journal.melendez.org

Pretty damn close personality assessment from http://www.personaldna.com/ Animated Director

So, we have purchased a new home. Specifically, it's a condominium not far from where we are living now. It's on the unfortunately named Robert E. Lee street, but it's close to the springs and Zilker Park. Here's a satellite map.

So, today I received an unsolicited email from a photographer by the name of Frank Relle who has taken a number of truly incredible images from New Orleans, both pre and post-Katrina. One in particular, "Felicity," comes from one of my favorite neighborhoods in the city, the Lower Garden District. Cassie and I had lived in that neighborhood until fairly recently, but many of my favorite memories of the city are from that neighborhood, long before we had lived there. I was thinking about some of the places I used to haunt when I was much younger and far more irresponsible: RC Bridge Lounge (long before its recent "rehabilitation," it was the bane of the gentrifiers as a music club), the Half Moon (which seems to have undergone a reverse rehabilitation over the years) and Pie In The Sky (the Sky Pie was the greatest pizza ever, before the restaurant's many misfortunes). I miss visiting Gus the blind senior citizen who would have me and Steve over to drink room tem...

Since I spend about 75% of my work time either in or thinking about New Orleans but live in Austin, I am often asked to compare the two places. I spent the last five years of my life as a highly visible, highly vocal booster of New Orleans, so many people I meet are surprised when they hear that we have settled, at least for the near term, in Austin. For Cassie and me, the decision to stay in Austin was pretty easy. We didn't have any assets to protect in New Orleans. Our house was pretty thoroughly destroyed so there was no hurry to come back. We also wanted to find some degree of stability for our son; New Orleans is a dynamic place right now and since he had already spent about a fourth of his life in evacuation/gypsy mode, we decided we would try to give him a rest. So we arbitrarily chose Austin off the map. It was a reasonably short drive away from New Orleans. It was the only really progressive city in Texas. Much like New Orleans, it's a blue island in a sea of...

New Year's has always been my least favorite holiday. I have always felt like there was too much pressure to have fun at New Years. It starts with fighting to get a reservation at some tony restaurant, then the whole New Year's Eve Party dilemma: either too many or not enough invitations to parties. So this year, we decided to stay in and just let it be a quiet holiday night. Besides, this year supplied us with enough excitement to last a while. Here I am reading Corduroy's Birthday Party to Santiago.

Hey, my house in New Orleans is for sale . It's a little soggy.

Definitely worth the read: http://www.alwayson-network.com/comments.php?id=10987_0_4_0_C_C

Just did a tour of Farmer's Market's in the area. Pretty cool stuff: Vietnamese Market, New Orleans East, June 2004 German Market, Destrehan, Louisiana, June 2004

Good news. I am (sort of) back online. We changed homes and have been mostly offline for the past couple of months. The good news is that we are slowly putting evrything back in order. A few items of note: 1) We moved from the Faubourg Marigny to the Lower Garden District. 2) We are expecting our first and hopefully only child. 3) We are leaving for Buenos Aires, Argentina on Monday. I understand that Argentina has a good telecommunications infrastructure. I hope that I will be able to update this blog from there with my adventures from beef country.

This article just came out: http://whereyatnola.com/?id=165&issueselect=4-2004

Forwarded to me from a friend: 15 things to do at Wal-Mart while your spouse/partner/parent is taking their own sweet time: 1. Get 24 boxes of condoms and randomly place them in peoples carts while they are not looking. 2. Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals. 3. Make a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the restrooms. 4. Walk up to an employee and tell him/her in an offical tone, "Code3" and watch what happens. 5. Go to the Service Desk and ask to put a bag of M&M's on lay away. 6. Move a "CAUTION - WET FLOOR" sign to a carpeted area. 7. Set up a tent in the camping department and tell other shoppers you'll invite them in if they bring pillows from the bedding department. 8. When a clerk asks if they can help you, begin to cry and ask "Why cant you people just leave me alone?" 9. Look right into the security camera, using it as a mirror and pick your nose. ...

http://www.bushpresident2004.com/

André Breton (1896-1966) lives, France. Poet, essayist, critic, editor, communist, surrealist, promoter. Artaud: Does Surrealism still hold the same importance in the organization & disorganization of our lives? Breton: It is all mud, almost entirely composed of flowers. http://www.creative.net/~alang/lit/surreal/writers.sht#Breton

Music Activists should definitely check this out: http://www.downhillbattle.org/

If you give me six lines written by the most honest man, I will find something in them to hang him. -Cardinal Richelieu, or some neighborhood associations

P.W., HIS MAGIC EDUCATION AS A POET

To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the making of bread. -James A. Baldwin

Wow, I have been slow on the journal lately. I had better get back in to the habit before the avalanche of Mardi Gras is upon us in full force. For those of you not based in New Orleans, Mardi Gras Day, which is on February 24 of this year, is only the denouement of the carnival season. The most significant parades start about two weeks before Mardi Gras Day, as well as the attendant festivities. As the parade routes are distributed through many parts of the city, almost no one who lives in the core of the city is far away from a parade, so many people have parties or at least, open houses with bathrooms, near parade routes. It's a remarkably social time in a city that is already remarkably social. It's also a time that not too much happens in a city known for not having too much happening in it. Efficiency experts and bankers may decry this time of slack, but I think one of the healthiest things about New Orleans is the occasional party. Pressure valve for the city. A...

So, my film partner Sean and I made a commercial one afternoon for the MoveOn.org contest, called "Bush in 30 Seconds." Apparently, we passed the first hurdle, that there are no glaring copyright violations. Now it's up to the people. No, it's not "Citizen Kane". It's not even "Where's the Beef?" But hey, it's a start. Now, to find a viable democratic challenger! You can watch it on the Bush in 30 Seconds website right now: http://www.bushin30seconds.org/vote/view.html?ad=hLZQV_dQVObUVPWtRiUOCXZpZXctNjg2