01.31.2006 by Shannon
A friend of mine just had his work posted on Wooster Collective, and I thought I’d follow suit. His name is Steve Ensminger, his website is Oddwall.com, and his photographs of street art around San Francisco are pretty damn fantastic.
I think you’ll enjoy.
Category San Francisco glory | Tags: | No Comments
01.30.2006 by Shannon
In tribute to both the actor and unit of measurement, there will be a national (international?) spread of the image of Edward Furlong at furlong-long intervals (equal to 201.16800 meters. ) in major metropolitan cities–or where ever people want to get their Furlong on. If you are interested in participating or would like more information, you can contact me here.
LAUNCHING Wednesday February 1st at 1:68AM (2/01 at 168 to coincide with the number of meters in a furlong)
But the Furlong Project isn’t going to launch itself, so we need your help. First step, do your homework:
What is a furlong?
Who is Edward Furlong?
What is Edward’s official fan site?
And what’s with the lobster?
I want to be Edward’s friend myspace buddy!
NOTE: Project Furlong is not my idea; I am merely a facilitator
Category Furlong/furlong, PROJECTS | Tags: | 2 Comments
01.29.2006 by Shannon
Why do I find you, the two of you — young, beautiful, healthy, vibrant — sitting in the dark room next to the bathroom on your lunch break? It’s Sunday. It’s sunny. There is a world going on right outside — Clement Street, right across from you, is alive! Dim Sum! Pork Buns! Steaming coffee! Slobbery dogs! The unfettered screams of children! Drowsy Elm tree’s languid arms eclipsing the sun! The last tendrils of January, slipping away, never to be seen again this year…
I just go in to use the bathroom. I have to pass by you, the two of you — rich black hair and nimble shoulders — to open up the door to the buzzing neon, the stale ammonia, the crisp brown paper towels. I feel my lungs shrivel just passing through, holding my breath, suspended, until I can again collapse into the arms of the sun.
But you, the two of you — porcelin, sculptural, colors now softening — remain docile and content, TV-watching in subdued bliss. There is no desperation. No sense of regret or disappointment, as I might project upon you. Just simple acceptance of the moment.
I’m on my way out, pick up my waxy plastic bag with Wal-borne™ inside, purchased desperately in a codeine haze in an attempt to drown out this month-long cold, and turn–
pause for a moment. I want to ask you How. I want to inquire, “um, ladies? You — the two of you, Walgreens employees on Arguello — how did you choose here? How do you decide a moment? To conclude with such confidence yes. Here, now is where I choose to be. How do you quell dissatisfaction?
but I turn back, begin to head out, and catch one of you smiling in my periphery.
Category Narrative | Tags: | 1 Comment
01.27.2006 by Shannon
At a loss for words right now, I’m relying on pictures to communicate the sentiment du jour.
This is one of my favorite pictures taken by one of my favorite human beings. New York. New Years. 2004.
Category Announcements | Tags: | 2 Comments
01.24.2006 by Shannon
Category Furlong/furlong | Tags: | 1 Comment
01.23.2006 by Shannon
A puzzle piece is not unilateral. Nor, people.
The pieces, they fit beautifully, poetically, flawlessly together on one side—made for each other in fact, cut from the factory in precise cardboard perfection. But the other end juts out with odd-shaped limb, distinct in the way it feels. It is at best incompatible, and at worst, flailing; a dangling appendage frantically searching for pair. We are not talking about lock and key here. No metaphors for hand and glove. Puzzle pieces. People. The matched ends fit nicely, yes, but the other ends don’t ever seem to meet.
UPDATE 1.24.06: And then I find something like this, and don’t know where the hell to take the metaphor:
Category This Modern Life | Tags: | 2 Comments
01.20.2006 by Shannon
This is a little game I play from time to time: I like to make lists of all the people I know.
I start off with best friends and family. Then I list other friends and people I’ve slept with, then coworkers, extended family, acquaintances, people I’ve met recently, anyone I’ve ever worked with, gone to school with, or was introduced to. I finish off with random introductions, 3rd degree connections, and people I don’t know by name but could recognize by face, like the corner market guy.
This is usually a good amount of people;
it makes me feel loved. Aw.
