Engineer's Daughter

a lawn time coming

Mn_a4_lawnmower3_c_24ap

from Grist:
The U.S. EPA indicated yesterday that it was leaning toward approving California's proposal to require catalytic converters on small motors like those in weed whackers and lawn mowers, eliminating the equivalent of emissions from 800,000 cars. Even better, the agency suggested it may implement the high standards across the country. "We believe harmonizing with California will be cost-effective, good for the environment, good for the industry, good for all the stakeholders," said EPA air-quality director Margo Oge. At least two small-engine manufacturers, Honda and Kohler, support California's plan, while the counsel for the main industry trade group indicated grudging acceptance of the state standard, adding, "I want you to appreciate the pain and challenge [our] members are accepting." EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson will make the final decision later this year. We hope Johnson rises to the occasion.

sources:
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle

a bitter drill

from Grist:
The House voted yesterday to end the 25-year-old ban on oil and gas drilling off most of the U.S. coast. The highly contentious debate broke down more along geographic lines than partisan ones, as states standing to make money from the drilling largely supported it. Under the bill, drilling would be allowed beyond 50 miles off the coast; states could vote to extend protection to 100 miles, but they would have to pass legislation on it again every five years. The most controversial part of the bill was a plan to reroute, over time, up to 75 percent of the drilling royalties to states rather than the feds. This bribery was necessary to get coastal states behind the bill, but it stands to leech $20 billion from the federal treasury over the next 10 years. "We should not be opening all of our coasts to oil drilling when we have not taken the first step to conserve oil," said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), who added that the bill "pretty much defines 'travesty.'" Florida's two senators have vowed to filibuster the bill if it reaches the Senate floor.

sources:
CNN.com
The Washington Post
San Francisco Chronicle
An interview with Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, a GOP green leader

procellous

NP_140

At Robert Koch - photographs by Nicholas Prior.  The children that are primary subjects of Prior's gorgeous pictures seem wise beyond their years, their faces portraying all of the confusion and pathos of full adulthood.  I loved how the youngsters are always in sharp focus, while background details (including adults) are decidedly more blurry.  Slightly unsettling, but definitely amazing.

 

 

 

 

Draw_restraint

At SFMOMA - Matthew Barney: DRAWING RESTRAINT.  Don't you just love how DRAWING RESTRAINT has to be in ALL CAPS?  This is just the beginning of the utter pretension.  It's no secret that I don't have a lot of patience for Mr. Barney's art, but even I was shocked at how much he bites from Joseph Beuys in this show, vitrines and all.  The exhibit reminded me a lot of the Cremaster Guggenheim show, with the films playing on screens overhead and artifacts and stills from the films scattered about.  It's worth going just to see the fourth-floor galleries with all of the walls removed, and to see Barney's vaseline sculptures slopped all over the floor.  They're almost soothing in their tedium.  I also never ever tire of gazing upon Bjork's radiant visage, and there are plenty of nice pictures of her.  However, as ever I was left with the impression that all of Barney's posturing is so much empty noise, and that he's way more into his stature as artist-celebrity than he is about actually making meaningful art.  I also picked up a note of reverence (or fetishizing?) toward Japanese whaling culture that really turned my stomach.  I would argue that such a tone (or even a neutral one!) is downright irresponsible considering the debate raging right now about whaling.  But I like art that engages with culture and politics in a complex way instead of standing above it or outside it.

• press images
• Matthew Barney, in glory all his own
• Slippery sculpture oozes into SFMOMA
• Barney, Bjork and blubber

 

Chester_Arnold_Redemption_238_904

Yet to see:

At Catharine Clark - Chester Arnold: Backwaters, with Amy Hicks: Suspended Series in the video room. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Puppets-350

Also yet to see:

At Lisa Dent - the summer group show Sean Horchy, Candice Lin and Tim Sullivan.

 

 

 

 

 

Walkthewest_opt

I missed the free Eco Film Night at Varnish last night (they were screening Walking the West), but it was because I was taking a very long nap before my DJ shift.  Excuses, excuses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take the Apollo Challenge:
Achieve energy independence in 10 years, and create 3 million jobs for Americans in the process. Sound like a worthy challenge? Then learn more about it here.

show 12

playlist:

• Reena - Sonic Youth
• Manitoba - Tapes 'N' Tapes
• Not About A Girl - Film School
• Water Color - Virgil Shaw
• In The Morning - Built To Spill
• Don't Change - AFI
• Dance Like A Monkey - New York Dolls
• Scorn Not His Simplicity - Sinead O'Connor
• Spaceman - Harry Nilsson
• What A Man - Linda Lyndell
• Over And Over - Hot Chip
• Orchid Girl - Aztec Camera
• Do You Know Who You Are? - Golden Shoulders
• Rose Room - Machito and His Afro-Cuban Salseros
• Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken - Camera Obscura
• (How To Keep Your) Husband Happy - Cosmopolitans
• Ubu Dance Party - Pere Ubu
• Pressure's On - Red C
• Speaking In Codes - Radio 4
• Solar Sister - The Posies
• Mikel K - Joseph Arthur
• On Peak Hill - Stars
• John Henry - Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee
• This Way - Psapp
• Madonna Della Grazia - Alessandra Belloni
• Ulterior Motive - Luciano
• Tusk - Clinic
• Rastaman Shuffle - The Upsetters
• The Passenger - Iggy Pop
• Love Song - Tilly & the Wall
• Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further? - Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint
• The Plan - Built To Spill
• Hollyhood Skit - Lil Kim
• Mistakes and Regrets - And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
• Alright - Cast
• A Man Walks Into A Bar - Jens Lekman
• La Dame Et La Licorne - Shearwater

club afoot

from Grist:
The Sierra Club is suing the Defense Department for effectively halting new development of wind farms in the name of homeland security. The suit charges that the department failed to complete a congressionally mandated study on how wind turbines affect military radar by a May 8 deadline; at least 15 new wind projects await completion of the study. "If the military can have windmills and effective radar at Guantanamo, why can't we have both in the Midwest?" asked Sierra Club attorney Kristin Henry, who noted that delayed construction could make wind developers ineligible for federal tax credits that expire after 2007. Meanwhile, the administration pursues security-risky nuclear power like there's no tomorrow -- which, in their defense, there might not be. The feds were breezily unconcerned about the potential impacts of terrorist attacks when conducting environmental reviews of nuke plants until ordered to consider those impacts by a recent court decision.

sources:
San Francisco Chronicle
Cape Cod Today

new plaything

 

hard-workin' kitties

 

 

 

Real content to follow.