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Tag Archives: Odd

Meow Says the Wolf

01 Monday Jan 2018

Posted by danielwalldammit in Travel, Write Drunk, Edit Stoned

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Children, Creepy, Fun House, George R R Martin, House of Eternal Return, Meow Wolf, New Mexico, Odd, Santa Fe

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I told Danielito, his name is ‘Bob’ for the balance of our visit. I was Daniel first.

I could easily wish the crowds away, but that would be foolish. They are a big part of the experience here at Meow Wolf. Mere moments after entering the fun house, our party is already separated into at least 3 separate groups. Moni is nearby, but I’m not sure where. Her sister and I are together. She is nervous and worried the place will be scary. I’m not entirely re-assuring. We catch a glimpse of her two kids. They rush on by as their mother tries to call them back.

It’s no use going after them. Did they go up into the tree house, or over to the musical mastodon? Perhaps into the fish-tank? We’ll find them eventually, but not by looking. No matter. One is old enough. The other has been here before. They will take care of each other. So, we let them have their fun.

I’m recovering from a bad flu, so I tire easily. Luckily, there are places to sit and watch the people. This is my second time at Meow Wolf, so I am happy to take my time; happier still to rest when I can. A woman walks by urging her child to stay nearby. A few minutes later she walks by again, alone.

“Baby, where are you?”

I get up to help her look for the child and instead find myself helping a couple women trying to connect a completely different child with his parents. They are on it; I’m just trying to see if I can help, but it’s difficult. You’re never more than one room away from getting completely lost in this place. Give yourself time and you’ll find your way back to the main entrance. But how to search more than one room without losing these two and their momentary ward?

A solution takes the form of a stumbling old man in mad scientist garb. I’ve seen him before. He gets lost in corners and regularly stands motionless for odd periods of time. Soon after meeting the women, our shambling scientist becomes a competent staff member with an intercom and a clear set of procedures. Unfortunately, the first step (getting the kid’s name and that of his parents) doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere. The kid is just too disoriented to answer even these questions. Another child is screaming in my ear. It’s disconcerting, but this child is already in her own mother’s arms, so that’s probably a good sign. Still those are blood-curdling screams for such a little girl. What has her so scared?

“I don’t want to leave!”

Ah, …got it!

The girl keeps screaming that she doesn’t want to leave. She screams this as though her life depended on it. Nearby, the once-shambling scientist calls three names into his head set. He is well on his way to solving the problem.  I wander off to find something new. I’m told there have been some changes to a few rooms, and the people scrambling about me add a whole other layer of new things to see.

A young woman opens up a closet, then stands in awe as people behind wait for the moment to pass. Others charge into rooms and devour them. An elderly woman has trouble navigating a narrow staircase. The crowds wait patiently. There is plenty to see. Just about every where you look, there is something odd to see, something weird to wonder about. Kids open the drawers and study their contents. A middle aged man yanks out a drawer a little too far and spends the next few minutes putting its spilled contents back. Some tap on shiny mushrooms, hoping to know what sound they will make. You can play a piano, an odd piano, or even a lazer-lyre.

 

 

I found myself in the entrance to the place, a large area resembling a classic suburban home. It is two stories tall, filled with all the usual features of a middle-class home; a kitchen, a living room, a study, several bedrooms, a nice bathroom, and so on. There are also a few things you don’t find in most middle class homes. A few inter-dimensional portholes, lots of odd scenes. You can find the beginnings of a narrative here in this home. Notes and booklets scattered throughout the rooms allude to scientific experiments gone wrong, perhaps a bit of a cult gone wronger.

I sit here and watch the crowd. Within minutes a little girl asks if she can sit on my lap. She is adorable, but her mother isn’t having any of it. That’s understandable, of course, but I have to wonder. I’m no Santa Clause. Is there something about this place that softens my resting-bastard-face? The next little girl seems to want my attention to. Her parents shuffle the family by without any event.

Perhaps they just want to sit down?

I free up the chair.

Standing on a narrow bridge a woman turns towards me saying; “that’s just the weirdest thing I…” It’s at that point, she realizes I’m not the person she thought she was talking to. It’s understandable. At one point, I mistake a woman for a manikin. In my defense, she wasn’t moving. I find another mad scientist repairing a refrigerator door. That may seem an odd job for a scientist, but in his defense, not every fridge serves as a porthole into another dimension. The condiment rack on the door of this porthole is loose, and there is no telling what that could mean!

I bump into Moni and her family a couple times. All are happy. The kids are positively glowing.

Just like some of the exhibits.

Other things, you may hear in this place?

“This is the most ridiculous thing.”

“Don’t go in there!”

“Oh, oh, oh!”