Or at least, known. Thank God: I do exist…
But then I quiz myself (a friend taught me this — I can’t take credit). I try and name all the people I can think of that ever lived between the beginning of time and the 21st century. I give myself 20 minutes or so. For those of you playing along at home, how many are there? A hundred? Two-fifty? Then I think about the number of people that lived during that time — billions?
That’s a lot of people.
So, in all that time and out of all those billions of people, I’m only aware of about a hundred or two? Shit. What does this mean? Will I — for someone playing this game in the year 4006 — be one of those names? Will you?
Keep in mind I said “aware of” not “influenced by” when I mentioned the ratio of billions of people in existence to those I can name. It’s important. Following?
The next thing I do is this: I compare the number of people that I know (or, that know me) to the number of names I could remember from before. What’s the ratio? Further, how does it make you feel?
You either feel very important or incredibly, incredibly small. Me:
I feel both.
Here’s where the “aware” vs. “influenced by” comes into play. See, those names you remember — famous people, really, that you could recall — are only a portion of those who have influenced you — directly or indirectly, aware or not — in the sense that influence means affected by. There is no way of knowing how you’ve been affected by the billions of people interacting on the billions of levels all throughout time.
(Yes, I swear I’m not high while writing this.)
Consequently, there is no way of knowing how you have, are, and will, influence the billions of people who existed, exist and will exist. This is exciting! and,
terribly frightening. This…is a lot…of responsibility.
When my friend and I first discussed the game, he used it as a way to feel “less bad.” He noticed that the amount of famous people he could remember out of all the billions of people throughout time was few. This gave him a great amount of comfort, because then,
he didn’t feel so bad if he
Fucked Up. (Chances were
no one would remember him. He finds comfort in meaninglessness.) Me, I like to do the opposite: I like to
Do The Math. I multiply all the people I know by the probable average number of people they know, until I reach 1 billion people, and imagine the likelihood that something I’ve done or said or am has reverberated out this line of people across X degrees of separation. And then I imagine how many of these people even know I exist. And I imagine
this number is small.
But I find that I feel really good about this, about knowing that it’s highly likely that, even if no one ever remembers my name — it is O-K. Because I still
had a reason
to exist.
Category Announcements | Tags: | 5 Comments
01.19.2006 by Shannon
In this hyper-vigilant, color-coded, post-9/11 world, our sense of security is perpetually easier to shake. Even for those not old enough to recall “the good old days” of trusting one’s neighbor or leaving one’s front door unlocked, there is a sense of “things being different now.”
Having been four years (and some change) since the Twin Towers incident, it’s easy to slip into apathy and tune out hackneyed words such as “safety,” “security,”terror” and “vigilance.” “Fear” is at once a subversive joke, a motivation for war, a dirty little secret, a cultural blanket, and a four-lettered prescription for political agenda. Epithetically speaking, we are America The Fearful.
Nonetheless, things have changed. Things are different. And, like any true change, it’s not until one gains some distance that one really understands the gravity of such change.
Case in point: an unidentified explosion occurred on Post St. between Larkin and Hyde at approximately 10:05PM Wednesday night.
The explosion was loud enough to instantly draw residents of nearby apartment buildings to open their windows and look in concern. Many gathered in the street.
“Whoa–what the fuck just happened?” yelled one neighbor three flights up to another across the street. “Was that a bomb?”
“There was a huge flash, then boom!” the neighbor yelled back.
While car alarms cried all down the block, two residents of a near-by building examined the cardboard debris and black explosion markings that scarred the sidewalk and side of the building, apparently left by the explosion. The surrounding air was still smoky and smelled of sulphur.
One of the residents, a dark-haired man in his mid-twenties who didn’t give his name, said he thought the explosion was from an M-80, a type of illegal firework composed of a mixture of aluminum flake, antimony trisulfide, and potassium perchlorate flash powder–a pretty serious little cracker.
“The casing remains are unmarked, so it certainly wasn’t legal. That, and it was much too powerful to be a legal firework,” he offered.
According to Pyro Universe M-80s were invented by the military to simulate grenade explosions during training missions and are powerful enough to “tear flesh from your hand” or even “remove a finger outright” reports users of a pyrotechnics web forum.
The moment of panic subsided as residents confirmed there was no real threat, and proceeded to return to the safety of their homes. A man and wife pushing a baby stroller resumed walking.
“That really scared me shit-less… guess it was nothing!” the third-story resident called across the street. “Crazy.” His neighbor shrugged his shoulders and closed the window.
