything that people can get behind without arguing over causes - causes have divided us. i want to be fun, and spontaneous. i want to smile and compliment a stranger who looks sullen. i want to leave every person that i meet a little more motivated than before, and of course i want to be a bit more motivated by them as well. i view each transaction in society as a challenge - an opportunity to rise to the occasion of being an authentic human being. i think we owe it to ourselves and our future as a species. will you go out into your day with your head down, complying with the routine motions of your predefined spaces that you inhabit? walking into the super market, not upsetting anyone, filing in line to the check out point - all possibilities narrowed down to a predictable range - no better than a piece of some grand machine that only services you in an incidental manner? or will you demand more from your experience of humanity and society, and ask for just a little more each day out of your necessary interactions with the rest of the world? i hope that you encounter a place some day, that will encourage something like the latter to stir within you, and that you will have the audacity to scream, or speak your mind, or debate and question, or fall in love. i hope you take that trip to an unknown place. when you feel like you've arrived, you'll be in good company. there are more authentic living breathing free people in the world than we might give credit. good luck.

new york city

i've survived upstate NY, the trip down to the big city thru the country and stops at waterfalls along the massachusetts new york border. road trips with photographer friends, euro-tourists, french film artist woman and panamanian rasta mystic. we sit on rocks, stare at the water pouring down, smoke tobacco. i spit sunflower seed shells onto the rocky dirt banks of stream.

i survive weeks in new york city, to open mikes, up to queens, down to bay ridge brooklyn, in basements of diner cafe owners playing music thru amplifiers and drum kits, over to the east village for bars at night, downtown, uptown, always back to union square. sitting on "Buy Art Today" suitcase, photographers taking pictures of my beatnik posture, strangers, travelers, coming to talk to me. "what kind of art do you do?"

"i do poetry. poetry is art too."

"oh, i thought you did something visual. you know, like a painter or something."

yes.

make new friends from different places, possible leads to go visit in the future. new friends in texas, florida, south carolina. the trip is working. the goal of putting yourself out there with intention on making new connections to sustain the never ending road trip across america, to gain the perspective necessary to become a true american poet. what right do you have to speak of this land, do you know her terrain and the heart of her people? are you qualified to open your mouth? to pick up a pen?

the money i make flows thru me quickly. five dollars here, there. it all goes back to the metro transit authority. 2 dollar subway ride into town. 2 dollar ride back to crash pad. save another two dollars for the trip out tomorrow. i go out to the union square in mahattan, spending my last dollars on the faith that if i hang out today i will meet some new people, i will sell some more poetry books, i will be taken care of. i will make new friends, who may be broke but who may share their food with me later.

we eat in groups, clustered around fruit bowls lifted from whole foods across the street, eat cups of yogurt, humus and falafel from a pita place, soup and candy, sharing with street friends and passers by. we sit and talk about where we're from, what we're doing. what new york used to be. in the nineties before guilliani anmd heroin chic, how the squaters in tompkins square would have their whole scene, before police in tanks and calvery horses would decend on them with batons, to strike away the filth and dirt that scared away developers and yuppies. everything we're doing now is like the last embers of that fire that once glowed bright and excited the artists, the war on artists has got us cornered now. washington square, union square. here we are, sitting around. what to do now?

i survived the trip to pittsburgh, a friend called, "can you come down?" she bought me a ticket. i told her "why not tonight?" and that was that, hours later i was on the bus, for the 10 hour greyhound stretch, legs cramped, talking to poor people. gotta move with these opportunities when they develop. if someone offered me a trip out of town now, i would take it, in a heart beat. pittsburgh conservative and unfriendly. nice to look at, but the culture antagonistic and fratty. football fans glare at queers and bohemians. if you grew up here different, woe to you. happenings restricted to one or two organic coffee shops. a couple weeks in town, some efforts to make new friends. hang out on college campuses, sneak into a talent show for freshman in orientation week, perform poetry, they love me, want me to show off for the incoming class. too bad i don't actually go to school here (also would be more impressive if i was actually only 18 years old). stay in town a few days later just to do one open mic, the owner of the shop supports what i'm doing, purchases a book. then off to the 1:30 am bus ride, express bus, only one stop for a meal break, makes NYC in 7 and a half hours. then i am back in town, text messaging all my friends at once, "lance robotson back in NYC!"

