congrats to shizuka arakawa but with all due respect, you shouldn’t have received a gold medal last night. cohen and slutskaya skated passionate but ultimately flawed programs, so im not suggesting they should have won instead. but if skating a program like yours, clean on the technical elements, but DOA when it came to close to any idea of “artistry”, skating as we know it totally over, thanks to the NJS. at the very least, your outfit was fascinating, like two different dresses hacked apart and sewn together but still, fashion should never make up for a totally dullsville performance.

ive been so slack in writing here but its part illness, part business thats at fault here. illness: i woke up two weeks ago unable to open my left eye without blinding pain and thus had to drive, one-eye open [totes dangerous, i know!], to new jersey for an emergency visit with a doctor kind enough to overlook my health insurance situation [or lack thereof]. not only was it conjunctivitis, it was spreading to my right eye, triple-whammified by a sinus and ear infection on top of it.

business: while i was getting rad with my eyedropsparklemotionflonasesexjams, i was befallen by tons of schoolwork [a: how can one class have this much?! b: how do college students handle five times this amount?! c: suddenly its clear why i went to art school] and so trying to remind myself that i am taking classes because i want to, i felt my responsibility lie there, to my job and plain parade. not in that order, but you know. everything else had to drop off. getting sick was a sign!

thankfully for you, my dear readers, education turns the hamster wheel in my head and now i feel compelled to share what dim currents have been powering my brain:

» KWANTROVERSY. you know i just had to say something about kwan’s withdrawal. im glad she’s gone — she shouldnt have been there in the first place. if you are injured to the point that you can only compete in one qualifying competition during a season, you need to take it easy.

listen, i know michelle thinks she’s missing out on “the elusive gold” but if everyone stopped for a moment to realize that the only person with a better career record than her is sonja henie, we’d stop all this bellyaching in a heartbeat. truth of the matter is, skating is a sport where by the time you’re 18 or so, you pack it in, call it a day, rake in the cash from endorsements or become a pro skater/coach or fade away into another profession. you’re not supposed to have a skating career at 25! the fact that she’s made it this far and with her record, is monumental enough. no medal needed.

now that the us women’s team is back to the way it should have been, im psyched. emily hughes is a total longshot for medal contention, but hey, so was her sister at the 2002 games and she took home gold. let’s not rule out kimmie meissner, who came out of nowheresville to take second place at nationals, who could possibly best sasha cohen [if sasha doesnt screw up, but im not holding my breath on that]. frankly, im just psyched about watching some good skating — haven’t been really wowed by the pairs or men’s competitions, but then again, i never held an interest in either.

[while im on the subject, if you could refrain from discussing results in my presence, id appreciate it. i know all the results are out there prior to watching them on tv, but hearing the final scores beforehand makes it really hard to sit through the programming.]

kwan was the last holdout from an age of 6.0’s and a bunch of outdated ideas about skating. we have a young team, with even more talent [alissa csizny, bebe liang] waiting in the wings. an era is over and im happy about it.

» one last thought about figure skating: johnny weir. ive derived a math equation for who he is:

toller cranston + johny curry (coke + appletinis + christina aguilera) = johnny weir

» what ever happened to the concept of the poseur? sometimes i do not believe that there are suddenly that many more indie/punk/etc rock types in the world, no matter what myspace tells me. i feel gross and elitist when i think about this. is there a way to think about authenticity without sounding rockist?

» i read w.e.b. dubois’ “the souls of black folk” a few weeks back and now all i can think about is double consciousness and how many times i have been asked the retarded question about how being a woman affects my position in music. since when do feminists think they can get away with ripping it off for their own purposes? this too, makes me feel gross.

» after class last night i was advised that i start marking myself as latino for educational purposes. this came about because somehow the subject of my genetic background came up and i mentioned my mother was born in venezuela. however, her side of the family is ukrainian. [after WWII many russian families were not permitted to immigrate to the us and accordingly took up residence in south america. when my grandfather was able to secure a job as a welder, he brought everyone up to the states.] even though her first languages were spanish and russian, she has never considered herself latino. our family celebrates our ukrainian and italian heritage. apparently the gov’t gives more money to those with a latino background [due to high dropout rate of latino population in schools] but i feel like i’d be cheating someone, primarily my own heritage. or am i reclaiming something that’s been ignored? why does this sound like a dramatic passage from one of those articles about DNA testing?

