at long last, the 25th and inaugural collaborative edition of ten minutes is up!!! kyu will be making his beautiful illustrations available as desktop wallpapers on his site, but the section doesn’t seem to be up yet – so for now, email either of us and we shall send the file your way.

basic swedish vocabulary earth hour 2010

several weeks ago i decided to initiate part two of my neighbourly music sharing experiment. now that i’ve moved to a new place, i figured that i should try a new medium as well, so this time around i made a playlist on spotify instead (which is basically like itunes but you can stream all the songs on the program for free). i scraped together a pull-tab ad where each tab is a link to the playlist, then placed the ad next to the laundry room booking board – the one common area that everybody accesses in this apartment complex. i didn’t expect anyone to take them but they were all gone by the time i checked back a few days later! i added another sixteen tabs afterwards. i hope whoever took one enjoyed the music :)

and speaking of music, there’s only nine days left to stream to my mixtape club mix… give it a listen if you haven’t already!

house k by hasegawa daisuke

the moment i stepped out onto the base of that hill was the same moment i knew i wanted to leave. i didn’t understand the damp gravel and the winding path that it etched into the landscape; it curved to the left and then steered right, sharply, at the most unconvincing angle of inclination, but nevertheless i followed the trail to its end on high. there i was met by two bulls, both with at least five instances of the words “was here” carved into their sides. i traced my fingers over each little scar. shallow, but with intention, concentrating the weight of the world from the outside in.

“i’m here too,” i told them, “but i don’t want to be. and i don’t want you to be burdened with the mark of a trivial moment like this.”

“yet that is exactly what we’re here for,” they replied. “them? they were here, but are no longer. you are. we are here for you as you are here for us.”