Anyone want a console game for their frathouse? My friend Saira is selling her four player Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder. This is the complete four-joystick console — not just boards. It even comes with the manual. Generally these sell for at least $350. Saira is asking $200 as far as I know… Contact her if you want it. You just have to be able to pick it up in Toronto.
I imagine most of you reading this remember my somewhat misguided one hook suspension experiment. Needless to say the hook tore out of my arm, leaving a gaping wound and spraying bits of fat, flesh, and blood, over a five foot radius. We did suture it, but the only sutures I had on hand were dissolvables, so those didn't last. It basically healed via second intention as an open wound… Here's a before and after:
I'm totally wiped out right now, so don't expect a lot of words… But here are some pictures from this afternoon:
That reminds me of two things I should mention. First, Rookie is taking over running the iWasCured website so you can expect it to be more actively maintained. Second, we are doing probably two more shows this upcoming month. The first is I think a release party for a Fangoria-style horror magazine, and the second is another benefit show at the Mindbomb in St. Catharines. The dates for these are October 27th and 28th… If you'd like to do a suspension, we have some slots available on the 27th for sure. If you're interested, get in touch with Phil, Marty, or Orbax.
I've been reading a lot about no limits freediving (ever see the Big Blue?) — this is where people dive down with no gear (just holding their breath) to depths well below five hundred feet. At this point their heart slows to a standstill, blood directs only to their brain, and their lungs fill with plasma to compensate for the pressure. Just to make it clear how deep this is, scuba divers don't generally go below 130 feet for safety reasons… and they have gear!
Anyway, I was reading Francisco Ferreras's, Umberto Pelizzari's, and Kristijan Curovic's homepages, and it struck me that there are profound similarities between the experience of deep diving, and the experience of suspension. I found the following quote on Umerto's page:
"From the depth of 0 to 100 metres and even deeper, headlong into the abyss the heart beat gets slower, the body disappears, and all the feelings take a new form. The only thing that remains is the soul. A long jump into the soul, which seams to absorb in the universe. Every time I re-ascend is making a choice: it's me who re-finds myself in my human dimension, metre by metre, to come up then to see the light again. It often happens that I am asked what is there to see deep down in the sea. Maybe the only possible answer is that one does not descend in apnoea to look around but to look into oneself. In the abyss I look for myself. This is a mystical experience bordering the divine. I am immensely alone but it feels as if inside of me there were all humanity with me. It is my being a human-being that surpasses the limits that are looked for becoming absorbed in the sea, which melts into itself and re-finds itself."
I'm doing my best to try and really understand these experiences; free diving, suspension, psychedelic journeys, body modification, and even things like extreme endurance sports — these things are doorways and I can't think of anything more essential than really understanding what's on the other side.
I just remembered that I was going to post about my latest pile of mail. I got two envelopes with three rolls of film in all — in about an hour I'll wander down to West Camera and drop it off. I like dealing with West Camera because they really couldn't care less what I develop… I developed photos of me helping chisel off a guy's finger and they didn't have me tossed in jail.
Anyway, I got my plugs from Wil at the One Stop Freak Shop. Wow. He's really got that computer controlled milling machine figured out — the workmanship on these is stunning. Check out his website — he's got a zillion different designs of custom plugs, and given what they are, they're pretty cheap as well.
I also got a shirt from Sean's Church Social on September 2nd… I sent him a shirt in return, so I hope he got it.