stop to visit friends, drop off bags. fresh in to town with 100 copies of my booklet. courtesy of an old friend in pittsburgh, who i used to work with in minneapolis some years ago, a friend who helped me out before as well in california, we've met up multiple times now in different cities, him with his office supply store job and me with my suitcase of poetry. now back to NYC to get rid of all this weight.

go to open mics to perform, hopefully girls will like me on the merit of my word. be intruiged by my story. meet college kids who have to sign me in at the security desk at their dorms, if the guard is uptight he won't accept my expired ID. i just turned 25 last month, quarter of a century, need to renew my credentials. the doormen at bars in this city don't care, but the security rent-a-cops wield their power excessively.

hang out with poet girls, compare notes, styles, forms and content. take long train rides sharing the same unlimited metrocard, have to wait 12 to 18 minutes to use it again at the same train station, as the machines poll the central server once every 6 minutes, so depending on when you catch it you must wait for 3 cycles of 6 minutes to use the card twice. this is to prevent missuse. we don't care, we're broke, and it's worth our time to be together.

it's starting to get colder. i must make preperations to leave soon. i want to go to atlanta. i have to email people there to see what's what. i have 70 books left in my estimation.

sometimes i go out late at night, to go on dates, with girls who i don't want to ask right away if i can stay the night with them, and then by the time they tell me that they can't have me overnight, i discover that it's rather late to be calling any of my friends, so i stay up all night and sleep in a park in the day instead. don't want to sleep outside at night, that's sketchy. instead i'll talk to bums and drunks and read novels until day break, and open my umbrella on the green of the park, when it's legal to lay there, and sit underneath my portable shade and rest my body and eyes, and mind sometimes too, for a few hours. waking up refreshed, surrounded by studying students and workers on lunch breaks, eying me like i am alien, foriegn to them, waking up in the park, in 4 days unwashed clothing. me loving life. them prisoner to the world. who is the one who is unlucky?

sooner or later the tension has to break. after a long night of snuggling in stairs and stoops with a cute girl who must sleep alone, after following young women into bars and showing english majors my work, after drinks and food they buy me because they dig what i'm doing, i make my way to the long 11 hour delusional stretch of granduer that comes from sleep deprivation and the over the counter dissassociation of a long night in a city that won't let you rest. and then the poetry bums, one young neophyte like me, and a 61 year old man, sit in tompkins square smoking cigarettes together talking about the history and the poetry and the beats and the kings of the streets in the past, while the monk of hare krishna circles around his trees saying his morning chants, and we discuss his religion and the religion of others, and how strange it all is, and i buy him tea, and he makes me a drawing, and we go on our seperate ways. and i travel back to washington square and spend my last dollar on 4 bananas and walk up to the young man displaying his paintings, working with brushes on a new canvass, and i say, "do you want a banana?" and he says, "sure! good food, good brain food.." like my grandfather used to say. and i say, "i've been seeing you out here for a while now man, how's it going? i do poetry myself..." and he says maybe you want to set up your wares here with me? so i sit with him, and listen to him complain about the life of a street vending painter, and share with him the life of a street vending poet. i say, "new york ain't really new york anymore man..." and he says, "i know."

"what are we going to do about it?" i ask him.

and he replies: "i think we have to start a movement."



in my grand delusion: a large rally of poets and musicians and painters and artists, taking to the streets to have the party of the century, in these sensitive times after nine-eleven anniversary, and we bang on buckets and water bottles and sing and scream poetry and keep the spirit alive, for this new time of the war on artists, the war on difference, the war on spirit and the war on human. these times are vicious, and i think the only thing left to do is to celebrate what we have left, each other.

poetry update 2007-09-09 16:38:44

Gabcast! new robotson mobile phone booth journal #10

it's the pitts (and the secret)

so i've been on the road since leaving albuquerque now for what must be, getting close to 2 months. this trip could go on forever. right now i am typing this in pittsburgh, staying in a friend's house, watching celebrity reality tv shows on demand on cable, the downfall of man in his stupidity and convenience and technological distractions, i saw a guy riding the bus the other day with an iphone, probably sold his car to get one, who knows. pittsburgh is the pitts, but the people i know are the good sort, or at least the sort i like, creative, compulsion to create really so they dedicate their lives to it really, and take it seriously, and seriously pursue venues and outlets to make their creative productivity really work for them in some way.