“that’s how we came in”

“we came in through the fireplace?”

“How do you suppose that kid got stuck in the toilet?”

“What’s the big deal about this place? …Oh, I see.”

 

 

***

Meow Wolf is the brain-child of George R.R. Martin. Yes that George R.R. Martin! It’s an artist collective and a non-profit located on the south-side of Santa Fe, New Mexico. What they’ve created here could be described as a fun house, but that doesn’t even begin to do the place justice. Suffice to say that a lot of very creative people have invested a lot of brilliant thought into this project, and the results are spectacular. I reckon it can be a little stressful for the parents, but they will live through the experience, and so will their kids (who will no doubt keep the memories well into their own grey years). For the rest of us, I expect the key to this experience is opening ourselves to its disorienting qualities. You may think for a moment that you are beginning to figure something out, or that you know what’s around the corner to the left, but don’t be surprised if you are wrong. No matter! If you can make sense of this place, you are probably doing it wrong.

Thanks to Moni and her family who have contributed pics and suggestions. As usual, you may click to embiggen.

Hm...
Hm…
Moni and her Mom, at home in any kitchen
Moni and her Mom, at home in any kitchen
A surplus of doorknops
A surplus of doorknops
A performance artist and her pet dragon
A performance artist and her pet dragon
Belongs with the musical mastadon
Belongs with the musical mastadon
Fish Tank (mirrors a normal-sized tank in the front room)
Fish Tank (mirrors a normal-sized tank in the front room)
Lots to read
Lots to read
Wonder what kind of sermon you could hear in this place?
Wonder what kind of sermon you could hear in this place?
Life in the fish tank
Life in the fish tank
An oddly normal corner
An oddly normal corner
Southwestern weirdness
Southwestern weirdness
...among other things
…among other things
A cool family
A cool family
Do not climb on the spider!
Do not climb on the spider!
When aspen have eyes
When aspen have eyes
Motivational Weirdness
Motivational Weirdness
26166916_10215201306131055_6736171591348282671_n
Creepy
Creepy
The head of the musical mastodon
The head of the musical mastodon
Hm...
Hm…
Most kids just take a bath
Most kids just take a bath
Teenagers room, ...a teenager with a bit more angst than usual
Teenagers room, …a teenager with a bit more angst than usual
I wonder if she will teach me to weave?
I wonder if she will teach me to weave?
yep
yep
More creepy lit
More creepy lit
Should I run or give it a big hug?
Should I run or give it a big hug?
An Angstier teen
An Angstier teen
Yes, you can enter the ice box
Yes, you can enter the ice box
Poor little guy! ...er, big guy.
Poor little guy! …er, big guy.
A special kind of Hell
A special kind of Hell
Parking lot
Parking lot
More lit
More lit
Little Guys
Little Guys
The ribs make music
The ribs make music

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If You Threw California?

23 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by danielwalldammit in General

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

America, Cartography, Humor, Impressions, List, Maps, Odd, States, United States

I don’t like the shape of Illinois. I don’t know why, and I don’t mean anything against Illinoisians, but there is just something about the shape of that state that just seems wrong to me. Chicago lake is kinda cool, but that’s just the upper corner. Anyway, I don’t like the shape of Illinois. I just don’t.

I don’t dislike the shape of Illinois nearly as much as the shape of Wisconsin though. In fact, I feel kinda guilty about Wisconsin. Looking at that state makes me feel kind of like a bully. It’s strange, because I don’t think I’ve ever really been mean to Wisconsin. Still, I do feel I owe the state an apology. Something about the shape of it makes me feel that way. I don’t know why.

Texas? Now Texas has an interesting shape. You can find all sorts of stories in it’s shape. Those stories may feature men in cowboy hats, but I swear you can see them in the lines that define its perimeter. You can try and tell me I’m wrong, but pardner, you should probably smile when you do.

Nevada seems like one day it oughtta just slide right on through.

If you threw California just right, would it curve around and come back to you?

Alaska is a fist with the pinky extended. I live on the knuckle of the thumb.

I can’t help but think you could pick Virginia up and use it like a club or a baseball bat.

Both Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas, the whole lot of them need butter and syrup. A side of bacon would be nice, but at I don’t see it on the table.

Louisiana is a mug, but I only drink from it on Christmas.

Idaho has diminishing expectations. Either that, or it belongs on a lab beside a fat beaker and a consistently skinny test tube. It’s the odd one that you only use for certain special experiments (probably involving potatoes).

Colorado really ain’t all that hip, but if you lay the state out flat, parts of it do get high.

Utah has a nice place for your thumb and a good broad surface to mix all your pigments.

Washington and Oregon both look like airports to me.

West Virginia doesn’t look all that west to me. Not even close.