One witness lingered, however. “Must have been a really bad prank,” she muttered, but wondered why her heart was still beating so fast.
Category This Modern Life | Tags: | 1 Comment
01.18.2006 by Shannon
I don’t know where I’ve been, but Kodak unveiled its new logo last week–a much more streamlined design created to help the company forge a new image as a cutting-edge, 21st century innovator:
(Images from SpeakUp)
A departure from the previous 70-year-old logo, the new logo utilizes a custom typeface meant to give Kodak a more “contemporary look” reports the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
“We want to break out of the box, in a lot of ways,” said Betty Noonan, Kodak’s Brand Management and Marketing Services Director.
The new logo, however, does no such thing. In fact, it looks retro, not progressive, and lacks the presence of a company that wants to be a major player on the “digital photography playing field.”
“It is not graphic enough, and loses it’s weight and boldness” weighs in San Francisco designer Ben Cheong. “It looks back to a 70′s geometric era typeface.” Clearly not new and cutting edge.
Rebranding can be an essential move for a company looking to reinvent itself–whether from declining sales, lack of consumer recognition, or to position itself in new markets. But there is something to be said for tradition: if a company is lucky enough to have 70 years of equity behind it, scrapping a world-recognized logo isn’t done on a whim.
I’m sure great consideration was given. And the more time I spend with it, I think Kodak is on to something: perhaps they realized the whole Solid-Red-and-Yellow-Boxed-In-Logo thing just wasn’t differentiating enough, considering the crowded space:
Category Brands/Trends | Tags: | 3 Comments
01.16.2006 by Shannon
You might notice some changes in the appearance of Not Keeping Score over the next few days / weeks; please be patient as Shannon clumsily learns how to upgrade, design, tweak, and generally manage the site. Think of it as a newborn fawn fumbling to find her legs.
Have faith: with a little luck it will result in an all-around more satisfying experience. But in the meantime… patience. After all, it is Slow Down Week.
Category This Modern Life | Tags: | 2 Comments
01.13.2006 by Shannon
Breaking News:
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A new word was entered into San Francisco geek/writer Shannon DeJong’s vocabulary today, reports an anonymous source.
Sesquipedalian (pronounced \ses-kwuh-puh-DAYL-yuhn\) is a 5-syllabled, 14-lettered adjective meaning “given to or characterized by the use of long words” or “long and ponderous; having many syllables,” according to The Dictionary, a trusted expert on the matter.
It is also a noun, and can mean “long word.”
The word has been officially deemed as being “really cool” because “it’s a long word that means ‘long word.’”
The discovery of the new word was exciting but not wholly unexpected, says DeJong.
“I subscribe to Word-a-Day from Dictionary.com, and so I wasn’t surprised to see an email in my inbox that contained a new word. But I never expected the word to be this cool–and on a Friday, too! Bonus!”
According to DeJong, sesquipedalian has been ranked in her Favorite Words Ever List, over-taking aubergine for 3rd place, but not beating out snarky and susurrus.
“Those two are just too neat. How can you beat them?” says DeJong.
* * *
EDITOR’S NOTE: For those of you word-buffs who want some “actual” news, it was announced recently that Wi-Fi is an official entry into the new 11th Edition of Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Wi-Fi was a name created by the partners of SALT Branding (my place of “work”) and is the first time a brand name that has come out of SALT has become so entrenched in the English language that it warrented a dictionary entry.
(Apologies for the obvious plug, but I do think it’s almost as cool as sesquipedalian…almost.)
Category Writing & Language | Tags: | 1 Comment
01.12.2006 by Shannon
(That’s me, on the left)
I’m away on work, but luckily the airport has free Wi-Fi and free Manhattans (Thank You, “Client”).
Normally, I’d like to write something interesting, incisive, and insightful.
In the meantime, however, I apologize for my act of redirecting. But I have a feeling that this story won’t let you down. ¡Viva la camarones!
Category This Modern Life | Tags: | 1 Comment
01.11.2006 by Shannon
I do not know if they are ugly as I haven’t been able to find an image, but these pants certainly deserve mention in the pants section of my site. It looks like Apple once again revolutionizes not just music but fashion as well…
Category In the News, This Modern Life, Ugly pants | Tags: | 2 Comments
by Shannon
I apologize for my lack of attention to this story, considering the passionate feelings I hold toward Starbucks. I have, however, crawled out from under my avalanche of work to do a little bit of internet research.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported today that a man by the name of Ronald Schouten, 44, of San Francisco has been arrested in connection with an explosive device that was found in the Starbucks’ bathroom on Van Ness.
