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Another year all but defeated, it’s worn and warm corpse ready to be hurled upon the mound of all those that fell before it (chronologically). I’ve been fortunate enough to spend this evening with members of my family, but I’m greedy for the company of family and friends elsewhere. Dearest East coast, perhaps we could spend this time next year together? I think it’s a date.

So what was that year that was?

Two cross-continental trips,
Second semester of my freshman year and first semester of my junior,
got hired as a mechanic at two bike shops,
killed my first wheel,
built my first wheel,
started a bike polo team and local league,
competed at the NACCC polo tourny,
rode my first century,
broke a bike frame for the first time,
bike bike bike bike and biked,
climbed Mt. Katahdin for the last time (for the foreseeable future at least),
read some books, some comix,
drew some but never enough,
didn’t create as much original artistic content as I could’ve (but who does?),
moved into my first apartment,
joined a wicked sweet gardening collective,
attended my first wedding of friends,
got into some awful trouble,
got into some great trouble,
and more, probably, I’m sure. Right?

So what to make of this year to come? What great wounds to inflict and songs to carol? We’ll see.

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These late days of ‘07 have really slowed down the blog. As with any journaling process, I constantly find myself at risk for dropping the ball. Such is the case with my latest paper journal, the gaps between entries expanding exponentially. I’m not scheduled to write in there again until 2013.

So what’s new Jono? What do you do with all the time?

I’ve been at my mom’s house-in-progress in San Jose since the 23rd. Christmas and dinners and hanging out with grandma and shoe-shopping and all of that. I’ve also been holding hands and exchanging long complex protein strands with my brother. Does that sound gross if you don’t get the Simpsons reference?

We’ve been talking and stealing music. Good for the mind, good for the body. We drew together the other day, it was fun and I’d like to do more of it before we go. He is such an amazing artist, it’s really hard to believe we’re of the same spawning. He says the same thing about me though so maybe we’re just a pair of fools.

Writing’s not so easy when I’m here. I’ve started at least five posts in the past week, topics ranging from my desire to be a more active atheist to the unholy harmony achieved between the films Juno, Children of Men, 28 Days Later, and I am Legend. None of them have come to fruit though. Even this entry feels barely cogent. Amiright? I’ve got something planned for tomorrow though: a laundry list of the year that was.

Enjoy the end of it all. Kiss the right boys and girls at the right times. xoxo.

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Here’s another one of my final papers, dealing with the role of private cars in cities. A lot of the ideas I’ve expressed in previous posts, sometimes verbatim, so I’ll stick it behind a cut. Brain vomit away. Read the rest of this entry »

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This American Life, episode 345: Ties That Bind. Download it now. Listen to the first act, “Fred and Barney”. Fantastic.

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Not even. Two takes on disappointment.

Disappointment, not surprise, marks the EPA’s denial of a waiver that would have granted California the right to regulate its own emissions standards. Part of a larger climate change action plan, and set to be adopted by seventeen other states upon approval, California’s GHG emission reduction strategy would have imposed harsher regulations on automotive manufacturers.

First question, how big of a financial hit would it be to the automotive industry if California’s standards were adopted, as opposed to the slower federal CAFE stadards? What’s the measure of the additional environmental and social damage done if we wait thirteen years to adopt a 35mpg (or should it be gpm?) standard, instead of only 5? I assume this cost-benefit analysis favors the few, wouldn’t you?

Second, how weak, nearsighted, selfish, and contemptible will we look to our children, children’s children, etc. (who will undoubtedly bear the environmental/social cost of the aforementioned calculation), if we wait around for the corporate and government climate change stalemate circlejerk to finish before enacting meaningful changes?

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I wish embedding U-Tube clips didn’t give my css a nervous breakdown. Anybody want to tackle this debacle for me?

ANYWAY:

First off, a skellington and eyeball women kick out the jams in the animated video for Omodaka’s “kokiriko bushi”, directed by Teppei Maki. CHECK IT OUT, SRSLY. That ought to satisfy your daily Japanese Electropop requirements.

Second, the jolly Rrrojer writes to inform of the animation of Marjane Satrapi’s wicked comic Persepolis. It looks pretty sweet, if by sweet you mean a smooth animation based on the autobiographical comic of a woman who grew up through the Iranian transition from a secular society to an Islamic state. Sweet. The English voice acting cast is set to include the talents of Iggy Pop and Sean Penn. Sweet.

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Fun with pencil and micron pen; a reproduction of Alfons Mucha’s classic print.

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Want to read what I think of Bernard Williams’ article “The Self and the Future”? Finals brain vomit after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

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James Kochalka draws a lot. It’s pretty hard not to bump into his work if you have even a passing interest in small press comix. I’ve never felt a strong urge to check out his stories before, but now I can’t stop reading his diary comic. In what can only be described as a stroke of marketing genius, he has just gone done made the entire online archive of “American Elf: the Sketchbook Diary of James Kochalka” available for free. Previously only available under a paid subscription, it’s no surprise that this giveaway has increased his readership. I stand testament.

Check it out if you’re a fan of Drew Weing’s Journal Comic, Jeffrey Brown’s sordid autibiographication, Donation Derby, Jeffrey Rowland’s Overcompensating, or satirical narcissism in general.

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That transportation ethics interview sure has got me thinking of bigger pictures. Pictures of webs, pictures of currents, pictures of cycles and linear paths. I even made a flow chart on Tuesday, of things I think I’d like to think and write and speak and teach and fight about.

Let’s all take a ride on my train of though, shall we? Read the rest of this entry »

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