Notes On Today

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Our african violet still flourishes beneath its coat of cat hair and brown sugar.

I watched from the balcony as people left their houses and apartments with food, easter baskets, and bottles of alcohol under their arms. They were each of them alone, going somewhere else.

Just when I thought there was nothing left with which to wipe our bottoms, I found a roll of paper towel under the sink, and it has proved soft enough. This seems like a silly worry, especially in light of the fact that many people today are remembering a man who was skewered by nails and mounted on wood.

When I went out to the balcony a second time to sip my fresh coffee and watch the monstrous crow across the street sway on high, spindly branches, there were young parents in the street counselling their children with demands of Don't run! and Be good! and Get out of that puddle! I thought about how the children I will not have might have worn yellow rubber boots.

I remembered how my old cat, Pepper, used to stay out at all hours when the weather finally warmed up, and my mother would stand out on the front step in the dark calling Here, pussy, pussy, pussy! I could hear it echoing around the neighbourhood. That embarrassed me to no end.

I had a ninety-minute nap in which I dreamt that time was like a noodley rubber tube. I had the good fortune of being allowed a peek down this tube, and, man, reality is a pretty fucking cool place.

I made big messes all over the apartment, because when I spring clean, I make things much worse before they get better:


Mid-Spring-Clean Mess from schmutzie on Vimeo.

Luckily, the crazy mess pictured above has since been partially remedied. That bed? It's not even in the room anymore. I am way strong.

And now? I am drinking red wine out of a brushed metal wine glass and waiting for warm sheets to come out of the dryer while watching a disturbing episode of "Medium", which I am starting to think is a harder-core version of the pornification of woman-hate that "Law & Order" does so well.

Labels: the here and now, the videos Schmutzie made

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Saskatchewan Is An Alien Colony

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

I checked the weather online, saw that it was -49°C with the windchill, and thought Wow, I really need to go out there and see how weather that is seven times colder than a deep freeze feels for five minutes. Three minutes into it, when my nose had become numb and my fingertips were doing that numb-but-burning-with-the-pain-of-frostbite thing, I thought that I must be a certifiable loon, but I stuck it out, because my one or two cigarettes a day are more important than maintaining my extremities. Obviously.

I shot the following video, the second I have ever shot, which is screamingly obvious, because I somehow thought I could show you the cold. I proceeded to shoot a few moments of a red-tinged street (it was too cold to change my camera settings) and did not even think of turning the camera on myself: I was wearing over-sized winter boots with my pants tucked into them, mittens, a fuzzy long coat, a lime green toque, and two scarves wrapped around me. Aside from my glasses peeking out, my head was a tangled mess of yarn. Instead, though, you get what looks like a human settlement on Mars. Look! We transplanted elm trees from Earth to make it seem more like home!


Saskatchewan Is Mars from schmutzie on Vimeo.

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Labels: the videos Schmutzie made

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My First Video, Accompanied By A Haiku

Sunday, December 16, 2007

my first video
is not about a brassiere
but you might think so

I am a participant in Holidailies 2007.

Labels: the poetry, the videos Schmutzie made

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