Living the the Age of Google, I thought I would see if I could find out any further information on Mr. Schouten by engaging in a favorite activity: name Googling, or, as I like to refer to it: Armchair Journalism.
I searched:
“Ronald Schouten”
+ “Ronald Schouten” + “San Francisco”
+ “Ronald Schouten” + bomb
+ “Ronald Schouten” + glue (earlier vandals had smeared glue on other San Francisco Starbucks’ stores)
And if learning about those with whom one shares a name on the Googlesphere reveals anything about oneself, I think my research has been very telling. Here is what I discovered:
1. Ronald Schouten is a special contributor for OS News, an online computing forum
2. Ronald Schouten is a father of an epileptic girl in Delft, Netherlands
3. Ronald Schouten is a Marketing Officer at Abebooks.com an online independent bookstore out of BC, Canada
4. Ronald Schouten, M.D., J.D., is the Director of the Law & Psychiatry Service of the Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School–specializing in workplace violence and prevention…
5. And then there’s this guy.
…enough said. Back to the avalanche…
Category In the News, This Modern Life | Tags: | No Comments
01.10.2006 by Shannon
For a lit-geek such as myself, the whole JT LeRoy phenomenon is fascinating.
JT LeRoy was purported to be the newest literary celebrity who wrote a semi-autobiographical account of his experience as an abused homosexual afflicted with AIDS and spent time as a male prostitute until taken in by Laura Albert and her husband, Geoffrey Knoop.
Only that, as it turns out, JT LeRoy doesn’t exist.
(more…)
Category In the News, San Francisco glory, This Modern Life | Tags: | No Comments
01.09.2006 by Shannon
Some jobs don’t exist but should…
* * *
Profile: Part-Time Narcissist
“Part-time, I’m very fond of myself.
(more…)
Category Narrative | Tags: | 1 Comment
01.06.2006 by Shannon
Welcome to the season of New Gym Memberships!
Come January, many people scramble to join for that New Year’s Resolutions, burn off those extra chocolate-logged pounds and remake themselves in the image of, well, something better than themselves.
Guilty as charged. [Raising hand as the first to admit Me Too]
It should be obvious that gym memberships are for suckers such as myself that spend 40-100 hours a week sitting in front of a computer. (And to set the record straight, being a loyal San Franciscan: yes, I do walk to work, the grocery store, and…bars). Gym memberships are not, however–unlike Trix–for kids.
Category Brands/Trends, In the News, San Francisco glory, This Modern Life | Tags: | 2 Comments
01.02.2006 by Shannon
This year had been a doozy.
Serious relationship of many years ended — sticky and with the emotional tear of a slowly-pulled bandage… maternal grandmother-slash-friend passed away… family sold property of immense childhood sentimental value… asthmatic bronchitis came up like frying pan to the head (thrice!)… rejection letters to journalism school had no acceptance counterpart… new job… new apartment… new life.
Additionally, she was coming up on a quarter of a century, and although she was quick to admit that 25 years of age is hardly old, it is important to recognize that this girl was more obsessed with the passage of time than Proust.
At first, she had a number of celebration options for New Year’s: throw a big party, drive to the desert and go camping, dress up and attend a fancy-schmancy champagne-binge, share quiet glass of wine among friends. 2005, however, was worth making this midnight really symbolic.
In this culture, she recognized, New Year’s Eve is imbued with such significance everyone scrambles to ensure she is where she wants most to be, with whom she wants most to be, and doing what she wants most to be doing — for Optimum Symbolic Celebration Achievement.
And so, like most in search of that New Year’s experience of closure and rebirth, she decided that she would spend December 31st, midnight, volunteering at a local charity to symbolize a year that has been very “Me-focused” ending with an act that was not.
Only, no one would take her.
Honestly. Saturday morning she tried in vain for two hours to find a place to volunteer for the evening, but all of the non-profits she called were either closed for the holidays or required extensive training ahead of time.
So much for the season of giving.
(more…)
Category Narrative, San Francisco glory | Tags: | 3 Comments