» why is it that everyone i ask a question out loud, i can only hear sarah jessica parker’s voice in my head? please, make it stop.

» if you have made it thus far and don’t have tremors from all the cringeworthy text above AND you plan on attending SXSW: send me your showcases, your day parties, your unwashed huddled masses yearning for preview freedom. i got a lil’ writing gig for the festival and want to talk about you.

…my proposal for emp was accepted.

» its here! the delta 5 reissue is finally available for purchase! buy the cd here or download from emusic. i cant wait to finally get my hands on a copy.

» podcasts are kinda retarded — leave the radio thing to us pros, alright? with that said, i only listen to two. tim gunn’s project runway podcast is fantastic because it has all sorts of tidbits about the episode which don’t make it to the final edit. [obsessed, eh?] cant stop the bleeding’s podcast features a different person programming it every week, which makes it feel more like a radio station.

» my high school classmate christina wilson, who totally stabbed me with a protractor in 10th grade geometry class [but was also instrumental in introducing me to the likes of the smiths, morrissey, pogues, etc], is showing her photographs at the metuchen artworks cooperative gallery. her series of train photographs, “rested travel” were taken over a two year period where she practically lived in an abandoned train. more details:

Metuchen ArtWorks Cooperative Gallery proudly presents Rested Travel The Lambertville Train Series featuring the work of fine art photographer, Christina L. Wilson. The exhibit runs from Wednesday, February 1st 2006 through Sunday, February 26, 2006. There will be an opening reception with photographer, Christina L. Wilson on Saturday, February 4, 2006 from 7pm till 10pm.

In her debut exhibition at Metuchen ArtWorks Cooperative Gallery, Christina L. Wilson examines the association between light and shadow and the properties and relationships of points, lines, angles, curves, surfaces, and solids revealing the unexpected beauty of abandonment. To create this series Wilson spent several weekends (over a period of two years) practically living in an old abandoned train in Lambertville, New Jersey. Immediately drawn into the irony between the neglect and the stunning beauty that has been created from it, as an artist, Wilson set out to concentrate on abstract form as a subject in itself while still allowing recognizable details of the architecture as well as certain spatial relationships to remain identifiable. “I found myself involved in the evolution of the trains purpose,” Wilson explains, “In an effort to expose the art within the remaining structure of the trains, I approached the project in a metaphysical manner, choosing not to manipulate those elements of nature that have created the existence of the art within the trains. Combining scientific processes, urban graffiti, and artistic vision, Wilson , within the train, an art of pure expression.”

Rested Travel The Lambertville Train Series caters to the viewers sense of familiarity with travel, while challenging the viewers relationship with the reality of abandonment. In creating such work, Wilson is successful in blending the obscure with the ordinary. Those features that appear recognizable are used to introduce the viewer to the unexpected beauty of the abandonment of the trains. Each image stands as a portrait or an individual historical record, possessing its own traits. Collectively the images represent the transformation from a forgotten physical function to the beauty revealed through decay.

The Metuchen ArtWorks Cooperative Gallery is located at 15 Station Place in Metuchen. Gallery hours are Wednesday Saturday, 12 NOON 8:00 PM, and Sunday, 11AM 5:00 PM. The Gallery is located within walking distance of the Metuchen NJ Transit train station. By car take exit 131 off the Garden State Parkway or exit 10 off the NJ Turnpike. For more information contact the gallery office at 732-603-9299.

» now for a moment of bitching: what the fuck, class of 1923 ice rink? why are your only weekday public skating sessions at one in the afternoon? how is that convenient for anyone? now, i understand you have to cater to hockey league schedules, but this shit is ridiculous. i tried going to riverrink over the weekend for some saturday skating and the session was sold out. [so shady: i got on the ice because i found an admission tag on the ground]. what am i going to do once the rink shuts down for the season next month? wissahickon is a private club, rizzo rink is difficult to get to. what? how will i continue getting my exercise? as a child i dreamed of having an ice rink in walking distance and you cant get your shit together to give the public one user-friendly skating session. don’t make me take drastic measures and like, ice down my deck or something.

» note to will leitch: if you want to learn how to not fall down, or how to get over your fixation with falling down, call me. seriously, why do they leave the reportage of skating to morons?