Like many people, the attack took the winds out of my sails. It's been a week, and I'm finally able to approach the issues in the way that makes me most comfortable : art.

I put together a 50k Shockwave movie called blind. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

Spam and impending war combine to give me a sense of perspective:

I got a piece of spam that said "Happy with your job? Then don't read this!" I deleted it, not because it was spam, but because I'm happy with my job.

I think any job that doesn't require me to carry a gun and be in another country is one to be happy with.

Apparently, vehicle license tabs need to be renewed every year. A lesson.

We were driving around looking for the highway in Castle Rock, WA. "I wonder what the speed limit is here", I remark.

Lights in the mirror. Uh oh.

"So the speed limit was just changed on this road. It's now 25 mph. Do you know how fast you were going?"

"Uh, 30?"

"51."

"I, uh, did not see the sign, we're a bit turned around looking for the highway."

"Happens to lots of folks. I'm gonna need your license, insurance and registration."

(Fumbles)

"Here's my license and insurance, I'm afraid I don't have my registration."

(Waits)

"So did you know your license plates have expired?"

"Really? Oops. I, uh, usually don't drive. When did they expire?"

"April."

(Whoops)

"But I knocked down the speeding to 15 over, saves you $80. Please sign this, it is not an admission of guilt. Then to get to the highway, follow this road and take a right."

"Thanks."

"Here you go, slow it down from now on."

$285

I'm in the middle of a photoshop tennis match with Leslie Harpold from Smug.com and Hoopla.com fame.

(watch the match)

Note : my image is first, hers is second, and so on. As of this writing, we're on #5.

On a discussion site I frequent, someone asked what movies people have been seeing to take their minds off the World Trade Center. Personally, I think my girlfriend and I have a story that trumps all others. Here it is:

The night it happened, my girlfriend and I went to get a light movie, so we settled on European Vacation for some good ol' Chevy Chase/80s fun.

Here's the last scene: Chevy Chase is on the plane back to America and trying to find the bathroom. He can't get the bathroom door open, so he throws his shoulder into it.

The door pops open.
It's the cockpit.
He falls onto the pilots.
The plane goes into a nose dive.
Towards Manhattan.
And hits the Statue of Liberty.

The credits rolled.

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-|On what just happened.

Horrors. Unthinkable, unbelievable.

The press flailed madly around spittle-flecked, wrapped tight in the flag, braying screeching clamoring blood-for-blood. We laid silent beside each other facing the television as the plane hit the buildings over and over. The people kept fleeing (each one someone's sister/wife/brother/ daughter/lover/son/friend/mother/grandfather), and in the dust-choked aftermath, the cameras circled tears like thirsty hyenas. Ate pizza and stayed inside. My roommate burst into laughter as he flipped through channels - they had still been playing kazoos on channel 9 and the absurdity had elicited his response.

Now is the important part. All this talk of war is ridiculous and irresponsible without proof. What we must do as quickly as possible; save those savable, pick up the pieces, console those who need comfort, find those responsible. All talk before the fact is fruitless and foolish. Have we forgotten Oklahoma City's lesson so quickly? How all the news outlets trumpeted that the blow must've come from the Middle East, and across the great United States of America, those who fit the description were threatened, taunted, beaten. And it is happening again. We, for all our talk of openness and brotherly love are a rabble of hateful wild-eyed sheep. So easily led and so satisfied in our own imagined logics and justifications. At the first given opportunity we will lash out. This country, this culture thirsts for justification. And o shit have we ever got it now! We fall all over ourselves in our haste to cover our hands in blood. So are we to prove no better than those who attacked us excepting technologies and patterns of self-exoneration?

Watch what happens closely. Mind the country's descent onto demagoguery, watch the machinations beneath the surface. Work for the good of the country, but do it with your eyes open.

I feel like I've aged 10 years in the last few days. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever really laugh again. I've laughed some -- fake, tinny sounding utterances that leave me feeling guilty.