Yip Abides in 2020

Here lies buried in 2020 the content of this here blog for that year. By category in reverse chronological order:

Audio

• The Right to be Healthy — a 1970s infomercial, featuring Dr. David Stark Murray, one of the founders of the British National Health Service.
• Norman Thomas and Max Shachtman — a rare recording of two major players on the mid-20th Century U.S. left.
• The Norman Thomas v. Barry Goldwater Debate — from November of 1961.
• The Crisis in Economic Theory — Michael Harrington, mid-1980.

Photo Wall

• Street Lit  — the 21st 19th Century considered.
• Interface — more photo-noodling.
• Crystallizing — pretty close to what I had aimed for.
• Ball and ? — some clever work by Jason Brammer.
• The Sun Also Sets — and the glass is half empty on a Winter’s day in Rogers Park.
• A Thousand Points — of wishful thinking.
• Summertime… — a postcard from.
• Rootabaga Redux — What can I say? I dig roots.
• Avenue of Light and Shadow — caution: turbulent magic ahead.
• And After — a peek at Loyola Park after the storms.
• Dancing without a Net — mischievous public art.
• Rays — I have this thing about light.
• Turbulence — .
• Spring as Remembered Mid-Winter — .
• Extra Dimensional Jupiter — photo-noodling.
• Hardly Worth Scalping — !
• Contemplating Betelgeuse — poof!
• The Fay in Winter — hidden magic.
• The Black Hand Detachment — hidden terror.
• Winter’s Green Thumb? — or perhaps wintergreen thumb.
• The Man Who Wasn’t There Goes Away — .
• Braveheart — in a very tiny dog.
• Grill of My Dreams — .
• Gangway of Shadows — in Rogers Park.
• Downtown — This view of the south Loop came out nicely, imho.
• Miró Revisited — another view of the downtown Chicago sculpture, in part.
• Winter Chillin’ — at home with The Yip.
• Lurking — where the night goes on Greenleaf Avenue.
• “Who?” — he asked owlishly.
• Glass, Night and Light — that’s exactly what it is.
• Spring — as it was on one day on Jarvis Avenue.
• The Oil God Rising — actually, I really dug the way the new show curtain liner caught the sun.
• Sprung! — flowers do this in the Spring.
• Manufacturing Culture — my title for a mural fragment under a CTA viaduct.
  
• Flowers — spring eternal?
• Maw — the proper name for this sculpture is “The Receptor” but it could be a wormhole.
• Chicago! — anonymous street art on a CTA viaduct.
• Even Trees… — get warts. No: It is not a pregnant wood nymph.
• Pebblean Way — a sidewalk as a Roman road.
• Shamrock Shadows — nothing more forlorn than a bar after a cancelled St. Patrick’s Day.
• The Roc Nebula — this began as a photo of a water stain.
• UFO — No, really, it is.
• Caught in the Headlights — You know, I never gave this critter a name.
• All Her Hopes Abandoned — the existential spider.
• A Furrow in the Sky — that’s what it looks like.
• A Confusion of Shadow and Light — one of my obsessions indulged.
• Reaching for Spring — more shadow and light.
• The Wonder Bird of Tomorrow — anonymous street art on Morse Avenue.
• Interstitial Dive — precisely.
• Vertigo
• Dancing Photons — Trippin’ the light fantastic to the music of the spheres.
• Subtle Suds — an abstract in wash water.
• More Reflections — glass bricks are not just industrial.
• There’s a Fungus Among Us — for real. After while, crocodile.
• Von Neumann Machines Eat the Moon — well, that’s what it looks like, anyway.
• Bitter Light — an abstract composed from light, glass and software.
• The Awakening — it was slow, this year.
• Basket of Shadow — “Love is a basket of light.”
• These Are Your Lives — in so many of the alternate universes, why does your life change so little?
• Please Don’t Eat the Daisies — Cute bunny? Looks like lunch to me. Plus a few notes about humor.
• Luminiferous Aether — more abstraction.
• Leopard Tree in Bloom — soon there will be cats to harvest.
• CPAC! — the automobile of a true believer.
• Shelter from the Storm — a restful interior view.
• Reaching for the Star — what every plant does…
• Maple Sky — more about light and shadow.
• Space Opera Aria — you know the words.
• The Guardian — nothing you’d want to shake a rain stick at.
• Light in Motion — or is it the hideous visage of a lovecraftian diety?
• Rock-Paper-Candy — listening makes no sound until it shrieks.
• Moon Walking
• Light Conception — it could be about love, but what would that mean?
• The Illuminated Heart — how could one not follow one’s heart?
• Light Notes
• The Illuminated Egg — Humpty-Dumpty awakes to a fall.
• Ring of Light — an experiment with light and water.
• The Book of Light — are there things humans should not know?
• April Flowers — viewed as a painting.
• Flower Eyes — stare at the meadow… and the meadow stares back…
• The Wreckage of Agathon — the remains of a candle.
• Nested Donuts? — a selfie at the Midnight Sabbath.
• Rock-Paper-Candy 2 — on Estes Avenue.
• Just One Step Closer, Please… be my fertilizer.
• The Washing of the Brain — a sun-lit moment.
• Radiator — I liked the pattern of shadow.
• Fading Away
• Luminosity — the almost numinous quality of morning light.
• Crayon Explosion — order and chaos.*
• “It’s life, Jim, but not as we know it!” — fun with a filter I found.
• The Anarchist’s Dream — it’s a form of liberation, I guess.
  
