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Open access and the preservation of digital artifacts are causes I can get behind, so I’m going to give The Internet Archive some appreciation here. I spend quite a bit of time browsing their offerings, some of which have made their way into my art projects. You’ll have to take your own trip with it, but some of my personal highlights include: a complete archive of Mondo 2000 magazines, a collection of K-Mart background music from a former employee (recently denoised by another IA user), and the Noise-Arch collection which pulls together many gigs of underground tape cassettes from the 1980s-90s. Recently I started using a ChatGPT Chrome extension and put it to work reading entire PDFs, searching for keywords, summarizing etc. Pretty awesome library school / digital hoarder / subvertainment stuff, if you like that sort of thing.
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Full of information, archives within archives. A lot of cool old government film clips and PSAs and science and educational films. Tons of books and audiobooks and really obscure/fringe writing from the whole spectrum of political thought as well as classics. Also going on the website wayback machine and looking for websites I made on Geocities when I was 12 is fun. Makes you feel like an archaeologist.
Sep 20, 2022
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The internet archive is just the greatest thing ever, i love it for the ephemeral films and lost home videos, old religious and esoteric manuscripts, textbooks, nasa photos, centuries’ worth of magazine issues, old records, lectures…. 💌
Jan 13, 2025
There’s a lot of Internet Archive talk on here (shoutout MJ Lenderman) but i haven’t seen many people mention the Wayback Machine, which to me is far and away the sites coolest feature. You can just throw in any old URL and explore the early internet. Amazing web design and fantastic informational resource.
My favorite thing to do is look up the websites of old defunct bands. I’m linking to one of my favorites from Geoff Farina’s (Karate) band The Secret Stars, where he and his bandmate Jodi Buonanno chronicle their time spent renovating a 19th century Grange Hall into a recording studio/art space.
Jan 23, 2024
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Growing up in a Russian household, you become acquainted with the ritual of evening walks after dinner. Beyond its obvious health benefits, there’s a spiritual dimension to the act itself— believe it or not, with my headphones on and my sneakers laced up I’m a biomechanical contemplation machine. A heightened awareness of the landscape and my place in it overcomes me, I might occasionally notice great and strange things. The more aimless the walk is, the better. Getting your steps in is good, but not everything in life needs to be about self-improvement. I find that the longer my walks are, the weirder and more hypnotic they become. The gratitude I feel when I finally return home is really a nice feeling too. For a walking shoe, I recommend Mephistos which feel like gliding on air. Happy trails.
Nov 22, 2023
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What else could I possibly need? Maybe a nice pair of winter socks. Some people like merino wool, but I prefer warmer, more durable alpaca, which feels great, if not better. The use of alpaca wool as a textile has its origins in the Andes thousands of years ago, where the Incas revered and even deified alpacas. Often depicted as gentle and giving creatures, alpacas are emblematic of the Andean landscape, I’d love to see it in person one day. Knowledge about the animals and how to care for them was passed down through generations, which is pretty much a non-factor when browsing for socks on Amazon. So be careful you’re not getting ripped off with synthetic ones claiming otherwise.
Nov 22, 2023
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Writer Andy Sturdevant put together a booklet of active cafeteria menu hotline numbers throughout the USA. It’s a sort of zine and I consider it to be a true work of art. I like to keep a copy in the studio within an arm’s reach. When I hit a roadblock, I like to pick a number at random to call and check out what’s being served at some hospital canteen. Having been doing this for a while, you notice little things– the voices in the background, a burst of laughter, odd pauses, the mood of the thing. Really though, it’s an anodyne list of daily food options in different places where life unfolds in overlooked ways, which is oddly nice to listen to, like a prank phone call without the cruelty. As an aside– this zine pairs nicely with Letters To Wendys – a book of poetry by Joe Wenderoth. I guess I just like stuff involving bland food.
Nov 22, 2023