Do you like drinking rum?
Do you like drinking… Havana Club? I do, and I got news for ya buddy, in the U.S. you are shit out of luck.
Havana rum, along with all other produce from Cuba, is illegal. Those nice Amurkan folks have banned all trade with Cuba since 1962, in order to – wait for it – foster the growth of democracy in that Communist country.
Do you like art?
Do you especially like art that isn’t very old? I can recommend the NYC Museum of Modern Art.
They have lots of cool stuff. They were showing Andy Warhol’s hilarious eight hour film Empire. They had that piece that won the Turner prize with just A Light Going On And Off. There was a great section on the astonishing CCTV building in China. There was a wonderful exhibition of giant lightboxed photographs by Jeff Wall [see here], which reminded me a lot of Gregory Crewdson. And Duchamp’s stuff was actually pretty good when he was taking a break from the readymade laffs.
I didn’t like Cy Twombly very much though.
Just his name. Twombly.
Do you like getting your way?
Like to order your vodka by name? Like getting your 20-cent burger just the way you like it? Like having everything open 24hrs a day? And self medicating? Do you want to become a shallow, ignorant, mewling, drug-popping baby?
Might there be too much of convenience, and having one’s least whims satisfied? Do you want convenience above all else? At the expense of dignity? The life of least stress? Do you want to float in a permanent bath of serotonin? Do you want to push your race closer to Mike Judge’s Idiocracy?
Amurka is your kind of place.
OK, so I happened to meet some people who needed a slap.
Do you like praying in public?
On the way home, the big white guy with full beard, black suit and big hat got up every couple of hours to make his way to the front of the plane and shuffle up against the partition wall, nodding his head like a damaged child and reciting silently from a tiny book.
I now know he was shuckling. In some nervous places it can get you ejected.
23-Mar-07 at 10:44 am | Permalink
>I didn’t like Cy Twombly very much though.
I agree, but he is no where near as revolting as Yves Klein. Puke.
Did you see any Rauschenberg, did you?
I’ve booked my London tickets, including one “bargain berth” sleeper on my way home, which was cheaper than the cheapest day train ticket, can you believe it? No first class nonsense for me.
23-Mar-07 at 10:59 am | Permalink
> Rauschenberg
Not that I remember.
I did see these paintings by Gerhard Richter about that Baader-Meinhof lot, and thought of you CJ.
23-Mar-07 at 11:01 am | Permalink
> one “bargain berth” sleeper
Can I call you Sleepy Bargain Bertha?
23-Mar-07 at 11:38 am | Permalink
No way, I wanted to see those paintings.
>Can I call you Sleepy Bargain Bertha?
If you like.
24-Mar-07 at 1:07 pm | Permalink
Twombly > I really like his work. Especially those 5 that hang in the big space there. Scribblycool, methinks.
Yves Klein > IKB is sexy as.
25-Mar-07 at 11:27 am | Permalink
No it’s not, it makes me nauseous.
26-Mar-07 at 12:37 pm | Permalink
I’m going to get Nat’s keys and paint the inside of your eyelids that colour when you’re sleeping. Then i’m going to decorate your room with Dairylea triangles, but not in circles, no. INCONGRUENT ROWS! MO HA HA HA.
26-Mar-07 at 1:34 pm | Permalink
I’ll give you Nat’s keys if you can use them to kill off the flatmate who keeps finishing the milk without replacing it.
01-Apr-07 at 10:17 pm | Permalink
>Havana rum, along with all other produce from Cuba, is illegal.
So? Does that mean you can’t at all purchase it? It actually annoys the hell out of me that the best way they’ve found of promoting “democracy” is by banning import from Cuba. It’s rather like combating drug trafficking by eradicating the growth of coca, never mind the fact that in some cultures it is a sacred plant, never mind that it is a means of livelihood for many people in South America and never mind that 3/4 of that production does not even go towards the production of cocaine. It’s really the most lame excuse, an easy solution never solved a complex problem. But I forget, Cuba is part of the axis of evil, and I’m really just a frog-eating activist (I quote CJ) so what do I know?
If I had a myspace page like you crazy kids I would have Evo Morales as my “who i’d like to meet” person. We all have our flaws, and he is no doubt like every other man, but I find as far as politicians go he is a cut above the rest – just his name inspires trust. Yes, I know, such a statement could be construed as being as shallow as wanting to love someone by the name of Ernest…
02-Apr-07 at 11:59 am | Permalink
>frog-eating activist (I quote CJ)
Eh? I’ve never said that.
02-Apr-07 at 12:17 pm | Permalink
Yes you did.
(nods)
02-Apr-07 at 12:25 pm | Permalink
This is a conspiracy.
03-Apr-07 at 8:05 am | Permalink
Ha, I managed to extract a confession from her offline.
I knew I wouldn’t have called you an activist.
: )
03-Apr-07 at 10:15 am | Permalink
You did! It was the frog eating part I retracted.
07-Apr-07 at 1:00 pm | Permalink
In order to bring things full circle, can I just say Havana Club Anejo Especial oh my!