You could pick the whole country up by Florida, but if that’s what you’re going to do, I really think you should crook your pinky. Also, sip slowly. Don’t gulp.

Mississippi? Precisely!

I swear Oklahoma has been playing a prank on Texas forever. It’s not really that funny Oklahoma. Seriously, just give it a rest!

I’m pretty sure that Tennessee is a shard of flint. I think I read about it in a story about Thor and some Giant.

New Jersey is all over Pennsylvania. No means No, new Jersey. Not cool!

Massachusetts? No. MassachYOUsettes!

Maine is how that rain in Spain stays in the plain.

Connecticut the end off and that’s how the Island Rhode off.

I did not Michigan. I didn’t even Mish the first time!

New York is always bigger than I expect it to be. I try to remember that it’s bigger  than I think, but then I still end up realizing it’s bigger than that even.

I can never find Missouri on a map. Someone always has to show me.

Maryland doesn’t exist. It’s just a conspiracy.

You say Ohio; I say goodbyo.

Goodbyo!

***

(I realize this is an incomplete list, but others could probably riff off the other states better than I can, and besides, this really isn’t the most serious of posts. Except for throwing California. I feel quite certain, it would come back. Yes, it would.)

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An Uncommon Sunset

26 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by danielwalldammit in Bad Photography, Uncommonday

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Cars, Hawaii, Humor, Monday, Nevada, Odd, Photography, Sunsets, Travel

???????????????????????????????

 

I came across this vehicle last summer in Henderson, Nevada.

 

 

Since I feel a little bit bad about the bait and switch, how about this one from Hawaii last May?

(You may click to embiggen)

462

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An Uncommon Icon

19 Monday May 2014

Posted by danielwalldammit in Uncommonday, Write Drunk, Edit Stoned

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Anchorage, Bicycle, Garbage, Humor, Iconography, Odd, Signs, Underpass

146What is this?

It is conspicuous placement, to be sure, but what does it mean? What does it signify? What is its author trying to tell us?

Personally, I think it is a bicycle seat of scorn, placed here in condemnation of all the vehicles that pass through the underpass. Its message is clear. It is saying to the city of Anchorage; “I see your motor vehicles, and your drivers too. I see the lot of you, and I do judge. I do!”

Course, then again, I am prone to flights of fancy.

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An Uncommon Car Phone (Among Other Things)

14 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by danielwalldammit in Music, Uncommonday

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Accoustic Guitar, Funny, Humor, Music, Odd, Surrealism, The Rugburns, Youtube

I think we’ll just let this one speak for itself.

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An Uncommon Musical Instrument – The Theremin

06 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by danielwalldammit in Music, Uncommonday

≈ 25 Comments

Tags

Clara Rockmore, History, Horror Movies, Leon Theremin, Motion Detector, Music, Odd, Theremin

 

 

 

To the best of my knowledge, there is but one instrument that can be played without touching it in any way. It was invented in 1920 by Léon Theremin, and yes, it’s called a Theremin. The idea occurred to him while developing an early form of motion detector. Theremin’s own life is a damned interesting story in its own right, and questions still remain about much of it, but let’s just concentrate on the fact that he designed an instrument to be played without physical contact. The instrument generates an electromagnetic field which is then played by moving one’s hands in proximity to its antennae. One hand controls the frequency; the other its volume.

The result is music!

The video above features Theremin playing his own instrument. Below is an audio recording of his protégé, Clara Rockmore, whose work helped to popularize the instrument. If you are having trouble placing the sound of this instrument, just think ‘horror movies’. It has featured in quite a few.

 

(Ugh! Spelling corrected, thanks to Mr. Washburn)

71.271549 -156.751450

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Uncommonday Number 1: Heh-heh, …Toilet Humor!

21 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by danielwalldammit in Uncommonday

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Alaska, Anchorage, Beavis, Beavis&Butthead, Cornholio, Humor, Monday, Odd, Toilet Humor

419I am totally off my game here, so I’ve decided to try and jump start my blog with a new weekly feature. I’m calling these ‘Uncommondays’. I thought about calling them ‘Queered Quickies’, but that isn’t really my cultural capital. Angstie Mondays? Yeah, those I can relate to, and I’m guessing most of you can too. So, I thought it might be fun to throw a little curve-ball at the start of the work week.

Well, fun or not, I’m gonna!

…and I thought I would start this off with a picture I took in early September. Who would have thought I would have met this character in a bathroom in Alaska. Oh the bathroom part makes sense, but I didn’t expect to see him this far North. I mean, Anchorage is a long way from Lake Titicaca. I can only hope the poor guy found some Cappuccino!

…and perhaps a little TP.

71.271549 -156.751450

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