"you go to design college

i go to Art's Universe-
it teased me!
too complex
it teased me
move into a simple sit
eased me."

simplicity in the simple city: a steel town, andrew carnegie not dale carnegie. we watched the secret and i watched the oprah episodes about it taped on the personal digital video recorder built into the cable box and made arguments about how this spiritual quick fixer-uperism is futile and perverse, and even looked up criticisms of the secret from various sources and that talk about it in a phone conversation interview with douglas rushkoff... but hey, if it works for you, isn't that what it's all about? or what spirituality is all about? sure, but hey, i don't need a life coach motivational wonk to sell me my inspiration jack, that's just not my style, and you know, spiritual con-man-ism has always appealed to me (it's really what my whole bent is all about) but maybe i'm just jealous of these metaphysical bookstore visionaries and gurus who get paid to be crazy, while i'm out here hawking poetry books on street corners. some call it street entrepreneurialism and i'm down with that terminology. regardless of all this one thing i feel is that we shouldn't need a new specialized language to speak of important intimate concerns in our existences, in our human relationships, and our connections to nature or what have you, we should be able to find a common ground in the words of our time, it should be intuitive to the young, and sensible to a wise elder even. the kids these days, and the moon-speak addled wacko consciousness fringe, are really irritating my rationalist cynical personality. i hate new age quackery, even maybe more than i am not into your organized religions, or basically any systems that promote an end to questioning things and purport to give you answers that you can hold on to, i don't buy into any of that, i take bits and pieces as i need them to get the job done, sure, but i don't go in for having a lot of fluffly cotton candy beliefs pervading my psyche cluttering up my vision. as few beliefs as possible to function optimally, that's what i say, like your beliefs are the code that makes up a program and you want it to be powerful but lightweight, efficient, elegant. it's like having stuff. i don't want to have too much stuff in my travel kit so ideally when you have to replace something you should be able to replace it with something new that is lighter, more multipurpose than the old thing, maybe you have to get one new thing, but you can replace two old things with it. until you just keep trimming down your gear to its optimum condition, suited for your purposes. its like that with your system of belief too, i should think, i mean, i do think. thats one belief i have that let me get rid of a lot of others.

i feel that the moment that you stop asking questions, you start dying. i had a strange relationship once, a long time ago sort of, when there was a bad trip, and much anxiety and longing questions looking into nothingness and it was stated to me that maybe somethings aren't meant to be looked into, if they are unknowable it's like wasted effort, and if life is love and existence is benevolent then shouldn't we concentrate on just loving better? and sure, we SHOULD concentrate on loving, as humans in a social world, and as living beings in a natural world, but i tend to think life is absurd and meaningless, because it's less comfortable that way and i like it. and to dwell on it all, at least for a little while, everyday, maybe keeps you fit in a sort of way. or at least it's funny, hilarious, black humor pointing to the stress of an uncertain existence. unnerving really. it's just that some of us find that funny and in some ways, exciting, that anything can happen, that you don't know the outcome. believing that you don't know, can't know, what will happen after you die is a thousand times more exciting to me than believing that i'll go to heaven or that my consciousness will live on in reincarnation or what have you. it's not that i'm saying i'd rather not know, because i think about you know, what happens to consciousness, all the time, it's not that i'm arguing that ignorance is better, i'm just saying there's an arrogance is presuming to know one way or the other, and also why believe something that you cannot know is true? unless it serves your purposes. but for my purposes i think not knowing is the most exciting thing of all. because anything is possible.