~ richard pryor (1940—2005), r.i.p.

~ “Narrative history is the kind that comes closest to telling the truth.”

r.i.p. shelby foote

‘rip: 1991 – 2005’

~ cross post from sisyphean [w]: ‘rest in peace dr. thompson, author of this entry’s opening line.’

when jt [w] told us about this, we first thought, ‘that figures’, as the man made a point of living life off the hook; however, on reflection it is quite surprising to us, and defeating in way, considering his positions with regard to the current political situation in the united states. who knows if this had any bearing at all on thompson’s mental state, but doubtlessly such an interpretation will have its own effect. a man can make his own decisions, but it is sometimes selfishly sad for the rest of us will now miss all the work that might have been.

~ since we had nothing else to do this weekend, we set up wordpress 1.5; the commenting templates reverted to the default layout. rather that spend more time on them or have the three of you who post comments look at something ugly, we have turned off the comment feature until march 3.

~ rest in peace, philip johnson! you were a rich nazi hack who forced hideous skylines upon us, but at least you hooked up the guys who are responsible for the nearly modern world in which billions of us live.

~ we now sink to writing more bullshit about new york; today we read that eric owen moss has been kicked off the queens museum project:

There will be no competition for Mr. Moss’s successor; an architect will be chosen by the museum and the city from a preapproved list of eight architects compiled by the Department of Design and Construction for projects of $5 million or more. They are Fox & Fowle Architects, a finalist the first time; Mr. Viñoly; Polshek Partnership Architects; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Arquitectonica; 1100 Architects; the team of Ammann & Whitney and Grimshaw Architects; and Gluckman Mayner Architects. -nytimes

we admit that, except for the kodak building and maybe that stealth thing, moss’s work is foolish, but if the fucking “Department of Design and Construction” is going to pick between SOM and fox & fowle, why not just throw a dart at a catalog titled ‘substandard, pedestrian fare’. if you are so insistent upon keeping your city four decades behind the pacific rim you fucking fossils.

~ in the yard of an 8th avenue tenement, the name of the jedi master yoda is spelled with flowers. taped to the corner of the derelict building at 118th and manhattan avenue, a 24″x36″ sheet of poster board – endorsed in sharpie by all of his ‘homies’ – implores yoda to ‘r.i.p.’. be sure to pour some beverage on the pavement for the little green master.

~ r.i.p. john buscema. the library at redan elementary school was missing its copy of ‘how to draw comics the marvel way’ from 1981-1985 because it was getting worn out with #2 pencils over sheets of onion skin by a certain member of the angry red planet – who never did learn how to draw that way…