• Wax Plate Tectonics
• Mud Puddle 2020 — belongs to summer just like corn on the cob.
• Unlucky — or a portal to another dimension.
• Flash! — fireworks daily if you know where to look.
• My Litter Box — as it appears at night.
• Glass Tomatoes — Here. Take some. Please.
• Crystallography — one of my early but discarded loves.
• Bug Alone — but together we were a rowdy pair.
• Shades of Green — living plants glowing.
• Survivor — not every tree did.
• Portrait of a Streetlight as a Showerhead — over-wrought iron.
• Plan Bee — I always did like wildflower honey.
• Tree Brane — a bad and meritoriously obscure pun, but the photo ain’t bad.
• Life on the Edge — Rogers Park’s concrete jungle.
• Branding — when deviance fails and negativity don’t pull you through.
• Summer Leaves — and Fall has arrived.
• Swirl — come be my guinea pig. It’s experimental!
  
• Nightscape — through the crystal.
• Not There and Square — no one seems to understand this. I think. Or maybe they do?
• Framed — that’s what we all say.
• Experiment 3797 — vampire defense?
• Broken Dreams — and broken mirrors.
• Auntie Virus Protection — but only if the FDA doesn’t find out.
• Jeepster for a Shine — that’s about it.
• Experiment 3958 — came out pretty well, IIDSSM.
• Morning Sky with Woodpecker — yes it was.
• A Butter Whirled in Berth — actually yet another experiment with camera filters and editing filters.
• What Rhyme or Reason — is there for a place to park poetry?
• Light Shield Boss — for protection against light sabers, of course.
• Inarticulate Abstract Expressionism — painting done as if by Homo Erectus… which is why we’ve found none.
• Torn Apart — another tornado survivor.
• A Golden Compass — but no direction home.
• Silence — in Chicago!
• It Was a Beautiful Day That Day.
• Mysterious — reflections.
• Well of Light — I’m really pleased with this.
• Morning Descending — As if a bird alighting.
• That Light at the End of the Tunnel — is what it is. Whatever it is.
• Coming Soon… — Trick or Treat??
• Vague Expressionism — art as “you know what I mean?”
• Rock-Paper-Candy 3 — when you vote.
• Gold Water — an apt metaphor for modern conservativism.
• Nightscape 2 — alleyscape.
• Eye Sky — 1.
• Eye Gomorrah — 2.
• Aye, Cat — And in conclusion: 3.
• The Plastic Wave — interpretation of quantum physics.
• Forest Shadow and Light — earthworms are an invasive species.
• The Remains of the Season — getting toward the last of Autumn.
• Autumnal — grass and tree.
• Patchworld — maybe really small crustal plates.
• Hellgate 1 — spiritual science fiction is a thing; now see it on TV!
• Walking the Plank — a bug’s eye view.
• On Our Way to Alexandria — the ghosts of librarians past.
• Depressionware 1 — another experiment using crockery as a lens filter.
• On Our Way to the Trading Post — it’s just up the creek.
• Lief or Not — a caterpillar’s got to eat.
• Depressionware 2 — as it says.
• Which Way to Grow? — some trees have a problem.
• Logic Gates — steel and glass.
• Fishing Bird Abstracted — as it says.
• Swallow Condos — in the sand.
• Our Next Stop Will Be — Evanston?
• Dancer — shadow dimensions.
• Shelter — in greyscale.
• That Mytic Silver Lining — sometimes appears.
• Static in the Attic — an example.
• The Face in the Door Revisited — in living color!
• Portrait of Benjamin — at a particular point in his life.
• Waves Are Rising — no matter the perspective.
• A Fine Summer Dog — yes it was.
• Algae Shore — an attempt at salvaging the best characteristic of a photo.
• Floral Memory — RIP 2020, though I suspect a wooden stake is urgently needed to finish the job.

Video Wall

• Important — a good intro to the Canadian-flavored humor found in abundance at the Good Cop Great Cop Vimeo site.
• Anyu — about the inner life of a refugee child.
• Mickey Was Here — maybe not the universal veteran, but for many, the wars go on.
• 2alt — unlike any popcorn you’ve ever eaten.
• To Die By Your Side — a literary love story from Spike Jonze…
• Looking for Love in the Wrong Place — wherein a horny leopard tries to seduce her own image.
• Monju Hunters of Sofugan Island — a look back at a bygone way of life.
• The Endless Chase — Pecos Hank looks back on 2019.
• Reverent — wherein Mike Olbinski captures some spectacular storm structure.
• Happy Valentine’s Day — a crashing success or a crashing failure.
• Timeline of the Next 80 Years — a presentation that brought to mind Edward Tufte.
• Dinosaurs in Love — she says it like it was.
• Dance Dance — some truly odd floral effects.
• Love’s Last Words — a couple’s final words to each other accidentally recorded.
• Magic — clever, cute, commercial.
• Third Stone from the Sun — Jimi Hendrix as a “pioneering 20th Century Afro-Futurist.”
• Putin — kinda cute and, yes, Trump makes an appearance.
• The Well — one small creature escapes to… where?
• i. Emergence — part 1
• ii. Masks — part 2
• iii. The Spring — part 3 and the best of, imho.
• La Mort de Tau — Another short film by Jérome Boulbès with music by Michel Korb. It really is worth a dime of your time.
• The Pet Files — drama involving an obscure division of the FBI.
• Rascagnes — Another short by Jérome Boulbès with music by Michel Korb, a pilot for a never produced feature length movie.
• Mirror for Eyes — psychedelic…
• Bless You — a re-run appropriate to the pandemic… or not.
• Boycycle — a coming of age story for the 21st Century chimera.
• Chunyun — a poetic documentation of the world’s largest annual human migration.
• Disposition — Dance. Music.
• Toilet Paper — Remember the Great Toilet Paper Panic of 1973?
• Backpedal — a young woman laments her teen years, her hometown, and the death of a friend.
• Raymonde or the Vertical Escape — in the quest for sex and love and the immensity of the sky.
• Solipsism — a short video for the philosophical or the intoxicated.
• Tones on Tail: Go — I hate music videos but I really dig Ub Iwerks.
• Basic — This is really good story-telling. Other than that, I’m not sure.
• Staying at Home — a comedic PSA featuring Barnaby Dixon’s Dab Chick.
• Shoe Huffing — the scourge of feline shoe huffing.
• A Bird Ballet — flocks of starlings in flight: always amazing.
• “Facelift” — Do you live your life or does your life live you? Surreal words to live by.
• Balcony — primal scream therapy as it relates to community organizing. (It’s funnier than that.)
• Wurlitzer — technically a music video, I prefer to think of it as a brief SF fantasy.
• Where Is Happiness? — another of Sherren Lee’s quirky productions.
• Reflections — What do our memories become?
• Conspiracy Cruise — it’s the age of the grifter…
• At the End of the Cul-de-Sac — I took this as a metaphor for private government, but it’s probably about stoning.
• Kukuschka — amazing stop-action animation.
• Night Cab — a slightly delirious take on being a cab or ride-share driver at night.
• Games for Girls — mind-bendingly strange, I thought.
• Alive — brief, disorienting, surreal.
• Trump’s Good Old Days — this is a re-run, but apt for the times.
• Passage — dance and digital video technology.
• We Are George Floyd — featuring Cornel West and Killer Mike.
• Cosmic Corruption — noise as art.
• Selfies — dread-full and disturbing and ubiquitous.
• The Blood is at the Doorstep — no longer available, except by rental or purchase.
• Coup d’état Math — four stories of immigrants.
• Pura Vida — courtship in the 21st Century.
• “The Man with the Beautiful Eyes” — an animated poem.
• Revolution Is Crime, Crime Is Revolution? — unanswered, but the dance and animation are cool.
• The Atlas of False Desires — a short piece that is ambiguously fiction.
• “Music and Clowns” — culture, education, healthcare and love.
• “Zone Rouge” — wars never end; they merely slow the rate of killing.
• Tornado and Derecho! — a very few of you may have wondered…
• “Good Luck Yonpey” — weird. I haven’t been able to describe it any other way.
• Fork — and its history.
• “Love Me, Fear Me” — beautiful and psychedelic stop frame animation.
• “Into the Cave of Wonders” — a short history and tour of the caves in Arcena, Spain.
• “Toyota Man” — an immigrant rights music video with lots of pop references.
• Reflections — really cool visually.
• The Mundane — it was a normal day of Sassi.
• megadance — a celebration from puppeteer Barnaby Dixon.
• “Who Dat” — a dancing pigeon.
• “The Kármán Line” — Highly recommended, sez me.
  
• “Five minutes to sea” — a lovely and sweet animation about time and age.
• Portland’s Burning Heart” — photojournalist Beth Nakamura of “The Oregonian”.
• “Ars Poetica #100: I Believe” — the poetry comes close to cliche but the animation is pretty cool.
• “Sundown” — I know: storyboards! Duh! But I still say you can almost see the framing. This is nicely done.
• “Avarya” — Gökalp Gönen’s work is a masterpiece, imho. Don’t forget to turn on the subtitles.
• “No Blue Without Yellow” — Van Gogh’s art animated to tell his bio. Really cool.

Poetry

• Backpedal — based on a poem written and performed by Olivia Gatwood.
• B.S. — a dismal bit of doggerel.
• “The Man with the Beautiful Eyes” — animation based on a poem by Charles Bukowski.
• Catpa
• “Ars Poetica #100: I Believe” — the poetry comes close to being a cliché but the animation is pretty cool.
• Work List — this is not a poem.

Politics

• Mickey Was Here — the war goes on.
• Timeline of the Next 80 Years — global warming, two scenarios compared.
• Send in the Clowns — is surreal the new irony?
• Why We Need Socialism in America — for May Day, this classic argument by the late Michael Harrington.
• Trump’s Good Old Days — a symphony of dog whistles. (May not be available.)
  
• We Are George Floyd — featuring Cornel West and Killer Mike.
• The Blood is at the Doorstep — no longer available, except by rental or purchase.
• CPAC! — the proposed Civilian Police Accountability Council.
• The Right to be Healthy — featuring Dr. David Stark Murray, one of the founders of the British National Health Service.
• Rock-Paper-Candy — found along Touhy Avenue.
• Coup d’etat Math — four stories.
• Revolution is Crime, Crime Is Revolution? — unanswered, but the dance and animation are cool.
• Rock-Paper-Candy 2 — on Estes Avenue.
• “Music and Clowns” — culture, education, healthcare and love.
• “Zone Rouge” — disarming battlefields.
• Norman Thomas and Max Shachtman — recorded live in Chicago, 1958.
• Mr. President — a message for Donald.
• 1968 — commentary about the year from Garry Wills and the Daughters of Albion.
• The Norman Thomas v. Barry Goldwater Debate — from 1961. Spoiler alert…
• “Toyota Man” — an immigrant rights music video with lots of pop references.
• Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — Marion Teniade said it.
• The Crisis in Economic Theory — Michael Harrington, mid-1980.
• Gold Water — an apt metaphor for modern conservativism. Anyone want to buy a tinned can?
  
• “Portland’s Burning Heart” — photojournalist Beth Nakamura of “The Oregonian”.

Prose

• Sty Sight — it’s about pigs.
• A Murmuration of Starling Thoughts — life is tough and then you’re eaten.
• A Cat Passing in the Night — bye bye kitty. What else is there to say?
• The Painful Blue Finger of Death — introducing Achenbach’s Syndrome.
• The Guardian — the power of magical thinking.
• Light in Motion — fantasy in waves.
• The Illuminated Egg — the egg came first.
• The Ballad of Dick the Pigeon — trash-talking the predators. (Some parts of this story are true?)
  
• Early in the Morning — magic?

Reviews

• Buying Legal Weed in Illinois — quite the experience…
• Review Updates — “Quillifer” and “Rosewater”

Meet the New Year…
Same as the Old Year.